FardZack

2008-07-29T05:05:00.002+08:00

What is claimed is:

2008-07-29T04:55:00.001+08:00

1. A sensor device comprising:

an array of a plurality of photodetectors that receive energy from a beam
of electromagnetic energy, said photodetectors operative to output signals
indicating detection of energy from said beam; and

a mode selection circuit communicatively coupled to said array of
photodetectors, wherein said mode selection circuit is operable to select
a first mode in which each of said detectors independently provides a
signal,

said mode selection circuit being operable to select a second mode in which
at least two of said photodetectors are grouped to provide a signal.

2. A sensor device as recited in claim 1 further comprising an emitter
control circuit that controls an emitter to output said beam such that
less power is consumed in said second mode than in said first mode.

3. A sensor device as recited in claim 2 wherein said emitter control
circuit controls said emitter to pulse said beam with a greater off-time
in said second mode than in said first mode.

4. A sensor device as recited in claim 2 wherein said emitter control
circuit controls said emitter to emit said beam at a lower intensity in
said second mode than in said first mode.

5. The sensor device of claim 1 wherein said signal output by said grouped
photodetectors provides a lower sensing resolution than in said first
mode.

6. The sensor device of claim 1 wherein less power is consumed by said
sensor device in said second mode than in said first mode.

7. A detector for an optical encoder, the optical encoder detecting motion
of a moving member, the detector comprising:

a first array of a plurality of photodetectors that receive energy from a
beam emitted by an emitter of said optical encoder, each of said
photodetectors operative to output a signal indicating a detection of
energy from said beam, wherein said first array is used for absolute
sensing of said moving member; and

a second array of a plurality of photodetectors that receive energy from
said beam emitted by said emitter, each of said photodetectors operative
to output a signal indicating a detection of energy from said beam,
wherein said second array is used for incremental sensing of said moving
member;

wherein said first array and said second array of photodetectors are
included on a single semiconductor integrated circuit chip.

8. A detector as recited in claim 7 wherein an encoder disk modulates said
energy from said emitted beam onto said first array and said second array.

9. A detector as recited in claim 8 wherein said encoder disk includes a Gray code pat ern for modulating
light onto said first array of
photodetectors, and a slot pattern for modulating light onto said second
array of photodetectors.

10. An integrated sensor processing device comprising:

a photodetector array for outputting one or more analog signals;

at least one analog-to-digital converter for converting the analog signals
to digital signals;

at least one state machine for receiving the digital signals, and
outputting pulse and direction signals;

a counter for using the pulse and direction signals to determine a position
of a moving member, the position being relative to a start point of the
moving member;

a communication module for providing the position to a controller; and

a mode selection circuit coupled to the photodetector array, wherein the
mode selection circuit is operable in any one or more of a first mode and
a second mode,

the first mode for providing a first signal, and the second mode for
providing a second signal that is lower in resolution than the first
signal.

11. An integrated sensor processing device detecting motion of a moving
member, the sensor processing device comprising:

an array of a plurality of photodetectors that receive energy from a beam
of electromagnetic energy emitted from an emitter, each of said
photodetectors operative to output a signal indicating a detection of
energy from said beam;

at least one analog-to-digital converter coupled to said array of
photodetectors, said analog-to-digital converter converting said signals
from said photodetectors to digital signals;

at least one state machine coupled to said at least one analog-to-digital
converter, said state machine outputting pulse and direction signals;

a counter coupled to said analog-to-digital converter that receives said
pulse and direction signals and determines a position of said moving
member from said pulse and direction signals, said position relative to an
initial start point of the moving member;

a communication module coupled to said counter and providing said position
to a controller;

wherein said integrated sensor processing device is provided on a single
integrated circuit chip; and

digital logic circuitry coupled to said at least one analog-to-digital
converter, wherein said digital logic circuitry can select a first digital
signal having a high resolution, and wherein said digital logic circuitry
can select a second digital signal having a resolution lower than the
first digital signal such that the amount of power consumed is reduced.

12. An integrated sensor processing device as recited in claim 11 wherein
said digital logic circuitry selects said first digital signal having the
steepest slope at the present position of said moving member.

13. An integrated sensor processing device as recited in claim 11 wherein
said at least one analog-to-digital converter includes a multi-level
analog-to-digital converter.

14. An integrated sensor processing device as recited in claim 13 wherein
said multi-level analog-to digital converter is used with said digital
logic circuitry and at least one other analog-to-digital converter is a
single level comparator, and wherein said digital logic circuitry reads
said digital signals only from said multi-level analog-to-digital
converter when said moving member is moving under a threshold velocity.

H-Bridge Driver untuk Kontrol Arah Motor

2008-07-25T04:58:00.001+08:00

Untuk aplikasi robot mobile, biasanya dapat digunakan beberapa aktuator. Salah satunya yang paling umum digunakan adalah motor listrik DC. Untuk aplikasi yang menggunakan motor listrik ini, kita hanya membutuhkan 2 manipulasi atau pengontrolan, yaitu Bagaimana Caranya :
1. agar motor bisa membuat robot bergerak maju dan mundur
2. agar kecepatan motor bisa diatur

Dua hal inilah yang akan menjadi fokus pembicaraan kita.

Untuk tulisan kali ini, kita akan menjawab kebutuhan pertama kita, yaitu menemukan cara agar sebuah motor dapat membuat robot bergerak maju dan pada kondisi yang lain bisa pula bergerak mundur.

Jawabannya adalah dengan menggunakan H-Bridge.

Apa sih H-Bridge itu?

H-Bridge atau yang diterjemahkan secara kasar sebagai “Jembatan H”, adalah sebuah rangkaian dimana motor menjadi titik tengahnya dengan dua jalur yang bisa dibuka tutup untuk melewatkan arus pada motor tersebut, persis seperti huruf “H” (dengan motor berada pada garis horizontal).

Dua terminal motor a dan b dikontrol oleh 4 saklar (1 s/d 4). Ketika saklar satu dan dua diaktifkan (saklar 3 dan 4 dalam keadaan off), maka terminal motor a akan mendapatkan tegangan (+) dan terminal b akan terhubung ke ground (-), hal ini menyebabkan motor bergerak maju (atau searah jarum jam)

Sedangkan sebaliknya, bila saklar 1 dan 2 dalam keadaan off, saklar 3 dan 4 dalam keadaan aktif, maka terminal a akan terhubung ke ground (-) dan terminal b akan mendapatkan tegangan (+), dan tentunya hal ini dapat menyebabkan motor berubah arah putarnya, menjadi bergerak mundur (atau berlawanan dengan arah jarum jam)

Untuk mengimplementasikan H-Bridge ini, tidak bisa langsung dihuhubungkan ke output yang diambil dari pin I/O mikrokontroler. Sebab output dari mikrokontroler hanya mempunyai daya yang sangat kecil. Sedangkan untuk motor sendiri, kadang-kadang membutuhkan daya yang tidak kecil (misalnya 200 mA, 1 A atau bahkan lebih). Jika kita memaksakan menghubungkan output digital dari mikrokontroler langsung ke motor, bisa jadi merusak mikrokontroler itu sendiri.

Untuk itu kita membutuhkan sebuah rangkaian penguat yang dapat dikontrol dari input digital. Dan tentunya chip (IC) yang mengakomodasi keperluan ini telah ada. H-Bridge driver. Salah satu tipenya kita bisa menggunakan L293D (untuk meng-handle arus rata-rata 600 mA) atau LMD18200 (untuk meng-handle arus 3A, tegangan sampai 55V).

Arsitektur dari half H-Bridge ini sebenarnya terdiri dari 2 amplifier, seperti terlihat pada gambar:

Untuk membuat motor berhenti ada 2 cara :
1.memberikan logic yang sama pada x dan y
2.tidak memberikan speed (speed = 0)

Sumber :
Embedded Robotics - Thomas Braunl

PWM adalah cara memanipulasi lebar sinyal atau tegangan

2008-07-25T04:34:00.003+08:00

Mengulang sedikit apa yang telah dibahas pada postingan sebelumnya, bahwa untuk menggerakkan sebuah mobile robot menggunakan motor DC, kita membutuhkan dua pengontrolan, yaitu :
1. Kontrol motor dua arah
2. Kontrol kecepatan

Setelah membahas bagaimana cara agar motor bisa berputar searah jarum jam dan pada kesempatan yang lain bisa pula sebaliknya (berlawanan arah jarum jam) dengan menggunakan H-Bridge driver. Sekarang tiba saatnya menjawab pertanyaan kedua, bagaimana agar kecepatan mobile robot tersebut bisa dikontrol.

Persis ketika kita melihat balapan motor. Si pembalap akan memacu gasnya sampai optimal ketika melewati track yang lurus, dan sedikit mengurangi kecepatannya untuk melakukan manuver ketika melewati lintasan yang berliku. Pasti terbayangkan, jika pada track yang lurus maupun berbelok kecepatannya selalu konstan, apalagi dengan kecepatan maximum? Tentu akan terpelanting.

Hal itu jika diaplikasikan pada robot balapan, seperti lomba robot line follower. Dan tentunya masih banyak aplikasi robot lain yang memerlukan pengontrolan kecepatan, seperti bagaimana untuk menjaga ketinggian pada flyer robot, menjaga keseimbangan, membelokkan robot dengan defferential wheel, menendang objek pada robot soccer dan lain sebagainya.

Itu keperluan itu, kita membutuhkan sebuah teknik yang disebut dengan Pulse Width Modulation (PWM). Secara umum PWM adalah sebuah cara memanipulasi lebar sinyal atau tegangan yang dinyatakan dengan pulsa dalam suatu perioda, yang akan digunakan untuk mentransfer data pada telekomunikasi ataupun mengatur tegangan sumber yang konstan untuk mendapatkan tegangan rata-rata yang berbeda. Penggunaan PWM sangat banyak, mulai dari pemodulasian data untuk telekomunikasi, pengontrolan daya atau tegangan yang masuk ke beban, regulator tegangan, audio effect dan penguatan, serta aplikasi-aplikasi lainnya.

Terlihat pada gambar, bahwa sinyal PWM adalah sinyal digital yang amplitudonya tetap, namun lebar pulsa yang aktif (duty cycle) per periodenya dapat diubah-ubah. Dimana periodenya adalah waktu pulsa high (1) Ton ditambah waktu pulsa low (0) Toff.

Duty cycle adalah lamanya pulsa high (1) Ton dalam satu perioda. Jika f(t) adalah sinyal PWM, maka besar duty cycle-nya adalah :

atau bisa ditulis dengan :

Sehingga

Grafik dibawah ini, menggambarkan beberapa PWM dalam duty cycle yang berbeda.

Pada grafik PWM teratas terlihat bahwa sinyal high per periodenya, sangat kecil (hanya 10%). Pada grafik PWM ditengah terlihat sinyal high-nya hampir sama dengan sinyal low (50%). Dan pada gambar paling bawah terlihat bahwa sinyal high-nya lebih besar dari sinyal low-nya (90%).

Maka jika dimisalkan tegangan input yang melalui rangkaian tersebut sebesar 10 V. Maka jika digunakan PWM teratas, nilai tegangan output rata-ratanya sebesar 1 V (10% dari Vsource), jika digunakan PWM yang tengah, maka tegangan output rata-ratanya sebesar 5V (50%). Begitu pula jika menggunakan PWM yang paling bawah, maka tegangan output rata-ratanya sebesar 9V (90%).

Bagaimana cara mendapatkan sinyal PWM?

Untuk mendapatkan sinyal PWM dari input berupa sinyal analog, dapat dilakukan dengan membentuk gelombang gigi gergaji atau sinyal segitiga yang diteruskan ke komparator bersama sinyal aslinya. (Namun berbahagialah bagi para pengguna mikrokontroler, sebab pada beberapa tipe mikrokontroler telah tersedia fasilitas pembangkit PWM.

Jika digambarkan dalam bentuk sinyal, maka terlihat seperti dibawah ini :

Dimana sinyal input analog (berwarna hijau) dimodulasikan dengan sinyal gigi gergaji (berwarna biru), sehingga didapatkan sinyal PWM seperti gambar dibawahnya (berwarna merah). Jadi.. jika kita ingin mengatur kecepatan putar motor DC, membuat dimmer LED, atau pengontrolan lain yang intinya, bagaimana cara untuk mengontrol daya yang diberikan ke beban, dengan menggunakan sumber yang konstan? Jawabannya adalah PWM.

Khusus untuk penerapan PWM pada mobile robot, ada point yang tidak kalah penting untuk diperhatikan, bahwa keluaran dari PWM tersebut tidaklah linear. Misalnya motor beroperasi pada 1200 rpm (tanpa beban). Jika diberikan ratio PWM sebasar 100%, maka motor tersebut akan berputar 1200 rpm, namun ketika kita ingin motor berputar pada 600 rpm. Maka kita memberikan ratio PWM sebesar 50%, meskipun pada kenyataannya 600 rpm dapat dicapai ketika ratio PWM mencapai 30%.

Hal kedua adalah perhitungan friction dan besarnya beban pada motor. Dengan besar ration PWM yang sama, bisa jadi memberikan kecepatan yang berbeda ketika motor berputar tanpa beban dengan motor yang telah dirakit bersama rangka robot yang tentunya menambah besar massa dan gaya netralnya.

sumber:
Embedded Robotics - Thomas Braunl
Build Your Own Combat Robot - Pete Miles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse-width_modulation
http://www.powerdesigners.com/InfoWeb/design_center/articles/PWM/pwm.shtm
http://www.netrino.com/Embedded-Systems/How-To/PWM-Pulse-Width-Modulation
http://www.8051projects.net/pulse-width-modulation/introduction.php

about me

2008-07-22T05:25:00.003+08:00

Thank to seseorang yang aku sayangi yang uda kasih kesempatan kedua tuk jalanin kisah yang baru ini meskipun kita hanya jalan sebagai HTS aja, but aku uda ngerasa senang banget, kamu itu bener-bener aneh,jutek,kalo cantik sich kamu relatif,body akh juga biasa-biasa aja tapi yang bikin aku tertarik atau sayang ma kamu tu kamu anaknya kuat, tegar, lucu, udah akh pokoknya yang serba aneh and kamu tu beda banget ama orang-orang pada umumnya, andaikan kamu itu sama seperti orang pada umumnya mungkin aku nggak akan ngejar kamu sampai kayak gini and aku bener - bener minta maap atas perbuatanku yang telah yakitin kamu, tapi pada waktu itu aku  beneran g' bermaksud buat nyakitin kamu tapi waktu itu aku beneran sebel banget ama kamu ...akh.... itukan dulu... tapi kalo kamu hanya niat tuk balas dendam ama aku, aku juga terima kok mungkin itu pantes buat seseorang yang pernyakitin kamu. tapi sekarang aku ingin meyakinkan bahwasannya kamu hanya satu-satunya yang aku inginkan di dunia ini dan di dunia selanjutnya.
ohh ya aku juga pingin minta maap sama temen-temenku yang sudah aku beri harapan lebih, bukannya aku ninggalin kalian semua atau membuang kalian begitu saja tanpa ada konfirmasi terlebih dahulu, sebenernya aku masih sayang ama kalian semua but tuk saat ini aku ingin serius berhubungan agar semua orang tahu bahwasannya seseorang ini juga bisa berhubungan serius dan aku juga uda capek dengan soal percintaan yang isinya gombal melulu.

Dapatkahku perjuangkan lagi
Rasa cinta yang pernah lari
Entah pergi dengan hati
Atau ku usir degan perih

     Sekarang sudah sunyi
     Tiada arti
     Hinga ajal menanti
     Hanya mnunggu sepi

untuk engkau seseorang yang ada di hati
yang tak pernah sediitpun mengerti akan perasaan ini.

namun kini kata-kata itu hanya menjadi pengungkapan saat aku sedang galau.......

l want to say " l miss you and thank for all "

Robot Kelelawar

2008-06-11T03:42:00.000+08:00

Spy-Bat atau Robot Kelelawar Mata-mata walaupun ukuran panjangnya hanya sekitar 15 cm tetapi teknologi yang ada di dalamnya pasti akan membuat orang banyak berdecak kagum.

Spy-Bat yang nantinya digunakan di medan peperangan ini dapat mengambil gambar, suara dan bahkan bau (smells) yang ada di sekitarnya.

Data yang ada dapat langsung ditransfer secara "Real Time" ke prajurit sehingga mereka bisa mengetahui keadaan sebelum melakukan penyerbuan atau penyelamatan.

Spy-bat menggunakan baterai Lithium yang dapat diisi ulang melalui sinar matahari (solar powered), angin atau getaran (vibration) sehingga tidak perlu takut akan kehabisan baterai pada saat si Spy-Bat menjalankan tugasnya.

Robot yang masih dalam tahap pengembangan membutuhkan biaya sekitar 10 juta Dollar dan akan ditambah 5 juta Dollar lagi untuk penyempurnaannya di masa depan.

Photo in the News: Robot Senses Damage, Learns to Walk Again

2008-06-11T03:41:00.000+08:00


Email to a Friend	More Photos in the News

The four-legged machine is a prototype "resilient robot" with the ability to detect damage to itself and alter its walking style in response.

Josh Bongard, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Vermont in Burlington, and his colleagues created the robot as part of a NASA pilot project working on technology for the next generation of planetary rovers.

While people and animals can easily compensate for injuries, even a small amount of damage can ground NASA machinery entirely.

"The main goal for this project was to try and build a robot that was able to diagnose, or figure out, when it had been damaged, how it had been damaged, and to recover from that damage," Bongard said in a press statement.

According to Bongard, the machine knows that it is made with nine parts. But the robot "doesn't know how the parts are put together," Bongard said. "The robot doesn't know it's a four-legged machine. That's something [it] initially figures out for itself."

By being "curious" and interacting with the environment, the robot can create an internal model, or "body image," of itself, which it then uses to simulate various walking gaits.

By repeating this process, the robot, when damaged, can quickly detect the change in its body shape and simulate entirely new gaits before choosing one to use in real life.

And a resemblance to the way a baby takes its first steps may not be a coincidence. Even though the research team hasn't yet gone over their results with biologists, Bongard said, this is what "could be going on in the mind of a newborn baby or newborn animal."

The new robot is described in today's issue of the journal Science.

Robot Culture in Japan

2008-06-10T08:52:00.000+08:00

Great video on Robot Culture in Japan by TokyoEye. Info on where to buy your robot kits in Tokyo and where to meet up with other robot otaku enthusiasts. Also features quite possibly the coolest arcade robot game you have ever seen.

Johnny 5 is Alive - Meet Domo the Humanoid Robot

2008-06-10T08:50:00.001+08:00

Meet Domo the new upper-torso humanoid robot from the MIT CSAIL Humanoid Robotics Lab. Domo is a robot with functioning, human-like eyes, arms and hands. It is the latest robot from the American developer Aaron Edsinger.

The goal of Domo is to contribute a novel approach to robot manipulation in unstructured environments. The approach is centered on integrating compliant and force sensitive manipulators into a behavior based architecture that accomplishes useful manipulation tasks in human environments.

It is a major advance on assembly-line robots as it can sense its surroundings and does not work to a pre-programmed routine.

You can imagine in the not so distant future robots similar to Domo doing all manual labour jobs on planet Earth! Here at RoboTokyo we are considering starting the RoboForce robot labour agency. We will hire out robotic workforces to factories, offices and domestic households. Is this a viable business plan (outside of Japan) What do you think?

See Domo in Action…

Helping clean up

Helping with chores

It does not Compute - Lost in Space B9 Robot For Sale

2008-06-10T08:49:00.000+08:00

Woahh Robot Fanboys check out this amazing replica model of B9 from Lost in Space on ebay. Starting price @ $15k. You can operate B9 from the inside - just like the original TV robot. The robot took two years to construct and looks more like the original robot than many fan creations. Features included are rotating torso, extendable rubber arms with locking pins, authentic voice-activated neon and sound system, Removable powerpack turns robot on/off. To top it off B9 is signed by Bob May (actor inside original robot). Bid now | Add to watch list

NS-1 Robot

2008-06-10T08:47:00.000+08:00

Pleo the Robotic Dinosaur

2008-06-10T08:46:00.000+08:00

This is yet another dinosaur robot which will be a big hitter this Christmas. It has a retail value of $200 (£100) and is the brainchild of Caleb Chung the creator of the furby.

What sets this robotic dinasaur from the rest is it’s range of activities and emotions that can be modified via online software. Emotions include - nipping, coughing, yawning, snoring, expressing joy, anger and fear….

Ugobe (the toy producer) proclaim it to be “the first truly autonomous life-form.” They are wrong in thinking this as I am!

Japanese Android - Goodbye Manual Labour

2008-06-10T08:45:00.002+08:00

Meet HRP-3 Promet Mk-II from Kawada Industries. A robot which will eventually replace many manual jobs performed by humans today. On the market for a cool $3 million he can handle rain, slippery surface, use tools.

The math doesn’t ad up but still would be very cool to have a robot workforce. Wait we have that already we are the robotic workforce!!!

hexapod robotic

2008-06-10T08:41:00.000+08:00

The hexapod robot developed by the Illinois hexapod group is modeled after the American cockroach, Periplaneta americana. We selected this insect as a model because of its extraordinary speed and agility and because the structure and physiology of this insect are reasonably well known. The body of the robot measures 58 cm by 14 cm by 23 cm length, width, and height. It has an additional 15 cm ground clearance when standing. The legs, projecting laterally and to the front, add about 38 cm to the width and 18 cm to the length. The robot weighs approximately 11 kg, most of the weight being in the valves that control the pneumatic actuators. The physical dimensions of the robot body and legs are generally between 12 and 17 times the size of the comparable dimensions of the cockroach. The robot, however, is considerably heavier in relation to its size due to the weight of the valves.

Hexapod robot, MARK I. The robot is powered by compressed air, which enters through the tube from the left. Three stacks of electronically controlled valves (yellow), six pair in each stack, control the flow of air into the cylinders that are attached to each leg segment. (Some segments have two cylinders attached for greater power.) The robot is about 2 feet long and weighs roughly 24 pounds.

The robot is powered by pneumatic actuators that use a unique valving mechanism to mimic important muscle characteristics such as force development and compliance, in addition to providing greater strength and higher acceleration compared to many motorized actuators. Our ultimate objective is to use the structure of an insect in addition to known biological principles for controlling insect walking as models on which to base the structure of the robot and the organization and operation of its controller. However, in order that we might build a functioning robot reasonably quickly, we have initially aimed for simplicity in our design. Hence, although we have been guided by the insect's structural and functional features in developing our robot, we have not attempted to reproduce the insect faithfully in every detail, and our current locomotion controller does not embody all biological principles that we know to be important.

The development of autonomous walking robots is still in its early stages, but at present our robot can stand, resist perturbations, and walk. You can observe these actions by clicking on the appropriate image below.

Based on the performance capabilities of current robots, it is clear that engineers still have much to learn about how to produce the kind of flexible control of movements that insects or other animals seem to use to such good effect. This is where biologically inspired robots can play a role. Even though the neural basis of locomotor control is not completely understood, biomimetic robots can be used as research tools to test hypotheses about the relationship between body design and performance, about the role of sensors and actuators in achieving a certain level of adaptive performance, or about the most efficient way to control multiple elements (the legs) in a flexible and coordinated fashion. As knowledge of biological systems grows, this knowledge can be applied to robot design and tested to see what improvements in performance it might lead to.

At the same time, study of biomimetic robots can help the neurobiological community by providing a physical testbed for ideas about how coordinated locomotion is achieved. Hypotheses ranging from those concerning the mathematics of oscillator theory to those suggesting the role of specific sense organs in regulating leg movements and coordination can be tested by implementing them in hardware and software. The ability of a researcher to change a physical arrangement or rewrite software algorithms presents an opportunity to test such hypotheses in a way not possible in a living animal. The knowledge gained from such experiments should be immediately applicable to improve the design of the robot, leading to better performance.

WowWee's FlyTech Dragonfly reviewed

2008-06-10T08:40:00.001+08:00

We've already seen some first impressions of WowWee's newly-launched FlyTech Dragonfly "toy," but PC Magazine has now thankfully provided a slightly more in-depth review for those of us more curious about the little critter's capabilities. As you might expect, they found it to be "loads of fun," with easy to use controls and a surprisingly durable design, which helped the unit withstand a number of head-on collisions with the walls and floor. The unit's downsides are also about what you'd expect, with a wide open space with no wind pretty much required to fly it. They also found that it took a bit of effort to extract the charging cable from the Dragonfly's body, which you'll have to do fairly frequently as you'll only get about seven minutes of flying time on each charge. We somehow doubt that'll be a deal-breaker for most, however, especially given that it only costs fifty bucks.

FlyTech Dragonfly

2008-06-10T08:35:00.003+08:00

Expertly Made Robot Pedestals Elevate Your High Dollar Equipment

2008-06-10T08:35:00.001+08:00

Robots come in all sizes and shapes and are used for almost any labor-saving function imaginable. As a Robotic Systems Integrator, TSM has realized that almost every Robot exists in a custom environment—especially designed for a specific function. Most of the time, standard robots from the factory require elevation in order to reach conveyors and other equipment. This requires the construction of a Robot Pedestal which will firmly support the robot and ensure its complete immobility while performing its duties.

Robot Pedestal

Most robot suppliers do not offer a Robot Pedestal as an off-the-shelf item. Due to the nature of the custom environment and application, no standard Robot Pedestal design will work every time. In fact, a custom height Robot Pedestal will be required 99% of the time!

Where do you go to get a standardized, solid-as-a-rock Robot Pedestal that can be designed, manufactured, and shipped in less than ten days?

TSM Houston, Inc., provides this solution. Simply e-mail us the design of your Robot Pedestal (or let us help you over the phone) and we can start work today.

Any robot brand or manufacturer will feature (in its installation documentation) standard designs and drawings of how it expects its equipment to be supported. Once we have that information, you tell us how high you want your Robot Pedestal to be built, and we will furnish a solid Robot Pedestal that will support over 250,000 lbs.# (static load) and will handle dynamic loads well in excess of 10,000 lbs. #. This is more than enough for today’s palletizing robots, press-tending robots, or any other robot on the market today.

The Robot Pedestal shown in the photos is for a KUKA® brand palletizing robot. But whether or not you need a Robot Pedestal for a Fanuc, Motoman, or any other brand—TSM Houston can provide you with what you need in a short turnaround, at a fair price.

Space surveillance Robot in your home

2008-06-10T08:34:00.000+08:00

It features a built-in web server to monitor and control the SRV-1 Robot with a web browser anywhere in the world. Multiple users can watch the live video feed from the robot without having access to control it.

Product Features
Built in proximity sensors can be toggled on or off to assist when driving the robot manually
Archive video on demand or via schedule
Roving mode allows autonomous exploration with basic vision detection
Wireless control up to 300 feet from host computer
very important: Fully open source and programmable

New Multi-Skilled Kitchen Robot

2008-06-10T08:30:00.000+08:00

We are quickly heading into a futuristic era where robots will be commonly seen helping around the house, performing all the household chores just like humans. Some of the futuristic kitchen robots have already made their debut. Remember the Chinese AIC-AI Cooking Robot and the Honda�s Asimo robot which can serve tea. Recently, Professors at Tokyo University have given a glimpse into a future world where robots can help out around the house. The humanoid kitchen robot can pour a cup of tea or other drinks and even wash up the cup afterwards.

The multi-skilled robot can even wash the dishes. The robot is the result of four years of hard work using cutting edge technology from more than 40 Robotics and Information Technology professors at the University of Tokyo. There is no information available as when the robot will make its commercial debut, but we will keep you posted!

soccer robotic

2008-06-10T08:24:00.001+08:00

from Universitas Freiburg Jerman

Is Robot Evolution Mirroring the Evolution of Life?

2008-06-10T08:22:00.000+08:00

“I see a strong parallel between the evolution of robot intelligence and the biological intelligence that preceded it. The largest nervous systems doubled in size about every fifteen million years since the Cambrian explosion 550 million years ago. Robot controllers double in complexity (processing power) every year or two. They are now barely at the lower range of vertebrate complexity, but should catch up with us within a half century."

Hans Moravec, pioneer in mobile robot researcher and founder of Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute.

According toMoravec, our robot creations are evolving similar to how life on Earth evolved, only at warp speed. By his calculations, by mid-century no human task, physical or intellectual, will be beyond the scope of robots.

Here is a summary of his educated predictions for the future of robotics up until they can do everything we can do:

2010: A first generation of broadly-capable "universal robots" will emerge. The “servant” robots, will be able to run application programs for many simple chores. These machines will have mental power and inflexible behavior analogous to small reptiles.

2015: Utility robots host programs for several tasks. Larger "Utility Robots" with manipulator arms able to run several different programs to perform different tasks may follow single-purpose home robots. Their tens of billion calculation per second computers would support narrow inflexible competences, perhaps comparable to the skills of an amphibian, like a frog.

2020: Universal robots host programs for most simple chores. Larger machines with manipulator arms and the ability to perform several different tasks may follow, culminating eventually in human-scale "universal" robots that can run application programs for most simple chores. Their tens of billion calculation per second lizard-scale minds would execute application programs with reptilian inflexibility.

2030: Robot competence will become comparable to larger mammals. In the decades following the first universal robots, a second generation with mammallike brainpower and cognitive ability will emerge. They will have a conditioned learning mechanism, and steer among alternative paths in their application programs on the basis of past experience, gradually adapting to their special circumstances. A third generation will think like small primates and maintain physical, cultural and psychological models of their world to mentally rehearse and optimize tasks before physically performing them. A fourth, humanlike, generation will abstract and reason from the world model.

If Moravec is correct in his predictions, if won’t be long before robots have cognition. With daily breakthroughs happening in the robotic community—it may happen even sooner. Not only will they be able to think autonomously, but robot intelligence and capabilities would equal (and most likely quickly surpass) any human capability.

That likely possibility begs the question, what happens when robots are superior to their creators? Will they still be subservient to us, or will the popular “robot takeover” of sci-fi movies become reality? I love robots as much as the next geek, but maybe we need some sort of plan for when they stop loving us…

On the other hand, others believe that it is humans who will evolve into advanced “robots”. Their belief is that with futuristc technologies being developed in multiple fields, human intelligence may eventually be able to “escape its ensnarement in biological tissue” and be able to move freely across boundaries that can’t support flesh and blood—while still retaining our identities. That idea seems much further away, but whatever the case may be—there are changes ahead.

Music Robot ODO from Sega Toys

2008-06-10T08:21:00.001+08:00

In the wake of the Sony Rolly, the original iPod dock on wheels Miuro from ZMP has collaborated with Sega Toys to produce Music Robot ODO, a Miuro-like speaker robot that costs significantly less than the original but still bumps out the tunes.

Music Robot ODO doesn’t have the wireless LAN or camera features of the Miuro (among other missing features), but at a tenth of the Miuro’s over $1000 price it’s hard to complain. The LCD screen in the front changes the “emotion” of ODO as it dances along to the tempo of the music, and the remote control gives motion control as well so you can drive it into a loved ones room while playing Never gonna give you up. It’s a rolling Rickroll for the masses!

Check out the demo video…

Building an autonomous light finder robot

2008-06-10T08:20:00.000+08:00

Abstract:

In this article we describe how to build an autonomous robot with a microcontroller that will always try to walk to the brightest spot.

_________________ _________________ _________________

Introduction

Two years ago we presented a "Linux-controlled walking robot" in LinuxFocus. It was very special in its design as it walked on legs and had no conventional motors. This was a very interesting aspect of this robot, however it was very slow, needed a lot of current and required a lot of special parts and skills to build it.

The design of our new robot is very different. It is cheap and you will be able to build it from parts that are available almost everywhere around the world. It is an autonomous robot controlled by an AVR microcontroller. As an autonomous robot (not controlled by a person) we programmed it to run towards the brightest spot in the room.

The mechanics

The small gear motor from conrad

A standard servo modified to work as a motor. This is probably the best solution but we had this idea only after the robot was already built.

The robot has only 2 wheels which are driven by 2 independent motors. The third wheel is a ping-pong ball. This enables the robot to turn on the spot. We have used rubber wheels from toys but you don't have to dismantle yours too. The top of a marmalade jar with a rubber band around also makes for a very nice wheel.

For an autonomous robot it is obviously important that it can operate from batteries. Since the microcontroller runs with 4.5V the motors also must work with 3-4.5V. They must also not take too much current otherwise the batteries and the control circuit will get too big and heavy. For this design we use an integrated motor driver chip, called l293d. The l293d motor driver chip can drive peak loads up to 0.5A. The motors should therefore need less than 0.5A under worst conditions.

We used 2 small gear-box motors from Conrad (www.conrad.de, part number: 242802) but you can also use any other small motor with a gear-box. In fact we think now that the best solution would have been to use standard Servo Motors as used for the remote control of small boats, cars or planes. Normally these Servo Motors can turn only a certain angle but you can open the gear box of the Servo, take out the stopper, remove the potentiometer and the electronic. It's a perfect small but strong motor and Servos are easy to get.

To build the robot mount the motors under a small wooden board (12cm x 9cm) and position them almost in the middle such that most of the load will be on the two axis. The third wheel, the ping pong ball, must take only a small fraction of the weight of the robot to ensure that it can slide nicely in its "bearing" (see pictures).

The bearing for the ping pong ball is the top of a small plastic bottle which happened to have exactly the right size.

For the operation of the robot we have used 3 AAA batteries. Position the battery holders as shown below. The batteries are quite heavy so take care that most of the load is on the wheels and only a little bit on the ping pong ball. You can place a switch to power on/off the robot somewhere on the side.

Sensors

We give our robot 2 types of sensors:

touch sensors: this way the robot knows if it has hit an object
light sensors: for the robot to find the brightest spot in the room

The touch sensors are simple switches made out of steel wire. We bend them as shown in the picture below:

There are 4 touch sensors mounted with a screw on the corners of the wooden board.

When the robot hits an object then the steel wire (2, see picture below) touches the second wire on the board (3) and this closes the electrical connection between steel wire and wire on the wooden board.

To prevent that the steel wire bends off when the ping pong ball is not in its bearing we have added a small wooden post (1) under the board. This post must be about 5 mm above ground when the ping pong ball is in the bearing.
The steel wire should end about 5-7mm above ground.

The light sensors are 3 photo resistors. We placed card board between the photo resistors as shown in the picture below. This card board creates shadows on the resistors when the light comes from the side. Only when the light comes exactly from the top it will provide for an equal amount of light on all 3 sensors. Comparing the values of the 3 sensors the robot can decide in which direction to go.

You can solder the 3 photo resistors on a small experimentation board (those boards with a lot of holes) and fix the whole thing with a single screw on the robot.

How to connect the sensors and the two motors to the printed circuit board with the microcontroller will be explained further down. Now that the mechanical parts are done let's have a look at the "brain" of the robot.

The Circuit

We use an AT90S4433 microcontroller as the "brain" of our robot but the "brain" can't directly deliver enough power to drive the motors. This is where the L293D motor driver chip comes into the picture. This chip contains 4 digital output amplifier stages with extra protection diodes to protect against high voltages induced by the coils of a motor. 2 of the output stages can be used to drive one motor. This way it is possible to let the motor turn left or right.

We put one motor between output 1 and output 2 and the other between output 3 and output 4. The enable pins of the chip can be used to control the speed of the motors when we send pulses of variable length to the enable pins.

The rest of the circuit is very simple: We use the Atmel AT90S4433 microcontroller again. You know this microcontroller already from previous LinuxFocus articles. Its analog inputs can be used to measure the light on the photo resistors and the touch sensors can be connected directly to the digital input lines as shown below.

More information about the details of the microcontroller can be found in Guido's March 2002 article: Programming the AVR Microcontroller with GCC.

The circuit works with 4.5V. Three AAA batteries are therefore enough to operate the robot.

Now the circuit for our autonomous robot would be ready. However what do you do if the robot does not work as expected because something is going wrong in the software? You can't see anything. You don't know what the values of the light sensors are, you don't know why the robot software has taken this or that decision. What we need is some kind of output screen or display to understand what the robot does. The RS232 serial line is well suited for this purpose. We can print values of variables and we could even communicate with the robot. We don't want to connect it all the time but we need it to debug the robot. It therefore makes sense to put the max232 and other parts needed for the RS232 connection onto a separate board and connect it only when needed:

The complete Eagle circuit diagrams and board layouts can be downloaded at the end of the article together with the software for this robot. We don't describe the board layout here. You can see it in eagle. The circuit board is small enough to fit between the batteries.

Below is a drawing where you can see which touch sensor on which side of the robot is connected to which pin in the circuit diagram. The drawing also shows how to connect the motors. The polarity of the motors is chosen such that the robot would move forward (in the direction of the arrow) if +3V would be connected to the "+"-pin and GND to the "-"-pin. 1y to 4y are the names of the pins on the l293d.

The Software

We don't want to go into a lot of details here. The main program can be found in the file linuxrobot.c (download of the software at the end of the article). The program includes a lot of comments and should be easy to read for a C programmer. The main loop first checks the analog values of the photo-resistors by running the Microcontroller's internal analog to digital converter in single shot conversion mode 3 times. After that the touch sensors are checked. If any of these touch sensors is pressed then they take preference over the light sensors because it probably hit some obstacle. The robot will turn the motor a few milliseconds in the opposite direction of the touch sensor which was hit. If no touch sensor was hit then the photo sensors are compared with each other. This comparison is done in the function compare_with_tol() where we compare one value against a mean value of two. To avoid that we are affected too much by "noise" we say that 2 values are equal if the difference is less than 5 percent.

Based on the comparison of the photo sensors we can then decide which motor to turn. Since we have only 2 wheels we can turn the robot on the spot by turning one of the wheels faster or even turning them in opposite direction. Since the microcontroller repeats the measurement very fast several times per second the movement of the robot looks as if it continues even if we stop one motor for a fraction of a second in order to turn a bit left or right.

Putting it together

When you assemble the electronics it is always a good idea to test it in steps. This way you can easily narrow down possible faults.

There are 3 different test programs included in the linuxrobot software package (download at the end of the article). The program ledtest causes the 2 LEDs to blink. You load it with the command "make ledtestload". This will compile the program and load it to the microcontroller. The 2 LEDs should start to blink immediately after the program was loaded. When this test is successful you can be sure that the microcontroller with its oscillator and the connection to the PC for loading software does work.

Next is the motortest program. This test program implements "an electronic rubber ball". You load it with the command "make motortestload". The motortest program checks the touch sensors all the time and if one of them is hit then the robot moves away from the sensor that was hit. If you hit the robot with your hand on one side then it will bounce back. Put your second hand behind the robot and it will bounce back and forth between your 2 hands like a rubber ball. If the robot passes this test then everything except the light sensors and the RS232 connection is tested.

The final test program is called adctest (compile and load with make adctestload). The program tests the RS232 connection which is there to debug the robot and it tests the ADC (analog to digital converter) with the 3 photo resistors. Load the program into the microcontroller and then connect the adapter for the RS232 connection to your PC. After that run the following 3 commands in a shell:

make ttydevinit
./ttydevinit /dev/ttyS0
cat /dev/ttyS0

The robot should periodically print the values of the light intensity it has measured with the photo sensors.

When all the tests are passed you can load the final program into the robot with "make load". The best playground for the first tests is a room with just a single lamp in the middle. The robot should just run straight in the direction of the lamp and stop there.

It is quite fun to see how it turns around if you put it on the ground with its back facing to the light source or how it avoids shades.

Problems and improvements

We started this robot as a little experiment. It was good fun to build an autonomous robot which can make decisions on its own and does not need any data connection to a PC. The program included in the linuxrobot package which you can download further down in the article is still small and simple but does what we wanted: The robot runs to the brightest spot.

We would like to mention a few things that could be used as a starting point for further development:

The touch sensors are only checked in rather large intervals (few ms) which limits the responsiveness of the robot. They should be checked more often.
If one of the touch sensors was hit then this takes priority over all other things and the robot moves for a few hundred milliseconds in the opposite direction. If a different sensor hits during this time then this is currently ignored.
The sensitivity of the photo resistors decreases in poor light conditions. This can lead to the effect that the difference measured between the sensors is below the threshold which is hardcoded in the program (5%) and the robot thinks that all sensors get equal amount of light. The light values that come out of the ADC could be adjusted by a non linear filter curve to compensate this effect.

At the moment the linuxrobot program is small and simple so you should be able to understand it and maybe develop it further. It needs only 50% of the memory of the 4433 microcontroller so you can still add a lot of things.

The good thing about this robot is that the hardware is somehow generic: It's basically 2 motors and some sensors attached to a microcontroller. All the logic is implemented in the software. That means by changing the software you can change almost everything as you like.

Here is a picture of the robot in test position. We put some post-it paper block under it so it does not run away. The rs232 line is connected for debug purposes:

... and the final robot searching for light....:

Nikko R2-D2 robot replica

2008-06-10T08:18:00.000+08:00

After the MIO, Japanese will see one more robot in the market. The cute Star Wars robot R2-D2 replica was announced by a company called Nikko on Thursday.

The new Nikko R2-D2 robot replica incorporates DVD player with integrated LCD projector. The projector is a DLP with XGA resolution, 1500 lumens and 1800:1 contrast ratio. Also, an iPod dock and memory card reader is integrated into this device.

Thanks to a Falcon Millennium shaped remote that users can actually let the robot roam around the room.

Nikko also offers a light saber shaped wireless video camera as an accessory for the R2-D2 replica.

The most exciting part is that the Star Wars gadget can also be used as a Skype phone and as remote control for the R2-D2.

Weighing in at 8kg, the Nikko R2-D2 Replica will be available in Japanese market at the price of 388000 Yen (around 1,27,700 INR). There is high possibility of Nikko launching this robot out side Japan, as it is a multi national company.

u-BOT 5 Robot Designed To Help The Elderly

2008-06-10T08:16:00.000+08:00

Well folks, it looks like today turned into robot day at Geekologie. You're cool with that aren't you? You do love robots, right? Because if you don't I'll tell them, and when they take over the world you'll be seriously f'd. Possibly in the a, and almost certainly with something metal. Anyway, u-BOT 5 is a robot designed by researchers at the University of Massachusetts. It may be the missing upper half of the homeless robot and was made to help old people should something happen to them. Its capabilities include "picking up small objects, dialing 911 and even using a stethoscope to check vitals." It packs a webcam, microphone, LCD touchscreen, WiFi, and could potentially be used to make virtual housecalls . As you can see from the picture, if you ever fall and can't get up there's nothing to fear when uBOT-5 is near. He'll just wheel himself over and, uh, kidney punch the shit out of you with his little ball-hands.

Robot Opens And Pours Beer

2008-06-10T08:15:00.001+08:00

The autonomous Bottlebot will pick up, open, and pour your beer into a glass. It was built by a college student for an engineering project, and it's pretty clear that this kid is the best and brightest in the class. That robot is A+ material. I would like to hire him on the spot. Sure I'm just hiring a night attendant at the gas station, but with his ingenuity and drive, he could make assistant manager in less than a year.

A must see video of the guy in action after the jump.

Student Constructs Beer Robot That Grabs, Opens, and Pours [techeblog]

MIT’s furry robot is capable of human learning

2008-06-10T08:09:00.002+08:00

For some reason I can’t look at MIT’s Leonardo robot without an involuntary shudder - I think it’s the lifelike fur and the evil, calculating eyes. Even scarier is to see it in motion (and there are videos after the cut), when complex facial mapping techniques have taken human expressions and reworked them for the robot’s face (which has 32 degrees of freedom).

Of course the clever people at MIT aren’t just making a particularly impressive toy; their intent is to research new ways of human/machine interaction, where robots are used to give a computer a naturalistic interface that users are comfortable working with.

“Once a task is learned, the robot should then be competent in its ability to provide assistance; understanding how to perform the task as well as how to perform it in partnership with a human”

Capable of being instructed by tutelage, where a user guides Leonardo to complete a task, by imitation, where Leonardo copies a demonstration, and social referencing, where Leonardo responds to a users reaction to a task, their goal is to end up with a machine that can learn from humans in their own terms, rather than them needing to be experts in programming.

Robot future poses hard questions

2008-06-09T08:50:00.001+08:00

Scientists have expressed concern about the use of autonomous decision-making robots, particularly for military use. As they become more common, these machines could also have negative impacts on areas such as surveillance and elderly care, the roboticists warn.

Bionic hand gives realistic grip

2008-06-09T08:49:00.001+08:00

What's being billed as the world's most advanced bionic hand has been fitted to a man in Scotland. The five fingers on the i-LIMB hand are individually powered by separate motors. This allows a better grip and a more realistic look and feel. Standard prosthetic hands use the thumb and two fingers to produce a simple claw grip. The first recipient, Donald MacKillop lost his right hand in an industrial accident nearly 30 years ago.

Walking robot steps up the pace

2008-06-09T08:47:00.000+08:00

A rescue robot designed to work in the rubble of damaged underground shopping malls is shown at a Tokyo symposium on how to tackle big earthquakes in large cities. It is equipped with a colour camera, thermal vision and a comms system

Robotic age poses ethical dilemma

2008-06-09T08:46:00.000+08:00

An ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa, is being drawn up by South Korea. The Robot Ethics Charter will cover standards for users and manufacturers and will be released later in 2007. It is being put together by a five member team of experts that includes futurists and a science fiction writer.

Guessing' robots find their way

2008-06-09T08:45:00.000+08:00

Robots that use "guesswork" to navigate through unfamiliar surroundings are being developed by US researchers. The mobile machines create maps of areas they have already explored and then use this information to predict what unknown environments will be like.

Robot unravels mystery of walking

2008-06-09T08:44:00.000+08:00

Roboticists are using the lessons of a 1930s human physiologist to build the world's fastest walking robot. Runbot is a self-learning, dynamic robot, which has been built around the theories of Nikolai Bernstein. "Getting a robot to walk like a human requires a dynamic machine," said Professor Florentin Woergoetter.

Robot dogs

2008-06-09T08:43:00.000+08:00

A timid-looking four-legged robot about the size of a Chihuahua might seem like an unlikely companion for soldiers of the future. Yet the robot, called LittleDog, could ultimately help researchers create more sophisticated robotic assistants for military personnel, including automated "pack-mules" capable of hauling heavy loads over tough terrain.

The rise of the emotional robot

2008-06-09T08:42:00.000+08:00

Duke is careering noisily across a living room floor resplendent in the dark blue and white colours of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. He's no student but a disc-shaped robotic vacuum cleaner called the Roomba. Not only have his owners dressed him up, they have also given him a name and gender.

USB Robot Cam resembles Asimo

2008-06-09T08:38:00.000+08:00

USB webcams come in all shapes and sizes, but rarely do we see a case of separation at birth as evident by this USB Robot Cam. When placed side by side with Honda's uber expensive Asimo, the similarities start to shine. The USB Robot Cam, however, features white LED eyes and red LED ears that light up whenever the surrounding brightness is at a low level. Don't expect anything more than the standard VGA resolution results to come with the USB Robot Cam though. I suppose you can sit this $24 webcam atop your monitor comfortably without any problems whatsoever.

The Bump Robot

2008-06-09T08:34:00.000+08:00

Attach the bump sensor to the front of your robot and it can detect an obstacle, manouevre around it and continue on its way.

Robotic spiders

2008-06-08T02:33:00.000+08:00

It could very well be a scene from the latest science fiction movie, but with the development of robotic insects which have the ability to travel over enemy lines; it looks like the US defence department is following the "life imitates art" maxim to its fullest extent.

British defence and aerospace company BAE systems have been designing and creating a bevy of robotic snakes, spiders and insects that can sneak across enemy lines and enter small spaces that men cant reach, and report information back.

BAE has just signed a contract for the development of the robots for the US Army, the UK's Daily Mail reported.

Some robots will have the ability to detect chemical or biological weapons, while others will have surveillance cameras to obtain critical visual information in combat operations.

"What we are doing is providing an enhanced awareness for soldiers, basically an extension to their eyes and ears," said Steve Scalera, program manager. "The creatures have external sensors. They can be tossed out into a building or a cave or even a pile of rubble and then send images back to the troops."

"The idea is to get a number of these working together – some tiny, some maybe up to a foot in length, and all going into a building together carrying out different tasks. Eventually we hope to have animals flying and slithering," said Scalera.

violin robotic

2008-06-08T02:29:00.000+08:00

Toyota Motor Corp.'s new violin robot performs during a press unveiling in Tokyo Thursday, Dec. 6, 2007. Compared to a virtuoso, its rendition was a trifle stilted and, well, robotic. But Toyota's new robot plays a pretty solid "Pomp and Circumstance" on the violin. The 152-centimeter (five-foot)-tall all-white robot used its mechanical fingers to push the strings correctly and bowed with its other arm, coordinating the movements well.

Cyborg hand

2008-06-08T02:25:00.000+08:00

New Scientist Tech - Breaking News - Robot hand controlled by thought alone:

"A robotic hand controlled by the power of thought alone has been demonstrated by researchers in Japan.

The robotic hand mimics the movements of a person's real hand, based on real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of their brain activity. It marks another landmark in the advance towards prosthetics and computers that can be operating by thought alone.

The system was developed by Yukiyasu Kamitani and colleagues from the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories in Kyoto, and researchers from the Honda Research Institute in Saitama.

Subjects lay inside an MRI scanner and were asked to make 'rock, paper, scissor' shapes with their right hand. As they did this, the MRI scanner recorded brain activity during the formation of each shape and fed this data to a connected computer. After a short training period, the computer was able to recognise the brain activity associated with each shape and command the robotic appendage do the same."

robotic car race

2008-06-08T02:19:00.002+08:00

Stanley, the Stanford Racing Team’s enhanced Volkswagen Touareg, has made the semifinals of the Grand Challenge robotic car race sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The Stanford Racing Team is one step closer to the $2 million prize for the 2005 Grand Challenge robotic car race. The three-part competition, sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is at its second phase, where the 195 initial competitors have been narrowed down to 40 semifinalists who are set to race in heats from Sept. 27 to Oct. 5. The subsequent and final Grand Challenge event will take place on Oct. 8 and will consist of just 20 vehicles racing for the win.

On June 6, the Stanford team's enhanced Volkswagen Touareg, dubbed Stanley, was named a semifinalist. Stanley qualified by flawlessly completing three passes through an S-shaped course strewn with randomly placed trashcans in Barstow, Calif.

But the driverless vehicle wasn't finished there. "As a grand finale, Stanley did an optional 'extra credit' run along last year's Grand Challenge course, driving as fast as DARPA's speed limits would allow," says team member David Stavens, a graduate student in computer science.

Team member Cedric Dupont, senior research engineer for Volkswagen, a primary supporter of the racing team along with Android and Mohr Davidow Ventures, adds, "We are obviously extremely pleased with the performance of the vehicle."

Stanley won't have much time to bask in the glory of its success to date. The vehicle will soon have to compete against the other contestants along the California Speedway in Fontana. Although the course details have not yet been revealed, the Fontana race will include moving and static obstacles for the vehicles to detect and avoid.

However grueling the course may be, the Stanford team is laboring to ensure another stellar performance. After recent testing in Barstow, Dupont says that the vehicle "has proven once more that it is perfectly suited to the harsh conditions it will encounter during the race."

The final competition on Oct. 8 will consist of the remaining vehicles racing against time and each other. The finalists' task will be to navigate a 150-mile course stretching somewhere between Los Angeles and Las Vegas in less than 10 hours.

Win, lose or draw, the work of the Stanford Racing Team will not go unrewarded. Says Stavens: "Of course we want Stanley to win this historic race, but we also feel that whether we win or not, we can also lay the groundwork for future innovations in automotive safety and advance knowledge in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence."

Swarm robotic

2008-06-07T21:12:00.000+08:00

Swarm robotics is inspired by the social insect metaphor, and emphasises aspects such as decentralisation of control, limited communication abilities among robots, use of local information, emergence of global behaviour, and robustness. Most current studies in swarm robotic systems have focused on robotic swarms in which individuals are physically and behaviourally undifferentiated.

The Swarmanoid project proposes a highly innovative way to build robots that can successfully and adaptively act in human made environments. The Swarmanoid project will be the first to study how to design, realise and control a heterogeneous swarm robotic system capable of operating in a fully 3-dimensional environment.

The main scientific objective of the proposed research is the design, implementation and control of a novel distributed robotic system comprising heterogeneous, dynamically connected small autonomous robots so as to form what we call a swarmanoid. The swarmanoid that we intend to build will be comprised of numerous (about 60) autonomous robots of three types: eye-bots, hand-bots, and foot-bots.

Eye-bots are specialised in sensing and analysing the environment from a high position to provide an overview that foot-bots or hand-bots cannot have. Eye-bots fly or are attached to the ceiling. Hand-bots are specialised in moving and acting in a space zone between the one covered by the foot-bots (the ground) and the one covered by the eye-bots (the ceiling). Hand-bots can climb vertical surfaces of walls or objects located in the environment. Foot-bots are specialised in moving on rough terrain and transporting either objects or other robots; they are based on the robotic platform developed within the European Swarm-bots project. The combination of these three types of autonomous agents form an heterogeneous robotic system that is capable of moving in a 3D space.

In addition to the construction of the robots, important scientific contributions will be in the development of distributed algorithms for the control of the swarmanoid and in the study and definition of distributed communication protocols that will make it possible to let the swarmanoid act in a distributed, robust, and scalable way.

A collection of specialized robots that work together to work with people and perform complex tasks. Eventually with micro or nano versions of swarmaniods they could assemble like the Replicators in Stargate.

Swarmanoids could also lead to utility fogs and foglets

Dyson DC06 Robotic UltraVac

2008-06-07T21:07:00.002+08:00

Dyson DC06 robotic vacuum cleaner looks to humiliate all the Roombas and Electrolux robots currently out there eating up cat hair with its ‘Dual-Cyclone’ action. Nice robot.

monkey do with robot arm

2008-06-07T21:05:00.000+08:00

Reuters

MONKEY HELPER: A screenshot showing a trained monkey controlling a robotic arm using only its brain to feed itself a marshmallow, a neuroscience first.

Using only its brainpower, a monkey can direct a robotic arm to pluck a marshmallow from a skewer and stuff it into its mouth, researchers said.

"They are using a motorized prosthetic arm to reach out, grab and bring the food back to their face," said Andrew Schwartz of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, whose study will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal Nature.

Schwartz said the technology behind this feat may lead to brain-powered prosthetic limbs for people with spinal cord injuries or disabling diseases that make such simple tasks impossible.

Until now, such brain-machine interfaces have been used to control cursor movements on a computer screen. Schwartz and colleagues wanted to apply the technology to real-world tasks.

The monkey guides the robot arm the same way it does its natural limbs, through brain signals.

Schwartz' team picks up those signals through an array of microelectrodes half the size of a thumbtack that has been implanted in the monkey's brain. These signals are amplified and relayed to a computer that operates the robotic arm.

Schwartz said his team has learned that certain motor neurons fire rapidly when the monkey wants to move a certain way. "What is important is each neuron seems to have a preferred direction," Schwartz said in a telephone interview.

"One cell will fire a lot if you move upward. Another cell will fire a lot if you move to the right. All you really need to do is listen to these neurons at the same time to determine which direction the animal wants to move in," he said.

Endurance set to explore Europa

2008-06-07T21:01:00.000+08:00

Three months ago, I mentioned DEPTHX, a robot built to explore deep water in Mexico. Now, scientists from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and NASA are working on a reengineered version of the robotic probe. This new autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) will be called ENDURANCE. This robotic device will be used to map the icy waters of Antarctica. It will perform two exploration campaigns of West Lake Bonney, a lake perpetually trapped beneath 12 to 15 feet of ice in 2008 and 2009. Then it will be redesigned again to explore gigantic Antarctica's Lake Vostok and maybe one day the icy oceans of Europa, one of Jupiter's moons.

Like DEPTHX, ENDURANCE will be built by Stone Aerospace, a Texas-based company. By the way, ENDURANCE is an acronym for "Environmentally Non-Disturbing Under-ice Robotic ANtarctiC Explorer." On the left, you can see how the equipments and the embedded systems of the AUV. (Credit: Stone Aerospace). Here are two links to a larger version of this illustration and to the ENDURANCE web page which contains lots of technical details about this robotic explorer.

But why designing a robot to explore the icy waters of Antarctica? Peter Doran, an associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at UIC, who is the lead investigator for this project, and whose research interests are focused on modern hydrological and biogeochemical processes in polar lake systems, said that "our goal is to build a submersible autonomous underwater vehicle to map in 3-D the geochemistry and biology of this ice-covered lake."

And what is ENDURANCE's schedule? It will be "tested next February in an ice-covered Wisconsin lake before making the trip to Antarctica in November. ENDURANCE will map Bonney for a month, then do a second mapping in 2009. Data gathered will be relayed back to Chicago where it will be used by UIC's Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) to generate various 3-D images, maps and data renderings of the lake."

In "A Tool for Finding Life in Outer Space," Technology Review gives additional details about the technologies used by this AUV.

"While the propulsion and navigation systems between [endurance and depthx] will be similar, the science package will be completely different," says Peter Doran, an associate professor of earth and environmental sciences at UIC and the project's lead investigator, who formulated the initial proposal. "We are building an entirely new vehicle to discover how to best map a large water body covered in ice." Both systems are being funded by NASA and engineered by Stone Aerospace.

Unlike depthx, which swims through the warm water at various depths using visualization systems and which takes water samples to gather data, endurance will be dropped into the water through a drill or a melt hole in the ice and will swim at the top of the water. Tethered to it will be a deployable package that includes a new set of sensors designed to detect organic molecules and characterize life forms. By lowering the package into certain study areas, scientists will help preserve Antarctica's pristine environment. An onboard flash drive will gather the data to be relayed back to a visualization laboratory in Chicago that will generate 3-D images, maps, and graphics of the lake.

ENDURANCE, which is funded by NASA's Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets program (ASTEP), will explore another lake before going one day into space. Let's return to the UIC news release for additional details.

If the autonomous vehicle works well, the next goal is sending a much smaller version of ENDURANCE to probe Antarctica's massive, Lake Ontario-sized Lake Vostok, which sits under more than two-and-a-half miles of ice. Some water in Vostok hasn't had contact with the earth's atmosphere in over a million years. "The lessons learned from mapping out Bonney will be important for developing strategies for exploring Vostok and icy moons, like Europa," said Doran. "You're not going to send people there, so you have to develop autonomous ways to do it."

Tuning your guitar with Robot Precision

2008-06-07T20:59:00.002+08:00

String Master Guitar Tuner

The String Master Guitar Tuner is unlike any guitar tuner you’ve ever used. Our robotic technology makes our guitar tuner the easiest and most fun to use guitar tuner available. String Master Robotic guitar tuner is the cutting edge in guitar tuner technology. The String Master robotic guitar tuner is simply the most amazing guitar tuner ever invented. All you do is hold String Master on each tuning peg and pluck the string. String Master listens to the sound and its powerful gear motor actually turns the peg for you until that string is tuned to perfect pitch.

String Master uses advanced microprocessor technology to sample the sound several times, eliminating harmonics and overtones that plague other tuners and lead to inaccurate tuning. This makes String Master far superior to other guitar tuners.

String Master is also the only guitar tuner that can re-string your guitar; automatically unwinding the old string and winding the new string with a push of a button.

There is no other guitar tuner like this in the world!

Whether you are a professional musician or just picking up a guitar for the first time, you will find the String Master robotic guitar tuner incredibly easy to use and dead-on accurate.

one trees

2008-06-07T20:59:00.001+08:00

An information envionrment that involves electronic and biological instrumentation using a distributed instrument of genetically identical(cloned) trees planted throughout the SF bay area; electronic clones; CO2 meters.

OneTree(s) is a public experiment that generates (material, scientific and cultural) evidence and public spectacles on issues of environmental and political concern. In the case of OneTrees, global warming, air quality, and genetically modified organisms (gmos) are currently being addressed. Other issues and parameters are in development.

Additionally the OneTrees project can be contrasted to mainstream representations of global environmental issues. The popular press introduces these into the public imagination as scientific discoveries and facts, with no access to the material evidence on which the truth claims are based. This promotes the passive consumption of ‘facts’ vs the active interpretation, even contestation that we can see in the OneTrees ‘faqs’. Below, is a selection of FAQs that viewers have addressed to the OneTrees project, demonstrating some of the complex questions that the public viewers pose, and engage.

Robotic Geese

2008-06-07T20:55:00.000+08:00

Robotic Geese are remote controlled goose robots that enable participants or robotic goose drivers (aka goosers) to interact with actual geese in urban contexts. The robotic goose interface allows people to approach the birds, follow them closely and interact in a variety of ways that would not otherwise be possible without this interface. The goose drivers can ‘talk to’ the geese, issuing utterances through the robotic interface, delivering prerecorded goose ‘words,’ their own vocal impersonations, or other sounds (such as goose flute hunting calls). Each utterance via the robotic goose triggers the camera in the robot’s head to capture 2-4 seconds of video recording the responses of the actual biological geese. These video samples upload to the public web-based goosespeak database that the participants can annotate, i.e. “the goose was telling me to go away,” “he was saying Hi.” As this database of goose responses accretes, redundancy and correlations in the annotations may provide robust semantic descriptors of the library of video clips.

Natalie Jeremijenko Robotic Goose launch from xDesign Project on Vimeo.

What the goose can do

+ GOOSE = AUDIBLE: The sounds that the geese make will be channeled into the gallery to the goose cockpit from the mikes embedded in Leda; where they will be matched against similar sounds. If a translation exists the goose call will be translated into human.

+ GOOSE = VISIBLE: They can see you goosing inside the gallery they can trigger the camera in leda head pushing images to you. geese trigger the camera on by uttering something in close proximity to the Leda, or by pecking at Leda (mike triggered).

+ GOOSE = ACTIONS:

They can follow chase, attack, push or avoid Leda, communicating how much they like or don’t like the human behavior Leda is channeling.
They can use other (subtle) social and visible cues to communicate with Leda (ie. you); turn their back to you; or wing fluffing to warn you or scare you
They can play with you.

What people can do

+ PEOPLE = ACTIONS:

You can follow the geese: you can direct Leda for ward or turn left or right. (no backwards)
You can chase a goose; you can be chased; you can drive around in circles and see what the geese think of that;
You can chase, attack or talk to a person who is in the geese’s environment (i.e. you can provide some security services for the geese);.

+ PEOPLE = VERBAL:

You can talk to the geese or a goose from the cockpit inside the gallery. you can recorda conversation with the geese to the public database; (you can annotate the file with an interpretation of what you think happened in the database remotely)
You can try your own goose impersonation sounds directly using Leda ventriloquism; and you can save these to a database if you get any interesting response. Leda will open its mouth when you speak issuing; controlled by your goose mouth action shadow.

+ PEOPLE = VISIBLE: You can turn on Leda’ video camera and get a close up view of the interaction; you can save that piece of video to a database with an annotation of why it was interesting, what you thought the interaction was about. [ see Learning Goose ]

go to the project website

Goosing_ 7714: a folorn leda [robotic goose 5.6] piloted by humans ashore experiences social rejection from her biological counterparts from OOZ Goose translation database, February 15, 2004. Robotic goose, goose control system, uncaged feral geese in urban setting, and database of annotated audio and video clips, using php scripting, MySQL database on Apache webserver, dimensions variable. Collection De Verbeelding art landscape nature, the Netherlands

Robo-roach on the warpath

2008-06-07T20:49:00.000+08:00

You may think there are more than enough cockroaches populating the kitchens of the world, but scientists in Europe have successfully built a fully functioning robotic version of the creepy critter that can mimic both their behaviour and smell.

These robo-roaches have not been developed so much out of reverence, but with the goal of finding ways of adapting their behaviour as a means of natural pest control.

While it looks nothing like a cockroach, demonstrations of the robot have shown that smell and behaviour are enough to fool its living comrades.

Using natural pheromones, the match-box sized robo-roach bonds with other cockroaches, fooling them into believing it is one of them.

According to the report in New Scientist, this allows the robo-roach to tap into a collective intelligence used by cockroaches and many other insects and by mimicking particular behaviours can imbue them with a leadership role.

Developed by scientists from France, Belgium and Switzerland, the robot has the official name of "insbot". It runs on wheels and contains several computer processors connected to cameras and proximity sensors helping it to avoid obstacles and other cockroaches.

Using its position in the group, researchers are hoping it can be used to lure other cockroaches out of their dark hide-aways into areas where they can be targeted by pest controllers.

Although the robo-roaches were built over a number of years, the most recent challenge was to find ways to incorporate pheromones that would allow communication and build trust within communities.

Roboticist Jean-Louis Deneubourg from the Free University in Brussels told New Scientist:"If you don't put the pheromone molecules on them, the cockroaches get scared because they are afraid it is a predator" . Robo-roach behaviour is based on a mathematical model of actual cockroach behaviour created from scientific observation. A robot can manipulate the behaviour of the whole group by exploiting elements that cause cockroaches to follow one another.

As well as helping to control cockroach infestations, researchers believe the robot could help to create other forms of artificial intelligence.

They are also studying other animals such as sheep and chicken, to find similar means of influencing their natural behaviour.

Roboreptile at London Zoo

2008-06-07T04:52:00.001+08:00

Roboreptile, a robotic lizard, has been put in a tank with real reptiles at London Zoo in an experiment to see what would happen.

VEX RCR MINI, WIFI CONTROL SYSTEM

2008-06-07T04:51:00.001+08:00

Innovation First sure looks to be keeping up a steady pace with its VEX robotics system, with the company now following up its recently released ROBOTC programming kit with its new VEX RCR Mini kit and a new WiFi control system. The former, as you've no doubt surmised, is a smaller and less expensive version of Innovation's standard VEX system, which it thinks will be particularly appealing to students from elementary school on up. The VEX WiFi Control System, on the other hand, will apparently work with all VEX robots, and somewhat ominously, allows for "simultaneous operation of hundreds of robots wirelessly." No word on a price or exact release date for the WiFi system just yet, but you can look for the VEX RCR Mini to be available this August for "less than $100."

Source :Robot-Zone

Lance already got to the HexBugs that were a featured toy for this company at Toy Fair this year. And we've written in the past about the VEX Robotics Design System, a robot-building platform for serious enthusiasts that sells for around $300.

Lying in the middle ground between cute, inexpensive toys and pricey, serious systems are the upcoming VEX RCR Mini kits. As with the higher-end VEX kits, you'll be able to follow plans to build specific little bots or create your own. The kit will be less than $100, though; it'll come wiht 300 parts, though additional accessories will be available; and most/all of the parts will work with the original VEX kit, in case you decide to upgrade. Look for the Mini kits in August.

Source : Gearlog

In the relatively short history of robotic kits on the commercial market, a wide chasm has existed between the Lego Mindstorms packages and the far more complex, high-end fare offered by makers such as Evolution Robotics. The Radio Shack VEX Robotics Design System bridges that gap with an accessible, yet not-too-simple robo kit for kids in their early to mid-teens. In fact, this well-machined, decently documented kit succeeds as a helpful introduction for roboticists of virtually any age.

The VEX system arrives in a box roughly 18 by 24 by 8 inches (HWD), filled with Erector Set-style bars, screws, nuts, actuators, motors, wheels, and gears, and a binder full of instructions. The manual is not only helpful—it's completely necessary for beginners. It offers a comprehensive look at the hundreds of VEX parts and a step-by-step guide for building your first robot. Our only complaint with the documentation is that it identifies the different sets of Allen wrench screws by their size and width. The packets each set of screws comes in do not repeat these naming conventions, so you have to eyeball the pictures and the screws to make a match. That's pretty much impossible. Fortunately, the primary difference on most of the screws is length.

HOWTO make a robotic ElmoSapien chimera

2008-06-07T04:49:00.001+08:00

The ElmoSapien project shows you how to eviscerate an Elmo handpuppet and stretch its skin taut over a RoboSapien robot, load an Elmo "personality" into the robot, and terrorize the neighborhood children. Link (via IZ Reloaded)

robot chess

2008-06-07T04:48:00.000+08:00

The Chess Board Manipulator's robotic arm moves chess pieces. The mobile Surveillance Robot broadcasts video over a local area network.

Web site: http://youtube.com/watch?v=4ej-sGGwJio

robot soccer

2008-06-07T04:46:00.000+08:00

Media Credit: Peter Franklin

Associate professor Peter Stone is currently utilizing a fellowship fund to research programming for robotic soccer.

An associate computer sciences professor will spend a year in Israel studying the use of teams of robots for rescue situations.

Peter Stone said robots can be employed for rescue operations following natural disasters. He recently received a 2008 Guggenheim Fellowship, which will fund his research.

"At a disaster scene, people go and look for victims, but it is less risky for the building to collapse on robots," Stone said. "This also happened during 9/11. People brought in individual robots to help with the rescue."

Because robots are usually programmed by different people, they are often unable to coordinate and share information with each other, which poses a problem during rescue operations.

Stone's study of collaborative robots is related to another avenue of study he has been pursuing at UT: robotic soccer.

Stone became interested in robotics as a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University when he saw a demonstration of a one-on-one game of robotic soccer. As a soccer player, Stone was interested in the demonstration because it combined the sport with his interest in artificial intelligence.

He wrote his graduate thesis on robotic soccer and started the UT Austin Villa robotic soccer team in 2002 after he began teaching at the University.

Robots must be programmed to collaborate with one another during a soccer game. Though the same group of people programs the robots, the team plays against other robotic teams that have been programmed differently. Stone used the domain of robotic soccer to study the interaction of robots programmed by different individuals.

Robotic soccer inspired computer sciences graduate student Daniel Stronger to study how robots can be used in several situations, from rescue missions to assisting elderly people in their homes.

Stronger took a class taught by Stone in 2003 where he programmed the soccer team. After completing the class, he worked with the soccer team from 2003 to 2005.

His graduate thesis explores programming robots to adapt to new environments.

"The idea is to get a robot to autonomously move to a place they've never been before," Stronger said. "The long-term goal is for the robot to learn all sorts of things and understand the world around it analogous to how we do."

Robotic skeleton to fight paralysis

2008-06-07T04:38:00.000+08:00

(Credit: Ubergizmo)

Lest there be any doubt, the science of robotics isn't being used only to produce novelty toys or to populate Japan's service industry. This robotic skeleton, by contrast, has been developed by Japanese researchers with a decidedly humanitarian goal: to help the partially paralyzed regain movement.

Using the synthetic blue muscles of the exoskeleton pictured here, patients can theoretically help their limbs relearn their intended motions. A paralyzed left arm, for example, can mimic the movement of a healthy right one to help patients remember "the feeling of moving the arm themselves," according to Ubergizmo. The skeleton, developed jointly by Panasonic and Kobe Gakuin University, weighs about 4 pounds and could be on the market by 2009

Rubber Grip Sheets for securing hardware

2008-06-07T04:34:00.001+08:00

We wanted to let everyone know about something new we discovered recently. While trying to figure out a simple way to keep batteries and hardware in place on our robots we wanted a solution that was simple and flexible. We didn’t want to have to build complex harnesses or framework because we weren’t sure of where the final placement of everything would be. Through trial and error we discovered the wonderfully elegant solution of using soft rubber sheets.

We cut sheets to our desired size and put them under our batteries and other components. These sheets are so sticky that the weight of the battery alone would seal it to the base plate so well we could tilt the bot almost perpendicular to the ground and the batteries would stay in place. In fact, after the batteries had sat for a few days you could lift the base off the ground by just holding onto the batteries. Without any straps! Delighted we knew we had found a handy way for securing hardware without drilling a zillion holes.

By adding Velcro straps you have a solution which keeps your hardware in place very securely, but without the permanence of bolts. It makes for quick adjustments and swap outs. Anyone who works with bots knows that it can be a pain to reach into tight corners to unscrew items that need adjusting or replacing.

Robot Technologies

2008-06-07T04:33:00.001+08:00

A Robot is usually an extremely complex machine which integrates Science & Engineering. The better and more sophisticated the technology, the higher performing the robot is. Each technology used in the robotic system has its own challenges to offer.
The DLR Hand from German Aerospace Center, Germany
is a great example of how many different technologies are
needed for a robotic system

Robot goat

2008-06-07T04:31:00.000+08:00

Unlucky gamblers at the Edogawa Kyotei boat race course in Tokyo have a new way to ease their frustrations after botching a bet — they can feed their losing tickets to a robotic goat. Edogawa Kyotei enlisted the help of the ticket-munching robo-goat at the end of last month in an effort to reduce litter inside the facility. The 1.6-meter tall Rocky Mountain goat, which has a thick coat of white fur and ticket-detecting sensors in its mouth, devours about 500 tickets per day — many of which would otherwise end up on the floor. The goatkeeper says, “It eats up your frustrations so that you will have better luck with the next race.”

Robotic Operating Buddy

2008-06-07T04:30:00.000+08:00

R.O.B. the Robotic Operating Buddy was introduced with the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985 as a marketing pull mostly. It was a gimmick that was just created mainly to get people to buy systems. R.O.B. stood 9.5 inches tall and only used two games: Gyromite and Stack Up. Gyromite came with R.O.B. at it's initial release and a set of spinning gyros. Stack Up came with a set of colored blocks for R.O.B. All R.O.B. did was stack and match the onscreen image by moving left to right and up and down, setting the items in place.

	Famicom version of the R.O.B.
	Who could resist these eyes? The two cosmetically different R.O.B.s. One had a flat faced Infared cover and the other had the "eye" shapes.
	Hands of the R.O.B.s that grip the Gyros

Augmented Body and Virtual Body

2008-06-07T04:29:00.000+08:00

Abstract

The big idea is to put a human being into a system where many machines act as an extension of the body. I am a composer and I want to control a robot orchestra, video images and videotext using a "BodySuit". All this within the conceptual framework of Music Theatre and a musical composition (Fig.1).

Fig.1: The performance of "Augmented Body and Virtual Body" in Nantes, France, in November 2005. (C) Utopiales

1. About the work

In the project, robots play musical instruments. The robots are controlled by the BodySuit in real time (Fig.2).

Fig.2: BodySuit

The robots ("RoboticMusic") are basically simple mechanical actuators (Fig.3).

Fig.3: There is a special sort of springs in the arm of the robot. At the end of this, it holds a mallet.

They do however, suggest human body parts: arms and hands, which play the instruments (Fig.4).

Fig.4: RoboticMusic. From the left to right, Gong, Bass Drum, Tom-toms, Snare, Pipes.

There will be a sufficient number of these robots to suggest a small orchestra. The robots are both musicians and actors (Fig.5).

Fig.5: Pipe Robot appears behind the Cymbal Robot on this photo. Pipe robot changes the pitches according to the speed of spins.

Central to the project is the composition: a musical composition and a set of algorithms, which will enable me to realize this composition in real time.

2. Music Theater

In this Music Theater the robots and BodySuit are the main protagonists with live players, computer sound, video images, and text in the secondary roles. This is not a multimedia super-sensorium. On the contrary: the whole project concentrates on a single-minded reinforcement of the central theme: Augmented Body and Virtual Body. All structured by a richly-textured musical composition (Fig.6).

Fig.6: This system is applied to a music theater work. There is a 3D image (by Yann Bertrand) behind RoboticMusic.

3. Text

Like the video image and the sound, the text is also used to reinforce the theme Augmented Body and Virtual Body. The text is treated both as visual material on the video screens and spoken by a real or synthetic voice. Both versions of the text are gradually altered by logical rules - as if playing a game - and are slowly morphed into another meaning. My initial idea was to process the text, “A Thousand Plateaus” by Gilles Deleuze & Felix Guattari, and "To Have Done With The Judgment Of God" by Antonin Artaud (Fig.7).

Fig.7: A performance with "BodySuit" and "RoboticMusic." A photo from its rehearsal.

4. The Theme: Augmented Body and Virtual Body

Having explained the ingredients, I will explain how they will be used to realize the theme Augmented Body and Virtual Body.
The Music Theater weaves a pattern but it is an iridescent and puzzling pattern, interpenetrating and recursive. Augmented Body and Virtual Body convey a sense of duality, a sense of opposition and a sense of similarity. Take, for example, a robot playing a percussion instrument in a duet with the "BodySuit". Similar musical materials will be produced by equivalent gestures. This reveals that a robot plays with an efficient but mechanical gesture, while the "BodySuit" performs naturally and with expression. The point is not whether one is inferior to the other but that they coexist, are equivalent, and different. The materials of Virtual Body and Real Body are both virtual and real, depending on the situation and on definitions. Unlike a human performer playing a Virtual Musical Instrument, the BodySuit is real and controls real physical robots, but these robots are designed to suggest imaginary human bodies. Furthermore the realistic body images or semi-realistic computer graphics seen as video are only one electron thick and so don't have much material existence at all whereas the players, the robots and the performer are real enough and on stage.

5. Composition

The composition emphasizes and exploits the differences between real instruments and robotic instruments and synthetic computer sounds. The computer sound largely contains the texture sound, but a succession of blocks can be dangerous. It may be simplified to provide a clearer texture. Rhythm, pulse, continuation can be clear and emphasized. A clearer horizontal and vertical line can be established, instead of mere heterophony. Heterophony like texture is based upon a single material, and then it is repeated and juxtaposed over and over, like making flaky pastry. The problems appear when the texture changes in another section. It will be heard as a lack of consistency in composition. Less repetition, less juxtaposition, and more materials are one of the solutions. This creates a clearer texture. When several materials are integrated in one section, it becomes easier to transform to a new section and a new texture. The ratio of appearance in events can be controlled by algorithm. If this happens at a micro-level, and it changes too often, the texture becomes too complicated. When these complicated textures change, one may find a difficulty to change one to another. Another solution is for the duration of each material to be sustained longer. Another one is to retain similar textures, instead of changing radically. However, the danger is the music can contain an impression of being rough. The fundamental question can be resolved by a sense of balance, a sense of logical process and by taste.

As the section changes, the combinations will be changed as an ensemble:
a. Robot solo.
b. Computer sound solo.
c. Robot and computer
d. Voice solo
e. Instrument solo
f. BodySuit and robot
g. BodySuit and computer
h. BodySuit, robot, and computer

Fig.6: Upper half of body with BodySuit. The 12 bending sensors are placed on each joint of body.

The robots are controlled by the following algorithms:
a. Orchestra, as one
b. Interactive with movement of body with sensors
c. Mathematical algorithm in a complex manner
d. Each robot is treated as an individual
e. Or, the complement of the whole is treated as one big creature

6. Work Points

The project is a discussion of:

Existence and physical reality
The group and the individual
The physical world and a body
The body and perception
Augmented Body and Virtual Body

Robotic eXperiment

2008-06-07T04:25:00.000+08:00

Project Description

This is my newest robotic project. It's going to be the basis of all my future robotics endeavours. I'm ready to devote a lot of time on this so that I end up with a solid mobile base for experimenting with more advanced concepts like camera-based vision, automatic map-building, etc...

But for now I've decided to use it to build a fire-fighter to participate in the Trinity College Fire-Fighting Robot Competition in Hartford. I'm currently aiming to enter the contest in the non dead-reckoning mode with 'alarm start'.

Here's the floor plan.

This is a very good exercise as it mimics a house which is what the future robot will have to tackle anyways. The first step is to develop a robust and flexible mobile base, then implement a very precise PID controller for it. Add some basic sensors to be able to avoid obstacles and follow walls, a bit of programming and the rest is all fun!

Source code, schematics and all documentation will added here as I progress.

Specifications

Dimensions
- Base Diameter: 27cm (11")
- Total Approx. Height: 26cm (10")
Hardware
- Atmel AtMega128 Microcontroller (custom made development board)
  - 4KBytes of SRAM
  - 128KBytes of FLASH
  - 4KBytes of EEPROM
  - Approx. 16 MIPS at 16Mhz!
  - Built-in I2C module
  - Hardware Multiplier!
- 24V (2x12V) 2.6Ah SLA Battery
- Differential drive steering using 2 high speed Mabuchi motors coupled to 150:1 gearboxes.
- L298 based motor controller (locked antiphase drive).
- Home-brew quadrature optical encoder (10 segments).
Software
- Three Layer Architecture based AI (see Software section for more details)
- Implemented using AVRX RTOS (Real-Time Operating System)
- Custom PID motor controller for precise dead-reckoning/odometry.
- Custom PD wall-following controller for fast & smooth handling.

Progress Status

Item Description	Status
Build Mmobile Base w/ decent power/speed motors and wheels.	Done
Get decent motors and wheels.	Done
Build decent cheap motor controller board.	Done
Add incremental encoders to the motors.	Done
Mount and wire up IR distance sensors.	Done
Prototype Sensors/Motors/Power circuitry interconnection boards.	Done
Port basic RTOS and Executive from last project.	Done.
Implement basic PID based Motion Control.	Done
Implement basic Wall Following behaviour.	Done
Upgrade encoders to full quadrature w/ higher resolution.	Done
Upgrade to AVR ATmega128 on STK-300 dev. board (from mega323 prototype).	Done
Build I/O interfacing daughterboard.	Done
Assemble and Mount Fan Assembly.	Done
Redesign the Power grid to reduce noise/interference and facilitate recharging.	Done
Prototype basic Motion Sensor circuitry.	Done
Implement basic I2C slave (for camera module).	Done
Assemble and Mount White Line Detectors	Done
Implement PLANNER layer.	Done
Transition current Subsumption Architecture to a Three Layer Architecture.	Done
Implement remaining behaviours.	Done
Implement behaviour based navigation algorithm.	Done
Make operating constants changeable at run-time (defaults stored in EEPROM).	Done
Design and test a better suspension system to tackle those evil new floor items.	Done
Build new bigger wheels to increase speed and clearance height.	Done
Complete Camera Module Software (make more reliable under varying light conditions).	Done
Implement a way to return to Home position after successfully extinguishing candle.	Done
Transfer SCM's hardware to a final PCB.	Done
Build a power supply board for the upper deck	Done
Test, Test and then Test some more!!	Done
Prototype and build Start Sound Signal Detector board.	Done
Profile motor & processor's power consumption & Optimize.	(Optional)

Hardware

Base

This is a picture of the base with the gearboxes and the two 12V 2.6Ah batteries installed (A very special thanks to Laslo 'The Man' Roska, for providing this nice base and batteries!):

Here's a picture of one the two Tamiya ball-bearing casters mounted under the base. Those are cheap (~10$ CND for a pack of 2) and have 4 different adjustable heights:

Here I added 4 aluminium treaded rods to be able to add platters to hold the electronics & sensors. The platter concept, when used with wing-nuts, permits quick disassembly and design flexibility.

So here's the final base with all the final PCBs in place (without the motors/encoders):

Suspension

Here's a few pictures of the Ball Bearing caster I used to replace the Tamiya one to provide for better handling of the new trinity floor ramps. Because of those new floor items/ramps (or should I say BRICK WALLS! aarrrgghhh!) I was forced to come up with a suspension system where the rear caster would take up the slack as the front caster is climing the ramp. Check it out:

UPDATE: I redid the whole suspension and it works quite well! I didn't try it with an actual pizza plate like they used yet but I tried it with a normal plate upside down and it worked ok! (and believe me, my plate has major dips/grooves in it and is really slippery!)

To get there: I quickly realised that whatever suspension I could come up with, it would never work because of the very limited ground clearance I had (around 1-1/4"). So I asked Chris, a fellow member of the Ottawa Robotics Enthusiasts club and mechanical guru, to help me redesign my wheels so I could:

Increase my ground clearance to about 2"
Increase the overall speed of the robot

So my wheel diameter jumped from 12cm to 16cm! (Which results in a 30% speed increase if I my calculations are good)

Here's a picture of the new Lexan wheels:

I now had plenty of space (too much actually!) to fit in 2 ball bearing casters and hinges. I had to buy a whole lot of various size springs to try and figure our which one would give the best firmness without bouncing too much. I ended up cutting one of the larger and softer springs for the final design. Here's the final suspension:

Motors

The two DC motors used in the drivetrain are Mabuchi RS-380SH-12300.
They are rated at 30V but run at peak efficiency at 24V, producing a fast 6400 RPM, and consuming a mere 310mA.
Click Here for the Specification Sheet (PDF format. 57Kbytes).

Sensors

Optical Encoders

Because I'm so cheap (and for the challenge), I decided to build my own optical encoders. Although the smaller Hamamatsu P5587 sensors would have been way nicer, I went with the Fairchild QRD1114 I already got from Digikey.

Here's a picture of the partially assembled optical encoder assembly: (sorry for the blurry pictures but my digital camera lacks a macro mode)
(Click on pictures to see at full resolution)

I used two small slotted plastic brackets to hold the optical sensor's PCB. The slots make the calibration and adjustment of the sensors a lot easier. The PCB were slid up and down the brackets until the desired sensitivity was obtained; at which point they were glued in place. The encoder disks were glued onto a little piece of cardboard and then epoxied on the rear end of the motor's shaft. It's fragile but with the proper glue and cardboard/paper combination it's solid enough to withstand continuous rotation.
Here's a shot of the final assembly:

These encoder disks have 8 segments (4 black, 4 white), which gives a total resolution of 8 encoder "clicks" per motor revolution. With a gearbox ratio of 150:1, it means I get 150 x 8 = 1200 clicks per wheel revolution. Using a PID frequency of 20Hz gives me around 19 clicks per PID cycle (at 100% PWM with 12V), which is not that much resolution. This is especially true at lower speeds when you start approaching 3-5 clicks/PID period. I could make the PID period longer but this would increase position errors and make the PID choppy so I'll stick with a 20Hz period for now. (Note that because the above results were obtained using a 12V battery. The final robot will be using two 12V batteries to maximize the motors' dynamic range)

After adjusting the position of the encoder assemly to a satisfactory level I realised the output of the QRD1114 was too noisy and the amplitude too low to be interpreted properly by a processor's input. To correct this problem I came up with a simple comparator design based on a LM324 quad Op-amp IC with an adjustable voltage threshold. After a bit of tweaking I had a nice and uniform square wave!

Here's the schematic for the encoder system.

Update: I recently decided to completely redo my optical encoders using smaller sensors (Sharp GP2S40) for increased resolution and by using two sensors per motor to generate quadrature output so the processor can determine the exact direction of rotation at all times. Although this robot is to compete in the non-dead-reckoning mode of the fire-fighting competition, I just felt that having higher resolution encoders would be useful for the future and also because I observed some weird readings with the old ones.

Following are pictures of the new and final encoders:


Planning stage	Precision work at its best! :)	Motors were drilled to screw in support rods.

Finished product (top)	Finished product (bottom)	Test encoder disk superglued to shaft.

Calibrated and assembled.	Final installed encoder with cover.

Here are the updated calculations for the new encoders:

1	No-load motor speed @ 24V	106 RPS (6400 RPM)
2	Number of encoder egments	10
3	Interrupts per motor revolution (full quadrature decoding)	[1] X 2 = 10 X 2 = 20 CPR
4	Interrupts per second (full quadrature decoding)	[1] X [3] = 106 X 20 = 2120 IPS
5	PID controller sample rate	50 Hz
6	Maximum ticks count per PID sample	[4] / [5] = 4240 / 50 = ~42 counts/PID sample
7	Gearbox ratio	150:1
8	Ticks per wheel revolution	[3] * [7] = 20 * 150 = 3000 ticks
9	Wheel Diameter	16 cm
10	Wheel Circumference	2 * PI * R = 2 * 3.1416 * (16/2) = 50.27 cm
11	Maximum Theorical Robot Speed	[4] / [8] * [10] = 2120 / 3000 * 50.27 = 35.53 cm/s

I finally got around to transferring all the electronics for the encoders to a small PCB:

Infrared Distance Measurement

Although sonars are cooler I've decided to use cheaper Sharp Infrared sensor for distance sensing. I went with the GP2D12 model which can measure distances from 10cm to 80cm and outputs an analog voltage representing the distance to the object.

Below is a diagram showing the placement of the Sharp sensors (Note that the side sensors are installed vertically to maximize their resolution):

This arrangement should permit the processor to easily follow a wall by calculating the difference between the two distance readings taken from sensors on the desired side. The result can then be fed into the main PID controller so the robot will try to maintain its target velocity while constantly realigning with the wall.

Here is what the finished upper platter looks like:

Now, the only problem with those Sharp sensors is that their output is inversed and non linear. This means a little more work is required to extract a distance (in cm for examples) from them. I've search quite a bit on the net and I've found quite a few equations that people have came up with and the one that seemed to match my sensors the best was:

Distance (cm) = 3402.5 * analog_reading^-1.0427

For this to work make sure that:

The ADC refence voltage is approx. 2.5V (The max output voltage of the Sharp GP2D12).
The ADC resolution is 8 bits. (0-255)

This maximizes the dynamic range of the ADC as it maps out the 0 - 2.5V output by the sensor to the 0 - 255 returned by the ADC.

Its' possible to have the processor calculate the result of the equation after every ADC sample but with 5 sensors and a decent sensor sample rate of 20Hz it would be awfully SLOW! (The AtMega128 I'm using does have a hardware multiplier but the AVR flavor of the GNU GCC compiler doesn't fully support it yet) Because I have plenty of FLASH (128KBytes!!) I decided to simply use a lookup table for speed. I wrote a simple little C program to generate the lookup table as a C array (see the source code for the actual table).

Here's the final Sharp IR range-finder connection PCB I made:

Note the addition of a 10uF capacitor between the Gnd and Vcc line to reduce the noise created by the 5 sensors sucking in current and switching.

Another thing I've read about and later experienced for myself is the amount of noise present on the analog output signal of the Sharp sensors: It can fluctuate from +/-200mV and sometimes spikes way higher! I've seen a few people on the web suggesting to connect a 4.7uF (I used 10uF) electrolytic capacitor between the signal and ground to smooth it out. Watching the signal on an oscilloscope, it proved to make a huge difference! Keep in mind that some people say it can affect the way the sensor works (the cap acts as a low-pass filter?) but I didn't run into anything odd during my testing.

Motion Sensor

I was planning on using one or two cheap outdoors motion detectors (the ones that turn on the lights when somebody is detected) I got for 10$ a piece at Canadian Tire a while ago (I knew I'd use it sooner or later!). I had to hack them and do a bit of reverse-engineering to find out where I could tap out a useable signal. This great site came in very handy as it provides a sample schematic which most cheap motion detector seem use as a reference design. Here's the schematic in question. The whole design is based on an LM324 quad Op-Amp IC: The two leftmost op-amps (IC1A & IC1B) are configured as a two-stage amplifier. The other two op-amps (IC1C & IC1D) are arranged as a window comparator which detects and asserts one of two outputs whenever the amplified signal crosses a preset upper and lower voltage threshold. This greatly simplifies my job as I can just have the CPU monitor these outputs and determine the detected motion's direction. I decided to further simplify things (for the trinity contest) and tap out the signal where the two op-amps' outputs are OR'ed together using the D3 and D4 diodes. Note that the rightmost part is unused in my case as the CD4538 IC (a different one is used in my actual hardware) is only used to keep the AC lamp on for a specified number of minutes once motion is detected. To summarize, I feed the signal normally going to pin 4 of IC2 as a way to tell the processor there was "some" motion detected, but keep in mind that for the trinity contest I will always know which way I'll be turning and because the candle is static the direction of motion is irrelevant here. Future robots will have to decode the full direction to figure out which way the human/cat/dog was moving in so it can follow them.


Hacking the El-cheapo motion sensors	A finished hack	temporarily mounted on robot with hood

Line Sensors

These are used to detect the "door frames" of the the various rooms in the house. I've decided to go with the ubiquitous QRB1114 opto device like most other competitors, mostly because I happened to have two unused ones.


What a bad soldering job!	Alignment tests	Final assembly

Update: I decided to move the two line sensors closer to the middle of the robot to prevent them from hitting the new ramps. Technically, the optimal place would be right under the motor axis as it would greatly simplify the "Align with Door frame" behaviour. Because of the lack of space to drill holes (batteries and motors/gearbox) I had to reuse the gearboxes L bracket's fasteners to hold the two line sensors at around 5cm in front of the motor axis. See picture below:

Update: I finally decided to move the two line sensors right under the motor axle as I should have done right from the start.

Update: OK! I know! These updates are getting ridiculous, but this time it was different. :) After the wheel redesign I had no choice but to move the line sensor again as the ground clearance was so much larger that the L backet holding the line sensors couldn't cut it. I think this final design looks perfect! I mad some nice brackets using old PC case expansion slot covers (you know, the ones you have to break out on new cases). The nice thing is that the sensors are real close to the wheels to prevent any mishap where the sensor would hit the floor items and bend or break.

Check it out:

Fan

I was planning on using an old high-speed 3" computer fan but after trying a really old hair dryer motor fan asembly I had lying around, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much it kicked ass! I'm not even sure what the voltage rating is on it, but I know that at 12V it's REALLY FAST and NOISY! The funny thing is, I only have 24V available on the top deck and being lazy I decided to run the fan at that voltage! It's like having the Concorde landing in your eardrum! :) It might not last long at that voltage though. It's so good that it blows a candle in less than a second at more than 50cm away! hihihi

Here's a picture of the finished assembly:

Here's the schematic of the fan control electronics:

SCM (Smart Camera Module)

This is the I2C based module that interfaces with the B/W Gameboy camera. Currently working in prototype form.

Heres a shot the prototype board and the hacked gameboy camera with the IR filter:

Here's the final SCM PCB:

And this is the final camera hood:

SCM's schematic coming up...

Power Grid

After running into noise/grounding problems I decided to go back and do my homework and research the subject better. Sure, it would be nice to completely avoid the problem by using two seperate batteries for logic and motors, but I'm already forced to cram two heavy batteries just for the motors so I'm not about to add a third one. Instead I'll redesign the power system so it reduces the noise as much as possible. Another feature I've been thinking about is a battery charging mode switch, I didn't feel like tackling this stuff right now as it's kind of boring compared with testing AI but I knew I would feel like doing it even less in a few months so I implemented it anyways. It's a really simple little switch that just disconnects the two batteries when I want to charge them.

Here's a diagram of a good power system I based my design on:

Other noise reduction tips (see Links section for more details):

If possible, use seperate batteries for motors/drivers and logic. Use optoisolators to physically seperate signals interfacing between the two (ie PWM signal to drivers).
Use a Star Grounding topology (all ground and supply lines come back to a single point).
Put Bypass Capacitors (0.1uF is good) between Supply and Ground lines of every IC and power connectors!
Twist noisy or high currents (motors!) power lines together to help cancel out the noise!.
Use ferrite beads on long power lines.
Put bypass capacitors on motor's terminals (as described in this Application note)

Here's the base's power block PCB which handles the power for the encoders, PWM and GP2D12 boards:

I decided to use a Power Trends PT78ST105H DC-DC converter as it has a nice 85%+ efficiency and can handle a hefty 1.5A.

Currently, all the upper electronics use the Vcc extracted from the STK-300 board's built-in LM317 regulator. I might have to add a seperate switching regulator later to give a break to LM317, as it's already getting pretty hot.

Update: Here's a picture of the top deck's power board I made to supply the SCM and any future additions. It uses a real nice LM2825 DC-DC switching regulator which is capable of 1A.

The Fan relay has it's own 7812 regulator to bring down the raw 24V to 12V.

Software

AI Overview

For my last two robots, I have be using the Subsumption Architecture developed by Professor Rodney A. Brooks at MIT (R. Brooks, '85, '86, '89, '90). This form of behaviour control makes it easy to build and modify very powerful task-oriented robots.

This time though, I'll be using the more modern Three Layer Architecture (TLA). In short, it's an hybrid architecture which uses both school of thoughts: the good old Model-based or SPA (Sense-Plan-Act) approach AND the more recent Behaviour/Reactive-based approach based off Mr. Brooks' controversial Subsumption Architecture. As the picture below depicts, this is accomplished by combining a high-level model-based PLANNER layer, a Behaviour-based SUBSUMPTION layer together with a low-level Motion-control CONTROLLER layer.

This provides major benefits that the Subsumption architecture lacked such as Complexity Management and Taskability. The Subsumption approach used a very rigid set of priorities and rules which required a lot of tweaking and thus made it real hard to maintain. Most importantly it made it next to impossible to have the robot perform a different task short of a total redesign. With the TLA approach, the PLANNER can selectively enable/disable and configure each behaviour at run-time, effectively modifying the task of the robot.

Development Tools & Source

To make this even more flexible I'll, again, be implementing all this on Larry Barello's excellent AvrX RTOS (Real-Time Operating System).

As the development tools I use the latest and greatest version (3.3) of the excellent GNU AVR-GCC compiler under Windows. (Thanks to Eric Weddington for his great WinAVR Windows distribution!)

Although the robot is far from complete I'll try to keep a more-or-less updated version of my source code available online for your viewing pleasure.

SOURCE CODE FOLDER

Motion Control

I've been reading a lot about closed-loop motion control algorithm and I definitely want to implement one for this project. Although a friend of mine suggested using fuzzy logic for this purpose I think I'll go with a classic PID controller.

My whole motion control code is based on Larry Barello's excellent paper on Motion Control.

I've been toying with a few odometry implementations and I seem to be having problems with GCC's floating point implementation or something. During my reasearch for the PID stuff I came accross a really nice Fuzzy Logic tutorial and after serious consideration I might ditch the PID controller in favor of a more flexible Fuzzy Controller. I was blown away by the simplicity of the whole thing. PID controllers are known to be hard to tune and once they are, any changes in load or system characteristics requires retuning. I read a research which compared a PID and Fuzzy Controller and Fuzzy Logic came out on top. It was even able to handle load and other changes without retuning!

Update: I will be sticking with a classic PID implementation for this first version of the robot as I have already enough work ahead of me.
I finally got the odometry code to work thanks to the newest version of AVRGCC! (3.3)

It's not very precise but I only plan to use it for finding my way back to the door after entering and searching a room (and possibly extinguishing the candle!) To keep the errors to a minimum the code will reset the odmetry variables after the robot senses and aligns itself with the door-frame markers.

Wall Following Behaviour

This is a very important part of any firefighter robot as an efficient wall follower can negotiate the model house plan faster and without errors!

My algorithm is simple and strangely enough, it worked better than many, more complicated, ones I've seen around the net. It uses a simple PD (Proportional-Derivative) controller which keeps tracks of the approximate distance to the wall (equation #1) and the current angle to the angle (equation #2). These two results are then mixed (equation #3) to produce an error signal which is later fed in a PD equation (refer to srx1.c in source code folder):

current_distance = (d_front + d_back) / 2
current_attitude = (d_back - d_front)
error = (DISTANCE_SETPOINT - current_distance) + current_attitude

The F_P and F_D constants need to be tweaked to adjust the aggresiveness and/or smoothness of the PD controller.

Symphony robotic

2008-06-07T04:22:00.001+08:00

Don't miss this cool video of the Detroit Symphony performing "The Impossible Dream". being conducted by Asimo, a 1.3 metre (4ft 3in) tall robot designed by car manufacturer Honda.

Sensors Make Robot Skin

2008-06-07T04:21:00.000+08:00

In recent years, lots of efforts have been made to give robots the ability to hear and see. But what about the sense of touch? Unlike us, robots don't have sensitive skin. But this is about to change. By using organic, or plastic, field-effect transistors as pressure sensors deposited on a flexible material, researchers at the University of Tokyo have created an artificial skin which will give robots the sense of touch. The prototype has a density of 16 sensors per square centimeter, far from the 1,500 of our fingertips. When this density increases and when the problem of the reliability of this kind of transistors is solved, the researchers say this artificial skin will also be used for car seats or gym carpets. Expect to see them in four or five years. Read more...

Here are selected excerpts from the Technology Research News article.

Researchers from the University of Tokyo have devised pressure-sensor arrays that promise to give objects like rugs and robots the equivalent of one aspect of skin -- pressure sensitivity.

The researchers' pressure sensor arrays are built from inexpensive organic, or plastic, transistors on a flexible material. This allows for dense arrays that can be used over large areas.

The arrays could be used in pressure-sensitive coverings in hospitals, homes, gyms and cars to monitor people's health and performance, and eventually as skin that would give robots the means to interact more sensitively with their surroundings, said Takao Someya, an associate professor of electrical engineering at the University of Tokyo.

The sensor skin works even when rolled around a cylinder as small as 4 millimeters in diameter, said Someya. The researchers' prototype is an eight-centimeter-square sheet containing a 32-by-32 array of organic sensors -- a density of 16 sensors per square centimeter. In contrast, humans have 1,500 pressure sensors per square centimeter in the fingertips, though far fewer in most other places.

Here is a picture of a robotic hand using organic transistors as pressure sensors. (Credit: Takao Someya)

And what are possible applications?

The active-matrix design allows the arrays to be smart enough to enable specific sensors at certain feedback points to, for instance, monitor the heart and breathing rate of a hospital patient who has fallen to the floor, said Someya. The skin could measure whether an elderly patient is just taking a rest, or needs help, he said.

The skin could also be used in car seats to monitor drivers' mental and physical conditions, Someya said. "Our large-area pressure [sensing abilities] would be helpful" in obtaining information through drivers seats, he said.

And, of course, we'll see home robots able to pick an egg in the fridge.

The research work has been published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on July 6, 2004, under the title "A large-area, flexible pressure sensor matrix with organic field-effect transistors for artificial skin applications." Here is a link to the abstract.

The Dexterous Robotic Hand

2008-06-07T04:20:00.001+08:00

The Shadow Robot Company has developed the "world's most advanced" robotic Dexterous Hand. We're not sure if it's the world's most advanced or anything, but it did beat us at Operation in a throwdown best 3-out-of-5 championship last night at Engadget HQ. El mano roboto is driven from a block of "Air Muscles" mounted on the device's "forearm," matched in opposing directions as with a human hand. 186 force sensors, joints and pneumatic valves are software-controlled to generate life-like movement, grip and precision manipulation. The Shadow Robot Co. is now offering the device for sale to interested parties, so it shouldn't be terribly long now until we're all relieved of any and all manual labor responsibilities.

Robotic Arm

2008-06-06T19:37:00.000+08:00

Another example of unusual robotic manipulators whose inspiration is drawn from nature is the "Elephant's Trunk" robotic arm. This robot was originally constructed by senior mechanical engineering students at Rice University.

Unlike a true elephant's trunk which is continuous, however, the trunk is comprised of 32 degrees of freedom in 16 small links. There are four sections with two controllable degrees of freedom each.

As part of a novel class of robots, the hyper-redundant and tentacle-like manipulators, much preliminary work remains to be done to understand how best to use these robots. Ongoing research using the elephant's trunk includes investigations into the robot's inverse kinematics and path planning.

Robotic Arm

2008-06-06T19:36:00.001+08:00

Overview

The Programmable Robotic Arm was my fourth year electrical engineering Capstone design project, in collaboration with Michael Awad-Allah, Ahmad Shawky and Michael Simone. Its purpose was to design and construct from scratch a fully automated robotic arm, capable of being programmed from an external device then run by its own controller.

Robotic Arm (Mechanical)

The main component in terms of visibility and end result is the mechanical and servo motor component of the project, designed primarily by Ahmad Shawky and Michael Awad-Allah. The arm itself has five degrees of freedom and uses a gripper tool as a good end effector for demonstration purposes.

The actual physical arm is built from flat sheets of 1/8" and 1/16" sheet aluminum, machined by the Technical Support Centre at the University of Windsor based on AutoCAD details provided to them.

Control Circuit

The control circuit, designed primarily by Michael Simone and Aaron Mavrinac, consists of three components: the Atmel microcontroller unit, used to store and execute program sequences; the serial communication interface, used to receive instructions from the programming device; and the power distribution circuit, used to supply the proper voltages and sufficient current to the other two components and each servo motor used in the robotic arm.

The PCB for this circuit was manufactured by ExpressPCB; the ExpressPCB design program file can be downloaded here.

Programming and Simulation Software

The programming software used for the proof-of-concept was written for Microsoft Windows using Visual Basic by Aaron Mavrinac and Ahmad Shawky. It allows instructions to be input in an intuitive form by the user, simulating them graphically for verification and then sending them via serial link to the control circuit.

Additionally, a simple instruction interpreter and serial transfer program were created in C to be compatible with sequence files saved by the Windows software, which was compiled for GNU/Linux and FreeBSD.

Final Product (Proof-Of-Design Prototype)

The proof-of-design prototype can be seen in action in this video and in the pictures below. These were taken during execution of one of several demonstration sequences programmed prior to the showing.

Please note that all materials I still have related to this project are already here on this page. Feel free to contact me for help building your own, but all I can offer beyond what you see here is advice.

Spider Robotic

2008-06-06T19:34:00.001+08:00

For the last few Christmases robotic toys have been pretty high on most department store’s Best Sellers list. So its about time some-one had the idea of producing a range of mean-looking robots for us dorky grown-ups.

The Lynxmotion BH3-R hexapod uses 18 servos to maneuver its six legs (each with three degrees of freedom) at up to a foot per second in any direction and can clear objects 4 inches high.

The body is 18 inches wide and made of custom cut Lexan panels. The servo brackets are aluminium.

The bot is targeted at robot enthusiasts and comes as a kit containing everything you need are the batteries and a screwdriver. It is pre-programmed to work with a 2.4Ghz wireless PlayStation 2 compatible controller but the installed programming is rather basic allowing only for multi-directional movement, multi-speed movement and 360-degree spins. You’ll have to add any further maneuvers you require acheived via on-board Windows software.

The Lynxmotion BH3-R hexapod robot retails as a kit for $750 but they also supply a range of bots of other designs and configurations from two-legged walkers to quadrapeds (both radial and in-line).

Robotic Surgery at Poudre Valley Health System

2008-06-06T19:32:00.000+08:00

The road to recovery just got shorter for many surgical patients at Poudre Valley Health System.

Our da Vinci surgical robotic systems help surgeons perform operations that greatly reduce the pain, blood loss, scarring, and recovery time for patients. We have been using robotic surgery technology at Poudre Valley Hospital since the fall 2004 and at Medical Center of the Rockies since spring 2007.

The robotic system features a computer-controlled device that moves, positions, and manipulates surgical tools based on the surgeon’s actions. This technology allows surgeons to perform select types of surgery through very tiny incisions. The advantages are: a shorter hospital stay, faster recovery, and less pain. Robot-assisted surgery is defined as any use of computers to improve the performance and result of a surgical procedure or instrument.

Manufacturing

2008-06-06T19:26:00.000+08:00

ImpressionsManufacturing & Consulting Group, Inc. has a wide range
of processes and procedures at out disposal to fit most any customer’s
unique requirements. With the growing variety of alloys available to
engineers it is critical that proper procedures and filler alloys are utilized
for each project. Our customers rely on our knowledge and expertise to
ensure a successful finish for their projects.

From prototype to production volumes we canmeet your company’s
strictest requirements. Our welders are highly qualified and have over
30 years of hands on experience dealing with some of the most
demanding applications. Quality and Delivery are the key elements
to any successful project.
Our word and our quality are what our customer heavily rely on
time and time again.

In efforts to provide our customers with the best solution for their
production requirements we have added Mig Welding Robotic Cell
(55" Reach Capacity) and 10 Station Automated Production Brazing Cell.

Mig Welding Robotic Cell with 55" Reach Capacity

10 Station Automated Production Brazing Cell

Snake robotic

2008-06-06T19:21:00.000+08:00

You may recall that several months ago we posted about Roboboa, the AI robotic snake from WowWeee – makers of Robosapien – which, apart from offering everything you would expect from a robotic snake, also offers a few intriguing secondary functions such as a motion detecting angle poise desk lamp and even a child safety light – well now it’s available in the US.

Priced at $99.99, Roboboa is sure to prove to be a great hit this coming Christmas and you can read our original post here: WowWee Roboboa – The Dancing AI Robot Python.

However, just to wet your appetite, here’s a brief run down of Roboboa’s capabilities as detailed on the official product website:

Thinks for himself but follows your every command
3-eyed “alien” vision really sees, tracks and follows
Dazzling LED lights and sounds reveal his many moods
Rotates, swivels, spins, lifts and roves around
Multiple play modes
Three “shooting” guard modes
16 hours “time-shift” alarm function
Interacts with other Wowwee robots
Program sequences up to 40 steps long
Over 40 functions from easy-to-use flashlight remote controller

LiveScience Image Gallery

2008-06-06T11:15:00.002+08:00

A woman wearing a robotic exoskeleton gives a demonstration at a home care and rehabilitation convention in Tokyo

robotic carp

2008-06-06T11:12:00.001+08:00

The robotic carp developed by Ryomei Engineering (a subsidiary of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) is a curious example of a fish robot. This remote-controlled metal fish resembles to a koi carp, and it's actually a great catch: 80 cm and 12 Kg. The following video shows the smooth tail movement.

The robotics koi is able to swiming in reverse and rotating in place thanks to its five motors. Additionally, it is equiped with a CCD camera and sensors for analyzing water quality.

Robotic Solutions

2008-06-06T11:10:00.001+08:00

Offering cost effective and highly flexible solutions, coupled with renowned reliability, Knight Warner have chosen to partner ABB who are recognised for their quality and expertise, and who are viewed as world leaders in robot technology.

At Knight Warner we can offer a variety of solutions, from high speed pick and place to end loading systems, and unlike bespoke equipment robotic solutions offer increased flexibility, especially with regards to product changes and packaging formats.

With more cost competitiveness and advancements in technology robotic solutions are seen as the viable and exciting industry alternative to labour intensive packaging operations, improving efficiency as well as quality and providing an ergonomic investment.

Knight Warner Limited meets today’s high production demands by offering efficient and cost effective robotic solutions.

As part of its systems we offer the addition of PickerMaster Software (PMS) for integrating vision systems and conveyors or machine infeeds with robots.

It combines the functions of system integration tool, operator interface and advanced cell controller into one powerful adaptable and easy to use package for flexible high speed packaging installations.

It is specifically designed to enable the easy integration of ABB's robots to a wide range of random material flow handling applications and is especially suited to run combined high-speed picking and case packing systems.

Robotic Automatic Pool Cleaner

2008-06-06T11:08:00.000+08:00

(Click for Larger View)

Cleans Olympic Sized Swimming Pools!

Cleans Pools up to 200' Long. Like all Dolphin cleaners, the Dolphin 2x2 Robotic Automatic Pool Cleaner, is a computer-controlled dynamo that vacuums and scrubs any shape pool and maneuvers around ladders, drains, and stairs. The unit has its own filtration system, so it will never clog up your pool's pump or filter.

The Dolphin 2x2 Robotic Cleaner will operate in automatic or manual mode. In the automatic mode, the unit memorizes the pool's dimensions and computes a precise path to clean your entire pool, including the walls. The unit will automatically shut itself off after 16 hours. In the manual phase, the remote control unit allows the operator to guide the 2x2 to spot clean areas that need extra attention. It also allows the operator to program the unit for variable data such as pool length, pool shape, cycle time, and wall or floor cleaning.

Since the Dolphin 2x2 Robotic Cleaner operates on 24 volts, it is completely safe and economical to run. Its powerful motor can filter up to 6,500 gallons per hour, and the unit is backed by a 2-Year Warranty. The 2x2 comes complete with 200-feet of cord, caddy, 2 filter bags, and a wireless remote control unit. *This cleaner is too large to ship UPS and ships via motor freight. Please change shipping options to motor freight when ordering this cleaner.

Aust sets up robotic Antarctic observatory

2008-06-06T11:06:00.000+08:00

The new Antarctic observatory has been built to withstand some of the most extreme conditions on Earth [File photo]. (AAP Image: Simon Mossman)

Australian researchers have set up a new, fully robotic astronomical observatory on the highest point of the Antarctic plateau.

It will send information back to scientists at the University of New South Wales via satellite.

The project, for International Polar Year, also involves researchers from China, the United States and the UK.

Carrying ten tonnes of equipment, researchers travelled more than 1,200 kilometres to reach site of the new observatory, called Plato.

It was built by researchers at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

Dr Jon Lawrence says it was installed on the highest point of the Antarctic plateau, known as Dome A, by an expedition by the Polar Research Institute of China.

"There was a two or three week journey on the icebreaker to get to the coast, and then they drove tractors for three weeks from the coast up to get to Dome A," he said.

"They spent two weeks there, with temperatures ranging down to minus 40 degrees [Celsius], it's high altitude - 4,100 metres, so all the difficulties associated with altitude sickness and lack of oxygen they would have encountered there as well.

"So they've done a heroic effort really, to get there and set everything up and get it running."

The observatory has been built to withstand some of the most extreme conditions on Earth, with temperatures expected to drop to minus 90 degrees Celsius in winter.

Ideal place

But Dr Lawrence says the location is one of the most ideal places for their research.

"All the conditions get better as you go higher up, this is something we expect, it gets colder, it gets calmer and it gets drier the higher you go up, and these are the factors that we want for an observatory," he said.

The facility is an international collaboration and will host seven telescopes and other sophisticated monitoring equipment from universities in China, the US and the UK.

Dr Lawrence says the new observatory will provide a range of important information.

"We're looking at turbulence, we want to know how calm the atmosphere is, we want to know how dry the atmosphere is, and we infer this by measuring the transmission with a long wave length telescope," he said.

"We're looking at how dark the sky gets, particularly in the middle of winter, and the middle of the night, so we have a range of optical telescopes which are measuring that.

"We're interested in determining the cloud cover at the site, at some sites on the Antarctic plateau are as good as 90 per cent of the time the sky is cloud free, which is exceptional."

Remote control

The facility is fully robotic and will run without any human intervention for up to a year.

Professor Michael Ashley, from the University of New South Wales, says it is solar powered during summer and will run by diesel engines during the darkest winter months.

"The whole observatory has to generate its own heat and its own electricity, and we use that using a bank of small diesel generators and we have 4,000 litres of jet fuel to provide the power source," Professor Ashley said.

"We interact with it via an iridium satellite phone, we send commands to it and it sends data back.

"I'm sitting here in my office at the University of New South Wales, I'm typing commands, I'm switching diesel generators on and off, instructing telescopes to make observations, and the data comes back in a few minutes via the iridium satellite system."

Professor Ashley says it is challenging but exciting work that will play an important role in the future of astronomy research in the Antarctic.

"For some sorts of astronomy, this is vital, in particular looking for planets around other stars," Professor Ashley said.

"It's much more efficient if you can observe the star continuously for a week at a time, rather than just snatch a few hours here and there, which you're limited to if it was a normal observatory.

"The other factor is that in Antarctica, the air is extremely clear and it's got hardly any water vapour in it, and this makes it very transparent to the submillimetre region.

"In fact, the only other place on the surface of the Earth, where you can do some types of long wave length astronomy, normally you'd have to send your telescope up in a balloon, or put it into space.

"But at Dome A, the radiation, the atmosphere is thin enough, that the radiation actually reaches the ground, and we can study the galaxy in these areas where we haven't been able to do it before."

Air Duct Inspection and Cleaning Robot

2008-06-06T10:59:00.000+08:00

Multi-Purpose Robotic Tracked Vehicle
The multi-purpose Robotic Tracked Vehicle is capable of performing specialised air duct inspection, cleaning and spraying missions. It is designed to improve air duct cleaning quality and efficiency for all types of ductwork by removing dirt, debris and contaminants other conventional methods usually leave behind.

The Robotic Track Vehicle can be configured to perform specialised missions

ApriPoko Robotic

2008-06-06T04:13:00.004+08:00

This little round robot is named ApriPoko. He’s an 11 inch tall, 5 pound prototype under development by Toshiba to be used as a voice-activated universal remote system. Place him somewhere within eyesight of your entertainment system, and whenever you use one of your remotes, ApriPoko will notice the IR signal, perk up, and ask you what you just did. When you tell him “I just kicked my massage chair up to Shiatsu” he’ll remember your voice and the IR code from the remote. Next time, you can speak the command, and ApriPoko will rebroadcast the IR signal back to the device. I imagine that you’ll be able to assign specific voice commands to different combinations of devices, like a preset for “let’s watch a movie” or “hey baby, how ’bout a drink?”

Ultimately, it may just be easier to pick up the remote and push the button, but Toshiba is hoping to have a viable product sometime soon… And I’d like to see a remote that’s as cute as this. Heck, I might even pay for it.

tennis robotic

2008-06-06T03:56:00.000+08:00

It has been a month or so since we threw down the gauntlet and began the iRobot Create challenge. Since then, we've seen some very interesting proposals and ideas on the iRobot forums and contest message boards. Of course, some of the mad scientists involved in the contest will likely choose to keep their cards close to their chests, and we'll have to wait until the contest is over to see all of the creative ideas involved. But we thought this would be a good time to share some of the more public proposals with our readers.

Before we dig in, I'd like to encourage you to visit the iRobot Create challenge forum at iRobot Create Challenge to share your own ideas about tasks you think people should program robots to do.

Ideas, Submissions And Accomplishments

An iRobot with Eyes

Professor David P. Miller of the University of Oklahoma has managed to program the iRobot Create to see and respond to visual stimulus. Using an XBC robot controller - complete with camera and firmware that allows the robot to track multiple objects of different colors - Professor Miller has gotten the iRobot Create to play tennis. It tracks a colored ball to its side of the net and returns it at an angle that the robot calculates as appropriate. To clarify, this robotic "tennis" is a bit slower than human tennis but the mechanics are there. It's impressive, and you can find movies of this project and others at Adding vision to the iRobot Create

Microsoft Robotics Studio

2008-06-06T03:53:00.000+08:00

Robotic has always been a fascinating subject. From simple robot toy to industrial robotic, robotic technology is already impacting our way of life much more so than we think. The advancement in recent technologies along with the cost reduction in electronic and computation hardware enable the robotic industry to grow even faster.

In the past, robotic application development has been limited to either high cost with complex development environment requiring large development team or microcontroller requiring application development to be carried out using development tool unique to the hardware.

With Microsoft Robotics Studio, developer can use Visual Studio 2005 development environment to create robotic application. Using existing Visual Studio 2005 skill set, developer can enter into the robotic application development arena with ease.

Sumo Robotic

2008-06-06T03:34:00.001+08:00

There will be a Sumo Robot competition at this year's Microsoft Embedded Developer Conference (MEDC 2007) in Vegas, at the Venetian Hotel. Developers will be able to run their simulated code and the best performing teams in simulation will advance to the hardware competition.

Top performing developers will be invited to port their Microsoft Robotics Studio simulation code to run on real robot, featuring robot platform from iRobot, eBox-2300 controller running Windows Embedded CE 6.0 from ICOP Technology and Logitech webcam.

Fantastic Robotic Voyage

2008-06-06T03:33:00.001+08:00

The Daily Mail has more details about the robotic device from Ritsumeikan University and the Shiga University of Medical Science in Japan, reported by us about ten days ago.

Doctors would be armed with MRI body scans of the patient taken in advance to help them navigate the robot.
However, unlike the plot of the 1966 Raquel Welch film Fantastic Voyage -- which featured a microscopic crew and submarine travelling through a scientist's bloodstream -- this device could not be inserted into blood vessels because it is too big.

But it could be placed within the digestive tract, where it could be used to seek out and treat cancers of the oesophagus or bowel. In tests on animals the robot, which weighs around five grams and is roughly the size of a cockroach, is said to have performed very well...

According to one of its developers, Professor Masaaki Makikawa, this new prototype robot has the ability to perform treatment inside the body, eliminating the need for surgery in some cases. Miniature robots able to move through the body would be particularly useful to investigate and treat tumours in hard-to-reach parts of the body, such as sections of the bowel...

Its legs had tiny hooks on the end so it could crawl through the gut without slipping. It also had a special clamp that allowed doctors to stop it altogether if they spotted something of concern and needed to take a closer look.

At the time, researcher Dr Ariana Menciassi, of the Sant' Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, said: "All the indications are that this will be far less uncomfortable than a colonoscopy or gastroscopy in which the intestine is inflated, causing much pain to the patient."

Stinger CE Robotics Kit

2008-06-06T03:30:00.000+08:00

The Stinger CE Robotics kit from Robotics Connection provides a fun, easy and robust way to learn Windows Embedded CE 6.0. The Stinger CE Robotics kit combines eBox-2300 Windows Embedded CE 6.0 JumpStart kit along with a fully function Stinger Robot kit which includes the Serializer robot controller, motors, power converter, and all necessary components for this kit to work right out of the box.

In addition, Windows Embedded CE 6.0 programming library and sample Visual Studio 2005 managed code application are included.

dog robotic

2008-06-06T03:25:00.000+08:00

Flung from our friends at geekfling.com.

Fling it girl because maybe your a pet-lover but don’t have the perfect home or enough money or time to own one. Robopet can do just about anything a real dog can do. This Robopet practically comes alive, he can walk, run, sit down, lie down, stand up and roll over. He barks, makes wimpering sounds, growls and pants as well. The remote doubles as a virtual leash so you can take him on walks.

Robotic Suit That Magnifies Human Strength

2008-06-06T03:18:00.001+08:00

An exoskeleton robotic suit may help workers lift heavy loads and patients move damaged and prosthetic limbs

The prospect of slipping into a robotic exoskeleton that could enhance strength, keep the body active while recovering from an injury or even serve as a prosthetic limb has great appeal. Unlike the svelt body armor donned by Iron Man, however, most exoskeletons to date have looked more like clunky spare parts cobbled together.

Japan’s CYBERDYNE, Inc. is hoping to change that with a sleek, white exoskeleton now in the works that it says can augment the body’s own strength or do the work of ailing (or missing) limbs. The company is confident enough in its new technology to have started construction on a new lab expected to mass-produce up to 500 robotic power suits (think Star Wars storm trooper without the helmet) annually, beginning in October, according to Japan’s Kyodo News Web site.

CYBERDYNE was launched in June 2004 to commercialize the cybernetic work of a group of researchers headed by Yoshiyuki Sankai a professor of system and information engineering at Japan’s University of Tsukuba. Its newest product: the Robot Suit Hybrid Assistive Limb (HAL) exoskeleton, which the company created to help train doctors and physical therapists, assist disabled people, allow laborers to carry heavier loads, and aid in emergency rescues. A prototype of the exoskeleton suit is designed for the small in stature, standing five feet, three inches (1.6 meters) tall. The suit weighs 50.7 pounds (23 kilograms) and is powered by a 100-volt AC battery (that lasts up to five hours, depending upon how much energy the suit exerts). By way of comparison, a lower-body exoskeleton developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab’s Biomechatronics Group is powered by a 48-volt battery pack and weighs about 26 pounds (11.8 kilograms).

CYBERDYNE (which film buffs will recognize as the name of the company that built the ill-fated “Skynet” in the Terminator movies) designed the HAL exoskeleton primarily to enhance the wearer’s existing physical capabilities 10-fold. The exoskeleton detects—via a sensor attached to the wearer’s skin—brain signals sent to muscles to get them moving. The exoskeleton’s computer analyzes these signals to determine how it must move (and with how much force) to assist the wearer. The company claims on its Web site that the device can also operate autonomously (based on data stored in its computer), which is key when used by people suffering spinal cord injuries or physical disabilities resulting from strokes or other disorders.

The HAL exoskeleton is currently only available in Japan, but the company says it has plans to eventually offer it in the European Union as well. The company will rent (no option to buy at this time) the suits for about $1,300 per month (including maintenance and upgrades), according to the company’s site, which also says that rental fees will vary: Health care facilities and other businesses renting the suits will pay about three times as much as individuals. The site does not explain why, and the company could not be reached for comment.

CYBERDYNE is not the only company developing exoskeleton technology. The U.S. Army is in the very early stages of testing an aluminum exoskeleton created by Sarcos, a Salt Lake City robotics and medical device manufacturer (and a division of defense contractor Raytheon), to improve soldiers’ strength and endurance. The exoskeleton is made of a combination of sensors, actuators and controllers, and can help the wearer lift 200 pounds several hundred times without tiring, the company said Wednesday in a press release. The company also claims the suit is agile enough to play soccer and climb stairs and ramps.

But there are still many kinks that must be worked out before HAL or any other exoskeleton become part of everyday life. Exoskeletons work in parallel with human muscles, serving as an artificial system that helps the body overcome inertia and gravity, says Hugh Herr, principal investigator for M.I.T.’s Biomechatronics Group, which is developing a light, low-power exoskeleton that straps to a person’s waist, legs and feet. Wearers’ feet go into boots attached to a series of metal tubes that run up a leg to a backpack. The device transfers the backpack’s payload from the back of the wearer to the ground.

One of the difficulties in developing exoskeletons for health care is the diversity of medical needs they must meet. “One might have knee and ankle problems, others might have elbow problems,” Herr says. “How in the world do you build a wearable robot that accommodates a lot of people?”

There are also concerns about the exoskeleton discouraging rehabilitation by doing all of the work of damaged limbs that might benefit from even limited use. “If the orthotic does everything,” Herr says, “the muscle degrades, so you want the orthotic to do just the right amount of work.”

Power efficiency could also become an issue, given that the HAL moves thanks to a number of electric motors placed throughout the exoskeleton. The problem with electrical power is that you have to recharge, says Ray Baughman, professor of chemistry and director of the University of Texas at Dallas’s NanoTech Institute. Baughman and his colleagues have been developing substances that serve as artificial muscles (by converting chemical energy into electrical energy) that may someday be able to move prosthetic limbs and robot parts. Their goal is to avoid the downtime inherent in motor-powered prosthetics that must be recharged.

Makes you appreciate Iron Man’s strength and agility all the more.

Scientific - Robots will be my favorite invention ever

2008-06-05T21:36:00.000+08:00

Check out this madness.

I love the idea of robots taking over things that are particularly unbearable like carrying heavy stuff. I’ve been waiting for a few of this robots counterparts however. I’ve especially been waiting for a robot maid. Who wants to waste their life cleaning your house when its just going to get dirty again eventually. Definitely not me. Not only would you no longer have to clean you house with a maid robot but it would be cleaned much more frequently as the robot would only stop cleaning to recharge at night while you slept or while you didnt want the noise. To avoid the robot getting in your way and annoying you it could be programmed to try to stay as far away as possible while cleaning for instance the robot could clean in the basement while you were in the living room. This robot is sort of on the way right now. They a robotic vacuum cleaner that drives itself around and recharges itself at a base station. The more we trust to robots the less we’ll have to do (said like the true lazy person I am.) As long as we integrate robots into our world carefully, they will greatly increase our quality of life. and the sooner we get started the faster these robots will become more advanced.

Robotic dream

2008-06-05T21:34:00.001+08:00

"Sleep Waking" by Fernando Orellana and Brendan Burns presents a new way to look back on one's dreams. EEG, EKG, REM, and various other physical data is logged during the subject's sleep and then later used as the script to direct robotic action.

robotic equipment

2008-06-05T21:27:00.001+08:00

Custom Equipment

Pictured on this page are just a few examples of our equipment-making capabilities. Whatever your product requirement, whether it be prototype, a one-time build, or a complete line, Smith Tool is prepared to offer a reasonable and competitive quote and build-time estimate in a timely fashion.

Other custom-built products include:

Industrial Vacuum-Cleaners for the Car-wash industry

Parts for Antique trains at the Age-Of-Steam Railroad Museum

Cabinets for Automatic Teller Machines(ATMs)

Spare-ball racks for Bowling Alleys

Many other specialized products

bike robotic

2008-06-05T21:26:00.000+08:00

We believe that this bike, designed, built, and successfully tested in the era 1988 by UIUC engineering students, constituted the world's first successful robotic bike. The Robotic Bike operates under the premise that it is above critical velocity, and thus is effectively "no-hands." The bicycle is "fooled" into thinking that it is in a lean -- and the castor-camber effect will turn the front fork into the direction of "lean," really the lean or camber of the front steering head. The camber angle of the steering head is dictated by a radio controlled servo-system. Note that the Robotic Bike has no handle bars and not even a seat, as it doesn't require a rider. Affiliate Bill Becoat admires the design and details.

More Details of the design. An automotive window cranking motor, reversible in direction, is driven by a radio circuit, commanded by an external radio signal. The motor drives a chain and sprocket and thereby controls the tilt or "camber" of the front steering head tube. By controlling the camber, the front fork will turn into the direction of camber. This design causes the Robotic Bike to act in an intuitive fashion.

Robotic Bike Drive Mechanism. The Robotic Bike used a friction drive where the driving power came from a 12 volt starter motor used for starting model airplane engines, driven by an appropriate 12 volt battery. Note the chains taped to the rim (wheel) of the rear tire. We found this to be necessary so that the rear portion of the bike would be quasi-stable in inertial space. The rear half of the bike remained where it was, and the front fork cambered or tilted. Without the chain on the rear wheel, the bike would tend to "squat" as the front would tilt one way, and the rear would tilt the other way. This Robotic Bike had to be above critical velocity, which was "fast." The students were not able to run alongside this bike when it was operating at full speed. We estimated the speed at about 18 MPH. In the sixteen years since its inception, this bike has fallen into disrepair, but we have video tapes of it in action, as well as having been featured on media television programs.

We need to note or comment that hands-on science is fun. Theories are called theories, because they are just theories. When we built experimental bikes, we let the reality of the experiments drive the outcome. This is what the Wright Brothers did, and it is what we did at the University of Illinois. Little details such as the need for chain on the rear tire to increase its gyroscopic stabilization wasn't obvious in forward vision, but vividly clear in hind-sight.

A colleague at the University of Illinois, Dr. Doug Marriott, had a saying, "Build it wrong, but build it." Far too many students in today's world of academia and memorization are afflicted by what we can call, "Paralysis by analysis."

Panda Robotic

2008-06-05T21:18:00.000+08:00

Alas, there can only be one winner, and we've chosen it. Here is the image we asked you to provide a caption for, in which a cute-but-ferocious robotic panda is clawing a beanie-clad man in the face.

It wasn't until Petey the Security Panda used his patented Chloroform-Hand-Wash that the burglar was finally subdued. -- Dpar

Congratulations to Dpar, if that is your real name. The grand prize this week is a vowel of your choice, which can be inserted between the "D" and the "p" in your username to create a more-pronounceable word. All right!

Thanks for playing, and tune in next Friday for a brand-new installment of Caption Crunch.

What follows is the original text for this Caption Crunch contest.

Hello, and welcome back to Caption Crunch, the every-other-week caption-writing contest that pits you, the reader, against our very own PC World editors.

Here's how it works: we post a pic, and you write the caption in the comments section below. Then, next Friday.

This week, we have a very rare shot of a robotic panda in the wild, doing what robotic pandas do best: face-clawing.

Got a great caption idea for this shot? Post it in the comments section below, and good luck!

On the architectural and philosophical scaffolding of new technology concepts for robotic materials

2008-06-05T07:41:00.000+08:00

Arche-techne: On the architectural and philosophical scaffolding of new technology concepts for robotic materials

AUGUST 9: ADAM PARKER

Thursday, 6:30pm at RMIT 8.11.68

A common feature of modern robotic devices is that they are designed within the categorical framework of the robot understood as a biomimetic system. This can be as overt an influence as the anthropomorphic nature of an android, or as subtle as the worker replacement of a Cartesian manipulator arm. Biomimetic influences on robotic design can be seen to manifest in robot morphology, where animal locomotion and perception studies play a considerable role in suggesting engineering research directions and solutions, as well as in control systems, which commonly use models derived from various methods of modeling organic cognition. Biomimesis also shapes the very categorical structures we use to describe robots as robots, and outlines their social purpose.

A major outcome for robotic user interfaces of this trend to biomimesis is that the problem is often couched in terms of communication with a synthetic organism. A lot of progress has already been made along this communicative path, as was also made in human-computer interaction. Yet, thanks to tangible interaction and other fields of interaction research, we know that computers are not simply communication devices and can be conceived otherwise - so, following this analogically, how might a robot be alternatively conceptualized? And what might we gain from so doing?

In approaching this problem, my research has been necessarily grounded in a pragmatic analysis of robotic engineering. At the same time, it has operated in an analytic-critical fashion between the twin poles of architectural practice (in a broad sense) and philosophy. In particular, I have been influenced by Bergson, Heidegger, Whitehead, von Glasersfeld and de Landa (amongst others), and those visionary aspects of architectural practice (such as the Crystal Chain, Futurism, Bruce Goff, the various movements of the sixties and seventies and so forth) in which technological structures were brought into question. This has led me to conceptual design solutions for robotics that explore and exploit the categorical nature of how we approach the artifacts we design.

Alternative robotic technologies under investigation, such as massively parallel microrobotic lattices, hold the promise of a reconceptualization of the robotic as a material process, and thereby suggest the potential for interaction systems based on systems embodying this approach - systems in which the properties of such robotic materials might be malleable, shiftable, even seemingly unnatural. Such robotic materials would be inherently haptic, tangible and spatially transformative, raising a range of opportunities and issues for interaction designers, foregrounding recent key theoretical areas of concern such as embodiment and process.

This presentation will firstly outline the current state of play in engineering massively parallel microrobotics, then explore how my definition of a new conceptual space for technological pr the engagement of the different yet intertwined disciplines of philosophy and architecture. This will serve as a point of departure for a broader discussion of the nature of technology stewardship - what I term the arche-techne, or the defining-principles-leading-bringing-into-being of the technical-conceptual.

History of Robotics

2008-06-05T07:37:00.001+08:00

This page contains a brief history of robotics and is to go along with the third image I discuss in my Visual Journal

**Robotic Timeline**
250 B.C.		Ctesibius of Alexandria builds organs and water clocks with movable figures.
1495		Leonardo da Vinci designed and possibly built the first humanoid robot. The robot was designed to sit up, wave its arms, and move its head via a flexible neck while opening and closing its jaw.
1738		Jacques de Vaucanson builds several automata; flute player, flute and drum player, and a duck. The duck is pictured here and it could quack, flap its wings, and eat.
1773		Pierre and Henry Louis Jaquet-Droz invented the first automaton that could write.
1801		Joseph Jacquard invents a textile machine which is operated by punch cards. (Image from Smithosonian NMAH)
1810		Fridrich Kaufmann creates the mechanical trumpetteer. It contains a notched drum which activates valves that lets air pass through twelve tongues.
1865		John Brainerd creates the Steam Man apparently used to pull things.
1885		Frank Reade Jr. built the Electric Man which is more-or-less an electric version of the Steam Man.
1897		Nikola Tesla created a remote-controlled submersible boat.
1893		Dr. Achibald Campion builds the Boilerplate which is a prototype soldier.
1937/38		Westinghouse creates ELEKTRO a human-like robot that could walk, talk, and smoke.
1942		The first programmable paint-spraying mechanism designed by Willard Pollard and Harold Roselund for the DeVilbiss Company. (US Patent No. 2,286,571).
1946		George Devol patents a general purpose playback device for controlling machines using magnetic recordings.
1948/49		W. Grey Walter creates his first robots; Elmer and Elsie known as the turtle robots. The robots were capable of finding their charging station when their battery power ran low.
1951		Raymond Goertz designs the first tele-operated articulated arm for the Atomic Energy Commission. This is generally regarded as a major milestone in force feedback technology. (US Patent 2679940)
1954		George Devol designs the first programmable robot and calls it the "Universal Automation." (US patent 2 998 237)
1959		MIT's Servomechanisms Lab demonstrates computer-assisted manufacturing, the machine produced an ashtray (pictured here) for each attendee.
1960		American Machine and Foundry (AMF Corp.) markets the first cylindrical robot called the Versatran. It was designed by Harry Johnson and Veljko Milenkovic.
1961		UNIMATE becomes the first industrial robot in use. It was used at the General Motors factory in New Jersey.
1961		The Johns Hopkins University's applied physics lab creates its &quto;Beast"e;. It was build with dozens of transitors, and when its batteries ran low it would seek black wall outlets and plut itself in.
1963		The Rancho Arm is created and is the first computer controlled artificial robotic arm, it was designed as a tool for the handicapped. It was developed at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital in Downey, California.
1965		The first expert system, DENDRAL, was created by a team at Stanford. The team was lead by Ed Feigenbaum. The robot was designed to execute the accumulated knowledge of experts.
1965		Victor Scheinman and Larry Leifer develop an air-powered robot arm called Orm. Orm is the Norwegian word for snake.
1966	Try Eliza	Joseph Weizenbaum wrote the famous Eliza program. The program simulates a psychoanalyst by rephrasing many of the users questions.
1968		Marvin Minsky creates the Tentacle Arm. The tentacle arm was capable of lifting a person.
1968		The first computer controlled walking machine created by Mcgee and Frank at the University of South Carolina.
1968		The first manual controlled walking truck made by R. Mosher. It could walk up to four miles an hour.
1969		Victor Scheinman creates the Stanford Arm, which was the first successful electrically-powered, computer-controlled robot arm.
1969		WAP-1 is the first biped robot designed by Ichiro Kato. Computers were used to stimulate artificial muscles connected to the frame.
1970		SRI International creates Shakey the first mobile robot controlled by artificial intelligence.
1972		WAP-3 designed by Ichiro Kato could walk on flat surface as well as descend and ascend a staircase or slope. It could also turn while walking.
1972		Dr. Rikscha, Dr. Lensky, Dr. Stilman, Prof. Devjanin, and collegues at the Mechanics Moscow Lomonossov State University create a walking robot.
1973		Edinburgh University's robot FREDDY was built, work began on FREDDY in 1966 but was interrupted due to funding. FREDDY could assemble wooden toys.
1973		V.S. Gurfinkel, A. Shneider, E.V. Gurfinkel and collegues at the department of motion control at the Russian Academy of Science create a six-legged walking vehicle.
1973		Ichiro Kato created WABOT I which was the first full-scale anthropomorphic robot in the world. It had a system for controlling limbs, vision, and conversation! It was estimated that it had the mental ability of a 18 month old child.
1974		The Silver Arm is created by David Silver. It assembled small-part using feedback from touch and pressure sensors.
1975		Victor Schenman develops the Programmable Universal Manipulation Arm (Puma). It is widely used in industrial robots.
1976		Shigeo Hirose from the Tokyo Institute of Technology creates the Soft Gripper. It conformed to the shape of the grasped object.
1977		The Variante Masha, a six-legged walking machine, is created at the Russian academy of Science by Dr. Devjanin, Dr. Grufinkelt, Dr. Lensky, Dr. Schneider, and collegues.
1977		McGhee at Ohio State University unveils the OSU hexapod, it weighed 136kg.
1978		Shigeo Hirose created ACMVI (Oblix) robot. It had snake-like abilities. The Oblix eventually became the MOGURA robot arm used in industry.
1979		The Standford Card crossed a chair-filled room without human assistance.
1979		Hiroshi Makino of Yamanashi University designs the Selective Compliant Articulated Robot Arm (SCARA) for assembly jobs in factories. They are very common in pick-and-place, assembly, and packaging aplications.
1980		Robert Quinn and Roy Ritzmann at Case Western Reserve University create a six-legged robotic insect.
1980		Quasi-dynamic walking was first realized by WL-9DR. It used a micro-computer as the controler. It could take one step every 10 seconds. It was developed by Ichiro Kato at the Department of Mechanical Engineering School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo.
1981		Shigeo Hirose develope Titan II. It is a quadruped which could climb stairs. Picture is of Titan III, which is a successof of Titan II.
1982		The Heathkit Corporation designed Hero Jr. It was intented to be a home companion. It had an alarm clock, and it could sing several songs. Additional programs were stored on 250 cartridges.
1983		Ichiro Kata builds the WL-10R, it had more degrees of freedom then its predessor. It could walk laterally, turning and walking forward as well as backward. It could take a step every 4.4 seconds.
1983		Southerland and Sproull finish the CMU Hexapod. The machine is 2.4m long and can reach speeds of 0.11m/s.
1983		Odetics Inc. unveils a six-legged walking robot called Odex 1.
1984		Biper-4 is desigend by Isao Shimoyama and Hirofumi Miura at the Univeristy of Tokyo. It required ski-like feet to remain standing.
1984		Ichiro Kato created WABOT II that reads music and plays an electronic organ.
1984		Jessica Hodgins and marc Raibert create Biped. It reaches a maximim speed of 1.5 to 4.1 m/s. It had four degrees of freedom.
1985		Shigeo Hirose continued work with the TITAN, in 1985 he completed TITAN IV which could walk at a velocity of 40 cm/sec.
1985		The Omnibot 2000, a toy robot, is created by the Tomy Kyogo Company Inc. It was controlled by a hand-held remote control or through programs stored on magnetic tape.
1985		Created by the General Robotics Corp. the RB5X was a programmable robot. It had infrared sensors, romote audio/video transmission, bump sensors, and a voice synthesizer. It had software that could enable it to learn about its environment.
1985		Waseda Hitachi Leg-11 (WHL-11) is a biped robot developed by Hitachi Ltd. It was capable of static walking on a flat surface. It was able to turn and could take a step every 13 seconds.
1985		A four legged walking machine, Collie1, was developed by H. Miura at the University of Tokyo. Themahcine had 12 degress of freedom.
1985		The Melwalk3 was developed at Namiki Tsukuba Science City. It was a six-legged walking machine that weighed 35 kg.
1985		OstRover was built in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was a six-legged walking machine that weighed 500kg.
1988		The first HelpMate robot goes to work at Danbury Hospital in Conneticut.
1989		The Mobile Robots Group at MIT create Genghis, a walking robot.
1989		Aquarobot was createdd at the Robotics Laboratory at the Ministry of Transport in Japan.
1989		Robotics Corp. creates Attila II, a four-legged machine. It weighed 1.5kg and could arry a load of about 150g.
1989		Developed by Kato the WL12RIII was the first biped walking robt which was able to walk on a terrain stabilized by trunk motion. It could walk at a rate of 2.6 seconds, up and down stairs. This robot could take a single step every 0.64 seconds.
1990		Dr. William Bargar and Howard Pual of Integrated Surgical Systems Inc. and the University of California at Davis develop the Robodoc. It performs a hip-replacement operation on a dog (1992 on a human patient).
1993		Dante explores Mt. Erebrus, Antarctica. The 8-legged walking roobt was developed at Carnegie-Mellon University. However, the mission fails when its tether breaks.
1994		Dante II explores Mt. Spurr, Alaska. This is a more robost version of Dante.
1996		RoboTuna is created by David Barrett at MIT. The robot is used to study how fish swim.
1996		Honda creates P2, the first major step in creating their ASIMO. P2 is the first self-regulating, bipedal humanoid robot.
1997		NASA's PathFinder lands on Mars. It is a robotic rover that sends images and data about Mars back to Earth, while it roams the planet.
1997		IBM's deep blue (an RS/6000 with special modules) beats Gary Kasparov at a chess match. The first time a machine wins against a great chess player.
1997		Honda creates P3, the second major step in creating their ASIMO. P3 is the first completely indpendent bipedal humanoid walking robot.
1998		Tiger electionics creates the FURBY. This robot is a pet toy which communicates with its owner. It uses a variety of sensors to react to its environment.
1998		Dr. Cynthia creates Kismet, a robotic creature that socially interacts with people. It uses cues from the person it interacts with as a basis for its interaction.
1998		LEGO releases their MINDSTORMS product line, which is a system for inventing robots.
1998		Campbell Aird, is fitted with the first bionic arm called the Edinburg Modular Arm System (EMAS).
1999		Sony releases the first Aibo electronic dog.
1999		Mitsubish creates a robot fish. The intention is to create robotic fish of species of fish that are extinct. They hope that there are spin-off research from this project for submarines.
1999		Personal Robots releases the Cye robot. It performed a vairety of household chores, such as deliver mail, carry dishes, and vacuum. It was created by Probotics Inc.
2000		Sony unveils humanoid robots, the Sony Dream Robots (SDR) at Robodex. SDR is able to recognize 10 different faces, expresses emotion through speech and body language, and can walk on flat as well as irregular surfaces. Image of QRIO
2001		MD Robotics of Canada builds the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS). It was successfully launched and has begun operations to complete the assembly of the International Space Station.
2001		Omron releases their cat, NeCoRo, as a competitor to Sony's Aibo. It comes with Mind and Consciousness (MaC) technology, which enables the cat to generate feelings.
2002		Honda creates the Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility (ASIMO). It is intended to be a personal assistant. It recognizes its owner's face, voice, and name. Can read email and is capable of streaming video from its camera to a PC.
2005		The Korean Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), creates HUBO, and claims it is the smartest robot in the world. This robot is linked to a computer via a high-speed wireless connection, the computer does all of the thinking for the robot.

Who is polytec

2008-06-05T07:30:00.000+08:00

As a result of world-class production facilities and a dedication to providing quality and value, polytec has experienced unprecedented growth to become the largest supplier of custom made cabinet doors in Australia. Our products are manufactured with the most technologically advanced and computer integrated manufacturing systems available today. polytec is recognised within the industry for innovation, craftsmanship, customer support and the use of superior materials. It's your guarantee of purchasing the best decorative surface products on the market.

Consequently, we've developed close relationships, embodied in trust, with both small and large kitchen manufacturers. Such relationships can only assist in delivering superior levels of customer satisfaction.

THERMOTEC thermolaminated door & panel production


Routing of Door Profiles	Robotic Spraying of Specialised Adhesives	Pressing of the Thermolaminated Foil

MELTEC door & panel production


Pressing of Melamine Panels	Cutting of Melamine Panels	Square Edge Banding

Making all the right moves

2008-06-05T07:22:00.000+08:00

The way we move is a key factor in our attractiveness to other people and to the judgments they make about us, says Psychology professor Nikolaus Trojé.

In Queen’s new Motion Capture Laboratory, Trojé uses a computerized technique that looks like animated connect-the-dot pictures to show how people’s gender, age, personality traits, and even their emotional state, can be identified solely through patterns of movement.

“We’re retrieving socially, biologically, and psychologically relevant information from the motion of others,” says Trojé, Canada Research Chair in Vision and Behavioural Sciences. “There are numerous cues that people send out but are not consciously aware of in social interactions, and motion appears to be a very important factor.”

The Motion Capture Laboratory team is currently developing improved designs for teleconferencing systems, where tiny “lags” in transmitting data through telephone lines can interfere with communication. Another application is in the mushrooming area of computer animation.

The Sony AIBO Robotic Pup: What a Chatterbox!

2008-06-05T07:19:00.000+08:00

Sony has much to talk about with its updated AIBO robotic pup

($1,999 list). This time, the AIBO ERS-7M3 can carry on a conversation with you. But be careful, if you repeat the same question over and over, it'll tell you, "I heard you the first time!"

These robotic pups can display many different personalities, and you have a choice of choosing one out of the four available such as "Independent thinker" and "Dependent instinctive."

The ERS-7M3 is also Sony's first Spanish-speaking robot that responds to 35 Spanish-language commands. Me gusta!

New Robotic Surgeon uses MRI to Operate

2008-06-05T07:16:00.000+08:00

Related Pictures

2007 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

New Super-Hard Material Developed

In the last several years robots have entered more and more areas of our lives. One of these new areas is medical treatment and surgery in particular where the high precision and stability of the robot can prove to be of great help to human surgeons. Now a team of engineers at the Johns Hopkins Urology Robotics Lab developed a unique robot which uses high accuracy and stability along with MRI vision in order to remove tumors which are too small for the naked eye to see.

One of the greatest challenges in developing the robotic MRI surgeon was the need to bypass the MRI’s strong magnetic sensitivity. Metals are unsafe in MRIs because the machine relies on strong magnets, and electric currents distort the MRI image.

The Johns Hopkins team used six of the motors to power the first-ever MRI-compatible robot to access the prostate gland. The motors are so accurate when controlled by the computer that their movements are steadier and more precise than any human hand.

The Johns Hopkins researchers explain that prostate cancer is tricky because it can only be seen under MRI, and in early stages it can be quite small and easy to miss. The new Johns Hopkins robot, dubbed PneuStep, consists of three pistons connected to a series of gears. The gears are turned by air flow, which is in turn controlled by a computer located in a room adjacent to the MRI machine. The PneuStep can achieve precise and smooth motion up to 50 micrometers, finer than a human hair and well above that of a human surgeon.

The PneuStep is currently undergoing preclinical testing but the researchers are optimistic regarding the future of such devices to revolutionize the future of surgery allowing physicians to use instruments in ways that are currently not possible.

Your mind can now function like a computer that will retrieve all the past memories or data recorded in your mind with the help of a small chip that

2008-06-05T07:10:00.000+08:00

Your mind can now function like a computer that will retrieve all the past memories or data recorded in your mind with the help of a small chip that can embrace memories of your mind. Yes, this is not a joke or any kind of rumor because now scientists have come up with a new tiny chip that measures just about a millimeter and can interact with the live brain cells.

The idea behind the development of this appealing chip is to interact with your brain to restore memories but the external device to download those memories is still not yet originated.

I think this ultra-modern technology will soon boost humans with an extraordinary strength that will surely help them to recall their old memories.

Robotic Scorpion

2008-06-05T07:06:00.001+08:00

Robotic scorpion is a scorpion-shaped agile robot that can be programmed to perform various movements by IR remote control.

	Features
	Microcontroller-based Programmable, fully remote controlled and vision Able to move forward, backward, left, right and alert mode

Man Portable Robotic System

2008-06-05T07:04:00.001+08:00

Funded by the Department of Defense Joint Robotics Program, the MPRS program goal is to develop lightweight, man-portable mobile robots for operation in urban environments (indoor, outdoor and underground). The technical strategy calls for optimizing a realistic and robust solution to an appropriate set of articulated user requirements, using predominantly off-the-shelf components. The capabilities and sophistication of these systems will expand with time as new technologies become available from various sources. The Unmanned Ground Vehicle/Systems Joint Program Office (UGV/S JPO) is the Program Manager for MPRS, while SPAWAR is responsible for all technical design and system integration.

The initial MPRS system was implemented under a reflexive teleoperated control interface (developed on ROBART III), supported by ultrasonic and near-infrared collision avoidance sensors. A preliminary prototype was developed to facilitate meaningful user feedback that influenced the follow-on design of a more capable second-generation solution. This first-generation MPRS prototype was evaluated in conjunction with the US Army Combat Engineers Tunnel and Sewer Concept Experimentation Program (CEP) held at Ft. Leonard Wood in the fall of 1999. The purpose of the CEP was to validate the concept of employing small robots to conduct tunnel, sewer, and bunker reconnaissance in urban combat.

The prototype was based on a modified Foster-Miller Lemming base. The stock Lemming is a small, inexpensive (basically expendable) tracked robot that can be remotely operated with a simple joystick or push-button controller via a serial RF link. The MPRS configuration (Figure 1) employed the mechanical elements (chassis, drive motors, gearboxes, tracks, and drive sprockets) of the Lemming, but substituted more sophisticated electronics, sensors, and an upgraded Operator Control Unit (OCU).

Sensors included three forward- and two side-looking sonars, and two five-element arrays of Sharp near-infrared triangulation ranging sensors, a pair of Precision Navigation electronic compasses, and four miniature pin-hole cameras with dual halogen headlights. The platform was designed to be fully invertable (i.e., it can operate upside down or rightside up with no preference), as opposed to self-righting. An attitude sensor automatically determines which set of Sharp rangefinders and which video camera to use in case the robot flips over. The onboard software also inverts the sense of incoming drive and steering commands to preserve a normal mobility response.

Two processors are used to control vehicle functions. The primary processor, located in an electronics box behind the snout, is responsible for driving (navigation) and telemetry functions. A secondary processor within the snout is responsible for sensor data collection and headlight intensity control.

The electronics enclosure also houses a text-to-speech voice synthesizer employed to inject audio prompts into the telemetry stream returning to the controller, and to output warning messages at the vehicle. Real-time digital video and audio (along with command and control data) are passed between the robot and the operator control unit over a wireless Ethernet link. The digital video/audio system employs a hardware-based CODEC that provides between 15 and 20 frames of digitized video per second. The CODEC is also capable of providing bi-directional audio between the OCU and the robot, which allows for two-way verbal communication with a hostile element.

Based on the extensive user feedback obtained from on-site evaluations at the Fort Leonard Wood CEP, a number of significant changes have been incorporated into the design of a much-improved second-generation MPRS platform. The platform chassis was upgraded from the Lemming to a variant of the six-wheel Foster-Miller Tactical Adjustable Robot (TAR), with the length fixed at 33 inches (i.e., no longer adjustable) to save weight. The center sprocket was increased in diameter from 10 to 11 inches, thus providing 0.5 inches of “high-center” effect (even if inverted) to facilitate turning.

For detailed viewing of objects in the environment, a camera system was installed in an articulated Sensor Snout with the capability to tilt as much as 90 degrees above or below the horizontal. Equipped with a 24X zoom, auto-iris, and automatic focus, the system also has provision for external computer control. A low-silhouette pair of fixed-focus auxiliary “drive cameras” were added to the top and bottom cover panels of the robotic chassis. This mounting configuration provides an approximated over-the- shoulder viewing perspective that includes the left and right forward drive sprockets, thereby significantly augmenting the operator’s perception of vehicle orientation with respect to perceived obstacles. An additional fixed camera was mounted on the rear of the robot to support driving in reverse.

Robotic Pump

2008-06-05T07:02:00.000+08:00

Imagine pulling into a gas station, sitting tight, getting your tank filled up with some petroleum gold and going about your business. Oh yeah, they already have that in the form of self-service. The only twist is the Dutch have introduced technology that will cancel out human interactivity altogether. Meet “Tankpitstop” a robotic arm that will unscrew the cap, pop the nozzle and fill ‘er up to the delight of the driver who never has to step out of the vehicle.

robot dog

2008-06-05T07:00:00.000+08:00

Robotic pets have been creating a lot of hum in the toy market owing to their highly innovative design and almost life like actions. We have earlier introduced you to the robotic pony and the intelligent Genibo. Now, the ingenious folks over at Germany’s TU Darmstadt have developed a four-legged dog-shaped robot that will be unveiled at the world’s leading robot contest in Atlanta next week. The new robot dog was in making for the last six months and will be probably launched as a possible successor to Sony’s Aibo, which was ceased in 2006.