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| robots.net http://robots.net/ Recent robots.net articles en-us mod_virgule Tue, 7 Oct 2008 10:04:13 GMT Robots: Swarming Autonomous Underwater Vehicles http://robots.net/article/2653.html http://robots.net/article/2653.html Fri, 3 Oct 2008 12:09:58 GMT The latest Robots podcast
interviews dive into the world of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs).
Navinda Kottege at
the
Robotic Systems
Group of the Australian National
University has been looking at how swarms of Serafina AUVs can determine their
range, bearing and posture with respect to neighboring robots. Marc Sherman
from Teledyne RD Instruments
tells us how his Doppler Velocity Log systems are used to provide
positioning for AUVs. Also in this episode, and in a first for our
podcast, Robots features a short story by science fiction author Jack Graham. The "Selkies" will be
following us over the next four episodes, so don't
miss today's debut.
CEATEC Japan 2008 Robot Photos http://robots.net/article/2652.html http://robots.net/article/2652.html Thu, 2 Oct 2008 18:45:59 GMT <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3139/2908057534_17f5558de3.jpg">
<p>
CEATEC is the an annual conference
where exhibitors show off cutting-edge electronics and information
technology. That includes a lot of robots. Pictured above are two of
Nissan's BR23C Biomimetic Robots. Akihabara
News covered the Nissan demonstration and posted a lot of photos of
the robots in action. The bouncingredball
blog got photos of the the Murata Seikochan unicycle-riding robot
demonstration. And our friends over at Pink Tentacle posted an
assortment of interesting CEATEC robot photos. Want to see more of
CEATEC 2008? Try the steadily increasing steam of CEATEC
photos on flickr. All Right: A Right-turning Maze-solving Robot http://robots.net/article/2651.html http://robots.net/article/2651.html Tue, 30 Sep 2008 20:23:22 GMT <div> <object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/fcq_n5R0J7Q" /> <param name="wmode" value="transparent" /> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/fcq_n5R0J7Q" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed> </object></div><p>Like the North-Going-Zax, David Cook's All Right robot has a very
single-minded approach to navigation. While the robot can turn left when
it wants to, it solves line-following mazes by making right turns
whenever possible. David has posted a new
article at his Robot Room describing All
Right in detail with plenty of photos and video of the robot. All
Right is powered by LiPoly batteries and an assortment of sensors
including 9 photo detectors for floor sensing and line following, 4 more
photo detectors used as quadrature encoders, a battery voltage sensor
and an assortment of pushbuttons. Micro Turbine Developed at University of Maryland http://robots.net/article/2650.html http://robots.net/article/2650.html Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:41:39 GMT <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3138/2899683056_ef8780f96e.jpg">
<p>
We've reported on micro and nano sized
turbines in the past and today
they look one step closer to reality. The University of Maryland's A.
James Clark School of Engineering MEMS Sensors and
Acturators Lab issued a press
release detailing their latest work, including a microscale pump and
turbogenerator. Researcher Reza Ghodssi said, <i>"for the first time, we
have achieved a level of miniaturization for machines like that achieved
over the last decades in electronics"</i>. The tiny turbine achieves
rotational speeds of 87,000 RPM, supported on micro-ball bearings so
small they're almost invisible to the naked eye. The US Army, which is
funding the research, hopes micro-turbines will replace the 20lbs of
bulky lithium ion batteries now carried by soldiers. The tiny generators
could also power micro air vehicles (MAV), small UAVs, and other
pint-sized robots. UMD has also released video
of the turbine in action (MPEG format). For all the technical stuff,
see the paper, Design,
Fabrication, and Characterization of a Rotary Micromotor Supported on
Microball Bearings (PDF format).
Random Robot Roundup http://robots.net/article/2649.html http://robots.net/article/2649.html Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:16:42 GMT Dan Gates sent a Technology
Review article on the UMan robot (for more see our previous coverage of UMan
and other gripping robots). Amy McKinzie let us know
that NBC has used to refurbished industrial robots from her company in
the new Knight Rider TV
series. The folks at the RoboDevelopment Conference announced the
finalists for their annual Innovator Awards and the OpenJAUS free software
architecture, which we reported on a while back has made their list.
Trossen Robotics let us
know that they've launched a new Educational
Robotics Division that will carry robot kits specifically tailored
for classroom use. Chris Bruner told us about a paintball robot
sentry that weighs in at 10lbs and cost less than $500. David
Calkins brings news from the world of orgasmotrons and
teledildonics, where the ARSE ELEKTRONIKA 2008
conference will explore the intersection of and technology. The
PC/104 consortium announced
approval of the EPIC Express
specification, adding stackable PCI Express support to future PC/104
boards. Roland Piquepaille posted in his blog about robot gas stations in the
sky and ship-cleaning robots.
And from the Swirling Brain come stories of robots
on unicycles (with video), airbags
for old people, a list of history's
greatest robot hoaxes, info on the WowWee Bladestar autonomous
indoor flying robot, and a Wired
article on robot hands. Know any other robot news, gossip, or
amazing facts we should report? Send 'em our way please. First user created Spykee video on YouTube http://robots.net/article/2648.html http://robots.net/article/2648.html Thu, 25 Sep 2008 04:01:07 GMT <div> <object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/yM_GOhs2ohA" /> <param name="wmode" value="transparent" /> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/yM_GOhs2ohA" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed> </object></div><p>
The Meccano Spykee spy robot is finding its way into the hands of users
in the
United Kingdom. This is the robot that Meccano claims can be controlled
from a remote Skype video call session while Skype streams audio and
video to
you across the connection. The first Spykee owner video
was posted today by biker blogger Sven. The 8 minute video shows
in detail <b>Spykee's interface</b> and it's various capabilities
including the
robot navigation controls, audio effects, sound effects and more.
There's plenty of point of view footage as he drives Spykee around the
house while showing you the video feed in the software interface's video
window. If you have trouble <b>setting up the WiFi link to Skype</b>
another
YouTube video shows
you how. Robot tinkerers will be excited by the Spykee because it
is compatible with the Erector set of parts. Also, there is a .NET API
that is claimed to allow you to write your own software around the
Spykee robot. Originally Meccano said that the software was going to be
open
source so it is not clear if this is a step backward from open source to
a simple API. Only time will tell. ROBO-ONE Helper Competition Report http://robots.net/article/2647.html http://robots.net/article/2647.html Wed, 24 Sep 2008 15:54:29 GMT <div> <object width="425" height="350"> <param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/KeneiDcUY1s" /> <param name="wmode" value="transparent" /> <embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/KeneiDcUY1s" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed> </object></div> <p> Norri Kageki writes, <i>"Thank you very much for picking up the ROBO-ONE
Helper Robot Project on your robot competition FAQ. I did go
see the competition and you can read
an update in my blog"</i>. Norri has posted a detailed, four part
blog post with video and photos of the ROBO-ONE Helper event, in which
humanoid robots had to walk around in a real shopping mall and attempt
to make purchases of real products from real vendors. While the robots
were teleoperated over a WiFi link and not autonomous, the exercise
shows what the hardware is capable of. The video included here shows
Aero-Blue, a robot developed by Team CAP Project, as it pushes a
shopping cart and purchases a white purse. Be sure to check out Norri's
blog to see lots
more photos and videos of the other winning robots. Human Memory Capacity is Larger than Expected http://robots.net/article/2646.html http://robots.net/article/2646.html Tue, 23 Sep 2008 16:21:56 GMT <img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3278/2881928229_6b82fbe616.jpg"><p>
According to an MIT
news release, cognitive neuroscientists studying human memory
capacity and visual memory have discovered that the brain's ability to
store information is "much higher than previously believed or shown".
The researchers showed a series of 2,500 images to test subjects for 3
seconds each. Later, they were show pairs of very similar images and
asked which they had seen earlier. The researchers were surprised to see
recall rates as high as 92 percent. Timothy Brady, one of the
researchers, said, <i>"To give just one example, this means that after
having seen thousands of objects, subjects didn't just remember which
cabinet they had seen, but also that the cabinet door was slightly
open"</i>. While we still don't know the total memory capacity of the
human brain, the researchers were able to prove that the minimum amount
of long term storage needed to for test subject's performance would be
228,000 bits. So, if we're burning up
28 kB of memory for simple tasks, the total amount available must be
significantly larger than any previous estimates. Big changes are needed
to existing cognitive models to account for this and there may be
implications in AI research as well. For more details including samples
of the image sets used, visit the MIT Massive Memory website and read the
full paper, Visual
long-term memory has a massive storage capacity for object details
(PDF format). Low-Cost 3D Stereo Vision for Robots http://robots.net/article/2645.html http://robots.net/article/2645.html Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:59:08 GMT <img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2127/2880211036_d09ef918ce.jpg">
<p> Cathy Caplener writes, <i>"Just a quick note to let you know that
Surveyor Corporation today
introduced the industry’s first low-cost,
$500, 3D Stereo Vision
System, now soon to be known as the Surveyor SVS,
for robotics and the Web. I do not like to say things like “the
first”
but we are saying it because it is true of course and quite exciting for
the industry because as you know, working with robots is not a cheap
endeavor."</i> The SVS sensor is based on firmware released as free
software under the GNU GPL. Schematics and other documentation are
available on the Surveyor SVS
website. Read on for the full text of the press release and photos
of the new stereo vision sensor. Stanford Offering Free Robotics Engineering Courses http://robots.net/article/2644.html http://robots.net/article/2644.html Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:31:03 GMT Several readers sent links about Stanford Engineering's SEE program, which is offering free
(as in free beer) online robotics and AI engineering courses under a
Creative Commons license. So far, they're offering Introduction
to Robotics, Natural
Language Processing, and Machine
Learning. They also offer courses in Fourier Transform and Linear
Systems. Stanford is the latest school to follow the lead of MIT's Open CourseWare and CMU's open learning
initiative, other programs which apply open source concepts to
education. For more see the Stanford
Engineering press release as well as Slasdot
and DeviceGuru
stories on the Stanford news. The True History of the Cylons http://robots.net/article/2643.html http://robots.net/article/2643.html Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:37:18 GMT The Darth Mojo blog has posted an excellent history
of the Battlestar Galactica Cylons, revealing where the really came
from. <i>"There are those who believe that the Cylons were created by
man. Some believe that they were created by a race of highly advanced
lizards who used them as foot soldiers in the war to exterminate
humanity."</i> Not so, says Darth Mojo, they really came from designer
and illustrator Andrew
Probert, based on idea from Star Wars designer Ralph McQuarrie. The
article includes lots of illustrations showing early ideas and proposals
for the
original robots as well as a never before seen look at what Probert
might have designed if he'd been in charge of updating their look. I2C Tutorial for Robot Builders http://robots.net/article/2642.html http://robots.net/article/2642.html Wed, 17 Sep 2008 15:12:24 GMT I2C is a multi-master serial bus that's very common on
microcontrollers and can be used by a robot builder to attach sensors or
actuators, or as a communications channel between multiple processors. The
uC Hobby blog has posted a good introduction
to I2C by Grinan Barrett that includes examples,
schematics, and source code for working with the I2C bus. In
addition to taking the reader through his own experiences, there are
also links to FAQs and other sites with additional information. Random Robot Roundup http://robots.net/article/2641.html http://robots.net/article/2641.html Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:05:32 GMT The Trossen Robotics Team writes, <i>"We haven't even announced the new
TRC Project Contest, yet our creative members are already entering some
incredible projects!"</i> Behold
the Lego NTX Autonomous Wall-E Robot. Robots.net reader Bill Rogers
sent us a Slate
story on robots replacing human umpires and referees in sports and
a Reuters
video about an exoskeleton
for paraplegics.
Johan Tegin let us know about KTHand, a project to develop a cost
efficient robotic hand for research use. We also heard from Honey and
Dick, two robots from the future who like music and beam a podcast into
the past as a science project. So, if you're looking for a podcast of
independent music hosted
by two cantankerous and possibly offensive robots, check out Jukebox Review. The Swirling Brain
let us know about a pool
playing robot, a robotic
bicycle parking garage, a slashdot
article on the Willow Garage
open source humanoid robot, a 50ft
robot spider, a Wired
update on Stanford's robot chopper, and a robot that feels
without touching. Roland Piquepaille sent links to his latest blog
posts on robot phriends, robotic tuna, and robot rats. Know any
other robot news, gossip, or amazing facts we should report? Send 'em our way please. Robots One of Six Disruptive Technologies http://robots.net/article/2640.html http://robots.net/article/2640.html Mon, 15 Sep 2008 16:29:28 GMT A Computerworld
article notes robots as one of six disruptive
technologies that intelligence officials will warn the next
president about. Their upcoming report is expected to be similar to the
disruptive
civil technologies report issued by National Intelligence Council in
April. Among the major points are that most of the building blocks
needed for robots are in place now including sensors, actuators, and
power systems. Software is reaching the point where autonomous vehicular
applications are possible. They note the near term possibilities of
soldiers augmented by robotic exoskeletons, the possibility that
terrorists will make use of robots designed for commercial civil jobs,
and the longer term possibility for social disruption as robots begin to
work side-by-side with humans in jobs like elder-care. More details can
be found in the report's Service
Robot appendix (PDF format). The appendix notes that Japan currently
leads in robot technology with the US in second place, and the EU in
third. There are also specific predictions that are a bit amusing like
<i>"2011 - WowWee releases Robosapien v10, a toy robot that can
recognize and fetch items belonging to the user from around the home"</i>. Robots: An Uncertain Revolution http://robots.net/article/2639.html http://robots.net/article/2639.html Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:16:29 GMT The latest episode of Robots
dives into the revolution brought on by the field of probabilistic
robotics. Claudio Mattiussi,
Senior Researcher at the EPFL's Laboratory of Intelligent Systems,
discusses the advantages of using a probabilistic or Bayesian approach
to perceiving the world, adding a touch of history, philosophy and
projection. Rather than opposing good old fashion artificial
intelligence (GOFAI) or Brooks' behavior based approach, Mattiussi
proposes that the "uncertain" revolution caused by the probabilistic
paradigm offers lots of space for middle ground and may be very good
news for robotics. To see how good our listeners are at making their own
probabilistic predictions Robots just launched a most uncertain
robot contest to estimate the outcome of a mundane robot cleaning task. |
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