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Everybody loves robots, but the initial ardor for building one can quickly be snuffed out by the complex reality of actually programming it to do anything. That’s where Linkbot comes in, a new project from the Barobo team that brought us the Mobot. It’s designed as a modular system that can be expanded infinitely with accessories like a camera mount, gripper, and wheels, thanks to three separate mounting surfaces — which also have standard #6-32 screw attachment holes on the mounting plate to attach personality-enhancing cutouts. Despite the expansion potential, though, it can still be used right out of the box to do robotics without touching a lick of code. That’s thanks to several built-in modes like BumpConnect, which permits wireless connections between the modules by touching them together; and PoseTeach, to program complex motions by hand in a similar (but less time-consuming) manner to stop-motion animation techniques.

For those who want to step it up a notch, the system lets you go far past basic mech fun. The Linkbot itself has two rotating hubs with absolute encoding, along with an accelerometer, buzzer, multicolored LCD and ZigBee wireless system with a 100m line-of-sight range. There are also optional breakout and Bluetooth boards to connect sensors like range finders, IR proximity sensors, photo detectors and thermostats. The outfit’s BaroboLink software for Mac, PC or Linux is included to program the Arduino-compatible bot in several languages as well, and can even translate previously created PoseTeach motions into computer routines. So far, the company has created working prototypes and even shipped them to local schools, so if you’re interested, you can pledge a minimum $129 toward the company’s $40,000 target to grab one. That’ll net you a Linkbot, two wheels, the BaroboLink software, access to the MyBarobo community — and hopefully a jolt to your robotics confidence.

Filed under: Robots

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Source: Kickstarter

When the robots finally come to harvest us, they’ll probably descend from the skies and then scuttle, spider-like, into our homes and shelters, just like MadLab Industries‘ terrifyingly ominous Hexa. The combined horror of a six-bladed hexacopter and a 6-legged hexapod, the omnidirectional robot can either tackle terrain on-foot or take to the air to avoid obstacles, then using the multipurpose legs as a grapple to snatch up objects (objects that, it has to be said, are roughly the size of a human baby’s head in MLI’s demo video).

The DIY ‘bot pairs a PhantomX Hexapod kit and a custom MLI hexacopter, using carbon-fiber and aluminum components to keep the weight down. In total, the whole thing tips the scales at 10.8 pounds, and is strong enough to not only transport its own weight, but light objects it can grasp with its legs.

Possible future improvements could include the ability for the two sections to detach and be independently controlled, meaning Hexa could fly in, deposit the hexapod, and then fly back out again. That could eventually be useful for search & rescue operations, transporting Hexa-style hunting drones to a disaster area and then leaving them to rummage through the rubble for survivors.

The MLI team said back in December that, if demand was deemed sufficiently strong, it would consider Kickstarter for a Hexa kit. No word on what stage that project is up to, nor how much it might eventually cost.

Of course, right now there are human controllers in charge of Hexa, but AI research is doing its level best to cook up autonomous versions that are so ominous that even Google’s Eric Schmidt is calling for drone increased regulation. The situation is only likely to get more serious, however, with recent DARPA proposals suggesting potential funding for companies capable of delivering self-controlled flying gadgets.

[via Hack’n’Mod]

Hexa drone is half-hexacopter, half-hexapod, 100% terrifying is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Researchers and scientists at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology have built a robot with quite the sports prowess, although you probably won’t see it take the field anytime soon. The robot is able to swing and hit at plastic balls, and can improve its swing over time.

The robot only stands a couple feet tall, and it uses a giant flyswatter-like bat in order to make contact with the ball, so it essentially can’t hit like Alex Rodriguez, but maybe in the future the robot will give the all-star a run for his money. The robot features an artificial brain with the power of 100,000 neurons that allow the robot to learn and improve on its swing over time.

How the whole thing works is that when a ball is pitched to the robot, an accelerometer behind the robot records information about the flight and speed of the ball, and this data is sent to a separate machine off to the side that holds the robot’s brain. The data gets processed and it lets the robot know when to swing.

The impressive part is that if the speed of the ball changes, the robot can re-learn the swing all over again to try and hit the ball at the new speed. Hopefully the researchers will be able to soon give the robot a real bat instead of a giant flyswatter and be able to hit real baseballs, but that kind of technology probably won’t be on its way for several more years.

[via Wired]

Japanese scientists build baseball-playing robot with artifical brain is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The verdict’s still out on whether or not androids dream of electric sheep. But their ability to feel? Well, that’s about to approach levels of human sensitivity. We’re of course talking about the sense of touch, not emotions. And thanks to work out of Georgia Tech, tactile sensitivity for robotics, more secure e-signatures and general human-machine interaction is about to get a great ‘ol boost. Through the use of thousands of piezotronic transistors (i.e., grouped vertical zinc oxide nanowires) known as “taxels,” a three-person team led by Prof. Zhong Lin Wang has devised a way to translate motion into electronic signals. In other words, you’re looking at a future in which robotic hands interpret the nuances of a surface or gripped object akin to a human fingertip and artificial skin senses touch similar to the way tiny hairs on an arm do.

What’s more, the tech has use outside of robotics and can even be levereged for more secure e-signature verification based on speed and pressure of a user’s handwriting. And the best part? These sensors can be manufactured on transparent and flexible substrates like the one pictured above, which allows for various real-world applications — just use your imagination. Pretty soon, even robots will have the pleasure of enjoying the touch… the feel of cotton and maybe even hum that jingle to themselves, too.

Filed under: Science, Alt

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Via: MIT Technology Review

Source: Georgia Tech, Science

Baby sea turtles have an interesting way of moving across sand and into the ocean, and scientists have been studying these little creatures for quite a while. So much, in fact, that engineers are designing and building robots that replicate the movements of a baby sea turtle in order to better understand the origins of these animals.

The robot is called the FlipperBot, and it features two motor-driven flippers with flexible wrists that are similar to sea turtle wrists. The robot is designed to travel through malleable surfaces like sand, just like sea turtles, and these kids of robots could help engineers further develop robot technology that will allow robots to swim through water, as well as walk on land.

The FlipperBot is quite small, measuring in at about 7.5 inches long and weighing only two pounds. Scientists are using these kinds of newly-developed robots to better understand how turtle flippers work, as well as help researchers understand how sea turtles evolved to be able to walk on land, especially with limbs that were designed for swimming rather than walking.

Daniel Goldman, a physicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, says that these kinds of experiments will also work with other animals who have a long history. He says that him and his team are “working with paleontologists on studying what the first animals moving on land were like with more paleontologically realistic robots.” He notes that most animals likely encountered sand and mud, rather than concrete and hard rock, bringing up the question of how animals moved through these malleable substances.

[via Tech News Daily]

New robots shed light on origins of sea turtles is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.