A lot of laboratory work involves repetitive tasks like creating cultures or dispensing precise amounts of chemicals. So not only does this Mahoro robot researcher deal with those boring tasks with absolute precision, it can also handle biohazards too dangerous for humans to interact with. More »
Filling up potholes can be quite the thankless job for local municipal councils, but it is a necessary job that needs to be done. Sometimes, it can get quite hot and sweltering under the unforgiving afternoon sun, and here we are with a robot that could eventually end up filling up potholes throughout the city, while making sure that its roads are clean. At the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B for short), it demonstrated its latest pan-India robotics competition known as E-Yantra, which is open to all undergraduate engineering students. The whole idea is to create different kinds of robots, and one such programme include the ability for robots to fill up potholes. Well, this would certainly mean less work for us humans, but it could also translate to having less accidents while being on the job, right? After all, the robots can work round the clock without worrying about being tired or asking for a raise, and they won’t even pull off a strike.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Mahoro lab android performs dangerous lab work, AndyVision robots might spell end of retail assistants,
Work in the laboratory can be pretty routine at times, and sometimes, it can be very difficult – and dangerous. However, what happens when we can conduct experiments in a far safer manner – that is, not using humans but robots instead? This is where the Mahoro lab android comes in handy, and at least it does away with hypothetical situations in labs that resulted in villains such as the great Dr. Octopus who is part of Spiderman’s rogue gallery. Mahoro was co-developed by AIST and Yaskawa, and functions as a general-purpose android to perform automated lab work which previously could only be performed manually. (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Robot to fill potholes and clean city roads? , AndyVision robots might spell end of retail assistants,
With all this talk about unmanned drones, it was only a matter of time before a couple of interesting projects would surface. Check out FishPi, an unmanned water vessel which will run a cheap Raspberry Pi computer to try and cross the Atlantic Ocean. Will it succeed?
Its creator, Greg Holloway thinks that FishPi will succeed. It’s currently in the proof-of-concept phase. The autonomous, slightly robotic, drone will also feature a 130 W solar panel that will power it. GPS and a servo controller board helps it guide through squalls. There’s a compass, motor and camera, which can capture video as well.
The prototype version measures 20″ in length, and wards off the elements thanks to a plastic sandwich container. I think that the final build will need to be a bit more refined than that, but if they ultimately set a whole bunch of these off on an Atlantic journey, then odds are that one of them might just make it.
[via Ubergizmo]
Researchers at DARPA are working on robots with hugely increased power efficiency, chasing human-style actuation that would prolong battery life and significantly extend robotic runtime. The M3 Actuation program has set an ambitious 2,000-percent increase in power-transmission and application in robots, improving performance not only in areas like search & rescue and drones, but advanced prosthetic limbs and other fields.
It’s not just making more efficient motors. According to DARPA, successful teams might look at a combination of “low-loss power modulation, variable recruitment of parallel transducer elements, high-bandwidth variable impedance matching, adaptive inertial and gravitational load cancellation, and high-efficiency power transmission between joints.”
There will be two different tracks of work ongoing simultaneously, one with a more practical focus and another that will look more at the science and engineering behind actuation. The eye-candy is likely to show up in Track 1, where teams will be required to actually outfit physical robotics systems with their creations:
“Track 1 asks performer teams to develop and demonstrate high-efficiency actuation technology that will allow robots similar to the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) Government Furnished Equipment (GFE) platform to have twenty times longer endurance than the DRC GFE when running on untethered battery power (currently only 10-20 minutes). Using Government Furnished Information about the GFE, M3 Actuation performers will have to build a robot that incorporates the new actuation technology” DARPA
DARPA is now inviting proposals from teams that believe they can put together something along those lines. The Maximum Mobility and Manipulation robotics program will culminate in a live competition in December 2013, followed by a second live final in December 2014.
DARPA kickstarts research into robot Viagra is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Are robots slowly but surely taking over the whole world? That does seem to be the case from what we have seen in the movies – they might end up subjugating mankind like in Terminator 2: Judgment Day, or they could help us out as droids, ala Star Wars. Researchers over at Carnegie Mellon University are far more practical, where at the Intel Science and Technology Center in Embedded Computing, this bunch of brains on legs have managed to successfully develop a robot which is said to make life a whole lot easier at the supermarket – and also the lives of store owners.
Known as AndyVision, their robot will be able to assist store owners in keeping items in stock, where the robot itself comes with a Kinect sensor, image processing and machine learning algorithms, in addition to 2D and 3D images of products as well as a floor plan of the premises. This mechanized robot will wander around the shop, making sure that those items that are suffering from low lines or are out of stock will be replenished – soon, and alert the store owner of incorrectly shelved items. I wonder whether customers will also be able to pass a pre-fabricated shopping list to AndyVision and it goes through its database, printing out the exact aisle and shelves as to where you can find these items.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Robot learns about body language, Popchilla robot toy might be able to help autistic children,
The Roachbot is a cockroach robot that looks so realistic, released in Japan earlier this year, but it seems that the company behind this cute little toy has decided to up the ante and make a revision of the Roachbot all the more realistic. Japan Trust Technologies, the company behind the Roachbot, will now come with support for the iPhone and iPad. After installing this exclusive app on your iPhone or iPad, those devices end up as the Roachbot’s controller.
New control features have been thrown into the mix, where you are now able to control a throttle which enables you to precisely adjust your Roachbot’s cruising speed – eventually hitting a maximum velocity which could not be achieved before with the previous model. Not only that, the new controls also boast of a “Trim Correction Slider” that enables you to perform slight adjustments to the Roachbot’s course, so that it looks all the more realistic instead of achieving the old school hard left/right turns that might just have given the game away.
The new Roachbot model will start from 2,980 yen (US$37) onwards.
[ Roachbot updated, works with iPhone and iPad now copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
It is hard to believe that a toy known as Roachbot which was introduced just earlier this year, functioning as a remote controlled cockroach (much to the chagrin of roach haters everywehre), is already on the receiving end of an “upgrade” of sorts. Japan Trust Technologies, the company realized that they ought to spice things up a bit, and have introduced a souped up version of the original Roachbot – by throwing in support for the iPhone and iPad as well.
You can now download and install an exclusive app for your Apple smartphone or tablet device, where it is then attached to an infrared light, letting you use it as a controller via the touchscreen display. There is also a new feature that lets you play the role of throttling – that is, you can adjust the Roachbot’s cruising speed to hit a maximum velocity and make its movement far more realistic than ever before. (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Gundam-themed hotel brings out the boy in you, Robot learns about body language,
Do you love RX-78 Gundam? Then the Grand Pacific Le Daiba hotel in Minato Ward, Tokyo has a place for you. That’s because beginning today, the hotel now offers rooms with interior decorations featuring the characters from the “Mobile Suit Gundam” animated series. The Gundam-themed rooms, dubbed as “Project Room G” features illustrations of the characters on the walls as well as other cool Gundam-themed furnishings and ornaments. It’s the place to be for Gundam and robot lovers alike.
Room rates are expected to cost ¥27,000 per night or roughly $340 based on today’s exchange rate. The Pacific Le Daiba hotel reportedly spent 10 million yen ($125,000) to set up the Gundam-themed rooms. Of course, this is nothing new in Japan. After all, Gundam is the brainchild of a Japanese animator named Yoshiyuki Tomino. In April in year, Gundam Front Tokyo installed a huge, life-sized Gundam statue as well as a museum, all in the honor of Gundam. The Grand Pacific Le Daiba hotel hopes that its Gundam-themed hotel will appeal to all Gundam lovers out there. So, could this be your ideal hotel for the weekend?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Lego Eva Gundam: I want!, Gundam Video on Demand hits North America,
If there is one thing that robots need to do in order to enter the uncanny valley deeper than ever before, they would need to pick up the nuances of a human’s body language. Yes sir, that is right – robots still have no idea on how to figure out the nitty gritty of our body language. After all, it is said that what we communicate is just 30% effective through speech, the bulk of the remainder go through body language. A research scientist at Willow Garage is currently hoping to imbue robots with basic etiquette lessons, including making way in an elevator whenever someone else wants to get in.
It would be a real leap in the artificial intelligence world if robots of the future are able to pick up all the small details that, well, make us human. After all, androids in movies like Alien and Star Trek could easily fool us into thinking that they were really humans, until one sees the innards of the particular android being full of wires, bolts and nuts. Having said that, can robots be taught to lie, and when they do, will they also send out signals unwittingly, such as touching the ear or nose?
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Popchilla robot toy might be able to help autistic children, Robot hand wins every time at Rock, Paper, Scissors game,
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