Hasta La Gadget!

That’s LOPES (Lower-extremity Powered ExoSkeleton) — not Lopez — and while this rehab robot can get otherwise disinclined parties to move their butts, it doesn’t resort to monotonous dance beats to do so. Researchers at the Netherlands’ University of Twente began work on LOPES in 2001 to assess motor skills and teach stroke victims how to walk again. Ten years later, LOPES — which looks like Forrest Gump’s leg braces on steroids — now sports eight degrees of freedom and automatically adjusts to fit the specific support needed per patient. LOPES’ overlords are working on a more compact and user friendly iteration, and expect a market-ready version to be available by mid-2012. In the meantime, LOPES has been enlisted in a larger EU project called Mindwalker, testing advanced control algorithms “to be used in autonomous exoskeletons.” Video of the future real-life RoboCop after the jump.

[Thanks, Mike]

Continue reading LOPES rehab robot gets bodies moving — no relation to JLo (video)

LOPES rehab robot gets bodies moving — no relation to JLo (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 24 Feb 2011 06:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Tecca  |  University of Twente  | Email this | Comments

Robot hands have been grabbing, crushing, drawing and otherwise actuating for years, but have you ever seen one properly type? That’s the primary purpose of a new Virginia Tech design. Engineers built this Dexterous Anthropomorphic Robotic Typing (DART) hand to mimic the real deal as best they could, down to individually-actuating three-segment digits and 110 degrees of wrist rotation in a package the size of a real human arm. Using a total of 19 servo motors and high tensile strength wire for the tendons, they managed to create a single mechanical paw that can achieve an estimated 20 words per minute while typing. Next, they plan to cover it in silicone skin and add piezoelectric sensors to provide tactile feedback. Imagine that: the next time a secret family member severs your arm with a focused plasma beam, you’ll know where to go for replacement. Find a quick video and the full scientific paper at the links below.

Robot hand hits 20WPM, nearly ready to embrace infinite monkey theorem originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 Feb 2011 22:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  PhysOrg  | Email this | Comments

They’ve taught them how to flip pancakes and shoot arrows, and now they’re teaching humanoids to erase your whiteboard. That’s right, the same folks who brought you iCub in a feathery headdress are back at it with Fujitsu’s HOAP-2, a humanoid robot that looks like it’s related to the Jetsons’ maid, and can wipe a dry erase board clean via upper-body kinesthetic learning. While scientists force the robot’s arm through a number of erasing movements, an attached force-torque sensor records the patterns, allowing HOAP-2 to mimic its previous actions, and voilà! You’ve got a blank slate. Sure, this little guy looks perfectly harmless in comparison with the bow-and-arrow-wielding iCub, but replace that eraser with a switchblade and the human race is in a whole world of hurt.

Continue reading Fujitsu’s HOAP-2 robot wipes whiteboards clean — humankind next in line? (video)

Fujitsu’s HOAP-2 robot wipes whiteboards clean — humankind next in line? (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 18 Feb 2011 04:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Plastic Pals  |  Peter Kormushev  | Email this | Comments

Although we’ve only gotten a glimpse of a TankBot as a render, we were more than interested to see this robot toy doing its thing in the real world. We spotted these tiny desk pals at the International Toy Fair and got to take a look at some working prototypes. As we reported earlier, the TankBots have three functioning modes — autonomous, maze solving and iOS controlled. The bots feature LED eyes and two infrared transmitters — that’s how it solves the mazes. Charging is done by plugging in the USB dongle found on the rear of the tank and you’ll get 15 minutes of battery life after a 30 minute charge. And if you’re wondering how your iOS device will play with the TankBots, a free app will be available to download and each toy will come bundled with an infrared dongle. You can grab TankBots from stores for 20 bucks come June. Head past the break to see some cute, yet impressive maze-solving in action.

Continue reading Desk Pets TankBot hands-on (video)

Desk Pets TankBot hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 16 Feb 2011 14:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Most of us don’t have $15,000 to drop on an Anybot, even though having one around would be nice in the event we don’t feel like leaving the house to get some coffee. To help those of us with more humble means, our old friend Johnny Chung Lee (of Wiimote hacking and Kinect dev team fame) has utilized his prodigious DIY talents to create a video chat robot for the relatively paltry sum of $500. Using an iRobot Create ($250), a netbook with Skype ($250), a cable to connect the two, and some control software he wrote himself, Mr. Lee built a digital surrogate on the cheap. Johnny isn’t the first person to so leverage iRobot’s hacking platform, but he added a stand on top of the robot to get the PC closer to human height, attached a fish-eye lens to the webcam for better remote viewing, and even did some re-wiring to allow the netbook to charge via the Create’s base station. The code and how-to instructions are up on his blog, so hit the source link if you’re feeling up to making one yourself. Seems like Johnny Lee’s putting that Google 20 percent time to good use thus far — keep ’em coming. Check the video of this latest creation after the break.

Continue reading Johnny Chung Lee makes DIY telepresence bot out of an iRobot Create and a netbook

Johnny Chung Lee makes DIY telepresence bot out of an iRobot Create and a netbook originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Feb 2011 23:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hack a Day  |  Procrastineering  | Email this | Comments