Hasta La Gadget!

We’d like to pretend to be all serious about the science behind teaching a robot arm to teach itself a complicated motion like pancake flipping. We’d drone on and on about how the combination of demonstrated motion, trial-and-error, and object motion tracking come together for some “Expectation-Maximization based Reinforcement Learning,” but really we just can’t stop giggling at all the pancake misses perpetrated by the robot on video, which can be found after the break.

Continue reading Robot arm learns to flip pancakes, can never know the joys of tasting one

Robot arm learns to flip pancakes, can never know the joys of tasting one originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You might not have expected the future to look like your granddad’s groovy camper van, but take a closer look here and you’ll find that this is indeed nothing like your forefather’s people carrier. The VisLab team from the University of Parma have taken a fleet of Piaggio Porter Electric vehicles, strapped them with an array of cameras, lasers and other sensors, and topped them off with solar panels to keep the electronics powered. Oh, and lest we forgot to mention: the vans are (mostly) autonomous. VIAC (or VisLab Intercontinental Autonomous Challenge) is the grand name given to their big demonstration: an 8,000-mile, 3-month tour that will ultimately find them arriving in Shanghai, China, having set off from Milan this Tuesday. You can follow the day-by-day development on the blog below, though we’re still being told that practical driverless road cars are a measure of decades, not years, away.

Continue reading Driverless vans set off on intercontinental trek from Italy to China (video)

Driverless vans set off on intercontinental trek from Italy to China (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A robot learning to flip pancakes from Sylvain Calinon on Vimeo.

Flipping a pancake  seems like one of those things you can do when you are just barely awake and still to get your morning caffeine.

Not so, if you are a robot. Then learning how to flip a pancake is quite a task and it can take 50 tries to get it right.

Two researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology–Petar Kormushev and Sylvain Calinon–taught a robot the  technique. The robot needs to hold its hand stiff to throw the pancake in the air and then flex the hand so it can catch the pancake without having it bounced off the pan. Initially, one of the researchers holds the robot’s arm to show it how it is done, after which the robot tries it.

For the demonstration, the researchers used an artificial pancake that’s solid and, as you can see in the video above, clunks every time it hits the pan or elsewhere.

The robot itself is from Barrett Technology, a company that makes an advanced robotic arm called WAM. The WAM arm has near zero backflash or friction so it makes very smooth movements. It can have up to seven degrees of freedom so it offers a range of motions that’s similar to what a human arm can do.

The researchers hope to present the learning from the robot’s efforts at a conference in October. And if you are wondering, what exactly this experiment has achieved, the answer involves the application of algorithms that help learn by imitation and reinforcement.

Video credits: Petar Kormushev and Sylvain Calinon/Italian Institute of Technology

See Also:

• Anybots Robot Will Go to the Office for You
• Dance Dance Revolution: 20 Robots Think They Can Dance
• Towel-Folding Robot Could Fix Laundry Woes
• Butler Robot Can Fetch Drinks, Snacks
• Willow Garage Holds a ‘Graduation Party’ for Its Robots
• Androids Dance, Slide and Fight at Robo-One Competition

While online shopping has taken over most facets of modern retail, buying clothes via the interwebs is something more of a hard sell. The Fits.me shape-shifting mannequin is here to make that a little easier — for men, anyway. Earlier this year the company created a robotic torso comprised of flexible panels that can shift between thousands of different shapes and sizes from small to extra large. A clothing company puts a new shirt on the bot and a camera captures it cycling through a variety of body types like a T-1000 sinking into a pit of molten steel. When you enter your measurements online, the e-tailer looks up the appropriate pics and, hey presto, you can see how you’ll really look in that Warwick Tailored semi-cutaway. There’s a quick demo video after the break and, if you’re looking for a new shirt, you can virtually try on a variety of Hawes & Curtis offerings recently added at the source link. Sorry ladies: latest word is that a mammary-equipped model isn’t due for at least another few months.

Continue reading Fits.me shape-shifter models the huge pectoral muscles men want, smaller ones they have (video)

Fits.me shape-shifter models the huge pectoral muscles men want, smaller ones they have (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Jul 2010 09:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New Zealand isn’t exactly known for being a hotbed of tech innovation, but this set of bionic legs might just realign that perception a little bit. The product of seven years of development work, the Rex exoskeleton is capable of supporting the full weight of a person — making it suitable for paraplegics — and moving him or her around in a familiar bipedal fashion. It’s operated using a joystick and control pad and is simple enough for handicapped users to self-transfer in and out of. The best news, perhaps, is that it’s about to go on sale in its home country this year, with an international launch following in 2011. The worst news? Probably the $150,000 (US) initial asking price, but then we’d hardly say we’re qualified to judge the value of being able to walk again. Video and full press release after the break.

[Thanks, Kurt and Simon]

Continue reading Rex, the robotic exoskeleton, aims to make wheelchairs obsolete

Rex, the robotic exoskeleton, aims to make wheelchairs obsolete originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Jul 2010 02:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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