Jun 03

Simple DIY cellbot ditches Arduino, jousts poorly (video)

Posted in: Android, arduino, diy, robot, robotics, Robots, Today's Chili, video




Want an adorable little Android cellbot to call your own, but aren’t quite ready to tackle Arduino code? Darrell Taylor’s got you covered with an audio-controlled, jousting cellbot: no muss, no fuss, no microcontroller. The Make project, called TRRSTAN, accepts commands via Google chat, web browser, or Wii remote piped through the headphone jack of your Android phone — the robot’s brain, of course. Tack on a few makeshift weapons procured at the local dollar store, and you’ve got a homemade warrior you can be proud of. Want one? Taylor has a ready-made kit available for just shy of $50, and offers a ‘fully assembled’ option for the extra-lazy robot enthusiast. Of course, you could always go back to playing Android-bots with your Legos if you aren’t quite ready to big-boy world of DIY. Just sayin’.

Simple DIY cellbot ditches Arduino, jousts poorly (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jun 2011 23:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 01

Kibo Robot Project Calls for Tweets in Space

Posted in: PRODUCT INNOVATIONS, robotics, Robots, Today's Chili

Japanese advertising giant Dentsu today announced the launch of the designated official website for the Kibo Robot Project today, which aims at putting a communicative robot into space by 2014.

Kibo-Japan-Dentsu

As of today the website is open for the public to enter their messages which the robot will carry into space to be read out to astronauts. Messages of encouragement and simple communication from the public around the world are aimed at boosting the emotions of the astronauts who will be living on the Japanese Experiment Module, aboard the International Space Station that will orbit earth. Messages can be submitted via twitter or email and there is a ready made logo users can download to add to their Twitter avatars also. Visitors to the site can also browse other messages of support before adding their own.

Kibo-Space-Program-Twitter

The site also links to a twitter account, @space_GAL , which will give regular updates to the projects events, and in male dominated Japan it is interesting that the creators have chosen a female figure to be the official twitter reporter. Trying to make the project more “approachable” the idea is to widen the reach of the project to demographics that wouldn’t normally be interested.

The collaboration effort between Dentsu, JAXA, University of Tokyo and Robo Garage is not only aimed at the space program however, but with the wider aim to “help solve the social problems of the future through communication”. With the growing aging society in Japan and a rise in social problems the whole project is trying to address future concerns regarding a lack of communication in a “society of singletons.”

Thanks to Plastic Pals

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May 29

Treebot climbs trees, is a robot (video)

Posted in: robot, robotics, Today's Chili, video
Remember when you didn’t consider climbing trees a chore? Treebot doesn’t — but then, it wasn’t programmed to know boredom. The robot was designed by a team at The Chinese University of Hong Kong for the express purpose of shimmying up trees autonomously, figuring out the best route up a trunk using built-in touch sensors. The ‘bot’s body is designed like an inchworm, expanding and contracting as it works it way up — unlike other climbers we’ve seen. Treebot can carry up to 3.7 pounds as it inches along, opening up the possibility of using the machine to prune hard to reach leaves. It can also shuffle up a variety of different plants, including bamboo stems, as evidenced by the sped-up video after the break. Unwieldy foliage, you’ve been put on notice.

Continue reading Treebot climbs trees, is a robot (video)

Treebot climbs trees, is a robot (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 29 May 2011 08:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 26

Amphibious Aquapod might be the clumsiest robot ever (video)

Posted in: research, robot, robotics, Today's Chili, video

It may look like nothing more than a random piece of seaside trash, but that ugly little creature you’re staring at is actually known as Aquapod — an amphibious robot that crawls around by falling over itself. Literally. Developed by researchers at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Distributed Robotics, Aquapod uses two carbon fiber arms and a servo motor system to somersault itself around, like an inebriated horseshoe crab. It’s certainly not the swiftest of bots, but this guy’s durable enough to move across rough terrains and, per its nickname, is completely waterproof and in full control of its buoyancy. Creators Andrew Carlson and Nikos Papanikolopoulos say their $2,000 brainchild could one day be used to monitor fish populations and conduct underwater experiments — or to simply scare the bejesus out of beach-going children. Video after the break.

Continue reading Amphibious Aquapod might be the clumsiest robot ever (video)

Amphibious Aquapod might be the clumsiest robot ever (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 08:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 22

Maker Faire 2011, in pictures: Arduinos, Androids, and angry robots (video)

Posted in: Android, arduino, diy, electric vehicle, ElectricVehicle, ev, lego, robot, robotics, Robots, Star Wars, Today's Chili, video, videos

The rapture has come and gone, but the Maker Faire powers on. Despite warnings of a May 21st doomsday, folks came out in droves for the annual celebration of all things DIY, and we were there to bring you the best in homespun inventions. This year’s Maker Faire was light on robots and big on corporate sponsorship. Among the giants supporting the little guys were Google, ASUS, and HP, but El Goog’s presence extended beyond its dedicated tents. The new Android ADK was big with at-home tinkerers this year, spawning a number of little robots and at least one DIY alternative.

Perhaps no other trend proved more pervasive than 3D printing, however — every time we turned around there was another MakerBot or RapMan pumping out everything from statuettes of attendees to cutesy salt shakers. There were robotic building blocks, a Heineken-themed R2-D2, DIY drones, custom keyboards, and a ton of repurposed gadgets, but it was an arena of destructo-bots, tucked away in the farthest corner of the San Mateo County Event Center, that really blew us away. We came away sunburned and bedraggled, but lucky for you, we did all the dirty work so you don’t have to. To see what made this year’s Maker Faire, hop on past the break for a video of our favorite DIY finds.

Gallery: Maker Faire 2011

Myriam Joire contributed to this report.

Continue reading Maker Faire 2011, in pictures: Arduinos, Androids, and angry robots (video)

Maker Faire 2011, in pictures: Arduinos, Androids, and angry robots (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 22 May 2011 17:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 19

Tenacious robot ashamed of creator’s performance, shows mankind how it’s done (video)

Posted in: robot, RobotApocalypse, robotics, Robots, Today's Chili, video




Looks like researchers have made another step towards taking Skynet live: giving robots the groundwork for gloating. A Swiss team of misguided geniuses have developed learning algorithms that allow robot-kind to learn from human mistakes. Earthlings guide the robot through a flawed attempt at completing a task, such as catapulting a ball into a paper basket; the machine then extrapolates its goal, what went wrong in the human-guided example, and how to succeed, via trial and error. Rather than presuming human demonstrations represent a job well done, this new algorithm assumes all human examples are failures, ultimately using their bad examples to help the ‘bot one-up its creators. Thankfully, the new algorithm is only being used with a single hyper-learning appendage; heaven forbid it should ever learn how to use the robot-internet.

Tenacious robot ashamed of creator’s performance, shows mankind how it’s done (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 May 2011 19:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 19

Robotic Wheelchair Gives Elderly Independence

Posted in: LIFESTYLE / FASHION, PRODUCT INNOVATIONS, retail, robotics, Robots, Today's Chili

Researchers at ATR Intelligent Robotics and Communication Laboratories recently demonstrated their latest developments in the Ubiquitous Network Robot (UNR) project, a robotic wheelchair.

Wheelchair-Robotic-Japan

Incorporating a number of innovative platforms including GPS, unbiquitous sensor networks and mobile devices, the specially designed robot wheelchair was able to automatically meet an elderly shopper at a mall entrance and take her shopping. The shopper used a smartphone to reserve the wheelchair which then logged her details and used GPS coordinates to meet the shopper without any assistance as she arrived, and could then be controlled by a Wii controller.

The robotic wheelchair is fitted with a number of safety features aimed to put the user’s mind at ease while maneuvering about a busy mall. On-board laser rangefinders are used to prevent collisions with other shoppers and obstacles such as walls and benches, and can plot the best route through the busy areas automatically. It can also take over driving through the mall when the user gets tired or when it is particularly busy. A really interesting feature is the ability for the robot to remember favorite or regular products the user buys then recommend and navigate to them automatically. There is also a remote operator on hand to aid in times when lasers can’t detect obstacles in certain “dangerous areas”. Using a combination of a 3D graphical interface incorporating rich map data, human position data, and video from an omnidirectional camera the operator can safely drive the customer through or around the dangerous area.

With a swelling aging population in Japan the focus on technology aimed at providing this kind of service is intensifying. Allowing elderly or disabled users a level of independence by enabling them to safely visit malls and other areas without the use of a caretaker provides a valuable service. We could see this also eventually linking up with home appliances, such as a shopper’s refrigerator which records particular products the customer has or doesn’t have, to create an automatic shopping list and be able to guide them around the supermarket or mall to the relevant spaces.

Via Dylan Glas at IEEE RAS Technical Committee on Networked Robots

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May 18

Pleo bares it all for FCC approval

Posted in: robot, robotics, Today's Chili, toy, Toys

Poor Pleo. Everyone fell in love with the little green dino at first sight, but no one actually bought the thing. Undaunted, the adorable fleshy robot made a triumphant return at this year’s CES as Pleo RB (that’s “Reborn”), with the help of adopted manufacturer Innvo Labs. The newly invigorated ‘bot brings voice recognition, more sensors, and RFID-based command learning technology to the table. With all its new gear in place, Pleo was poked, prodded, and peeled by the FCC, revealing, among other things, that new RFID reader in its chin. The results are gruesome and not recommended for faint of heart robot dinosaur lovers. You’ve been warned.

Gallery: Pleo Hits the FCC

Pleo bares it all for FCC approval originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 May 2011 21:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 18

Lingodroid robots develop their own language, quietly begin plotting against mankind

Posted in: camera, laser, research, robot, RobotApocalypse, robotics, Today's Chili

It’s one thing for a robot to learn English, Japanese, or any other language that we humans have already mastered. It’s quite another for a pair of bots to develop their own, entirely new lexicon, as these two apparently have. Created by Ruth Schulz and her team of researchers at the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology, each of these so-called Lingodroids constructed their special language after navigating their way through a labyrinthine space. As they wove around the maze, the Lingobots created spatial maps of their surroundings, with the help of on-board cameras, laser range finders and sonar equipment that helped them avoid walls. They also created words for each mapped location, using a database of syllables. With the mapping complete, the robots would reconvene and communicate their findings to each other, using mounted microphones and speakers. One bot, for example, would spit out a word it had created for the center of the maze (“jaya”), sending both of them off on a “race” to find that spot. If they ended up meeting at the center of the room, they would agree to call it “jaya.” From there, they could tell each other about the area they’d just come from, thereby spawning new words for direction and distance, as well. Schulz is now looking to teach her bots how to express more complex ideas, though her work is likely to hit a roadblock once these two develop a phrase for “armed revolt.”

Lingodroid robots develop their own language, quietly begin plotting against mankind originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 May 2011 11:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 17

Rescue robots map and explore dangerous buildings, prove there’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’ (video)

Posted in: gps, maps, research, robot, robotics, Today's Chili, video
We’ve seen robots do some pretty heroic things in our time, but engineers from Georgia Tech, the University of Pennsylvania and Cal Tech have now developed an entire fleet of autonomous rescue vehicles, capable of simultaneously mapping and exploring potentially dangerous buildings — without allowing their egos to get in the way. Each wheeled bot measures just one square foot in size, carries a video camera capable of identifying doorways, and uses an on-board laser scanner to analyze walls. Once gathered, these data are processed using a technique known as simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM), which allows each bot to create maps of both familiar and unknown environments, while constantly recording and reporting its current location (independently of GPS). And, perhaps best of all, these rescue Roombas are pretty team–oriented. Georgia Tech professor Henrik Christensen explains:

“There is no lead robot, yet each unit is capable of recruiting other units to make sure the entire area is explored. When the first robot comes to an intersection, it says to a second robot, ‘I’m going to go to the left if you go to the right.'”

This egalitarian robot army is the spawn of a research initiative known as the Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) Collaborative Technology Alliance Program, sponsored by the US Army Research Laboratory. The ultimate goal is to shrink the bots down even further and to expand their capabilities. Engineers have already begun integrating infrared sensors into their design and are even developing small radar modules capable of seeing through walls. Roll past the break for a video of the vehicles in action, along with full PR.

Continue reading Rescue robots map and explore dangerous buildings, prove there’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’ (video)

Rescue robots map and explore dangerous buildings, prove there’s no ‘I’ in ‘team’ (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 May 2011 17:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CNET  |  sourceGeorgia Tech  | Email this | Comments

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