Hasta La Gadget!

Workers in factory assembly lines could be rubbing elbows with the FRIDA Concept Robot. Photo: Geeky-Gadgets

Manufacturers and factory owners needn’t worry about pesky human workers for too much longer.

ABB has introduced FRIDA, a half-humanoid robot designed for the industrial life.

Although FRIDA could easily replace a horde of human workers, it’s actually designed to work side-by-side with its mortal counterparts. The robot features a human-like torso with padded arms that are capable of a wide range of motion, a flexible gripper for handling small components, and cameras for identifying and locating parts.

FRIDA’s humanoid build makes it easy to be interchanged or inserted between human workers. It has a convenient handle placed where a head would normally go, which makes the worker bot easy to carry while eliminating that nasty uncanny valley problem.

FRIDA, a “harmless robotic coworker”, has already left the research stage, with prototypes currently being tested in pilot applications.

Perhaps FRIDA will be the one putting together the components of your next smartphone or tablet.

FRIDA Concept Robot [ABB via Geeky-Gadgets]

We’ve seen them scoop up oozy goop, shake their moneymakers, and even give birth, but it’s rare for us to land solid face time with the robotic superstars we admire so much. If you’re in DC over the next few weeks, however, the Smithsonian’s offering you the opportunity to get up close and personal with some of the most influential automatons in robotics history. In honor of National Robotics week, the museum is dedicating its Spark!Lab to our mechanical counterparts, allowing you to play Simon with DARPA’s Autonomous Robotic Manipulator (ARM), invent a robotic arm of your own, or feast your eyes on the likes of ELECTRO the robo dog. The museum has also announced that it is now accepting donations “relating to the development of autonomous mobile robots in the United States.” So, throw one back for your favorite robots this week, because — you know — they can’t. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading Smithsonian’s Spark!Lab gives big ups to robots

Smithsonian’s Spark!Lab gives big ups to robots originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink International Business Times  |  Smithsonian  | Email this | Comments

It may not look like much, but this little modular robot’s got the stuff to give Keepon a run for its money — oh yeah, and according to its creators, iMobot’s got big implications for the field of robotics too. Sporting four degrees of freedom, two rotating joints, and a pair of faceplates that act as wheels, the patent-pending device can crawl, drive, and potentially act as an autonomous camera platform. The surprisingly agile hunk of machinery was developed by two UC Davis professors who say their versatile invention could aid in search and rescue, as well as education and research. We think it’s super cool that iMobot could be a hero, but really, we just want to see it bust a move. Check out a video of our new robo love after the break.

Continue reading iMobot creeps, crawls, cranes its way into our hearts (video)

iMobot creeps, crawls, cranes its way into our hearts (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Mar 2011 23:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PhysOrg  |  UC Davis (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

DARPA, that governmental black magic factory that gave us the flying Humvee and Hummingbird spybot, has unveiled its new Maximum Mobility and Manipulation Program (M3) program that plans to put us on the fast track to our robotic future. M3 aims to improve robotic research through four specialized development programs — design tools, fabrication, control, and prototype demonstration — that divvy up the work between commercial labs and universities. The program will not replace existing bionic projects, but some, like the Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM) program, will be folded into the new scheme. DARPA anticipates that the plan will result in cheaper bots superior to those we have today, but not superior to man… we hope.

DARPA M3 program to make cheaper, more mobile robots for the US war machine originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 00:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Information Week  |  DARPA  | Email this | Comments

…And it’ll probably beat you.

A company called Adept Technologies has built a robot, Quattro, which apparently does a pretty good job of playing iPhone games. Its “show off” game is 1to50, a simple title that asks players to do nothing more than tap the numbers “1” to “50” on a screen of jumbled numbers as quickly as possible.

A mere human can probably do it in 15-20 seconds if he’s good. The record currently sits at 7.85 seconds, but Quattro handily completed the task in just 6.67 seconds.

Quattro wasn’t designed exclusively to play casual mobile games. It’s used in industrial applications on assembly lines and sorting facilities. Gaming just happens to be something it does on the side.

Via Physorg.com