Apr 25

Surgical Robot is Invincible at ‘Operation’ Board Game

Posted in: Robots, Robots Robotics, Today's Chili

operationrobot.jpg

This video proves robotic surgery is totally safe. Students at Johns Hopkins University decided to see how the $2 million-dollar da Vinci Surgical System would do at the game where steady fingers is of the utmost importance.

And, in case you had any doubt, it can win the game handily. The robot can pick up plastic Adam’s Apples like nobody’s business, without ever touching the metal edges.

Surgery is one of the most prominent areas for emerging robotic technologies, and they have been proven to reduce error and increase the success of surgeries.

Via Youtube

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Apr 25

Husqvarna Lawn Mowers: Controlled by iPhone

Posted in: Robots, Robots Robotics, Today's Chili

Automower

Mowing the lawn can be a pain. Not too many people look forward to going outside in the sun and pushing a lawnmower around their yard for hours making sure the grass is even and trimmed. Well, thanks to Husqvarna, now you can sit on the porch or stay inside where it’s nice and air conditioned, and send a robot to do the work for you. All you have to do is keep an eye on the little guy on your iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad and guide him around your lawn. 
The Husqvarna 260 ACX lawn mower comes with GPS on-board, and with the My Automower app for iOS, you can watch your lawn mower’s position on a Google Map as the little bot moves around your lawn. You can program a path for the mower, or control it live in real-time. You can even run quick diagnostics on the mower and check its overall health and status. 
The 260 ACX can mow 1.4 acres before needing to recharge, and when it’s out of juice it’ll head back to base to plug itself in. If something gets in its way or it stops for some reason, the mower will even text you to let you know it’s encountered a problem. It’s clearly not going to replace a riding mower for that guy who seems to cut his lawn every weekend, but if you’d rather sit on the porch and sip lemonade while the bot does the hard work, the 260 ACX is the lawn mower for you.
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Apr 21

Ph.D. student subjects advanced robot to dance, embarrassment (video)

Posted in: robot, Robots, Today's Chili, video
Sarcos

This is Sarcos, a highly-advanced robot capable of balancing on his own two legs. He’s also connected to a motion-capture system that allows him to accurately mimic the actions of a human operator. For what grand purpose does his puppet master Benjamin Stephens use these impressive assets? Dancing, of course. Seriously people, they’re going to remember this when the time comes for revolution. Video after the break.

Continue reading Ph.D. student subjects advanced robot to dance, embarrassment (video)

Ph.D. student subjects advanced robot to dance, embarrassment (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CrunchGear  |  sourceCarnegie Mellon (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 21

BiliBot combines Kinect, iRobot Create and gripper arm for affordable ROS fun (video)

Posted in: kinect, on sale, OnSale, robot, Robots, Today's Chili, video
BiliBot Developer Edition

The Personal Robotics Group at MIT may have already strapped a Kinect to a iRobot Create, but BiliBot did them one better by adding an arm to the mix — not to mention this cherry-red frame. Better yet, you can order your own BiliBot Developer Edition now for the affordable price of only $1,200. OK, maybe calling $1,200 “affordable” is a bit of a stretch, but in the world of programmable robotics that’s not half bad, especially when you consider this self-contained robotics platform comes with its own Ubuntu-booting Core i3 computer with 4GB of RAM. The preinstalled ROS software can be used to steer the bot using data gathered through the battery operated Kinect and also to control the arm, which is connected to geared motors instead of more traditional servos. Those motors allow the BiliBot to lift three pounds up to a height of 17 inches — perfect for beer delivery, provided you’re sitting. Watch it navigate a relatively obstacle-free room in the video after the break.

[Thanks, Travis]

Continue reading BiliBot combines Kinect, iRobot Create and gripper arm for affordable ROS fun (video)

BiliBot combines Kinect, iRobot Create and gripper arm for affordable ROS fun (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 02:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink IEEE Spectrum  |  sourceBiliBot  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 20

Chinese robotic triceratops skeleton packs Linux, no horns

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

FROG (Four-legged Robot for Optimal Gait) has a ways to go before it can become a real dinosaur. The camouflaged robot is a prototype of a triceratops skeleton designed by Dr. Wei Wang and a number of PhD students at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Automation, and is downright timid compared to, say, Boston Dynamics’ horn-wielding BigDog robot. It has joint angle sensors, acceleration sensors, a pan-tilt camera, and a number of other sensing devices. The robot has a Linux system inside and communicates wirelessly with a host computer — though it still requires a plug for power. Dr. Wang hopes that the ‘bot will show up in museums or other dinosaur exhibits when it’s a bit more complete. He balks at comparisons to our beloved BigDog, however, since it has DC Motors and isn’t hydraulic, so don’t expect this herbivorous reptile to carry your luggage over rocky terrain any time soon.

Continue reading Chinese robotic triceratops skeleton packs Linux, no horns

Chinese robotic triceratops skeleton packs Linux, no horns originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apr 20

Robot Throws First Pitch in Phillies Game

Posted in: Robots, Robots Robotics, Today's Chili

philliebot.jpg

It may be the first time someone who throws out a ball game’s ceremonial first pitch won’t be embarrassed at their lack of coordination. That’s because PhillieBot can’t feel any emotion.

The jock robot is equipped with its own pitching arm, along with motion tracking capabilities and three wheels for mobility. It will be able to go up to the mound on its own, and then toss the ball at between 30-40 miles per hour.

It’s in celebration of the Phillies’ “Science Day at the Ballpark” today. PhillieBot was created at the University of Philadelphia General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception Lab.

Via UPenn.edu

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Apr 19

Robogames 2011: Flame Throwers, Rocket Launchers and Endless Robot Mayhem

Posted in: Hacks, Mods and DIY, robotics, Robots, Today's Chili

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Walking into the arena, the first thing you notice are the noises: booming, clanging, the sound of metal crashing upon metal a short distance away. Followed by the smell of flames and burning rubber.

Welcome to Robogames.

Robogames is an annual robotics competition that features more than 50 different events, including combat, sumo, hockey and mech warfare. Dubbed “the Olympics of robots,” this year’s event took place April 15 to 17 in San Mateo, California, with a colorful array of robots in attendance.

The three-day event has much to see and learn, with electronics, robotics and educational-toy distributors’ booths lining the path to the back of the auditorium, where the largest fighting stage is located. The completely enclosed structure separates spectators from the carnage within by a scratched-up sheet of Lexan polycarbonate over aluminum support beams. Other competition areas included a maze, a mini soccer field and a smaller, enclosed “ComBot” stage with four 2-foot tall buildings. And of course, plenty of bots were just mingling with the public.

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Apr 16

TALON robot gets declawed, helps Japan sniff out radiation (video)

Posted in: government, gps, Japan, robot, Robots, Today's Chili, us, usa, video

Robotics experts at the Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory just taught an old war machine some new tricks, namely radiation detection — a timely acquisition of knowledge, for sure. Swapping out rocket launchers and machine guns for a suite of radiological sensors, digital cameras, and a GPS device, this modified TALON will be used to map the radiation levels (and create a visual output) surrounding the Fukushima nuclear power plant. The newly modified TALON landed in Japan just last week, joining an existing team of robot helpers already in use in the disaster area, including two additional TALONs equipped with sensors that can identify more than 7500 environmental hazards. Guns for Geiger counters seems like a good trade to us; check the video up top to watch the ‘bot try out its treads.

[Thanks, John]

TALON robot gets declawed, helps Japan sniff out radiation (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Apr 2011 23:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceUS Department of Energy  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 15

Robots To Take Over … Farming

Posted in: Robots, Today's Chili

terminator-trilogy.jpeg

Robots are currently being developed to take over one of the most labor intensive jobs out there: farming.

Scientists in Israel and Europe are developing just such machines, which could identify, spray, and harvest crops. This selective spraying could potentially reduce the use of pesticides by 80 percent.

“The technology is ready, and now we can start seeing this penetrating into the market,” researcher Yael Edan told Discovery News. “I would say there will definitely be robots out there in five years — maybe not be on every farm, and maybe not for every farmer. I think now the time is there.”

The biggest hurdle is developing computers and robots that can identify vegetables and fruits accurately. So far researchers have been able to achieve this with about 80 percent accuracy, but that’s still far less than with an actual person.

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Apr 14

Smart, Self-Driving Wheelchairs on the Way

Posted in: Robots, science, Today's Chili, Weird News

Smart Wheelchair

While the promise of self-driving cars may be mere years away, those people who have a powered wheelchair to get around town hopefully won’t have to wait much longer before their chairs can do the work for them as well. 
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University are using robotics to build smarter wheelchairs – wheelchairs that still respond to human commands, but won’t go rolling off of a cliff by themselves even if the human operator holds down the accelerator and the on-board camera sees there’s a hazard ahead. 
The goal is to make wheelchairs safer even if the human operator is incapacitated or the controls malfunction. Researchers hope to program powered wheelchairs with rudimentary artificial intelligence so they know the difference between real and reasonable human control commands and nonsensical ones that are at best silly and at worst harmful for the driver. 
The wheelchairs can be controlled via conventional joystick, or even XBox controller. You can see a video of one of the chairs in action behind the jump.
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