Robot Rats Could Be Next

June 7, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

Rats are the next model for robots.  Imagine a very large mechanical rodent scurrying around the room and you get the idea.  Not for the faint of heart if you hate rats.  Probably won't be the design for the next generation of robotic vacuum cleaners, but the behavior may be just what is needed to bring some intelligence to robots.  The intelligence of a rat. 

Researchers have gone to nature yet again to find inspiration for robot development.  On robotNext there have been posts on snake bots, insect bots, beaver-tailed bots, and dinosaur bots.   Robots have been modeled on spiders, water striders, and even humans.  Why not rats?

Actually, why rats?  Rats have brain structures similar to humans, so rats make sense as a model.  Roboticists in this article from physorg.com believe that robots modeled on rats may be able to accomplish some basic, but useful behaviors, such as navigating around objects or searching for food.  If robots could learn to do this, they would become more than a programmed machine to do repetitive tasks.

Check out the article at the links below.

 ratshapedrob

The future of robots is rat-shaped

Agnes Guillot dreams of one day seeing a giant 50-centimetre (20-inch) -long white rat called Psikharpax scuttling fearlessly around her lab.

… the smarts to figure out dangers and opportunities, a robot is helpless without human intervention. "The autonomy of robots today is similar to that of an insect," snorts Guillot, a researcher at France's Institute for Intelligent Systems and …

The future of robots is rat-shaped
Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:10:50 GMT

Filed Under: Nature, Robots · Tagged With: ,

A Robot That Knows What You Are Going to do Next

June 5, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

RobotNext is always looking for that story that shows where the cutting edge of robotics is going next.  This is truly one of those stories.  A robot that can act on a person’s intentions would be capable of intelligent-like behavior in their relationship with a human.  In a sense, this is the ultimate model from nature for robots—a human.

The idea is to model human-human interactions in order to allow a robot to become more capable of developing a personal relationship with its human partner.  For many applications of consumer robotics, it will be necessary for the robot to be more than just a programmed machine.

Check out the article at the link below.

(PhysOrg.com) — European researchers in robotics, psychology and cognitive sciences have developed a robot that can predict the intentions of its human partner. This ability to anticipate (or question) actions could make human-robot interactions …

Predictive powers: a robot that reads your intention? (w/Video) – PhysOrg
Fri, 05 Jun 2009 14:57:00 GMT

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Robot Sub Reaches Challenger Deep

June 3, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

Robots travel on land and some of them fly in the air.  Other robots are exploring space.  Why not explore the deepest parts of the ocean?  Nereus is the next thing in autonomous submarine vehicles.  Designed to explore 100 percent of the ocean floor, this robot promises to revolutionize undersea exploration.  Read the news story from the BBC at the link below.

A robotic submersible called Nereus has reached the deepest-known part of the ocean.

BBC NEWS | Science & Environment | Robot sub reaches deepest ocean
(author unknown)
Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:23:31 GMT

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Robots That Can Walk on Water May Be Next

June 2, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

Once again nature provides a model for the next thing in robot development.  This time robots may do the miraculous and walk on water.  The technology is based on the surface structure of water strider’s legs.  By repelling water, the legs enable the insects to walk across the surface of water.  This property is called super-hydrophobia. 

For robots to achieve this feat, it seems to me that they would have to have some other properties.  Certainly, they would have to be very light weight.  Still, this is a fascinating idea.  Read the whole story at the link below.


Water Droplet on Super-Hydrophobic Surface: Xiao Cheng Zeng
Popular Science

Robots Borrow Hydro-Repelling Tech from Insect Legs to Walk on Water
Popular Science, NY
By Val Wang Posted 06.02.2009 at 11:19 am 0 Comments A robot that can walk on water: such a miracle is one step closer to reality, thanks to some new research that learns from the work nature has done with water striders. Walking on water may seem like …

Robots Borrow Hydro-Repelling Tech from Insect Legs to Walk on Water – Popular Science
Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:35:01 GMT

Filed Under: Nature, Robots · Tagged With: , , ,

Megasaurus is More Dragon Than Dinosaur

June 1, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

Irresistible is right.  Something about Megasuarus captured my attention.  This is not a new robot and maybe not the next thing in robots, but it is very large and very destructive, and it is new to RobotNext.  From the video I saw of this monster,  it can pick up a car in its giant claws and then incinerate the insides of the vehicle.  Other than the entertainment value of this beast, I saw it as yet another example of robots imitating nature.  Well, sort of.  In this case, a robot has supposedly been designed on the idea of a dinosaur.  To me this robot seems more like a mythical creature, namely a dragon, than a dinosaur.  However, in many ways, it does resemble a certain Japanese science fiction creature from the movies.  

Where as some robot builders are constructing robots to see how nature evolves, this robot is definately a case of robots devolving.  See this story below for the latest exploits of this robotic creature from the junkyard.

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Megasaurus was irresistible. Children, filled with wonder and awe, walked up to the robot-dinosaur hybrid. They studied it, asked questions and grinned wide. Adults balanced wide-eyed queries with their own inspection of the beast …

Megasaurus Brings Fire And Mayhem To Bristol Dragway – TriCities.com
Mon, 01 Jun 2009 07:03:00 GMT

Filed Under: Nature, Robots · Tagged With: , , , ,

Robots Used to Study Evolution

May 30, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

Robots that imitate cockroaches or lizards.  These have been developed in a university laboratory that is researching evolution.  In previous posts here at RobotNext, I have detailed stories on robots that imitate nature.  Here is just one more example of what is next in robots.  Check out the story at the link below.

Long is among a small group of researchers worldwide studying biology and evolution with the help of robots that can do things like shimmy through water or slither up shores. Long's robots, for instance, test theories on the development …
TH Online RSS Feed – http://www.thonline.com/

TH – National/World Article
(author unknown)
Sat, 30 May 2009 20:04:17 GMT

Filed Under: Nature, Robots, Science · Tagged With: , ,

ViRob Follow-up

May 29, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

This is a follow-up to a recent post here on RobotNext on the ViRob.  In this medGadget story, more of the details of the microrobot are explained.  The first target for treatment will probably be lung cancer.  This little robot is ideal for reaching tumors in the lung and delivering a direct dose of chemical agent to the cancer cells.  medGadget has the story along with some great photos of the little robot.  Check out the links below.

… to lung tumors as well as take samples from different areas within the body. In addition, a number of these micro robots could simultaneously treat a variety of metastases. Researchers also plan to install additional equipment on the robot, …

ViRob, a Cavities Crawler
Thu, 28 May 2009 17:12:32 GMT

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Insect-like Robot

May 28, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

Insectoid Robot

Photo Credit:  Robot Watch

Nature strikes again in the form of a robot that has insects to thank for its shape and form.  Although it is billed in this post from DVICE as insectoid, it has four legs, not six, but it does have two arms, so that does make a total of six appendages.  Read the article below and then see the photos on the Robot Watch website.  Links are below.

Via DVICE and Impress Watch

Japanese construction firm unleashes insectoid robot crane on humanity
DVICE
If you think the towering fictional robot monstrosities of Terminator 4 are chilling, you probably won't be happy to see the very real ROBOTOPS at your local construction site. The four-legged, two-armed robot is actually a kind of automated mobile …

Japanese construction firm unleashes insectoid robot crane on humanity – DVICE
Thu, 28 May 2009 11:00:42 GMT

Filed Under: Nature, Robots · Tagged With: ,

Robot Pets or Pet Robots

May 27, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

In a previous post here at RobotNext, I explored the idea of a pet for a robot.  Specifically, a robot dog for a robot-acting human.  Now, this article from CNET News explores, among other things, how real pets are adapting to robots in the home.  I do not have a iRobot Roomba or a Scooba in my home, but I can only imagine how my cat would react.  She would most likely be curious about this intruder into her territory, but just as with the non-robotic vacuum cleaner, she would doubtless run and hide when it began its cleaning.

Robots have definitely found a niche in cleaning floors.  However, they have not become a multitasking, one machine does all, robot.  Today’s robots are single function specialists.  Good at vacuuming or washing floors or cleaning pools, but not all three.

For a look at the future of robots and what may be coming next, take a look at the article link below.

Robotics is an industry in which managing simple tasks and goals is paving the way for the grand visions of science fiction. But first, the floors need to be cleaned. In this three-day special report, CNET News takes a look at the growing world of …

CNET News special report: – CNET News
Wed, 27 May 2009 13:21:00 GMT

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Antibiotic Bot

May 26, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

(Well, not really, but read on …)

The next thing in robots may not be a big deal at all, in fact, it will be very, very small.  This bot is not actually antibiotic.  It is more like a monoclonal antibody.  If you remember the old science fiction movie Fantastic Voyage, then this story is going to sound familiar.  Okay, so the robot is not shrunk down in a miniaturization machine – it is built that way to start with, but it will be injected into the body and have the ability to travel through the blood stream and treat cancer tumors. 

This is the holy grail of oncology:  targeted treatment of the cancer so that healthy tissue is not harmed.  I can tell you from personal experience that anything that can reduce or eliminate the side effects of cancer treatment would be welcomed by patients dealing with malignancies.  Click on the photo or the link below to read the whole story.

blood-robotweb 

Image: Courtesy of Ruder Finn Israel

The Tiny Robot that Can Crawl Through Your Veins—And Treat Your Tumors
Discover Magazine, NY
Researchers at the Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa have developed a miniature crawling robot, called ViRob, that can crawl through your lungs, find a tumor, and zap it with drugs. The bot, which is one millimeter long and four millimeters from …

The Tiny Robot that Can Crawl Through Your Veins—And Treat Your Tumors – Discover Magazine
Tue, 26 May 2009 17:52:03 GMT

Filed Under: Robots · Tagged With: , , ,
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