Robotic Bees Could Save Crops

December 18, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

In September, I posted a Weekly Newswrap with a story about robo-bees.  Now comes this story about robot bees that could help save agriculture from the coming disaster caused by the mysterious bee plague.  This is the disease that has wiped out over one-third of the bee population in the United States.  Some estimates of bee deaths are much higher.  If a cure cannot be found for this Colony Collapse Disorder, perhaps these mechanical bees can help save crops that require pollination.  These robotic bees would be developed from a robotic fly developed by Rob Wood at Harvard University.  Read more about these “beebots” in this article by Corey Binns from the Popular Science website.

RoboBees_HR 

Illustration Credit:  Graham Murdoch

That strategy led Gu-Yeon Wei to suggest that Rob Wood morph an almond-size robotic fly he had developed into a fleet of autonomous bees, each capable of carrying out specialized tasks. Perhaps, they speculated, the “RoboBees” could supplement the pollinating duties of bees stricken by a mysterious affliction that’s killed 36 percent of America’s 2.4 million hives. If you build the bee body, Wei told Wood, I can make the brain.

In the future, an autonomous robot could haul the hive from field to field. STEP 2: Survey the Landscape Scout RoboBees leave the hive first and use their ultraviolet sensors to locate the same UV patterns on flower petals that real bees look for.

Robotic Insects Could Pollinate Flowers and Find Disaster Victims – Popular Science
(author unknown)
Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:09:00 GMT

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

Delhi Police Consider Armed Robot for Anti-Terror Role

December 16, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

Military units have used armed robots for many years in their operations, but now a civilian police force in Delhi, India is considering the purchase of one or more of these bots.  No final decisions have been made on this, but the ramifications of this could radically alter future police anti-terror tactics.  This could also change how police forces handle any special tactical situation.  An armed subject with a hostage might find that he or she is face to face with a heavily armed “robocop” and not a negotiator.  What, if any, ethical considerations must be made when civilian police have these weaponized robots at their disposal?  Already, robots are used in bomb disposal situations.  Some robots are used to scout hostage situations. Others provide a negotiations platform in some cases.  It is not a stretch to see these armed robots as a part of Special Weapons And Tactics (SWAT) units.  In fact, if you look at the Foster-Miller website, as I did in researching this post, you can see that there is already a SWAT model for sale to police departments.  Wired.com published an article on this topic earlier this year about armed robots being marketed to police forces.  And there are stories about TASER-armed robots being developed for law enforcement officers.

I am not necessarily against this idea.  These robots have the potential of saving police officers’ lives by keeping them out of dangerous situations.  I think the larger question is how much autonomy will the robots have in these situations?  Right now these robots are teleoperated and have limited autonomous abilities.  But, if robots go into buildings and have to depend on radio links for control, there will be places where the machines will not have a communications link.  In those times the robots will have to be able to work on their own.  How do you make sure the robots know what to do when that happens? 

Read the article at the link below and decide what you think about this.

robocop2 (1) 

Credit:  Pics/MiD DAY

The robot carries a machine gun, a camera and a bomb-diffusing chemical; demo held for Delhi cops This may change the face of counter-insurgency operations in urban landscape, forever.

Delhi police may get sci-fi anti-terror tool
(author unknown)
Wed, 16 Dec 2009 08:33:55 GMT

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

Snakebot For Your Heart

December 15, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

A snakebot is being prepared to carry-out cardiac surgery by a team of doctors at Cardiorobotics.  Their version of the snakebot is known are ARM or Articulated Robotic Medprobe.  It is a teleoperated robot consisting of a series of links.  In an earlier post on August 10, 2009, I wrote about this snakebot for heart surgery being developed at the Newport, Rhode Island company.  Because of the snakebot’s ability to bend into many shapes, it is being developed to assist in delicate surgeries.  Check out the stories below.  You can see a video of the original version of this snakebot surgeon on You Tube.

Snakebot for Cardiac Surgery

Cardiorobotics

The central element of our technology is a teleoperated probe consisting of a series of links.  The probe is highly flexible and thus either assumes the shape of its surroundings or can be reshaped. 

This teleoperated, highly articulated probe with a non-linear lumen is called an Articulated Robotic MedProbe or ARM™.

Cardiorobotics Closes $11.6M Series A Financing to Advance Clinical Development of Snake Robot for Surgery

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:38:00 GMT

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

The Next Robots Will Go for the SLAM

December 15, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

In a future mission to a planet, a robot may need to find its way around without the benefit of prior knowledge of the surface.  Robots in these situations will need to use a process called SLAM or Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping.  For the last three decades perfecting the process of SLAM has become the gold standard of robotics research.  This article from PhysOrg.com explains how this process is being studied for applications to future robots.  In the article, Matteo Matteucci, a roboticist at the Politecnico di Milano University in Italy, states “SLAM is an essential building block of autonomous robots because robots, such as planetary rovers and undersea research craft, cannot be provided with an accurate map beforehand. In such situations, the only solution is for them to create a representation of the environment as they go and determine their location in it by themselves.”

Check out the story in the links below.  Also, take a look at The Rawseeds Project for additional background on this topic.


PhysOrg.com

Slam dunk for future smart robots
PhysOrg.com
Work by European researchers will help future robot generations provide smarter answers. The process by which robots use vision, laser and/or sonar sensors …

Slam dunk for future smart robots – PhysOrg.com
(author unknown)
Mon, 14 Dec 2009 21:50:18 GMT

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

Robot Uses Artificial Intelligence to Water Plants

December 10, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

Here’s a robot that can water your plants and not your furniture.  By using creativity, the students programmed their robots to perform tasks using artificial intelligence (AI).  So, the robot can tell what is a plant and what is not.  The robot can also find its way around the house to get to the plants.  In addition to the plant-tending robot, the students in this university class developed other robots that could demonstrate AI.  Check the story below for more details on the other projects developed in the class.

Watering Robot

Photo Credit:  Miranda Pederson/Daily News

Go ahead and call your neighbors. They won’t need to water your plants anymore. That’s because at say, 5 p.m., a robot built by a duo of Western Kentucky University students will know it’s time to hydrate the hydrangeas and will independently …

Like a scene from “The Jetsons,” the robot rolled forward, made a 90-degree turn and located the garbage can “plant” with the sensors just above its wheels and belly area. 

“Watering plants,” the robot said in a mechanical voice, as a stream of water began flowing into the small black can. 

As the device continued cornering turns and watering the rest of the imaginary domain’s daisies, Cox said the team also programmed the robot to ensure it waters only plants using a sonar sound reflective system similar to what is used by submarines to identify items in its path.

Creating artificial intelligence – Bowling Green Daily News
(author unknown)
Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:27:00 GMT

Filed Under: Robots · Tagged With: , ,

Robot Takes a New Step Forward

December 9, 2009 by · Leave a Comment






PETMAN is one of a new kind of walking robot described in this story from Jesse Emspak, correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor. This bot, designed by Boston Dynamics in Waltham, Massachusetts, is a bipedal robot that can stroll in a very human way as you can see by watching the video.  The mechanical automaton has no torso, just steel and plastic legs tethered to a system of power cables. In its independent walking motion, this machine uses the same heel-to-toe motion as humans. Most amazing is its ability to recover when pushed.  PETMAN sidesteps to recover its balance. And New BalanceTM get ready, this robot even wears shoes!

However, before this humanoid machine runs marathons, it may find a job with the military testing designs for humans.  It could also be a stand-in for humans on Mars.  Make sure and check out the full story at the links below.

 Walking robot

Photo Credit:  Carmen K. Sisson/Special to The Christian Science Monitor

"For the past 30 years, scientists and technicians have grappled with making robots walk on two legs. Humans do it effortlessly, but the simple act has a lot of hidden complexity. And until recently, computers were very bad at it.

Now, several teams across the country are refining the first generation of robots that are close to walking like people. That includes the ability to recover from stumbles, resist shoves, and navigate rough terrain."

Source:   Jesse Emspak,  Correspondent for The Christian Science Monitor/ December 8, 2009 edition

                http://features.csmonitor.com/innovation/2009/12/08/a-new-step-forward-for-robots/#

via features.csmonitor.com

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

Festo Shows RoboKites

December 8, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

This post came across my robotics feed today from Adam Flaherty at MAKE Magazine and I thought it was worth a look.  In the video on BotJunkie, you can see the Festo kite in action.  And yes, the applications of this might not seem obvious at first, but the concept could be used for wind power production.  As the cable moves back and forth, it would make the generation of electricity possible.  Also, the process could be used for a high tech sail to pull ships across the ocean as shown in this link from BotJunkie.  (Although, in this link, I do not believe this is a Festo kite.)

Festo has produced many elegant robotic applications over the years and this is just more of those elegant projects with futuristic applications that could work now.  Check out the links below for more on this story. 

Via BotJunkie

Windmill of the future? The latest advancement in kite fighting? Kitesurfing robots? The Festo CyberKite deftly controls the graceful movements of a rather large kite with relative ease. [via BotJunkie]

Read more 

Festo CyberKite
Adam Flaherty
Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:00:00 GMT

Sky_liner_10382c_3_500px

Photo Credit:  Festo

Why? Because robot penguin, that’s why!

But seriously, I have no idea, besides that it’s an interesting project to tackle… Although come to think of it, I suppose it could have some commercial applications, too.

Festo CyberKite

http://www.botjunkie.com/2009/12/07/festo-cyberkite/

Filed Under: Robots · Tagged With: , ,

iRobot Shows Off Educational Program

December 8, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

iRobot is demonstrating it is serious about its education outreach program.  SPARK or Starter Programs for the Advancement of Robotics Knowledge, as the program is known, is out to show students and teachers how robots work.  Previously, this effort was detailed in a post from September 8, 2009 here on RobotNext.  It would be nice to see iRobot use its iCreate platform to greater effect.  Read the article at the link below.

iRobot launches educational program
Boston Globe
The object of the initiative is to help educators, parents and students use "the wonder and genius of robots" to inspire students in K-12 schools. …
iRobot Launches New Initiative to 'SPARK' STEM Education in the Classroom Business Wire (press release)
all 12 news articles »

iRobot launches educational program – Boston Globe
(author unknown)
Mon, 07 Dec 2009 15:56:09 GMT

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

Laser-Guided Robots Milk Cows

December 4, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

The Carman Valley Leader has this story on robots that are helping to run a high-tech dairy farm.  In the photo below a robot assists the cattle by pushing the feed towards them.  Other robots actually milk the cows.  They target in on the cow’s udders using laser guidance.  And they are persistent, they never give up in their quest to get the milk!  This does not look like my uncle’s dairy farm for sure.  Take a look at the story be following the link below.

Photo by Glen Hallick

Robots are replacing milking machines at Halarda Farms owned by the Borst family.

The large dairy operation northwest of Elm Creek hosted a Nov. 20 open house. Guests were given tours of the dairy, including the barns with robot milkers.

Halarda has eight of these stationary machines each guided by three lasers on to the cows' udders.

Laser guided robots milk cows
(author unknown)
Fri, 04 Dec 2009 07:24:14 GMT

Filed Under: Robots · Tagged With: , , ,

Trying to Dig Out, Mars Robot Digs Into a Discovery

December 3, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

Sometimes the biggest discoveries come through by accident.  Spirit, the Mars robotic rover stuck in a patch of loose Martian soil, has churned–up something interesting.  Bright, fluffy material covered by a dark crust.  To see what this might mean, check out the article from PhysOrg.com.

sandtrappedr

Credit: JPL/NASA via PhysOrg

Spirit surveys its own predicament. The bright soil pictured left is loose, fluffy material churned by the rover's left-front wheel as Spirit, driving backwards, broke through a darker, crusty surface. At right is the least-embedded of the rover's …

Sandtrapped Rover Makes a Big Discovery – PhysOrg
(author unknown)
Thu, 03 Dec 2009 21:45:00 GMT

Filed Under: Robots, Space · Tagged With: , , , , ,
Verified by MonsterInsights