Robots That Model the Movements of Schooling Fish

October 1, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

Here is a robot modeled on the movements of fish that travel in schools.  In a story by writer Carrie Melago from the New York Daily News, these robots based on fish are detailed.  What is interesting is that these robots are not really fishbots that swim in the water – they maneuver on dry land.  It is thought that this fish schooling behavior can be modeled by robots in a project to develop safer automobiles.  After all, if you have ever watched schools of fish swimming along, how often to the fish ever have a collision with other fish in the school?  So, this idea may have some merit and a very practical application.  Treat cars traveling on roads like schools of fish to prevent accidents.  And, as you can see from the photo below, these little guys really do resemble the Eve robot from the movie “WALL-E”.  Read the complete story from nydailynews.com  or click on the link below.

alg_robot-cars_eporo

Credit:  Tsuno/Getty

Nissan engineers unveil their 'Eporo' robots in a convoy at a press preview in Yokohama Thursday.

Cool! All-new fish robot
(author unknown)
Thu, 01 Oct 2009 16:47:50 GMT

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

Robot Floor Tiles Could Have Applications

September 22, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

Can you say Holodeck?  I always wondered how the human actors in a virtual reality world would move around in the pretend environment.  Now, I have a good idea.  

These tiles could provide the answer to contructing a realistic simulation experience.  If you watch the video of these tiles in action on You Tube, you will notice they move too slowly in their current state of development to make this idea work.  But, if they can be made to perform at a faster rate, and in a manner so that the walking human does not have wait for the tiles, then these could be an incredible development. 

Using a conductive fabric, the robotic tiles work by sensing the foot pressure and placement.  Ultrasonic sensors transmit the signals to a central processing unit that controls the tiles movements.  It seems to me that these tiles could have a practical use in addition to the possible virtual reality applications.  I could see a future moving sidewalk in an airport made of these tiles instead of the continuous belts used now.  

You can read the article at PhysOrg.com by following the link below.  Make sure to check out the video on You Tube.


PhysOrg.com

Robot Floor Tiles Move Beneath Your Feet
PhysOrg.com
The Robot Tiles provide an infinite walkway that might have applications in virtual reality. Credit: Hiroo Iwata. (PhysOrg.com) — In a stroke of odd …
and more »

Robot Floor Tiles Move Beneath Your Feet – PhysOrg.com
Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:33:12 GMT

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Robot Swarms for Defense and Emergency Missions

September 19, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

A relative newcomer to the world of robotics is developing a system of robots that can work together to carry-out tasks for military or emergency situations. This University of New Mexico invention will be made up of four-wheeled surface robots and aerial robotic craft that work together to scope out danger in military or emergency situations.  The university’s Electrical and Computer Engineering Department invested about $500,000 to outfit the lab for these robots in 2007, said Associate Professor Rafael Fierro, a systems and control engineer who coordinates the research program.  There are several different types of robots, both air and ground, that work together in this project.  As a team, the robots can sense or detect radiation, chemicals, or other dangers, and then alert their human handlers or deal with the situation themselves.  You can click on the photo below to see a larger version of one of the robotic vehicles developed in this lab.

TXT-1 Robot 

Photo Credit:  MARHES Lab and University of New Mexico

UNM develops robot teams for defense, emergency tasks
New Mexico Business Weekly

“We’re creating multi-vehicle systems with applications in defense and emergency situations,” Fierro said. “The robots can detect things, such as radiation, dangerous chemicals and other hazardous materials. They can also provide emergency wireless communications in disaster areas to find victims and to provide real-time information to search-and-rescue teams.”

UNM develops robot teams for defense, emergency tasks – New Mexico Business Weekly
Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:40:10 GMT

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Robot That Hops Over Obstacles is in the News

September 18, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

There have been many posts on this hopping robot all over the blogosphere this week.  I finally decided to put the story on RobotNext in order to add my comments to the discussion.   So far, most of what I have seen on this bot has been about its military applications.  However, it really seems well suited to search and rescue operations.  With its ability to jump over objects and onto balconies or roofs of buildings, it could be a boost to first responders to an emergency.  This robot could hop onto the second story balcony of a burning building and provide up close surveillance of the situation.  Perhaps, it could even carry a fire hose with it to put water on a fire that firefighters could not reach.  Check out the story at the link below.

hopper-midair-dr

PHOTO: SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES

During normal travel, an electric motor powers the wheels. But when needed, the robot can engage a hopping mechanism and leap over 25 feet in the air to clear an obstacle (as the video posted by Sharon demonstrated earlier this week) . It may look strange, but its unique capability might give the Hopper an important role in urban warfare.

Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have been working on hopping robots which, much like grasshoppers or fleas, can leap over obstacles several times taller than themselves.

Precision Hopper = New Urban Commando
David Hambling
Fri, 18 Sep 2009 16:00:44 GMT

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Snake Robots to Become More Intelligent

September 16, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

If researchers in Norway are successful, a more intelligent snakebot could be crawling its way up a pipe near you.  Scientists at SINTEF in Norway are working to make snake robots as smart as a teenager.  These robotic snakes have many possible applications besides inspecting pipes.  One possibility is that of acting as a robotic fire hose.  The snakebot could use the high pressure water in the hose as its power source and as the fire extinguisher.  Of course, these types of robots are also being explored as possible search and rescue devices since they could reach areas inaccessible to other more conventional machines.  See one of the previous posts here at RobotNext on snakebots.  Read the complete article at PhysOrg.com.  Follow the links below. 


Image source: PhysOrg.com

The robot children
PhysOrg.com
The brains of the snake robots are still no more advanced than that of a one-year-old, but scientists at SINTEF (Norway) want to bring them up to the level …

The robot children – PhysOrg.com
Tue, 15 Sep 2009 18:07:30 GMT

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

Robot Crawls the Seafloor to Explore Life

September 9, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

From New Scientist comes this story about a deep sea rover, called Benthic Rover, that is exploring the ocean’s depths.  Hard to believe that we know less about the ocean floor than is known about the surface of Mars.  This automobile-sized robot, developed by the Monterrey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), is attempting to change that by traveling across the abyssal seafloor. In order to achieve this feat, engineers had to overcome several challenges.  Obviously, the biggest barrier to this type of exploration is the extreme pressure at depth.  To protect the sensitive electronics systems, custom titanium spheres were built to contain them.  In order to keep from sinking in the muddy seafloor, special flotation devices allow the rover to crawl across the marine sediment.  To prevent the tank-like threads on the robot from stirring up clouds of fine particles, a pair of off-the-shelf broom heads keep the threads clean. 

You can read all about this robot at the link below and at the New Scientist and at the MBARI website.

Benthic rover during test dive

Image: © 2007 MBARI

The Benthic Rover makes its way across the deep seafloor during a trial run in 2007. The "brains" of the vehicle are protected by a spherical titanium pressure housing. The orange and yellow objects are made of incompressible foam, whose buoyancy makes the Rover light enough underwater so that it won't sink into the soft deep-sea mud. 

Source: Monterrey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

Like the robotic rovers Spirit and Opportunity, which wheeled tirelessly across the dusty surface of Mars, a new robot spent most of July traveling across the muddy ocean bottom, about 40 kilometers (25 miles) off the California coast. This robot, the Benthic Rover, has been providing scientists with an entirely new view of life on the deep seafloor. It will also give scientists a way to document the effects of climate change on the deep sea.

New Robot Travels Across The Seafloor To Monitor The Impact Of Climate Change On Deep-sea Ecosystems
Thu, 10 Sep 2009 18:00:00 GMT

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iRobot Lights Up SPARK for Robotics Education

September 8, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

I have thought for some time now that iRobot could really make an impact in robotics education.  The Robot Stock News blog has this article about the new program sponsored by iRobot that may finally be the thing that promotes robotics education for the company.  After all, they are pioneers in robotics, and as such, it is to their advantage to promote the learning side of robotics.  The iRobot Create has long been touted as an education tool, but I far as I know, it has never lived up to its billing.  Too bad, since I personally like the Create as an education platform.  Lots of potential for development in that system.  So, this is a worthy effort and one deserving of wide-spread support.  One thing for sure is that there cannot be enough robotics education programs.  Students love robots and robots will be the hook to get kids into science, math, engineering, and technology fields.

The photo thumbnail below links to the CNET article from January 7, 2007 on robots built using the Create base platform.  If you look there, you will see a robot that can hand you a canned beverage, a hamster-steered robot, and an robot that serves up advertisements.

Create_back_angle_550x413

Photo Credit:  iRobot

Here's some real exciting news — iRobot is getting ready to debut a major new effort to kickstart robotics education. It's called SPARK, and iRobot is testing a new website to go along with the effort, with what looks like a dozen major partner. The website is at this link.

iRobot Launching "SPARK" Program to Ramp Up Robotics Education
thorn_stevens (noreply@blogger.com)
Tue, 08 Sep 2009 01:26:00 GMT

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Drumming Robot Named Haile Follows the Beat

September 4, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

This Geogia Tech product can follow along with a human drummer and come up with its own rhythms.  From Neatorama, this story features the robot playing drums with a human musician and it is quite inventive in its musicality.  My wife found the drumming “irritating” and wanted it stopped, however, I found it sort of pleasant, if not exactly Buddy Rich.  An interesting display of a robot that is able to process information quickly and make creative decisions.  I know some will find the use of the word creative here somewhat inappropriate, but the robot’s programming is acting in a creative fashion to make rhythms that are following the general patterns laid-down by the human participant.  Listen to the drumming example on the You Tube link below.  You decide.

Gil Weinberg and Scott Driscoll of Georgia Tech developed a robot that can improvise rhythms as it hears music: Haile is a robotic percussionist that can listen to live players, analyze their music in real-time, and use the product of …
Neatorama – http://www.neatorama.com/

Haile the Drumming Robot – Neatorama
John
Fri, 04 Sep 2009 13:48:34 GMT

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Robotic Fish Developed in Korea

September 3, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

A group of Korean scientists, led by Dr. Ryuh Young-sun, have developed a robotic fish. The team, located at the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, debuted the fishbot in an aquarium at BEXCO. The researchers teleoperated the robotic fish.  Named "Ichthys," the Greek word for fish, the robot can swim for four hours on one charge of its power supply.  It is able to go to depths of 100 meters.  Furthermore, the robofish has an onboard GPS device which allows it to find locations for recharging its batteries.  It seems as if robotic fish are being developed everywhere.  RobotNext had an earlier story on the MIT robot fish.  It is beginning to look like fishbots are as popular as snakebots.  Check out the links to the original story below.

A robotic fish developed by Korean scientists

Credit: The Chosun IIbo

A robotic fish developed by Korean scientists

After the pollution sniffing fish , MIT did a school of robotic fish to let the mechanical geniuses take to the aquatic world.

Robotic fish from Korea, brilliance for shallow waters
Thu, 03 Sep 2009 18:07:02 GMT

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

Robots Get Magneto-Vision From Lobsters

September 1, 2009 by · Leave a Comment

Researchers at the University of OULU are building robots that see like lobsters.  Spiny lobsters have become the unlikely inspiration for a new type of vision system for robots.  The lobsters are endowed with a unique sense of direction–they use an internal map of local variations in the Earth's magnetic field to find their way around their surrounding.  This is a method that could give domestic robots low-cost navigational capabilities.  In the photo below, you can see how the robot would see in magneto-vision.  Building produce a unique pattern of magnetic variations that can be mapped by the robot and then stored onboard in memory.  This pattern can be used to navigate indoors.  This method is very inexpensive compared to an indoor GPS and so could become a way for robots to know where they are in a building.  Read the article below if you want the complete story.

lobster vision robot 

Image: Jnne Haverinen/University of OULU

Metal in buildings distorts the Earth's magnetic field in ways that could give indoor robots a low-cost map.

Lobsters teach robots magnetic mapping trick
Tue, 01 Sep 2009 16:22:00 GMT

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