Robot Uses Artificial Intelligence to Water Plants

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

Weekly Newswrap: The Leftovers

Here are this week’s leftovers in no particular order.  There are seven stories that made the newswrap this week and they cover an interesting range of topics.  If there is any theme in the stories of this past seven days, it is the relationship of robots to human life. 

Starting on Monday, there is the report that showed-up in many sites all over the web.  This is the one about the robot hand that is quicker than seems robotically or humanly possible.  Go to the original Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory article and see the video for yourself.  It is amazing to watch.    Another medical robot is featured in Tuesday’s entry.  Rather than blazing speed, this robot features a gentle touch that can find cancerous tumors in patients.  And, rounding out the leftovers from the first three days of the week are the kissing robots from Wednesday.  (Okay, this may not be related to human life, except for the fact they are featured in a show that people watch.)

Thursday, there was the story on two robots designed to be nurses for the elderly or provide childcare for the young.  You can see the video at this website. Then, there is the story about the robotic nurse that looks like a giant teddy bear from Friday.  A robot designed to take care of plants on Mars (or maybe here on Earth) is the choice from the entries on Saturday.  Finally, from today, there is the high-tech wheel chair for patients that looks like something from a science fiction movie.

Take a look at all the posts from this week at the links below.

Japan robotics experts unveil sci-fi … – Vancouver Sun

Japan robotics experts unveil sci-fi wheelchair
Vancouver Sun
Robotics and medical experts in Japan on Wednesday unveiled the prototype of a new hi-tech electric wheelchair that resembles a scooter and promises greater
and more »

Japan robotics experts unveil sci-fi … – Vancouver Sun
Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:56:39 GMT

Le Petit Prince; robot to add plant life on Mars | OnlyGizmos

Le Petit Prince (or the 'little prince') is a robot concept designed to make plants from Earth sustainable on the planet Mars. The robot carries a plant.
OnlyGizmos – http://onlygizmos.com/

'Le Petit Prince' robot to add plant life on Mars | OnlyGizmos
Kunal
Sat, 29 Aug 2009 15:10:28 GMT

Japanese create teddy bear robot nurse

CNET News

by Tim Hornyak Japanese researchers have created a robot nurse that can lift elderly patients from wheelchairs and beds. Naturally, it looks like a giant
See all stories on this topic

Japanese create teddy bear robot nurse
CNET News
Fri, 28 Aug 2009 23:49:31 GMT

Caring robots learn to relate (Herald Sun)

THEY may look more like vacuum cleaners with eyes, but Matilda and Jackson are the next generation of nurses and "emotionally intelligent" babysitters.

Caring robots learn to relate (Herald Sun)
Thu, 27 Aug 2009 13:45:26 GMT

The world’s first kissing robots (Crikey)

Cute AND creepy: robots Thomas and Janet are the stars of a Taiwanese robot production of Phantom of the Opera developed by the National Taiwan University of Science and Technology.

The world’s first kissing robots (Crikey)
Wed, 26 Aug 2009 04:56:57 GMT

Touchy Feely Robot Promises to be Gentle (and Check for Cancer) [Robots] (Gizmodo)

This won't hurt a bit! Researchers have developed a prototype robot that, through key-hole surgery, can detect cancer tumors in half the time, with less tissue damage, and with 40 percent more…

Touchy Feely Robot Promises to be Gentle (and Check for Cancer) [Robots] (Gizmodo)
Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:57:31 GMT

The Robot Hand Faster and Better Than a Human’s: The Gadget Blog …

So the braniacs at Ishikawa Komuro Lab have developed a high-speed robot hand that can do things very quickly. Now we have at least one robot that can run decently, and at least one robot hand that can do detailed manipulation tasks
The Gadget Blog – http://www.everyjoe.com/thegadgetblog/

The Robot Hand Faster and Better Than a Human's : The Gadget Blog
Rico Mossesgeld
Mon, 24 Aug 2009 15:24:12 GMT

Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR): Vegetarian, Not Carnivore

So, after days of reporting on this story all over the blogosphere, the company that is developing EATR has come out with a press release to clarify what their robot will use as fuel.  In the original post here at RobotNext, EATR was described as a grazing robot, implying that it only consumed vegetable matter like grass.  Another robot mentioned in the post, Ecobot, is being developed to fuel itself on insects.  These are two completely separate programs, but in the post – as is often the case here at RobotNext – I speculated on the possibility of combining the features of the two robots.   In other words, what the next thing would be:  a robot that can power itself on both plants and insects. 

To set the record straight, I thought I would explain that this was pure speculation on my part and not intended to suggest that EATR can consume insects.  In response to the stories about consuming dead human bodies, I did post a message on Twitter suggesting that I thought the robot only ate grass.  In my research, I could find only information that EATR would consume biomass.  Biomass can include anything organic, so that could be taken to mean that the robot might eat anything.  Since I saw this story originally in reference to eating a lawn, that is how I reported the robot in the original post.

At any rate, this is still a fascinating idea for a robot and one that should provoke serious thought.  Along those lines, it should be noted that the Cyclone Engine that will power EATR could also revolutionize transportation outside of robotics.  This engine can run on any vegetable-based material, including agricultural waste, coal, municipal trash, kerosene, ethanol, diesel, gasoline, heavy fuel, palm oil, cottonseed oil, algae oil, hydrogen, propane, etc. –individually or in combination.  Thus, the Cyclone Engine is a very “green” power source.  Read the presentation on this engine to see all the details.

Washington, July 17 (ANI): The makers of a biomass-eating military robot have clarified that the machine is a vegetarian, and not a non-vegetarian as was earlier reported. Robotic Technology Inc.’s (RTI’s) Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot …

Biomass-eating military robo is a veggie, not a carnivore – Thaindian.com
Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:56:00 GMT

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