Swarm robotics -using several simple collaborating robots to accomplish very complex tasks, instead of using a single very complex robot- is becoming increasingly popular. The Swarmanoid project is a perfect example of what can be achieved by using a swarm of small robots.
As illustrated in the video above, each type of robot concentrates on a single task (e.g. navigating, grasping, or seeing) and combined they can produce emerging behaviours that are more than just the sum of their individual capabilities. The next logical evolutionary step for this technology is Voltron Force.
Jedi Bot is a robot arm wielding a foam “lightsaber” that will try to attack or defend itself from human opponents. This system used the Kinect in order to track its opponent and was put together by students from Stanford. Of course, this is not the first robot wielding a lightsaber, but it is certainly the first that can interactively fight a human. The video below shows the robot it action.
At the moment the robot is pretty slow, but nothing prevents the technology from improving with time and getting better speed, accuracy and strength… This might very well be the great-grandfather of General Grievous
Achieving such impressive results required a lot of hard work, testing and trial-and-error. The video below focuses on the “error” part. Enjoy the bloopers!
In order to finish on a more “productive” note, see the video below explaining how the Kinect can be used to control these flying robots from the Flying Machine Arena at the ETH Zurich. Watch it until the end for added fun.
As we reported in the past, DLR is the proud creator of Justin a very advanced humanoid robot. Lately they have been working in a very robust robotic arm and hand system.
The videos below show how they punish their robots with hammers and baseball bats in order to demonstrate how well they endure the impact while retaining accuracy and calibration. Also notice how the hand can perform very similarly to its human analogue and uses flexible “tendons” to convey the motion.
These robotic limbs (especially the hand) look incredibly similar to something Skynet would design. One thing is for sure, the guy with the bat will probably loose his smile once the robot learns how to take the bat from him and retaliate.
As a leading robotics distributor, RobotShop often gets requests from inventors and developers to help them bring their products to market, but due to lack of resources, we only accepted products ready to be distributed. This is about to radically change.
RobotShop Technology Accelerator
We are launching the RobotShop Accelerator. The objective is to help inventors and developers successfully bring their ideas to the market. We achieve this by pairing inventors and manufacturers with the goal of distributing the resulting products globally via RobotShop, the most visited robotics website in the world.
RobotShop Technology Accelerator
We must change the way we innovate and the way we do things. We need to avoid having innovators re-invent the corporate wheel each time [they need to bring a product to the market]. For these reasons, we have decided to put the RobotShop.com platform, along with our business relationships, at the service of inventors. Previously recognized as the principal source for robotics products, RobotShop is now also a prime location to commercialize your invention globally, from A to Z.
– Mario Tremblay, RobotShop CEO
If you are an inventor, patent holder or innovator, follow these steps in order to benefit from the RobotShop Accelerator :
Contact us: Send us your creation with as much information as possible through our Support Center. We will review it and assess how well it fits in the accelerator.
Optimization: Once your creation is accepted. Our engineers will help you target opportunities and market segments offering the greatest potential.
Manufacturing: RobotShop pairs your product with the most suitable manufacturer(s) selected from our current pool of over 200 of them.
Distribution: RobotShop sells the product via our global distribution logistics.
Watson, a super computer from IBM is challenging the human Jeopardy! champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter in the first Man vs. Machine Jeopardy! competition.
Below you can see a nice teaser for the competition.
The first round already took place on Monday, February 14th 2011, and resulted in a tie between Brad and the machine. Although Watson lead most part of the game, it got some wrong answers near the end which set it back considerably.
The match will continue on Tuesday the 15th and Wednesday the 16th. So far humanity still has a chance but it is quite possible that we will all be obsolete by the end of this match.
You can see the full first round below as it was kindly uploaded by a YouTube user.
So far Robots have been programmed to avoid things when navigating in their environment. Sébastien Lengagne of Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology in Tsukuba, Japan developed a method for robots to use objects (which would otherwise be seen as “obstacles”) to their advantage.
Instead of avoiding a small object, they could simply move it in order to clear their path or lean on large objects such as chairs or tables in order to gain better stability. Although his results are outstanding and could lead to a rethinking of robot mobility, one main “drawback” is that his current prototypes behave much like elderly people when moving or leaning on objects.
See the video below for a demonstration of this new motion algorithm as used by the HRP-2.
Heartland Robotics, a company founded by Rodney Brooks (founder and former Chief Technological Officer at iRobot, and MIT professor) is developing what should constitute a true robolution. Their main objective is to change the way we currently view robots by making them ubiquitous.
Heartland Robotics
As of now, robots can be seen to be large, extremely expensive, and slow. This is akin to mainframes from the early days of computers, where there was on central computer in a university or government building that was used mainly to do long computations for research purposes and was used only by highly qualified personnel. This same situation applies to robots such as the HRP-4 , the PR2, or even the Nao nowadays. They are expensive (about 400 000$, 300 000$, and 16 000 $ respectively) to everyday users, and they are intended for research.
MIT Obrero Platform, might inspire Heartland
On the other hand, modern PCs are widely available to everyone, are robust, and can be used to perform common everyday tasks. Heartland is working on producing the PC of robotics, i.e. a robot that would be more affordable and capable to interact with humans and perform useful tasks safely. The price-tag of such a machine would be 5000 $. This robot is intended to revolutionize industrial robots and bring robotics to the masses.
So far, Heartland has secured massive amounts of investment (~25 M$), so it should not be too long until we see some interesting results.
For those curious about the Rodney Brooks, his views on robotics, and the future of robots in general, the following TED talk will certainly be interesting.
Aldebaran, the manufacturers of the very popular Nao humanoid robot, just unveiled their new full-scale humanoid platform: the Roméo.
This new 1.4 m tall, 40 kg robot is still in the drawing board but a first prototype is planned to be completed by March 2011. It features several interesting innovations such as a four-vertebra backbone, articulated feet, a soft torso, a composite leg exoskeleton, and a back-drivable actuators (which makes it safe to operate around humans, similar to PR2).
Aldebaran Roméo Hand
It will have 37 degrees of freedom, including 2 DOF for each eye, 1 DOF for each foot, and 3 DOF for the backbone.
Aldebaran Roméo Torso
This personal robot is intended to assist the elder and disabled individuals with everyday chores much like the ideal robot butler depicted in science fiction movies. Aldebaran also intends to make the communication with the robot effortless and natural trough speech and gestures.
Aldebaran Romeo Around the House
The price tag on this beauty is expected to be about 250,000 euros.
Inverted pendulums (i.e. balancing a stick on a moving platform) never ceases to fascinate humans, especially when it is done by a robot.
Pencil Balancing Robot
The robot illustrated in the video below is capable of balancing a pencil on its tip. The motion of the pencil is tracked by two image sensors while a platform where the tip of the pencil rests is positioned by two servo motors. Although this rig can seem very simple, it outperforms any human we have ever met.
Let’s make a bold statement and say that no human can balance a pencil on the tip of their finger for a reasonable amount of time. If any humans out there sees this as a challenge, you are all tu submit comments and video responses.
