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Robot Diaries: Volume 5
ROBOTS • ROBOTICS • ANDROIDS • CYBORGS
Robotic jellyfish fueled by hydrogen invented
(Mar 22, 2012)
Engineers in the US say they have invented a hydrogen-powered robot
that moves through water like a jellyfish. Development of the robot,
nicknamed Robojelly, is in the early stages but researchers hope it
could eventually be used in underwater rescue operations. Writing
in Smart Materials and Structures, Yonas Tadesse said the
jellyfish's simple swimming action made it an ideal model for a vehicle.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Robotic cheetah 'breaks speed record for legged
robots'
(Mar 5, 2012)
A headless robot dubbed "Cheetah" has set a new world speed record,
according to its owners. The US Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency said the four-legged machine achieved 18 mph (29 km/h) on a
laboratory treadmill. The agency said the previous land speed record
by a legged robot was 13.1 mph.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Total recall: Japanese robot finds lost things
(Feb 29, 2012)
Forgot where you put your glasses? A Japanese robot can find them
for you, and guide you to where they are. The red and white robot,
named EMIEW2, is about the size of a six-year-old child and glides
everywhere on wheels at the bottom of its legs, its round, white face
with two black eyes vaguely reminiscent of the iconic "Hello Kitty."
Read
more. Source: Reuters |
Robots to enjoy long walks on the beach
(Jan 1, 2012)
Walking in a desert or on a beach is tough going, because both feet
sink into the sand, and slip over the sand particles. This upsets
a droid's balancing system, which assumes it will step on a hard surface.
It becomes confused when information from its accelerometers shows
that its feet are unsteady. To fix the problem, engineers led by Shunsuke
Komizunai of Japan's Tohoku University in Sendai, researched how balancing
systems can compensate for sand's unusual characteristics.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Starfish-inspired 'soft' robot squeezes under
obstacles
(Nov 29, 2011)
A "soft" robot inspired by squid and starfish can crawl, undulate,
and squeeze under obstacles. Built by a team at Harvard University,
this robot has several advantages over those with treads, wheels and
rigid parts – which have a limited repertoire of movements and
may have trouble navigating difficult terrain. The sea creature-inspired
creation was manufactured with soft materials and its motion is driven
by compressed air.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
A robot that flies like a bird
(Jul 26, 2011)
One of the oldest dreams of mankind is to fly like a bird. Many, from
Leonardo da Vinci to contemporary research teams, tried to decipher
the flight of birds well enough to recreate it. Finally in 2011, the
engineers at the German technology company, Festo, developed SmartBird,
an avian robot that can take off and fly through the air by simply
flapping its wings.
Read
more. Source: The Guardian |
Rubbery muscle motors to make robots more lifelike
(Mar 18, 2011)
It wobbles like a jelly, but could make robots more flexible than
ever before. Soft artificial muscles have been used to make a motor
with only a few parts, and no gears, bearings or cogs. The motor signals
a new dawn for artificial muscles, says Iain Anderson, head of the
Auckland Bioengineering Institute's Biomimetics Lab in New Zealand,
where it was created.
Source: New Scientist |
Robovie PC robot wins marathon in Osaka, Japan
(Feb 27, 2011)
A knee-high humanoid has narrowly won the world's first full-length
marathon for two-legged robots. Robovie-PC crossed the finish line
in the Japanese city of Osaka just a second before its closest rival
after more than two days of racing. The 26-mile (42km) race involved
423 laps of an indoor track at an average speed of 0.77 km/h.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Robots to get their own internet
(Feb 10, 2011)
Robots could soon have an equivalent of the internet and Wikipedia.
European scientists have embarked on a project to let robots share
and store what they discover about the world. Called RoboEarth it
will be a place that robots can upload data to when they master a
task, and ask for help in carrying out new ones.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Meet Robonaut 2, astronaut assistant
(Nov 2, 2010)
Almost 200 people from 15 countries have visited the International
Space Station, but until now all the crew have been human. This week
the station will get its first humanoid robot. Robonaut 2 (nicknamed,
inevitably, R2) will ride on the final flight of space shuttle Discovery
this week and spend the next decade helping astronauts on the space
station with scientific research and mundane chores.
Read
more. Source: The Guardian |
Robot limbs to plug into the brain with light
(Oct 17, 2010)
Imagine a bionic arm that plugs directly into the nervous system,
so that the brain can control its motion, and the owner can feel pressure
and heat through their robotic hand. This prospect has come a step
closer with the development of photonic sensors that could improve
connections between nerves and prosthetic limbs.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Domestic robot goes on sale
(Sep 15, 2010)
Got a spare $400,000 lying around? Forget buying a house and splash
out on your own robot instead. Silicon Valley start-up Willow Garage
has put its PR2 robot on general sale. The robot's two gripper-equipped
arms, laser scanner and multiple cameras allow it to fold towels,
fetch a beer and plug itself into the mains when it needs to recharge.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Sensitive touch for 'robot skin'
(Sep 14, 2010)
"Artificial skin" that could bring
a sensitive touch to robots and prosthetic limbs, has been shown off.
The materials, which can sense pressure as sensitively and quickly
as human skin, have been outlined by two groups reporting in Nature
Materials. The skins are arrays of small pressure sensors that convert
tiny changes in pressure into electrical signals.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Virtual walkers lead the way for robots
(Aug 8, 2010)
Children do it with ease, but walking on two feet is challenging for
robots. And while animated characters stroll along quite happily,
they rarely look human when they do. That's because the many joints
of a human body can move in multiple directions, creating a bewildering
array of potential poses.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Lizard-like robot can 'swim' through sand
(Jun 30, 2010)
To add to the robots that can crawl over land, fly through air and
swim underwater comes one that can swim through sand. Such robots
could help find people trapped in the loose debris resulting from
an earthquake.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Robot-inflicted injuries studied
(May 10, 2010)
A future in which robots help around the home could prove harmful
to humans, suggests a study. German researchers studied what happens
in accidents involving robots using sharp tools alongside humans.
They used a robot arm holding a variety of bladed tools programmed
to strike test substances that mimic soft tissue.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Robots with skin enter our touchy-feely world
(Apr 20, 2010)
Beauty may be only skin deep, but for humanoid robots a fleshy covering
is about more than mere aesthetics, it could be essential to making
them socially acceptable. A touch-sensitive coating could prevent
such machines from accidentally injuring anybody within their reach.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Picking our brains: Can we make a conscious
machine?
(Apr 7, 2010)
Challenges don't get much bigger than trying to create artificial
consciousness. Some doubt if it can be done – or if it ever
should. Bolder researchers are not put off, though. "We have to consider
machine consciousness as a grand challenge, like putting a man on
the moon," says Antonio Chella at the University of Palermo in Italy
and editor of the International Journal of Machine Consciousness.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Robot crawls like a baby
(Mar 5, 2010)
This robot is designed to explore the ways that babies learn to crawl.
Weighing 3.5 kilograms, and 50 centimeters from head to toe, M3-neony
has software that can experiment randomly with its 22 "muscles" to
learn the consequences of its actions and build up coordinated patterns
of movement.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
Ocean robot 'plans experiments'
(Feb 27, 2010)
Scientists in the US are using an underwater vehicle that can "plan
its own experiments" on the seafloor. The "Gulper AUV" is programmed
to look for the information that scientists want and plan its own
route, avoiding hazardous currents and obstacles. The research team
described this advance at the Ocean Sciences meeting in Portland,
Oregon.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Scientists unveil world's first bionic fingers
(Dec 9, 2009)
Experts have unveiled what they claim are the world's first bionic
fingers which they hope will transform the lives of people with missing
digits. The motor-powered ProDigits have been developed by Touch Bionics,
the Livingston, West Lothian company which made the bionic i-Limb
hand. The unit fits over the person's palm to help people with any
number of missing digits.
Read
more. Source: BBC |
Robots get smarter by asking for help
(Sep 17, 2009)
Asking someone for help is second nature for humans, and now it could
help robots overcome one of the thorniest problems in artificial intelligence.
That's the thinking behind a project at Willow Garage, a robotics
company in Palo Alto, California. Researchers there are training a
robot to ask humans to identify objects it doesn't recognise.
Read
more. Source: New Scientist |
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