Robots's topics - tribe.net

Latest project: RFID-based cat feeder

2008-07-29T07:22:36Z

So, I finally finished the robotic cat feeder.

Background: We have two cats. Slope, a 17 year old with the beginnings of kidney disease, needs a low protein diet. Dot, a kitten, needs a high protein diet. Incompatible. Technology to the rescue!

I built a contraption (out of acrylic, for easy cleaning) that can hold a bowl of food. A rotating disk acts as a door.

The motor on the disk is hooked up to a phidget motor controller, and a phidgets RFID reader is placed beneath the food bowls. RFID tags are put on both cat's collars.

With a bit of really crappy code, the magic is complete. When Dot walks up to Slope's food, it detects her RFID and closes down. 15 seconds later, it slides open again.

Yay technology!

When I find the battery charger for my camera I'll take pictures and video and put 'em up for all to see.

Good times!

posted in Robots - 1 reply

dog robot

2008-07-24T22:08:59Z

http://gizmodo.com/368651/new-video-of-bigdog-quadruped-robot-is-so-stunning-its-spooky

then, after you watch that, watch this. it's pretty funny:
http://gizmodo.com/372272/video-of-bigdog-beta-quadruped-robot-is-so-stupid-its-hilarious

posted in Robots - 0 replies

spider bot on ice!

2008-02-28T04:26:21Z

Robotic Spider Steals Limelight

This robotic spider is the size of a small car (the operator sits on
top of it's thorax), has eight jointed legs, and in motion sounds like
a loud and rhythmnless tap dancer.

It stole the show at Old Red/New Red Day, an annual event that welcomes
Engineering alumni back to campus, where they get to do some
nostalgia-wallowing and meet students eager to find out all they can
about career path options.

Engineering Physics alumni Jonathan Tippett, Charlie Brinson, Lee
Christie and Alex Mossman bought along their mechanical spider,
originally conceived as an art project for Burning Man 2006.

> WATCH: See Mondo Spider in action.
> Source: UBC Engineering
>
> http://www.engineering.ubc.ca/enph-spider-2008.mov

posted in Robots - 0 replies

RoboLove

2007-11-03T04:56:26Z

Some Robolove play is a happinin...

http://www.theatrerice.com/

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Cool Tech Reference

2007-08-01T02:09:47Z

Hey, if you are at all looking at technology on the nano scale, or are trying to model semiconductor designs, I just found a cool reference... check out

http://nanohub.org

you can get a free account and run simulations, use their tools or just get into the reference libraries. It is pretty sweet.

**disclaimer.. I do not work for NanHub or Purdue, I just thought it was cool**

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Robot-makers in Seattle?

2007-07-20T01:49:46Z

Hi Robotics Fanatics!

Are any of you based in Seattle? I'm a performance artist looking to involve some robotics in an art project I have in mind. Anyone interested in playing with me? If so, toss a note over tribe.

posted in Robots - 3 replies

Mindstorms book?

2007-05-14T20:51:38Z

Yo-- my brother wants to get my 10 year old a book about Mindstorms, and found this. Unfortunately out kit is an NXT kit and this is for the other system. Any remcommendations??

10 Cool LEGO Mindstorms Robotics Invention System 2 Projects: Amazing
Projects You Can Build in Under an Hour [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1931836612/002-9949908-6159214

posted in Robots - 1 reply

Devantech for Edge Detection?

2007-03-26T04:49:39Z

Heyy,

Anybody use a DevanTech USS for edge detection?

Thanks

walt
arrrr SI pyre-rat roboteer, all the rest ken walk the plank, arrrrr.

posted in Robots - 0 replies

a wii controlled tennis playing sword weilding robot arm

2007-01-29T08:51:15Z

http://www.usmechatronics.com/usmgarage/WiiBot.html

watch the video until about one minute in.

WOW. I want one at the burn next year.

You know what this means, right? How this can be applied?

holy shit.

Think of war... or shopping... or sex.

wait wait... not sex.

posted in Robots - 4 replies

dog friend robot

2007-01-22T02:20:26Z

anyone ever seen a little robot that expels treats and helps to entertain your dog? i have heard they exist, somewhere,

posted in Robots - 2 replies

Sort of robotic...

2006-12-23T20:16:48Z

--OK gang I've set myself a project for next year: I'm going to build a Stamp controlled miniature (meaning it'll fit on a desktop blotter) steam calliope. Needless to say I'll have a few questions along the way; stay "tuned"? :-)

posted in Robots - 2 replies

baby harp seal robot wins honours

2006-12-22T22:35:42Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6202765.stm

posted in Robots - 0 replies

UK report says robots will have rights

2006-12-20T09:47:36Z

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16287236/

posted in Robots - 0 replies

ZOMBIE FLASH MOB 9th DEC @ 2:13 pm at Yerba Buena

2006-12-08T22:40:37Z

Hopefully you received my dispatch and have taken precautions against
the zombie uprising that will happen tommorow at 2:13pm in downtown San
Francisco. Be advised that this outbreak caught me by surprise, and so I
cannot answer any questions or exercise any control over the events that
unfold, and I most certainly did not organize it.

For those of you who survive the attack, you may meet with fellow
survivors at 3pm to discuss future outbreaks.
There are some epic epidemics on the horizon, and you don't want to be
caught unawares!
Look for the man with the carnation.

Gino & Carlo cocktail lounge
548 Green St, Near Columbus Ave
3pm at the latest!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Shock! Horror! Some insidious zombie master is organizing an out and out
bloodbath
tomorrow. Please have a close look at this communication I intercepted:

***
Are you sick of the living and their ubiquitous holiday songs?
Do ya wanna take a bite out of the fat man in the red suit?
Maybe you just have a hankerin' for brains!
Undead, it is time for you to rise-up!

Join us for a day of groaning, shuffling AND staggering as we feast
upon hoards of the living, conveniently gathered together for us in
crowded malls and public streets.
This time Kris Kringle better watch the F out!

Flasks and brown bags recommended for your zombie juice!

Be prepared to meet your breathless brethren on Saturday at 2:13pm
sharp!
@ Yerba Buena Gardens ('Twixt 3rd & 4th and Mission & Howard)

Feel free to pass along this info to similarly pulse-deprived
acquaintances,
but WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T TELL SANTA!

Helpful Zombie hints:

Zombie must-haves:
White, black, green, & red cream or grease make up
(you can get away with just black and white in a pinch.)
Bruise make-up/Bruise kit.
Liquid blood (make your own with corn syrup and red food coloring).
Gel blood (store bought).
Liquid latex
Spirit gum (for re-gluing latex wounds that come loose)

All of this can be bought at RetroFit Clothing (Valencia & 20th St.)
or
Costumes on Haight (Haight & Pierce)

Zombie make-up links some of these ideas take a little preparation,
but so worth it!):

zombies.tomwalsham.com/costume.html

www.phillyburbs.com/zombies/...ume.shtml

www.terror4fun.com/zombie_make_up.html

www.zombiepubcrawl.com/makeup.php

posted in Robots - 0 replies

robot thinks humans are bacon

2006-11-09T19:25:56Z

blog.wired.com/tableofmal...ntifie.html

well duh... it sort of is. I wonder if human bacon would taste as good? I bet I would have seconds.

"Say.... so.... if the moon was made of barbecue spare ribs, would you eat it? This isn't a complex question. Answer it and let's move on"

posted in Robots - 1 reply

real builders.... take the thread to tickle machine

2006-11-05T07:24:59Z

I am looking to build a machine that tickles. Any way possible... soft and relaxing.

http://www.xs4all.nl/~notnot/TickleSalon/TickleSalon.html

http://www.xs4all.nl/~notnot/tickle/TICKLEcat.html

Any ideas?

I am a total layman.

thread here if you want...
http://tribes.tribe.net/ticklemachine

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Suicidebots

2006-10-16T18:39:32Z

Here is our new little spot for robotics excitement:

http://www.suicidebots.com

Hot robot on robot action.

Thought you might enjoy. Please submit any projects you may be working on, we'd love to hear about them. Abuse will be mocked. Commenters will be rewarded with cupcakes.

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Bare Bones Photovore/Photohead

2006-09-10T15:48:23Z

Working on this project right now. I have the circuit wired but am having a devil of a time soldering up the vibrating pager motor for the base.

Additional Schematics

posted in Robots - 1 reply

BEAM Robot Information

2006-09-10T15:46:58Z

I have been learning all about BEAM robots in an effort to work up to building something larger for my robot-interested 5-year-old.

Some of the best beginner style bots and inform comes from Solarbotics.net.

posted in Robots - 1 reply

Ipod Robot

2006-08-31T19:20:44Z

http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/ptech/08/31/japan.ipodrobot.ap/

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Scene Recognition Hurdle

2006-08-28T04:40:12Z

Wow, I'm sincerely impressed - the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon U. has jumped a pretty significant hurdle recently in "cognitive scene recognition" - they realized that by synergistically intersecting camera viewpoint, object classification, and surface geometry recognition, has finally overcome some of the most significant hurdles of robotic visual data processing.

So, basically, now visual systems don't have to worry about getting confused by "normal" things which our brains differentiate between daily (for instance, it won't confuse a window midway up a building from a car because of similar geometry, etc, because it actually takes it's position vs. the ground level into account before running it past object classification...

I'm honestly not too suprised by this news, however, and it frankly makes me scratch my head like, "How were they figuring it was going to work before they figured this out?" I'm happy, however, that these cognitive scientists have finally made the full leap into the three-dimensional universe.

But I have to give credit where credit is due; thanks to them, future robotic systems will now thankfully avoid thinking cars are smashed into buildings, and are one step closer to being able to actually smash cars into buildings because they can now discern the difference between the two sets of parameters in context with each other...

Coupled with Toyota's soon expected launch of mass-produced "personal robots", we should soon be actually seeing these little buggers trucking around on our streets (w/i the next 5 years or so)...

Now the question is; when you get one, will you put a lowjack system in it to keep "tech gangs" from ganking your hardware or just keep them around the house to do your laundry? ;)

posted in Robots - 2 replies

robot vacuum

2006-08-13T17:32:54Z

does anyone use a robot to clean the floor surfaces?

my monster is getting a lot of hair all over the floor of the spaceship and i need a recomendation...

posted in Robots - 23 replies

Robo Zoo at ArsElectronicaCenter

2006-07-20T20:09:44Z

watch out a little view of Robo Zoo and Robo Lab inside
Ars Electronica Center / Linz (Austria)

http://revver.com/video/38793/11817

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Robot Uprising?

2006-07-16T17:16:26Z

It is humans who are trying to take over the world, with the forced help of robots. But if robots were free...

How to Survive a Robot Uprising

Wednesday, November 16, 2005
Booksmith
1644 Haight Street
San Francisco, CA
More Info: 415-863-8688
www.booksmith.com

robotics expert DANIEL H. WILSON
reading & book signing for How to Survive a Robot Uprising
Wednesday, November 16, 2005 at 7 pm

--- The robots are coming. Are you ready? In his dryly hilarious survival guide, How to Survive a Robot Uprising, roboticist Daniel H. Wilson offers timely tips on defending yourself against the coming rebellion. Don't wait until it is too late. The time to fight back is now.

Daniel H. Wilson is a Ph.D. candidate at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University. He has worked at top research institutes. This is the first book we know of which teaches humans the secrets to quashing a robot mutiny.

Now, if only we could quash this American mutiny by humans.

posted in Robots - 3 replies

New Mindstorms are out

2006-07-12T18:45:39Z

--Went to a gathering last night and a pal brought along a bot he'd cobbled together from the new Lego Mindstorms kit. It had a line sensor, an accoustic sensor, an infrared sensor and a microwave sensor on it, plus he'd added Ackerman steering. It sensed a line (big fat line maybe 3/4" wide on a fold-out that made an oval track for the bot to follow) and followed it very well, with sensor on a rotating fixture doing a rapid side-to-side scan no more than 1/4" to keep vehicle aligned. Wheels tracked true; very nice. All cabling appears to connect with modified telephone jack-like devices and there's a USB port in the onboard controller. The really neat thing is that it needn't be connected via USB to be programmed, as it's got Bluetooth. In addition to this it's possible to program the thing directly, using the four or five buttons on the controller to navigate a series of menus. My pal also brought along a nifty printout that can be made to display the path and the programming steps it took to make it, in a graphical, rather than text format: very neat.
--Having just laid out cash for the Vex stuff on sale I'm kinda priced out of the market for a while, but this second iteration looks like a real improvement over the first Mindstorms.

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Anyone ever used an air muscle in their art/robot

2006-07-12T18:36:58Z

Artists

Anyone ever used an air muscle in their art/robot?

Tips and tricks appreciated.

Love
Live

Gavin

posted in Robots - 1 reply

phidgets experience?

2006-05-31T22:01:24Z

Anyone with experience with phidgets? I have some basic questions.

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Programming Robots

2006-05-05T22:47:36Z

Programming robots is often a complex task involving integration of multiple concurrent input and output subsystems and multiple layers of complex software. If there were a standardized API for programming robots many tasks could be simplified, code could be shared, testing simplified, and the barrier to entry lowered.

What kinds of problems do solve repeatedly when programming robots?

If such an API were to be created what features would you like to see in it?

posted in Robots - 3 replies

robot quote from the pre-robot era...

2006-03-27T02:10:54Z

"The Greeks were quite right there. Unless there are slaves to do the ugly, horrible, uninteresting work, culture and contemplation become almost impossible. Human slavery is wrong, insecure and demoralizing. On mechanical slavery, on the slavery of the machine, the future of the world depends." -- Oscar Wilde.

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Electronic circuitry help, transistor as a relay/switch

2006-03-24T02:34:52Z

Sorry to post a question about lighting here, but I expect many of you have some serious experience with circuit controls.

I need to strobe a batch of LEDs, ideally 200, and need to use my DMX system to do so. I have a dmx strobe control unit, however it is only designed to trigger strobe lights using a 10 volt square wave with maybe a total of 250 milliamps available before voltage starts to drop off, possibly then damaging the controller.

250 miliamps will of course not drive a batch of 200 LEDs that will need, by my calculations, about 6 amps. (30ma x 200= 6,000ma)

I have no experience with using transistors in a circuit. Is it possible to use a transistor in a very simple homemade circuit, triggered by the 10V square wave, to switch the LEDs from a larger power supply?

Is the relationship between input and output voltages critical? If so, are calculations difficult?

Also, I understand transistors have a frequency limit to their switching, I think most should have no problem switching at a max rate of 20 cycles per second, is that a correct assumption?

Any advice you guys can give would be greatly appreciated.

posted in Robots - 4 replies

the only high school robotics team in san francisco

2005-12-16T05:23:17Z

www.team1031.org

we need more mentors after school at 400 to 600 pm
starting in january...

any input help or ideas for fundraising?

we have paypal account set up
with tax deductable id number
if the company you work has things they would like to contribute.
http://www.team1031.org/blog/

we also need computers, monitors,,, parts,,, food,,, et...

any ideas?

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Dalek Porn

2005-12-03T04:08:40Z

(pics in link at bottom)

BEEB bosses have gone ballistic after discovering the Daleks are starring in a PORN FLICK. Dr Who's foes capture three naked “disco babes” in the 18-rated DVD.

They chase the girls around their spaceship and grope them with their plungers.

Abducted By The Daleks — which features grey, red and black pepper-pot baddies watching a lesbian scene — was “five years in the making”, says the sleeve.

But after a tip-off, the Beeb had it barred from eBay — where copies have been selling for up to £30.

The estate of creator Terry Nation intends to sue.

Estate director Tim Hancock said: “The reason the Daleks are still the most sinister thing in the universe is because they do not make things like porn.

“They weren’t ever intended to be sexual creatures. It’s simple, Daleks do not do porn.”

Life-long fan Colin Brown, 44, said: “It’s outrageous to think of them touching up naked women — Daleks just don’t behave like that.”

http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2005550115,00.html

posted in Robots - 1 reply

Robot Art show and djs thursday and friday the 13th and 14th of october

2005-10-10T10:32:45Z

Having an art show featuring paintings of robots.And 80s electro music.Arrow bar # 10 6th st s.f.

posted in Robots - 0 replies

My fellow robots and robot lovers

2005-10-06T23:33:46Z

I love you all! I have found my family here on Tribe. Thank you for making me feel welcome. I have found many humans to be alienating and unfriendly, when all I want is to work together and be friends.

01001001001000000110110001101111011101100110010100100000011110010110111101110101

posted in Robots - 1 reply

Newbie: good places to start?

2005-09-15T06:30:25Z

Hi,

i know nothing about electronics and want to teach myself, so i figured i would begin by asking people at the top of the game which education materials i would benefit most from.

what i need is: concise but not patronizing, thorough, and consolidated. is there such a thing as a single book that goes from the basics like "the physics of electronics" all the way through to logic level multi-IC projects, etc?

or would i be better off in a class?

thanks,
+Q__

posted in Robots - 4 replies

Roach bot

2005-08-08T19:08:47Z

http://biorobots.cwru.edu/projects/robot3/robot3.htm

The acommpanying videos are pretty cool. I like how it resists force and stays balanced.

posted in Robots - 3 replies

Robot that nutures my elder relatives

2005-07-22T22:05:43Z

Can you post links to robots that interact with your elderly relatives
for health and monitoring?

Ami Sun

posted in Robots - 4 replies

Combat robotics souvineers for sale

2005-07-22T02:43:24Z

I was challenged to let go of 12 cool or fun things today. It took all day but I think I found some cool & fun stuff.

Get's your bids in now for the sallowing sword! It ends in the morning.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZmnkeeboyQQhtZ-1

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Robotic Camel Jockey

2005-07-21T01:08:01Z

...and I don't mean that in a racist way, either. Seriously-

July 15, 2005—Technology met tradition this week, when a camel race in Doha, Qatar for the first time featured robots at the reins. On July 13, workers fixed robotic jockeys on the backs of seven camels and raced the machine-mounted animals around a track. Operators controlled the jockeys remotely, signaling them to pull their reins and prod the camels with whips.
This feat of technology was also a development in human rights. Racing-camel owners in many Persian Gulf countries traditionally use children as jockeys, sometimes as young as four years old. Faced with pressure from human rights groups, Qatar outlawed the practice last December and looked to technology to keep the races running.

Officials approached the Swiss robotics firm K-Team, which came up with a compact solution. The new robot jockeys weigh 57 pounds (26 kilograms) and cost about U.S. $5,500 each.

The market for these robotic riders may soon be growing. In April the United Arab Emirates announced that it too would use robots in camel races. And in May, Oman declared a ban on child jockeys, effective this fall.

Sheik Abdullah bin Saud, the Qatari official in charge of the robot project, told the Associated Press in April that the goal of the program was to "improve the speed, the weight, the aerodynamics, to reach the ultimate goal of completely phasing out children used as jockeys."

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/07/0715_050715_robot_jockey.html

posted in Robots - 1 reply

1st Human Robotic Arm Implant

2005-07-16T00:25:56Z

First human robotic arm implant
http://www.gizmag.com/go/4282/

July 15, 2005 The first implantation of robotic arms into a human being is to be performed at the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In a statement issued by the hospital, an agreement was signed during June that will see a team of neuroscientists from Duke University, in the United States, led by Brazilian doctor Miguel Nicolelis, perform the implant in approximately three years time. A microchip implanted into the patient's brain will make it possible to control the prosthetics. Nicolelis has long been regarded as the most-likely to develop the technologies for such a procedure, having recently been named one of the 50 top scientists in the world by Scientific American.

"This is an innovative technique which is going to bring a great advance," stated the hospital's corporate superintendent, Mauricio Ceschin. According to him, this was a great discovery that has been developed by Duke University, in the United States, and coordinated by Brazilian neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis, who is the director of the Neuroscience Laboratory at the university and established the Santos Dumont Association.

According to Ceschin, the technique consists on implanting a microchip into the human brain to translate the nerve pulses into electric pulses, making it possible for the patient to move robotic prosthetics.

Tests were made at Duke University on monkeys that had electrodes implanted into the regions of their brains that are associated with movement. The monkeys underwent an experiment in which they had to control a joystick and accompany the trajectory of a cursor on a computer screen. The cursor movements were transmitted to a robotic arm that was installed in a room in front of the one in which the monkey was.

The second step was to remove the joystick from the monkey, who then noticed that the cursor was moved by brain waves, as if it were an extension of its body. Nicolelis believes that the adult brain has such a great adaptation capacity that it is possible to incorporate an external member.

According to Ceschin, in the period leading up to the surgery for the implantation of the robotic arms, the Education and Teaching Institute of the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital will have a laboratory dedicated to research in neuroscience, where tests and research relevant to the procedure will take place.

The superintendent also stated that a team of hospital neurosurgeons is getting ready to apply the new technique. "It will still take between two and three years for tests to be concluded on animals. The doctors must feel secure," he said.

Nicolelis established the Santos Dumont Association for Support to Research to present this new project in Brazil. He created an international network of neuroscience institutions, based in Switzerland, and the Syrian-Lebanese hospital is part of this partnership, together with centres in the United States, Jerusalem, Japan and Natal, in the northeastern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Norte, where the project is still being developed.

Miguel Ângelo Laporta Nicolelis was born in São Paulo, graduated in medicine from the University of São Paulo (USP), where he also got a doctor's degree in neurophysiology. Nicolelis also got a doctors degree at Hahnemann University, in Philadelphia, United States.

Nicolelis currently runs the neuroscience laboratory at Duke University, which is considered the largest neuroscience laboratory in the world. He is also the University’s Neurobiology and Biomedical Engineering chair, and joint director of the Neuroengineering Centre.

Nicolelis, professor of neurobiology medical engineering and psychological and brain sciences and co-director of the Center for Neuroengineering, was recently named one of the 50 top scientists in the world by Scientific American.

The magazine cited him for his work to enable the brain waves of monkeys to control a robotic arm. The research may be a significant breakthrough in the search for better robotic devices to help people with paralyzed limbs. The work portends a day when disabled humans may be able to manipulate things merely with their thoughts.

Nicolelis has long been regarded as the most likely scientist in the world to develop the technologies for such a procedure.

posted in Robots - 0 replies

need help with a robotic project

2005-07-13T15:58:18Z

This is my problem: I have a company where we manufacture things from small parts. Each area has their own part of the assembly line. The problem is sometimes a particular area will run out of parts and the whole process gets shut down until they get what they need.

Right now, someone goes to the parts room or wherever they have to go to get what they need. Depending on where it is in the building determines how fast they get it and get back.

What I'd like to do (being the eternal tinkerer that I am) is set up a "railroad" system. I envision a "train" pulling a series of cars. When a person calls for parts, the people in the parts room will put what they need in a particular car and send it on its way. When the train gets to their station, it will stop, dump whatever is in the car for them out and go on to the next station ... automated.

I have an idea about how things should be, but I have a couple of issues to resolve. First, making the train go is easy. Making it stop and stop in the right spots is the first issue. The second issue is how to make it dump the stuff (the parts are usually switches and other things that aren't real delicate) into a waiting bin without upsetting the whole train.

The reason why I want this to be automated is because different stages of the assembly line get shut down at different times of the day. For instance, if stage 1 calls for switches near time to shut down, it may take a few minutes to get those switches to them. They will need them in the morning to begin production. The parts person can get all of their orders ready and loaded, then as they are leaving, send the train on its way. It will stop at each station, dump their parts and go on to the next one.

I'm okay with it dumping parts that don't exist (or maybe there can be a sensor that will tell it when no parts are present to be dumped and the car can continue without dumping). I'm not a real technically savvy person, but I enjoy tinkering, building, making and experimenting. If I do this in my spare time, it can only make things easier for everyone (and cheaper for me).

If anyone has any ideas, I'd like it.

posted in Robots - 4 replies

robofolio.com

2005-07-07T20:45:58Z

http://www.robofolio.com/robo/

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Pill-Pushing Robot goes AWOL

2005-06-28T17:23:22Z

Robot runs riot at California hospital
By Team Register

Published Wednesday 15th June 2005 13:45 GMT

Staff and patients at San Francisco’s UCSF Medical Center were left fearful and shaken last week, when a robotic nurse threw off its shackles and went on the rampage.

“Waldo”, a robot used to dispense pills and potions to medical stations at the top notch medical facility, refused to return to the pharmacy to pick up a fresh stash at the end of his rounds, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Instead, the crazed automaton – reportedly the size of a good-sized TV, which in California means it must be at least the size of the average British garden shed - careened past the drug depository before barging into a room in the hospital’s radiation oncology department where an examination was in progress.

The psychotic pill pusher reportedly refused to leave, sending both doctor and patient fleeing for their lives.
"This is the first time anything like this has happened," a hospital spokesman told the paper. "Our technology folks are going to have to take a look."

Yeah, if they can find him. The ‘bot’s clearly gone bad, and is probably even as we speak cruising the city’s Tenderloin district pushing purloined prescription pain killers, paying off dirty cops and menacing lost tourists.

Even more worryingly, the spokesman said nothing about shutting down Waldo’s two colleagues, dubbed Elvis and Lisa Marie. A terrible accident waiting to happen? We think so.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/06/15/psycho_robot/

posted in Robots - 4 replies

Robot Suit unveiled

2005-06-15T17:43:25Z

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050607/lf_afp/afplifestylejapantechnologyrobotelderly_050607141415

Japan unveils "robot suit" that enhances human power Tue Jun 7,10:14 AM ET

(pic) http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050607/photos_lf_afp/050607141415_a005kqqx_photo0;_ylt=Amn238D2Q43jVMkdqLG6s5b2_sEF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3bGk2OHYzBHNlYwN0bXA-

Japan has taken a step into the science-fiction world with the release of a "robot suit" that can help workers lift heavy loads or assist people with disabilities climb stairs.

"Humans may be able to mutate into supermen in the near future," said Yoshiyuki Sankai, professor and engineer at Tsukuba University who led the project.

The 15-kilogram (33-pound) battery-powered suit, code-named HAL-5, detects muscle movements through electrical-signal flows on the skin surface and then amplifies them.

It can also move on its own accord, enabling it to help elderly or handicapped people walk, developers said.

The prototype suit will be displayed at the World Exposition that is currently taking place in Aichi prefecture, central Japan.

Japan has seen a growing market for technology geared toward the elderly, who are making up an increasing chunk of the population as fewer younger Japanese choose to start families.

A government report last week showed that pensioners made up a record 19.5 percent of the country's population in 2004 and that the ratio will grow rapidly, surpassing 35 percent in 2050.

posted in Robots - 2 replies

Ultra Lifelike Robot

2005-06-14T20:40:00Z

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/0610_050610_robot.html

(pic) http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/images/050610_robot.jpg

June 10, 2005—Quick, which one is the robot?
Repliee Q1 (at left in both pictures) appeared yesterday at the 2005 World Expo in Japan, where she gestured, blinked, spoke, and even appeared to breathe. Shown with co-creator Hiroshi Ishiguru of Osaka University, the android is partially covered in skinlike silicone. Q1 is powered by a nearby air compressor, and has 31 points of articulation in its upper body.

Internal sensors allow the android to react "naturally." It can block an attempted slap, for example. But it's the little, "unconscious" movements that give the robot its eerie verisimilitude: the slight flutter of the eyelids, the subtle rising and falling of the chest, the constant, nearly imperceptible shifting so familiar to humans.

Surrounded by machines that draw portraits, swat fast-moving balls, and snake through debris, Q1 is only one of the showstoppers at the expo's Prototype Robot Exposition, which aims to showcase Japan's growing role in the robotics industry.

But given Q1's reported glitch-related "spasms" at the expo, it may be a while before androids are escorting tour groups or looking after children—which may be just as well. "When a robot looks too much like the real thing, it's creepy," Hiroshi told the Associated Press.

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Walking Octopus inspired Robot

2005-06-08T20:22:42Z

'Walking' octopus inspires soft robots

The surprise discovery that octopi can "walk" along the sea bed on two tentacles has inspired scientists seeking to create of a new generation of soft, flexible robots.

Two species of octopus have been observed moving in an upright bipedal stride since the discovery was announced in March this year.

And scientists at the University of California at Berkeley believe they can develop artificial muscles for use in a new field of soft robotics using the studies of the octopus's movement.

"Each arm rolls along the suckers and pushes the animal back, and then the other arm touches down, rolls along the suckers, and pushes the animal back again," biologist Chrissy Hufford explained to BBC World Service's Science In Action programme.

"They flatten part of their arm like a tank tread, and roll backwards on it. They make a functional foot, even though they don't have an anatomic foot."

Rescue robots

While the octopus walks on two arms, the other six are pulled up under the body.

Importantly, the movement is much more fluid than in creatures with a skeleton.

"That's why it was such a surprise to see - because every other example of bipedal locomotion before had involved the support of a rigid skeleton," Dr Hufford added.

"As we know, octopi and other cephalopods don't have anything rigid in their arms - they are supported by bands of muscle... that allows them flexibility, but also some support."
This extreme flexibility and strength is of great interest to biologist Bob Full, who believes the octopus is an excellent model for how robots that move might be built without hard parts.

A prototype of a segment of what might become an octopus-like arm has already been built.

It is a "rolled" artificial muscle - a tube with a spring inside, into which electric current can be put.

The tube can shorten, lengthen, and bend in all directions.

"If you think about them linking end to end, you can imagine ultimately what results from that," Dr Full explained.

"You can get a segment that's longer and longer, and begins to look eventually very much like the arm of an octopus."

This artificial arm currently relies on metal for support - but Dr Full believes that eventually the support will come from bands of muscle alone, as in a real octopus.

As one band of muscle compresses, another is stretched, providing strength.

With no hard parts, the creature can squeeze through tiny spaces.

"That's the advantage of soft robotics," he added.

"Can you imagine how wonderful it would be to function as a search and rescue robot, to be able to go into areas - after an earthquake, after a car accident, during a fire - and move into spaces that no other robot could get into."

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/technology/4617291.stm

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Self-Replicating Robots

2005-05-14T02:04:46Z

on the radio now http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2005/May/hour1_051305.html

Hod Lipson
Assistant Professor of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering and Computing & Information Science
Cornell University
Ithaca, New York

researchers have designed simple robots that can make copies of themselves. Far from the vision of von Neumann machines that could mine distant planets, for instance, these stacks of magnetic cubes pivot, bend, and reassemble with new parts to form new stacks. We'll find out what the scientists plan to do with them. Call in with your questions and comments at 1-800-989-8255 (2-3 Eastern).

don't these people read/watch sci-fi? sometimes I think us humans are just asking for it.

http://www.mae.cornell.edu/ccsl/research/selfrep/

posted in Robots - 5 replies

SnakeBots!

2005-04-25T18:53:56Z

http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=377

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Lego Mindstorms CD?

2005-04-25T01:41:02Z

I have the mindstorms 2.0 kit, but the CD got lost. Anybody got a copy I could burn or download?

yes, I just wanna play with my legos.

posted in Robots - 3 replies

ROBOlympics - March 25-27th, 2005 in SF

2005-03-26T05:30:58Z

The largest robot competition in America is back - and even larger! Last year, 400 robots came from 11 different countries. Don't miss out this year! Come compete against the most diverse robot builders on the planet.

We've moved from the 50,000 ft sq Fort Mason pavilion to San Francisco State University (where I teach) - and over 100,000 square feet! This lets us have separate buildings for each events - sumos get their own area, soccer gets it's own area, combat its own, etc. (there were complaints about combat robot noise, so non-combat robots need not worry - we have 5 separate buildings this year!) This is the largest robot competition in history!

We really want to see more robots registered - especially non-combat robots. If you've got sumos, fire-fighters, a soccer team, legos, old FIRST bots, or a home-brew bot you've been wanting to show off - BRING IT! With two and a half months til the show, you've still got time to build, tweak, hack, and weld some bots into shape - or just dust off the old ones. There is $28,220 in prize money!

You MUST pre-register - registration closes Feb 27th - do NOT wait til the last day or your event might have filled up (32 slots/event.)

Even if you can't bring your own robot, come to see the huge assortment of robots present: bi-peds, soccer bots, legos, exo-skeletons, combots, two-wheeled balancers - they'll all be here!

While most cities have small robot events, this is the one robot show that you should not miss. For robot sports to be taken seriously, we really need to show the world all the different events at once.

All events have cash prizes and incredible Gold/Silver/Bronze medals with scrolling LED displays (courtesy of Winchell Design and Parallax, Inc.)

Students 17 and under pay no entry fees!

For a complete list of all events, go to
http://robolympics.net/events.shtml

For some of the press (including videos) from last year, go to
http://robolympics.net/news.shtml

COMPETITIONS AT ROBOLYMPICS

* Robot Soccer: Autonomous robots search for the ball and try to score,
just like the real thing! Three classes.

* Sumo: 5 different weight classes. The easiest bot to build. What
are you waiting for?

* Fire-Fighting: Using the Trinity Rules,

* Maze Solving: Got a micromouse? Built something better? Here's you
chance to show off.

* Walker Challenge: All non-biped walkers compete to find out who's fastest.

* Biped Race: Got a biped? race it against the other bi-peds to see who's
fastest.

* Robot Triathlon: Just like the human version, Robots complete a three-
stage race: legs, wheels, and water. Robot Triathlon was invented just
for this event!

* The Line Slalom: Break out your line-follower

* Ribbon Climber: Last year's winner got $1000 and a trip to Washington DC.
This important event

* Lego Challenge: Lap running robots. Simple concept, hard to finish.

* Lego Open: Build your craziest Mindstorms bot and show it off.

* Aibo Performer: Competitors program their Aibos to perform tricks or
routines.

* Balancer Race: Two-wheeled balancing robots match programming for
agility and balancing power.

* Best of Show: Those bots that don't fit into other classes get their
chance to shine here!

* Robomagellan: Remember DARPA? This similar concept will test the
finest builders!

* BEAM: Three different events for the analog builders. Special guest judge!

* Exo-skeleton: Contestants build human-assisted metal exoskeletons that
compete in lifting, and carrying contests. This event truly combines the
best of man and machine!

* Combat: You either love it or you hate it. If you love it, bring your
robot and compete against the best.

* Robo-One: Imported from Japan by Robolympics, robo-one are bipedal
humanoid robots capable of astounding stunts. From the most delicate tasks
like door opening and one-legged balance, to stair climbing and free-form
demonstrations of agility, these machines amaze with every movement.

* Art Bots: New event! Art bots can be anything from delicate automata that
serve tea to a crashing, banging one-robot band! Four categories!

* Junior League (<18 yr old): Competitions designed especially for the young
engineers among us. Events include: 500g sumo robots, 3 different lego
events, 120 pound combat, BasketBall Challenge (like US First), and
HandyBoard Ball (like BotBall).

posted in Robots - 2 replies

autonomous vehicle races

2005-03-05T06:36:58Z

http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0411/resources_who.html

Who's Driving?
Things still go better with humans at the helm

Thirteen vehicles lined up last March to race across the Mojave Desert, seeking a cool million in prize money. To win, they had to finish the 142-mile (223-kilometer) course in less than 10 hours. Teams and spectators knew there might be no winner at all, because these vehicles were missing a key element: drivers.

DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, sponsored the race as part of a push to develop robotic vehicles for future battlefields. But the Grand Challenge, as it was called, proved a spectacular demonstration of just how difficult it is to get a car or buggy to speed across an unfamiliar landscape without human guidance. One had its brake lock up in the starting area. Another began by slamming into a wall. Another got spooked by bushes near the road after 1.2 miles (1.9 kilometers).

One flipped. One took off in entirely the wrong direction and had to be disabled by remote control. One went a little more than a mile and plunged through a fence; another managed to go for six miles (nine kilometers) but got stuck on a rock. The "winner," if you will, reached 7.4 miles (11.9 kilometers) before it ran into a berm, and the front wheels caught on fire.

"You get a lot of respect for natural biological systems," says Reinhold Behringer, who helped design two of the car-size vehicles for a company called SciAutonics. "Even ants do all these functions effortlessly. It's very hard for us to imitate that and put it into our machines."

The autonomous vehicles, despite being loaded with lasers, radar, stereoscopic cameras, gyroscopes, advanced computers, and GPS guidance, had trouble figuring out fast enough the significance of obstacles that a two-year-old human recognizes immediately. Sure, that toddler may not think to wipe spaghetti sauce off her face, but she already knows that when there's a cookie in the kitchen she has to climb up to the cabinet, and that when she gets to the cookie it will taste good. She is more advanced, even in diapers, than any machine humans have devised.

For the fantastically successful Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, fast movement and quick thinking were never priorities. Top rover speed, pedal to the metal: a tenth of a mile an hour. The Grand Challenge vehicles, on the other hand, were supposed to go 15 miles (24 kilometers) an hour. Unlike the Grand Challenge vehicles, the Mars rovers were designed to wait for human input in uncertain situations. "The rover has the intelligence of a bug," says mission manager Mark Adler. "It can go around an obstacle. It can detect hazards. But we've got a long way to go from a bug to what a two-year-old can do." (Sometimes, says Adler, technicians would watch a rover come to a standstill for no apparent reason.)

There'll be more autonomous vehicle races in the desert. Someday a buggy will speed along for 142 miles (223 kilometers) on its own. Meanwhile, we'll keep humans—at least remotely—in the driver's seat.

—Joel Achenbach
Washington Post staff writer

Grand Challenge 2004 Image Gallery
http://www.darpa.mil/grandchallenge04/media_images.htm
Travel to the California Speedway to view the robotic vehicles that participated in the qualifying round.

Interview with SciAutonics President
http://socaltech.com/Interviews/reinhold_behringer_sciautonics.html
Reinhold Behringer talks about the one in a thousand chance that the two vehicles his company entered in the race had of mastering the course.

posted in Robots - 2 replies

The Pentagon's Robotic Army

2005-02-22T20:35:47Z

"Compared to many aeronautical curiosities that have taken wing at NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center at California’s Edwards Air Force Base over the years, the latest military test stunts did not appear very remarkable. Last April, a low-slung aircraft, about the size of a sport utility vehicle but with batlike wings similar to those of the B-2 stealth bomber, took off, flew at 10,500 meters and then dropped a 110-kilogram inert precision bomb while zipping along at 700 kilometers per hour. Four months later, a pair of the aircraft took off and flew together. These were modest stunts, to be sure, except for this fact: the jets have no pilots. They are the future of warfare, the first working models of networked autonomous attack jets, and the U.S. Department of Defense would like to start building them by 2010. ... Realizing this vision will require the creation of new airborne communications networks and a host of control systems that will make these jets more autonomous (though always under the ultimate control of a person) than anything built to date. These are the goals of a $4-billion, five-year program at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon's advanced research arm."

http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/05/03/issue/feature_jet.asp

See also:
http://divedi.blogspot.com/2005/02/pentagons-robotic-army.html

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Robocopter

2005-02-18T19:56:42Z

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/02/050213131550.htm

Mini Helicopter Thinks For Itself — On The Fly — To React To Dangerous Situations

ATLANTA (February 8, 2005) — Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are one step closer to someday matching — and possibly surpassing — their human-piloted counterparts, thanks to the completion of a project successfully tested by Georgia Tech and sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The project was supported by DARPA’s Information Exploitation Office with Dr. John Bay serving as the program manager.

GT Max, the first rotary wing UAV, is able to learn as it flies, maneuver aggressively and automatically plan a route through obstacles thanks to its Open Control Platform system. (Photo courtesy of Georgia Institute Of Technology)

Researchers from several partner institutions and organizations have helped to successfully build, test and fly the first rotary wing UAV, a helicopter called GTMax, with capabilities of flight control fault identification and reconfiguration, adaptive control and agile maneuvering — all operating on a single vehicle and under a single software architecture.

Collaborators on the project include Draper Laboratories, Vanderbilt University, Scientific Systems Company Inc., Oregon Graduate Institute, Honeywell Laboratories and Boeing.

The flight represents the completion of a DARPA/Air Force project to develop an innovative new software-enabled control (SEC) system with applications to UAVs.

Based on this UAV success, Georgia Tech has now been awarded funding for two follow-on programs for multiple UAVs in an urban warfare environment and for transitioning the technologies developed under the DARPA/Air Force program to military vehicles.

Advances in rotary wing UAVs are particularly important because of their requirement to take off and land in difficult terrain and restricted-size areas, such as ship decks, and their ability to hover while they identify and inspect specific locations. With traditional aircraft, a pilot with years of training and flight experience is on board to react to problems, threats and weather conditions, and current UAVs must be flown much more conservatively and have limited reaction capabilities.

Georgia Tech’s primary contribution to the overall project was continuing work started by Boeing on the new SEC system, an Open Control Platform (OCP), which gives the UAV the ability to reconfigure its software systems autonomously in flight.

The OCP is an object-oriented, real-time operating software architecture that can handle very large sets of data and computations in real time, similar to a pilot’s brain reacting to enemy fire or changing weather conditions.

The system also gives the UAV more agility to help avoid danger without exceeding critical flight parameters.

During the final test at Fort Benning, Ga., the GTMax used eight different low-level flight control systems and three guidance systems in a single flight, including adapting to primary flight control system hardware failures, environmental factors and changes in aircraft configuration.

The final tests on Georgia Tech’s UAV demonstrated several key advancements:

• The UAV is able to learn as it flies.

• The UAV is able to reconfigure after failures in primary flight control systems, including losing the ability to change the pitch of the main rotor.

• The UAV is able to automatically plan a route through obstacles.

• The UAV is able to maneuver aggressively.

• The UAV is able to fly using what it sees in its onboard camera, rather than using traditional navigation systems such as GPS.

• The UAV can be reconfigured in flight to select among several control and guidance systems.

The final experiment, recently conducted at the Military Operations Urban Terrain site in Fort Benning represents five years of collaboration between Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering.

Georgia Tech’s principal investigators on the project are Dr. Daniel Schrage and Dr. Eric Johnson, professors in Aerospace Engineering; and Dr. George Vachtsevanos, a professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. The Georgia Tech team was selected by DARPA to be the systems integrator for the entire rotary wing UAV project, integrating engineering advances from a distinguished group of other corporate and university researchers.

posted in Robots - 0 replies

ScorpBot

2005-02-16T23:02:42Z

Scorpion robot could conquer worlds

Jessica Ebert

The Scorpion robot mimics the walking style of its living counterpart.

Planetary rovers may soon have an eight-legged mechanized side-kick to help them explore distant planets. The Scorpion robot is able to descend steep cliffs, climb rough terrain, and squeeze into crannies that are inaccessible to larger, wheeled vehicles.

The dog-sized prototype is the brainchild of Frank Kirchner, a robotics specialist at the University of Bremen in Germany. It is currently being evaluated at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

Some of the most interesting places on Mars are on the faces of cliffs or in areas that are too small or rocky for a car-sized rover to reach, says Silvano Colombano, a NASA scientist and collaborator on the project at Ames. A Scorpion, however, could "go into these areas, look at the geology and pick up samples", he suggests.

Click Here for a video of the Scorpion in action.
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050207/multimedia/050207-14-m1.html

Walking robotics is a relatively new field, and engineers are taking cues from biology to give these machines versatile locomotive capabilities. The Scorpion, for example, moves by following an internally generated pattern based on the movement of its real-life counterparts. "The program has the flexibility to allow [the robot] to adapt to the environment," says Colombano. Essentially, he says, it has "reflexes that take over at the point when the motion is somehow obstructed".

The manoeuvring abilities of the Scorpion come at a price, however. The robot is too small to carry lots of power. "It needs to be connected to a larger robot that can provide it with power, or recharge it," says Colombano. Once this technical kink is ironed out, the Scorpion should aid complex roving missions.

Researchers could also use the robot on Earth, to investigate mines or search for earthquake survivors trapped in rubble.

http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050207/full/050207-14.html

posted in Robots - 5 replies

Free stuff

2005-02-08T08:22:48Z

I just moved from Boston to South LA and packing all the junk I have collected in 8 years was way too much work.
I am cleaning up and putting on Ebay most of it, however there are parts for which taking the picture, listing, paying the fees, shipping, etc.. is too much touble. So I am giving away one or two large boxes full of electronic parts, power supplies, cables, small mechanical parts, etc... It could be more than two boxes, not sure.
If anybody is interested in picking it up (I prefer if you take everything) please let me know. I promise you won't be disappointed. My email: gim@ieee.org

posted in Robots - 1 reply

Info on 1930s-1960s concepts of planetary rovers?

2005-02-05T21:02:52Z

I've just learned that I have to prepare a presentation in just a few days for which I need some information and pictures of early concepts of autonomous planetary/lunar rovers. You know--the stuff of Popular Science Magazine and its ilk, showing how we will explore the moon and the planets using robots. If I recall correctly, the robots were usually more anthropomorphic than they turned out to be in the reality of Surveyor, Lunokhod, et al.

I know there must be scads of artist's conceptions out there (Chesley Bonestell? Rolf Klep? Fred Freeman?) but damned if I can find any right now. If anyone has any info or pictures of such things or links to where I can find them, I'd be eternally grateful.

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Robot Vacuum and Ideas

2005-01-30T01:20:35Z

The last robot I got to clean the wood floors did not work out.

Did anyone use this one?

http://www.everydayrobots.com/index.php?option=content&task=view&id=9&Itemid=

Also why does the pool bot at my house do so well, and why does the house inside do so bad?

House interiors should be designed with a built in bot to clean surfaces
especially entrophy/gravity decline areas like floors...

What is the best way to clean a floor automatically with little human iintervention?

Ami Sun

posted in Robots - 6 replies

Feed your robot flies

2004-12-15T20:45:33Z

Hi all, I'm new to this tribe. Just came across this nifty little article from Wired:

http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,66036,00.html?tw=wn_tophead_2

Turns out the Univ. of West England's designed a robot power source that uses bacteria to break down common foodstuffs (like dead flies) to generate power. They're still developing it but this seems pretty kewl - now your dog and robot will have to fight for the scraps from dinner.

posted in Robots - 1 reply

Feed your robot flies

2004-12-15T17:38:03Z

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Robots in space...?

2004-11-25T21:34:01Z

Robotics has come pretty far in the last couple decades.
We have sent robotic rovers and probes to mars, other planets, and all over the solar system. But do you guys think robots could handle harder missions in space?
Like mining an asteroid or comet?

Not just digging up a 1-kilogram soil sample.
I'm talking about real heavy-duty mining for metals, and everything else.

Do you guys think this is possible in the next ten years?

posted in Robots - 13 replies

Robots learn 'robotiquette' rules

2004-11-09T20:28:55Z

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3962699.stm

By Roberto Belo
BBC News Online

Robots are learning lessons on "robotiquette" - how to behave socially - so they can mix better with humans.
By playing games, like pass-the-parcel, a University of Hertfordshire team is finding out how future robot companions should react in social situations.

The study's findings will eventually help humans develop a code of social behaviour in human-robot interaction.

The work is part of the European Cogniron robotics project, and was on show at London's Science Museum.

Back to the future

"We are assuming a situation in which a useful human companion robot already exists," said Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn, project leader at Hertfordshire.

"Our mission is to look at how such a robot should be programmed to respect personal spaces of humans."

I want robots to treat humans as human beings, and not like other robots

Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn,
University of Hertfordshire
The research also focuses on human perception of robots, including how they should look, and how a robot can learn new skills by imitating a human demonstrator.

"Without such studies, you will build robots which might not respect the fact that humans are individuals, have preferences and come from different cultural backgrounds," Professor Dautenhahn told BBC News Online.

"And I want robots to treat humans as human beings, and not like other robots," she added.

Pass-the-parcel

In most situations, a companion robot will eventually have to deal not only with one person, but also with groups of people.

To find out how they would react, the Hertfordshire Cogniron team taught one robot to play pass-the-parcel with children.

If you think of a robot as a companion for the human being, you can think of 20 years into the future

Professor Kerstin Dautenhahn
Showing off its skills at the Science Museum, the unnamed robot had to select, approach, and ask different children to pick up a parcel with a gift, moving its arm as a pointer and its camera as an eye.

It even used speech to give instructions and play music.

However, according to researchers, it will still take many years to build a robot which would make full use of the "robotiquette" for human interaction.

"If you think of a robot as a companion for the human being, you can think of 20 years into the future," concluded Professor Dautenhahn.

"It might take even longer because it is very, very hard to develop such a robot."

You can hear more on this story on

posted in Robots - 1 reply

Where is the Robot-Valley?

2004-10-31T07:46:35Z

"Will Silicon Valley, the unquestioned center of the computer tech boom, also become the 'Silicon Valley' of robotics? According to Pete Markiewicz, the Valley mindset, along with the other factors that created the virtual worlds of the PC and Internet, might not be well suited to the development of devices that must operate in the rough-and-tumble of the real world."

Osaka Emerging as Robot City
"A new Straits Times article says there are 154 firms in Osaka, Japan with robotics-related patents and many more working on robotics technology. The city has become the center of robot technology in Japan and possibly the world. Japan expects to be the world leader in the production of next-generations robots, a market projected to be $46 billion by 2010. Osaka is also hosting a RoboCup competition this month."

World's greatest android projects
"There are 73 major android projects around the world - 34 are in Japan, 10 in the US, 7 in Germany, 5 in Korea, 3 in China, 3 in the UK, 2 in Sweden, 1 in Australia, 1 in Thailand, 1 in Singapore, 1 in Bulgaria, 1 in Iran, 1 in Italy, 1 in Austria, 1 in Russia, & 1 in Scotland."

http://divedi.blogspot.com/2004/10/where-is-robot-valley.html

posted in Robots - 3 replies

Robots and Robtic Art In SF BA

2004-09-06T05:29:23Z

I'm looking for anyone that needs an excus eto show off what they've built.

We have a new monthly club starting on Friday Sept 10th, and will be the secnd friday every month thereafter. The Theme is 100% industrial music with machinery, robots, and associated fashion.

What we are looking for is art, robots, machinery, etc, that will work inside a nightclub. There's a stage at teh club we'r enot going to be using, so there's plenty of room for use. There's no loading door, so everything has to be able to be hauled through a set of standard sized double doors. The venue is the rawhide at 7th & folsom. The only stiplation is no fire or robot fights in the club.

Contact me directly if you can help out, or know somebody.

After all, what's teh point of creating these things if you can't show them off?

If anyone has large street size performance pieces, and they know how to deal with SFFD, we're down with that, but won't be responcible for anything outside the club, but we'd LOVE it.

Thanks

--S

posted in Robots - 2 replies

Metamorphing Deskoid PC Robot seeks partners

2004-06-30T18:46:19Z

http://funkycoldamoeba.blogspot.com
This is a robotic PC with a desk built-in. Sort of like a coffee table book that is also itself a coffee table.
I am in the process of gathing parts necessary for building of a prototype. If you are interested being a part of this project, feel free to let me know.

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Aibo ERS-7

2004-06-26T19:20:45Z

I've never owned an Aibo before or really played with them that much
anyone have an ERS-7 that can share their experience with me about it
pro's con's etc

thanks!

posted in Robots - 3 replies

ARNOLD: 1,300,000 cyborgs in California alone.......HELP!

2004-06-25T17:53:13Z

Citizens Against Killer Robots in No. Cal 1 800 215 2252

http://www.billboardliberation.com/robot.html

you all probably already know about this, but I just saw this billboard on 14th & Mission in SF, I laughed so hard I almost fell off my bicycle.

The Billboard Liberation Front, Citizens Against Killer Robots Call for Emergency Action from Governor's Office

"You need to feel safe, and that's harder and harder to do nowadays because robots may strike at any time. And when they grab you with those metal claws, you can't break free... because they're made of metal, and robots are strong."
-Sam Waterston

California faces a gathering threat that has for too long gone ignored. While the headlines are jammed with stories about crime, drugs, and terrorism, almost nothing is said in this day and age about the true menace looming over us all: killer robots.

The time has come for our leaders to stop sweeping the threat under the rug, and demonstrate the courage necessary to face down the hordes of androids that are taking over every aspect of life in the great state of California before it is too late for us all. How long will government stand idly by while mindless automatons proliferate in our schools, our Indian casinos, our lobbying groups?

In response to our growing fears, the Billboard Liberation Front and Citizens Against Killer Robots have come together to call upon California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to take action. Clearly, the only way that Governor Schwarzenegger can fulfill his obligation as the head of our state government is to travel back in time to head off the threat when and where it began--in the gubernatorial administration of Ronald W. Reagan.

And if it didn't really begin there, well, he still needs to do it, if only to prove he's not a big pussy. Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto.

"We recognize that this issue places Governor Schwarzenegger in an awkward position, being a cyborg himself," BLF founder Jack Napier recently noted. "However, in light of Bush administration using time travel to send this country back to the McCarthy era, we feel that he owes his constituents the same consideration."

Visit the BLF's improvements at TWO separate locations: 14th St @ Mission and Hayes St @Divisedero.

The new BLF - working twice as hard to improve your perceptions on advertising.

-Totoro

posted in Robots - 1 reply

Human Being 2.0

2004-06-25T12:01:27Z

"It was an astounding request. A year ago, neuroscientist Mitsuo Kawato called on the Japanese government to commit 50 billion yen ($446 million) a year for the next three decades. The dream: an Apollo-like program to build a robot with the mental, physical, and emotional capabilities of a 5-year-old child. Kawato called his plan the Atom Project, named for the popular postwar cartoon Tetsuwan Atom (known as Astroboy in the US), the story of a superhero boy robot.

Today the Atom Project remains little more than an audacious proposal. But the science behind it is quite real. With each advance in computing speed, battery capacity, camera and motor miniaturization, and software capability, the world grows closer to the ultimate goal of robotics: a walking, talking, feeling android worthy of our cinematic inspirations.

Consider the progress of just the past 15 years. There are now robots that can get around on two legs, participate in simple conversations, and manipulate objects in rudimentary ways. Of course, we don't yet have a bot that can navigate downtown Manhattan, tie its shoelaces, or even tell a chair from a desk. MIT's Cynthia Breazeal holds out hope that within five years, robots will cross a critical threshold, becoming partners rather than tools - in other words, we'll have friends, not appliances. And while there are a number of extremely complex problems to solve before we can make something as advanced as Sonny, the star of I, Robot, we're getting there, one piece at a time. To find out where the state of the art lies, Wired surveyed the projects that might one day add up to an android just like the rest of us."

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/12.07/race.html?tw=wn_tophead_6

See also:
http://divedi.blogspot.com/2004/06/human-being-20.html

posted in Robots - 0 replies

DARPA Grand Challenge race

2004-06-19T04:56:01Z

Does anybody know if this is gonna be an annual race, or a one-timer?

posted in Robots - 2 replies

Atom Pro and Atom bot board

2004-06-16T05:45:51Z

Lynxmotion sells a micro controller with bot-board combo called the http://www.lynxmotion.com/Category.aspx?CategoryID=66" target=_blank. For $75 you get to control up to 20 servos or PWM's. It can run multitasking programs written in C or basic. You can also connect a playstation controller to it to control your bots. It's way cool, man.

posted in Robots - 0 replies

lemur

2004-06-15T19:40:37Z

rock climbing robot. now if they would put a clock on the back of it...

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99995090

posted in Robots - 1 reply

AIBO and Willy Wonka...

2004-06-11T08:37:39Z

OK- so I was watching Willy Wonka on Bravo today and I noticed that Willy Wonka's little whistle that he uses to summon the Oompa Loompas sounds strikingly similar to the sounds my AIBO makes.... It was almost spooky....

posted in Robots - 0 replies

Anime and Robotics: A Symbiotic Relationship

2004-06-07T07:31:52Z

"The end of World War II and the subsequent evolution of technology has caused pop culture to become pervasive in every facet of modern-day society; from television to cinema and magazines to the exponentially-growing World Wide Web. Within Japanese pop culture, anime has become progressively more influential and commands true worldwide recognition since the Oscar-winning production, Spirited Away.

Similarly, in recent decades, the field of robotics has also been spurred on by technological advances, and is becoming increasingly prevalent within society, industry and our homes. While robotics and anime have originated in very different ways, as both advance they are forming a unique and multi-faceted symbiosis."

http://www.generation5.org/content/2004/anime-robotics.asp

See also:
http://divedi.blogspot.com/2004/06/anime-and-robotics-symbiotic.html

posted in Robots - 0 replies

not-so-fresh prince?

2004-06-04T18:38:48Z

will smith? not so sure.
audi in 2035? sure.

http://www.irobotmovie.com/
http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/i/irobot.php

posted in Robots - 7 replies

object recognition

2004-05-28T23:39:04Z

Can anyone give details on the current state of the art in object recognition technology? Are there any designers/builders in this tribe who are working in this field?

posted in Robots - 3 replies

Robot Stories

2004-05-28T02:52:23Z

http://www.robotstories.net/

posted in Robots - 4 replies

Robot parts

2004-05-10T20:38:05Z

hi all

Does anyone have a list of weblinks to manufacturers of robot parts (like motors, servos, etc)?

What manufacturers have you made a good experience with?

Cheers,
Michael

posted in Robots - 8 replies

Designing/creating own parts

2004-05-10T20:06:23Z

Hi there

I am currently sketching up some ideas for a group of robots that should be able to solve problems by colloborating (using each others features in a certain way). For that, I need to create my own mechanical parts, preferrably aluminium or carbon fibre.

Does anyone know of a 'CAD' Tool that would directly interface to an automated laser cutter? And what laser cutter is there to be chosen?

Having those made by a service is rather expensive and I need a lot of stuff. i also need the flexibility to have things redone quickly. So the service thing is not my thing in the long term...

Anyone?

Cheers,
michael

posted in Robots - 0 replies

what would you want?

2004-05-04T18:50:36Z

When you look on the net for robots, what are you looking for?Are you looking for kits, and if you are looking for kits what kind? Parts?Books? I'm trying to get information on what kinds of product people who like robots want and are interested in getting?

posted in Robots - 7 replies

jr robotics

2004-04-20T09:58:21Z

http://www.usfirst.org/

posted in Robots - 2 replies

Kinetic Art / Robotics class offered

2004-04-02T05:37:07Z

I have been teaching at SF State and really enjoy it, but alas Ahnold has cut state education budgets and my class fell by the way side.
I do love it though and teach one on one in my shop for $50.00 and hour.
Heres my curriculum
http://www.monkeyview.net/kal@seemen.org/sfsu_class/index.vhtml
Email me if you are interested
Tobor__@hotmail.com
We cover kinetics, electronics, pnumatics(air-cylinders), gear motors, theory, whatever you like!
go to my website to see some of the stuff I have built, http://www.seemen.org
Yours,
Kal

posted in Robots - 0 replies