ROBOT

2007-04-08T23:38:00.000-07:00

Design Goodness: Mike Smyth's Minimechadon
I always like to point out great design when I see it, and Mike Smyth's Minimechadon is a prime example. Mike created the little guy to experiment with learning algorithms for walking. The robot weighs 12oz and has 4 degrees-of-freedom.

The sensor array consists of 4 touch sensors on the bottom of each foot, Left and right IR obstacle detection, and 4 CdS photo detectors located on all four sides of the robot. The heart of the control system is a Microchip PIC16F819 micro-controller and a separate 8 channel A-D converter.

The mechanical structure is built from brass tubing (which all the wiring runs through, UHMW (a high density plastic material), and PCBs. Perhaps the most striking aspect of the robot is the use of PCBs to create a 3D structure and mount all of the circuits/electronics.

There are other pictures of the MiniMechadon on Mike's website , along with other projects. Be kind to his server though.

2007-04-08T18:17:00.000-07:00

The Open Servo Project If you've ever need a digital servo but have balked at the price, the Open Servo Project should be an attractive option. The project seeks to develop software and hardware to replace the internals of standard servos like the Futaba S3003 and the Hitec-HS311.

OpenServo is an open community-based project started by Mike Thompson with the goal of creating a low-cost digital servo for robotics. The hardware and software design of the OpenServo is free for anyone to use and modify to meet their particular needs. It is currently being developed by a small group of dedicated individuals striving to maintain the very best in free, open source software and standards.

The project uses a 8bit AVR microcontroller, MOSFET h-bridge, "feedback of servo position, speed, voltage and power consumption", and only costs about $10 extra per servo (so, about $20 for one complete servo).

Visit the OpenServo Forums for more information.

2007-04-06T17:28:00.000-07:00

More Info On The World's Smallest Robotic Hand This is an update to our previous post about this miniscule but amazing 'hand' from UCLA . The hand, which measures 1mm across when closed, is powered by gas pressure, and is hoped to be one day used in micro surgery. Balloons at the finger joints inflate to close the hand.

You can also see a video of the hand grabbing a fish egg . It's pretty amazing.

2007-04-04T17:34:00.000-07:00

Another Robot to Explore The Inside of Your Body
Scientists from the Shiga University of Medical Science and Ritsumeikan University in Japan, have created yet another miniature robot to explore around the inside of your bod y. The robot, which is less than 1" x 0.5" is inserted through an incision and is moved by controlling a magnetic field surrounding the patient.

The researchers developed five different kinds of prototypes with features such as image capture functions, medicine delivery systems, and tiny forceps for taking tissue samples. MRI images of the patient taken in advance serve as a map for navigating the minibot, which is said to have performed swimmingly in tests on animals.

The robot is also equipped with an umbilical cord to send back images and other data. Here's a link to the article in Japanese, if you're so inclined.

2007-04-03T18:21:00.000-07:00

Robot Rescues Fugitive from Seoul SewerIn more robot news from Asia, here's an interesting story about a sewer inspection robot that was used to locate a fugitive who'd hidden in the city sewer. The man, who'd stolen a woman's purse, escaped into a sewer pipe. Unfortunately, he'd been stripped of his clothes while fleeing, and he chose an exceptionally cold time to do so - the temperature was 34 degrees F.

The robot located the man, who'd apparently gotten lost in the pipes. The robot, a sewage pipe inspection robot, has six wheels and comes equipped with a camera.

Here's a video of a ~~Korean~~ Japanese news report on the event:

Pleo Update

2006-12-10T17:11:00.000-08:00

November has come and gone with quite a bit of new news relating to our cute robotic dino-pal, Pleo. You can check out all of the coverage on our sister site, . We've learned that Pleo really does exist and that (ha! Our suspicions are confirmed!). He'll be selling for around $250 and displays a wide variety of actions, like getting sick with a cold, limping, pretending to be scared, making sounds, and even responding to his name. Pleo will also come with a SD card slot and a USB port for donwloading new behaviors (and all sorts of hackery!) There's also several , and vidoes - from and . Pleo's NiMH battery will allow him to run for about 2 hrs, with a 4 hr charge time, however, there are currently no plans to make it replaceable.
PleoBot.com
he's pretty cute and cuddly

new
pictures
of
Pleo
PC Magazine
SciFi blog

RB2000 Robot Does Gymnastic Manuevers

2006-12-01T17:21:00.000-08:00

The RB2000 robot from JR Robotics and VStone is able to perform some impressive acrobatic feats. Our friend, Lem, of the . However, Even so, the demonstrations of this robot's abilities has generated quite a bit of press for JR Robotics. You can find out and on .
over at Robots Dreams captured some video
RB2000 twirling about on the highbars

... since the robot doesn't have any hands, the bar was passed through openings in the robots arms - so it's impossible to fall off. It does, however, demonstrate the considerable torque available from the JR servos used in the arms.

more about the RB2000 here
JR Robotics' website

Global Hawk Flies First Mission Over US Skies

2006-11-30T17:47:00.000-08:00

Nomura Creates a Robotic Walking Assistant

2006-11-26T17:46:00.000-08:00

Nomura Creates a Robotic Walking Assistant




This is for all of you out there that read the ballroom dancer-bot story and decided you needed to master walking before dancing. Nomura UnisonCo. along with Tohoku Universities' Kazuhiro Kosuge and Yasuhisa Hiratahave created a robotic walking assistantthat not only senses its user's behavior, but also detects obstacles inits way and the slope of the floor. The robot is unmotorized but isable to apply the brakes in order to help its user maintain theirbalance. They plan on marketing the robot for rehabilitation,the elderly and physically disabled. The unit should be available foraround $4,000 USD.

Evolution Robotics Prepares to Take on iRobot's

2006-11-20T18:55:00.000-08:00

It looks like everyone's favorite, under appreciated, robotics company, Evolution Robotics, has teamed up with a, "large appliance manufacturer" to create a competitor to iRobot's smash-hit Roomba.The main claim-to-fame of the new soon-to-be sucker'bot is that it willbe 'smarter' than the Roomba and incorporate more sophisticatednavigation technology, namely Evolution's NorthStar technology. The technology is already implemented in a vacuum robot from Sharper Image and a household robot from Yujin.

Unfortunately,Evolution and every other vacuum 'bot manufacturer out there seem tothink that adding more features and smarts is going to get customers topurchase, but more importantly LOVE, their products. Anyone heard ofthe iPod? It's simple, clean, and efficient, and they're still thehands-down winner in the vicious fight between MP3 players.

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that no vacuum robot will ever overturn the Roomba until they are easier, simpler, better looking, and more efficientthan the Roomba. Customers don't want features, they want a productthat they can love, and the longer the user manual, they less they loveit.

iRobot Revails 'Warrior' Robot. Bigger and Badder than Packbot

2006-10-09T19:10:00.000-07:00

iRobot issued a press release this morning detailing some of their new products. Of special interest is the new 250lb Warrior robot. Warrior, which isabout six times the size of the packbot, can move at over 12mph overrough terrain and can carry a payload of up to 100 lbs.

This annoucement coincides with an Army Future Combat Systems conference. Our friends at Robot Stock News have more details. Via

Mucus Trail Robot to Travel Through Human Intestines

2006-10-06T02:24:00.000-07:00

Instead of having a robot to crawl by your intestines, how about it slipping length on a slipping mucus trail? A group of researchers of university of Delft of technology, in the Netherlands, adopts this approach of novel to the exploration of inter-body in order to protect the sensitive lining from the plan of intestines.

The is the develops by tube-formed robot which will have several polymer “feet”. The feet stick to mucus striping the interior of the intestines. The foot towards before-more will seize the wall of intestine while the feet postpone will be made to slip freely ahead by pulverizing them with water. Then, the back foot will seize the wall, by employing a surface different of polymer, and the front feet will advance ahead. The process can then be repeated to create inch-worm-like the movement by the goal of intestines.

The is the test the robot inside a length of intestine of pig, whereas it carries a camera and a tool for biopsy, towards the end of the year.

South Korea Develops Machine-Gun Sentry Robot

2006-10-06T02:16:00.000-07:00

This history unloads in very fresh category the “, however very alarming” of today - South Korea develops a robot-like sentinel equipped machine-gun. The robot of sentinel is equipped with two cameras, for the day and for the infra-red vision of night, the bourdonnantes possibilities, a loudspeaker to inform the intruder of dead the inpending, identification of model sophisticated to detect the difference between the human ones and the trees, and one expects that are sold for $200.00 USD and will be robots of 5.5mm a machine-gun.

A The, code develops between Samsung and the university of Korea, available late in 2007. The Korean government of the south projects to deploy these friendly recalls on the border between the North Korea of the south and, to relieve more far from the relations between the countries. Or, perhaps it is the manner of othe which around.

AYou can also see more images and video of the robot in this harshly translated page. This line particularly caught my attention: “? the person the equipment of identification of form to analyze the loss of blood and a device of the mobile object. “Let us hope just that Google was particularly bad to translate today.

AI imagine that the bad chiefs of the whole the world with secret cushy jobs of Bad-Type lick to them lips.

Robot controllers

2006-08-14T19:30:00.000-07:00

Matt (from Phidgets USA) has a new robotics store, if youre in to robotics, go check it out - We invite you to stop by and take a look around. It is our goal to create an online hub for vendors to reach a new generation of students, developers, scientists, researchers, hobbyists, and more. We look forward to working with all our vendors to help grow the robotics market and usher in new technologies. - Link.

Gloom-II - Mini-sumo robot (Modded Solarbotics Sumovore kit)

2006-08-11T03:01:00.000-07:00

Mr_tentacle posted a bit about his new robot, the Gloom II - he writes Gloom II replaces the original Gloom, which died of unknown causes. This is a Solarbotics Sumovore kit, which is a decent kit as these things go, but had a few issues, the biggest being a flawed trace on the main board that resulted in a short and was difficult to track down. This version is fitted with the optional BS2-compatible brainboard - the MCU is a BasicX BX-24p, much faster than a BS2, running a Sumo program of my own design. I ditched the 6 AA cells in favor of a 7.4V LiPoly; the AA cells seen beneath the LiPoly are there for ballast. - Link.

Omniteuthis - Amazing robot with a holonomic drive

2006-08-07T18:52:00.000-07:00

Mr_tentacle writes - "Omniteuthis is a 3-wheeled test platform with holonomic drive - omniwheels at the the corners allow it to move directly in any direction. A Robot Logic OMX-3 omni-mixer and an inexpensive rate gyro work together to make it more-or less driveable using a 2-stick heli radio... Omniteuthis features 3 omniwheels mounted at the vertices of an equilateral triangle. A Robot Logic OMX-3 omniwheel mixer and a GWS Gyro work in concert to provide the necessary control. I can move the ROV in any direction, without having to turn to "face" in that direction." - Link & video.

Laser cut - Palm Pilot robot

2006-08-07T02:59:00.000-07:00

Chris writes - "This is my version of the Palm Pilot Robot from the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon. Their website has a simple tutorial on how to make one and even has programs to download and bring it to life. I used this opportunity to figure out the ins and outs of the laser cutter which I have access to and design a chassis for the PalmBot. " Thanks Kat! - Link.

The American Association for Artificial Intelligence Celebrates 50 Years of AI

2006-08-03T00:41:00.000-07:00

The American Association for Artificial Intelligence has celebrated 50 years of AI at this year's conference. Wired News has some good coverage and pictures of the event. There was a robot scavenger hunt, beauty pagent, and poker tournament at the conference.

There were also predictions that AI would be able to read 80% of the factual information on the internet in 10 years, thereby giving robots the ability to learn and know from an ever expanding knowledge base. Robotic music and was also discussed.

Sebastian Thrun, of DARPA Grand Challenge fame, gave the keynote address.

Roomba Scheduler feature is a dustbin detector

2006-07-31T19:47:00.000-07:00

The new Roomba Scheduler robotic vacuum feature announced this week turns out to be a light on the dustbin that lets users know that they should empty it because it is full. Useful? Yes. Revolutionary? No. Will anybody junk their old Scheduler to rush out to upgrade? No, unless they just have to have a black Roomba. Will any gizmo and gadget reviewers feel compelled to write new Roomba reviews because of the upgrade? Doubtful. What Roomba customers wanted wasn't a dust detector -- they wanted a Roomba with dock that cleans itself. But that'll probably have to wait a year or so for the next generation. For now, think of the new Roomba feature as the equivalent of a baby crying to let you know it needs changing. Who says robots are not becoming more human? :)
The new Programmable Roomba Robotic Floor Vacuum With Dust Bin Alert is sold exclusively at Hammacher Schlemmer, the premier catalog which provides a lifetime guarantee with all of its products. The upgraded Roomba Scheduler sells for $329.99, the same as the existing Scheduler. Shipping is free with coupon code VISAON06. For cheaper Roombas, check out our Roomba Buyers Guide (Refurb Schedulers are $175).

Sony ScientistsTeach Robots to Create Their Own Language

2006-07-31T19:24:00.000-07:00

Sony scientists along with Italy and the European Commission's Emerging Technologies Initiative are working on a project to give robots language and cognitive skills that change and grow over time, without human intervention or rules. The experiments are being carried out on a pack of Aibo's and they are already able to communicate to each other about the location of a ball and its movement.

The canine cyborgs were placed in a room with other objects, some of which would respond to sounds. A stuffed elephant and other objects would not respond. The dogs ultimately spent more time "barking" at the responsive objects, and they learned that particular bark patterns elicited certain responses.

The project is called EC (embedded and communicating) Agents and the goal is to have machines that grow and evolve without human interaction.

Other groups are working on this technlogy to let MP3 players, and the like, talk to each other about your playing preferences, and to create swarms of robots that do search and rescue.

But, of course any time someone mentiones "learning robots" and "evolution" all the scifi junkies start to get weak in the knees. When the robots learn to talk to each other without us knowing, then we're in trouble. Robot overlords, anyone?

Families Raising Money to Buy Soldiers BomBots

2006-07-14T00:19:00.000-07:00

Families of the 209 Quartermaster Divsion are raising money in order to purchase three BomBots for their soliders. The BomBots, built by Virginian company, IRT, only cost $5,000. Several soldiers from the community have been killed or wounded by IEDs, and this inspired grandmother, Saundra Whiddon, to organize fundraisers to buy the robots.

Anyone interested in assisting with fundraising efforts aimed at buying bomb detection robots for the 209th Quartermaster Company should contact Saundra Whiddon at (765) 463-9659 or by e-mail at saundraz-song@verizon.net or Brenda Wilson at (765) 762-3837.

Thanks to Robot Gossip and Robot Stock News.

US Soldiers Get Latest Prosthetic Technology

2006-07-11T19:09:00.000-07:00

Research into prosthetics has lagged behind other medical research. The relatively low number of patients needing them doesn't create near the demand that other research areas, such as cancer, do. Recently, the US Military has stepped up the plate in order to meet the needs of its wounded soliders.

The War on Terror has created a higher demand for quality prosthetics. "Since the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, more than 370 U.S. soldiers have had amputations."

In 2005 the Department of Veterans Affairs budgeted $7.2 million to create the Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine at the VA Medical Center in Providence, Rhode Island. This year the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency ... began funding two prosthetics projects for $48.5 million ...

It has been said that the necessary coordination and research to create the ultimate prosthetic, one that interacts with the brain, is like the Manhattan Project. Such a prosthesis, "will need additional sensors to gather information on speed, angle, gait and balance."

Current technology can read muscle control signals, but this requires huge amounts of concentration on the part of the wearer. Lower body prosthetics, which are by far the most common, are even harder to control. Some sense the shift of body weight and then command the leg to move. However, none of these solutions give the brain feedback. They are also bulky and sometimes painful.

Unfortuanately, we don't have the technology to develop a proper prosthetic.We still have to solve problems of how to attach it to the body, how to read from the brain, how to send data back to the brain, how to power it, and what materials to build it from.

The six part Popular Science article is a great read for anyone who wants to know the current state of the art.

Flies and Whegs: Sticky Feet Robotics

2006-06-18T03:42:00.000-07:00

Biomimetics is off and looking at practically anything for inspiration. Insects are a particular favorite, of course, particularly those that fly, climb, and perform other gravity-defying tricks.

Take the fly, for instance. How does it walk upside down? German researchers recently proved that flies rely on “a glue-like substance made of sugars and oils.” The insects zoom and slick themselves up there, then peeling off their feet as they walk.

The Biologically Inspired Robotics Lab at Case Western Reserve University, upon reading the report and collaborating with the Germans, promptly mimicked the sticky climbing feat. The robot? A Wheg, of course.

What's NXT

2006-05-21T18:33:00.000-07:00

What's NXT is a weekly column written by Jim Kelly at The NXT Step Blog. Jim writes about LEGO Mindstorms NXT and all the cool news related to it.

While I didn't get the fancy packaging that the retail version will provide, I was just as happy when a plain brown box arrived .

The motors, brick, and cables were packages separately from the smaller pieces. The connectors, beams, rods, and misc. pieces were in a large plastic bag that had to first be sorted.

I had a couple of containers for my old RCX that I chose to use because they worked so well for me. I managed to purchase a larger plastic case to hold all the old RCX parts, and then began the counting. I first sorted all the parts based on the picture that LEGO released showing them all nicely placed. Trust me, mine never even came close to looking that good.

CMU Reveals Crusher

2006-05-16T22:59:00.000-07:00

CMU finally revealed Crusher to the public last Friday (yea, I'm behind). The new vehicle, based losely on Spinner, isn't able to invert itself like its younger brother, but is still amazing nonetheless. WTAE.com has some coverage of the launch with video. Notice the unique way that Crusher turns, by lowering its inner wheels and raising the outer ones. The 6.5 ton vehicle is fully autonomous and is able to travel at a top speed of 25 mph.

Crusher's hull is made from high-strength aluminum tubes and titanium nodes protected by a steel skid plate that can absorb shocks from impacts with rocks or tree stumps.

Each of its six wheels are powered by an electric motor, which are in turn powered of off banks of batteries which are charged by a deisel engine.

Initial applications for a vehicle like this would be in support positions, remotely delivering goods and weapons to soldiers in the field. The project is funded by DARPA and has cost $35 million USD to date.

Crusher will undergo extensive field tests under the purview of the Army and DARPA every quarter for the next two years. Much of the emphasis will be on increasing its autonomy capabilities. It's expected that the Crusher platform will influence unmanned vehicle design efforts funded by the Army's Future Combat System.

Roller-Skating Robo-One

2006-05-11T00:02:00.000-07:00

Here's a fun link for your Friday enjoyment - a rollar skating Robo-One. A quick check over to our favorite Japanese-related robot site, Robots Dreams, revealed more information. The robot, named Plen, has 18 degrees of freedom and stands 9 inches tall. It retails for about $2,000 USD. More information and video of Plen are on its website.

2006-05-05T00:32:00.000-07:00

Wipe away those tears robot lovers! The DARPA Grand Challenge is back (pdf), and in case you've grown tired of dangerous mountain passes and arid deserts, this year's race is in da 'hood ... of sorts.

The DARPA Urban Challenge will feature autonomous ground vehicles executing simulated military supply missions safely and effectively in a mock urban area.
...
To succeed, vehicles must autonomously obey traffic laws while merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, negotiating busy intersections and avoiding obstacles.

Additional improvements include prizes to the top three winners, to the sum of $2 million, $500 thousand, and $250 thousand respectively, and two ways to enter the Challenge: 1) Teams may submit a proposal for up to $1 million USD in exchange for government use of their technology or 2) Old-school style qualifying events. The contest is slated for November of 2007.

Getting to and finishing at the National Qualifying Events (NQE) also has its perks - semi-finalists in the NQEs get $50,000 and finalists get $100,000. So, if you finish first place over-all, you're looking at a cool $2,150,000 USD, not to mention fame and glory.

DARPA will be holding a Participants Conference for those teams intending to compete. You'd best start talking to your friends now, as the conference is a mere 3 weeks away (May 20th). There will also be a live webcast of the event. More information on the Challenge is at DARPA's Grand Challenge website.

NXT MDPers

2006-05-02T02:29:00.000-07:00

The LEGO Mindstorms NXT "gag order" is finally up! Now all the privileged few that gained access to the holy grail, Mindstorms Developer Program (MDP), can share the glories of their lifestyle. We're written previously about our favorite NXT site, The NXT Step blog, run by Jim. Jim has agreed to write a weekly column for GoRobotics.net about NXT. Stay tuned for that this coming Wednesday. Jim already has a torrent of information pouring forth on his site about NXT. Also check out Jim's list-o-links for other MDP participants. As of 11:00AM EST all the sites are informationless, but I'm sure it'll start coming soon. Flickr pictures tagged "thenxtstep" are here.

Update: Filip, over at bNXT is also covering a lot of NXT news as it happens.

Friday Link Dump

2006-04-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year for me folks - exams and final projects. I'm swamped. So, here's all the links I've built up over the past few days. Enjoy. I'll be back on track in a week or two.

Air Force secret UAV."The new craft is referred to as Penetrating High Altitude Endurance (PHAE), and is thought to be able to cruise at 70,000-80,000 ft".

University of Texas researchers get $10 million USD to develop bionic arm. "The research is part of the Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 project sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency."

Frontline Robotics / Whitebox Robotics gives more details on the PC914 ~~vaporbots~~ robots. Improvements include, "Upgrade from USB 1.1 to USB 2.0" and a SDK. I'll believe it when I see it. WBR/Frontline, let's do an interview.

Japanese researchers demonstrate a legged ... er ... ~~wheelchair~~ legchair. Sci-fi jokes insue. More pictures and details here.

Korean company knocks off the Aibo with their "Genibo" bull terrier-bot. "'Genibo' resemble bull terriers and are 30cm tall, 33.4 cm long and weigh 1.5 kg. The speech recognition feature enables the robots to understand and comply with 100 words including commands like, "come here," "sit," "wag your tail," and "do a headstand.""

LEGO Mindstorms NXT wallpaper and website icons. They're seriously pushing this community aspect. A website toolkit?

Robot Hall of Fame.

Move over Chroino and Manoi, here comes a sexy fembot to draw attention.

Live feeds of the FIRST competition this weekend.

2006-04-28T03:25:00.000-07:00

A group of scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology are working on yet another ultralight flying machine. The robot, currently with a 14" wingspan, is designed to fly around in indoor environment. Such environments present special problems for navigation.The researchers are trying to have the robot act like a house-fly in avoiding obstacles.

A fly navigates using its large, compound eyes, which let it see almost an entire field of view at once. Their optic lobes contain motion-sensitive neurons that respond to images moving across the retinas.
Those moving images, the so-called optic flow, combine data that the insect perceives as it flies straight, and data it senses from other motions such as turning, bobbing, or tilting side to side.

Apparently, flies tend to fly in straight lines until they encounter an obstacle, then they make a sharp 90 degree turn and continue. The scientists on the project tried to emulate this behavior by placing two cameras on the robot's wings and maintain stability using a tiny gyroscope.

In the latest test, the robot was capable of navigating autonomously in a 7 meter x 7 meter room for up to 5 minutes straight.

Cornell is also working on tiny flying robots, along with Epson.

First Acquires VEX Line from Radio Shack

2006-04-24T17:46:00.000-07:00

There's been lots of rumors swarming around that Radio Shack was killing the VEX Robotics line of toys. I got some news a month or so ago, but hesitated to post about it since it was totally unconfirmed. However, most of the VEX stock in my area was placed on deep discount and sold within a weekend.

I just got a PM today on the ROBOT Magazine forums pointing me to this press release from Innovation First, which states that Innovation First has bought the, "Vex® Robotics Design System brand name and trademark registrations from RadioShack Corporation." You may remember that Innovation First partnered with Radio Shack to develop the kit back a year or so ago.

Plans are to expand the line and continue production.

“We plan to stock the full line of Vex products and accessories and will seek additional distribution partners to fully serve the consumer and education markets in the US and abroad. We’ll also be stepping up efforts to drive innovation into the product assortment and will offer even more unique parts through the www.vexlabs.com website.”

Vex can now be purchased off of Innovation First's new Vex website, www.vexlabs.com. Also note that the VEX Development Kit and accessories are still available on Radio Shack's website for deep discounts. Currently the kit is on sale for $150, discounted from $300.

After buying LEGO Mindstorms NXT and eyeballing several upcoming Pleos, I'm really torn as to weather I should drop the cash for a VEX system. Thoughts?

An Interview With iRobot's Helen Greiner

2006-04-24T17:37:00.000-07:00

A while back we posted about an interview with Colin Angle, the co-founder and CEO of iRobot. Next up is an interview with Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairman of iRobot. Greiner discusses founding iRobot, her interest in robots (started with R2D2), and iRobot's biggest setback (late night robot fire before a big deadline)

She also reveals she has a Roomba she's named "Arnold", and discusses the possibility of using Roomba's in educational environments by tapping into the serial interface.

Greiner also says that she hopes to branch into walking robots sometime in the future.

I think, in the future, walking robots will be extremely important, but the technology's just not quite there yet. The strength-to-weight ratio in the motors doesn't allow the output to be as effective as the track systems we already have on the market today.

iRobot is also doing research into swarm robots.

Our swarm was a research project to look at [the question]: If one robot can do a job effectively, what can a whole team of hundreds of robots do together? We built a swarm of 128 robots and we were doing core research into distributed algorithms to see how these robots can work together to get a job done more effectively.

Engadget also has more interesting tidbits about iRobot and Helen Greiner from an interview they did in Aug. of 2004.

NY Times Talks NASA Centennial Challenges

2006-04-24T17:07:00.000-07:00

The NY Times has an excellent article on NASA's foray into the Grand Challenge model of research and development. Instead of paying millions to contractors to develop new technologies, why not sponsor contests and only pay the winners? Folks have fun and NASA gets tons of cheap R&D.

[T]he agency is offering 13 contests, which it calls Centennial Challenges, that anyone can enter. The prizes range from $200,000 to more than $5 million, for building gear as diverse as solar sails, lunar excavators and the tiny elevators.

The article talks a good bit about the Beam Power Challenge, a competition to build a robot that will climb a ribbon 200 ft into the air as quick as possible. The end goal is to create a space elevator. NASA also has a competition to build the strongest ribbon possible, to further foster development.

You can see the full list of challenges on NASA's website.

"Look, a hundred years ago, a couple of pesky bike mechanics from Dayton, Ohio, bested, in effect, the government-funded player, to become the first to fly," he added. "That's why you put on these things: to attract the bicycle mechanics."

Got Questions About Mindstorms NXT? (Hopefully) Get them Answered!

2006-03-27T18:08:00.000-08:00

Jim Kelly, over at our favorite LEGO Mindstorms NXT blog, , and the Mindstorms Development Program (MDP). Jim is one of the lucky few that actually made it into the program. However, the MDPers are under an official gag-order until May 1st, but after that, be prepared for a deluge of information! Jim writes, So, hop on over to and ask away. Also stay tuned for a special weekly column that Jim is going to be writing for GoRobotics.net about Mindstorms NXT. Exciting stuff!

The NXT Step
is putting together a "shopping list" of questions that folks have about Mindstorms NXT

Given that the MDP won't be kept quiet forever, I wanted to give you the opportunity to list some of the things you would like to know regarding the NXT. I cannot promise that all of your requests will be answered, but I'll do my best to present a list around May 1st to the MDP group.

The NXT Step

Related:

Pre-Order LEGO Mindstorms NXT on April 1st

LEGO Chooses Mindstorms Community Developers?

The NXT STEP - Lego Mindstorms NXT Blog

WIRED Tells Development of Mindstorms NXT

LEGO Creates New Version of Mindstorms!

Robot Magazine Takes a Look at Robotis Bioloid Kit

2006-03-27T18:06:00.000-08:00

Tom Atwood, over at , has put a . You can also find more information on , though, be warned that it's a Korean company and the "English" version is a bit confusing. ROBOT's article also has of the kit in action. This looks like a great kit with lots of potential. We'll see how it stacks up against Mindstorms NXT which is .

Robot Magazine
review of the Robotis Bioloid "edutainment" robot kit on their website
Robotis' website

ROBOT Magazine recently took a close look at two Robotis Bioloid educational / hobby kits. These were announced at the Consumer Electronics Show and created quite a stir owing to their versatility and projected U.S. price points, which may be the most competitive yet in the expanding robo-One humanoid category. The Bioloid main kit enables you to create far more than just humanoids, though: dogs, dinosaurs, excavators, crabs, Johnny5-like house bots, spiders, snakes, you name it.

two
videos
due out in 2 months

Wowwee and Evolution Robotics Team Up

2006-03-23T22:51:00.000-08:00

A partnership between and was just announced today. You can . The release says that WowWee will be incorporating some of Evolution's technologies, specifically their software and their , which uses project infrared light-spots on surfaces to detect where the robot is. This news comes after WowWee's annoucement last October that they were partnering up with Segway, the makers of the . So, if you put it all together, you get robots that have machine vision capabilities, awesome movement and balancing, and know where they are all the time. So, what exactly is WowWee up to? Something amazing, or are they just hedging their bets against impressive newcomers like and their ? Exciting times.

WowWee Toys
Evolution Robotics
read the official press release here
Visual Pattern Recognition (ViPR)
localization technology, Northstar

Seqway Human Transporter

Tilden-esc
Ugobe
Pleo

Articles on Intelligent Pathfinding

2006-03-21T17:52:00.000-08:00

I recently found two interesting articles on pathfinding. The first one, , is specifically targeted to video games, but easily applicable to robots. The second one, , is platform agnostic and is a good primer to the popular A* pathfinding algorithm.
Using Genetic Programming to Evolve a Better Pathfinding Algorithm
A* Pathfinding for Beginners

Bionic Muscles Powered by Alcohol

2006-03-21T17:51:00.000-08:00

Researchers at the University of Texas have created artificial muscles that are 100 times more powerful that human muscles. The two different types of muscles both consume Oxygen and release the energy in hydrogen and alcohol to do work. One version converts the chemical energy into heat which contracts at shape-memory allow. The other version converts chemical energy into electrical energy which contracts a series of carbon nanotubes. Next up is a circulation system to let the muscles "breath." would be impressed.

"The muscle consumes oxygen and fuel that can be transported via a circulation system; the muscle itself supports the chemical reaction that leads to mechanical work; electrochemical circuits can act as nerves, controlling actuation; some energy is stored locally in the muscle itself; and, like natural muscle, the materials studied contract linearly."

Jack LaLanne

RoboGat Firefighter for Tunnels

2006-03-21T17:43:00.001-08:00

for tunnels. The tunnel between France and Italy that . The robot will travel along the top of the tunnel and shoot a stream of water at the hottest part of the fire. Of course, this doesn't solve the ventilation problem of having the fire suck out all the oxygen from the tunnel. But, it's still a good idea.
RoboGat is a robotic fire-fighter
aim is to prevent disasters like the fire in the Mont Blanc
killed 39 people

Cicerobot Gives Museum Tours

2006-03-21T17:43:00.000-08:00

Next time your in the mood for Sicilian archaeology, and you're in the vicinity of the Agrigento's Regional Archaeological Museum, . This 1.5m tall (5ft) robot gives guided tours of the museum. On board sensors allow him to autonomously navigate and avoid obstacles and people. Cicerobot is also equipped to give "virtual" tours over the internet. You can (starting at page 51). It looks like all those retired museum docents might be looking for new employment. Sigh. And I had such high hopes for my golden years.

ask Cicerobot for a tour

"Cicerobot is able to plan out tours in accordance with the needs of individual visitors," explained Antonio Chella, head of the Palermo University robotics laboratory that invented the mechanism.

read an academic publication on the robot here

Testing

2006-03-21T01:20:00.000-08:00

TEsting