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Robotics |
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Students! Thinking about your future?
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section of our site made just for you. Tons of career
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The
Future of Robotics
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Image credit:
Gnsin
Image credit:
luisvilla
Links
Ultra-Lifelike Robot Debuts in Japan
Kokoro Actroid DER2
Geminoid
Intelligent Robotics Laboratory |
Life Like Robots
Robotic engineers are
designing the next generation of robots to look, feel and
act more human, to make it easier for us to warm up to a
cold machine.
Realistic looking hair and skin with
embedded sensors will allow robots to react naturally in
their environment. For example, a robot that senses your
touch on the shoulder and turns to greet you.
Subtle actions by robots that typically go
unnoticed between people, help bring them to life and can
also relay non verbal communication.
Artificial eyes that move and blink. Slight chest movements
that simulate breathing. Man made muscles to change facial
expressions. These are all must have attributes for the
socially acceptable
robots of the future.
The brain behind the beauty will be the key
to turning a realistic looking machine into a life like
robot. Artificial intelligence plays a pivotal role in
successful human/robot interaction.
Image credit:
angela n.
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Rovio
Rovio™, being developed by WowWee®,
is a WiFi enabled robotic webcam that can be accessed and
controlled from anywhere in the world using a web enabled
pc or cell phone.
The Rovio robot moves in all directions
with ease and can be controlled remotely using any web
accessible device including a cell phone, PC or video game
console. Through a built-in camera, microphone and speaker, users can view and interact with Rovio’s
environment,
through streaming video and audio transmitted via the Rovio robot.
The Rovio robot, with self-docking and
recharging, also features the NorthStar® smart navigation
and positioning system. Working like a micro-GPS system,
the NorthStar®
system enables the Rovio robot to know where it is, locate
the position of other objects, and navigate from place to
place with pinpoint accuracy, entirely under its own
control.
WowWee
Robots to the Rescue Imagine yourself lost deep
in the forest on a cold autumn night and nightfall is
rapidly approaching. Too windy for search aircraft and too
dark for ground teams, this could be a life threatening
situation. Fortunately for you, it is ten years into the
future and hundreds of tiny intelligent robots will be
combing the woods for you throughout the night.
All terrain robots (ATRs),
will truly function as a team by sharing their locations,
discoveries, search patterns and more. Large ATRs could
carry many smaller robots and provide them with localized
control and power.
These smaller more
specialized robots will have cameras, sonar, heat sensors,
motion detectors and can be sent out by the large ATRs as
needed. Smaller robots might work together to perform
tasks such as moving a large obstacle.
BallBot
Carnegie Mellon researchers develop a new
type of mobile robot that balances and moves on a ball
instead of legs or wheels.
Robotic
Insects
Insects have come up with many interesting
solutions for the problems that future robots will have to
deal with like cooperation, specialized movement and
adapting to changing environments. Robotic engineers are incorporating examples found in nature
into their designs.
Robot Insects
The SuperBot
A research
project that focuses on reconfigurable robots is the
SuperBot. A modular, multifunctional robot being developed
by a team at the University of Southern California's
Polymorphic Robotics Laboratory.
Superbot
When completed, the robot, named Nico,
will serve as a test-bed for theories of social
learning. Designed to resemble a 9 month-old baby,
Nico will be able to take part in standard child
psychology experiments, allowing its cognitive
models to be tested under the same conditions as
undergone by human babies.
The
Talking Robot
A talking robot dubbed WT-7 from Takanishi Lab. is
mimicking the human speech process. WT-7 has vocal
cords, lungs, a tongue, velum, lips and a jaw made
of thermoplastic rubber that can reproduce a
human-like voice.
Talking robot
A Helping
Hand
Prosthetics are one of the best uses for
robotics and man-machine interfaces.
Related articles and links
Shadow Hand
Cyborg-style 'iLimb' hand a big hit with Iraq veterans
The future of hand prostheses
Walking Robots
 Flame
is a walking robot developed at the Delft Biorobotics
Laboratory. Check out the video and you'll see that it not
only walks with a natural gait on level surfaces, but can
handle walking on uneven surfaces equally as well. Flame
weighs approximately 15 kg (33 lbs) and is a little over 4
feet tall tall (1.3 m). It walks at a speed of 0.45 m/s
and is able to handle stepdown disturbances up to 8 mm.
Bipedal robots at Delft Biorobotics Laboratory
The Cornell Ranger Walking Robot 2006
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RoboCup
Photo taken at RoboCup 2007, Atlanta.
Courtesy of
hello_naomi (Flickr) and
the
Newcastle Robotics Laboratory
RoboCupTM
is an international joint project created to promote
research in the area of intelligent robotics and
artificial intelligence and related fields.
The ultimate goal of the RoboCup
project is to develop a team of fully autonomous
humanoid robots that can win against the human world
champion team in soccer by the year 2050.
RoboCup web site
Robotic Pets
Image courtesy of
mikewade
The pets of the future
might be robots with artificial intelligence.
Robotic Pets
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The
FIRST Robotics Competition
challenges teams of young people and
their mentors to solve a common problem
in a six-week timeframe using a standard
"kit of parts" and a common set of
rules. Teams build robots from the parts
and enter them in competitions.
Photo by
Adriana M. Groisman |
The Replicator
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No Simple Matter
Robots working together, can perform
many tasks that a single robot cannot. Now imagine
billions of these robots, each robot about the
size of a human cell, shape-shifting like self
forming clay into any form. It's called programmable
matter, intelligent matter or claytronics.
The hard
part is not necessarily the hardware (or bioware).
Robots are expected to be nano in size in the next
10 to 20 years. The biggest obstacle is the software
that is needed to manage all of the robots and the
decision making required to complete tasks in a
changing environment.
Claytronics Project
ReadyBot
The Readybot prototype device looks like a white
enamel box with wheels, 2 human-sized arms and retro
chrome styling. “Like a dishwasher, but with arms”
joke the designers. In fact the unit fits neatly in
the same counter space as a dishwasher. After
activation, it rolls out, deploys several
antenna-like cameras, and raises itself up to human
height to begin work. Slowly but steadily, it picks
up cups, bowls, and plates, dumps food, loads the
dishwasher, scrapes and scrubs the countertop. When
needed, it grabs one of several custom tools to
scrub, sponge, or maneuver.
Headquartered in Silicon Valley, the Readybot
Challenge is a non-profit club, composed of senior
engineers and designers from the networking, motion
control, ergonomics, and software industries. The
mission: to build a robot that can clean a kitchen.
Readybot Challenge
DOMO
Domo was created by Aaron Edsinger at
the MIT CSAIL Humanoid Robotics Lab. This
robot has force sensing actuators throughout its
body from the neck down. These actuators allow the
robot to
safely interact with its environment, by telling
Domo, for example, how much force to apply when
shaking your hand or how to hold a banana without
bruising it.
DOMO
FemiSapien
The FemiSapien is the latest in the line of
sophisticated, walking, talking robots
from WowWee.
Robots
for Infants
Two University of Delaware
researchers have outfitted kid-size robots to provide
mobility to children who are unable to fully explore the
world on their own.
ASIMO
Honda has created ASIMO, an advanced
humanoid robot which operates in a real-life
environment such as an office.
Honda Worldwide
Robot
Rights in People's Court
Some day,
ethical codes will be needed to ensure robots and
people treat each other--well--humanely.
This article from BBC News discusses
the Robot Ethics Charter. A draft of the proposals
said: "In the 21st Century humanity will coexist
with the first alien intelligence we have ever come
into contact with - robots.
Robotic age poses ethical dilemma
Robot pictures, videos and links
Mr Woo Robots
Quadrocopter
Self Deploying Microglider
Fortune
telling robot
Robot scorpion
Personal Robots Emerge
Robot Hand
Robot Thinks Like a Rat
Robot Fruit Pickers
Sony Robot History
Toyota Partner Robots
Nuvo - Humanoid robot for home use
WowWee robots from CES 2008
Jumping robots
Hubo Lab
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