Archive for November, 2011
If you want a robot with the performance characteristics of an animal, it shouldn’t be too surprising if the result looks a great deal like the animal. This is the case with the DARPA-funded FastRunner, a project led by the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), in partnership with MIT’s Robot Locomotion Group. FastRunner’s design is patterned on the body design of an ostrich, and seems likely to eventually be able to cover ground equally quickly, if not faster. More detail on the project, including a video simulation, can be found here.
The Delta Robot is one of the fastest robots in the world. Invented by Reymond Clavel it was inspired and aimed at the chocolate industry (a very serious business in Switzerland) As it is usual the case for innovative concepts it took a while to catch on but today it is one of the most advanced packaging robots with a huge variety of versions. Its concept also has applications to other sectors, where extreme speed and accuracy is needed, like medical robots. The initial concept has three articulated arms and three motors that move a gripper in the 3 dimensional space while keeping it always perfectly parallel to the ground. You can read more about the Delta robot at this article by EPFL. We had previously featured Legolas, a high-precision robotic mechanism inspired by Delta robot.
Japanese firm Cyberdyne unveiled a version of the robotic exosceleton HAL (hybrid assisted limb) for workers employed at nuclear plants. In order to stay safe from radiation exposure they have to wear protection that weigh almost 60kg and the robotic suit lift most of this extra weight. For more information about HAL visit Cyberdyne’s website.
One of the most famous (if not the most famous) humanoid robots has a new version. The new ASIMO is lighter, faster and with almost twice as many degrees of freedom, also much more dexterous. Its advancement of intelligence capabilities allow it to take into account other people’s movement and adjust its path according to where they are and also where it predict they go. It acknowledges data from its surroundings and acts autonomously with much improved ability to handle objects. Kinetically it is also superior to its predecessor, it can run faster, hop and move over uneven surfaces. You can find an extensive description of the new features of ASIMO at Honda’s press release.
Apart from all these improvements probably the most important announcement is the establishment of Honda Robotics as a distinct firm that covers all robotic research, and product applications. The day when concepts like the ASIMO, the mobility assisting aids and other prototypes showcased by Honda will become commercial products is coming closer and the different colors of the new ASIMO, a tiny detail by itself, it could underline that transition.
In the new episode of Robots Podcast we take you all the way to Brazil. Marcelo Becker from the University of São Paulo (USP) talks to us about how mobile robots are going to help change agriculture, manufacturing and driving in his country. We then speak with Marcel de Sena Dall’Agnol a student at USP about the excellent robotics competition they organized at SEMATRON, which is a mechatronics conference organized by USP undergraduates. To learn more about robotics in Brazil read on or tune in!
A flying robot as small as a dinner plate that can zoom to hard-to-reach places and a fleet of eco-friendly robotic farm-hands are just two of the exciting projects a robotics team in Australia is working on.
A researcher in The Netherlands has developed a smart eye-surgery robot that allows eye surgeons to operate with increased ease and greater precision on the retina and the vitreous humor of the eye. The system also extends the effective period during which ophthalmologists can carry out these intricate procedures.
When engineers outfitted a six-legged robotic bug with wings in an effort to improve its mobility, they unexpectedly shed some light on the evolution of flight. The wings nearly doubled the running speed of the 25-gram robot, but was that good enough for takeoff?
A six-legged, 25 gram robot has been fitted with flapping wings in order to gain an insight into the evolution of early birds and insects.
Internauts will be able to connect to 17 telescopes on four continents to share observation time. A world network of robotic telescopes is to be developed as part of a European citizen science project that has just kicked off in Spain. The network, to which any citizen will be able to connect and share observation time, will offer free open access via the Internet.