Monday, November 29

Robots -- Our Helpers in Space

From EurekAlert:

"A big advantage of space robots is that they need neither food nor drink and can support very inhospitable conditions. More important still, although expensive to design and produce, their loss is always preferable to that of an astronaut. At this month's ASTRA 2004 workshop robots designed in ESA's space research and technical centre in the Netherlands attracted much attention.

'On Earth, robots regularly take over when it comes to repetitive tasks or when human health may be at risk. They are used to assemble cars, deactivate bombs, weld pipes at the bottom of the sea and work in nuclear power plants,' says Gianfranco Visentin, Head of ESA's Automation and Robotics Section at ESA's ESTEC, the Netherlands. 'In space, it is even more attractive to use robots,' he emphasises. 'They can support or replace people to carry out tasks that are too dangerous, too difficult, repetitive, time consuming or even impossible for astronauts, they can also be faster and more precise than people.'

Jokingly he adds, 'plus they can operate around the clock and do not need to break for lunch or sleep'. "

Sunday, November 28

Robosapien launches cottage industries

From Manila Bulletin Online:

"Tokyo’s skyline has been regularly menaced by the skyscraper-munching Godzilla, but now it has another foe — Robosapien, one of the hottest toys in the run-up to Christmas.

A homemade movie casting the robot in the role usually reserved for a man in a rubber monster suit is one of thousands of Internet videos, pictures and hacking guides that have sprung up around the toy.

As Robosapien’s maker, Hong Kong-based toy company WowWee, prepares to roll the millionth unit off the production line at its Chinese factory, inventor Mark Tilden says he is astounded at the geek cottage industry that has sprung up around the robot."

Wednesday, November 24

Toward a More Human Robot

From businessweek.com:

"Carnegie Mellon's Takeo Kanade explains why making smarter systems requires better understanding about how people really act

As director of Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute from 1992 to 2001, Takeo Kanade has been one of the pioneers in the field of robotics. Besides helping to oversee research, Kanade's technical contributions range from the areas of mobile robots and computer vision to sensors.

Kanade developed the multicamera technology dubbed EyeVision by CBS. It's used for Matrix-like replay of dynamic events such as football games. Still teaching at CMU, he's part-time director of the Digital Human Research Center at Advanced Industrial Science & Technology in Tokyo. Kanade spoke with BusinessWeek Correspondent Cliff Edwards about robotics, the state of innovation in the U.S., and research."

Sanofi-Aventis, CDC Launch Biotech Venture Capital Fund

From dow jones newswires:

"French Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy Wednesday announced the launch of a biotechnology venture capital fund sponsored by Sanofi-Aventis SA (SNY) and the French state-owned bank Caisse des Depots et Consignations (CDC.YY).
The two businesses will invest EUR75 million in the fund, PharmaVent. The fund will finance health research and is open to other investors. It is expected soon to total EUR100 million."

Dive! Dive! Dive!

From Wired 12.12:

"Never have we looked at the ocean, from the surface through the depths to the miles-deep seafloor, in one long gaze. Next fall, Emory Kristof will do just that. The 62-year-old photographer, along with an A-team of biologists, oceanographers, and two of Jacques Cousteau's grandchildren, will venture to the Mariana Trench, just off the coast of Guam in the Pacific Ocean. There they will drop a remotely operated camera system 7 miles down to the bottom of the deepest spot on Earth. The result: the first photographic core sample of the ocean. Kristof hopes the mission will help scientists understand how the undersea food chain works."

This article provides a pictorial and narrative virtual descent to 36,201 feet.

Tuesday, November 23

The contrabulous frabtraptions of Mr. Wu Yulu, self-taught roboticist

From engadget.com:

"Sounds like it’s a little too good to be true (or else it’s going to be immediately optioned for a movie), but Sky News has a story about Wu Yulu, a struggling farmer in rural China who spends his spare time building robots out of stuff he finds at the local junkyard. Among his creations, a monkey-like robot that can climb walls, a humanoid bot that can walk around, change light bulbs, and pour tea, and an eight-legged vehicle you can ride around in."

Human, Robotic Programs Share Lessons Learned For Success

From spacedaily.com:

"Members of NASA's human and robotic programs are cooperating in new ways to support the Vision for Space Exploration. The Vision calls for a 'building block' strategy of human and robotic missions to reach new exploration goals."

Canon to robotize 25% of Output

From The Japan Times Online:

"Canon Inc. will overhaul its domestic production system by introducing unmanned manufacturing lines, officials of the electrical machinery maker said Monday.

By March 31, 2008, the company plans to have 25 percent of the value of its domestic output, which totals some 1 trillion yen, carried out on unmanned lines."

Friday, November 19

More Robots Equals More Jobs

From TheDallas Morning New:

"Robby the Robot and C-3PO still might be years away from reality, but robot vacuum cleaners, medical robots, surveillance robots, underwater robots and demolition robots are here now.

And rather than replacing the human work force, robots are creating a booming job market for engineers, software developers and other technical professionals, experts say.

American Honda Motor Co. is touring the country with the company’s ASIMO Robot— visiting schools to show off the two-legged ’bot to students and spread awareness of careers in the robotics industry."

Wednesday, November 17

Shape-shifting robot shows off its moves

From New Scientist:

"A shape-shifting robot comprised of many independently moving components has been demonstrated walking, rolling and slithering for the first time.

The prototype robot - called ATRON - demonstrated its various metamorphoses in Tokyo on Wednesday. For example, reconfiguring its many individual modules allows the robot to change its mode of locomotion on command."

Tuesday, November 16

Scientists develop robot cockroach

From Ananova:

"Scientists have developed a robot cockroach that can infiltrate a group of real bugs.

InsBot, developed by researchers in France, Belgium and Switzerland, is capable of influencing a group of cockroaches and altering their behaviour.

Scientists say it could lead to robots stopping sheep from jumping off cliffs and encouraging chickens to take exercise."

A Submersible Robot Dives for Steamship Gold

From The New York Times:

"When the 250-foot Odyssey Explorer docked here this week to unload a trove of gold coins and valuable artifacts from the wreck of the Republic, a 19th-century steamer, the Explorer's deck was a blur of activity, bristling with the modern technology now necessary for the recovery of sunken treasure.

A seven-ton submersible robot held pride of place. Its flexible arm was equipped with tiny suction cups made of soft flexible plastic for carefully picking up rare coins that can fetch up to half a million dollars each. The robot is one example of the sophistication and technological precision of this salvage effort, which leaders say surpasses any previous shipwreck salvage."

Cyborg Geologist Explores Spanish Coluntryside


rover
Originally uploaded by TigerTigerTiger.
From news @ nature.com:

"European scientists have sent a 'cyborg' to roam the Spanish countryside as part of a mission to create robots that are good at exploring planets independently."

Friday, November 12

Surprise! Sony's AIBO is a dog


AIBO
Originally uploaded by TigerTigerTiger.
From ABC News:

After years of refusing to call its robotic entertainment devices dogs, Sony rolls out a new AIBO that could be nothing but.


AIBO is a registered trademark of Sony Corporation

RoboBar Serves It Up


RoboBar
Originally uploaded by TigerTigerTiger.
From core77.com:

"The gem of this year's PackExpo in Chicago? RoboBar, a robot bartender complete with an LCD face and a tuxedo. Fancy!

As I watched it make a vodka tonic on the rocks, I began to realize that being ruled by the machines wouldn't be as bad I thought."

Segway Crushes Roomba

From Slashdot:

"We all knew it would happen. We just didn't know when...At last weekend's Accelerating Change Conference, Dean Kamen's demon seed, the Segway personal transporter, met Helen Greiner's lovechild, the Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner, in a climactic crash that will echo through the ages. And I quote:

'That night also had what was, for me, the highlight of the conference. I refer, of course, to the ultimate convergence of technology. The perfect connection of human and robot. The consumate collision of 21st century geek products. I am referring, of course, to the moment that a Segway ran over a Roomba.' "

European scientists envisage robotic village on moon

From Guardian Unlimited:

"European scientists are contemplating a 'robot village' on the lunar surface: a collection of shelters, instruments and exploration vehicles, perhaps on a ridge at the lunar south pole which is in sunlight all year round."

Thursday, November 11

Nanorobotics Interview

From Nanodot:

"Svidinenko Yuriy writes the Nanotechnology News Network decide to ask some questions about a new nanotechnology program - NCD (Nanorobot Control Design) simulator. We also ask some questions about nanorobotics in general.

The interview is HERE"

And a tutorial on nanorobotics is available here (PDF).

Tuesday, November 9

Dancing to That Robotic Engineering Beat

The The New York Times profiles Princeton Professor Naomi Ehrich Leonard:

"She has been able to transcend the boundaries of her physical surroundings, as well as the traditional boundaries of her discipline, as a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering. She has interwoven control theory, fluid mechanics, robotics, computer science, oceanography and biology.

Her work has shattered barriers and helped her design new sensing systems that replicate the coordinated behavior of flocks of birds and schools of fish. The advances she has made, which recently led to her being awarded a MacArthur fellowship worth $500,000, have been found to apply far beyond robotics, extending control theory to all mechanical systems."

Monday, November 8

Save Soldiers by Remote Control

From Wired News:

"Unmanned aerial vehicles and other so-called 'stand-off' weapons, whether currently used or in secret testing, belong to a developing high-tech arsenal that the U.S. military says will help minimize casualties as it battles insurgents. Most of the systems are slated for continued, if not intensified, use as Iraqi forces train to take over the bulk of combat operations from the Americans -- though when that might happen remains uncertain. "

NASA Launches VC Fund

SiliconBeat reports on the launch by NASA of a VC fund seeking to invest in young, privately held companies working in nanotechnology, robotics, intelligent systems and high-speed networking and communication:

"First, the CIA launched a venture capital arm in 1999. In-Q-Tel, as it was called, nestled its offices quietly amid Silicon Valley's top-tier venture firms on Sand Hill Road, and has started making money, as we reported here. Impressed with the results, the Army started a fund, and other branches started considering similar efforts.

So it's no surprise that NASA has jumped in the game. More details about the fund, which will begin to invest
during the first quarter of 2005, came from VentureWire today, which unfortunately requires a subscription. The goal is to develop technologies that will help with its missions to the moon and Mars. Congress has given it $10 million to start off with, according to one of the fund's partners, Patrick Ciganer, and budgeted $25 million over five years.

It will be called The Mercury Fund, and will be constructed along the lines of In-Q-Tel."

New vision for automation

From ferret.com.au:

"MACHINE vision can offer major flexibility gains to manufacturers employing automation and robotics in their operations, but many manufacturers are shying away from the technology, having had bad experiences in the past...

Sunday, November 7

Underwater Robots for Everyone

From Slashdot:

"'A small 112-pound ocean glider named Spray is the first autonomous underwater vehicle to cross the Gulf Stream underwater. Launched September 11, 2004, it has been slowly making 12 miles per day measuring various properties of the ocean. Spray spent 15 minutes three times a day on the surface to relay its position and information about ocean conditions and then glided back down to 3,300-feet depth .' And reader RoboFreak writes 'Two Computer Science students at Brigham Young University-Hawaii have developed a Low Cost Autonomous Underwater Vehicle. "

NASA Calls for Proposals

From SpaceRef:

"External organizations are sought to support Centennial Challenges (www.centennialchallenges.nasa.gov) within the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate (www.exploration.nasa.gov) of NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. These organizations will help with the planning, coordination, and execution of the following elements as they relate to individual challenges...

By making awards based on actual achievements instead of proposals, Centennial Challenges seeks novel and lower-cost solutions to engineering obstacles in civil space and aeronautics from new sources of innovation in industry, academia, and the public...

Flagship Challenges under consideration by NASA include prize competitions for:

A soft robotic lunar landing,
A micro reentry vehicle,
An aero-assist demonstration, and
A station-keeping solar sail.

Keystone Challenges under consideration by NASA include: "First-to-demonstrate competitions" for:

Lightweight radiation shielding,
A mobile power storage breakthrough,
Improved and new physical and chemical lunar resource processing techniques,
An advanced astronaut glove,
An autonomous drill,
An autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for cargo,
A long-duration, station-keeping UAV, and
A hybrid airship.

"Repeatable contests" for:

Advances in materials, especially nanotube tethers;
Advances in lightweight power transmission, especially beamed power;
Advances in deployable telescope technology, especially those that could be applicable to space-based observatories;
Advances in general aviation technologies, especially those applicable to other modes of air transport;
A precision landing system;
An advanced tele-robotic construction system;
Highly mobile and cooperative autonomous robots; and
A human lunar all-terrain vehicle."