National Robotics Engineering Consortium

National Robotics Engineering Consortium
Originally uploaded by TigerTigerTiger.

"The National Robotics Engineering Consortium (NREC) develops and applies advanced automation technologies to create new opportunities for American businesses. The NREC has a growing number of development projects in a wide variety of industries, and is always eager to work with new industrial partners with new ideas. Whether you're an established Fortune 500 company looking to leap frog the competition or a Start-up creating a new way of doing business, the NREC brings innovation, solid engineering practice and favorable business arrangements to every client partnership."

3-D Simulations Links from Marcus P. Zillman

Reprinted from this post by Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A. Author/Speaker/Consultant:

"3-D Simulations

1) Stanford University: Folding@home
http://folding.stanford.edu/
2) Center for Automation in Nanobiotech: Nanorobotics
http://www.nanorobotdesign.com/
3) University of Texas Austin: Robotics Research Group
http://www.robotics.utexas.edu/simulations/
4) EdCenter: Interactive 3D Modelling
http://www.edcenter.sdsu.edu/geowall/
5) EuclideanSpace: Building a 3D World
http://www.euclideanspace.com/
6) The Breve Simulation Environment
http://www.spiderland.org/breve/
7) Cyberbotics, Ltd.: Webots™
http://www.cyberbotics.com/publications/ars.pdf

Three-dimensional (3-D) rendering and animation technology is not only used for entertainment, but also for research and educational purposes. The technology can be used for purposes of scientific simulation in fields such as physics, biology, or chemistry. For example, Stanford University's Folding@home project (1) uses 3-D simulations and distributed computing to study protein folding, misfolding, aggregation, and related diseases. Three-D simulations can also be used to observe phenomena that would normally be impossible to scrutinize in detail, as is demonstrated on this website on Nanorobotics (2). This next website describes work by the Robotics Research Group (3) in using 3-D simulations to enhance undergraduate and graduate engineering education. The EdCenter (4) makes available several compressed files of 3-D simulations that model earthquake data, Mars, a San Diego Fly Through, and more. On this website (5 ), Martin Baker provides "all you need to know about 3D theory" and this website (6) provides access to a free open-source software package which "makes it easy to build 3-D simulations of decentralized systems and artificial life." This last article from Cyberbotics, Ltd. (7) discusses how mobile robotics simulation programs can be used to design robots. [From The NSDL Scout Report for Math, Engineering, and Technology, Copyright Internet Scout Project 1994-2005. http://scout.wisc.edu/]"

MIT OpenCourseWare on Cognitive Robotics

chp_roverspirit
Originally uploaded by TigerTigerTiger.

This MIT OpenCourseWare course addresses the emerging field of autonomous systems possessing artificial reasoning skills. Successfully-applied algorithms and autonomy models form the basis for study, and provide students an opportunity to design such a system as part of their class project. Theory and application are linked through discussion of real systems such as the Mars Exploration Rover, pictured in this image.

Camel Race Robots on Tap

Photos: Robots mount up for camel races CNET News.com: "Criticized by human rights activists for the use of boy jockeys in camel races, some Persian Gulf states are moving to replace the human youths with robot riders. The jockey in red is a robot named Kamel from the Swiss company K-Team.

Credit: M. Salem/AFP/Getty Images"

Robotic News Roundup

"What a week in the robotic world! All the media wrote about the robots used as camel riders in Qatar, but other exotic machines were also announced, such as robo-matadors in Spain or the future Picasso, the ART Painter in Hartford, Connecticut.

In the medical area, robo-masseurs are helping U.S. golfers, tiny needle-driving robots are developed in Israel while future mobile 'trauma pods' studied in California are still 10 years away. Elsewhere, a robot that could think for itself and solve real-world problems was unveiled in Wales. But my preferred robot this week is TerraMax, a self-navigating robotic truck built in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and which might participate in the second DARPA Grand Challenge in October 2005."

Read more in this post from Roland Piquepaille.

The Coming Robotic Nation

"Kiosks and self-service systems are the beginning of the robotic revolution. When most people think about robots, they think about independent, autonomous, talking robots like the ones we see in science fiction films. C-3PO and R2-D2 are powerful robotic images that have been around for decades. Robots like these will come into our lives much more quickly than we imagine -- self-service checkout systems are the first primitive signs of the trend. Here is one view from the future to show you where we are headed:

Automated retail systems like ATMs, kiosks and self-service checkout lines marked the beginning of the robotic revolution. Over the course of fifteen years starting in 2001, these systems proliferated and evolved until nearly every retail transaction could be handled in an automated way."

Read more in this great article, Robotic Nation, by Marshall Brain.

Biologically Inspired Robotics Group (BIRG)

"The Biologically Inspired Robotics Group's research interests are at the intersection between robotics, computational neuroscience, nonlinear dynamical systems, and adaptive algorithms (optimization and learning algorithms).

We develop and apply computational methods with solid mathematical foundations to a variety of problems related to modeling, optimization, and control in computer science, biology, and robotics. We also take inspiration from biology to produce novel types of robots with adaptive locomotion and sensorimotor coordination abilities, and use the robots to investigate hypotheses of how central nervous systems implement these abilities in animals.

We carry out research projects in the following areas: numerical simulations of locomotion and movement control, dynamic simulators of articulated rigid bodies, statistical learning algorithms, evolutionary algorithms, nonlinear dynamical systems, humanoid robotics, amphibious articulated robotics, and modular robotics."

US Soldiers to Carry Robotic Personal Planes

"One day soon every US soldier could go into battle equipped with their own robot aircraft. The backpack-sized Micro Air Vehicle, developed by Honeywell for the Pentagon's DARPA research agency, will begin flight tests this month at the company's flight base in Albuquerque.

The MAV is 30 centimetres tall, weighs just over 5.5 kilograms and can be carried by a single soldier. It takes off vertically and flies like a helicopter, drawing air through an upright fan to provide lift. The unit also carries both ordinary and night-vision cameras for remote reconnaissance."

From this New Scientist article via this post from Roland Piquepaille.