» Robotics

Improving Robots Emotionally

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:41:42 +0000

Scientists at the University of Hertforshire are leading the project to create robot which can develop emotions during interaction with humans. Nao, a robot, which can now develop emotions such as shrug shoulders when sad or raise eyebrows when surprised and more. But the big question is whether emotions help create any additional laws to the existing three fundamental laws of robotics? This project is run by the Adaptive Systems Research Group at University of Hertfordshire.

The Adaptive Systems Research Group in Hertfordshire is a multidisciplinary group of faculty, students, and friends of the University of Hertfordshire who have a connection to research in Adaptive Systems and related areas. The group was founded and is co-organized by Prof. Kerstin Dautenhahn and Prof. Chrystopher Nehaniv. Other core faculty members of the group include Dr. Lola Cañamero , Dr. Daniel Polani and Dr. Farshid Amirabdollahian.

[Guardian]

Home Robotics: Beer Robots

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:05:06 +0000

Willow Garage developed what we can call as a “Beer Robot“: a robot that will not only grab a beer and bring it to you, but will also recognize your face and your preferred beer. The Robot can fetch the beer as well as open it and make it ready for consumption. Let us see the robot in action now:

Stanford’s Junior does parallel park with the right vigour!

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:41:38 +0000

Stanford Racing Team’s autonomous car can throw itself into reverse, jam the accelerator to the floor, and slam on the brakes at 25 miles per hour, sliding sideways into a parking space. This feature would sure be a bang for a buck, if car manufacturers get it approved by DOT in coming years.

[More at Popular Science]

AR Drone can be flown with an iPhone

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:33:34 +0000

Now we know iPhone can be used to fly drones. Yes, AR Drone has consumer plan. The AR Drone has four propellers, two cameras, and can be flown with an iPhone.

Watch now:

[IEEE Blog]

Sophisticated Heart Surgeries with Robotic Support

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:22:06 +0000

Doctors have carried out a life-saving heart procedure with the help of a sophisticated robot. Cardiologists in Leicester were the first in the world to use a new robot that practically fucntions as the doctor’s right arm. The procedure involved passing a thin metal wire along the patient’s blood vessels and into the heart.If the muscle misfires electrical signals, it would raise the risk of a heart attack or stroke, eventually complicating the entire operation, but this could be made easy using the machine. The current robot system is much simpler to use than previous ones and doctors can be trained in just 15 minutes instead of several weeks.The system costs is expected to be around £350,000.

[Telegraph]

The silent rising army of the machines!

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 03:13:00 +0000

The world robot population is on the rise. Today we the robot population stands at 8.6 Million. We should observe a calm but steady rise in the numbers. The data is illustrated below.

Currently the robots play a major role as industry robots and service robots. The industry robots includes welding systems, assembly manipulators, and other heavy, expensive operation oriented machines. The service robots consists of professional service robots like surgical systems, poultry robots, etc and personal service robots like vacuum cleaners, etc.

By 2011, the world’s industrial robot population is expected to rise to 1.2 million. Which areas will these robots cater to, and how the machine-to-human balance will change, remains to be seen. Though the robots are not readily visible, and are yet to become a part of our everyday life, the machines are rising in numbers.

[IEEE Spectrum]

Introducing Simon.

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 02:45:12 +0000

Simon is know to learn new tasks faster. Lets take a peek at how he does it in the following video.

Its easy to imagine such machines at home to aid residents. Having a machine in kitchen to help to cook or next to a closet to arrange/ handle clothes management. These machines are a clear sign of what to expect in the near future.

[Read more at PC World]

Tiny robots making medical treatment a dream come true!

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 02:04:56 +0000

A recent break through at Technion University have unveiled a tiny robot, made using Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) technology, purportedly able to crawl through a person’s veins in order to diagnose and potentially treat artery blockage and cancer. The robot which is bigger then a WBC or RBC but small enough to enter a vein or artery and can unblock or diagnose is of immense help.

How does it function? Does it have any control system in place either onboard or external? The robot neither has any control engine nor onboard mechanism, instead it is being propelled forward by a magnetic field wielded on it from outside the patient’s body.

But many important questions still remain unanswered.

Has this robot reached human trails? (This looks production ready)
What would be the cost of such a device? (Say will this reduce operation costs or increase them)
Does this robot has a fail safe system in place if it goes haywire?
Whether such diagnoses is being considered safe or is being authorized/approved by any medical administration board?

Today, we would safely conclude this truly looks futuristic, but we still are in early stages of such treatment development and have a long way ahead.

[The Inquirer]

Robot Block Party at Stanford

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:43:18 +0000

Stanford University hosted a Robot Block Party on the eve of National Robotics Week. National Robotics Week is an event organized by the Robotics Caucus of the U.S. Congress and leading robotics companies, and schools to give more exposure to the resources and ideas around robotics research and education.

A solar-powered, remotely controlled robot roams the floor at the Robot Block Party at Stanford.

Photo by James Martin/CNET

[CNET]

R2 from NASA & GM Teams

Vikramaditya Jakkula — Sun, 18 Apr 2010 16:15:57 +0000

R2, short for Robonaut 2, is heading to the International Space Station aboard the space shuttle Discovery in September. R2 is able to perform experiments in micro-gravity, working with astronauts on multiple experiments.

During the last three years, a team of General Motors and NASA employees, at the Houston’s Johnson Space center, designed, engineered and build the 300-pound, human-like machine, today known as R2.

On board the ISS, R2 will be in testing phase and is said to undergo various enhancements in the future to make it truly ideal as a Space Robonaut.

[CNN]