Human beings make tools. Animals make tools. A tool gives an advantage over adversity and guarantees survival. Will the same happen if a robot makes a tool?
Researchers at ETH Zurich are on a mission to not only have robots make tools, but they are teaching the bots how to use them. Their goal is to simplify the complexity of this type of robot, while at the same time giving it extraordinary capabilities like creating its own parts, fixing itself, and even creating other robots from printed parts and integrated motors.
So far, their robot consists of a mechanical arm with Hot Melt Adhesive (HMA) capabilities. This means that at the end of the mechanical arm is just a hot glue gun that can be used to create parts layer by layer. In their effort to avoid complexity, it has no manipulator mechanisms, instead it only uses the stickiness of the printed parts to move them and place them.
The project has only just been started. In a demonstration of their progress, ETH researchers showed that their robot is capable of creating tools and thus performing tasks that it would not be able to do otherwise. It took the robot about an hour, but it was able to create a cup with a handle to transport water, an impressive task for a robot with no hands.
Next, the team or researchers are working to give the robot perception capabilities to eventually achieve a completely autonomous robot. At the moment, the robot can only create simple shapes in about an hour’s time; a long way away from creating an entire mechanism, but even bots need to take it one HMA layer at a time.
USB connected interactive plant (via AkihabaraNews & Keio University)
If the Japanese have not already created enough unusual devices, they have one more invention to add to their list. Researchers from Keio University have created plants that interact with their surroundings. The plants are programmed to show different emotions through their movements by using data collected from sensors. The movements that match with specific emotions were chosen by having many people show how they think a happy plant or an angry plant would move.
The plant sits in a square pot that would look like any other Japanese plant holder on the outside, but on the inside is where the plants mechanics and electronics lie. The plant moves by two stepper motors connected to its leaves and twigs by very thin cords. Additionally, it monitors its surroundings using a microphone and motion sensors. According to the input from the sensors the plant will move based on the movements it picks up and the tones it hears.
The Japanese were hoping to make plants seem more alive and have a greater presence in areas. They have conducted their research for almost a year now and have not had any plants die or wilt, although some research states otherwise. In the future, they look to bring bigger plants to life and possibly trees, they would like environments people travel through to be fully interactive. Technology may soon creep into every aspect of our surrounding world. (The world would hate us)
Arduino robot used for promotion of RobotC (via RoboMatter)
Robotics and software coding can be daunting to a beginner, but software company RoboMatter works diligently to make these fields accessible to beginners and hobbyist. Their software is already compatible with LegoMindstorm and others platforms alike that aim at brining robotics to the main stream. Now, RobotC has announced they will expand their code to be compatible with one of the biggest development board platform there is, Arduino.
RobotC has released a public BETA version of their code for Arduino. To use RobotC with your existing Arduino, the Arduino will have to be updated to version 3.12. Once this is done, the same version of RobotC is compatible with Arduino as well as NXT, Cortex. This new version will support the Diecimila, Duemilanove, MEGA 1280 and MEGA 2560 and UNO Arduino boards.
Wilfried Stoll and an engineering team from Festo in Germany have designed a robot that can compose and perform its own music after ‘listening’ to a melody. The robotic system, called Sound Machines 2.0, simulates two violins, a cello, a double bass and a viola with each using only one string. The string is loosened to change notes by an electric DGE drive unit that runs parallel to the string with a pneumatic cylinder that moves a wooden hammer which strikes the string to play the note.
To make music the robots first listens to a musician playing a melody over a MIDI capable synthesizer or xylophone that’s connected to a computer where modular synthesizer software processes the signal and sends it to the robots in real-time. The computer actually composes the music in its interpretation with the help of open-sourced software that’s programmed with special algorithms that are derived from John Conway’s Game of Life cellular automaton. Once the computer writes the music it is then pieced out to the robots accordingly. The music is heard through the robots own amplifiers and 40 watt speakers which makes the music sound more spatial with a better sense of depth, as opposed to using one speaker for all 5 robots. While the robots don’t exactly play like the string section of the New York Philharmonic, they do play pretty well even if it sounds like the music from TV show Buck Rogers.
(Left) Technician working on a Foster-Miller robot (Right) Foster-Miller robot platform under repair (via Dave Bullock)
There are unsung heroes out there who have saved countless lives. Like a true superhero, their only response to a those saved is a simple "I'm only doing my job."
The Joint Robotics Repair Detachment (JRRD) keeps the U.S. military's robot armada up and running. Countless lives have been saved using these robots. These bots are almost exclusively tasked with handling IEDs, improvised explosive devices, and other traps and explosives. Without these robots, Operation Enduring Freedom would have casualties beyond comprehension. Thanks to the diverse crew of military and civilian personnel, many still breath today. Some may never even know the bot that saved their life was once before clown up.
Thousands of robots have been repaired throughout the war. One statistic form the JRRD says that within the year of 2009, over 1,800 robots were repaired or upgraded, where 500 were sent back to Afghanistan front line duty. Not only are these robots repaired to 100% operation functionality, but they are done so in the same day. Master Sgt. Ronald L. Helsley (402nd JRRD noncommissioned officer-in-charge) explained, "We repair and maintain all robots in theater, units bring equipment to the shop and if it can be repaired in four hours or less we will do the work and return the equipment to the unit." If the repair cannot be done on schedule, a one-for-one exchange will take place within the time frame. It is that diagnostic eye that will return a bot on a tight schedule, where a minute of delay could mean the cost of a life.
The JRRD handles robots ranging from the single digit pound range to several tons. Repairs are not always for the IED fatality robots. Normal wear and tear find that the bots need replacement treads or wheels, cameras, motors, and faulty electronics. More extreme cases have the repair technicians replacing major portions of the bots, arms, and other mutilated components.
Shawn Wyzlic talking about some of the robots in repair at Camp Victory, Iraq. (Via MilitaryNews)
JRRD is based in Iraq. As the troops return home, their robot counterparts are kept in the fight. Civilian robot technician from Wixom, Michigan, Shawn Wyzlic is based in Iraq, where he is busy prepping robots from their next frontier. Wyzlic explained, "Our primary goal is to maintain the robots we have here [at Camp Victory in Iraq]; our secondary goal is to assist Afghanistan in the transferring of the robot systems from here to over there." Not only are all battle-worn robots repaired, but they are also upgraded to handle the rough terrain of Afghanistan.
"Last week we had a Talon [Foster-Miller robot] blown up. Thank goodness it was a robot. We can lose a million of them, and it's worth it." - JRRD commander Marine Major John Amiss
Robots have been designed to do just about everything from serving food to bomb defusing, but they don’t typically have the free-range movement that humans do when it comes to navigating uneven terrain. Take climbing a mountainside, wide degrees of motion and agility allow humans (and animals) the ability to handle and obstacle. Bots can only watch.
However, robotics engineers from the University of Texas and Meka Robotics (located in San Francisco) are looking to overcome this obstacle with the introduction of the Hume bi-pedal robot. The team, headed by Louis Sentis from the Human Centered Robotics Lab at UT, has designed the Hume robot to incorporate a HCHA (Human-Centered Hyper Agility) range of movement. To do this, the team used a series of elastic actuators (6 DOF SEA total)for each joint which provides the robot with 6 degrees of spatial movement (including lateral).These powerful modular actuators give the robot its strength, speed, and a certain degree of agility. The Hume design is still in its infancy stage, as there is no internal power source and has yet to acquire feet, but it looks to be a step in the right direction for all-terrain bi-pedal robots. On the other hand, I don’t think robots will replace humans in the sport of Parkour anytime soon.
Building projects with microcontrollers (especially Arduinos as of late) opens minds to an unlimited amount of innovations. Whether the projects are created for fun, or to serve specific purposes, they can always motivate others to be creative. The latest Arduino powered creation comes from Ekaggrat, an inspired individual with a strong interest in science.
Ekaggrat has created a robotic arm that writes down the time by the minute on a dry-erase board. After a minute is up it erases the digit and rewrites the new time. It is driven by four servos that control the arm and hand movements. Two 9G metal gear RC servos move the arm while two 4.5G ultralight servos control the hand movements. Using servos makes it a little loud and noisy and limits the accuracy of the robotic hand writing. However, there still can be improvements to be made such as a change to stepper motors to improve accuracy.
Nonetheless, the creation is truly inspiring and the programming that it takes to complete a project such as this is difficult. Keeping track of the timing, 4 servos, and 7-segment display writing orientation in sync with one another is impressive for a hobby project. This goes to show that the amount of creations possible with technology is limitless.
The Takashimiya department store in Japan decided a great promotion would be a lifelike female android mannequin seducing potential shoppers in their store window. Since its introduction, the bot has done nothing but startle customers and inspire robotics designers.
The creator of this mannequin is Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro, who is well known for inventing the Geminoid-F Robot. The Geminoid is a bot designed to look as real as possible. If realistic is the goal, it will cost them $110,000 USD (10 million Yen) to wheel in the bot. The more recent Geminoid-DK takes realism to a completely new level. The DK was made to look exactly like its owner, Aalborg University Professor Henrik Scharfe. Hop over to the DK's website for more.
Lifelike Geminoid DK in this image. Hard to tell it is fake. (via Geminoid DK)
The idea of the mannequin is to draw in more shoppers by intriguing them to see more and not to scare them from walking inside. The mannequin is the new idea of visual merchandising. Dr. Ishiguro said that android mannequins will be the future of shop displays and the traditional mannequins "will be no more." The mannequin knows when someone is present; now that is creepy. It can also display a range of emotions while being able to nod, yawn, and wink at a passersby.
Although it may be freaky to see, it is not any more strange than the age-old tactic of real humans in the display windows. Even that odd job is being taken over my machines. It's a tough world for us humans.
A group of researchers from Cornell Creative Machine Labs are currently developing an autonomous robot inspired from metabolisms of biological organisms. The goal is to be able to break down larger complex structures into smaller simpler pieces that may be reassembled to create a different type of structure.
The robot clamps onto a specially designed truss using rotational robot-lockable connectors and can traverse the three dimensional structure using three basic motions. Bi-directional gears on the robot allow it move between perpendicular planes, horizontally and vertically along a truss, and 180 degrees around a truss to move from the top to the bottom. In addition, reflectivity sensors are implemented into the robot which give it a sense of location relative to the truss structure, ultimately allowing it to function autonomously.
The sensors and movements are all controlled from on board the robot. The robot carries with it a sensor I/O board, a microcontroller, servo motors, and an on board battery. These simple electronics allow it detach truss beams with 100 percent success rate and reattach them with a 70 percent success rate.
While they would like to use the robot for building deconstruction and repair, that does not stop the researchers from thinking big. One day they hope that it could help repair and construct the space station or any other dangerous tasks associated with the outside of the space station or a shuttle. Meanwhile, the researchers will be working on improving the robot so it will be cable of carrying multiple truss beams at once, and they plan on re-working the algorithms that will allow it to traverse a path of most efficiency based on the final design.
Toyota, along with the Illinois Institute of Technology, are innovating on an age-old device, the walking cane. This new version resembles the function of a Segway. With a six-axis accelerometer, it can sense if the user is falling forward or backward and exert power in the appropriate direction to help regain balance. This reaction is also controlled by the grip of the user. A stronger grip results in a stronger push from the wheel of the walking cane. Apart from preventing a fall, Toyota also suggests this robotic walking cane can be used as a tool to "exercise or rehabilitate back muscles that are not usually used by people with back injuries." Toyota even plans on incorporating fingerprint recognition to prevent theft and make this smart cane, that much smarter and impressive. This certainly seems appropriate for the younger elders in the digital age.
Many robots have been designed for the benefit of mankind taking over continuously repetitive tasks or in some cases battling other robots for entertainment purposes. However, recently experiments have been done that may allow humans to help out animal populations in times of danger.
Maurizio Porfiri and Stefano Marras from New York's Polytechnic institute have designed a biomimetic robot fish to help study collective fish behavior. The robot fish is the first of its kind engineered to simulate animal mobility. In recently conducted experiments, the robot fish was placed into a flowing stream of water with a real fish to analyze the behavior between the two. When the robot fish remained motionless in the water, the real fish seemed to ignore it and swim about in a sporadic pattern. On the other hand, when the robot fish was simulating natural fish movements and swimming in the water the real fish tended to align in a specific formation with the robot. As the robot swam in formation, the real fish's movements slowed, proving that the fish was saving energy by following along behind the robot. Additionally, this shows that groups of fish may be lead in certain directions by a robot fish. This can prove helpful when humans create ecological disasters such as oil spills that can wipe out endangered species of fish. Nevertheless, it can also help us better understand the behavior of fish.
Can the robot fish "Pied Piper" invasive species out of foreign waters?
Kmel Robotics may have one of the best promotions for their future flagship product, the mini quad-copter, via a collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania's GRASP Lab. The demonstration shows a series of synchronized flying patterns. The video gives the illusion of autonomous swam behavior. At the moment, both Kmel and GRASP are not letting out any information on the project.
The University of Pennsylvania researchers Alex Kushleyev, Daniel Mellinger, and Vijay Kumar put these quad-copters to the test. As the video shows, it was a very successful project. Like small remote control helicopters, we all received one Christmas in the past, these quad-copters will have a very limited battery power source. This is the only information released at the moment. As more develops, I will report back immediately.
Berthold Bauml would be to blame for with the downtrodden servatude of robots, or the impending robot uprising. He is the lead scientist in real-time dynamic motion planning at DLR. He developed a new advanced humanoid robot named, Agile Justin. It stands with a happy face on a terrorizing body.
Agile Justin is the new and improved sister of the older version named, Rollin’ Justin. Berthold stated, “…but with improved dynamical performance: 1.5x faster arms through different gear ratios; completely new wheel electronics and bus architecture, which allows a 500Hz control loop over all four wheels and steering DOFs on the mobile platform; 1kHz control loop for the arms, torso and hand DOFs,” when it comes to the improvements in Agile Justin.
The different feature from all the other humanoid robots and Agile is that it has full-body control. The full-body controls consist of, real-time coordination of hands, arms, torso, and mobile base for dynamic tasks. Phew, looks like I can out run this robot.
The technical details should be forthcoming in academic publications later this year along with demonstrations at Automatica 2012.
Even though I want to see technology advances, I hope Agile does not get a mind of her own.
It was proven in 1997 that a computer’s computational abilities could outsmart a human when super-computer Deep Blue beat professional chess player Gary Kasparov at his own game. This match put the human brain against the software programming capabilities of a team of developers, but Deep Blue still needed human assistance in physically moving the chess pieces.
14 years later, roboticists hope to grant computers like Deep Blue the ability of playing an entire game of chess independent of human assistance. In 2010, a competition was held at the annual Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence Conference in San Francisco. Roboticists from many places and universities presented robots that resembled those on an automotive assembly line.
Their robots ran into trouble trying to identify and then properly move the game pieces in accordance to the game rules. Some robots used cameras to locate pieces, but none were programmed to identify them. Instead, memory of the initial position of each piece indicated which piece it was and how it could legally be moved around the chessboard. Despite all methods of movement, all had a tough time clearly identifying what moves were made and where exactly the pieces were placed. Furthermore, they were slow in making their moves, which only took them milliseconds to process and decide.
The winning robot was "Maxwell" from the University of Albany. The robot moved along its side and probably made generous use of its mobility to clearly see moves and piece placement from different angles.
While a robot’s arm-camera coordination still pales in comparison to a human’s hand-eye coordination, it is pertinent to note we developed those skills over hundreds of thousands of years. Roboticists and programmers have only been working on developing these skills in robots for only a few decades.
(Right) HOVIS bot. (Via Robotshop) (Left) A less advance HOVIS.
Beware Android’s apps are COMING ALIVE!
A South Korean company, Dasarobot, invented a HOVIS humanoid robot. The HOVIS can only be compatibility with any 3.5-inch Android-based smartphone. When the phone is connected to HOVIS, the app then become the robot’s commander. Several Android control apps are planned for the HOVIS bot, though availability outside Korea is not clear. However, when searching through your Android app market, I recommend avoiding the violent ones, unless you want a vicious robot.
The HOVIS humanoid robot added some new kicks. The leading telecommunications company in South Korea, SK Telecom, has made it possible for the robot to use Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for control. It not only can retrieve data through thin air, but it can also see, hear and even speak. In order for it to become an eye seeking robot, a camera (computer vision), microphone and speaker (speech recognition, speech synthesis), and the processing power of a fixed PC were added to it.
Wondering how much it would cost for developing a humanoid robot hobby? The phrase, bang for your buck, holds truth with these robots. You have your choice from inexpensive robots to expensive academic humanoids. The price tag attached to these remarkable robots start only at $620 for the basic. The HOVIS brand gives you many styles to pick from. When choosing the style all of them have complete-with-exoskeleton to DIY kits, and one of four levels of software for beginners to knowledgeable programmers.
