My childhood dream is almost a reality, a real life Transformer.
Designed by Kenji Ishida and JS Robotics, the bot houses 22 servos to perform the transformation. In robot form it is based on the widely copied bipedal humanoid platform. You can see these humanoid bots in a lot of competitions in Japan. There is no information on the bot at JS Robotics
This bot is the latest in a series by Kenji Ishida, version 8 to be exact. See version 7 below.
(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
The days of the old RC car are certainly fading, especially when you see the RC helicopters and quad-copters showing no constraint to the ground. Like many other RC toys, three new controllable vehicles from Swann allow control via iDevices (iPad, iPod and iPhone). Swann has three new helicopters, the iFly Micro Lightning, the SkyEye and the Black Swann that will grant you this level of fun and more for less than $100.
All three helicopters include dual joystick IR remotes that require 6 AA batteries but can also be controlled using and iDevice with the included attachment and Swann application. They come with lithium batteries that can be recharged from the remotes or with an included USB cable from a PC. They all have Swann’s Easy-fly Gyro Technology, trim adjustment for stabilization to maximize performance during the 8-minute flight allowed by a charge.
For those of you with an agenda, two of the helicopters have onboard wireless cameras that take pictures and video on remote command. The SkyEye includes 512 MB of memory while the Black Swann has space for a 32 GB micro SD card. These two helicopters have 27 MHz frequency controllers that range for 110 ft.
The iFly Micro Lightning goes for $69.99 and the SkyEye and Black Swann sell for $99.99. Added rotors and a helipad game are included for inevitable accidents and to practice before you embark on your first adventure.
Below is an example of the video output of these helicopters. Seems usable.
In this new digital world, young people now grow up playing video games and surfing the Internet instead of playing games outside; clearly play dates are changing. Canadian company EZ-Robot wants to lead the way this new generation of youngsters play by bringing technology out of the screen into their hands.
To do this, they have released an easy to use, do-it-yourself robotics kit. But this kit takes robot building one step further by only providing you with the guts of the robot.
For $235, the kit provides you with three standard and two rotating servomotors, five sensors including an ultrasonic distance sensor, wireless tracking camera, wireless Bluetooth controller, a battery pack, other parts and software to control your creation without the need for computer code.
Like we said, these are just the guts of the robot. The fun begins, when you chose which of your currently lifeless toys to which you will grant life. As long as the parts fit, you will be able to animate and program the robot using the included software and controller. For the advance roboticist, the EZ-Robotics kit also supports the iRobot Roomba and Arduino software platforms.
EZ-Robot kit, Wall-E themed (via EZ-Robot)
However, with the included software, you can program face recognition, object tracking and slew of other functions. You can even program your robot to be controlled by a Wii remote, joystick, or a touch tablet.
At the moment, EZ-Robot says they are sold out of kits. It might be too late to get this as a holiday present for your favorite nerd, but this kit is sure to make an excellent gift at any time in the year. An excellent way to pull them away from the screen for a little bit and let their imagination run wild, as they turn into a mad scientist.
I hate to admit, but this is very much like LEGO Mindstorm NXT, minus the LEGOs.
Scientists at MIT’s Chembots program have just introduced a self-contained, self-propelling robot. The gimmick of this bot is to house its power cell and locomotion mechanism all in it structural housing. This automaton, or self-operating machine or mechanism, is made up of silicone bladders and moves with the aid of a pneumatic battery. This battery uses hydrogen peroxide catalyst reaction that helps maintain a stable pressure inside the robots on-board pressure vessel. The reaction inflates the soft silicone pod, in turn forcing the robot forward. All it takes is a small current to go through built in valves, which are regulated with onboard electropermanent magnets.
How the battery works.
Valve cross-section.
Although the slow walk of this bot may not be enough to impress the projects funders, DARPA and Boeing, the valve system might be. The main focus in the experiment was to create flexible, and controllable, movement.
The BigDog quadruped robotics platform from Boston Dynamics, has been upsized. The new bot, named AlphaDog, can now carry 400 lbs (181kg) for a distance of 20 miles (32km), in contrast to the formers 340 lbs (154kg) and 12 miles (19km).
At a key note speech, the Boston Dynamic President Marc Raibert showed off the AlphaDog and its features. Designed to be a squad support carrier, the AlphaDog (AKA the LS3 Legged Squad Support System) can last up to 24 hours on a single charge. Eventually, on board computer vision and GPS will allow the LS3 to travel to destinations without any further control. The platform will take 30 months to complete. The first scheduled test will take place in 2012.
Cost to payload ratio on the AlphaDog/LS3 cannot beat a vehicle, I am sure. The question sits, under what circumstances will the LS3 be used?
Watch the ending of the video where the AlphaDog gets up from being knocked down. I fear that this bot shows the future of ground combat. Regular troops would have a hard time dealing with such a machine. Especially with what looks like a giant gun embedded in its body.
For those who do not know about the original BigDog platform, take a look at the follow video.
From the collaboration between the University of Maryland and the Army Research Laboratory comes the micro jumping robot. Each type at a length of 4mm, can store enough kinetic energy to jump several times its own size.
One uses the conversion of a chemical, sodium perchlorate oxidizer, to gas that is embedded in its porous silicon body, where a small explosion is created when electric current passes through the compound. This yields a 20x jump height.
Another type used a rubber spring plunger. The spring is actuated manually by an operator, and when released can jump over eighty times its height. The researchers claim that onboard micro-motors will perform this action in the future.
The next step for the team is to develop bots that can perform multiple jumps where the direction can also be controlled. In particular, the chemical reaction bot could conceivably perform a jump, or rocket pulse, in mid air. The researchers boast that is some 65 meters, or over 16,000 times the size of the bot. Storing enough of the chemical to perform such a feat may change its weight, but on paper, it sounds good.
Justification for the research comes from the need to produce cheap robots for use in surveillance and monitoring. I think the real challenge is still jumping with the increased weight from a camera and communication device and other necessary components.
There are some products that are on the verge of great, but miss the mark somehow. I feel the new ROBOCUT mower/worker bot from McConnel may just fit into that category. This bot is at its core a 40hp Isuzu engine with peripherals built around it. Like a little mini-tank, it can handle a lot of terrains, and delivers most of its power on the tracks. The main feature is its remote control.
The wireless controller operates in the 863-870 Mhz range with a maximum distance of 150 meters. (That is old channels 80, 81, and 82 on the old analog television frequencies). The bot itself can travel up to 7km/h (4 mph), which is an arduously slow pace to anyone who has mowed a lawn before. Of course, the controller is laden with various potentiometer adjustment knobs.
Being a big remote control car is the extent of the ROBOCUT. At its price, $60,000 USD, I would have liked to see some autonomous activity in the system. For example, cutting a large perimeter and the bot then spirals to the center on its own.
Look out America SkyNET is real. Stevens Institute of Technology (SIT) scientists built a WiFi hunter-killer drone!
SkyNET is a marriage of a Parrot A.R. Drone and a Linux box. A Parrot A.R. Drone is hardly your ordinary remote-controlled quadricopter, as it's not only controlled via WiFi, but via an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch --an Android app for the device was also recently demoed by the company, but it's apparently still not available.
The SkyNET bot was designed to attach wireless networks. It will fly around finding various open networks, and attack it with a botnet it has onboard. Botnets are often used in hacking efforts, Denial Of Service attacks, spamming, and other nefarious internet activities. The bot carries two wifi-cards. One is for the bots controller, and one for performing the attacks. Also, onboard is a GPS receiver, 3G mobile broadband connection, and a small Linux computer. The central processor is a 468Mhz ARM9.
For those who are a little devious SkyNET is hard to detect. The concept is to separate the bot's controller/owner from the internet attack location. Sounds like a Ghost in the Shell (or a general Cyberpunk) story component.
Attached to this post is a whitepaper on the concept and operation.
Sounds fun and all, however, the $600 price tag is a little steep. Aside from botnet attacks, I am sure we will see more bots like this SkyNET hunter/killer do other acts of ill-will in the near future.
As the Fukushima nuclear core continues to melt, the radiation levels are spiking in the area. Current levels are so high that workers can only spend 15 minutes in the area. Japan's Nuclear Safety Technology Centre and Ministry of Economy have developed a robot, after a nuclear accident in 1999, that can safely enter the radiated areas and perform tests and other tasks. Dubbed the Monirobo (Monitory Robot), this heavily shielded bot can travel 2.4 km per hour, has a 3D camera, many sensors for radiation, temperature, and humidity, and weighs approximately 600 kilos. Control of these bots can let operators stay up to 1km away from the radiated location.
Many robots are streaming in to Japan's nuclear danger zone all the time now. Officials hope to save more lives with these additions to the team.
With radiation level high, a no fly zone has been established over the Fukushima plant. The US Air Force has sent a Global Hawk drone to take pictures, thermal imaging, and Synthetic Aperture Radar used to give a detail image on the reactor area.
The number of unmanned robotic operations in this disaster is unprecedented. The need for more useful robots has proven to be a worthwhile cause.
United States military robots, by iRobot, are helping in the recovery efforts in Japan. Two specific extensible used field robots, the "PackBot" and "Warrior." Two of each have been donated, and for this particular effort a team of 6 people from iRobot are going to help control and train Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force on their operation.
Each one is being used for their specific attributes. The Packbot, being more agile, has been equipped with HazMat sensors and deployed into areas afflicted by chemical or nuclear contamination. The Warrior bot, weighing 347 pounds, is being used for clearing pathways of rubble and firefighting duties. Both of which are being controlled by a human operator up to a half mile away (800 meters). Bot side note: Operators can use a Playstation or Xbox controller to work the bots.
Warrior bot (lower) loading/unleading a Packbot (upper)
Recovery and rescue efforts for the bots is also being planned. These US bots are also joined by two Japanese robot manufacturers.
Let's hope the maze is small enough so it can be solved in 15 minutes. After 30 minutes of charging, Tankbot here, give your 15 minutes of play. What I like about this toy is its ability to interface with the outside world in a semi-autonomous way. It appears that the bot has an infrared sensor/detector on the front used for navigation. It must make a simple map of its surroundings. I want to get one to just take it apart. If anyone knows more about this toy, let me know.
At the "Yao Robot Fair 2011" A bot named "RURO" captured a lot of attention. Matec Yao, a group of companies in Osaka Japan, built this robot to teach children about recycling. The three year old annual even is growing in popularity, and hopes to spur more people into robotics and electronics.
The TURO bot is 2' (60cm) tall, plays messages, walks slowely, raises arms, and has a spinning light on its head. For the record, RURO's automation is from Kondo KRP-4024HV servo motors. RURO needs to be upgraded Matec YAO!
