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Researchers give a robot the ability to control a person's arm (video)
Human-machine interaction just got a bit more... interesting. Researchers from France's Montpellier Laboratory of Informatics, Robotics, and Microelectronics have demonstrated a new technique that allows a robot to control a person's arm in order to accomplish a task together -- yes, you read that right. As you might expect, that's still being described as a proof of concept, and the current setup simply consists of a set of electrodes that are attached to the arm and used to direct the person to drop a ball into a hoop the robot is holding -- to keep things on the up and up, the human participants were blindfolded during the tests, which were successful. According to the researchers, however, that is just the beginning. They eventually see similar techniques being used in rehabilitation, and in other robot assistants that could help people with disabilities accomplish basic tasks -- they further note that this technique has the added benefit of being simpler and less expensive than standalone robotic systems. Video is after the break.
DARwin-OP, CHARLI-2 humanoids make history at RoboCup 2011, 'U-S-A!' chants ensue (video)
While most American sports fans were busy celebrating a World Cup victory over Brazil this weekend, an indubitably more compelling soccer tournament was drawing to a close in Istanbul -- site of RoboCup 2011. Virginia Tech's Team DARwin made history at this year's event, becoming the first US squad to bring home top honors in both the Kid Size and Adult Size competitions. The petite DARwin-OP humanoid danced circles around the lightweight class, while the five-foot CHARLI-2 demoralized Robo Erectus in the big boys' final with a last-minute penalty kick. In its international debut, the CHARLI-2 (pictured, in a moment of Zen, on the right) also earned the vaunted Louis Vuitton Humanoid Cup, ending a nine-year period dominated by teams from Germany and Japan. These programmed Peles may not the most graceful of strikers, but RoboCup organizers remain convinced that autonomous bots will be able to compete with human athletes by 2050 -- which might just give us enough time to develop a taste for soccer. Dribble past the break to see Team DARwin in action, along with an extra clip from the BBC.
Nao robot grabs a head-mounted camera, puts your photographic skills to shame
You see, herein lies the problem. At a glance, Nao looks humane. Even kind. In fact, it's bruited that he's helped on a few missions in his day. But underneath, he's a cold-blooded talent snatcher, and thanks to a little push from one Raghudeep Gadde, he might just capture your vacation in a manner that's superior to your own. As the story goes, this here scientist at the International Institute of Information Technology in Hydrabad, India, converted the humanoid into quite the shooter. He strapped a camera on its dome, and then programmed it to follow a pair of iron-clad photographic guidelines: the rule of thirds, and the golden ratio. Purportedly, Nao does a ton of analysis before finally deciding on how to compose and capture a shot, and for his next trick, he'll run circles around your existing Lightroom actions. So much for perfecting your craft, eh?
New Zealand paralympian buys first Rex Bionics exoskeleton, takes robot walking legs for a spin
Surely we weren't the only ones to wonder aloud who would be the first come up with $150,000 for a Rex Bionics robotic exoskeleton when the Auckland-based company introduced it last summer. Of course, no price seems too high for the ability to walk again, but that's still a lot scratch to get together -- and the space has been getting a lot more competitive as of late. The honor went to fellow Kiwi Dave MacCalman, a multiple medal-winning paralympian, who lost the use of his legs after sustaining a spinal cord injury while diving into a river. The 6-foot, 4-inch athlete took his first steps in over 30 years with the use of his newly-purchased robot legs -- and from the look on his face, he definitely got his New Zealand dollar's worth. If you need a quick refresher on exactly what this thing can do, check out the video after the break.
iPhone-controlled Sphero ball gets a chariot for roving FaceTime sessions, office races
A tiny robotic ball able to be controlled by a smartphone doesn't exactly need any more selling points, but Orbotix's Sphero now has an extra one nonetheless. It's been outfitted with a chariot that can be used for FaceTime sessions or low-level surveillance -- or chariot races around your office, naturally. Of course, this is strictly a DIY affair, but we're guessing this is one project you will actually want to do yourself once you see the video after the break. [Thanks, Ross]
Robot fish get upgraded, keep schooling real-life counterparts
Okay, so they still look like Depression-era bath toys, but Maurizio Porfiri's robot fish have come a long way from the coconut-and-tin-foil look they were sporting last summer. In an attempt to further "close the loop" between robotics and nature, Porfiri has continued to tinker with the little leaders by incorporating diving and surfacing into their aquatic repertoire, and it seems to be working: real fish have shown interaction patterns including tracking, gathering, and following in the presence of the pesci-bots. Now if they could just do the same with the the feral ferret living in our bedroom walls...
Prospero the robotic farmer robotically plants seeds, makes humans even more lazy (video)
Let's face it -- humans are lazy, yet incredibly industrious. We've seen everything from a self-making bed, to a channel-changer to even a touchless keyboard. And now, we're blessed with a robot that plants seeds for us. That's right, the image you see above is of a five-legged machine that has the ability to complete all of the necessary steps to grow a plant. Thanks to a Parallax Propeller chip that's mounted on a Schmart Board, Prospero is able to autonomously navigate in any direction and avoid obstructing objects. There's a sensor that lies under its body that senses where seeds have been deployed. If the robot detects that the ground is in need of a seed, it'll dig a hole, drop the seed, move the soil back over the hole and then spray paint the ground white to note that the process was successful. The belly of the bot is also equipped with fertilizers and herbicides, and Prospero can 'talk' (via infrared) to other robots in order to maintain crop-creating efficiency. You can check out a 48-second clip of the planting process after the break. Or, if you're a harvest-enthusiast, hit the more coverage link for 5 minutes of glorious green thumb action.
Power Knee motorized prosthetic officially available in US, Europe -- race of cyborgs still in infancy
We reported on Ossur's robotic prosthetic back in 2009, and now amputees in Europe and the United States have become the first official recipients of the Power Knee. According to the company, "the world's first and only motor-powered prosthetic knee" was recently approved for reimbursement by the German National Health System, covered by private insurance in France and the UK, and picked up by select healthcare providers in the US. Power Knee combines "artificial intelligence," motion sensors, and wireless communication to learn and adjust to the walking style of its users -- that's one small step for real-life cyborgs and one giant leap for prosthetic technology.
German robot hand takes a licking, apparently keeps on ticking (video)
Sadists at the German Aerospace Center's (DLR) Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics are showing off their latest development in anthropomorphic appendages: a robotic hand that can take a beating from a baseball bat and still give you the middle finger (or a thumbs-up, we suppose). Researchers apparently designed the limb to function like only a human hand can, and it seems they've done a decent job: it's got five independently functioning fingers, sports 19 degrees of freedom (one less than the real deal), and can even snap them phalanges -- oh no they didn't! It's also got the ability to exert a force of 30 newtons from its fingertips. So what makes it so resilient? The robo-hand has a built-in web of 38 tendons, which allow it to adapt its stiffness under different circumstances: a step away, its creators say, from rigid appendages of the past. There's a video of the hand taking a beating after the jump, but honestly, we'd prefer to see what happens when the hand fights back.
Flow my tears, the newly-built robotic head of Philip K. Dick said
Yes, this is definitely a post (and video!) about a hand-built, robotic head of author Philip K. Dick, who died in 1982, leaving the world a trove of literature which could be turned into films like Blade Runner, Total Recall, Minority Report and A Scanner Darkly. Sadly, he did not leave a robotic head of himself. It may surprise you to find out that this is actually not even the first robotic head of Philip K. Dick, it's apparently the second. This newly-built robo-PKD is meant to replace one that was famously lost in 2006, and was built by Hanson Robotics and Dutch public broadcasters VPRO. The video after the break is creepy and amazing, but it's nothing compared to the VALIS Trilogy.
Hands-on with Sphero at the CES 2011
Sphero is this year's AR.Drone here in Las Vegas. Last year, the Parrot AR.Drone turned heads with an iPhone-controlled quadricopter, and this year, Sphero is creating a little buzz as an iPhone-controlled, well, ball. That's right -- the Sphero is a ball that both glows colors and rolls around at your iPhone or iPad's command. A company named Orbotix is working on releasing the ball sometime this year for no more than $100, and earlier this week at CES' ShowStoppers event, we got a chance to roll and control the ball ourselves. What's the verdict? It's a little tough to control, but then again the AR.Drone was as well, and that sold all right when it was released late last year. Setting up the free, not-yet-released iPhone (or iPad, or Android) app for Sphero is simple, and once it's up and running, you just need to face the ball in the right direction by dragging a little icon around a round area on screen. When the ball's aligned in the direction you want it facing, you just press the screen, and the ball moves the way you drag it -- forward, backwards, left or right. You can also adjust the ball's speed and the screen's sensitivity, and you can dive into another menu that allows you to change the (completely cosmetic) color of the LED inside with a few RGB sliders. It's fun, though, since it's still a prototype, it's tough to make the ball do exactly what you want, and most of the time, you just have to settle for what it does anyway. The dev told us that they're opening the platform up to anyone to make games or create applications, and the team has been working with ideas like turning the ball into a car with augmented reality. Our suggestion: let a cat play with this thing. They'd love it.
Neato XV-11 robot vacuum gets its very own open source LIDAR hack
There's nothing like a little bounty to light a fire under a group of open source fanatics, is there? We saw this principle applied recently when Adafruit offered up cold, hard cash for an Open Source Kinect driver, and now one enterprising reader over at robotbox.net has gone and hacked the LIDAR unit on a Neato XV-11 robot vacuum -- and won $401 for the effort. What's this mean to you? Well, the gentleman (who goes by the nom de hack Hash79) can now read data sent from the optical ranging hardware on the vacuum to a PC. There has been a pretty enthusiastic group of hackers surrounding the device for a while now and now with a little hard work (and a $399 autonomous robot vacuum) you too can have a 360 degree scanning LIDAR with one degree accuracy and a 10Hz refresh rate. Pretty sweet, right? Video after the break.
University of Chicago, Cornell researchers develop universal robotic gripper
Robotic hands are usually just that -- hands -- but some researchers from the University of Chicago and Cornell University (with a little help from iRobot) have taken a decidedly different approach for their so-called universal robotic gripper. As you can see above, the gripper is actually a balloon that can conform to and grip just about any small object, and hang onto it firmly enough to pick it up. What's the secret? After much testing, the researchers found that ground coffee was the best substance to fill the balloon with -- to grab an object, the gripper simply creates a vacuum in the balloon (much like a vacuum-sealed bag of coffee), and it's then able to let go of the object just by releasing the vacuum. Simple, but it works. Head on past the break to check it out in action. [Thanks, Jeremy]
Robotic curtain tries to guard your privacy, save on fabric (video)
Of all the things that could potentially be roboticized, we can't say a curtain would be high on our list -- but then again, we're not hardware hacker Niklas Roy. In an attempt to create a "little piece of privacy," Niklas developed this curtain that can watch passers-by outside (with the aid of a surveillance camera) and automatically follow them along the window to block their view inside. Of course, as Niklas notes, a sentient curtain does also have the unfortunate side effect of actually attracting the very passers-by it's trying to guard against -- such are the perils of innovation. Head on past the break to check it out in action, and hit up the source link below for all the necessary details to build your own.
Audi robot arms take over London, write messages with LEDs day and night (video)
Here's yet another fine preview of the inevitable robot apocalypse -- car-assembling arms in the city center overlooking us feeble humans. For now, though, these machines are merely part of an Kram/Weisshaar art installation dubbed Outrace. Throughout the week-long London Design Festival, you can go to Outrace.org to submit a short text message that you wish to be displayed in Trafalgar Square, and with a bit of luck, the monitoring staff will pick up your greeting. What happens next is that the eight LED-equipped robot arms (KUKA KR 180; loaned by Audi) will start scribing your message in the air, which is then captured by the 36 long-exposure cameras surrounding the stage (even during the day, courtesy of welding glass filter), and it'll end up on the LED board as pictured. Stuck outside London? Fret not, as you can see the beasts in action via the website's live video stream, or you can watch bullet-time videos of each text submission on Outrace's YouTube channel -- you can see our message in both clips after the break. Enjoy! Update: Turns out the robots picked up our second message as well, and better yet, it was displayed during the day! Check out the new video after the break.%Gallery-102595%
Robotic Yale Aerial Manipulator grabs a can of Guinness
There's plenty of UAVs out there capable of dropping things, but comparatively fewer that are able to pick things up. Some researchers at Yale University doing their part to change that, however, and have recently shown off their so-called Yale Aerial Manipulator; a UAV with a robotic hand. While that may not exactly sound like much, the four-fingered hand is able to "autonomously" grab objects that weigh up to two kilograms while the UAV is in flight, and the helicopter itself is able to reach a top speed of 120 kilometers per hour. That, the researchers say, could let the UAV pick up bombs or packages in difficult to reach areas, or even simply be used to make deliveries in urban areas -- like that can of Guinness you've been craving, for instance. Head on past the break to check it out in action.
Japanese researchers develop robotic wheelchair that can follow humans
We've already seen robotic wheelchairs designed to navigate autonomously, but it looks like some researchers at Saitama University's Human-Robot Interaction Center are taking a slightly different approach with their latest project. They've developed a wheelchair equipped with a camera and a laser sensor that instead of tracking its surroundings, simply locks onto a nearby human companion and follows them around. It can even apparently anticipate the direction the person is going to go by using a distance sensor to check which way their shoulders are facing. Still no word on a commercial version, but the wheelchair is already being field-tested in care centers, where the researchers say it could be particularly useful if the facilities are short-staffed. Head on past the break to check it out in action.
Rex, the robotic exoskeleton, aims to make wheelchairs obsolete
New Zealand isn't exactly known for being a hotbed of tech innovation, but this set of bionic legs might just realign that perception a little bit. The product of seven years of development work, the Rex exoskeleton is capable of supporting the full weight of a person -- making it suitable for paraplegics -- and moving him or her around in a familiar bipedal fashion. It's operated using a joystick and control pad and is simple enough for handicapped users to self-transfer in and out of. The best news, perhaps, is that it's about to go on sale in its home country this year, with an international launch following in 2011. The worst news? Probably the $150,000 (US) initial asking price, but then we'd hardly say we're qualified to judge the value of being able to walk again. Video and full press release after the break. [Thanks, Kurt and Simon]
Neato's XV-11 robot vacuum gets the hands-on treatment
We had lots of fun playing with Neato's XV-11 robot sweeper -- probably as much fun as you can have watching something quietly vacuum a few M&Ms off of a carpet. Of course, the selling point is the company's Room Positioning System, which employs sensors to map the floor space (as opposed to merely bumping off walks). They are clearly gunning for Roomba's market share here -- but something tells me the latter company isn't worried. After all, we've never seen the XV-11 kill a viper. %Gallery-81901%
Neato's XV-11 robot vacuum maps out your floor for efficiency, doesn't ask for weekends off
Heads-up, Roomba -- your worst nightmare just waltzed into this space we like to call "reality," and it looks fully capable of giving your dirt sucking powers a run for their money. Neato Robotics, a Silicon Valley startup, has just come clean with its very first home service product: the XV-11 robotic vacuum cleaner. The device is the first to sport the company's own Room Positioning System, which utilizes an array of sensors to "intelligently map the entire floor space to choose the most effective path to clean the whole room, avoiding most obstacles other robots can only detect by impact." It's engineered to be used daily, whisking away dirt as you mind your own business and take even the smallest things in life for granted. We're told that it'll be cleaning up debris at CES early next month, though consumers at large won't be able to snag one until February when it hits shelves for $399. Video's just past the break. %Gallery-80422%
