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Watch a 'blind' robot successfully navigate stairs
It's routine for four-legged robots with computer vision to navigate stairs, but getting a "blind" bipedal robot to do it is a whole other challenge.
Energy-recycling stairs could replace stairlifts
For most people stairs are a minor inconvenience, but for those with mobility issues they're a nightmare. However, the tedious ascent is set to get a lot easier thanks to new "energy-recycling stairs" that are currently in the works. The idea is that the steps will help folks reduce the effort they expend in their journey by cushioning or boosting their efforts. The design is the work of a group of mechanical engineers, biomedical engineers and computer scientists at Georgia Tech. The spring-loaded stairs compress when stepped on, absorbing impact and saving 26 percent of a person's energy. This energy is then stored to provide a boost of 37 percent when stepped on going upwards.
Fence-climbing robot could be priced within your reach
Four-legged, go-anywhere robots aren't really affordable... not unless you're willing to spend as much as you would on a used car, anyway. Ghost Robotics, however, thinks it can do better. It's working on the Ghost Minitaur, a dog-sized quadruped bot that could cost $1,500 or less when it hits mass production. Its direct-drive electric motors both keep the cost down (since the springiness is dictated by software, not hardware) and let it pull off feats that you don't see in far pricier machines. As Ghost Minitaur can sense contact with objects through the motors themselves, it can not only climb stairs, but scale fences and even open certain kinds of doors. Shades of Jurassic Park's velociraptors, anyone?
Lego bipedal bot takes several small stairs for man, one big fall for robotkind (video)
Climbing stairs is one of the hardest physical tasks for a bipedal collection of motors and circuits, as Honda's ASIMO can relate, but one man's managed to achieve just that with this head-banging Lego Mindstorms NXT robot. After spending years tinkering with the plastic blocks, 222Doc's X-2 Chicken Walking Biped can autonomously walk up and down flights of small steps with relative ease, perform headstands and even scale five-inch cinder block cliffs if precariously pushed. The robot requires only seven Lego servo motors plus a touch sensor and gyroscope in each foot, but also uses a pair of third-party multiplexers (also spotted in that transforming Wall-E) for fine control of the extra motors. Watch it perform after the break, but stop the second video at 3:20 if pain makes you queasy -- the bot takes a pretty ugly spill.
Glass stair from Apple Fifth Ave spiral staircase on eBay
The seller says the stair is a "collectible" and could be used as a coffee table if you get some cinder blocks. He also states that "I know for a fact that only three of them exist outside of the retail stores' circulation, and this is one of them." According to the seller the stair originally cost $10,000 from a German manufacturer. That manufacturer would be Seele GmbH & Co. For a complete history of the Apple retail staircases, check out this ifoAppleStore article. Want it? Well, you're going to have to pick it up in Brooklyn, New York and the seller recommends you bring a car and a friend or two -- the step weighs 250 pounds (114 kg). Thanks to Mark for the tip!
