gizmag: Robotics

Machine vision cameras powered via Ethernet cable

Wed, 08 Oct 2008 17:14:13 +1000

Baumer’s new line of GigE (Gigabit Ethernet) cameras receive power via a Cat6 Ethernet cable, eliminating the need for a separate power cord. The cameras provide machine vision for product lines and robotic applications- a process greatly simplified by the reduction of cables...

Tags: Camera, Robot

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The autonomous vehicle that thinks like an ant

Tue, 23 Sep 2008 17:12:35 +1000

We've seen numerous examples of science mimicking nature in the developing fields of robotic automation and artificial intelligence in recent times, from robotic fish to leaping micro-bots and mechanical rodents. Now a team of engineers from the University of La Laguna (ULL) in the Canary Islands have applied this thinking to self-steering vehicles using a system based on the way ants navigate between home-base and their food source...

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FANUC debuts world's largest, strongest six-axis robot

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 10:45:33 +1000

FANUC Robotics has introduced the heavy-duty M-2000iA line of robots, designed for handling truck, tractor and car parts. The model which was demonstrated during the IMTS 2008, sets new records for size, reach and wrist strength, claiming the title of world’s largest and strongest six-axis robot...

Tags: Building and Construction, Construction, Robot

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The BigDog Quadruped Robot gets smarter

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 20:44:47 +1000

August 19, 2008 We’ve written about Boston Dynamics’s BigDog Quadruped Robot before, but felt it was worth updating given there’s an impressive new video out showing the incredible beastie doing its stuff. BigDog is a gasoline-powered, hydraulically-actuated quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs over almost any terrain. Watch BigDog get kicked heavily and recover, walk across ice, rocks and incredibly, carry twice its weight while doing it. The DARPA-funded robot is chock full of technology, squeezing gyroscopes, a bunch of sensors and its own stereo vision system into a weight of just 75 kg. ..

Tags: Boston Dynamics, Robot

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Robot controlled by biological brain

Tue, 19 Aug 2008 03:27:13 +1000

The University of Reading has designed a robot that is controlled by 300,000 cultured rat neurons. The team anticipates that the behavior of the rat neurons will provide insight into how brains store data, which could lead to a better understanding of disorders such as Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, and strokes...

Tags: Bionic, Bluetooth, Brain, Robot

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iRobot Negotiator civil response robot

Tue, 12 Aug 2008 01:46:54 +1000

Best known to Gizmag readers for its range of home helper bots, iRobot is now expanding its line-up to include the growing need for public safety robots. The new iRobot Negotiator is a low-cost, tactical robot designed to meet the basic reconnaissance needs of public safety professionals, such as police and fire departments, counter-terrorism forces and domestic security experts...

Tags: iRobot, Military, Safety

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Robots developed that drive themselves up the wall

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 22:06:56 +1000

July 23, 2008 Scientists in the US have developed robots that are capable of climbing walls. BBC News has reported a team in SRI's Mobile Robotics and Transducers Programme have used the same principles behind electrostatic charges to develop machines about the size of a remote-controlled car that can scale a range of surfaces including brick, wood, steel and glass. ..

Tags: Robot

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TMSUK sends a robot to do the shopping

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 10:11:46 +1000

At the Izutsuya department store in Kitakyushu, Japan, robot developer TMSUK, whose lofty objective is to create a “safe and comfortable society in which people and robots can coexist”, has demonstrated a remote-control robot that promises a new way for homebodies to shop from the comfort of home. The prototype telerobotic shopper is a modified version of the company’s TMSUK-4 humanoid robot that incorporates a variety of mobile phone communications technology...

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The Care-O-bot 3 - always at your service

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 23:06:28 +1000

The one-armed robot glides slowly to the kitchen table. With its three fingers, it carefully picks up the bottle of apple juice and puts it next to the glasses on the tray in front of it. Then it glides back into the lounge and serves the drinks to the guests. This is how artificial assistants might work in future. Only 1.45 meters high, Care-O-bot 3 is the prototype of a new generation of service robots designed to help humans in the household. The quick-to-learn assistant was developed by research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart...

Tags: Fraunhofer, Robot

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Man vs Machine foosball

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:32:09 +1000

Up until now foosball aficionados have had to find another living, breathing human being to engage in rod spinning combat. Not anymore, thanks to a highly competitive automated foosball table capable kicking human opposition ‘off the park’. ..

Tags: Gaming, Home Entertainment

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A.M.P. – the dancing, mobile, robot boombox

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 09:41:53 +1000

The semi-autonomous robotic boombox the Miuro has a new big brother. Tiger Electronics, a division of Hasbro Inc. has teamed up with Japanese distributor SEGA Toys to introduce the Automated Music Personality (A.M.P), a 2.4 feet (73 cm) tall black robot that can be hooked up to an MP3 player or iPod and bobs its head and dances while red LED lights on its head flash. The A.M.P. pumps out 12 watts of stereo sound through a 5" mid-range speaker and two high output tweeters while more boom can be added to any song with the dedicated bass boost button. The A.M.P. also features two turntable shaped hands that allow users to be the DJ and use A.M.P. as a virtual mixing deck. The touch pad hands serve as a way to layer different sound effects and scratches over the music with the left touch pad used to add music effects and the right touch pad controlling the audio...

Tags: Audio, iPod, MP3, Robot, Speakers

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Scientists developing intelligent pipe-inspection robot

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 13:24:49 +1000

Scientists at SINTEF are working on a robot that can navigate inaccessible industrial pipes in order to check their condition, locate leakages, and clean the ventilation systems. ..

Tags: Robot

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Sega gives new robot the feminine touch

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:22:19 +1000

Somewhat mysteriously dubbed E.M.A, or Eternal Maiden Actualization, this 38cm tall Sega robot was designed to look and move in a distinctly feminine manner, and can seek out nearby human faces for a kiss when in “love mode.”..

Tags: Robot

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Robofish demonstrate group communication

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:43:35 +1000

Scientists at the University of Washington have created a sub-surface robot that uses fins instead of propellers, and is able to wirelessly communicate enough information to move in tandem with other units. The Robofish is roughly the size of a 10-pound salmon and will be used to track animals and map the bottom of the ocean...

Tags: Robot, Underwater

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iRobot announces entry into underwater vehicle market

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 16:22:37 +1000

Best known for its ventures in land-based military vehicles and home-helper robots, iRobot has now branched out into the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) market. The company will commercialize "Seaglider" technology from the University of Washington, a system which assists civilian, academic and military personnel in taking oceanographic measurements at a lower cost than traditional research vessels or moored instruments...

Tags: iRobot, Military, Underwater

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Miniature robot leaps 27 times its body size

Fri, 30 May 2008 13:14:05 +1000

Researchers at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at EPFL have developed a jumping robot inspired by the grasshopper. The 5cm model uses a 0.6-gram pager motor and a cam to charge two torsion springs, which trigger a jump from the robot’s 1.3mm carbon rod feet. The 7-gram robot can jump 4.6 feet (1.4 m), more than 27 times its body size, and ten times the distance of any existing jumping robot...

Tags: Robot

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Snow-going robots to assist in climate change research

Wed, 28 May 2008 18:16:06 +1000

May 28, 2008 Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Pennsylvania State University are developing a hardy breed of autonomous robots designed to collect critical on-site data that will aid in the understanding of how climate change is effecting the world's ice sheets and therefore enable the creation of better climate models. ..

Tags: Climate Change, research watch, Robot

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Robot climbs 1640-foot cliff at Grand Canyon

Mon, 26 May 2008 14:34:48 +1000

May 26, 2008 Panasonic have sent a 17-centimeter tall, 130-gram robot up a 1738 foot (530m) length of rope suspended next to a 1640 foot (500m) cliff at the Grand Canyon. The PR stunt was designed to showcase the endurance of the Evolta AA alkaline battery, which the Guinness Book of World Records recently recognized as the longest-lasting of its kind. Powered by two Evoltas, the robot reached the top after 6 hours and 45 minutes...

Tags: Panasonic, Robot

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Magnetic Shape Memory Alloys to create robotic claws with nanometer precision

Mon, 26 May 2008 13:38:19 +1000

Researchers at the University of the Basque Country have used ferromagnetic shape memory alloys to develop experimental devices that can position objects within an accuracy of 20 nanometers. The devices do not consume energy after being put in place, and have applications ranging from medical science to positioning mirrors in high-power telescopes...

Tags: Nanotechnology, Robot

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Honda's experimental walking assist device

Mon, 19 May 2008 17:49:29 +1000

May 19, 2008 The future of wearable exoskeleton devices is not limited to military (or superhero) applications as this experimental walking device from Honda demonstrates. Shown last month at BARRIER FREE 2008 in Japan, the partial exoskeleton uses hip angle sensors and two flat brushless DC motors controlled by an on-board CPU to supplement natural walking movement...

Tags: exoskeleton, Honda

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Adept announces Cobra s800 packaging robot

Wed, 14 May 2008 11:28:18 +1000

May 14, 2008 The latest high-speed handling robot from Adept Technology - the Cobra s800 Inverted IP65- is designed for case and carton loading applications in the packaged goods industry. ..

Tags: Robot

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SPARK programs robots with insect perception

Mon, 12 May 2008 11:14:23 +1000

The EU-funded SPARK project has developed a perceptual control architecture that allows robots to adapt to cluttered and changing environments, and learn from experience – an ability that may eventually suit it to disaster or war zones. The design is based on the neural processes of insects, and allows robots to form a unique, abstract representation of the environment, and modulate their behavior accordingly...

Tags: Robot

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Raytheon's robotic exoskeleton delivers super-human qualities

Tue, 06 May 2008 18:03:45 +1000

May 6, 2008 The advent of the robotic age is upon us and we can expect a huge transformation in the coming decade as robots of all shapes and sizes make their presence felt in many aspects of our lives. But robots wont just stand by our side as assistants, we'll actually climb aboard and wear them like a shell or suit of armor. This type of robot - known as an exoskeleton - is being developed in various guises that deliver extraordinary strength and endurance to the wearer and have the potential to impact on military, medical, industrial and transport arenas - anywhere that personal mobility, agility and strength is required. Raytheon's progress in the field is making headline news this week thanks in part to an intriguing article appearing in the May issue of Popular Science which makes the link between the company's ongoing research for the U.S. military and the release of the much hyped superhero flick Ironman(R). ..

Tags: Bionic, DARPA, exoskeleton, Military, Robot

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Chinese teams take points in robotic showdown

Tue, 06 May 2008 15:20:05 +1000

May 6, 2008 Close to one hundred teams from around the world invaded the Matadome at California State University, Northridge with their robots last weekend for the inaugural VEX Robotics World Championship. An alliance of three teams from China won the fast-paced competition with robots built by the students using the VEX Robotics Design System. The winning alliance teams, Chengdu Shuangliu Experimental Middle School, Chengdu No.7 High School and Nanshan High School Mianyang, were triumphant on the game “Bridge Battle”, which was created by Innovation First, the organization behind the Vex Robotics World Championship. ..

Tags: Education, Robot

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BAE Systems to lead new miniature robotics research initiative

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 12:28:30 +1000

April 29, 2008 From fire fighting to termite eradication and exploring the Martian surface, the role of robots in performing tasks that are too dangerous for humans is already well established. Like many emerging technologies, the key driving force behind the development of these systems comes from military applications where robots are now regularly employed for tasks such as battlefield reconnaissance, communications and neutralizing the threat of explosive devices. In the latest news in this rapidly evolving field, BAE Systems has signed a $38 million agreement with the U.S. Army Research Laboratory to spearhead development of the next-generation intelligence-gathering military robots with a focus on versatile, miniature platforms suited to use urban environments and inaccessible terrain...

Tags: BAE Systems, Military, Miniaturisation, Robot

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