Category Archives: Robotics

The Development of Personal Robot 2

Posted on September 29, 2009 | 1 Comment

Try to imagine, what’s the feeling, if you have a robot inside your home, which is able to perform multiple tasks in daily life? It sounds like a very cool robot to you, isn’t it?

Whether you’re notice it or not, many household in the United States and Japan have been using robot to help them doing some simple task, such as the Roomba vacuum that normally being used to clean up the dirt inside the house. Honestly, the Roomba vacuum is considered as one of the best iRobot vacuum in many households in U.S.!

PR2

As you see, this Personal Robot 2, which is also known as, “PR2” is an intelligent two-armed mobile robot that well-designed for mobile manipulation research and applications. PR2 has the size of a human and have the ability to perform tasks in everyday environments. Continue reading →

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The First School of Small Robotic Fish is ready to swim in The Ocean!

Posted on September 24, 2009 | Leave a comment

The robotic technology has been pushed up to another higher level, when a group of MIT scientists made a school of small, robotic fish using handful of parts and a blend of polymers!

It’s one of the most exciting invention for the MIT scientists, as the fish moving and swimming through water like trout and tuna.

Kamal Youcef-Toumi and Pablo Vildivia Y Alvarado, both the developers of the robofish described that the new robofish are fully-equipped with sensors, as it uses to monitor the fish’s movement.

Robofish

Another interesting part of the research is they’re the first group to tailor different polymers in different parts of the body with different dampening and stiffness properties. Furthermore, the research group also trying to use the natural motion and behavior of the fish, so that they can replicate the fish’s motions!

Believe it or not, the first “Robotuna” version that was created at MIT in 1994 had more than 2,000 parts, including six motors, which is encased in its four-foot body. However, after a several times of renovation and modification, the new Robotuna models have less than 10 parts, including with one motor and the size are between five to eight inches long!

It’s a very encouraging breakthrough in the Robofish’s industry, the developers said they still have many experiments to go, before they can create a really tiny robofish, such as the anchovy or gold fish in the near future! [dsc]

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The Future of High Speed Robots is Finally Arrived!

Posted on September 18, 2009 | Leave a comment

Human being is one of the unique living creatures of all. Most of the animals are only using several sensory to recognize the external environment. However, human races are more superior in this field. By identifying the environment, especially the new environment more specifically, we’re using our five sensory organs: Eyes, nose, ears, tongue and skin to verify it (Sometimes, a small part of human being are using their sixth sense, ESP to recognize or trace something as well).

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The scientists have adapted the five sensory organs theory and practiced it in the robotic field. Hence, a project named, “Sensor Fusion” has been carried out. The main purpose of this project is to realize new sensing architecture, by simply integrating multi-sensor information, develop hierarchical and decentralized architecture for recognizing human being in a higher perception!

It might be sound crazy, but there is a robot that able to play a match of table tennis with a real human being! The even bizarre thing is the robot is having the ability to win over the human player. Go figure, what is the feeling, if you’re the one who being beat up by an artificial intelligent robot? Sounds really suck, isn’t it?

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VisGuide – The Sophisticated Robotic Vision System

Posted on September 17, 2009 | Leave a comment

You would like a high pixel camera, which is allowing you to catch the photographs in different angles in the same time? Well, maybe it sounds a little bit hard to do it, but with this amazing VisGuide, the impossible turns into possible!

VisGuide is a high-tech device, with six 2Megapixel cameras being embedded into six different positions! Have a closer look on the below picture, isn’t the VisGuide the ideal camera that you’ve dreaming for?

VisGuide

The researcher group from European-funded research consortium Decisions in Motion was the brilliant team who created this fabulous VisGuide device.

During the experiment, the Decisions in Motion researchers have been using a wide variety of techniques to observe and learn on how the brain processes visual information. The experiments are included:

  1. Record the individual neurons and groups of neurons firing in response to movement signals.

  2. Functional magnetic resonance imaging to track the moment-by-moment interactions between different brain areas.

  3. Neuropsychological studies of people with visual processing problems.

Believe it or not, the team has discovered an interesting fact that the primate brain doesn’t just detect and track a moving object. In the meantime, it also actually predicts where the object will go! The researchers want to understand more about how the visual system scans the environment and detects objects. They hoped to build a better robotic brain, which can be used to perform multipurpose movements! [sciencedaily]

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The Lynxmotion BRAT – Fun Kicking Robot to be played with!

Posted on September 16, 2009 | Leave a comment

Our life is surrounding with assorted types of robots. Believe it or not, in the next 20 years, robots are going to replace the human beings in many sectors, such as manufacturing, electronics, defense and so on. In those days, robot is becoming one of the common devices in human life!

For the football fans, you are going to love this Lynxmotion BRAT. For your information, this robot is an entry-level bipedal robot. With less than $300, you’re able to own this Lynxmotion BRAT and have some real fun with it!

Actually, the BRAT is an acronym for “Bipedal Robotic Articulating Transport”, which is the latest creation from the Lynxmotion Robotics lab. It’s a powerful yet great addition to the entry-level humanoid robot class.

The Lynxmotion BRAT

By using the Lynxmotion’s sequencing software, you’re able to program the coordinated movement of up to 32 servos. Furthermore, the Lynxmotion BRAT is an amazing testament to the flexibility of the “servo erector set” product line, which is developed by Lynxmotion Robotic lab.

In this project, you’re advised to use the free terminal program available for the SSC-32. Then, try to get a bot board with processor for untethered operation. Do remember that the bot board can also be used to piggyback onto the SSC-32 servo controller.

Please don’t skip this Lynxmotion BRAT, as it can really bring endless of fun moment to your family or friends! Go and build one immediately…

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Robot-insects – Are You Support or Against It?

Posted on September 12, 2009 | 1 Comment

We’ve saw in the sci-fic drama series, where there’s the possibility that in one day in the future, police use a swarm of robot-moths to scour out the drug stash, or rescuing the earthquake victims by using robot-bees!Robot-insect

It might sound non-sense to some of you here, but the Japanese scientists had discovered the methods to rebuild the brains of insects and program them for some specific tasks.

Ryohei Kanzaki, a professor at Tokyo University Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology, said that he has studied insect brains for over three decades. Honestly, he’s one of the pioneer in the field of robot-insects hybrid!

During an interview, he mentioned one of his biggest goals in his life is to understand human brains and restore connections damaged by diseases or accidents. Well, all this can be done, by approaching himself at insects “micro-brains”.

He pointed out that the human brain has over 100 billion neurons, which is transmitting signals and prompt the body to react to stimuli. Insects, however, have about 100,000 inside the two-millimeter-wide brain of a silk moth!

According to Mr. Kanzaki, the insects’ tiny brains are able to control complex aerobatics, and it can be an excellent robot-insect! He said it’s possible to rebuild the robot-insects and use them in various tasks in the near future!

Meanwhile, some of the insects’ lovers are totally against this act, as they think it’s a selfish and cruel experiment.

So, whether you’re the one who support or against the robot-insects, it’s all up to you here…[botjunkie]

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The World’s First Biological Mould Robot!

Posted on September 11, 2009 | Leave a comment

Honestly, can you believe that we can use the moulds to build a robot? Well, as others did, it sounds like “Mission Impossible”…

However, a research team from University of the West of England had proven that everything is possible, included built the world’s first ever biological robot using mould!

Alright, some of you might be disgusted, as moulds are being categorized as the microscopic fungi that grow in the form of multicellular filaments. In general, microscopic fungi in a single cell are called yeasts.

Plasmodium

Well, some of the molds will cause diseases or food spoilage, but most of them are playing important role in biodegradation, such as the fermentation, food production, beverages, antibiotics and enzymes!

The researchers have received a Leverhulme Trust grant, which is worth £228,000 to develop the amorphous non-silicon biological robot, “Plasmobot”, using plasmodium.

For your information, plasmodium is one of the vegetative stages of the slime mould, Physarum polycephalum, commonly occurring mould which lives in forests, gardens and most damp places in the United Kingdom!

Professor Andy Admatzky, who is also the leader of the research team, says the plasmabot is capable to sense objects and transport tiny objects along pre-programmed directions. He described that the robots are equipped with parallel inputs and outputs, and fully-controlled by spatial gradients of light!

He is very confident that once the plasmabot have been launched into the market, they can be a very good assistant/helper in the military, factory or outer space! [physorg]

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ThunderBird 6 – The Top Notch Gold Coin Ring Bottle Top Finder

Posted on September 8, 2009 | 1 Comment

What’s the Thunderbird 6 means to you? Well, for some of the movie fans, especially the science-fiction/adventure movies lovers, you might have heard it before! Yep, it’s one of the most popular Supermarionation television series, Thunderbirds in movie history!

Thunderbird 6 is increasingly popular in the late 60s. There are over millions of science-fiction movies fans flocked to the local cinema to watch the premiere!

thunderbird6

Let’s skip back to the main topic. Today’s main project is also about Thunderbird 6, but it’s not a super flying machine with artificial intelligent, instead it’s a more realistic “Gold Coin Ring Bottle Top Finder”!

Some of you might wonder, “Huh, what are the points of developing a Gold Coin Ring Bottle Top Finder?” Well, the main objective of this project is to construct a robot, which is able to follow a line of coins, detects and find out the treasure itself!

Basically, it’s a learning robot and most suitable for the children. In this case, it’s much better, if you can build this robot with your children, as you can teach them about the robot stuffs and spends some quality time together![read]

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The Outstanding and Remarkable Drew's Robot

Posted on September 7, 2009 | Leave a comment

Walking robot is always an interesting project, especially for those who love to spend a lot of time making research on how to improve the movement of the robots!

Well, today you’ve the opportunity to build a stunning yet outrageous walking machine. They’re naming it as “Drew’s Robot”.

For your information, most of the walking machine is radically symmetrical. They’re normally having two or four legs with two degrees of freedom each. The amazing part about the Drew’s Robot is it controlled through a wireless link from a hand-held controller, which is based on two Wii Nunchucks.

Drew's Robot

The Drew’s Robot is a great amusement or entertainment. By showing it in front of your family or friends, it will instantly catch their attention for sure! By the way, you can practice your robot building skill by developing this Drew’s Robot.

You can control the Drew’s Robot by using the joysticks on the two Wii Nunchucks. Did you know that the robot has no on-board processing? In this case, you’re require to handle the error-checking or decoding the serial data stream from the hand controller!

To be honest, the power indicator in front the body part is the coolest part of the Drew’s Robot. It made from a 5/8 inch uranium-glass marble held in a copper wire cage, which is surrounded by six high-power ultraviolet LEDs.

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ECCCEROBOT – Embodied Cognition in a Compliantly Engineered Robot

Posted on September 4, 2009 | Leave a comment

For those who having a crush on the robots, you might be found that those science fiction movies, such as A.I., Wall-E, Transformers series and much more are incredibly fabulous!

Well, if you think it’s impossible to build an artificial intelligent robot, then you might want to reconsider it again.

ECCCEROBOT

Guys, let’s meet the first anthropomimetic robot, the ECCCEROBOT! For your information, the ECCCEROBOT is the short acronym of “Embodied Cognition in a Compliantly Engineered Robot”. It’s a three-year project funded by the 7th framework programme of the EU. Believe it or not, the ECCCEROBOT is known as the first anthropomimetic robot.

The main objective of the project is to investigate machine consciousness through internal modeling. By the way, this ECCCEROBOT is being tested repeatedly, so that it can be mounted on a powered mobile platform. Continue reading →

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