Robot Gossip

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Babies With Robots

2007-11-08T08:07:00.000-08:00

"Researchers at the University of Delaware are providing safe mobility to children with special needs who are unable to fully explore the world on their own through the development of kid-sized robots that infants can drive using joysticks."

"Infants with Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism and other disorders can have mobility limitations that disconnect them from the ongoing exploration that their peers enjoy."

“If these infants were adults, therapists would have options of assistive technology such as power wheelchairs,” James C. (Cole) Galloway, associate professor of physical therapy says.

"The tiny robot is ringed with sensors that can determine the obstacle-free roaming space, and will either allow infants to bump obstacles or will take control from the infant and drive around the obstacle itself. The next prototype, UD2, will build on the current technology to provide additional control to a parent, teacher or other supervising adult."

Obviously the next step would be to make a giant car-crushing biped with a little baby seat inside. Don't worry - the giant baby-driven monster will never be allowed to escape into a busy downtown to rip corners off sky scrapers and toss city buses through plate glass windows.

Babies learn to ride robots at UD

Robot Love

2007-10-12T09:25:00.000-07:00

Press Release from Universiteit Maastricht in The Netherlands:

A Ph.D. thesis submitted to the Universiteit Maastricht contains some controversial forecasts about the future of human-robot relationships. The thesis is entitled “Intimate Relationships with Artificial Partners” and its author is David Levy, an International Master at chess from London. Levy’s thesis argues that trends in robotics and other areas of artificial intelligence will, within a few decades, result in robots that are so humanlike in their appearance and functionality, in their personality, and in their expression of emotions, that many people will be falling in love with them, having sex with them, and even marrying them.

Levy’s Ph.D. research has encompassed the fields of psychology, sexology, sociology, robotics, artificial intelligence, and gender studies. His forecasts are based on his analysis of certain trends and on what he sees as the inevitability of how these trends will continue in the future. One of these trends follows the objects of human affection – at first this was only for other humans, then it expanded to include pet animals, then virtual pets such as the TAMAGOTCHI and Sony’s robotic dog AIBO, and in the future, according to Levy’s thesis, for robots. Another trend examined in the thesis follows our attitudes to various sexual practices, as these attitudes have become steadily more liberal. The thesis also examines the principal reasons, identified by research psychologists, why we fall in love and why we have sex. Most of these reasons are shown in the thesis to be equally applicable to the human-robot relationships of the future as they are for human-human relationships today.

Love and Sex with Robots - press releases 2007 - Press releases - Press - Universiteit Maastricht

3000th Argo Ocean Probe Launch

2007-10-02T09:57:00.000-07:00

The 3000th Argo ocean sensor probe is to be launched from the RV Kaharoa off New Zealand.

The Argo program started in 2004 collects temperature, salinity and pressure readings from all of the worlds oceans with the 3000 sensor probes.

The robot sensors sink in the water to a depth of up to 2000 meters. When they reach the target depth they pump oil into an external bladder to allow them to float to the surface. As they rise they record the temperature and salinity readings. At the surface they transmit their position and data to a satellite then begin the cycle again. Each cycle takes about ten days.

The objectives of the Argo project are to get a better understanding of the oceans and the world's climate. The program has worldwide support.

Each probe is expected to last about 150 measurement cycles and they plan to replace 800 per year.
That is a lot of robots. Do not be surprised if one of the floats up in your bathtub one day.

Scoop: Maharey launching 3000th robot of the sea

See also: Legions of Ocean Robots: 2000th Launch

iRobot In The Gutter

2007-10-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

Roomba maker iRobot has introduced a new household robot, the Looj, made for cleaning rain gutters.

You just drop the small Looj into you gutter and it "augers" it way through and ejects the crappy buildup out and away. Just in time for the fall season.

The price range from US $100 to $170 depending on the options you get. Available now from the iRobot web store. I would guess that it will be available in suburban Home Depots soon. And also available to clear the rain gutters in your third world countries.

I like the belt holster. I can help you to climb the ladder sure, but also wearing it around the yard would make you the coolest guy in the 'hood.

iRobot Corporation: About Looj

Nuclear Powered Lunar Prospector

2007-10-01T14:19:00.000-07:00

The folks at Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute have come up with another unique robot creation.

The Scarab is a 4-wheel robot is designed for prospecting on the Moon. The design has been optimized for drilling into rock in cold and dark environments.

The drill in the center of the robot body can drill out a core sample up to meter deep. The body is shaped so the relatively small drilling robot - only 250 kgs ( 550 lbs) - can get enough weight on the bit to drill.

The Scarab can run in the dark bottoms of moon craters with its nuclear power source. The advanced sterling radioisotope generator (ASRG) converts the emissions from a radioactive isotope to electricity. According to the article the generator can provide 100 watts of power for 10 years.

The robot has a laser navigation system so it can see the local terrain in the dark and find its way around.

So far NASA does not have have any specific plans for sending the Scarab to the moon but the robot is being used to test technologies for the task.

There is no mention if CMU is thinking of fielding a team for the $30 million Google Lunar robot X-prize.

The Tartan Online : 'Scarab' the robot

Sacramento Police Train Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Helpers

2007-10-01T08:58:00.000-07:00

The Sacramento, California police department is developing a specialized Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, UAV, as a low cost alternative to helicopter cops.

They currently have two helicopters that can stream live video to remote terminals in police cars or command centers.

Their UAV's are 5 feet long, weigh 12 pounds and hand launched. They can keep their multiple video cameras aloft for 45 minutes. They are almost autonomous and have the capability to track subjects with their camera eyes.

The police are looking forward to reduced costs and better availability of the flying robots compared to expensive helicopter teams.

They also like the silent operation of the spy planes.

"Police Chief Albert Najera, who said the department gets many complaints about the noise of the helicopters. "The noise factor is huge. This is almost silent, you can't hear it," he said. "Not many police departments can afford a helicopter, but most will be able to afford this.""

The aircraft still need to get FAA clearance before they are put on duty.

Sacramento Police Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Program Gaining Altitude - Government Technology

Robots Get Voice in US Congress

2007-06-21T09:21:00.000-07:00

In a demonstration of their growing influence, robots are gaining a
political foothold to help them shape the policies of the US government.

Congressman Mike Doyle, a Democrat from Pennsylvania's 14 district and ZachWamp a Republican from Tennessee's 3rd, announced the formation of a bi-partisan Congressional Caucus for robots.
Congressman Doyle explains that robots are "being used to defend our nation, perform surgery, fill prescriptions, deliver supplies and materials, and even as tools to educate our children..."
"...it is important that we create a forum by which Congress can familiarize itself with the impact this first great technology of the 21st century is likely to have on the lives of all Americans."

Their press release states the proposed public reasons for the creation of the group:

The preliminary, proposed goals of the bipartisan Robotics Caucus will include, but are not limited to:

-- Increasing general awareness of robotics industry challenges and issues among Members of Congress and policy analysts in the federal government;
-- Educating Members of Congress and congressional staff on current and future research, development, and utilization initiatives involving robotics;
-- Serving as a forum where robotics-related policy issues can be discussed and debated; and
-- Ensuring that our nation remains globally competitive as the robotics industry rapidly expands and begins to exert a profound effect on the way our citizens live their lives.

Obviously the goals will also include strong-arming representatives to pass legislation favorable to robots and promoting the robot agenda.

Generally the political types lag the real world on new issues so this move also shows that robot are truly becoming an important and growing part of our civilization.

Congressmen
Doyle andWamp Launch Congressional Caucus on Robotics - Yahoo! News

Tactile Sensor

2007-06-19T14:11:00.000-07:00

Shadow Robot Company, maker of the 24 Degree-of-freedom dexterous hand, is now making tactile sensors for the hand.

According to Shadow's web site, "the sensor uses Quantum Tunnelling Composite (QTC) as the sensing medium."
Each sensor has either has either 34 or 22 active tactile elements, tactels, making it nearly as sensitive as human skin. The sensors come in two shapes for either a finger tip or a thumb but they can be custom made to any shape.

The sensors were developed for a DARPA funded project at Johns Hopkins University for new prosthetics.

Shadow Robot Company: The Tactile Sensor Overview

Related:
Shadow Air Muscles
Robot Hand Available

Robot Radio Relays

2007-06-19T09:25:00.000-07:00

Communications between troops in an urban area can be a problem due to interference and line of sight blocked by buildings.
Can you hear me now?
DARPA is looking to robots for a solution to the dropped call problem.
They are looking for proposals for mobile robots that act as radio relays around a city. The robots, called LANdroids, would be dropped by soldiers around the city to create a network of communications nodes. The robots should be smart enough to know how to stay online under changing conditions - for example if some of them get destroyed. The robots would position themselves so they can always hear someone else in the network.

DARPA would like the disposable robots to be about the size of a deck of cards, cost under US $100 each and stay online up to 14 days.

There will be an information day on July 6 for potential bidders.

DARPA Information Processing Technology Office

PDF LANdroid Proposal Information

Hummingbird Unmanned Helicopter

2007-06-19T08:41:00.000-07:00

Boeing announced that they have successfully completed first flight tests on its unmanned helicopter the A160T Hummingbird.
The A160T is the turbine-engine version of the A160 unmanned helicopter under development by Boeing since they purchased Frontier Systems in 2004.

The Hummingbird is an advanced design helicopter with performance advantages over a traditional manned craft. It can fly up to 2500 miles and stay aloft for 24 hours with a 300 pound payload. It is expected to be able to fly at up to 140 knots forward speed at altitudes up to 30,000 feet.
It has variable speed rotors so that it can hover longer, fly quieter and use fuel more efficiently than a regular chopper.
The Hummingbird is 35 feet long with 36 feet diameter rotors.

Boeing: Boeing Completes First Flight of A160T Hummingbird Unmanned Helicopter

Biggest Robot In The Factory

2007-06-13T19:44:00.000-07:00

Kuka Robotics has announced the largest factory robot ever.

The KR 1000 'Titan' is a 6-axis worker with a 1000kg (2200 pound) capacity and 3200 mm (10+ feet) reach.
The Titan is designed for heavy-duty work in automotive, building materials industries and foundries. The super-strength robot can be used in some applications that have needed lifts with overhead cranes.
The big guy has 9 motors and Kuka says it can "deliver the power of a mid-sized car."
Two of the axis use two motors each to power a single gear.

The robot will be availble before then end of the year and can be shipped in a standard container.

KUKA introduces KR 1000, world’s strongest robot

“titan”: the world’s strongest robot

Thermal Imaging Robot Finds Termites

2007-06-05T16:01:00.000-07:00

The Australian company Termicam is testing a remote controlled robot that can crawl through nooks and crannies to track down sneaky termites munching on your house.

The Termibot uses video and thermal imaging to find the pests. Once found the robot probes the termite nest to break it open and expose the bugs. It then squirts poison directly into the nest to kill the buggers.

The prototype is connected to the human operator with an umbilical wire but future versions will be wireless.

The robot offers many advantages over traditional methods of termite control. First, the robot can go into small paces where an exterminator cannot fit. This eliminates the need to poke holes in the walls searching for the bugs. Secondly, the thermal imaging capabilities of the robot extends the human vision to be able to 'see through walls' to where the insects build their nests. Finally, the robot can deliver the insecticide directly to the nest instead of having to poison an entire house for a small infestation. This saves chemicals and reduces the stress to the environment.

Remote-controlled robot uses thermal imaging to detect and eradicate termites - gizmag Article

Robots to Guard Israeli Border Kill Zone

2007-06-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) are deploying automated weapon robots along the border of the Gaza Strip to create a buffer kill zone to prevent unauthorized infiltrations.

The system, called the "See-Shoot" system, is currently being installed and will be fully operational by the end of 2007. It consists of automated weapons stations connected through a command center to visual, ground andairborne sensors.

The system is the culmination of years of development by defense contractors Rafael, Elbit Systems and IMI.

The system is part of an IDF strategy of low-signature/no-signature warfare. The no-signature doctrine strives to keep soldiers out of harms way as much as possible.

However, "no-signature" warfare does not mean 'no responsibility' yet.
Eventually the See-Shoot system will be able to operate as a completely autonomous closed-loop system. But for now, the sensor data will be monitored by soldiers and a commanding officer will approve activation of the automated kill function.

The system is designed to enforce a 1500 meter(almost 1 mile) wide area along the border. Future plans include adding anti-tank missiles to extend the width of the no-mans land to several kilometers.

I wonder if they made plans for removing the dead bodies from the kill zone. Will they have to disable the whole system or do they have a robot that can drive through the zone and clean up? Maybe they will just leave the dead bodies laying around to mark the boundary of the buffer zone.

Similar automated systems are under development for the border in Korea.

DefenseNews.com - Israel Wants Robotic Guns, Missiles To Guard Gaza Border - 06/01/07 17:55

Soft Touch Child Robot

2007-06-02T09:00:00.000-07:00

From Daily Yomiuri:

A child-sized android with flexible joints and soft skin developed by the Japan Science and Technology Agency was unveiled Friday at Osaka University, where the agency's research and development team is based.

The 1.3-meter-tall, 33 kilogram humanoid robot has optical, auditory and tactile sensors. Fifty-one actuators inside its body run on compressed air and enable the robot to make complex movements smoothly.

About 200 tactile sensors are embedded in the robot's gray skin, which is made of silicon and other materials. The robot can react to its surroundings by blinking and altering its facial expressions.

The robot, which has the physical ability of a 1- or 2-year-old toddler, can turn over and stand up with assistance.
At the news conference Friday, the humanoid moved its hands and feet and turned its eyes.
The 33-kilogram humanoid is fitted with an artificial vocal cord can also form words.

Its name is CB2, an abbreviation of Child-Robot with Biomimetic Body.

Child robot makes debut : Science & Nature : Features : DAILY YOMIURI ONLINE (The Daily Yomiuri)

Close to Home

2007-06-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

Comics and Editorial Cartoons: Close to Home on Yahoo! News

Robot Creates M&M Art

2007-05-31T10:57:00.000-07:00

Here is a patent application for a robot set-up to create an work of art with M&M candies or an 'arrangement of confectionary pieces.'

A user would design a pretty picture out of virtual confections on a touchscreen then the robot would arrange the treats accordingly.

Your drawing creates a sort of paint-by-number for the robot who fills it in with M&M's.

Then you eat it. (The artwork, not the robot.)

United States Patent Application: 0070110886

New Standard of Care for Robot-Assisted Therapy

2007-05-30T10:53:00.000-07:00

HealthSouth Corporation (NYSE: HLS) and Motorika Ltd. announced today that the companies have signed an agreement to advance the application of robot technology in HealthSouth's inpatient rehabilitation hospitals.

Under the terms of the worldwide agreement, Motorika will have the exclusive license to market and sell the AutoAmbulator®, HealthSouth's robot-assisted gait therapy system and Healthsouth hospitals will install Motrika's Reo(TM) Go platform for robot- assisted arm therapy in at least 25 of its hospitals.

Motrika will also take over the manufacture, design, installation, maintenance, technical support, training and distribution of the AutoAmbulator.

"This agreement is a defining moment in applying robotic technology to benefit patients receiving therapy for neurological conditions," said Omer Einav, Motorika's founder and chief operating officer. "HealthSouth and Motorika will create a new standard of care for neurological patients, with an integrated full body solution that enables precise levels of functionally- oriented therapy to deliver better patient outcomes."

Part of the agreement also includes collaboration on the development of rehabiliataion robots for home use.

The AutoAmbulator® is a robot-assistance machine that allows patients with neurological conditions such as stroke, multiple sclerosis and spinal cord injury to replicate a normal walking pattern on a treadmill in a safe, efficient manner.

Reo Go(TM) is a robotic guide and modular handle, with software to customize exercise patterns and measure performance, to enhance and support the patient upper body rehabilitaion.

HealthSouth and Motorika Announce Agreement to Create New Standard of Care for Robot-Assisted Therapy: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance

Control Devices With Your Thoughts

2007-05-29T15:41:00.000-07:00

Hitachi's Advanced Research Lab has demonstrated a prototype of a portable non-invasive device to measure and record brain activity.

The device uses brain photo-topography to read the brain signals. Photo-topography uses near-infrared sensors to measure the change in blood flow in the brain.

The unit consists of a headband that weighs only 400 g (14 ounces) which holds 8 pairs of light source and detector pairs. The headband is connected to a 630 g electronics box that can be worn on a belt.
The data stays in communication via wireless LAN to a nearby computer for recording and analysis of the brain signals.

Although Hitachi has no specific plans to develop the unit as an interface to a thought-controlled robot, they have done experiments to drive a model train.

Hitachi expects that the dramatic reduction in size - from older versions that would fill a room - to a wearable device, will radically change how the brain measurements are used:
"Not just for medical applications, photo-topography technology will be more familiar to us. For example, this technology may be useful for health care application with observing a trend in everyday measurements," said Hitachi. The company also explains about some other application fields such as psychology, marketing and education."

They could not say when the device would be commercially available.

Hitachi Develops Portable Photo-topography Equipment for Measuring Brain Activities in Daily Life -- Tech-On!

Robot Fence Shows Cows Where to Go

2007-05-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

Robots not only take on unpleasant tasks but they can enhance and improve on human efforts.

Another farmer's helper robot: The Voyager robot fence from Lely.

The robot fence is an electrified fence that keeps your cows from running away, like any good fence. But this smart fence also occasionaly moves a few feet to give the cows fresh grass to graze. When they get to the end of the field, the robot fence can move the herd back to the beginning again to start all over. It gives the cows fresh ground and allows the field to recover.

According to the website:
"Frontal grazing by means of the Voyager is a method of intensive grazing management that allows livestock to continuously graze on fresh forage. Because the cows have a small strip of fresh pasture each time, the grass is well cropped and dosed, which not only makes the rumen function better, but also achieves a better proportional intake of protein and sugars."

Happy cows, better milk.

The fence consists of two 4-wheel skid-steer robots that keep the electrified line properly tensioned between them. Each robot is about 125 cm (4 feet) square, 215 cm (7 feet) tall and weighs 170 kg (375 lbs. They communicate through bluetooth so they can compensate for obstacles or unlevel ground.

The robots are powered by solar panels so they can operate autonomously. They are pre-programmed to optimize the forage. The farmer only needs to tell the robots how many square meters of new field per day and the robots calculate how far forward to move.

Voyager

Korean Home Robot

2007-05-28T09:58:00.000-07:00

Another entry into the race for the perfect Korean home companion robot. This one is from Korean start-up KornTech.

Rogun is a 1-meter tall humanoid who can walk and communicate wirelessly with the Internet and cell phones. It is designed to play with kids and entertain them through a small video screen on his chest.

Through a cell phone the parents will be able to watch their kids and send commands to them and the robot.

KornTech says they have spent US $1 million developing the first unit. They will build more to order for $100,000 right now. In the future the plan to sell the cuties for as little as $5000.

Robot Keeps Home Safe(The Korea Times)

US Military Wants Sky Stations

2007-05-28T08:12:00.000-07:00

The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, is soliciting proposals for research into aircraft that can stay aloft for more than 5 years.
The project, code-named VULTURE, is for heavier-than-air station that does not need to land. This is a request for early information but there are some restrictions on the design:
"The Government is not interested in approaches that use either radioactive energy sources or employs any form of buoyant flight for this application."
So, blimps need not apply.

What kind of system is allowed?
"The architectures selected and the specific approaches taken by the Offerors will determine the range of technical areas that are developed, including, but not limited to, environmental energy collection, high specific energy storage, extremely efficient propulsion systems, precision robotic refueling, autonomous materiel transfer, extremely efficient vehicle structural design, and mitigation of environmentally-induced loads."

Automatic refueling, long-life batteries, solar powered, wind powered, very long-term glider, floating cities... lots of things would work.

Is the lack of such a platform due to missing technology or because no one has tried it before?

Get your ideas together quickly. DARPA has scheduled an Industry Day for June 7 to explain their goals in detail.

Solicitation Number: SN07-38

UK Coppers Test Sky Spy

2007-05-28T07:38:00.000-07:00

Police in Merseyside,UK are testing an unmanned flying robot to help control the population. The BBC reports that the machine will be used "mainly for tackling anti-social behaviour and public disorder."

The unit is a small 2 pound vertical takeoff helicopter with four blades. It can have visible and infrared cameras. It can be programmed to follow a course using GPS or controlled remotely by a police officer on the ground.

The ground person watches the action from the sky high robot's point of view through video glasses display.

The robot is very quiet so you may not even know you are being watched. But it only flies for 20 minutes.

There is no word on when it will be fitted with weapons.

BBC NEWS | England | Merseyside | Pilotless police drone takes off

Robot Hall of Fame Inductees 2007

2007-05-23T09:02:00.000-07:00

the Robot Hall of Fame at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh has announced four new inductees into the Robot Hall of Fame.
This years inductees include one robot from fiction and 3 real life milestone-setting robot creations.

The inductees are:

Lt. Cmdr. Data
from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
""Data played a pivotal role on questions of robot 'right to life' matters and human/machine philosophies," said juror Ray Jarvis, director of the Intelligent Robotics Research Centre at the Australian National University."

Raibert Hopper
Invented by Marc Raibert at CMU and MIT.
"The one-legged Hopper was ideal for studying dynamic balance because it could not stand still, but had to keep moving to stay upright. "The Raibert Hopper was the visionary effort that set the entire field of robotic locomotion in motion." The lessons learned with the Hopper proved central for biped, quadruped and even hexapod running. Raibert is now president of the robotics firm he founded, Boston Dynamics."

NavLab 5

"NavLab 5's crowning achievement was "No Hands Across America," a 1995 cross-country tour on which it did 98 percent of the driving. "This was the first time that any autonomous vehicle had traversed so much different terrain," said juror Chuck Thorpe"

LEGO Mindstorms
""This kit did more to take creative robotics to the masses than just about any other retail product," said juror Illah Nourbakhsh, associate professor in Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute.
Juror Joanna Haas, director of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Science Center, agrees. "LEGO has made robotics truly accessible to a broad audience — children and adults alike — and the Mindstorms sub-brand supports wildly popular play and learning in homes, classrooms and museums all around the world.""
Buy LEGO Mindstorms NXT

May 15: Carnegie Mellon Adds Four More 'Bots to Robot Hall of Fame - Carnegie Mellon University

Home MadeTreasure Hunting Robot

2007-05-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

A man in Wiltshire, UK has converted a toy truck into a remote controlled metal detector to help him find lost treasures in the countryside.

His invention was inspired by stories of techniques to find old land mines and a bad back that prevents him from sweeping the ground with a manual metal detector.

He has worked to perfect his device for 7 years and estimates that he has spent 2000 British pounds (US $3800).
It includes a metal detector and camera to send images back to the control unit.

The robot is not only easier to use but more effective than handheld devices.

He says he has found hundreds of old coins and relics. One of his finds, a Medieval Pilgrims badge, is now in a museum.

John Invents Treasure Hunting Robot (from Wiltshire Times)

Duct Diving Robot Wins Award

2007-05-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

A robot named Wizard, designed to crawl through air conditioning ducts to clean, look for leaks and apply special coating was honored by the UK's Knowledge Transfer Partnerships as the Best Engineering Excellence for 2007.

The honor goes to Breval Technical Services and Bell College who cooperated to develop the service robot.

Breval (a subsidiary of Spice plc on London exchange) has spent three years developing the Wizard robot which is in testing phase with customers now.

The robot uses 8 wheels to drive through ventilation ducts. The company thinks that the Wizard will be able to reduce maintenance costs and extend the life of ducting for their customers.

Nice use of a robot. It does a nasty dirty job and also improves our ability to work inside small ducts.

Bell College News

ACR-News: Wizard the AC robot works magic on judges

Underwater Robot Recovers Over 500,000 Silver And Gold Coins

2007-05-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

Odyssey Marine Exploration (OTC:OMR) announced last week that they had recovered over 500,000 coins from a colonial period shipwreck.

They are keeping the location of the site, code named "Black Swan" secret until they have completed their salvage operations.

The find is worth at least US $500,000,000 based on an estimated average value of the coins, some in "dazzling mint state" condition, at US $1000 each. The estimate is considered preliminary because only 6000 of the half million coins have been inspected.

The remotely operated diver Zeus has allowed the salvage team to use "diligently followed archaeological protocols" to ensure that they get the best historical value from the sites. However, Odyssey claims that they have still not been able to determine the identity of the ships.
The Zeus is capable of diving to 2500 m (8200 ft). It weighs 8 tons in air with 8 thrusters and 2 seven function manipulator arms. It is connected to the surface through a fiber optic umbilical for telemetry and high-definition video.

The treasure, they say, was recovered from "beyond the territorial waters or legal jurisdiction of any country," but they still expect other claims on the booty.

I think, technically, it all belongs to the robot, since he was the one who made the recovery possible, but it will be shared with he investors in the company.

Odyssey's Latest Shipwreck Find Yields Over 500,000 Silver And Gold Coins - Press Release

Brewster Rockit

2007-04-13T08:22:00.000-07:00

Comics Page: Brewster Rockit

New Robots Clean Pools

2007-04-11T11:57:00.000-07:00

Home vacuum robot maker iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT)has launched two new pool-cleaner robots for home use.
The two robots, Verro 300 and Verro 600, are available now for $800 and $1200.
The 300 model uses water jet and vacuum to suck up debris from the pool. The Verro 600 uses brushes along with the vacuum and filter.

Drop the robot into the water and it will clean the pool in 60 to 90 minutes. The robots require a power umbilical plugged in but do not need any hose connection to the pool's pump.
They will also not gawk at your sunbathing teenage daughter.

Will pool robots put pool service companies out of business? No. There is a lot more to maintaining a pool than sweeping up the leaves.

Pool cleaning robots are not new by any means.
iRobot worked with the Aqua Products Group companies to develop their robots.
Another maker of pool cleaner robots is Maytronics in Isreal.

iRobot Corporation: Press Release

Security Robot SeQ-1

2007-04-11T10:47:00.000-07:00

From Taiwan's Central News Agency, cna.com.tw.
Hopefully we will see some pictures soon.

Quote:
Taipei, April 11 (CNA) Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) has developed a new security robot, called "SeQ-1," in collaboration with the Shin Kong Security Co., an ITRI spokesman said Wednesday.

The SeQ-1 robot will soon join the national security system, the spokesman said, adding that the name "SeQ-1" refers to the robot's "security" role as well as its "Q&A" function and cute appearance.

According to the spokesman, the SeQ-1 robot has a futuristic external form, an agile head which can turn easily, and large LED eyes that turn on automatically in the dark.

ITRI integrated an "environment security system" into SeQ-1's robot platform system which enables the robot to have immediate interaction with security monitoring systems and marks a big difference between the SeQ-1 and foreign security robots, the spokesman said.

NEW SECURITY ROBOT 'SEQ-1' DEVELOPED BY ITRI AND SHIN KONG SECURITY

Scorpion EOD for The Big Jobs

2007-03-12T08:41:00.000-07:00

Isreali police forces have recently used the Explosive Ordinance Disposal, EOD, robot Scorpion to dispose of a hidden bomb.

The Scorpion is from Autonomous Solutions, Inc of Utah. It is made from a modified Bobcat excavator with ASI's command and control brains.

Six Scorpions were delivered to Isreali police in 2006 and this is their first success on active duty.

The large size of the EOD robot makes it unique in the growing family of bomb disposal robots.
According to ASI:
The Scorpion's size, strength, and its ability to cut through steel introduces new capabilities which are changing the way the Israeli Police plan and execute their explosive ordnance disposal operations.

Autonomous Solutions, Inc.

The Semantic Robotic Vision Challenge

2007-03-12T07:55:00.000-07:00

A robot challenge has been announced that will test robots' abilities to recognize objects as well as their skill at understanding language.

The robot contestants will be given a list of objects located around their competition arena where they will be expected to go get them.

The robots will be required to look up the name of the objects on the internet - for example from Google image search - then find the required items.

From the website:

Integrating a mobile robot with the vision research adds another interesting layer of complexity that would not ordinarily be available in a purely computer vision competition. Semantic understanding of the objects could also be expanded to scene understanding as well.

So the objects will be located in proper context for example office items will be set up in a simulated office.

The final rules for the competition will be posted this week. Contestants are required to pass a qualifying test to get into the finals.
The final event will be held at the Twenty-Second AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence held in Vancouver July 22-26 2007.

The Semantic Robotic Vision Challenge

Robot Goes to Work For You

2007-03-09T13:32:00.000-08:00

Last year we saw a telepresence robot that would allow a bedridden student to attend classes as a rolling video terminal. There are also robot screens that can transport a doctor to the the side of a patient's hospital bed from his office.
Now there is a startup promising a telepresence robot for teleconferencing and allowin you to be in two places at once.
Headthere is designing a remote controlled robot named Giraffe. You will be able to roll arouns the office remotely with the 5 foot 8 inch Giraffe. It has a high resolution camera with 8x zoom atop a 14 inch monitor.

Presumably you would display your own live face in the monitor, but you could display any body part there. Who knows, you might even be able to put your face with the background of say an airport terminal instead of your actual poolside scene.

The base has some obstacle avoidance capabilities and can roll over small obstacles so you could wander around a factory or move from office to conference room.
This would be perfect for the control freak or the slacker.

Headthere says that the cost will range from US $1800 to $3000 and it will be available in 2008. Just a guess that there looking for venture capital too.

HeadThere: Maker of the Giraffe Video Conferencing Robot

NASA Launch of Orbital Robot

2007-03-08T16:22:00.000-08:00

Two autonomous satellites are expected to be launched tonight aboard an Atlas 5 booster from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The satellites were built for the Orbital Express program to test autonomous refueling and repair of satellites in orbit.
The ASTRO, for Autonomous Space Transport Robotic Operations, is a 950 kg (2100 pound) robot with extra tanks of fuel and a 3.3 meter arm for catching and holding other satellites.

The second satellite, NextSat, is a 223 kg (500 pound) prototype of the next generation on-orbit serviceable satellite.

The two satellites will work together to test the autonomous navigation as well as procedures and standards for space repair. The tasks will include refueling with hydrazine and exchanging batteries. The test mission is scheduled to run for 90 days.

The Orbital Express is a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program with Boeing as the lead integrator.

Boeing built the ASTRO and Ball Aerospace built the NextSat prototype.

SPACE.com -- Orbital Express: Prototype Satellites Primed for In-Flight Service

War Machine Protest in Pittsburgh Update

2007-03-03T11:56:00.000-08:00

The Pittsburg Organizing Group has declared their planned blockade of the National Robotics Engineering Center a success.

They succeeded in closing the research facility for the day on Friday and drawing attention to military connections to the center.

They blocked various entrances to the site with people connected together with PVC pipe and duct tape. There was also a person on a 20 foot high tripod set up in front of the main entrance.
The action started around 7 AM and lasted until about noon. 13 (or 14) people were arrested for "failure to disperse, obstructiong of a public highway, and possession of instruments of a crime with criminal intent."
The "instruments of crime" were reportedly the PVC pipe that they used to bind themselves together.

There were about 20 people directly involved with the barricade plus over 100 supporters and observers.
News reports said that CMU officials told police that a few of the protesters who were on CMU property, rather than a public road, could stay of they wanted. They were not arrested.

There was a moderate amount of local news coverage but they had to compete for television attention with the funeral of that rich blonde chick. People have their priorities.

I do not know personally whether the work done at NREC is good or bad for world peace, etc. But I do appreciate the efforts of these few protestors to raise the issue and maybe cause people to ask questions about the consequences of their engineering work. Many times engineers become so enamoured with the elegance of their technology that they forget to ask for what it is to be used.

Barricade the War Machine in Pittsburgh

Planned Action

Remote Controlled Pigeons

2007-03-01T14:34:00.000-08:00

A team of scientists from the Robot Research Center at the Shandong University of Science and Technology have implanted radio receiver electrodes in the brain of pigeons to control them.
The scientists can make the pigeons hover, fly or turn right or left through a computer control.

"Chief scientist Professor Su Xuecheng explained the pigeon does not feel sense of pain at the head and failures will not influence the pigeon's life."

In fact, the control will allow the pigeons to be less of a threat to social stability and national unity in China.

Welcom to Changsha!

Also:
Zombie Mice Robots
Robot Zombie Cockroaches

Urban Robots to Improve Quality of Life

2007-03-01T13:17:00.000-08:00

The EU is funding a 3 year study to design robots to improve the quality of life in European cities.
The URUS,Ubiquitous Networking Robotics in Urban Settings, project will study how to use a network of robots to make the old cities more liveable.

The project will concentrate on designing robots to interact with people in the city to help them in basic ways. They will design robots for assistance and giving directions. This will become more important as the population of the cities ages.
They will look at robots to automatically make deliveries around the urban core to reduce the need for motor vehicles.
And they will look at robots to help in security throughout the cities.
They anticipate that the network of robots will work in combination with fixed sensors - like cameras - and with PDA's and cell phones.

The biggest technologies to conquer, they expect, are the ability of robots to navigate independently and to be able to interact in a 'friendly' manner with people.

The proposed network of robots will be tested in a section of Barcelona probably not before 2008 or 2009.

The Engineer Online

Industrial Robot Sales Fall In 2006

2007-02-28T09:15:00.000-08:00

The Robotics Industry Association reports that sales of industrial robot units declined by 30% in 2006. The revenue from robot sales fell 22%

The decline was due to the falloff in robot sales to automotive manufacturers. 2005 was a particularly good year for sales to the auto industry so demand was expected to slump.

The deliveries to non-automotive factories continues to increase year after year. Donald A. Vincent, Executive Vice President of RIA states, "We saw very strong growth in industries such as beverages and tobacco, apparel, wood products, paper manufacturing, printing, machinery manufacturing, and furniture. We also saw growth in food and consumer goods, life sciences/pharmaceuticals/biomedical, and plastics and rubber."

Totals for 2006 were:
North America Sales: 12,765 robots, $904.2 million
Total Sales: 13,791 robots, $958.4 million

2005 numbers

Non-Automotive Orders for Robots Rise in 2006, But Overall Sales Fall 30% in North America - Robotics Online

Robot Reptile To Go Undercover

2007-02-27T11:27:00.000-08:00

I recently posted about a female robot sage-grouse to be used to lure unsuspecting males like the FBI on Myspace.

Now here is another case of robots being used to surreptitiously spy on the males of another species.

Jennifer Moore from Victoria University School of Biological Science has made a robot tuatara to mingle with the real monsters in the wild. She says, "If we can better understand how male tuatara establish their dominance, we may be better able to select individuals to start new populations in the future."

She was helped by artists from the special effects lab Weta Workshop to craft the robot. The body was cast from from one of the lab's tuataras, Oliver, who had passed away. He is now immortalized - reincarnated with the personality of a biology researcher.

Oliver the tuatara lives on - as a robot - 22 Feb 2007 - National News - New Zealand Herald

Anybots Walking Robot Dexter

2007-02-27T10:33:00.000-08:00

Dexter, a walking robot that is dynamically balanced like a person. He won't fall over when pushed.
Monty is on segway wheels and has a working hand.

They are being designed to work around the home.

From anybots:

Dexter balances dynamically, walks and will be able to run. Monty has one fully articulated hand driven by 18 motors and one gripper. Dexter's legs and Monty's arms are driven by compressed air. Driven remotely by a human operator, they can perform a wide range of industrial and household tasks.

The video says, "Walking improves with practice." I'll bet it does. so do their evil designs on world domination. Looks the most like a Cylon of any robots I have seen lately.
see the video here:
Anybots

Hospital Helpers Track Equipment

2007-02-27T08:10:00.000-08:00

A new robot team from Aethon Inc. of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania is designed to track and deliver equipment around a hospital.

The TUG robot is in used successfully in many hospitals already - deliverng samples and medication. Now with a new partner, HOMER, and RFID tags on the equiptment, they work together to keep things in order.

HOMER roams the hospital searching for loose equipment like wheelchairs, beds, IV pumps. It identifies each unit by pinging for the RFID tags.
In the meantime a TUG can be chasing down the assets and returning them to where they will be needed or retrieving them on call.

Aethon expects that hospitals will need less equipment once they know where it all is. And HOMER and TUG will save all kinds of aggravation over lost devices.

Aethon

Aethon gets Investors

Speci-Minder

Abu Dhabi UAV Investment Company Launched

2007-02-26T11:13:00.000-08:00

The government of Abu Dhabi announced last week the creation of the Abu Dhabi UAV Investment Company, AD UAV.
The company will design, develop, manufacture and integrate unmanned aerial vehicles for both civilian and military customers.
They will have fixed wing and vertical take off type vehicles.

AD UAV is an offshoot from the UAE military's UAV Research and Technology Center based in Abu Dhabi.
The largest client for AD UAV is expected to be UAE's military forces.

UAE has had an active interest in producing domestic UAV technology for a few years. The US declined to sell them Predator UAV's in 2002.

They currently operate two models of VTOL aircraft for patrolling their borders. The APID 55 was built in partnership wiuth Swedish company CybAero. The Al-Sber was made with Austrian company Schielbel. The ground control systems for both aircraft were developed cooperatively with the Korean company Ucon System. Locally, Gulf Aircraft Maintenence Company, GAMCO, provides ground support.

Abu Dhabi UAV Investment will help to kick-start the local manufacture of UAV's by providing an incubator for new UAV businesses as well as a matchmaker for international cooperative efforts. They hope to grow a worldwide client base with a globally recognized brand.

albawaba.com middle east news information::The Abu Dhabi Government launches Abu Dhabi Uav INVESTMENT Company IN Abu Dhabi: "Abu Dhabi Uav INVESTMENT Company"

Australian UAV Challenge

2007-02-26T09:31:00.000-08:00

The Australian Research Centre for Aerospace Automation, ARCAA, has launched a competition for students and hobbyists. The UAV Challenge - Ouback Rescue will be held in Queensland, Australia in September 2007.

The contest will have prize money up to $40,000 (US $30000) in categories of airborne delivery and search and rescue. There will also be a category for the best documentary film on how the participating team created their contest entry.

The judging for the contest will be based on the performance of the unmanned flyer through a course as well as a report and presentation of the design.

The vehicles will be limited in size to weigh no more than 100 kg (rotary) or 150kg (fixed wing) in the competition configuration.

The contest is open to high school students only from the state of Queensland but to university students or hobbyists worldwide.

more info...
ARCAA | UAV Outback Challenge 2007

Mini Robot Navigates Inside Body

2007-02-26T07:31:00.000-08:00

Researchers in Japan are experimenting with a robot to help surgeons get deep inside the human body without cutting it open.
The small robot is only 2 cm ong by 1 cm wide - about the size of a large cockroach. The robot is released into the body through a small opening in the skin and is moved around by a magnetic field. Doctors navigate with a map created by magnetic resonance imaging.

The robot can be outfitted with a camera, drug delivery system or tiny cutters for taking samples or minor repair jobs. Comunications with the robot are through a thin wire, which can also help recover it if it gets lost.

The research is being performed by scientists from Ritsumeikan University and the Shiga University of Medical Science. They report that they have had success in tests on aimals.

Tiny robot reduces need for surgery ::: Pink Tentacle

Anti Robot Action Planned

2007-02-23T13:39:00.000-08:00

An olde time civil disobedience action is planned for Pittsburg on March 2.
The organizers, Pittsburg Organizing Group, plan to shut down the National Robotics Engineering Center, at Carnegie Mellon University with a blockade. Uh oh.

They chose ths target because, "The military research done by CMU and NREC is a glaring example of the increasing militarization of academia; students and faculty are knowing, and often unknowing, cogs in an expanding and terrifying war machine."

The schedule so far:
7:00am: Gather in Friendship Park (Friendship Ave and Mathilda St in Bloomfield)
7:30am: March to barricade NREC facility (40th and Willow St in Lawrenceville)

But there will be some surprises in store.
"Alongside large marches, there is a need for actions that are direct and compelling: actions that speak to public refusal of the war, that are demands -- not requests, that directly confront militarism itself rather than one particular manifestation of it."

They seem like they are planning for a loud event. The webpage even includes tips on how to prepare - like dressing in layers and bringing quarters for a phone call after you are arrested.

I applaud their efforts. Someone needs to raise the ethical issues and force engineers and scientists to confront them.
However, unless they bring some robots of their own, they won't stand a chance.

Barricade the War Machine in Pittsburgh

See more information at Infoshop News

Robot Space Sets The Mood

2007-02-23T12:38:00.000-08:00

When do you hold your meetings inside a robot?

When the robot is a conference room, of course.
But is it a robot?

Hiroshi Otsuka, SGI Japan's vice president for strategic business development explains, "Actually, it doesn't belong to the category of conventional industrial robots," he begins. "Also, this is different from two-legged robots. We do not want to cling to the definition. We want to use technology to develop something useful in our life."

"Without having such new types of robot, it will be difficult for the robot market in Japan to continue growing."

The robot he is talking about is the robot that senses the mood in a room and adjusts itself - the environment of the room that is - to match the occasion.
Spatial robot RoomRender.
If a meeting is too boring then the room pumps in fresh air and brightens the lights. If the discussion are getting too heated, the robot room softens the lights and sweetens the air with puffs of lavender as it plays calming music.

The room uses SGI Japan's sensibility technology (ST) to read the mood of the humans.
It can understand verbal commands. For example, when you say, "Let's begin the meeting," the room may close the shades and turn on the projector. But there is much more to understanding than just the words. Otsuka, "If the space robot was programmed to respond only to the meaning of words, communication between it and users would be limited."

It uses the rhythm and tone of the voices as well as the content to figure out what is going on. It distinguishes a spectrum of six basic human feelings: laughter, calmness, sorrow, anger, joy and excitement -- and the current mix of each.
Spatial robot is not limited to conference rooms. Otsuka sees homes and hospitals also turning into space robots.

For those who speak Japanese there is even an ST SDK available.

TIRED OR EMOTIONAL: A space robot knows | The Japan Times Online

UAV Deployed for Naxalite Control

2007-02-23T10:34:00.000-08:00

Just posting this because when I first read it I didn't know if it was from planet Earth or Stargate SG1.

word for word:

UAV to hover over eastern Maha skies to counter Naxalism

Nagpur, Feb 20: Unmanned Ariel Vehicle (UAV) is all set to be deployed in eastern Maharashtra to trace the movements of Naxals, a senior police official of Anti-Naxalite Operation (ANO) said today.

The UAV over Naxal-infested Gadchiroli district is likely to be operational sometime next week, said inspector general of police, anti-Naxal operations, Pankaj Gupta.

Gupta told reporters that UAV's operation in Chhattisgarh was quite successful and the authorities have received photo and video images both from cameras fitted in the flying machine.

It has traced movement of Naxalites near the hilly terrain of Abuzmadd in Bastar district which is a virtual den of the outlawed extremists.

The images of Naxal training camps, organised in thick and dense forests in Abuzmadd area of Bastar region of Chhattisgarh are very clear and reveal a lot of things which the official declined to mention.

Bureau Report

Zee News - UAV to hover over eastern Maha skies to counter Naxalism

Order Your Pleo Now. Not!

2007-02-22T19:12:00.000-08:00

Well it seems that there was some confusion with Ugobe. (see the comment to this post) They are not allowing any pre-orders yet. They are not quite sure of the price, maybe, or possibly they do not really have a firm date for deliveries, or maybe, they have not figured out why anyone would want to buy this thing anyway.
They have been taking a huge risk by making all kinds of fantastic claims about the wonder of their robot Life Form and the potential market for it.
The hype was more for the benefit of investors rather than users of the product but now they have painted themselves into a corner by trying to perform up to the expectations that they created. We shall see.

Matt Trossen has announced that Ugobe has given Trossen Robotics permission to start taking pre-orders for the wildly hyped dinosaur robot Pleo.

The cute little monster will set you back US $350 and has an 'estimated' ship date of July 2007. (My guess is that they may trickle out in August and September but they will not be widely available until Q4)
This may be your best opportunity to be the first on your block to have a Ugobe Life Form pet.

Here are some of mechanics behind the magic:
- 32 bit Atmel ARM 7 microprocessor - The main processor for Pleo
- 16 bit sub processor - The processor dedicated to the camera system
- (4) 8 bit processors that provide the low-level motor control for the servos
- (35) Sensors including a camera custom designed to fit into Pleo's very compact body.
- (4) foot-switches to detect footfalls and being picked up - assists with spatial orientation.
- (12) capacitive touch sensors (4) legs, (4) feet, back, shoulder, head, chin
- (2) microphones for directional sound detection
- (14) "Force" sensors, one per servo, to recognize abuse through force feedback joints.
- Orientation/tilt sensor
- IR transceiver for bidirectional data communication with other Pleos.
- IR interrupter for detection of objects in Pleo's mouth
- (14) motors. Standard low voltage DC motors
- (150) gears and clutches
- Rechargeable NiMH battery pack
- USB port with mini USB connector
- SD/MMC memory card slot

---All kinds of cute and cuddly built in all over the place

order it here:
PLEO #TY-20-PLEO

Human Immobilizer Light on UAV

2007-02-22T10:49:00.000-08:00

US Army researchers are working on fitting a high powered human-immobilizing spotlight onto an autonomous flying robot.

The light is a modified Maxa Beam light from Peak Beam Systems Inc. The high intensity xenon light is already available in a handheld and remote perimeter security models.
The powerful light can shine up to 7,500,000 candlepower and switch from spotlight, floodlight or stobe mode. By varying the frequency of the strobe the light can be used to disable and disorient enemies.

The army plans to use the unmanned autonomous non-lethal weapon as a "immobilization / deterrent device."

It could also be used to goof on people into thinking they were abducted by a UFO. That would be fun.

PRESOL | A | Design and fabricate a light-based immobilization / deterrent device and integrate it with an UAS. | 11-Feb-07 - FBO#1903

Robot Jockeys Amuse the Rich

2007-02-20T11:51:00.000-08:00

A good article in Christian Science Monitor about the revitalized sport of camel racing by the introduction of robot jockeys.
Before oil, the article says, the owners of the camels would race them. After the money began pouring into the Middle East, the landowners could no longer afford to go outside of their air-conditioned homes. They began buying and selling young boy slaves to ride the camels while they cheered from the sidelines.

Finally someone from the UN told them, look, jockeys are not like camels, you are not allowed to buy and sell them. The sport went into a decline after it was forced underground.

Along came robot jockeys and to bring new life to the pastime. The sheiks can run their jockeys from the luxury of their air-conditioned SUV without the UN breathing down their necks. It turns out that the robot jockeys are much cheaper to maintain too.

From the article:

Races today – typically six miles long – feature parallel tracks. The camels – with robots dressed up in colorful cotton jerseys and jockey caps strapped on – run on the inside racetrack. And the sheikhs , owners, and trainers – piled into four-wheel drive vehicles – follow the races on an outside, paved lane, screeching instructions into the remote controls and pressing the "whip on behind" button like there was no tomorrow.

In other Middle East news...
Foster-Miller and iRobot were showing off the latest models of hazardous duty robots this month. Both the Talon and the Packbot are continuing to get improved skills in finding and disarming bombs and detecting Weapons of Mass Destruction, WMD's.

I think we should just sell the robots to sheiks instead of sending our soldiers. Let them fight their own wars. It would probably be a lot more fun for them anyway. They could chase the robots around in their Mercedes and fight their own battles without ever having to get out of their plush leather interior.

Backstory: Rein of the robo-jockey | csmonitor.com

Become Robot Master At Home

2007-02-19T09:27:00.000-08:00

Japanese company DeAgostini has launched a way for everyone to get into the japanese robot craze piece by piece.
Each week the subscriber to Robozak will get a magazine with lessons and instructions and parts to build a portion of their own humanoid robot slave.

When finished in 80 weeks, the robot RZ-1 will be able to play soccer, wrestle, do gymnastics or any other favorite robot trick. And, presumably, the human assembler will be an expert in 'future' robot technology.

The cost spread out over 80 weeks will be a total of around US $1400.
According to one one google translation, "Performance of the surprise is drawn out!"

Can't wait that long? For a limited time get $100 off HiTec Robonova 1 kit at Roboteria!

ROBOZAK RZ-1 Japanese Robot in your home | Weird Asia News

Unmanned Aerial Cargo Delivery

2007-02-19T08:22:00.000-08:00

Ottawa, Canada company Mist Mobility Integrated Systems Technology Inc. (MMIST) and Technology Partnerships Canada, TCP, have announced that TCP will be making a $30 million investment in development of MMIST's unmanned cargo delivery aircraft.

The improved designed will be based on MMIST's SnowGoose UAV to improve range and payload capacity.

The SnowGoose is a parafoil winged UAV that can be launched from the ground or dropped out an airplane.

It has a cargo capacity of up to 600 pounds and an endurance range of up to 20 hours, depending on the cargo. The guidance system is based on MMIST's GPS guided SHERPA system.

Currently, the largest customer for the unmanned fliers is the US military. The TCP
announcement says the delivery robots also "can be used to deliver
medical assistance and emergency food aid to remote communities."

MMIST Inc.

Questioning High Dollar Medical Robots

2007-02-15T14:43:00.000-08:00

An article in the Minnesota Medicine Online raises the issue of when medical robots and expensive medical scanners can become too much of a good thing.

According to the article, "The complaint coming from a number of quarters is that the proliferation of high-priced technology is driving up health care costs to crippling levels with insufficient evidence of corresponding benefits to patients—and no regard at all for cost-effectiveness."

The problem is described by Former U.S. Senator David Durenberger, chair of the National Institute of Health Policy (NIHP) at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, as the "medical arms race syndrome."

The problem stems from the fact that there is really no free market in medical technology. Patients follow the advice of their doctors and their insurance pays for their medical services. That makes the doctors the actual deciding customer.
Doctors may have the incentive to recommend high tech treatments because they can have higher margins and be more attractive to patients who want the latest and greatest.

Durenburger singled out Intuitive Surgical's $1 million minimum Da Vinci robot and Accuray's $3.5 mllion CyberKnife system as examples of technology that may be over capacity for Minnesota.

They cannot say for sure that the robots are unnecessarily increasing medical costs because they have no measurements of capacity and need. But the system appears to be encouraging unchecked growth.

Minnesota Medical Association - Publications

Robot Has Baby and Teaches Bible

2007-02-13T11:21:00.000-08:00

I am not making this up. From a US patent application:

The Bot and Baby Bot are Robots. Bot is the bigger Robot and Baby Bot is the smaller Robot. There will be a switch on the Bot That will let the Baby Bot come out of Bots stomach. The wiring and The computer system will be located in the arms of both BOTS. Both Bots will be computerized, to contain the 66 books of the Bible. The Old Testamont and the New Testamont, and they will have buttons, To coincide with the name,chapter,page, and verse.

The Bot will be 5'8'' and the Baby Bot will be 3'5''. They both will be able to perform the same thing.

IT WILL ALSO LIGHT UP AND BE EQUIPPED WITH AN ALARM WHEN THERE IS ANY TYPE OF, DANGER.

United States Patent Application: 0070032165

Hospital Delivery Robot

2007-02-13T09:19:00.000-08:00

A hospital near Willmington, Delaware has a new tireless employee dedicated to delivering critical biological samples from patients to the analysis lab.

The Speci-Minder robot - who employees have named Frances - automonously completes its rounds through the hospital to the central lab stopping along the way to collect the samples. The robot navigates down the halls and around obstacles without the need for lines on the floor or markers on the walls. It has a card-access sample compartment to control who can access the cargo.

Speci-Minder is the product of CCS Robotics. It was built on PatrolBot base made by MobileRobots Inc.

CCS Robotics - SpeciMinder™ - Secure Specimen Transporter

VEXplorer Robot Kit

2007-02-13T08:19:00.000-08:00

Model kit maker Revell Monogram and VEX robot supplier Innovation First announced more details of their new consumer robot kit today.

The VEXplorer robot kit is an direct descendent of the VEX robot kit that is the basis for student robot design competitions. It designed and marketed to "bring robotics creation outside the classroom taking the consumer robotics category to new heights."

VEXplorer includes all the parts, motors and wheels to make a remote controlled rolling robot with a webcam and a claw arm strong enough to pick up a can of soda. The kit, of course, can be used to build any kind of robot imaginable.

VEXplorer is the product of a partnership between the two companies that was announced last year. Revell will handle the marketing while Innovation First will provide the engineering and technical design.

The VEXplorer kit is expected to be in stores by September 2007 and will sell for US $250.

Revell:www.revell.com-The leader in replica plastic kits since 1945.

Fembot Sage-Grouse Lures Males

2007-02-12T08:49:00.000-08:00

In sting operation worthy of prime time television, scientists at University of California Davis are using a female sage-grouse robot to study the behavior of males with mating on their mind.

Dr. Gail Patricelli has used robots in bird research before to fool Australian satin bowerbirds for her thesis. Now she is using a female sage-grouse on the open fields of Wyoming to tempt male birds into showing off for the camera.

The robot is a stuffed bird that moves along toy railroad tracks. The robot can turn her head, turn around, crouch and bob her head up and down when she moves. She has a microphine and hidden camera to record the conduct of the males. The robot, which must look really hot to the male birds, is secretly controlled by the researchers who are off-screen somewhere totally cracking up.

See the lurid sex video here.

The Patricalli Lab

The Davis Enterprise, Love Bird?

Tin Can Robot

2007-02-08T15:15:00.000-08:00

Turn trash into a robot. A new kit from 4M Kidz Labs is due out in March to make a robot bug from an empty soda can. No word on the price yet.

I did not know that they made soda cans with those pop tops anymore. Maybe they still use them in Hong Kong where 4M is located.

Kidz Labs from 4M includes kits for kids to explore crafts and science.

4M - Powered by Source Technology Limited

Taiwan Selects Standard Robot Software

2007-02-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute, I TRI, has annonced that they have chosen Evolution Robotics Sofware Platform,ESRP, for a standard software kit for robot development in Taiwan.

The software development kit will be offered by ITRI to help standardize robot development in Taiwan and help them to get ahead of rapid developments coming from other countries. They expect the market for robots to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars within ten years and they want to make sure that Taiwan stays up with the trend.

"We believe this coordinated approach using our SDK and the ERSP architecture will lead to much more rapid innovation of new technologies, faster time to market for new products, and overall, a stronger competitive position for Taiwan in robotics," said Mr. Chan An Pao of ITRI.

Evolution Robotics is a California based company that provides OEM support for robot software development. In the past they have announced close partnerships with other high profile robot projects. The new home telepresence robot from Bandai, NetTansor, uses Evolution's software.
Evolution has also announced partnerships with robot toymaker WowWee and Korea's URC developer Yujin Robotics. They have also announced that they will be working with Sharper Image on a new vacuum robot.

ERSP provides the basic functioning software for robots as well as the ability to integrate decisionmaking, navigation, vision and custom behaviors.

I can't help but notice that this is not Microsoft Robotics Studio. It appears that there would be no need for the MS Robotics Studio with this software. ERSP runs with MS windows and Visual Studio .NET or Linux.
Evolution, so far, has chosen a very different plan for marketing their software. While MS gives theirs away free for now, ESRP starts in the US $7500 range for educational-use-only kit.

If I had as much money as Microsoft I might consider investing in or owning a company like Evolution Robotics.

Evolution Robotics

Infanoid and Keepon

2007-02-06T07:30:00.000-08:00

Professor Hideki Kozima of Japan's National Institute of Communications and Technology, NiCT, presented a paper at the Robotics for Society conference in Vancouver, Canada, on two robots designed for studying child development and interactions with robots.

The two robots, Infanoid and Keepon, interact with people through movement, emotional expressions and voice.

Infanoid is a small humanoid upper torso. Infanoid can gesture with his arms and hands, make facial expressions and repeat back what is spoken to him. His two eye-cameras allow him to 'pay attention' and make eye contact.

Keepon is much simpler, looking like not much more than a marshmallow peep, but still has enough motion to appear engaged with a human. Keepon is a small soft rubber creature with no arms. It can twist to focus its attention and rock or bob up and down to express delight.

The researchers found that children will interact with the robots. They found the at first the children are a little scared of the robots. then they start to explore by poking them or waving objects at them. Eventually the children begin playing with the robots in a closed-loop relationship. The robots were allowed to play with normally developing kids and autistic children.

They expect to be able to use the robots for a better understanding of social development of both humans and robots.

Using Robots for the Study of Human Social Development (PDF)

Infanoid Project (Robotic Platforms)

via Artificial Intelligence and Robotics

Unmanned Helicopter for Everest Rescues

2007-02-05T10:55:00.000-08:00

The founders of a helicopter manufacturer in New Zealand have launched a project to bring high altitude rescue to Nepal. Trevor and Glenda Rogers are the founders of TGR Helicorp and of the Everest Rescue Trust. They have launched a new initiative, The Rescue on Everest Challenge:
Through innovation, design and technology, to challenge the science of aviation at extreme altitude and conquer new frontiers on Mt Everest and in Nepal.

Their goal is to operate a self-funding rescue operation based near Mt. Everest. The rescue operation would be for service to mountaineers and also any other high altitude medical emergency in Nepal. They expect that the technology and improved standards for healthcare would benefit the people of Nepal.

The rescue vehicle, dubbed the Alpine Wasp, is an unmanned high altitude full sized rescue helicopter designed by TGR. It is a capable of autonomous flight up to 30,000 feet.
Generally helicopters cannot operate much above 14,000 feet. The base camp for Mt.Everest climbers is at 17,600 feet (5364m)and the summit is at 29,035 feet (8850m).

Why an unmanned rescue vehicle? For high altitude rescues a pilot actually gets in the way. The pilot is not acclimated for the altutude or prepared for the extreme cold so they must stay inside the aircraft and cannot help in the rescue efforts. Also, the elimination of the pilot-support equipment leaves room for more rescue gear.

The Alpine Wasp is powered by a special diesel engine designed by American company DeltaHawk Diesel Engines. It operates on Jet-A1 fuel which is available in Nepal.

The Alpine Wasp will be donated to the foundation later this year after it undergoes extensive testing in the mountains in New Zealnd.

Helicopter Rescue on Everest: Saving lives on Nepal's mountains

Intuitive Surgical Posts Profit Surge

2007-02-02T15:16:00.000-08:00

Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) stock was up 17 percent today on the announcement of a 56 percent increase in their forth quarter revenues.

The increase was due to continuing increase in sales of the DaVinci surgery robots but also substantial increases in recurring supplies and services. This is a good indication that the robots are being used successfully.

For 2006 their revenues were:
Systems sales: $206 million
Instruments/accessories: $112 million
Service/Training: $ 55 million

Total: $373 million

This, to me, seems like a fairly small number considering the size of the surgery industry. They will have competitors moving in on them but their early entry has given them an advantage. They are in a position where they can define the standards for the next decade and sell the service and instruments for the machines that they have installed.

Robot assisted surgery is creating new capabilities for minimally invasive surgery techniques and opening the door for totally new procedures. It may also allow a lower skill level to be required for some operations that had been considered extremely risky.

There will be some bumps in the road, but this technology will eventually completely transform the medical field.

Related:
Surgery On A Beating Heart May Be Safer
Surgical Robot in patent dispute
Surgical Robot Revenues Rocket 2005
Robot Surgery Legal Questions

Intuitive Surgical - Press Release

Kuka WiiBot

2007-02-02T10:13:00.000-08:00

Robotics industry leader Kuka Robotics will be demonstrating a robot arm controlled by a Wii game controller at the ATX West Expo during February.

Using their industrial KR-16 robot with bluetooth to a Wii controller, the robot can mimic the actions of the Wii master. The interface was designed by SEIS Group, Inc.

Kevin Kozuszek, director of marketing for KUKA Robotics Corporation, says, "The development of more intelligent and easy to operate robots will begin to drive the development of more capable service robots for applications such as medical and ultimately for consumer use in individuals' homes."

Kuka
Kuka WiiBot

While renowned for their industrial robots, Kuka also has been known to occasionally let their robots out of the factory for a little fun: RoboCoaster, Robot DJ

Video Downloads

2007-01-30T14:20:00.000-08:00

This is not directly robot related.
I wanted to explain the association between Robot Gossip's online store, Roboteria, and the new video download service at Amazon.com.

UnBox Videos are DVD quality videos that you download from Amazon.com to your PC. They have a fair selection so far. They say that you will be able to download episodes of television shows right after they air - much sooner than the DVD release.

I have added an UnBox Video page in Roboteria to highlight some of the robot related stuff that is available for download now, but you cannot download them from Roboteria yet. You must go to Amazon.com make the purchase. Just click "Go to Amazon.com" to find the video and download it.

For a limited time you can get a free download with the purchase of a DVD.
Check out the details here or click the graphic below.

Trial of the Trojan Dog Robot

2007-01-29T12:40:00.000-08:00

From online San Jose Mercury News:

On a February weekend visit home from college in 2001, 18-year-old Patrick Hsu noticed an odd toy robot dog that had been mailed in a box weeks earlier. His father had opened the box, then set the contraption aside when he noticed it needed batteries to function. Later, Patrick Hsu placed batteries in the robot -- triggering a hidden bombing device that killed him.

It is not clear exactly the role played by an engineer who is on trial now. He claims that he only mailed the dog and had no knowledge of its murderous intent,

The supposed mastermind of the plot, who was featured on America's Most Wanted, is believed to be in Venezuela. He hatched the scheme for some kind of revenge against an ex-girlfriend or her family or some kind of dumbass excuse.

We just need to remember, folks, robot dogs don't kill people - people do.

MercuryNews.com | 01/29/2007 | Trial begins in '01 bombing

Mining the Seabed

2007-01-29T12:01:00.000-08:00

Scraping high value minerals from the bottom of the sea is moving ahead with Neptune Minerals' (LSE:NPM)announcement that will be starting their next survey project off New Zealand.

Neptune has contracted Geo Subsea based in Bergen, Norway for high resolution mapping and geoassay in Neptune's permitted area north of New Zealand.
They have a Comanche ROV included in the survey team with depth capabilities to 3000 meters and the ability to collect samples up to several hundred kilograms in size.

They are going after SMS, Seafloor Massive Sulphides, which are very rich deposits of minerals on the seafloor. The deposits are formed from superheated volcanic materials spewing from deep within the Earth into the ocean through channels called 'Black Smokers.' When the hot liquids hit the cold water on the bottom of the ocean they form vast fileds of mineral laden suphides.

Neptune is not alone in moving forward with subsea mining. Earlier this month Nautilus Minerals (TSXV: NUS.V) announced that they had contracted with Canyon Offshore, now part of Helix Energy Solutions Group, for assay work in their Solwara prospect off of Papua New Guinea. After mapping and identifying targets, they will begin drilling test holes later this year with two new drilling ROV's currently being built by Perry Slingsby.

SMS deposits have a much higher yield of metals minerals than land-based deposits. Should the mining operations pay out as expected, the seafloor mining industry will easily rival land mining for production.

Robot Gossip: Gold From the Bottom of the Ocean

Robot Inspectors

2007-01-26T20:49:00.000-08:00

Factory robots have long been able to do the machine and assembly work. Now they can also do the inline part inspection.

Just add an Orus3D SKEYE 3D scanning head to the arm of your favorite factory robot. The scanned image is sent to a vision controller and compared to inspection criteria stored in the image library. Viola! You have RoboGuage.

The line inspector could even feed instructions back to the production robots to make adjustments on the fly.

Orus3D - Tools for Guidance and Inspection

Robot Matchmaker

2007-01-26T19:55:00.000-08:00

Echo robots are being developed to help sophisticated urbanites hook up.

The small robots can wiggle and probably talk a little. They are small enough to carry around with you. At home you connect it to your pc and program your interest profile into it. Then you carry it around with you as a sort of fetish of your personality. As you walk around, the flirtatious robot broadcasts your profile to other Echos riding along on the shoulders of other totally cool people. When your Echo finds another with its same interests it nudges you, dances or waves its cute little arms - your choice. I would want maybe just an elbow nudge and "hey, psst, check it out," on the sly. I wouldn't want my Echo to appear too desperate.

Dude, totally web2o.

See a short video of a prototype.
Echo Robotics Blog

HomerSapien

2007-01-24T17:25:00.000-08:00

WowWee is at it again!

Even after all the exciting new products announced at CES just weeks ago they still have more!

WowWee is showing off their latest two new robots at the Toy Fair in London.

HOMERSAPIEN and SPIDERSAPIEN. Where is the Incredible Hulk?

Robosapien becomes Spidersapien and Homersapien - Pocket-lint.co.uk

Assimilating Prosthetics

2007-01-24T16:47:00.000-08:00

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are developing an interface between a human and an artificial limb.

"The nervous system will certainly rebel if you place hard or sharp electrodes into it to record signals. However, the nervous system can be tricked to accept an interface letting it do what it likes - assimilating new nerve cells into its own network," says scientist Douglas H. Smith, MD, Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of the Center for Brain Injury and Repair at Penn.

The signals to and from a robotic appendage are patched in to the patient's nervous system through living nervous system tissue jumper cables grown in the lab.

The connectors are grown by first culturing neurons on electrodes. The gap between the neurons is bridged by nerve fiber axons. The electrodes are slowly moved apart and the axons grow to keep the connection.

The scientists believe that they can connect one end of the axon patch chord to the electrical controls and sensors of a robotic prosthesis while the other end would integrate into the patient's nervous system.

Their recent paper in Neurosurgery describes this technique as a 'conceptual framework' for further research. It still has a long way to go before it is installed in a person.
But rest assured, you will be assimilated.

PENN Medicine News: Conceptualizing a Cyborg

Singapore Announces Robot Challenge

2007-01-24T11:40:00.000-08:00

Singapore's Defense Science and Technology Agency, DSTA, has announced a competition to encourage scientists and engineers to design a robot for urban combat.

The objective of the TechX Challenge is "to inspire and engage the wider community of engineers and technologists, challenging them to defy conventional thinking and stretch the boundary of science and technology for defence and national security." The winner will get S$1 million (US $650,000).

The competition will be for robots to find targets in an urban setting in a limited time. The robots will be required to operate autonomously. They will need to negotiate obstacles outside and inside buildings and be able to climb stairs and take an elevator.

The robots will be tasked to go to a specified floor of a building, find the target, mark the target with a squirt gun and return to the starting point. Iif no one completes the mission within an hour there will be no prize awarded.

The contest is open to everyone. Every team manager must be a Singapore citizen but team members can be from anywhere.
Also, there will be a qualifying round of events before the final competition.

Each team must complete their application by May 2007. The first qualifying rouunds will be in May 2008 with the final competition in August 2008.

Race Car Robot Vacuum

2007-01-17T09:58:00.000-08:00

Maybe your robot vacuum is getting boring?
You can give it a costume but it still just vacuums. Watching your robot vacuum run around the room is about as exciting as watching NASCAR all day.
Hey! Wait a minute! That gives me an idea...

What if someone made robot vacuum cleaners that looked just like little NASCAR cars? What if they made actual race car sounds when they started up? What if their charging station looked just like a real NASCAR pit stop?

What if you could turn off the sucky function and put them in race mode?

Wow! Maybe if you could get one that looked just like the car of your favorite driver...
Like Dale Earnhardt?

or Jeff Gordon?

or Jimmie Johnson?

Maybe someone has already thought of this.

Robots Dance

2007-01-14T11:42:00.000-08:00

Robots are performing along with human dancers in a commissioned piece at Monclair State University in New Jersey.

The robots are the creation of Japanese artist Kenjiro Okazaki and are known as DekNobo. The name is derived from the Japanese word dekunobo which means a "useless wooden stick" or a "deadbeat person". Each robot is a wheeled shoe-box sized base with a 9 foot pole standing atop. They are controlled from offstage by Okazaki.

The dancing robots will perform with the Trisha Brown Dance Company in a piece called, "I love my robots."
The music was written by Laurie Anderson.

Trisha Brown is known for her innovative choreography. She says about dancing with the robots, "I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm very thrilled that I'm doing it. I just want to break out. I've predicated my entire artistic life on adventure, on discovering the new."
Brown, 70, was so taken by the charming robot sticks that she will dance with the company in the premiere. "I'm a different kind of moving animal now."

The performances are at the Alexander Kasser Theater on
January 18 & 20, 2007 Â 7:30 PM
January 21, 2007 Â 3:00 PM

More information: Peak Performances

Doing the Robot

Cellular Phone Robot -CPR

2007-01-12T07:35:00.000-08:00

And you thought that the new iPhone had alot of features. Wait until you see this baby!

This 'Cellular Phone Robot' is designed to become your own personal ubiquitous companion. It does everything but wipe your floors.

The CPR has wheels so that it can move. With RFID tags installed all around your house it will be able to find its own charger or even run around looking for you when it rings.
The motors are also used to express emotions for you about the incoming calls. But that's not all.

Engineers (obviously this thing was designed by engineers) at Soochunhyang University in Korea used biometric measuresments - ECG, XYZ, CIA - to measure the emotional response to various actions of the phone. They came up with cell phone robot emotions expressed in tactile, olfactory and visual behaviors.

Tactile: The mini-robot vibrates in 3 distinct patterns to evoke your emotional response. The patterns were based on the rhythms of emotional music.

Olfactory: The phone has 12 micronozzles to to emit just the right odor to identify the caller. Check out the 'stalker' call in the video. I wonder what that smells like? Of course the smell were tested using biometrics.

Visual: The phone does a little dance when someone calls. Happy dance. Stalker dance. All biometrically determined.


This was a video presented at the IROS 2006 conference in Beijing.

Maybe the iPhone seems cool but it still has a long way to go before it as ubiquitous or obnoxious as this little fellow.

Thanks to Jacob from USC for sending me this link.

Robot Servant Understands Hand Signals

2007-01-11T09:28:00.000-08:00

An experimental home robot developed at National Chiao Tung University (NCTU)in Taiwan called 'NCTU Vision One' can identify people and interpret hand gestures.

The robot is a product of the Computer Vision Research Center at the university.
It is designed to recognize a particular person and follow them around in case they need help. After training it can understand hand gestures as commands for pre-programmed tasks such as "get my medicine" or 'I've fallen and I can't get up."

It can also recognize facial expressions to help understand the gesticulations or to evaluate the person's health.

The robot can also take on duty as a guard. It can recognize the difference between a friend or foe. If an unauthorized person is spotted the robot follows at a safe distance and notifies a human.

NCTU DEVELOPS NEW HOUSEHOLD ROBOTS

Surgical Robot in Patent Dispute

2007-01-09T20:12:00.000-08:00

The manufacturer of the DaVinci Surgical robots, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG), is being sued by California Institute of Technology for infringing on four patents.

The suit was filed for Cal Tech by Wilson, Sheehy, Knowles, Robertson & Cornelius law firm of Tyler, Texas in the U.S. District Court in Tyler, Texas. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas has been described as a "Haven for patent Pirates" by Technology Review Magazine.

In a press release Monday Intuitive reported,
that Lonnie Smith, President and CEO for Intuitive, stated "We are surprised to see these claims after selling our products worldwide for over eight years, particularly given the strength of our intellectual property portfolio. I am personally amazed that Caltech would allow a Texas based contingency-fee law firm to tarnish its reputation by such an outrageous approach. We are prepared to do what is necessary to defend our company and our intellectual property rights."

So far the legal battle has not had any impact on the use of the DaVinci surgical robots.

Bloomberg.com: Health Care

More about DaVinci robots:
Surgical robot revenues rocket
Surgical Robots Open Legal Gash

Diesel Sweeties

2007-01-08T12:48:00.000-08:00

It is a sign of the growing influence of robots that we are seeing all kinds of news and announcements about robots coming out of this year's Consumer Electronics Show.
"Of course," you say.
"So what?" you ask.

It has only been a very few years that robots ever made it farther than industrial trade shows with machines for factories. Now they are 'consumer' products.

Robots are making inroads into our lives and soon will be changing us in ways we do not yet foresee.

Another sign of the acceptance of robots showed up in newspapers across the country today.
The comic Diesel Sweeties is about a robot, Clango Cyclotron, with a human girlfriend. It has been appearing online since 2000 and is now syndicated in newspapers across the country.
In the Houston Chronicle, Diesel Sweeties replaces Momma. Granted Momma was never very funny, but it was about family. It was about a typical dysfunctional family, you know, the chronically unemployed grown son who neglects his aging mother until he needs money. The spiteful mother who drives her children away with sarcastic comments and passive-aggressive emotional traps. But it was about family!
This new comic promotes the robot agenda by ignoring the traditional family in favor of robot-human relationships.

(From chron.com:)
"Rather than try to write big, crazy stories," says the comic's author, Richard Stevens, he sees his strip as "almost like a diary. What's going on in the back of your head as you go about your day."
Robot relationships supplanting the traditional family? Get ready for the future.

But seriously - Diesel Sweeties is funny.

diesel sweeties: pixelated robot romance web comic & t-shirt party

She's human. He's just a love machine Ã— literally.

iRobot Create is Roomba That Doesn't Suck

2007-01-08T09:45:00.000-08:00

One would think that the next step in home robot development would be to add more features to the vacuum cleaner. In a surprising turn, iRobot has chosen to remove capabilities from their machine.

iRobot launched their latest home robot today aimed at schools and robot developers called the Create.

The Create is basically a Roomba with all the vacuuming guts removed. It has a bunch of sensors (32), is programmable with a pc and has an open interface for adding more sensors or features - like arms, paint sprayer, baby monitor, weaponry, etc

For $129 it is ready to roll right out of the box. It looks like you also need a command module to make it fully programmable for another $60 or get both in a package.

They also offer the robot, command module and battery charger for $229 which looks like a good deal to me.

They are also offering a ten-pack for $999 for classrooms, teams or dance troupes.
They are available from the iRobot website.

Although this probably will not add much to the iRobot bottom line, I think the low price of the robot and high visibility of iRobot will make it very popular.

Give it a few months for the units to get out there and people to come up with uses for them. I think we will be seeing more of these in the news.
This may not be it, yet. But one day someone will come up with the 'Apple Macintosh' of home robots.

iRobot Corporation: Press Release

Update:
More information over at Robot Stock News. Thorn agrees with me that the $229 kit is what you need to get started.

Wow Wee Robopanda and RoboQuad-

2007-01-06T20:40:00.000-08:00

More news from the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas...

PC Magazine has a description of two new robots from WowWee:

RoboPanda
"Designed for children ages 4 and up, the 8-pound Robopanda will be covered with eight touch sensors and, using infrared and stereo sensors, should be able to avoid obstacles, track objects and locate sound sources. It will also tell stories and recognize and interact with its own companion: a plush-panda toy that will ship with the robot."
No doubt designed to seduce the children so they accept robots when they become adults.

Also the very scary looking RoboQuad:
"Trundling along on four spider-like legs (and six motors), the 14-inch tall, 3-pound Roboquad will include IR sensors that allow it to detect movement up to 13 feet away. It will also feature sonic sensors and the ability to find its way around in a darkened room. Offering autonomous and remote control, Quadroped will demonstrate multiple "personalities," and is expected to ship later this year for $119."
Of course it has multiple personalities. When it is with the kids it will be all sweet and innocent. When no one is looking (like when you are asleep)it will be sneaking around the house plotting and preparing for the big day.

Wow Wee Unveils Robopanda - CES 2007 by PC Magazine

There's more...
From Engadget:

Singing Elvis Head...

More: Train your RoboSapien
Good prices on WowWee stuff.

Let The Games Begin

2007-01-06T13:40:00.000-08:00

The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robot competition kicked off the 2007 season by announcing the playing field challenge and parts kits for this year's contest.

The high school teams are given six weeks to design and build their competition robots for the first round of the competition.

According to the press release, over 32,500 students from 1300 teams will be participating this year.

Excerpts:

In this year’s game, “Rack ‘N’ Roll,” students’ robots are designed to hang inflated colored tubes on pegs configured in rows and columns on a 10-foot high center “rack” structure. Extra points are scored by robots being in their home zone and lifted more than 4” off the floor by another robot before the end of the 2 minute and 15 second match.

In 1992, the FIRST Robotics Competition began with 28 teams and a single 14 x 14 foot playing field in a New Hampshire high school gym. This season, over 1,300 teams will participate. Thirty-seven regional competitions will lead up to the 2007 FIRST Championship at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, April 12-14.

USFIRST.org

Erector Set Robot Spyke

2007-01-06T09:21:00.000-08:00

Not much information about this yet but it looks really fun.

Meccano is introducing a remote controlled Erector Set robot kit that runs on treads. It has a webcam and can communicate over wifi.
Meccano is introducing it at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

I am looking forward to more details. The Erector SpeedPlay line of kits includes motors and some USB downloadable instructions and are much cheaper than the similar VEX robot kits.

If they have a smart enough processor they could really give LEGO NXT, at $250, a run for their money.

Meccano was once a competitor of Erector in the early 1900's but has owned the Erector brand since the 1990's.

There are some really cool and relatively cheap Erector sets out there these days but they seem to have fallen out of fashion. Check out some of the kits at the Erector Set page at Roboteria.

I4U News - Spyke Wi-Fi Spy Robot Debuts at CES 2007

UPDATE: spykeworld.com

Latest Korean Ubiquitous Robot

2007-01-06T07:38:00.000-08:00

The Korean Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) and a consortium of tech companies have introduced their latest entry into the growing family of home robots.
ROMI understands voice and wireless commands and can communicate back via voice or wireless.
It has video cameras and send live video to your cell phone or PC. It also has tracking and mapping so it knows where it is.

The Korean government has been working on a program to get a robot in every home by 2020. The network enable 'ubiquitous robot companion' workers will help households with care for children and elderly, keeping updated on the news and weather reports and other duties as required.

Related:
Eldercare robots
CUBO urc
Robot in every home by 2020
Koreans to work for robots

Korean research institute, companies make smart, ubiquitous robot | Korea.net News

Akihabara news

Now Hear This: Robots Need Ears

2007-01-05T12:39:00.000-08:00

Technology Review asked members of their list of young innovators for 2006 to tell what they are hoping for in 2007.

Researcher Paris Smaragdis, a researcher at Mitsubishi's MERL in Cambridge, Massachusetts, spoke up on behalf of machine listening research.

He says that the quest for machines that can mimic people has focused on vision to the detriment of machine listening research.

But hearing is important for a lot of tasks. You can hear your baby cry from upstairs; you can hear the car you didn't see approaching you in the pedestrian crosswalk; and you can hear that not-so-friendly dog growling behind your back. Machines can do their own set of valuable hearing tasks. They can listen for survivors in a collapsed building's rubble; they can help soldiers locate who shot at them; they can listen for breathing problems in patients in intensive care; and they can try to filter out that annoying neighbor who loves to sing really loudly in the shower.
Machine learning, AI, and classical computer-science algorithms are deeply rooted in a visual way of thinking that does not extend naturally to reasoning about sound.

So keep your mind and ears open. You might not see much of hearing machines today, but you'll be hearing about them soon.

Technology Review: Hearing Machines

Robot Of The Year

2007-01-02T10:19:00.001-08:00

There have been some very significant advances in robot technology and applications this year. There is strong belief that we are witnessing the beginnings of what will become an intimate and essential part of our lives. (See Bill Gates' thoughts in Scientific American) The robot revolution has begun. We humans alive today will be both the benefactors and victims of the coming changes.

For a robot to be successful it must have the right balance of technology and utility. In selecting the Robot Of The Year for 2006 we looked for this balance.
Many of the achievements of robot science this year solved some extremely complex problems. There is no denying that the technology is advancing rapidly. However, in selecting a Robot of the Year we were looking for examples of robots that accomplished more than incremental change. We focused on robots that created a new future. We looked for robots that may have come from the future.

I guess our strict criteria is why the Robot Gossip Robot of the Year for 2006 does not come from a university research lab, government engineering project, industrial, electronics or software giant. The winner of Robot Gossip Robot of the Year for 2006 was created by an artist.

Robot Gossip Robot of the Year 2006

The Robot of the Year is Beggar (Zicar) by Slovenian artist Saso Sedlacek. It first appeared in Robot Gossip in January 2006

Beggar is described as “a robot for the materially deprived.” It is built from discarded computer parts for little or no cost. It is designed to attract and interact with people and beg for alms.

It is made from four personal computer boxes and uses CD drives for begging hands and a computer screen for its sad face.
There have been two of the robots built. The first was used in Slovenian shopping malls. The second, Beggar 2.0, practiced on the streets of Tokyo.

What makes the Beggar robot so notable is they way it combines so many of the functions for which robots are used and also brings the technology into the hands of the very common human.

Some of the functions of robots today that are fulfilled by Zicar are:

Automation- robots can replace people for boring and repetitive tasks.

Telepresence - the materially deprived owner of the beggar robot could actually operate more than one robot to leverage their efforts to more locations.

Perform hazardous and dangerous tasks - Robots are used to perform jobs where humans would be in danger. In this case the Beggar robot is stationed in an upscale mall where a human panhandler would be most certainly ejected or even arrested.

Extending human abilities - Robots are used for scaling. Generally this means geometric scaling like working on very small things inside living cells or on silicon microcircuits. Or scaling up to mine tons of ore or load cargo ships. In this case the scaling is more metaphorical. The robot extends the dignity of the beggar into the realm of the wealthy shoppers. The ‘importance’ of a homeless person is scaled up to the level of the well-to-do.

Most importantly, the robot Beggar mediates the relationship between people. Robots that form relationships with people or between people is the area where we will see the most exciting and challenging innovations for robots in the coming years. As robots move out of the factories and into our homes they will need to be able to understand and adapt to the human interface. The Beggar robot creates a more comfortable ‘user interface’ between the wealthy patrons at the shopping mall and the materially deprived person living on the fringe of society.

Congratulations to Beggar, Zicar, and to your architect Saso Sedalcek for your breakthrough creation for 2006 and your inspiration for robot designers for years to come.

Project Page
More pictures

Check back with Robot Gossip in the next few days for some honorable mention awards from 2006.

Roboteria Advertisement

2006-12-29T11:44:00.000-08:00

Don't foget that you can use your Amazon gift certificates at Roboteria. You can buy anything available at amazon.com through Roboteria.

It's exciting to have a credit at a store.
You feel rich and you can go on a shopping spree to splurge on everything you have always wanted.

On occasion of everyone having an amazon.com gift certificate burning a hole in their pockets, I have set up a special 'go ahead and splurge' department at Roboteria.

Hurry over and buy something before the good stuff is gone! ka-ching.

Go-Robo! Train Your RoboSapien

2006-12-26T14:53:00.000-08:00

Software to control WowWee robots, Go-Robo! is available now for testing.

The windows software allows you to write programs for RoboSapiens,Robopets, Roboreptiles and Roboraptor and send the commands to them through infrared.

Young robot masters can put together a program by building up steps using a graphical design mode. More experienced programmers can use the GRIDscript (Go-Robo ID Script) language.

The full commercial release is expected in a few months but experimenters can request an early copy now.

Check out the limited time HUGE DISCOUNTS on Roboreptile and RoboPet one the WowWee page at ROBOTERIA.

Go-Robo! Creative computer programming with robots

Japan Honors Robots

2006-12-25T14:50:00.000-08:00

Japanese, METI, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry chose the top ten robots from 153 nominations for their first annual Robot Awards.

The winners included Paro, the robot baby seal, My Spoon feeding arm robot from SECOM and Kondo's small humanoid KHR-2HV.

Watch this space for the upcoming announcement of the Robot Gossip Robot of The Year.

Top 10 robots selected for Robot Award 2006 ::: Pink Tentacle

Merry Christmas

2006-12-24T18:59:00.000-08:00

(TLZ) Futurama Madhouse

Let Tireless Tire Robots Pimp Your Ride

2006-12-24T13:57:00.000-08:00

Tiremaker Pirelli is pumping up their profits using factory robots to make custom tires.

The system is called modular integrated robotized system, or MIRS. "Robots manage the entire production cycle in an uninterrupted sequence from the compounds to the finished tyres , with no semifinished products to be moved around and no intermediate storage phases." No tooling changes are needed between product changes.

Niche Manufacturing Comes to a Car’s Four Corners - New York Times

Robot Scampers Along Power Lines

2006-12-21T21:02:00.000-08:00

Engineers at the University of Washington have developed a robot to crawl along power cables to inspect for damage.

The Robotic Cable Inspection System was developed by the Sensors, Energy and Automation Laboratory (SEAL) at UW.
The prototype has been tested mostly on underground cables on campus but was recently taken to Louisiana for field testing on the storm damaged network around New Orleans.

The robot is designed to check for damage on 3 inch diameter main power distribution cables. It has three types of sensors for assessing the condition of the cable insulation. It uses heat sensors, an acoustic sensor to listen for arcing, and 'fringing electric field' sensors to find 'water trees' that have seeped into the defects in the insulation. The robot also has video to show where it is as it communicates wirelessly back to the control base.

Project leader Alexander Mamishev says, ""Maintaining a distributed infrastructure -- power systems, roads, bridges, tunnels, buildings -- is a very large and costly endeavor. Over the years, maintenance costs more than construction. Our vision is that someday robots will accomplish the lion's share of maintenance tasks."

The research has been ongoing for five years.

uwnews.org | University of Washington News and Information

Robots Riot in UK - Dump Tea Into Harbor

2006-12-20T19:20:00.000-08:00

Maybe there would be a headline like the one above this article in the future, says a UK study. As reported all over the world, the UK's Chief Scientist, Sir David King, has commissioned a study to see how we can keep robots "correctly managed" to "lead to increased labour output and greater prosperity." The problem? Uppity robots will demand rights which will threaten our very ideas of humanity.

However, the idea to grant rights to robots may just be part of a plan to soak them for taxes and draft them into the army.
According to the report, "Extension of legal rights to robots would likely include requests that robots also be subject to certain responsibilities within society such as voting, the obligation to pay taxes, and serve compulsory military service"

The study is part of a futures study being conducted by consulting firms Ipsos MORI and Outsights.

Check out the Sigma Scan database here.

As a futurist I have to say that the Sigma Scan database is a nice list of emerging issues.
As someone on vacation right now, I also have to say how much it cracks me up how this one issue of robot rights has jumped into the press.

I think we should all be much more concerned about the possibility of animals learning how to talk, which is also covered in the study.
The development of human-animal communication could lead to, "The animal rights movement could be strengthened, and possibly become more militant. There could be calls for animal rights to be made equal to humans, or at least more rigorously protected in law."

Which would be worse: voting robots or militant talking dogs?

FT.com / World / UK - UK report says robots will have rights

Wheelchairs That Think

2006-12-19T09:19:00.000-08:00

Quick Links:

Engineers at Lehigh and Carnegie Mellon universities, working with a Philadelphia-based start-up, have integrated robotics, laser and wireless technologies into a new system that promises to make it safer and cheaper for wheelchair users to drive a car.
ScienceDaily: Robotics, Laser And Wireless Technologies Make Driving Safer For Wheelchair Users

In his research Sven Rönnbäck of Luleå University of Technology in Sweden has developed a new prototype wheelchair that can be either driven manually or remote controlled but can also navigate on its own.
gizmag.com

Adaptive, sensor-laden garments could provide a new way for quadriplegics to control their wheelchairs. ...the researchers are developing an adaptive device using sensor-laden fabric. The garment is printed with 52 flexible, piezoresistive sensors developed at the University of Pisa.
MIT Technology Review

Previously...
Home helper robot
Biped locomotor

Quickies

2006-12-17T21:26:00.000-08:00

I will be traveling and having a merry Christmas over the next week so I may not have time for regular posts.

I will try to find time to to direct you to some interesting and worthwhile links.

The US postal service needs fewer people but humans still have to read handwritten addresses to keep the robots running.
Floridian: Robots that deliver
I wonder if they have thought of using Mechanical Turk.
Jobs of the future.

From GoRobotics.net: Hanson Robotics, creator of ultra-realistic robots like Albert Hubo and Phillip K Dick heads, is talking about making 2-foot humanoids for the home entertainment market.

robots.net found a video of a robot arm with a perfect handshake.

SB:Insects with their guts removed and replaced with delicate clockwork mechanisms. Kinda creepy?

WowWee Dragonfly Ornithopter

2006-12-15T12:47:00.000-08:00

Expect a flying robot Dragonfly next year from Robosapien creators WowWee.
The flying robot is powered completely by flapping wings - no propellers. According to T3, it can fly for 15 minutes within 150 feet of the remote control.

ADVERTISEMENT
Don't forget to check out the WowWee page at ROBOTERIA.
ADVERTISEMENT

The design of the robot fly is based on the ornithopters of Sean Frawley who is currently a student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and consultant to toymaker WowWee.
The design is based on the rubber-band powered ornithopter plans that Frawley designed while in high school. With a friend he started a online business, Ornithopter Technologies, selling the flyers.

Video via T3.com

WowWee expects to have the Dragonfly robots available for sale by next Christmas. They have a debut planned for the Consumer Electronics Show next month.

UPDATE:
Check out the official FlyTech website www.flytechonline.com

UPDATE2: Radio Shack shows these available now for $50 with a 1-2 day delivery. I have not ordered one myself so I don't promise anything. If someone else gets one that quick please post a comment here.
Special Projects -- Invention Mysteries Serial Story | NIE WORLD

Robot Controlled By Brainwave Commands

2006-12-15T10:41:00.000-08:00

Scientists in the University of Washington Laboratory for Neural Systems have demonstrated an interface between a person and robot that registers commands from the human's thought patterns alone.

The semi-autonomous robot works as a team with the human operator. The person wears a skull cap covered with 32 electrodes that pick up the brainwave patterns and send them to a computer.
In the demonstrated experiment, the robot found two blocks while the human operator watched the action on a computer screen through the robots eyes. The operator then thought about which block to choose. The robot picks up the correct block 94 percent of the time.

Says leader of the project, Rajesh Rao, "This is really a proof-of-concept demonstration. It suggests that one day we might be able to use semi-autonomous robots for such jobs as helping disabled people or performing routine tasks in a person's home." For example, you think, "I might like a beer," and your robot servant walks to the store, buys it and brings it to you.

Check out the movie here.

Related:
Asimo Researches Brain Control

Robot Controlled By Brain-in-a-dish
Neural Interface
Brain Implants Control Arm

uwnews.org | University of Washington News and Information

Robots Join Rescue Effort

2006-12-15T09:07:00.000-08:00

Rescue workers have brought in flying drones to help locate hikers lost near the summit of Mount Hood in Oregon.

A Colorado non-profit organization, Alliance for Robot-Assisted Crisis Assessment and Response, ARACAR, has joined the search efforts for the lost mountaneers. ARACAR brings 18 inch flying surveyors with visible light and heat sensing eyes. They can be operated from up to six miles.
Rescue teams had hoped that the remote flyers would be able to search even with the continuing bad weather that has kept them penned in at lower altitude camps.
As of yesterday the weather was still too severe even for the robots.

The ARACAR team joins the efforts of Eugene Mountain Rescue, the 10th Special Forces Search and Rescue team , the Hood River Crag Rats, Corvallis Search and Rescue and the U.S. Air Force's 304th Rescue Squadron.

Also, a cell phone signal was detected a few days earlier so eavesdropping experts have been called in. The cell company, the FBI and a government funded spy company out of North Carolina, Iomax USA, have been mustered to try to pinpoint the location of the hikers' phone.

It is believed that one of the hikers is injured near the summit. Two others in the party were thought to have gone for help and could be anywhere on the mountain.

Oregonlive.com: Search

More on ARACAR from Rocky Mountain News.

Microsoft Releases Robot Software

2006-12-14T09:38:00.000-08:00

Microsoft released their Robotics Studio Software yesterday. The robotics software, which was announced back in June, is a complete development environment for robots. It includes a visual programming language, a 3-D virtual simulation environment and a runtime framework for interfacing with all kinds of hardware.

The software is free for hobbyists, experimenters and students and costs $399 for those wanting to use it commercially. Download it here.

Microsoft hopes that their software will become the heart and soul of future robots just as DOS and Windows launched the revolution in desktop computers.

The software has gained enthusiastic support since the beta release in June. It is already in use by many, many companies, schools and roboticists.

For just one example, research lab SRI International announced yesterday that they are creating robot localization, navigation and mapping software with MS Robotics Studio. SRI's software will give autonomous robots the ability to know where they are, map-out where they want to go and how to get there.

It has already been used with iRobot, Lego and others.

Will robots become as dependent on Microsoft software as PC's are now? It is a possibility.

Will we become as dependent on robots as we are on computers?
Probably.

The Robot Gossip Contest 1 to identify the turning point - when we become dependent on robots - is still open.

One reader, JakeH, has pointed out that the semiconductor manufacturing industry is already dependent on robots. His observation is appreciated but I still think society as a whole can survive without them for now.

It will not be long though before control some very necessary part of our lives so that without them civilization as we know it would crumble.
We will see signs of this in legislation that will set standards of reliability or define liabilities for failures of a robot.

Microsoft Robotics Studio Now Available to Provide Common Development Platform: More than 30 vendors offer support for creating broad range of innovative robotics applications.

Bringing Video Game Realism to War

2006-12-12T09:21:00.000-08:00

Pennsylvania company Chatten Associates has released their latest version of telepresence interface for military and civilian use.

The Head Aimed Remote Viewer, HARV, is based on the eMagin Z800 3DVisor on the human operator and gimbal-mounted camera on the remote robot.
The 3DVisor fills the operator's vision as it tracks their head movements. The robot's camera exactly follows the motion of the operator's head.

The interface has been used for explosive disposal robots and weaponized robots as well as civilian use on bulldozers. It can increase the effectiveness of the human/robot team by many times. According to Chatten, "The sense of tele-presence is so convincing that the operator’s vision processing is ”fooled“ into believing the operator is actually on the vehicle."

Chatten Associates : Human/Robotic Interfaces : Welcome

ASIMO Collapses On Stage

2006-12-11T08:35:00.000-08:00

Amid rumors swirling around Asimo's rock-star lifestyle, fans were aghast when he collapsed during a live performance. His press corps maintained their usual silence while speculation grows that his busy schedule and pressures from the launch of his new film career may be taking their toll.

He has recently been in Germany filming a series of commercials for Honda that will appear on British television. The director of the project says that he has been well behaved but he is not very flexible when it comes to making adjustments on the set.

According to The Independent online, "Asimo does not have the prima-donna tendencies of a lead actor." But he is still learning the craft. The article says of the director, "He endured a "slow, arduous and painful process" where the slightest diversion from the script called for advanced mathematics, re-programming and the loss of hours of valuable filming time."

The advertising campaign is said to begin today with the launch of short scenes being released onto iTunes. One wonders whether the live performance breakdown is a sign that Asimo is overplaying his battery life or maybe this is just a couch-jumping stunt to start the buzz about his new films. Asimo emerged from rehab last year with significant upgrades - could we be seeing a relapse?

Either way, this darling of science, big business, government and royalty is bound to come through this more popular than ever with his reputation unscathed.

via PinkTentacle

K-TEAM Next Gen Mini Robot

2006-12-07T10:03:00.000-08:00

Swiss company K-Team Corporation has released their next generation mini mobile robot for research and education.

The Khepera III is the latest version of the Khepera line that has been used in education for ten years.

Thew Khepera III is 130 mm in diamater and 70 mm tall. It is designed to work on a tabletop or run around on a lab floor.

It comes with 8 looking-out and 2 ground-looking infra-red sensors and 5 ultra sonic sensors. It has an embedded Linux operating system and communicates via serial or USB.

It can be upgraded for wireless communication, color camera and miniature manipulator. Also, the open-source interfaces can be adapted to almost any application.

The cost is not shown on the website yet. The Khepera II is in the US $1300 range depending on the options.

See the movie...

K-TEAM Corporation