Interview - iRobot Military Applications
We are in the early stages of unmanned systems being used on the battlefield. While robots are being used in a growing number of missions, work continues on the research side to integrate new systems and capabilities to continually expand their value on the frontlines.
What is Redwood Robotics?
Travis Deyle at Hizook has some interesting info about Redwood Robotics, a Silicon Valley startup with backing from Willow Garage, Meka Robotics and SRI. The company has been in stealth mode for the past year but yesterday at an event in Menlo Park they announced the first real statement about their plans for the company. At the event Aaron Edsinger, who is CEO of Meka Robotics, said the goal of the new company would be: "To enable the personal and service robot markets through a new generation of robot arms that are simple to program, inexpensive, and safe to operate alongside people."
Sounds like a smart plan. Be sure to read Deyle's full post over at Hizook.
Stompy: A Giant Two Seat Spider Robot
The Artisans Asylum in Boston Massachusetts s a non-profit community craft studio. In their next robotics class their goals are fairly simple: build a car-sized two-person hexapod robot and ride it. What makes their plans different from the scribbling of every 12 year old who just found Japanese animation is that the guys teaching the class have worked on projects real projects like Boston Dynamics PETMAN, AlphaDog and BigDog.
Hizook does a good job of summarizing what Artisans Asylum is and Stompy.
The project is still in the conceptual stages but the team has a blog with some of the tests and presentations they've done so far.
Festo ExoHand
The ExoHand from Festo is an exoskeleton that can be worn like a glove. The fingers can be actively moved and their strength amplified; the operator's hand movements are registered and transmitted to the robotic hand in real time. The fingers can be actively moved and their strength amplified; the operator’s hand movements are registered and transmitted to the robotic hand in real time. The objectives are to enhance the strength and endurance of the human hand, to extend humans’ scope of action and to secure them an independent lifestyle even at an advanced age.
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Sensor Based Adaptive Arc Welding
Tactics and tips for solving arc welding problems using sensors and machine vision.
RoboGames 2012: Mech Warfare
Last weekend was RoboGames 2012. IEEE Spectrum has posted a few videos from the Mech Warfare competition where robots battle inside a miniature model city. The videos contain several Each robot is controlled remotely, and the human pilot sees only a first-person view from the perspective of a wireless camera mounted on the front of the robot. Each robot is equipped with pressure sensitive plates that register hits from airsoft pellets.
New Release Of ROS Officially Available
ROS Fuerte Turtle the fifth ROS ROS distribution release is now officially available. ROS Fuerte has major improvements that make it easier to integrate with other software frameworks and tools. This includes a rewrite of the build system, migration to the Qt framework, and continued transition to standalone libraries. A detailed change log as well as installation instructions are available here .
Ensuring Labeling Accuracy in the Packaging Process with Barcode and Machine Vision Systems
While every operation brings a unique set of requirements and challenges, three sample applications that utilize barcode and machine vision technology to ensure labeling accuracy are outlined in this paper.
Piccolo: Arduino Based Drawing Bot
Diatom design studio are developing an open source drawing robot kit that they hope to sell for just $70 dollars. The kit: "Piccolo", will be powered by an Arduino board, and supports movement along X, Y or Z axes. You can attach a pen, pencil, brush or possibly even an X-Acto knife and it will draw out any sketch you upload to it. They plan on including Arduino and Processing libraries that will allow you to develop dynamic drawings using sensor data. In the video below the prototype draws procedural tree sketches that vary according to the bots proximity to a light source. The kit isn't available yet but on Diatom's website you can sign up now to their mailing list.
DARPA Robotics Contest Update
Just days after announcing the DARPA Robotics Contest the DARPA website is reporting that Boston Dynamics has been selected as a "sole source" to develop and build the humanoid robots for the contest. Boston Dynamics will build 8 identical humanoids, which will be based on PETMAN. IEEE Spectrum has the full story here .
DARPA Robotics Contest Announced
The Pentagon’s research and development agency has announced a contest to develop ground robotic capabilities to execute complex tasks in dangerous, degraded, human-engineered environments. The program will focus on robots that can utilize available human tools, ranging from hand tools to vehicles.The DARPA Robotics Challenge will consist of three key events – a Virtual Disaster Challenge, and two (2) Disaster Response Challenges. Participation in the Virtual Disaster Challenge is required only for teams working exclusively on control software development. The agency has not yet announced how much it intends to spend on the program or the size of the prize but previous contest awarded two million dollars for the top prize with one million dollars for the runner up. The full contest details and registration can be found here .
Why are there more unmanned platforms than customers?
Why are unmanned systems developers offering so many different kinds of platforms and ideas, when there is comparatively little demand by the civilian market? Why are there more offerings than customers?
Interview with Dr. Tom Van Doren, COO of HDT Robotics
Headquartered in Solon, Ohio, HDT Global is widely recognized as the world leader in the design and manufacture of many products in use by U.S. and allied military units, civilian governments, and commercial customers today.
Is Your Business Employing Automation?
It will be worth your time to analyze each segment of your business and decide if automation is right for your business and if automation can produce more efficiency or profit.
Printable Robots From MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is leading an ambitious new project to reinvent how robots are designed and produced. Funded by a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the project will aim to develop a desktop technology that would make it possible for the average person to design, customize and print a specialized robot in a matter of hours.
The project envisions a future desktop technology that prints actual programmable hybrid electro-mechanical devices from simple descriptions on-demand, anywhere, and with performance one would expect from a team of professional engineers, using advanced materials. The project aims to transform manufacturing as dramatically as the personal computer democratized information technology and transformed how we communicate.
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