Automaton

The Amazing Androids of Hiroshi Ishiguro (Audio Slide Show)

To understand how the human mind works, Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro is building androids that look just like real people.

This slide show is part of our special report "Robots for Real."

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By Erico Guizzo | Posted 17 Nov 2009 | 5:00 GMT

For Willow Garage, Robotics Is Personal (Audio Slide Show)

For Silicon Valley start-up Willow Garage, the future of personal robots is bright -- and open source.

This slide show is part of our special report "Robots for Real."

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By Erico Guizzo | Posted 16 Nov 2009 | 5:00 GMT

MonoCopter Modeled After Maple Leaf

Researchers at the University of Maryland studied the aero-dynamics of a maple leaf and used their findings to create and optimize a high-performance Micro Air Vehicle. Early results show that this 2 DoF MAV can potentially outperform more complicated helicopter and ornithopter style MAVs.

The following video shows the most recent work, showing its high performance and controllability.

From the creators:

The culmination of 3.5 years of research has led to controllable monocopter that can autorotate like a maple seed (Acer diabolicum Blume) and fly like a helicopter (hover and forward flight). The vehicle, invented at the University of Maryland, Aerospace Engineering Autonomous Vehicle Laboratory and Alfred Gessow Rotorcraft Center, is the smallest and most capable to date as it meets most of the challenges set forth by DARPA's nano-air-vehicle program.

The extended video goes into much more detail, prototype history, and even a demonstration of autonomous control.

By John Palmisano | Posted 15 Nov 2009 | 5:00 GMT

The Robowranglers From Texas (Audio Slide Show)

At the FIRST Robotics Competition, the defending champion Robowranglers team learns engineering -- and life -- lessons.

This slide show is part of our special report "Robots for Real."

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By Erico Guizzo | Posted 13 Nov 2009 | 5:00 GMT

Power Line Inspection Robot Balances Like Tightrope Walker

First time I see a robot balancing on a high-voltage power line like a tightrope walker!

This robot, dubbed the Expliner, was created by Japanese start-up HiBot, which spun off from the laboratory of famed Tokyo Tech roboticist Shigeo Hirose (known for his incredible snakebots).

Check out the video below showing an operator remote controlling the robot and performing some acrobatic maneuvers on a high-voltage line. Talk about unstructured environment! Read the full Spectrum article here.

Video: HiBot

By Erico Guizzo | Posted 13 Nov 2009 | 5:00 GMT

MIT's Shape-Shifting Robots (Audio Slide Show)

MIT researcher Daniela Rus wants to create self-reconfiguring robots that can change their shape -- and become anything.

This slide show is part of our special report "Robots for Real."

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By Erico Guizzo | Posted 12 Nov 2009 | 5:00 GMT

Lessons From a Mechanical Child (Audio Slide Show)

A child humanoid robot called iCub is helping Swiss scientists at EPFL's Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory study cognition, learning, and mobility.

This slide show is part of our special report "Robots for Real."

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By Erico Guizzo | Posted 11 Nov 2009 | 5:00 GMT

Driving a Car With an iPhone

DIY enthusiasts have used their iPhones to remote control all sorts of contraptions -- LEGO robots, RC cars and helicopters, even an R2-D2 replica. But this is the first time I see a car -- a real car. A group of engineers at National Instruments -- they call themselves Waterloo Labs -- have transformed an Oldsmobile Delta 88 into a remote controlled car that they can drive using an iPhone app. In the video they give an overview of how they did their hack in just a few weeks. The control system uses a few motors, potentiometers, a NI Compact RIO embedded controller, and LabVIEW. The iPhone talks with the controller via Wi-Fi. Neat. Check out their site for more videos and technical details.

Thanks, Trisha!

By Erico Guizzo | Posted 10 Nov 2009 | 5:00 GMT

How To Make a Humanoid Robot Open a Door

Roboticists know that some things are still hard for humanoid robots to do. Like walk, or run, or... open doors.

So presentations with titles like "Whole-Body Motion of a Humanoid Robot for Passing Through a Door," given at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems last month, should perhaps not raise any eyebrows. But as a non-roboticist, I scratched my head. Can it really be that hard to open a door?

I showed up at Hitoshi Arisumi's talk to find out. Arisumi is a researcher at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), one of the world's top centers for humanoid research. And as it turns out, opening a door -- in this case, a swinging door -- is actually pretty darn hard, though we humans don't even have to think about it.

First, what do you need? Swinging doors are heavy, and to open them, you need a large force at the beginning of the motion, then you have to follow through with a continuous force to keep the door open as you walk through it. (If you're picturing a robot in hat, chaps, and holster strutting into an Old West saloon, like I was, Arisumi’s doors are more like the kitchen doors you might find in restaurants.)

One way a humanoid robot could open a swinging door would be to punch it, Arisumi said. But that doesn't give the door enough momentum to stay open as the robot passes through. What about a kick? That would leave the bot off balance -- not to mention the door swinging back in its face.

What you need, argued Arisumi, is to open the door to a desired angle and support the door through the entire opening action. It’s not as easy as it sounds.

The factors to consider are numerous: the robot's upper body position and foot position, the opening angle of the door, the angular velocity of the door just after opening, and the impact velocity of the robot, among other things. And keep in mind that when the robot is handling another object like a shopping bag or a tray of food, it's hard to open the door with just one arm. (By now I was impressed that we do it so well, after all.)

Arisumi went through equations and diagrams and graphs to demonstrate the proposed technique of using the robot's whole body to impact with the door, just like you would open it with your hip and side. Their experiments with an HRP-2 humanoid robot produced successful, stable opening of a swinging door with a mass of more than 80 percent of the robot's mass.

Now we just need a gun-slinging robot to complete the Old West picture.

Images: AIST

By Anne-Marie Corley | Posted 9 Nov 2009 | 5:00 GMT

AWE Robotic Wall Reconfigures Itself Into Workspace, Lounge

The video session at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems last month opened with a bit of chaos. The tables and chairs in the room were set up in board-meeting style, taking too much space and making it hard for attendees to face the screen. Eventually the tables were moved and the mass of people crowded in the doorway was able to come in and bring more chairs.

Which made me wonder, Where's the robotic furniture?!

It may be here soon. One of the videos presented at the session featured a robotic wall called AWE (animated work environment), developed at Clemson University's school of architecture and department of electrical and computer engineering.

Presenting the AWE Project was Keith Evan Green, the director of the school’s program of intelligent materials and systems for architecture. His opener: "We're in the business of reconfiguring rooms," he said, "which we just did here manually."

He explained that the segmented wall can be rearranged to make a single space that is useful for working at a desk, giving presentations, even watching football. "The idea is for multiple people to convene in one place" with different objects and uses.

The eight-degree-of-freedom robowall, powered by electric motors, has multiple touch-screen displays and mobile desk units. Users can select six different configurations and fine-tune them by gesturing at proximity sensors.

Their original idea for the contraption's design came from studying the movement of an elephant’s trunk, though for their current prototype they went to a "hyper redundant" system more like the links in a watch's wristband. "Out of cowardice," Green said when asked, because they wanted to be sure it worked. But Green and collaborator Ian Walker are currently working on "continuum robotics," more like that trunk.

Maybe at IROS next year Green will wave his hand and the hotel conference room will morph into a cool movie theater?

Video: AWE Project

By Anne-Marie Corley | Posted 6 Nov 2009 | 5:00 GMT