Researchers at Japan's Chiba University are developing a hummingbird-style flying robot that could be used to find people trapped in collapsed buildings, search for criminals, or even explore other planets.
Engineering professor Hiroshi Liu said the micro air vehicle, or MAV, is equipped with a mini motor that allows it to flap its wings up to 30 times per second--roughly in the same range as a hummingbird.
(Credit:
Chiba University)
The remote-controlled ornithopter is nearly 4 inches long and weighs about 0.09 ounces. Its rechargeable battery allows for six minutes of flying time, according to the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper.
It has four polyethylene wings and apparently can be more stable in figure-eight flight than a helicopter, though Liu has yet to make it hover in mid-air.
In earthquake-prone Japan, finding victims in destroyed buildings could be one application of the ornithopter. Liu said it could also be used to track criminals or explore Mars from the air.
Other MAVs in development already have indoor navigation, outdoor navigation, and features that mimic nature. Liu's robot, though, is one of the smallest and most lightweight in its class. He plans to equip it with a tiny camera in the next few months.
It would then be in competition with the DelFly Micro, a similar-sized ornithopter from Delft University of Technology that already carries a camera. The Dutch machine is slightly heavier at 0.1 ounces and can only fly for three minutes. Check out a video of it here.
The Chiba University project cost has already topped $2 million. Liu has drawn inspiration from nature in the design and optimization of MAV wings, running biomechanical simulation models on a supercomputer to find the best wing shape.
(Via Physorg and Agence France-Presse)
(Credit:
Physorg.com)
The cell could be available in Japan around fiscal 2011, according to the interview with Panasonic President Fumio Otsubo, carried on Physorg.com. Fiscal 2011 in Japan begins April 1, 2010.
The electronics giant has been developing fuel cell home cogeneration systems. But it recently took majority control of Sanyo Electric and is expected to take advantage of Sanyo's rechargeable battery and solar-power know-how.
Panasonic and Sanyo have apparently already test-manufactured the storage cell and plan to sell it with a power-monitoring system that displays consumption on home TVs.
Via Physorg.com .
Tired of Guitar Hero? Try jamming with your iPhone or iPod Touch and Shimon, an autonomous, marimba-playing, octopus-armed hipster robot.
Gil Weinberg, director of music technology at Georgia Tech, is developing Shimon as a socially dynamic band mate. He says the robot "listens like a human and improvises like a machine" thanks to complex algorithms that allow it to perceive and improvise a groove.
(Credit:
Credit: Video screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET)
Weinberg is also behind ZOOZBeat, an app that turns your iPhone into an instrument and sequencer, letting you remix and loop your own music by shaking, tilting, and otherwise getting down with it. Beats come bundled with the app, but you can also download packs with vocals, hooks, and instruments.
If there aren't iPhone-only bands out there already, ZOOZBeat will probably start a trend. But as I mentioned in an earlier post about the exciting new Eigenharp, electronic music concerts can benefit from a more dynamic physical performance, and that's where Shimon, with its bobbing cyclops head, comes in.
As the vid after the jump shows, Shimon can take your ZOOZ loop with a Wi-Fi flick and run with it. Here, it repeats and improvises on a jazzy loop, playing in a variety of styles resembling jazz greats like John Coltrane or Thelonius Monk.
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(Credit:
Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory at the University of Tokyo)
If you've seen the film "Avatar," you may have noticed one of the characters plucking a display panel from a desktop and continuing to use it as a standalone control screen. While we probably won't witness epic wars between human colonists and sapient humanoids in the near future, the technology depicted in the science fiction film is available in our current time, albeit in unrefined form.
At the recent computer graphics event Siggraph Asia 2009, a pair of researchers from the University of Tokyo's Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory demonstrated their Volume Slicing Display, a screen prototype developed for medical use. With it, radiologists would be able to view 3D imagery from a flat X-ray plate via a calibrated projector.
The technology essentially lets users experience 3D virtual objects in a physical environment. This could mean doctors visualizing cross sections of a brain in real time while walking around an operating theater, for example.
The setup apparently comprises only plexiglass or paper, one or more projectors, and ARTookit markers that can be made with off-the-shelf hardware. While this doesn't sound as exciting as what's shown in the film, at least we know we may get there in the future. 2148, perhaps?
(Source: Crave Asia)
(Credit:
Nippon Institute of Technology)
Classrooms in Japan may soon welcome a new 4-foot-tall educational humanoid robot unveiled by Nippon Institute of Technology and other groups.
It will be used to teach software programming and hardware engineering to students, but will also be demonstrated in elementary schools and nursing homes. It will act as a "teacher" in class along with a human teacher.
As explained in Japanese in the video below, the kid-size bot doesn't have a name yet. With its boyish voice, the robot can be heard asking people to give it a "cool name." It then does some dancing and balancing on one leg.
But some details are available. It tips the scales at 33 pounds and has 21 degrees of mechanical freedom. It's equipped with sensing devices including a camera, accelerometers, and gyroscopes, and has a small projector in its head. It can be programmed with Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio.
The price tag is about $132,000, according to Robot Watch.
Its body was engineered by Tokyo robot firm ZMP, known for its small but stylish Nuvo bot. The underlying e-nuvo Humanoid platform is intended for education and research, and is priced around $77,000. The exterior was designed by Znug Design studio.
More photos at the Robot Watch page (in Japanese).
No word yet on how the robot will punish bad students.
(Credit:
Crave Asia)
Most of us are familiar with haptics on touch-screen phones. The feedback technology uses vibrating pulses to replace the tactility of, for example, pressing a physical button. At the recent computer graphics event Siggraph Asia 2009, a team of researchers from Japan's University of Tsukuba demonstrated what they can do with haptics by letting users "feel" a remote object.
The prototype system comprises a laser range finder, computer, and haptics generator. By placing the device on a glass casing (we are very familiar with this as many companies like to put their prototype devices in a see-no-touch environment) and using the laser to measure the distance from the panel to the actual object, the user can "feel" the latter via the pulses that are generated.
According to the literature (PDF), the reaction force is determined by the distance between the handheld device and the actual object. Users supposedly can feel details such as texture when the magnification factor is increased. The researchers say the system can be used for educating viewers valuable exhibits and inspection of engineering products. We just want to get one of these before we attend another mega-scale event like CES.
(Source: Crave Asia)
(Credit:
ATR)
A humanoid robot has been deployed to a supermarket in Japan to help senior shoppers with their grocery purchases.
The modified version of the Robovie II robot developed by Japan's Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, or ATR, is working as a temporary shopping assistant at Apita-Seikadai supermarket in Kyoto until March. It's another experiment to test the viability of advanced personal robots in everyday situations.
Robovie can wirelessly receive a list of items selected beforehand by the customer, carry the shopping basket, and make recommendations about what to buy.
In the video below, the robot slowly follows a 67-year-old woman around the supermarket, carrying her basket, as they are followed by reporters. Robovie keeps telling the lady that the fruit she puts in the basket looks delicious, to which she agrees. It then suggests lettuce for a salad.
ATR's Robovie series has been developed into several machines. Some have been used as crowd monitors to detect people who are lost, while others have been miniaturized as hobby robots.
Via Pink Tentacle
(Credit:
Ford)
Ford has been working with a tactile robot arm to evaluate the feel and appearance of surfaces and controls in its vehicles in a bid to make the testing process less subjective and more scientific.
The Robotized Unit for Tactility and Haptics, or RUTH, has been used for several years at the automaker's European Research Center in Aachen, Germany, to check the interiors of the European versions of the new Focus and Fiesta, versions of which are coming to the United States in 2010.
Ford says it's the first carmaker to use a robot like RUTH, which is a modified consumer packaging arm, to scientifically test interiors. Work by the machine is now being seen in production models around the world.
To better respond to customer expectations for quality interiors, RUTH measures parameters such as roughness and temperature on points like the steering wheel, knobs and armrests.
RUTH doesn't have a driver's license yet, but it can manipulate knobs and adjust air vents in design prototypes just like a human driver. The data it collects is used by engineers to ensure controls have the right tactile resistance, firmness, uniformity and other qualities.
By using a machine, Ford can assign specific values to qualities, such as "soft," when designing interiors. Research generated by RUTH is also being used to create vehicles with a consistent look and feel.
Guinness World Records has certified a Japanese researcher's camera as having the most lenses in the world at 158.
(Credit:
Nagoya Institute of Technology)
Yojiro Ishino of the Nagoya Institute of Technology created the super camera with his students in August to photograph flames from many different angles to better understand their structure.
The research goal is to find more efficient ways of burning fuel for engines.
The camera images can be used to create realistic computer-generated graphics of the flames in 3D. Ishino created a lower-res camera with only 40 lenses in 2003.
His latest camera measures 1.5 feet in diameter and 2.8 inches tall. It took Ishino and his students about six months to assemble the 158 high-power lenses into four rows along a semicircle.
Each lens cost about 200 yen, or $2.24, and the team bought 800 lenses for the project. Guinness required that each of the 158 lenses in the camera was operational before certifying the machine.
Japanese robot maker Kokoro, best known for its Actroid line of ultra-lifelike androids, will make robot clones of people in a special limited-time offer.
Osaka University roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro (right) and his android clone, Geminoid.
(Credit: Tim Hornyak)The New Year promotion is being offered via select department stores in Japan. People willing to pay about $225,000 can have themselves recreated in robot form, with their robot clone having exactly the same face, hair, eyes, and body.
Kokoro will also model the buyer's voice, facial expressions, and upper-body movements to create the most lifelike doppelganger possible.
The Actroid and Geminoid androids are powered by a quiet air servo system that moves their upper bodies. They cannot walk.
Both are based on real people--one version of Actroid was based on a Japanese newscaster, and Geminoid is based on Osaka University roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro.
Kokoro is only offering to make two robot clones. If more than two orders are received, the lucky buyers will be selected by lottery.
(Via Pink Tentacle)
