Researchers in Japan are developing robotic roller skates as a new form of personal mobility.
(Credit:
Tim Hornyak)
Toshinobu Takei of Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) demonstrated his "Unit-type Micro-Mobility" device at the 2009 International Robot Exhibition (iRex) in Tokyo this week.
We haven't seen too many gadgets like these, but what with the plethora of prototype personal vehicles like Honda's U3-X unicycle in Japan lately, they aren't surprising.
The prototype skates are actually mechatronic versions of "takeuma," which are old-school bamboo stilts that kids used to play with in Japan before their lives were consumed by cell phones and video games.
The aluminum skates move automatically when the user leans forward, but the attached poles must also be grasped. Users can roll or step forward with them.
Each skate contains a wheel, three accelerometers, and gyroscopes, and weighs about 11 pounds, according to Takei, part of AIST's Field Robotics Research Group.
Top speed is about 2.5 mph.
Takei said the skates are still in development, but added they are less bulky than a Segway.
Could they spark a new roller disco boom? Everyone would dance The Robot, of course.
Add another robot to the list of helping bots for seniors. A robot named Charlie rolled into a New Zealand retirement village on Monday to take residents' vital signs, deliver their medication reminders, and call for assistance if they fall.
Charlie's trial stint at Selwyn Retirement Village in Auckland's Point Chevalier is, in part, a response to a University of Auckland study exploring seniors' attitudes toward robots.
The study--part of a three-year "HealthBots" collaboration by the University of Auckland and Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute--collated the opinions of Selwyn Retirement Village residents, their families, and staff on what tasks health care robots could perform and what the mechanical helpers should look like.
Results showed respondents felt most comfortable with robots taking vital signs such as blood pressure, calling for help, lifting heavy objects, cleaning, and making phone calls to a doctor or nurse. They did not identify personal care, medical advice, and assessing emotions as tasks they'd like to see taken over by robots.
Posing with Charlie the robot are HealthBots team members (from left) Rebecca Stafford, Bruce MacDonald, and Elizabeth Broadbent.
(Credit: University of Auckland)As far as physical appearance, residents and staff indicated they preferred a "middle-age robot" with a clear voice, though they didn't have a preference for male or female features. The robot shouldn't be too human-like, they suggested, with some residents explicitly saying they'd rather be tended to by a robot without a face. The preferred design was silver and around 4 feet tall, so the robot was not too imposing, with wheels and a screen.
Enter Charlie, which pretty much fits that description. ... Read more
Robert Matysiak, our new design hero.
(Credit: Robert Matysiak)Croatian artist and robot fan Robert Matysiak has created some wonderfully whimsical "Robolamps" from plumbing supplies and colored lightbulbs. We think they'd look great in just about any geek's apartment--as long as they don't come alive in the middle of the night and bludgeon us with their pipe-arm thingies (though they're so cute, we think they'd be more likely to hug us).
The Robolamps measure from 6 inches to about 1.5 feet tall and have names like "Ongho,'' "Saga," and "Okona.'' Matysiak has exhibited his Robolamps, but unfortunately, they don't appear to be for sale yet (fingers--and pipe-arm thingies--crossed). To see more of Matysiak's quirky creations, visit his Facebook page and click through the gallery below.
(Via Gizmodo)
(Credit:
Roomba Pac-Man)
Students at Colorado University have reprogrammed five Roomba vacuum-cleaning robots to recreate the classic 1980s arcade game Pac-Man.
The machines move around a virtual maze, indicated by red tape on the floor, as the four ghosts Blinky, Pinky, Inky, and Clyde chase the Pac-Man Roomba as it vacuums up paper dots.
The Pac-Man Roomba is joystick-controlled by a user, but the ghosts navigate autonomously. They will try to chase Pac-Man until it sucks up a power pellet, which puts them into evade mode.
The Roombas are wirelessly linked to a laptop that processes their locations through an overhead camera positioning system.
The developers created Roomba Pac-Man to demonstrate their unmanned aerial guidance system software.
But this isn't the first time Roomba has been reprogrammed to recreate a game from yesteryear. The plucky puck-shaped robot has dodged Texas cars while reliving the adventures of Frogger.
(Credit:
Video screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET)
Say salam wa aleikum to an Arabic-speaking android developed at United Arab Emirates University and billed as the first of its kind in the world. It could enter mass production to help people at shopping malls.
The Ibn Sina robot, named after an 11th century philosopher, can recognize faces, converse with people by speaking in classical Arabic, connect to the Internet, and retrieve information. As seen in the video below, it can also exchange kisses with people.
Software for Ibn Sina was developed by a team led by computer science assistant professor Nikolaos Mavridis, with the mechanics by Hanson Robotics. Mavridis says some companies have approached his lab and asked about using the turban-wearing, bearded bot in shopping malls or as a receptionist.
Doubtless Ibn Sina, known as Avicenna in English, would have been pleased.
(Credit:
Michigan State University)
Michigan State University researchers are spawning robot fish to monitor the quality of lake water and the effect of harmful algae.
The prototype fish resemble other robot fish, such as those being developed at MIT to check for pollutants in water.
An electric charge in the 9-inch MSU prototype causes its polymer fins to bend so the robotic perch can maneuver. Designs call for onboard sensors to record temperature, oxygen, pollutant, and algae data, which would be relayed to a docking station when the fish surfaces. GPS systems and infrared sensors could be developed to aid navigation.
The fish are designed to be low-cost for applications such as monitoring aquafarms and water reservoirs. Compared with water sampling by humans, the robo-fish would provide a more regular data feed by communicating with each other and their docking station.
The MSU researchers hope to make the robot more robust so it can swim through currents. Currently it can only move through calm water.
Creeper2 has an all-aluminum custom chassis and uses dual processors to ensure smooth movements.
(Credit: Trossen Robotics)If I wasn't so worried about traumatizing the kids in my neighborhood, dispensing trick or treat candy in this creepy spider bot pumpkin would be awesome.
It runs C on an Axon microcontroller. It uses all digital servos and can lift over twice its body weight. The software (soon to be given out open source) allows for six synchronous degrees of motion. Future additions will include foot sensors and a remote control option.
Based on that info, and other nuggets gleaned from the Trossen Robotics forums, you might be able to have a Creeper2 bot of your own ready for next year.
Or, better yet, put a Santa head on top of that thing and march it out in the living room on Christmas morning. Your kids are sure to have suppressed memories of it that will bubble up to the surface years and years from now causing a dramatic and crippling meltdown. Priceless.
This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.
(Credit:
Robo-Garage)
Japanese robot wunderkind Tomotaka Takahashi has created a new humanoid robot that can jump 3 inches off the floor, an impressive feat for a small bipedal machine.
Known for his anime-inspired robotic creations used for product promotion, Takahashi's latest bipedal walker is called Ropid (from "robot" and "rapid").
The cute carbon fiber and plastic droid weighs 3.5 pounds and has 30 degrees of mechanical freedom.
Seen in the video below, Ropid can get up, walk, run, and even jump 3 inches into the air.
It does all that while maintaining its balance thanks to its four onboard gyro sensors and four accelerometers.
Takahashi's stylish robots, such as Chroino, are often featured in magazines and on TV in Japan.
It took Takahashi two and a half years to develop Ropid at his Kyoto University-based start-up Robo-Garage. The robot is based on patented technology developed in 2007.
(Via Robot Watch)
MIT's concept robot head mounts on the dashboard to assist with navigation.
(Credit: MIT)MIT intends to revolutionize GPS navigation by making it friendly and predictive, using a friendly robot helper to anticipate your needs. The Affective Intelligent Driving Agent (AIDA) is a robot head on an articulated neck, reminiscent of movie robots from the 1980s, that mounts in the center of the dashboard.
It incorporates an expressive "face" that can smile, look sad, show warning signs, and even wink at you. AIDA was developed as a collaboration between the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab, MIT's SENSEable City Lab, and Volkswagen Group of America's Electronics Research Lab.
AIDA's expressive behaviors are designed to endear the device to you as it helps in your daily navigation. The robot learns your daily commute and which areas you frequent for which purposes.
For example, if you always head to a particular district in your city around dinner time, it will assume you like to eat dinner there. After it memorizes your commute, it will automatically plug in your route to work when you get into the car on a weekday morning. If you go to a hotel for a dalliance every Thursday at noon, it will probably give you a wink and a knowing grin as it maps the route for you.
... Read more
I'm sure you are all well-acquainted with the crazy quadrupled BigDog robot, but if it had a master to walk with, it would probably look something like the Petman.
Actually, the similarity is not surprising considering that the walking robot was designed by Boston Dynamics, the same company behind BigDog. Petman has been in development for some time now, but this is the first chance we have had to view his human-like stride.
The military plans to use it to test out clothing for soldiers that needs to be completely protective and not strain or open up under any sort of human articulated movement. It's capable of crawling, as well as walking at 3.2 mph. And like the Big Dog, it can keep its balance when you shove it.
This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.
