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In addition to an expected increase in sales to the U.S. military, iRobot says it will see growth in its unmanned robot platforms from foreign buyers.

iRobot's Warrior robot can be modified to support chemical sensor devices or functioning weapons.

(Credit: Candace Lombardi/CNET News.com)

The "Unmanned Systems Roadmap 2007-2032," a report put out by the Department of Defense last year, outlined a strategy to increase spending in unmanned technology for the air, sea, and ground.

iRobot, which has already been supplying the U.S. military with unmanned robots for use in ground reconnaissance and combat, has repeatedly said it will benefit from the military's increased need.

But the company now says that as its robots have proven themselves useful in Iraq and Afghanistan, interest from foreign armed forces has also increased.

iRobot has sold robots from its line of unmanned military drones internationally to 13 allied countries, including Australia, Gemany, Israel, and the United Kingdom, since 2006, Joe Dyer, president of iRobot's Government & Industrial Robots division, told reporters in a Web conference Wednesday.

The international market consisted of only a handful of robots sold in 2006, but about 8 percent or 9 percent of iRobot's total revenue for unmanned robots in 2007. This year, iRobot estimates that its foreign market will increase to about 15 percent of its total revenues for its government and industrial division, according to Dyer.

But how do export license approvals work when a company is a supplier of dual-use technology to the U.S. military? Admittedly, iRobot's unmanned platforms are just as suited to benign first-responder search-and-rescue functions as they are to lethal combat. But either way you look at it, iRobot is still selling hardware with high-tech military capability to foreign entities.

"It's on a country-by-country basis. If country X desires to purchase iRobot robots, we take it to (the State Department) for approval. If we receive it, we proceed," Dyer said.

There's no doubt that many scientists are looking to nature for mechanical inspiration. This past spring we have seen robotic bugs, robo-fish, and perhaps even the promise of a robotic dolphin.

For its design of a robot for use inside pipes, the SINTEF ICT part of the SINTEF Group, a Norway-based technology research company, was inspired by snakes.

New robotic snake design can climb pipes vertically.

(Credit: SINTEF ICT)

The robot as designed (it's still not a finished prototype) maneuvers itself not only horizontally like a team of train cars, but can climb vertically as needed inside pipes with a squirming motion.

"When the robot enters a vertical pipe, it lifts its head in the pipe and meets the pipe wall. It can then either move sideways with its abdomen against the pipe and twist itself upwards or it can topple backwards, attach itself to the pipe wall, in the same way as we would put our feet against a shaft wall to hold on, and then roll upwards," according to a statement from SINTEF.

The final robot will be approximately 1.5 meters long, made of aluminum and consist of about 11 modules connected by joints. SINTEF sees its robots being used to check on the quality of oil and gas pipelines, or as a cleaning tool in ventilation systems.

But right now, the SINTEF snake can not autonomously navigate any set of strange pipes. The team is currently using a Lego Mindstorms robot with an attached camera that navigates a pre-programmed pipe system. The roboticists are working on a visual system that would allow the robot to detect pipe turns ahead of time so that it could navigate itself as needed through any system of pipes. A prototype of that robot should be complete by the end of 2008, according to SINTEF.

ACM-R5

(Credit: Hirose Lab, Dept. of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Tokyo Instite of Technology)

The SINTEF robot could be considered a distant cousin to the ACM-R5 amphibious robot that came out of the Hirose-Fukushima Robotics Lab at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan.

The ACM-R5 robot can slither both on land and in water.

Shigeo Hirose, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, has been working on what he refers to as "serpent robots" and serpentine locomotion since the 1970s.

The ACM-R5 robot that came out of Hirose's lab first debuted at the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi, Japan with improved versions shown publicly in 2007. An incredibly life-like snake robot, it is shown in the video below, gliding through water in a test pool.

Carnegie Mellon's roboticists, meanwhile, have their own Snakebot slithering in the labs.

iRobot has secured a multimillion-dollar R&D contract for a new type of soft, flexible robot for the military, the company announced Tuesday.

The "ChemBot" project was awarded to iRobot from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army Research Office.

iRobot did not release any preliminary diagrams or details on what the ChemBot might look like. But some ideas on what a ChemBot might be like can be gleaned from a request for proposals DARPA put out in March 2007. The robot DARPA wants to see must be a soft, flexible, mobile robot that can squeeze into hard-to-reach places. The goal is to make a robot that would be "soft enough to squeeze or traverse through small openings, yet large enough to carry an operationally meaningful payload," according to DARPA's request. The robot will also need to change in size and shape to fit a given situation's needs.

The ChemBot project led by iRobot will include team members from iRobot, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with expertise in chemistry and material science, as well as those versed in the expected actuator, electronics, sensor, and computer technologies.

The ChemBot will be used for reconnaissance and search-and-rescue type missions, according to iRobot.

Small and nimble seems to be the latest robo-interest.

SRI International released footage of its sticky wall-climbing robots in April. BAE Systems announced in early May it secured a $38 million contract with the U.S. military for its spider-like intelligence-gathering robots. Finally, researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle announced earlier this month that they are developing "robofish" for gathering information at sea and that the military is interested in a school of its own.

Reem-B humanoid robot

(Credit: Pal Technology Robotics)

A new humanoid robot called Reem-B was unveiled on Wednesday at an event on Reem Island in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emerites.

The Reem-B robot from Pal Technology Robotics is capable of face recognition, speech interaction, biped walking, traversing stairs, and sitting (see video below). It can also recognize and pick up objects, as well as evaluate and map out a room to better navigate it.

Reem-B stands at 4'10" (1.47 meters) tall and weighs about 132 pounds (60Kg). It can carry up to 26 pounds (12Kg) in its arms and walk at a speed of 1 mph (1.5Km/h). It can also climb stairs. Using a main CPU that consists of a Core 2 Duo (1.66GHz) and a Geode (500MHz), the robot can operate for about 120 minutes before its battery needs to be recharged.

By comparison, Honda's Asimo robot is slightly shorter and lighter, at 4 feet, 3 inches tall, and weighing 119 pounds. The Honda robot is also a bit faster, with a running capability of 4 mph, compared to Reem-B's 1 mph walking speed.

However, where Asimo claims 34 degrees of freedom, Reem-B claims to have 41 degrees of freedom, making it more flexible with movement.

Pal Technology Robotics began posting photos and some video footage of Reem-B on its site in April, but the robot was not officially unveiled to the public until Wednesday.

Pal Technology Robotics is a subsidiary of the Pal Technology Group, which produces power and desalination plants, and is part the Royal Group, an Abu Dhabi, UAE-based conglomerate.

While Pal Robotics Technology is officially headquartered in Abu Dhabi, the team responsible for developing Reem-B actually works out of an apartment located in the center of Barcelona, Spain.

The team of mostly Spanish scientists is led by Davide Faconti, 29, who is from Italy and has been chronicling the progress of both the first generation Reem-A robot and the newest Reem-B robot in his personal blog.

The Reem-B team led by Davide Faconti (right of robot in white shirt) operates out of an apartment in Barcelona, Spain.

(Credit: Pal Technology Robotics)

Propelled by a servo-actuated two-link tails and flapping pectoral fins, a new breed of robofish programmed to swim in schools may soon be used to track oil spills or wildlife such as whales, according to researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle.

By mimicking a fish's natural propulsion mechanics these "autonomous fin-actuated underwater vehicles" are able to swim in any direction, make tight turns, and even go backwards, researchers say. The university is testing three of the vehicles in an indoor freshwater tank equipped with a four-camera tracking system to supplement data collected by onboard sensors.

(Credit: University of Washington)

One of their challenges is how to coordinate the artificial fish so that they work together. But radio signals don't travel well underwater, forcing robots in previous experiments to surface periodically to receive orders from central command or, worse, be being linked by cable.

These fish are more independent--controlling and coordinating their own actions using onboard microprocessor for collecting data and computing control commands, a pressure sensor for gauging depth, and a 3D compass all powered by NiMH rechargeable batteries. When they do need to communicate with one another, they use sonar-like "pings" from acoustic modems.

The three fish in this latest experiment kept it together despite losing roughly half of the information packets, which shows the system is relatively robust. "With a group of vehicles you can get more data collection at the same time than with just one. You get better spatial distribution and cover more area," Kristi Morgansen, a UW roboticist, told New Scientist.

The military thinks it's a good idea too. The U.S. Office of Naval Research wants to fund its own fishy version that would use cameras to gather data and then share the intel via sonar. Eh, herding whales sounds like more fun.

Virginia Tech's team, VictorTango, won third prize and $500,000 in the Urban Grand Challenge in 2007. Torc Technologies, which collaborated on the car, will now sell a version of it to interested academics and researchers.

(Credit: Stefanie Olsen/CNET News.com)

Self-driving cars are veering closer to the roads.

Torc Technologies, which collaborated with Virginia Tech on an autonomous Ford Escape Hybrid that placed third in DARPA's Urban Grand Challenge, started selling a version of its self-driving creation Tuesday.

Called the ByWire XGV, Torc's drive-by-wire converted Ford Escape Hybrid will be available as a research platform for academics and car industry types who are interested in developing new applications in the field of autonomous autos.

While the world may not be ready yet for self-driving cars on the road, someone could have a lot of fun on a closed-course race track. Torc's car will sell for about $60,000, excluding the cost of the Ford Escape Hybrid with four-wheel drive. The starting sticker price on the SUV with 4WD is about $29,000. (As a platform, the car is ideal for U.S. research because it's American-made, has a powerful battery onboard, and is sturdy over rough terrain.)

"It's an experimental ground vehicle that provides researchers and developers with a car that's already converted," said Anu Saha, robotics product engineer with National Instruments, whose technology is used in the car. "There is a base level of technology, and researchers can come up with the next level, like what's stopping us from having autonomous cars on the road? We need more intelligence."

Torc is among the few contestants in DARPA's autonomous road races from 2004 to 2007 that are turning their hard work into a product. Team Dad commercialized an advanced laser sensor that it developed for the 2004 race, and then sold it to as many as 12 semifinalists in the 2007 event. The so-called lidar, which costs about $80,000, helps create a highly detailed map of the surrounding terrain so an autonomous car can more easily detect and avoid obstacles. Other teams have tried to sell their cars for research purposes, too, but on a more informal basis.

The auto industry is moving closer all the time to adopting these technologies. Infiniti has a new car that features "lane departure control," which is capable of keeping itself between lane lines. It will use the brakes to kick itself back on course if it veers from a lane, according to Car and Driver.

Torc announced other new autonomous vehicle technologies that it will sell to the military.

The PackBot from iRobot can climb stairs and carry a camera on its arm. The robot is already being used in Iraq and Afghanistan.

(Credit: Courtesy of U.S. Army/Spc. Jonathan Montgomery)

The Blacksburg, Va.-based company has developed components that would convert a vehicle into one that could act autonomously. It developed hardware that contains the software algorithms for obstacle detection and avoidance, and route planning. The box is Joint Architecture for Unmanned Systems (JAUS) interoperable, meaning that it's compliant with a U.S. Department of Defense standard for syncing manned and unmanned systems. Also, Torc built the SafeStop, an emergency stop system for unmanned vehicles to get out of trouble. That's also in a hardware box that can be plugged into a vehicle.

So far, Torc has demonstrated how the technology works with the iRobot PackBot, an unmanned ground system used in Iraq for defusing explosive devices. Soldiers typically control the PackBot with a remote. But with Torc's system, called Autononav, they can use a monocular to mark a target for the robot to reach 100 meters away, for example; and the robot will drive itself there.

"The soldier doesn't have to worry about driving around ditches. It figures it out. We call that site and click autonomy," said Torc CEO Michael Fleming.

Fleming said that by mid-2009, a small number of the systems will be evaluated in Iraq. Although the system is newly available for purchase, he would not say how much it costs. It's sold only under military contract, he said.

But the technology can easily be ported to a variety of markets such as mining, industrial automation, and farming, Fleming said. Carnegie Mellon University's autonomous vehicle team has worked with Caterpillar on mining applications, for example.

"As an industry, we need to focus on taking these to commercial markets, such as mining automation, automated highways, farming," Saha said. "There's a cultural gap that needs to be filled, where users understand that in order to fill that void we need to continue to conduct experimentation."

Seaglider

(Credit: University of Washington)

iRobot has secured exclusive commercial rights to develop an unmanned sea-faring robot from a group at the University of Washington.

The Bedford, Mass.-based company made the announcement Tuesday at the annual symposium for the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI).

Specifically, the agreement is to commercialize an AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) called the Seaglider.

The Seaglider was developed by the Applied Physics Laboratory and the School of Oceanography at the University of Washington in conjunction with the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research, which funded the initial project.

iRobot believes the Seaglider has military application potential. The company's Government & Industrial Robots division, the same side of the company that developed its military PackBot, has been put in charge of developing the Seaglider, according to two iRobot sources.

A public statement from co-founder and Chairman Helen Greiner also indicated the company has military use in mind.

"We have a strong track record for transferring new technology from research initiatives into products that support military missions...licensing the Seaglider from the University of Washington will help our robots conquer new underwater frontiers," Greiner said.

As part of the deal, the University of Washington will retain the rights to continue to develop and build Seaglider robots for its own research use, according to iRobot.

iRobot is best known for its vacuum-cleaning Roomba and it's military Packbot, but the company does already sell one underwater robot in its commercial line. The Verro pool-cleaning robot crawls along the floor and walls of a swimming pool to clean it.

While not as glamorous to the general public as walking and talking robots or robots that drive, AUVs have been getting a lot of attention in recent years within the robotics community.

There's an AUV equivalent to the DARPA Urban Grand Challenge, the annual "race" of robot cars. The Office of Naval Research and AUVSI sponsor the annual International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition. The AUVs are judged on things like computer control, power management, and navigation. This year's competition will be held in July at the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego. The competition even has its own Facebook group.

The Phoenix Mars Lander's robotic arm touched the planet's terrain for the first time on Saturday.

The effort, which came seven days after the lander touched down, is part of NASA's efforts to scoop up Red Planet specimens for experiments on the lander.

A behemoth "footprint" was left behind by the robotic arm's touch in the King of Hearts area of Mars. The mark, which was captured by the camera attached to the lander, looks like it could have been made by the mythological Himalayan snowman. In reference to this, NASA dubbed the impression area "Yeti."

Here is the 'footprint' left by the lander's robotic arm on Saturday.

(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizone)

The lander's camera also took more images of the area under the lander, which has been nicknamed the "Snow Queen" site.

Images of the "Snow Queen" site further support NASA scientists' assumptions that the area in and around the lander is composed of ice, according to a statement from Uwe Keller, the robotic arm camera's lead scientist from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research.

NASA's photos from this latest event in the Phoenix mission also offer a more philosophical thought about the future of space exploration. Man's first "footprint" on Mars was made by a robotic swipe, not a human step.

SRI International has announced the development of a wall-climbing robot that uses a new electrical adhesive technology called "compliant electroadhesion" that can stick to anything from brick to glass--even damp, dirty glass.

(Credit: SRI International)

Electroadhesion, or electrically controlled electrostatic attraction, is an electrically controlled adhesion technology that induces an electrostatic charge using a power supply connected to pads placed on the robot allowing it to scale walls, even those covered with dust or moisture, SRI says.

"Recent events such as natural disasters, military actions, and public safety threats have led to an increased need for robust robots--especially ones that can move in three dimensions," said SRI mechanical engineer Harsha Prahlad. "The ability to climb walls and other structures offers unique capabilities in military applications, such as urban reconnaissance, sensor deployment, and installation of network nodes in an urban environment."

Electroadhesion lends itself to a variety of wall-climbing robots, including tracked "tank"-style robots, as well as the more biomimetic-inspired, legged and inchworm-type robots, according to the company. The robots are simple, low-cost, easy to clean, and readily conform to different surfaces like bumps, corners, or cracks. And they're quiet, unlike other wall-climbers that use suction technology.

(Credit: SRI International)