Planetary Gear

While the U.S. military has several incarnations of airplane drones running on various alternative fuel sources, it's not something the average person, or even company, can go out and buy.

That might be changing.

BlueBird Aero Systems and Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies announced Thursday that they've co-developed the Boomerang, the "world's first commercial fuel cell Unmanned Aerial System (UAS)."

So far the Boomerang only seems to have flight approval for Israel, but it's about to be unveiled next week at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International conference in Washington, D.C., which could garner it significantly more attention and interest.

The plane contains a 2kg hydrogen fuel cell power pack called the Aeropak made by Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies. The company claims it can provide 900Wh (Watt-hours) of power allowing the Boomerang to fly for over nine hours straight. In addition to supporting flight, the power pack can also support ancillary devices like electro-optical sensors, infrared cameras, and laser designators.

Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies is the same company that developed the power packs for the Hyfish fuel cell-powered "flying car" as well as a wide assortment of fuel cells for remote control cars and educational products.

This might be the first print ad ever for a fuel cell-powered UAS.

(Credit: BlueBird Aero Systems)

An unmanned aerial vehicle that's intended to use a combination of solar power and stored electricity is being developed by Ascent Solar Technologies and Bye Aerospace, both companies announced Tuesday.

(Credit: Bye Aerospace)

Ascent Solar will be supplying flexible thin-film photovoltaic modules designed for Bye's drone, the Silent Sentinel.

Bye will be using a Williams International FJ33 turbofan engine that will draw power from stored electrical power in a lithium-ion battery and the photovoltaic panels on the plane.

The result will be a quiet, low-emission hybrid UAV with added endurance, according to Bye.

The Silent Sentinel is intended for military surveillance purposes, but could also be used in the commercial world for things like pipeline and power line inspection, forest fire watch, and aerial photography.

While Bye said it has had proposal meetings with U.S. government officials, no contract for the vehicle has yet been signed with the U.S. military.

Bye will not be the first to combine solar panels with a drone-type aircraft. British defense contractor Qinetiq built and tested the Zephyr, a 66-pound glider that flew an unofficial record 54 hours straight (according to Qinetiq's own report) over White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in 2007. In early 2008, DARPA announced it was developing the Vulture, a solar-powered aircraft that would "fly" for 5 years straight, though arguably that UAV could be considered more of a satellite in orbit.

Matthew T. Mason, director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, has won an award for his "pioneering contributions to the fundamental understanding of the mechanics of robotic manipulation and to graduate education in robotics."

The Robotics and Automation Society, which bestowed Mason with its annual Pioneer Award, is part of the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE). So while the monetary prize for the lifetime achievement award is only $2,000, a lot of prestige comes with the plaque he was given over the weekend.

Matthew T. Mason heads the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University.

(Credit: Carnegie Mellon)

Mason's body of work includes robotic juggling, legless robotic travel, robotic locomotion, handless robotic manipulation of objects (robot soccer), and robotic origami. Mason's famous robotic origami project, in which robots build origami cranes from paper, was lauded for the progress it made in developing robotic agility with soft objects.

Mason also wrote the book "Mechanics of Robotic Manipulation."

But the general public will likely remember Mason for something else entirely. With the help of Mason--and under Jim Morris, who was computer science school dean at the time--Carnegie Mellon opened the Robot Hall of Fame in 2003.

The hall of fame honors both real and fictional robots as a way to engage public interest in robotics and engineering. While the Robot Hall of Fame technically rewards the robots themselves and not their creators, Mason would be a likely candidate if the rules change.

Mason, who is a fellow of the American Association for Artificial Intelligence and the IEEE, earned his bachelor's, master's, and doctorate in computer science and artificial intelligence from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

He has been a Carnegie Mellon faculty member since 1982.

For more insights on his work and thoughts on robotics, read CNET's Q&A with Mason.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Monday put forth the Pentagon's 2010 budget proposal, essentially a complete overhaul to the way the military spends money.

It would change the way lucrative government contracts are handed out, or in more official terms, the process of "procurement, acquisition, and contracting."

The budget includes a myriad of cuts, but there are also some interesting additions that show the military's increased interest in robotics and communications, particularly in unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs).

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (left) with Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General James Cartwright, at Monday's press conference.

(Credit: Department of Defense/Cherie Cullen)

Proposed additions include buying 30 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for 2010 (513 over the next five years); increasing the military's budget for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance support by about $2 billion; increasing the number of "cyber experts" in training from 80 to 250 by 2011; and increasing the number of UAVs like the Predator.

Experts have described the Predator as the most dangerous military robot currently out there, noting that 11 out of the 20 al-Qaeda leaders the U.S. military has apprehended have been tracked down via a drone strike. Gates himself described the successful use of UAVs in Iraq and Afghanistan during his budget proposal speech.

"This will include: Fielding and sustaining 50 Predator and Reaper class unmanned aerial vehicle orbits by FY '11 and maximizing their production," Gates said. "This capability, which has been in such high demand in both Iraq and Afghanistan, will now be permanently funded in the base budget. It will represent a 62 percent increase in capability over the current level and 127 percent from a year ago," Gates said.

Politicians are already voicing their opinions on why or why not certain parts of the budget proposal should pass.

The battle of the defense budget will test whether Americans want change of a fundamental nature on the ways things are done in their military.

While it may amount to a showdown between the political old and new guards, it isn't necessarily a case of legacy defense contractors versus upstart tech companies. Robots in the military may bring to mind iRobot's PackBot, but the UAVs mentioned by Gates are actually produced by teams of people employed by standby defense contractors.

The Predator and the Reaper are built by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, an affiliate of General Atomics that has been a government contractor to agencies including the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, and the National Science Foundation for more than 50 years.

Manufacturers and suppliers for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighters include heavyweight contractors Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Pratt and Whitney Military Engines, and General Electric.

While they're fascinating to watch and sometimes even delicious to eat, how many times a day do you really think about the octopus or what an amazing piece of natural machinery it is?

Cecilia Laschi, professor of industrial bioengineering at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa, Italy, is so impressed by the octopus she's leading an extensive team of roboticists and scientists to build the first soft-bodied robot replicate of one. Which may not seem that exciting, until you learn just how unique the muscle tissue and dexterity of the octopus is.

As New Scientist cleverly pointed out, if the "Octopus" project is successful a robot someday might be able to accomplish the task seen in this video by Dr. James B. Wood, an assistant research scientist at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences who maintains a Web site on cephalopods.

If you think it through, the octopus is a very dexterous creature that if translated into a robot could provide endless capability for exploring hard to reach places in the ocean. While we've seen other aquatic robots reaching for the depths of the ocean or mimicking creatures like fish and snakes, a completely soft-bodied underwater robot would be groundbreaking.

The RG3 robot lawn mower is "whisper quiet," according to one of its inventors.

(Credit: Precise Path)

What's green, weighs 650 pounds, goes 3.5 mph, and costs more than $25,000?

Not something you or I will ever buy, but a gadget golf course superintendents may go gaga over.

The RG3 (Robotic Greens Mower 3) from Precise Path debuted a few weeks ago at the 2009 Golf Industry Show in New Orleans. It's a robot lawnmower that uses two lead acid batteries to run its 24-volt DC motor, and one to run its computer, offering about three hours of mowing before needing to be recharged.

"Our robot could provide the human precision necessary to upkeep, actually better than a human is capable of, and not costing the large amount in intensive labor costs," Precise Path co-founder, president, and CTO Doug Traster told CNET News in a phone interview.

The founders of the company decided to craft a robot lawnmower for the golf industry because they saw a need that could be filled with a bot, and an industry that would not scoff at a hefty price tag for high-tech maintenance equipment. While the company hopes to continue to develop the tech to bring the price down, right now the RG3 has a suggested retail price of $29,500.

In addition to mowing golf greens, the company is developing add-ons for the device that would allow golf course superintendents to use the robots to also mow fairways, rake sand traps, and spot treat with pesticides and fertilizers.

More scientists and engineers are about to join the international race to the moon sponsored by Google and the X Prize Foundation.

The foundation announced Thursday it will introduce two new Google Lunar X Prize teams to its already weighty roster of 14 competitors. The announcement will be made Tuesday via a teleconference from Google headquarters. Although the X Prize Foundation organizes a number of innovation competitions, the Google Lunar X Prize is sponsored in conjunction with Google.

Team LunaTrex will also have an announcement to make at that time, according to the foundation.

Then on Wednesday, Google and the X Prize Foundation plan to reveal the "true identities" of the "Mystery Team," whose members have been blogging about their competition experience. The team members will appear in person from an event at the NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif.

"The countdown has begun and soon the nameless faces of the Mystery Team members will be unveiled. But I must admit, it's been fun attending events such as Airventure and the AGI conference 'incognito.' I think I speak for all the Mystery Team members when I say, we are ready for what's next!" founding Mystery Team member who goes by the screen name MikeJ said on the Lunar X Prize blog.

The Google Lunar X Prize was officially announced at Wired's Nextfest in September 2007 and began to welcome teams in December of that year. It's a race to design, build, and send a robotic spacecraft "safely" to the moon, have it drive around on the surface of the moon for a minimum of 500 meters, and have the communications capability to send data, images, and video of its mission back to Earth.

The first team to land on the moon and complete several tasks put forth by the Lunar X Prize rules by December 31, 2012, will win $20 million.

Just to make it a little more exciting: if no one makes it by that date, the grand prize drops to $15 million.

The second team to reach the moon and complete the objectives will win $5 million. There will also be a total of $5 million in "bonuses," though it's unclear how Google will decide to distribute that money among the remaining competitors.

In order to qualify, competing teams must get 90 percent of their funding to compete from private sources.

Any ideas on who MikeJ and his or her teammates might be? According to the official team roster, the Mystery Team includes "experienced aerospace engineers, research scientists, mathematicians, physicists, university students and a former USAF pilot" all based across the U.S.

I'll take a guess. What about New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg? He has the private funds, has been a supporter of the X Prize Foundation, and the inventor-turned-businessman-turned-politician is a techie at heart. He holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University.

The Talon IV lifts a 38-pound cinder block off an IED. It also sports an AN/PSS-14 minesweeper so soldiers can patrol for mines out of harm's reach.

(Credit: Foster-Miller)

Foster-Miller, a subsidiary of Qinetiq North America's Technology Solutions Group, released a new version of its Talon bomb-disposal robot on Thursday.

The latest Talon IV Engineer mine-detecting, counter-IED robot will give soldiers more capability to remotely clear debris, minefields, and other explosive hazards.

The new arm on this latest version, which is 7 feet long and can swivel, will allow users to remotely explore and retrieve from places that were previously too hard for robots to reach, such as garbage dumpsters, abandoned vehicles, and behind guard rails.

The arm has also been fitted with a stronger grasp and can lift up to 65 pounds, according to Foster-Miller. Because of this, the Talon IV robot can be used to lift heavy debris, as well as be mounted with a portable mine detector.

The Talon robot controller has also been upgraded.

The new "Operator Control Unit" radio will be able to transmit video digitally via 802.11, COFDM, or analog. It also includes a touchscreen and game pad for controls.

Over 2,500 Talon robots are already in use by the U.S. military, according to Qinetiq .

The company said in a statement that it believes this latest Talon robot could be of particular use in Afghanistan, a country still littered with land mines. According to United Nations estimates, about 200,000 Afghans have been maimed by "explosive remnants of war" in Afghanistan.

The Talon bomb-disposal robots are already a U.S. military favorite, so there's no reason to doubt that this latest version will be adopted as well.

The Roomba 416 comes with 2 beacons for controlling where it vacuums, but does not offer the onboard scheduling feature of the higher-end Roomba models.

(Credit: iRobot)

Many CNET readers have been complaining that they're not seeing the major deals they thought the economy would encourage in electronics.

I agree. I haven't seen them yet, either. But here's one: iRobot is having a one-day sale on Friday until midnight on its Roomba 416 for $200, with a free upgrade kit for handling pet hair.

The Roomba 416 comes with two beacons for controlling where the Roomba roams, and it can clean up to two rooms before needing to be recharged, according to iRobot. It does not offer the onboard scheduling feature of the higher-end models.

It is, however, a favored model among Roomba hackers, as you can see from our Maker Faire 2007 interview at the bottom of this post.

They are a number of other Web specials, and an offer for free shipping on all orders more than $150, but the Roomba 416 sale is the major deal there today.

More robot deals are on their way. iRobot announced it will be holding two more one-day sales. One sale will be held on November 28 (Black Friday) and the other on December 1.

So far, the company has been mum on which products will be discounted on those days. Once I find out, I'll update this post.