Ya gotta love the Readybot. It was devised by a team of engineers and designers in Silicon Valley who arranged a contest (a la DARPA Urban challenge) to build a kitchen cleaning bot. The result is the Readybot, who has been around for awhile, but has recently decided it needs help. So the team added a Roomba to pick up the little stuff. The group is hoping to expand the growing domestic robotics industry with its publicity. We thought we wanted one of these robots before, now we are convinced. Now if they would just teach Readybot to clean the cat box.
The Autonomous Robotics and Systems Research Team at the University of the Basque Country are trying to increase autonomy in robots so that they can do more than simplified tasks. Tartalo, their latest creation, can identify different locations. The 1.5 meter tall bot has sensors to keep him from bumping into walls, and has been programmed to recognize rooms, corridors, front halls, and junctions. He also knows what a door is and knocks at those that are closed. The UPV/EHU researchers are hoping that in time Tartalo will be able to distinguish between faces, voices, and objects.
Sega and Hasbro have collaborated on A.M.P. Automated Music Personality (aka Ampbot,) a robot that can dance. The 2.4 foot tall bot gets down while bobbing his head and flashing red lights on his LED. Hook the Ampbot up to an iPod or MP3 player and his tunes will come out of his stereo speakers. The turntable-like hands control volume, scratching, and sound effects. Clearly this is the companies' version of Rolly, but he is certainly more user friendly. Ampbot will become available in Japan this November and go global in about 18 months for ¥80,000 (~$745.00.)
The Israeli company Linceus designs security devices in the form of monorail robots for large-scale detail such as airport perimeters like the Ben-Gurion-Airport in Tel Aviv. Even better, it can be used in mines as a safety device. The system uses search and track regional RF (radar) sensors and transmits video to a remote control room. It can also provide first-aid packages if necessary. With such an interesting concept, we are surprised that with all the millions spent by the U.S. Border Patrol, they haven't bought up a few.
Korean researchers from the ETRI (Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute) have produced a bot that can see, hear, touch, and smell. POMI (Penguin rObot for Multimodal Interaction) can move his eyes and lips, and utilizes LED lighting and built-in scent sprays for facial expressions. We figure that must be close to aromatherapy. The robot can move his arms, express emotion, and has a ka-thumping heart. Since ETRI can also talk through his speaker, we wonder if he can smell those tomatoes we bought and let us know if they are edible.
When Robots Deliver Electronic Kisses, is it Shocking?
Sega Toys has created a new fem humanoid bot in Japan. E.M.A., which stands for "Eternal, Maiden, Actualization," is 38cm tall. She can hand out business cards, sing, dance, walk "like a lady," and even kiss if someone gets close enough. E.M.A. is battery powered, can move her elbows, shoulders, knees, and waist, and has sensors for avoiding obstacles. The $175.00 bot will become available this September. We suspect if E.M.A. receives the same publicity for Sega as ASIMO does for Honda, we can expect her to come stateside.
We are always pleased when we hear that bots are being used to help clean up the environment, and the OSP is proof of this. Think of it as a Roomba on steroids. Designer Ji-hoon Kim has created modular oil-cleaning robots that, because of their minute size, can be transported to an oil spill by boat or helicopter. Powered by solar panels and controlled by algorithms, the mini-bots connect up and and contain the spill so that human clean-up teams can do the rest. Although this is still in the prototype stage, we hope this is one that has enough funding to make it a reality.
Biomimetics Uses Animal Models for Simplified Bots
Biomimetics takes creatures of nature and turns them into automatons. Boston's Northeastern University biologist Joseph Ayers claims that animals have evolved to handle their environment and we should study them to make more efficient robotics. The simpler mechanics replace complicated software and sensors.
Stanford's Dr. Mark Cutkosky's Stickybot was built on that principle when his team duplicated the hairs on geckos' feet so that they can hang on any surface.
"If you're controlling a robot with a computer program, unless you've anticipated every possible situation it's going to get into, it will eventually get into a situation where it has no escape strategy and it will be stuck. Animals never get stuck," says Dr. Ayers. "What animals do is they wiggle and squirm [until they escape]."
Yeah, that sounds logical to us, at least until some unfeeling elephant wanders by and stomps on the robotic reptile.
Next time you hit a Dutch library, you just may see Jelte van Geest's Take_a_Seat prototype. Created for the Openbare Bibliotheek Endhoven, a library design project, each chair is designed with an RFID chip. When a user passes his card over it, the friendly furniture follows him/her around until the sittee decides to settle in. Best of all, when the person is done, the Take_a_Seat returns to its charging station, a la Roomba. We think this would be a nifty idea in a crowded bar or when waiting in line for tickets, and we hope that Jelte's next design features a backrest.
Researchers at England's Royal Veterinary College, and the Germany's University of Ulm are using a dragonfly as a model to create flying bots with cameras and sensors for military applications. Because they have four independent wings, they can hover, glide, move backwards, and change directions rapidly. Although not completely successful, we suspect that the scientists will eventually come up with a utile robotic spy, at least until the enemy brings it down with their robotic fly swatter.
It seems that ASIMO has a new trick up his sleeve. Hiroshi Okuno and Kazuhiro Nakadai have devised HARK, a new software that allows the bot to differentiate between 3 humans with 70 to 80% accuracy. Known as the "cocktail party effect," the technology utilizes 8 mics to isolate one from the others by speech-recognition. ASIMO is so far only involved in rock-paper-scissors contests but imagine the next step when it can not only tell who is who, but starts carrying on conversations.
University of Washington Asst. Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics Kristi Morgansen has three Robofish that she can program with basic instructions. Probably more remarkable is the fact that the fish can communicate between themselves without her intervention. She sees her technology being effective in super-cold or dangerous underwater environments. The Robofish may not be as cute as Nemo, but at least it won't have to worry about being chomped down by a wayward shark.
Bennett Robot Works sculptures combines the past with the present. On display at the City Foundry in Brooklyn, NY, artist Gordon Bennett uses wood, metal, glass, plastic, and bakelite objects that he finds at garage sales, garbage dumps, and other trash-filled places.
Inspired by the industrial designs of Norman Bel Geddes and Raymond Loewy, each bot stands between 14 and 25", is an exclusive, and takes about a month to build. If you cannot afford one of his pieces, you can also get a poster of some of his work. While they have no
moving parts, we think they are pretty kewl nonetheless. (We are particularly fond of Edward and Kenmore, shown above.)
RoboGames 2008 the world’s largest open robot competition will be taking place at the Ft. Mason Center in San Francisco from June 13-15. There will be 70 events, including combat robots, autonomous combat, soccer, hockey, sumo, navigation, fire fighting, and too many other events to list here.
Tickets are only $20 for adults and $15 for kids, per day, with discounts for all three days. We're not going to be able to make it this year (our California trip is a few weeks later), but if your in the Bay area this is a must for any Robot Snob.
Check out this video featuring some highlights from the competition.
Readybot Hires Roomba
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