gizmag: Robotics

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Last Updated: Fri, 21 Nov 2008 12:49:11 -0500

EU project demonstrates emotional robots

Researchers estimate that body language makes up between 50-80% of communication, which means robots aren’t ready to become caregivers and companions until they get a good handle on nonverbal expression. To meet these challenges, a €2.5 million EU-funded project is developing robots that are capable of identifying different emotions based on facial expressions..

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11/21/2008 02:25 AM

The MechRC Megatron-esque robot

Is this Megatron's love-child? The MechRC is a programmable, remote controlled robot with 17 independently controllable servos (points of articulation), each capable of up to 180 degrees of movement. This provides the bot with an extremely wide range of actions – and the database of 100 pre-programmed motions and sound can be expanded by using the included software to create new manoeuvres...

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11/11/2008 05:52 PM

Robo-Bat: mini spy-plane of the future?

Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) undoubtedly have the potential to revolutionize both military and civilian surveillance operations, and the quest to find the most efficient design for these airborne spies of the future is leading to all kinds of radical platforms being investigated. Several are derived from nature, where evolution has produced designs that out-strip the performance and efficiency of humanity's aerial achievements on a proportional scale. Even extinct examples like the pterodactyl are not immune from this scrutiny, but in this case, the inspiration comes from the only mammal naturally capable of flight - the bat. ..

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11/07/2008 12:44 AM

Californian prisons employ robotic scouts

California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has agreed to test remote-controlled, 1.2-pound surveillance robots in hostile prison situations. After pulling an activation pin, the hardy robots can be thrown into place, or fired from a tear-gas launcher. ..

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11/03/2008 07:43 PM

Robot swarms could help colonize Mars

Hundreds of micro-robots will work together to carry out repairs inside machinery, explore deep-sea environments, and even colonize Mars according to predictions from the EU-funded I-SWARM project, which is developing centimeter-scale autonomous robots that co-operate like a colony of ants and therefore can compensate for the failure of individual members. ..

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10/28/2008 06:13 AM

The robot plant - do not water!

Not only are humanity's days as the dominant life form on the planet numbered – it seems plants might have to start looking over their shoulders as well. The robot research laboratory at Chonnam National University in Korea has developed a robotic plant that has humidifying, oxygen-producing, aroma-emitting, and kinetic functions...

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10/20/2008 02:49 AM

Machine vision cameras powered via Ethernet cable

Baumer’s new line of GigE (Gigabit Ethernet) cameras receive power via a Cat6 Ethernet cable, eliminating the need for a separate power cord. The cameras provide machine vision for product lines and robotic applications- a process greatly simplified by the reduction of cables...

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10/08/2008 03:14 AM

The autonomous vehicle that thinks like an ant

We've seen numerous examples of science mimicking nature in the developing fields of robotic automation and artificial intelligence in recent times, from robotic fish to leaping micro-bots and mechanical rodents. Now a team of engineers from the University of La Laguna (ULL) in the Canary Islands have applied this thinking to self-steering vehicles using a system based on the way ants navigate between home-base and their food source...

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09/23/2008 03:12 AM

FANUC debuts world's largest, strongest six-axis robot

FANUC Robotics has introduced the heavy-duty M-2000iA line of robots, designed for handling truck, tractor and car parts. The model which was demonstrated during the IMTS 2008, sets new records for size, reach and wrist strength, claiming the title of world’s largest and strongest six-axis robot...

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09/10/2008 08:45 PM

The BigDog Quadruped Robot gets smarter

August 19, 2008 We’ve written about Boston Dynamics’s BigDog Quadruped Robot before, but felt it was worth updating given there’s an impressive new video out showing the incredible beastie doing its stuff. BigDog is a gasoline-powered, hydraulically-actuated quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs over almost any terrain. Watch BigDog get kicked heavily and recover, walk across ice, rocks and incredibly, carry twice its weight while doing it. The DARPA-funded robot is chock full of technology, squeezing gyroscopes, a bunch of sensors and its own stereo vision system into a weight of just 75 kg. ..

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08/19/2008 06:44 AM

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