TC_Chu's Point

Jibo

I like this robot !

Looks like DoRaEMon (without feet)

Pepper , bigger Sony AiBo or Pleo ?

If Pepper is connected to Internet , and its AI is from Internet Cloud Server. I think it will be fun. But... If it is just rely on itself. I think it will be just another AiBo or Pleo.

Robotic Ankle Support Gives a Boost to Elderly Walkers

http://gajitz.com/robotic-ankle-support-gives-a-boost-to-elderly-walkers/

Robot Hand 出動

做點手工藝 鎖些螺絲

讓腦袋放空一下！

左邊是上下左右的雲台

右邊的是五軸的Robot Hand.

Facebot via Norrislabs

It is so cool. I like it.

No Test No Product!

http://radioboston.wbur.org/2013/05/20/drones

說真的 沒有這樣的測試環境 別說你在做Robot!

 

R.BOT shows off Synergy Swan

via Engadget

去年還有人有興趣做這樣的東西！不知道做的怎樣了！

Scribing Robot Arm

http://mindbleach.com/words/scribing-robot-arm/

Video in the web, must see.

TurtleBot 2: Unboxing

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/diy/turtlebot-2-unboxing

Hexapod Robot based on FPGA

http://www.instructables.com/id/Hexapod-Robot-based-on-FPGA/

Very cool building instruction!

Veter - robotics vehicle for researchers and makers

Target audience

At the first step we are targeting researches in robotics, artificial intelligence and computer vision as well as hobby robotics enthusiasts. For this purposes, we identified and addressed the following key requirements:

• should be complete open (hardware and software)
• equipped with typical and widely used set of sensors
• easy customizable to integrate new or different types of sensors and actuators
• energy efficient yet powerful on-board computer
• provide bi-directional communication link to transmit sensor and control data in real-time
• set of software modules which support distributed data processing and provide hardware abstraction layer. It should let developers concentrate on experiments and applications of their core competences
• considerably lower cost comparing to the similar available products

http://veterobot.com/techinfo.html

ReWalk

The ReWalk™ exoskeleton suit uses patented technology with motorized legs that power knee and hip movement. Battery-powered for all-day use, ReWalk is controlled by on-board computers and motion sensors, restoring self-initiated walking without needing tethers or switches to begin stepping. ReWalk controls movement using subtle changes in center of gravity, mimics natural gait and provides functional walking speed. A forward tilt of the upper body is sensed by the system, which triggers the first step.

http://rewalk.com/

Robotis Dynamixel Servos: Overview, Applications, Tear-Down, and Open-Source Software

Professional and hobbyist roboticists alike are snapping up Robotis Dynamixel Servos.  These "smart" servos serve an important niche between $30 hobby servos and super-expensive harmonic drive servos.  They sport torques ranging from 12 kg·cm to 106 kg·cm, and even more when doubled-up.  Most of my experience is with the RX-28 and RX-64 variants, which have 300° swing, 10-bit position sensing resolution, (roughly) 8-bit position control, force/torque sensing, available compliance mode, and can daisy-chain more than 250 servos.  At Georgia Tech's Healthcare Robotics Lab, we use dozens of these servos.  I recently invested a decent amount of time overhauling our open-source (Python) control software, adding (among other things) thread-safe operation and ROS (Robot Operating System) compatibility.  In this post, I'll do a brief overview of the Robotis Dynamixel offerings, look at a number of impressive applications where they are utilized, share pictures of a servo's disassembly, and give a brief tutorial using the new (awesome) open-source software libraries.

http://www.hizook.com/blog/2010/03/14/robotis-dynamixel-servos-overview-applications-tear-down-and-open-source-software

Autonomous Sunlight-Hunting

http://inhabitat.com/autonomous-sunlight-hunting-drone-keeps-your-house-plants-from-wilting/

NimbRo-OP Robot: Open Source Hardware/Software

http://robots.net/article/3442.html

Wall-Ye Robot Is In Your Vineyard, Prunin' Your Vines

Ah, booze. The only thing it's (generally) missing is the sweet and vaguely servo-y taste of robotics. A little robot named Wall-Ye is trying to get involved in the process from the ground up by helping out in vineyards in France, meaning that we'll get to add "robotolicious" to the official list of wine descriptors.

via IEEE Spectrum

Suitable Technologies Introduces Beam Remote Presence System

Beam is available now for pre-order, and will begin shipping in November for $16,000. The dock is another $950. As far as telepresence platforms go, this is not cheap: you can buy an Anybots QB for $9,700, a VGo for about $6,000, a Double for just $2,000, and there are many more options as well.

via IEEE Spectrum

Toyota Gives Disabled Humans a Hand (and an Arm)

via IEEE Spectrum

Rethink Robotics Announces Baxter Robot Helper, We Go Hands-On in Boston

Check out our feature article on Rethink and Baxter here.

via IEEE spectrum

ref. adafruit

Claire Lomas Becomes the First Person to Take a ReWalk Bionic Exoskeleton Home for Daily Use

via inhabitat

iRobot and InTouch Health Announce RP-VITA Telemedicine Robot

vis ieee

Robot trash can catches anything you throw near it

http://hackaday.com/2012/07/20/robot-trash-can-catches-anything-you-throw-near-it

有Video 很有趣！

SynTouch BioTac Perform

Researchers at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineeringhave succeeded in making an artificial fingertip outperform humans in identifying a range of textures. That fingertip, the BioTac® from SynTouch LLC, is a molded elastomeric sleeve with a fingerprint-like pattern on the outside and sensors on the inside, filled with a conductive fluid. What the USC researchers have done is to develop algorithms for interpreting the data produced by the fingertip and for optimizing the movement of the robotic arm or hand on which it is mounted to most efficiently produce useful data. Their findings have been published in Frontiers in Neurorobotics. SynTouch LLC, founded in 2008, is a start-up technology business that develops and manufactures tactile sensors for mechatronic systems.BioTac® sensors are available as an evaluation kit, and also as kits for theBarrettHand and the Shadow hand.

http://robots.net/article/3406.html

the Last Moment Robot ：最後時刻機器人

The robot is designed to stroke the arm of a dying person and provide pre-recorded comforting phrases. As the stroking mechanism simulates the type of touch a human caretaker might perform, the robot tells the patient “ I am the Last Moment Robot. I am here to help you and guide you through your last moment on Earth. I am sorry that your family and friends can’t be with you right now, but don’t be afraid. I am here to comfort you. You are not alone, you are with me. Your family and friends love you very much, they will remember you after you are gone.”

這是一臺幫助病人臨終的機器人 （原本我以為是幫助安樂死的機器人） 或許是因應未來少子化的孤獨死社會吧！

http://gajitz.com/last-moment-robot-removes-the-humanity-from-empathy/

次世代ロボットソフトウェア開発プラットフォーム「ROBOSSA」完成

そして、2012年2月23日、産総研 知能システム研究部門のソフトウェアプラットフォーム研究班および、タスクビジョン研究グループ、サービスロボティクス研究グループ、インタラクションモデリング研究グループらは、さまざまな知能ソフトウェアモジュールを次世代ロボットに欠かせない基本機能である「作業知能」「移動知能」「コミュニケーション知能」の3つに分類。そのカテゴリーごとの知能ソフトウェアジュールと市販ロボットを用いた基本機能を持つロボットシステムの構築例とドキュメントを整備し、各知能ソフトウェアモジュールと併せてパッケージ化し、オープンソースの知能ソフトウェアモジュール群「OpenRTC-aist」として、Webサイト上で公開した。

News Source

Open Source Robotics Foundation

Open Source Robotics Foundation, Inc. (OSRF) is an independent non-profit organization founded by members of the global robotics community.  The mission of OSRF is to support the development, distribution, and adoption of open source software for use in robotics research, education, and product development.

http://www.osrfoundation.org/

Skinless Robot With Real Muscles is Less Scary Than it Looks

ECCERobot was built to move just like a human being and to interact with its environment in the way that a human body would. Its design allows it to leave behind the typical mechanical movements and move with the fluidity characteristic of us meatbags. It features the same bones as humans and “muscles” that work very similarly to our own.

http://gajitz.com/skinless-robot-with-real-muscles-is-less-scary-than-it-looks/

Warehouse Robots Get Smarter With Ant Intelligence

What Fraunhofer is trying to do is mimic the ant swarm system with robots. For example, instead of having one central computer control the movements every robot (as with Kiva), Fraunhofer's system utilizes robots that make their own decisions with onboard computers. Each robot communicates with all the other robots in the swarm simultaneously using WLAN, and they use algorithms based on a model for how ants forage for food to cooperatively decide which of them should go where and do what. 

The robots don't need fixed localization points, but instead rely on "integrated localization and navigation technology" (including signal-based location capability, distance and acceleration sensors and laser scanners) to find the most direct routes to their destination without crashing into anything or each other. This makes them very efficient, and it also makes the system easily scalable, since you can introduce new things and the robots won't freak out.

via IEEE Spectrum

 

Robotic doodle clock

http://hackaday.com/2012/03/14/robotic-doodle-clock/

HDT's MK2 Manipulators Can Outfit PackBots with Arms and Hands

 

HDT Global has just introduced some new robotic limbs to give explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) robots like PackBots and Talons [pictured above] a helping hand (or two) when it comes to complex and delicate tasks like defusing bombs. This is a very good idea, since just poking high explosives with a simple gripper doesn't always work out the way everyone would like.

via IEEE

Kilobots

 Kilobot, a robot designed to make testing collective algorithms on hundreds or thousands of robots accessible to robotics researchers. To enable the possibility of large Kilobot collectives where the number of robots is an order of magnitude larger than the largest that exist today, each robot is low cost and takes only a few minutes to assemble. Furthermore, the robot design allows a single user to easily oversee the operation of a large Kilobot collective, such as programming, powering on, and charging all robots, which would be dificult or impossible to do with many existing robotic systems. We demonstrate the capabilities of the Kilobot as a collective robot, using a 29 robot test collective to implement some popular swarm behaviors.

via Wyss of Harvard

Incredible Robot Arm Made Entirely of LEGOs

http://gajitz.com/toybotics-incredible-robot-arm-made-entirely-of-legos/

iRobot Goes to the Hospital

iRobot Corp., makers of the beloved Roomba (and a lot more), announced that it would be investing $6 million in InTouch Health, a telemedicine company operating in 80 hospitals around the world. Though $6 million represents just a minority stake in the company, it’s--needless to say--a substantial investment, and a strong expansion of a joint development and licensing agreement the two companies had announced last summer.

via MIT Technology Review

Cubelets Promise Robotic

Very intersting demo video!

via http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/04/cubelets-promise-robotic-good-times/

I like it, because it looks familier to the protien. And now programming become assembly instead of coding!

Maxwell Gets a Vertical Arm Lift

http://www.showusyoursensors.com/2011/12/maxwell-finally-gets-vertical-arm-lift.html

Roboticists Learn from the Dragonflies

a 14-channel digital wireless neural/EMG telemetry system, suitable for in-flight neural recording from flying insects such as dragonflies. It has a system mass of only 38 milligrams. The IC is powered by RF energy harvesting and consumes less than 1.23mW. It digitizes 10 neural and 4 EMG signals with 11 bit resolution as a 5 Mbps backscattered data stream at UHF (902-928 MHz). It has been fabricated in a 0.35um 4M1P CMOS process.

http://robots.net/article/3269.html

塗鴉機器人

SENSELESS DRAWING BOT from yang02 on Vimeo.

via IEEE Spectrum

Robot Dog for the Blind

the Japanese manufacturer is working on a new mechanized canine that could one day serve as a guide dog for the blind. The company's latest prototype builds on the work of the University of Electro-Communications (UEC), which unveiled its first model, the NR001, in 2005, followed by an updated version (NR002) in 2007. With this third iteration, unveiled late last month, NSK and UEC have added a Microsoft Kinect sensor, which allows it to more easily identify and navigate obstacles or stairs. The quadrupedal beast can also scamper up and down steps with more grace than its predecessors, which moved more like arthropods than actual dogs. The bot's paws have also been equipped with obstacle-avoiding bumper sensors, and researchers are working on incorporating voice commands, as well. NSK says its guide dog could eventually feature GPS capabilities to provide more accurate directions for the blind and visually impaired, though it'll probably be a while before it hits the pavement; the company hopes to commercialize the dogbot by 2020

via Engadget

The biped robot which rides on a bicycle

太酷了！

via BoingBoing

Hitechnic HT Way & the Gymnast Ride

超可愛!

via Youtube

Virtu-LIMB lets prospective patients take upgraded Touch Bionics hand for a spin

This little yellow dome tethers to a patient's arm and transmits their myoelectric signals to a nearby computer via Bluetooth -- the data is then used to either control an i-LIMB Ultra prosthetic hand or, failing that, a PC simulation of one. The rig was shown at the American Orthotic & Prosthetic Association National Assembly this week, and can be used to help clinicians fine-tune prostheses for their patients, train patients to manipulate their bionic digits, or even demonstrate the Touch Bionics' i-LIMB to a potential user

via Engadget

Crawler Robot on the Loose at German Lab

The star of the movie is the DLR Crawler, a six-legged robot that the researchers use to develop autonomous vision-based navigation. Apparently the Crawler was feeling lonely in the vast lab and set out to make friends, eventually meeting the DLR humanoid robot Justin, which was practicing its ball-catching skills, and the DLR Hand-Arm-System, which was enduring yet more torture tests in the name of science.

超可愛的Robot!

 

via IEEE

iRobot Partners With InTouch, Ava to Start Caring About Your Health

There aren't any details about what Ava will actually be doing (beyond nebulous statements like "we will revolutionize how people communicate and deliver information through remote presence"), but if anything, Ava is going to be capable of much more than I suggested in my original prediction, which was based on the relatively limited ConnectR platform. In retrospect, this is likely a big part of the reason why iRobot canceled ConnectR in the first place in favor of what would become Ava, but I digress.

It seems likely that Ava is going to start off in a hospital setting, cruising around and letting doctors interact with patients via telepresence. This isn't the first step towards robots replacing human doctors or anything, but if there's a specialist that you want to see who lives across the country, telepresence is far more effective than a phone call. As far as when we can expect Ava to start making house calls, well... Telepresence is one of the few robotics markets that consumers (or small businesses) could actually get involved in, so it's certainly possible that some of the telepresence technology embodied in Ava might eventually end up in some kind of Ava / ConnectR love-child. Now there's a mental picture for you.

via IEEE

或許將來就是它幫你照x光 量血壓 送病歷 掛號吧

Mini Maxwell

There are now about half a dozen Mini Maxes running around across the United States. As our software development is starting to calm down, I thought I would take a moment to showcase a few of the robot's features.

As you probably have guessed, this robot runs ROS (on a netbook). We're using an ArbotiX to control the arm and neck servos (7 AX-12s total), while the Create base connects directly to the netbook. Two demo buttons are attached through the ArbotiX allowing users to quickly add user input to programs.

http://www.showusyoursensors.com/2011/06/introducing-mini-maxwell.html

Seeing Robotics with New Eyes

 

Since Microsoft launched its Kinect motion-detecting system for video games, hackers have been eagerly repurposing the $150 device. Garratt Gallagher, a robotics engineer at the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, used it to build a robot called the Bilibot that he is selling online for $1,200. The device, which is small enough for Gallagher to carry in his arms, can perceive its surroundings, move around, and manipulate objects.

vit MIT Technology Review

A Biologically Inspired Visual Search Engine

Cortexica's VisualSearch platform uses techniques inspired by the human vision system to compensate for different lighting conditions. It identifies key features of an object irrespective of their orientation, size, or how dark or light they appear in the image. This makes it possible to identify products at a distance or even while they are moving. Cortexica's technology can also spot logos and objects in videos.

...

The human vision system compares different points of an image with its neighbors—a phenomenon known as "edge extraction"—in order to identify features in a range of different conditions. "We have basically copied that architecture," says Bharath. Cortexica uses graphical processing units (GPUs) to handle the parallel processing.

Coping with variations and resolving them is a major issue in computational vision, says Ferryman. "It's crucial. If you can't have this invariance, then you can't do reliable matching," he says.

via MIT Technology Review

Kinect Hackers Are Changing the Future of Robotics – The Real Story Behind the Kinect

For 25 years, the field of robotics has been bedeviled by a fundamental problem: If a robot is to move through the world, it needs to be able to create a map of its environment and understand its place within it. Roboticists have developed tools to accomplish this task, known as simultaneous localization and mapping, or SLAM. But the sensors required to build that map have traditionally been either expensive and bulky or cheap and inaccurate. Laser arrays cost a few thousand dollars and weigh several pounds, and the images they capture are only two-dimensional. Stereo cameras are less expensive, lighter, and can construct 3-D maps, but they require a massive amount of computing power. Until a reasonably priced, easier method could be designed, autonomous robots were trapped in the lab.

via Adafruit

MIT Technology Review

 

BAMF2011: Google’s SKPR Bot, not for arachnophobes

via HackADay

Mat’s prosthetic hands

via ponoko

Workplace Robots Need a Better View

In the last few years, robotics researchers have made progress in machine vision, due in part to the falling cost of computer power, and the photo and image resources that can be pulled from the Web and used to train computer vision systems to recognize different objects. However, Brooks says, giving machines more human-like vision remains one of the biggest challenges to the development of more practical robots.

"Perception is really, really hard. For robots, I think it's largely unsolved," says Brooks. "Image-based recognition has worked surprisingly well, [but] it can't do the recognition that a three-year-old child can do."

via MIT Technology Review