Delta robot is one kind of robot that is used to pick up objects and move it to the production track with a very fast movement. This robot is very widely used in industry to accelerate the production process.

The Delta robot (a parallel arm robot) was invented in the early 1980s by Reymond Clavel at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland). The purpose of this new type of robot was to manipulate light and small objects at a very high speed, an industrial need at that time. In 1987, the company Demaurex purchased a license for the Delta robot and started the production of Delta robots for the packaging industry. In 1991 Reymond Clavel presents his doctoral thesis ‘Conception d’un robot parallèle rapide à 4 degrés de liberté’ and receives the golden robot award in 1999 for his work and development of the Delta robot. Also in 1999, ABB Flexible Automation starts selling its Delta robot, the FlexPicker. By the end of 1999 the Delta robots are also sold by Sigpack Systems.

The Delta robot is a parallel robot, i.e. it consists of multiple kinematic chains interconnecting the base with the platform. The robot can also be seen as a spatial generalisation of a four-bar linkage. It has four degrees of freedom: three translational and one rotational. The key concept of the Delta robot is the use of parallelograms. These parallelograms restrict the movement of the end platform to pure translation (only movement in the X, Y or Z direction). The robot’s base is mounted above the workspace. All the actuators are located in this base. From the base, three middle jointed arms extend. The arms are made of lightweight composite material. The ends of the three arms are connected to a small triangular platform. Actuation of the input links will move the triangular platform in the X, Y or Z direction. Actuation can be done with linear or rotational actuators. From the base, a fourth leg extends to the middle of the triangular platform to give the end effector a fourth, rotational degree of freedom.

Because the actuators are all located in the base, and the arms can be made of a light composite material the moving parts of the Delta robot have a small inertia. This allows for very high accelerations. Accelerations can be up to 30 g and speeds of 10 m/s can be reached.

Industries that take advantage of the high speed of the Delta robot are the packaging industry, medical and pharmaceutical industry. Other possible applications include assembly tasks or operation in a clean room for electronic components. The structure of the Delta robot can also be used to create haptic controllers, such as the Force Dimension omega.x, delta.x and sigma.x devices, or the Novint Falcon game controller.

Delta Robot Video:

It would appear that we have a new champion in the “what robot can run fastest race”. The two-legged robot MABEL under development for several years at the University of Michigan was recently revealed to reach a top running speed of 6.8 miles per hour or roughly 11 kilometers per hour. This means that MABEL is significantly faster than the previous record holder which was Toyota’s humanoid robot with a top speed of 7 kilometers per hour; Honda’s ASIMO is now in 3rd place with a top speed of 6 kilometers per hour.

Another technical achievement behind MABEL and above Toyota’s robot is that MABEL’s gate while walking and running much more closely resembles that of a human. In addition, MABEL jumps 3-4 inches above ground (both legs) when running whereas Toyota’s robot hardly does (it does enough to consider it’s fast walking gate running). One disadvantage is that MABEL is not a complete robot that includes an upper body with arms and a head compared to Toyota’s, Honda’s and other humanoid robots coming out of Korea and Japan.

The below video shows MABEL running including some explanation of the related technical achievement. Additional information on the project can be found at the project’s website here.

About Concise Encyclopedia of Robotics book:
This really is an alphabetical reference about robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) for hobbyists, students, and people who are just curious about these technologies.

Computer systems and robots are right here to stay.We depend on them each and every day. Frequently we don’t notice them till they break down.We will get much more used to them, and a lot more reliant on them, as the long term unfolds.

This book is meant to be precise, but without too much math or jargon. It’s written with a single eye on nowadays and the other eye on tomorrow. Illustrations are functional; they are drawn with the intention of showing, clearly and merely, how things perform.

Download Concise Encyclopedia of Robotics book:
» Download Link 1
» Download Link 2

Robotic arm can perform a variety of tasks, one of which is choosing character was told that later arranged into one or a few words.

Here is a video of that robotic arm:

Great job… so it can be called “Robot Writer”… I think not like that..

Festo are once more impressing everybody with the unveiling of their new SmartBird (or robotic seagull) technology (see also their incredible Elephant-inspired robot arm and AirJelly). The new flying robot which is inspired by the herring gull was shown autonomously flying both indoors and outdoors.

This is what the company has to say about their creation,

SmartBird is an ultralight but powerful flight model with excellent aerodynamic qualities and extreme agility. With SmartBird, Festo has succeeded in deciphering the flight of birds. This bionic technology-
bearer, which is inspired by the herring gull, can start, fly and land autonomously – with no additional drive mechanism. Its wings not only beat up and down, but also twist at specific angles. This is made possible by an active articulated torsional drive, which in conjunction with a complex control system makes for unprecedented efficiency in flight operation. Festo has thus succeeded for the first time in realizing an energy-efficient technical adaptation of the natural model.

The engineering team behind this magnificent flying machine has achieved an incredible task minimizing the weight of the robotic bird while maximizing lift from its flapping winds. The robotic seagull is one meter long, weighs less than half a kilogram and boasts a 2-meter wingspan. To compare with the real bird, the European herring gull is a bit over half a meter long, has a wingspan up to 1.5 meters and weighs around one kilogram.

Festo have designed SmartBird as a platform for developing and testing new ideas in lightweight construction and aerodynamics that might transfer to the development and optimization of hybrid drive technologies and open the gates for new advances in automation. However, considering how realistic this robotic bird looks like, I wouldn’t be surprised that in a a few years these are not used by the military or law enforcement agencies for surveillance; but to get to that point, SmartBird will probably need to improve its range of autonomous operation and carry a sensor pack for data gathering both of which seem to be lacking in the current model.

At any rate, words can’t do this robot justice so enjoy the below video.

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A number of years to the future, sights of the robot do numerous duties would seem to become typical. The robot will carry out many different tasks, even for this sort of easy tasks just like cleaning the inscription on the whiteboard.

For this one kind of task, leave it to the whiteboard eraser robot developed by Fujitsu. Shown in a videotape, a robot that created by one of Japanese electronics manufacturer is looks like workmanlike cleaning the whiteboard.

Nevertheless, as reported by Ubergizmo, the lack of this robot is that its physique is not high. Of course, this will make it hard when the robot have to clean up the whiteboard hanging or lying higher than the robot.

Fujitsu team who developed this robot, says that this is only the beginning. They’ll continue to develop this robot to be able to overcome all its weak points, and also the robot can carry out their jobs correctly.

Robot whiteboard eraser is also reportedly going to be developed to control a particular vehicle, taking up the trash, and even clean up the windows.

Vagabond Works sure have some interesting home-made robots, and the Land Crawler eXtreme will line up as one of their coolest. It is a twelve-legged metallic bot that moves a lot like an insect of some sort (a centipede?) and is designed to carry a human that weighs up to 170 pounds. There is no complicated mechanism involved in this process, you simply step on top of its platform, and allow it to carry you around. Mind you, it doesn’t look like the safest of choices, as there is no real harness or any way to maintain your balance once on top the robot. Some surfing skills may be required to keep you from falling, but the guy in the video looks to be keeping his balance pretty well.

This robot was originally designed as a request from the creator’s son, which probably explains its simplicity. It is also very practical, and shows off its impressive movements in the beginning of the video (see the end of this post), especially when it doesn’t have a human to carry. Besides the before-mentioned scurrying of its legs, it doesn’t have any features designed to look like an insect, yet its biological-like gait is more than enough to give it a life-like spontaneity.

The Land Crawler eXtreme is operated by a simple battery-powered motor in its center, which is also where it receives the signals from the wireless joystick that commands it. It’s not exactly going to make headline news, but imagine the same robot ten times as big, carrying huge building blocks, or a helicopter on its back, and you’ll see the not-so distant future before your eyes. Sometimes size does matter, and may be the difference between a “toy” like the Land Crawler, and a true machine of the future.

A really special student who attended a school in Moscow, Russia. Student that are plastic-skinned robot named Stepan who diligently participate the lessons.

In different place, the true Stepan, a 12-year-old boy has brown hair and blue eyes, was sitting in front of his computer in his own home. Well, through the plastic robots, Stepan actually participate the lessons in school

Quoted by Bangkok Post on Monday (1/24/2011), Stepan Supin, thus the full name of the boy, being affected by leukemia ever since two years ago. The child’s immune system was too weak and extremely risky if he goes to school.

That is why, Stepan using plastic robot controlled from home by using a PC to participate virtually interact with teachers and friends in the class.

Equipped with a camera, microphone as well as speaker systems, the robot Stepan broadcast every thing that occurs in the classroom in real time towards the original Stepan personal computer at his place.

“The monitor is installed on the front of the robot permits Stepan to involved in attractions in class. He can ask the teacher as well as answer questions”, said one of Stepan’s teacher, Alla Gevak.

“We also call the robot by the name of Stepan. When the class started, he was performing all the tasks assigned for him, just like the other students. He was also very active”, said Alla

Stepan himself feels that he is really existing within the classroom, even though he did complete control on the movement of the robot from home. “I can change the speed of robot, moving the head left or right. I felt was in between my friends and my teacher”, stated Stepan

In the story of drama, character Romeo must be paired with Juliet. However, this Romeo was not accompanied by Juliet. Although given the name of Romeo, he’s absolutely nothing to do with the story of romance drama, but rather associated with household tasks. Who is he anyway?

Apparently, this Romeo is a robot created by Aldebaran Robotics team from France. Robot with 1.4 meters tall and weighs 40 kilograms is ready for action dealing with various household duties began in March 2011.

Reported by Pop Science on Monday (12/20/2010), Romeo would walk around the house, fetching food from the kitchen and serving food in the dining room, cleaning the house and taking out the trash. Romeo specially created to be a friend and loyal servant to the elderly and people who have physical limitations.

The team from Aldebaran Robotics claims that Romeo will be present with several innovations that are not owned by other humanoid robots. Among them is that this robot has four vertebrae, new technology of legs and arms control system which is more secure, as well as an impressive communications system.

“We want people to naturally interact with Romeo,” said Bruno Maisonnier as the founder and CEO of Aldebaran Robotics.

Romeo began to be developed in early 2009 with a fund worth 10 million euros. Half of these funds is a relief from the government.

Fans of the game of chess surely remember former world champion Vladimir Kramnik, who held the title back in 2006, but the most recent news regarding the Russian gross-master comes from the world of robotics. Kramnik was the sparring partner for a chess-playing robot called “Chess Terminator”, designed by Konstantin Kosteniuk, who is the father of the current women’s champion, Alexandra Kosteniuk.

The engrossing video shows the match in full, where the robot-arm’s lightning movements certainly match the former champion in terms of speed. The A.I. is also very responsive and doesn’t make any big mistakes during the short match, which ended in a draw. The funniest part is at the 2:45 minute mark, where Kramnik offers his hand for a draw, but the robot brushes it away and continues playing.

It is not that the Chess Terminator lacks manners, it’s that it can not actually see its environment. It has already been connected to the chess board, and sees the pieces on a digital board, where it chooses the best move from a list of all possible combinations. The robot arm is a steady worker, and can grasp and move around tiny objects like the chess pieces very easily, as well as press the button on the clock. It looks so dedicated and concentrated on the task at hand, providing quite the humorous contrast with Kramnik’s relaxed and zestful exterior.

Enjoy the match video below.

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The tragedy of the coal mining accident Pike River, in New Zealand, making 29 people trapped in the depths of the earth. Every effort was made to rescue them, including high-tech assistance, by using the robot.

Rescuers are preparing a robot from the Ministry of Defence, modified for safe enough to examine the circumstances at the location where the miners are trapped. Under the plan, the robot will be empowered when the level of harmful gases like carbon dioxide already showing signs of decline.

“We communicate with the Department of Defense and will use the robot to go into the tunnel when there is a chance,” said Gary Knowles of the local police.

New Zealand Army has confirmed they have been providing a specialist robot, complete with controller teams to help the police work. The robot is claimed quite sophisticated and capable of entering a dangerous location.

The robot will be tasked to find out the conditions and circumstances at the mine site that had collapsed. Quoted from the New Zealand Herald on Monday November 21, 2010, the robot operates with four cameras.

Nevertheless, the rescue team will not be presumptuous to rely on this robot before the gas levels in stable condition. Because there is a risk the robot will actually trigger the flame and make the situation more dangerous.

Watch this video: Robot Actress Who Could Act in the Show

Blake Lively is a humanoid robot that form a beautiful woman and has brown hair is already created since a few months ago. But only this time, this humanoid robot demonstrate his ability to perform in a play in a staging drama in Japan, along with real actors and actresses.

Quoted by the BBC, due to not been able to move gracefully while the show plays, Blake was acting with other actors and actresses while sitting in a chair. While all movements of his body, controlled by a technician who is behind the screen.

But some opponents to play Blake complained feel uncomfortable if you have to constantly perform in a play with robots. Bryerly Long, one of the actresses who act with Blake said that she often felt alone when she is on stage.

Actress Bryerly Long, working alongside the android in a Japanese play titled Sayonara, said she feels it lacks “human presence”, making her feel “alone” on stage.

“The downside is, the lack of a sense of ‘human presence’. Of course, do not be surprised if this happens, because the fact she is a robot,” she said.

Another Robot Actress Who Could Act in the Show video:

The highly realistic android called Geminoid F has been placed in a Japanese play called “Good-bye” and presented at a Tokyo Art Festival. The robot, which costs around $1.2 million, can mostly just sit, but she can also move her head and change her facial expressions. Another actress stands behind the stage feeding her her lines, which she conveys through her implanted microphone.

The Osaka University creation acted alongside a human actress in the play, which is about a woman with a fatal illness (not the android). Geminoid F is supposed to test out how robots can interact with humans in the arts, in this case simulating a theatrical performance. She may not be able to do many actions, but the brown-haired and brown-eyed robot does her job fairly well in monologues or simple dialogues.

As the human actress admits at the end of the video, however, there is something missing from the bot’s performance, something that perhaps will always be missing—the human element. Call me a bit pessimistic, but acting is one field where I don’t see robots having a great future. Maybe in comedy, but more serious dramatic stories would be a problem. Many human actors struggle to shed their “robotic” or monotonous performance, it takes a great deal of adaptiveness and intelligence to be able to give a realistic performance—simply having a human exoskeleton won’t cut it.

Still, such a novelty is bound to excite some theater-goers, and apparently ticket sales at the Tokyo fair were indeed boosted by Geminoid F. The play only had a two-day run, but due to its success, they’ll probably find other ones to put the robot in.

The BBC video below shows the Geminoid F in action.

The Shanghai Expo in Japan presented three new humanoid robots that have been designed for one function only – to climb walls like nobody’s business. Called “Yume Robo”, the 140cm, 30kg bots have been climbing up and down a 15-meter wall every 20 minutes for the past half a year. It is not precisely clear why (it looks like a technology demonstration rather than a robot designed for anything practical–Awesome-o), but they have shown that if you focus a robot on one thing, it’s going to start doing it really good.

Another thing not clear is why they are dressed in silver astronaut-like clothes, and why they all have two antennas on their heads that make them look like little green men from Mars, but that is most probably an aesthetic choice. Interestingly enough, the robots are said to have been created by no less than 15 midsize companies in Osaka, so it was a collaborative effort by many engineers. Maybe the design was just the most neutral idea they could come up with?

Their wacky appearance aside, the Yume Robots climb the walls much in the same way a human can. They move up limb by limb, first making sure that their hands and feet are secure on the bar before trying to go further. They are a little bit on the slow side, but that is compensated in the stability they seem to possess. To simulate a human climber further, the creators also programmed them to move their heads towards each progressing limb, as if they are consciously checking to see that everything is alright.

All the above you can see in the video, which unfortunately only features one of the Yume Robos in action. It would have been curious to see all three of them scaling the wall, though I don’t suspect they will have been programmed with any real team-work abilities.

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Many of the modern day robots owe their inspiration and basic design to Honda’s ASIMO, the humanoid bot which marked his 10 year anniversary on October 31st, Halloween night. Unlike Frankenstein, this inanimate creation that was powered to life a decade ago has gone on to be a guiding light for success in its entire field. Work was first started on ASIMO 25 years ago, and the finished prototype took almost 15 years of extensive research to complete.

At the celebration, Honda treated guests with short films and new smart phone applications that retold the journey of their special robot, which was more of a history lesson than anything too tech-heavy. It highlighted some of ASIMO’s proudest moments, which included meeting world leaders and visiting places like the European Parliament, as well as touring countless of science museums around the world ,and educating children about science and engineering. When it comes to robot celebrities, they don’t get more famous than ASIMO.

Watch ASIMO conduct he Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

There was still talk of future projects, however, as Honda said that their new goal in further robotic research will be developing artificial intelligence and strengthening the bond between humans and robots. There are many innovations and new concepts popping up all the time that help improve the physical qualities of robotic humanoids like ASIMO, but A.I research is still waiting for its “one giant leap for robots” moment. As Honda stressed, the goal for this new movement will be to make robots better helpers for humans, as increasing their intelligence will increase the ways in which they can help us too. How successful they will be in their new endeavors remains to be seen, but as ASIMO is has yet to be truly surpassed for over ten years now, the ball is in their court.

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An elementary school classroom looks orderly. The students seemed keen to do a task, while the teacher provides instruction. Unlike teachers in schools in general, teachers in these classrooms has a body made of plastic and computer components.

This is not a scene in a science fiction movie but a real place in a school in Masan, South Korea. Engkey, thus the name of the robot in the class room, apparently was teaching English language materials.

Reported by CNN on Monday (25/10/2010), this is part of a pilot program launched by the South Korean government. In this program, second grade elementary school students are taught English by a robot.

Mun-Taek Choi, a senior researcher at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology who developed Engkey mentioned, the results of the evaluation show that educational robot system has proven effective in helping improve student interest and motivate them in learning English.

“As many as 36 robots Engkey been incorporated into 18 primary schools throughout Daegu, Korea until the end of this year,” said Choi.

Robot boned round and orange are controlled remotely by a real teacher outside the classroom. The teacher’s face, appearing on screen in the body Engkey. Well, this robot can connect students with teachers at a location very far away, even overseas.

“Thus, these telepresence robots also help overcome the problem of teaching English in South Korea, due to lack of native-speaker teachers,” said Choi.

Cooking is an art sometimes forgotten in the robotics world, but James, the PR2 robot, and Rosie, another robot from CoTeSys (Cognition for Technical Systems) in Munich have joined forces to show that robots can be of great use in the kitchen as well. They made some pretty successful-looking pancakes and used various tools around the Assisted Kitchen to show off their skills.

The main chef in the experiment was Rosie, who used her broad arms and high levels of dexterity to flip and cook the pancakes. As you can see in the video, she is a bit on the slow side, but she’s also extra careful and gets it done right. She is capable of adjusting the way she pours the batter based on the weight of the bowl, demonstrating some impressive planning and a good use of her sensors, which allow the bot to recognize how much batter she has already poured.

James did his part too by looking up the pancake recipe on the internet, which allowed the robots to learn something new, much in the same way humans can. He generated his own program which used image recognition to find the right ingredients, like differentiating between bottles and finding them in the fridge. James also assisted Rosie by opening and closing drawers, moving things around, and helping her with the dish. He showed off his impressive gripping skills, and both robots were able to correct their errors very quickly as they went along. Let us also not forget that in the past the PR2 has been shown capable of folding towels.

The below video shows the entire process of making the pancakes in much detail including looking up the recipe online, using common sense knowledge to locate the ingredients in the kitchen, use visual object recognition to find the objects and generate and execute a complete plan for the task. It is very impressive!

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It’s been coming for quite some time now, and it’s finally here. The world’s first all-robotic surgery was performed on a Canadian man at Montreal General Hospital, who had his prostate successfully removed. The operation was performed by two main robots – McSleepy, which, as the name suggests, provides anesthesia to the patient, while the DaVinci system uses tools and performs movements way too delicate for any human to match.

The 360 degree arms of the DaVinci robot were guided by a team of surgeons viewing the details of the operation thanks to a 3D high-def camera. A constant stream of information on the patient’s vitals was also provided. So the human brains are still guiding things behind the scenes, but all the physical aspects are under the control of the robotic system.

McSleepy has a simpler task of pumping sleep-inducing drugs into a patient’s veins, but that is a vitally important aspect of any operation. The anesthesia bot has actually been in use for over two years, and DaVinci has helped out in many operations in this past, but this was the first time the two were combined, which eliminated the need for a human presence during the operation.

Dr. Aprikian, from the McGill University Health Center, stated his confidence that this will become a standard procedure in the future, and an all-robotic team will be able to improve results and save more lives on the operating table. While that sounds very promising, at least from all these news stories of successful robotic machines being employed in such operations, the trick will be getting the average Joe to feel comfortable enough knowing a robot is slicing his body. Even with a lot of reassurance, you know some people will feel skeptical about the process.

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Robots have taken our jetpacks that we never got to wear, or at least we have turned these jetpacks into autonomous devices. The Martin Aircraft Company shared a video of its newest jetpack prototype, the Martin Skyhook UAV, which can fly as high as 10,000 feet, and lift 220 pounds. Basically, it’s like a mini helicopter.

It achieves flight with its double turbofan 200-horsepower driven engine, which can reach speeds of up to 63 miles per hour. Unlike the futuristic visions of the device, it uses regular gas, not rocket-power fuel. It does not need a runaway or any special launching place, as it has a vertical takeoff and can launch straight into the sky.

The Skyhook can have many uses, and the military especially will be interested in getting it to help them monitor battlefields or deliver supplies to troops. For those missions you don’t really need a human attached to the jetpack, so the Martin Aircraft team scratched the human element off the list. Which is probably a disappointment to some, but then the risks of operating such an aircraft are too great right now anyway.

One of its weaknesses is that it can only spend a couple of hours in the air, before it would need to refuel its system. This means that it will still need a base close-by, and won’t be able to travel great distances. It is something the Martin team, along with the military, are looking to improve, and future funding promises to enhance its already impressive capabilities even more.

The video is short, but pretty cool, and shows the unmanned jetpack taking off for a solo flight. It sounds as loud as a helicopter too, judging from this sample.

This might come as a surprise to some, but it’s not just the far east, Europe and the US that are involved in the humanoid-building industry. Proof of that is Turkey’s brand new SURALP (Sabanci University Robot Research Laboratory Platform) robot, which was unveiled after an eight year development process.

The robot is rather straight-forward in nature, and stands at 5 feet 4 inches, weighing around 250 pounds. It can rotate its arms, legs, head and torso, possessing 29 degrees of freedom, and looks sort of like an astronaut. Besides cameras that allow it to see where it’s going, SURALP employs gyro sensors to help keep its balance. It is also smart enough to reach out its arms and steady itself against a wall if it feels in danger of falling.

SURALP can do different things, which it demonstrated at its unveiling. It can pick up and throw away trash, walk backwards and forwards, and even perform something resembling a dance. The below video of it walking doesn’t make it look too steady, but it stays on its feet, which is the important thing.

Japan did help out a little bit, at least by providing inspiration to associate Professor Kemalettin Erbatur, the man who designed the robot, when he visited Yokohama National University. Still, it’s nice to see other countries getting involved in such projects, and $1 million is actually not a lot of money to spend on the development of a humanoid robot. The cost of developing such experimental robots has declined steadily over the years since HONDA begun development of Asimo in the late 1980s. SURLAP may not change the entire robotics world, but it is a step forward to a more combined global-effort. After all, to achieve progress in anything we need new and diverse ideas, and relying only on one or two regions to carry A.I. research won’t be very advantageous.

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Out of the blue and in a post titled “What we are driving at” written by Stanford professor Sebastian Thrun of Grand and Urban Challenge fame (at least to the public because he is otherwise very well known in research circles), it was unveiled yesterday that Google has been developing robotic cars for urban environments. And they have been testing these autonomous vehicles in our cities.

Our automated cars, manned by trained operators, just drove from our Mountain View campus to our Santa Monica office and on to Hollywood Boulevard. They’ve driven down Lombard Street, crossed the Golden Gate bridge, navigated the Pacific Coast Highway, and even made it all the way around Lake Tahoe. All in all, our self-driving cars have logged over 140,000 miles. We think this is a first in robotics research.

The self-driving cars come equipped with laser, radar and vision sensors much like the cars that competed in the Urban Challenge a few years ago. Google has automated a handful of Priuses and an Audi TT as part of this project. Stanford is also preparing an Audi TTS for autonomously driving to the top of Pikes Peak.

I started this article by saying that the announcement came out of the blue but we actually suggested that this project was in the works back in 2007 when Google licensed some of Stanford’s technology used in DARPA’s competitions and also hired professor Thrun who in the past was rumored to be working on his own technology start up with the aim of mapping cities.

So what should we expect the outcome of such a project to be? First of all, expect near real-time updates of Google maps. Second, expect that these technologies will eventually become available for all cars which will drastically change the way we commute using our favorite means of transportation. Autonomous cars promise to eliminate road congestion allowing more cars to share the road by driving closer together. But before any of this becomes a reality, it has to be shown that the robotic vehicles are safe especially in the early days when these marvels of technology will have to share the road with human drivers.

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It was only a matter of time before robots got introduced to royalty, or at least the leaders of our biggest countries. Tiro, a service robot, has been employed at the Blue House (or presidential residence) in South Korea, where it will greet visitors. It will also act as a tour guide and show them around important locations, explaining the culture and heritage behind each place. As Seoul alone has almost seven million visitors each month, Tiro has had to learn Japanese, Chinese, and English along with Korean to cover most of the language-barriers. So although it only possesses basic functions, it shows that robots are moving up places in society where they are even accepted at the highest offices.

Visitors will also find more robots at the second floor of the Blue House. “Genibos”, or robotic dogs will provide a lot of amusement for kids, while “Metal Fighters” will wow guests with their dancing and performing skills. It almost sounds like a robotic playground, one where most of the bots owe their creation to MiniRobot.

While to some it may seem weird to have such a robot-heavy staff at a presidential residence, especially considering we probably won’t see something like this at the White House for some time, it makes sense from South Korea’s standpoint. They have been trying to establish themselves as the dominant market and force behind the latest in robotics for some time now, even more so than Japan, so they want to use every opportunity to advertise their creations. In many places the robot is still seen as a prospect of the future, but in South Korea it has pretty much become a cultural symbol.

The video is in Korean, but it gives a short glimpse of Tiro and the Genibos dogs greeting the visitors.

The Android operating system is getting a life-sized mascot – and yep, you guessed it, it’s the little green robot in the logo. An impressively realistic one at that, which can control its own operating system.

Android is already implemented in a wide variety of devices, such as cell phones and small computers, but this new feature takes the cake as the coolest of them all. Named the “RIC Android”, the green bot was unveiled in late September at the Google Developer Day 2010 in Tokyo. The companies responsible for its creation are Japan’s RT Corporation and Brilliant Service, who collaborated to install the robot with an Armadillo 500FX board, while the RIC Android itself can be remotely operated by a Wi Fi Android device. RT Corp worked more on the exterior design of RIC, while Brilliant Service made sure the software lived up to its name. The entire process only took two months to be completed, which is a testament to the hard work they put in, and the adaptability of the operating system.

The hardware was easily assimilated in the open source nature of the system, and with this mechanism the Android was able to walk around, move its arms, turn in various directions, and best of all – it can open up its head to show people its Android on-board controller. You know, just in case someone forgot which company we’re talking about.

Besides looking cute, the RID Android will in the future be able to perform many of the tasks that the phones and laptops can do. It can store or gather information for a certain professional to use, or it can take photos and record videos for entertainment purposes. It would also be neat to be able to program it to go to distant places and record that information on its own.

image: gizmag.com

As a superhero, Iron Man relies on his armor is very strong and sophisticated. Now, a robot suit like Iron Man was trying to be created by a United States military contractor. Of course a robot suit called XOS 2 is not as advanced owned by Iron Man. But at least, his ability could be said to double the strength of qualified people who wear it.

Made by Raytheon Sarcos company, XOS 2 is a new generation of robot suit. Compared to the previous version (XOS 1), XOS 2 claimed lighter, faster and stronger.

“We were able to increase the capabilities of XOS 2 and significantly reduced power consumption,” said Fraser N. Smith, Vice President of Operations at the Raytheon Sarcos.

With XOS 2, a soldier could be capable of carrying over 100 pounds again and again without getting tired. With this robot suit, a soldier can hit a hard object, such as wood, without pain.

Although it looks heavy, XOS 2 users claimed to still be able to move swiftly. For example, they can kick a ball or climb without difficulty. Quoted from MSNBC on Tuesday (09/28/2010), XOS 2 was developed for military purposes. In the next five years, the U.S. army has been projected using this futuristic tool.

Watch Raytheon XOS 2 video:

Most robots are designed to be highly useful and help improve mankind in one way or another, but then that’s not everyone’s idea of how our mechanical friends should work. Chris Eckert’s “Gimme Robot” is a small one-eyed bot which silently rattles its tin-can and collects change. That’s right – our robots have started begging now.

The Gimme Robot is controlled by an Arduino Pro Mini, and uses sensors that locate people nearby. It’s mechanical eyeball follows the person’s motions should they decide to give it some change, and gently rattles its tin can prompting them for coins. It is also painted to look old and rusty, presumably to emphasize its helpless nature and make it more sympathetic. It can also move through the room on its two stepper motors while searching for donors.

The creator has said he wanted to recreate the feeling of sympathy, fear and anger one often feels when encountering beggars, but still make the robot adorable enough for people to give it money. The bot seems to have a Wall-E like resemblance going for it, and many people will feel drawn to its quiet yet pitiful appearance. It also may be interesting to give it a few coins just to see what it’s reaction will be, though don’t expect a song and a dance.

The video is almost comically simplistic in its nature, but shows how the transactions are expected to work. One wonders what would happen if someone just reaches in and takes all the money the Gimme Robot has collected, but then again who would be so cruel? It’d be like stealing candy from a mechanical one-eyed baby. Of course, this will all be helped if the bot is collecting money for a good cause, and not just to buy itself…whatever a robot would buy I guess.

[source]