It’s a story about the evolving relationship between humans and robots, and what AI in machines bodes for the future of war and the human race.

Resources

Read Now: The Evil ‘Star Wars’ Robot Who Owns the Term ‘Meatbag’ – http://bit.ly/1Hy6KLU
Subscribe to MOTHERBOARD: http://bit.ly/Subscribe-To-MOTHERBOARD

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Qualifiers Group B in the Fighting Robot Association 2013 UK Featherweight Championship hosted by RoboChallenge at Gadget Show Live in the Birmingham NEC.
Featherweight Robots have a weight limit of 13.6kg and must be built to the current FRA build rules.
Competition judged in accordance with FRA Competition Regulations.

Resources

More information visit www.fightingrobots.co.uk

The post Robot Fight Arena 11123 appeared first on Robotpark ACADEMY.

AirJelly’s environment is the air. Unlike AquaJelly, the remote-controlled jellyfish AirJelly does not swim through water, but instead glides instead through a sea of air thanks to its central electric drive unit and an intelligent, adaptive mechanism. It is able to do so because it consists of a helium-filled ballonett.

AirJelly‘s sole source of power is two lithium-ion polymer batteries connected to the central electric drive unit. It transmits the force to a bevel gear and from there to a succession of eight spur gears, which move the eight tentacles of the jellyfish via cranks. Each tentacle is designed as a structure with Fin Ray Effect^® . Propulsion of a ballonett by means of peristaltic motion is hitherto unknown in the history of aviation. AirJelly is the first indoor flight object with peristaltic drive. This new drive concept, with propulsion based on the principle of recoil, moves the jellyfish gently through the air.

Air Jelly PDF

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http://www.robotpark.com/academy/VP/11122_AirJelly_En.pdf

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A father who lost his arm in an accident six years ago has been given a new lease of life by a hi-tech bionic hand which is so precise he can type again. Nigel Ackland, 53, has been fitted with the Terminator-like carbon fibre mechanical hand which he can control with movements in his upper arm. The new bebionic3 myoelectric hand, which is also made from aluminium and alloy knuckles, moves like a real human limb by responding to Nigel’s muscle twitches.

Incredibly, the robotic arm is so sensitive it means the father-of-one can touch type on a computer keyboard, peel vegetables, and even dress himself for the first time in six years.

Resources

http://bebionic.com

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WildCat is a four-legged robot being developed to run fast on all types of terrain. So far WildCat has run at about 16 mph on flat terrain using bounding and galloping gaits. The video shows WildCat’s best performance so far. WildCat is being developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA’s M3 program.

Resources

For more information about WIldCat visit our website at www.BostonDynamics.com.

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In nature, small animals or insects use multiple locomotion methods to efficiently travel in difficult environments. Inspired by the multi-modal locomotion ability found in animals, we design a miniature robot that can jump, run, and perform aerial maneuvering. Specifically, this robot can use wheeled locomotion to run on flat ground. Encountering a large obstacle, it can jump up to overcome the obstacle.

After leaping into the air, the robot can control its body angle using its tail for aerial maneuvering. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first miniature (maximum size 7.5 centimeters) and lightweight (26.5 grams) robot that having all the three capabilities. Furthermore, this robot is equipped with on-board energy, sensing, control, and wireless communication capabilities, which enables the tetherless or autonomous operation. It has many applications ranging from search and rescue, military surveillance, and environmental monitoring.

ARTICLE by Evan Ackerman

We first met Jianguo Zhao’s jumping robot at ICRA 2011. We were impressed because of how tiny it was, but also because it could change direction, self-right, and jump, all using just one single motor and a clever arrangement of gears. A new upgrade (inspired by research from UC Berkely) adds a tail to the mix, giving this little robot the ability to orient itself in midair. Oh, and it can also run, because why not.

Adding a tail also involved adding an extra motor to the robot, but there was no way that the designers could tolerate such inefficiency. So, the tail motor and gear can team up with a gear on the jumping motor to give the robot the ability to move horizontally along the ground. My guess is that the next iteration of this robot that we see will (somehow) have that motor enabling three abilities instead of just two.

The total weight of the robot is still just 26 grams, and it’s only 7.5 centimeters tall. It can jump over 80 centimeters up (with a 75 degree takeoff angle), and while “running,” it can reach speeds of nearly 4 cm/s. In addition, the robot is equipped with on-board sensors, and of course it can be controlled wirelessly or made fully autonomous, and the designers speculate that it might be appropriate for applications like search and rescue, military surveillance, and environmental monitoring.

Officially, this research will be presented at IROS 2013 in Toyko this November, but a pre-print edition of the full paper is already available below…

Controlling Aerial Maneuvering of a Miniature Jumping Robot Using Its Tail

Download PDF 

Links:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/robotics-hardware/tiny-jumping-robot-finds-room-for-a-tail
Video Link: http://youtu.be/oEnQQJC5Lxc

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RHex is an all-terrain walking robot that could one day climb over rubble in a rescue mission or cross the desert with environmental sensors strapped to its back. Pronounced “Rex,” like the over-excited puppy it resembles when it is bounding over the ground, RHex is short for “robot hexapod,” a name that stems from its six springy legs.

Legs have an advantage over wheels when it comes to rough terrain, but the articulated legs often found on walking robots require complex, specialized instructions for each moving part. To get the most mobility out of RHex’s simple, one-jointed legs, Penn researchers are essentially teaching the robot Parkour. Taking inspiration from human free-runners, the team is showing the robot how to manipulate its body in creative ways to get around all sorts of obstacles.

The RHex platform was first developed through a multi-university collaboration more than a decade ago. Graduate student Aaron Johnson and professor Daniel Koditschek, both of the Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, are working on a version of RHex known as XRL, or X-RHex Lite. This lighter and more agile version of the robot, developed in Koditschek’s Kod*Lab, a division of Engineering’s General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) Lab, is ideal for testing new ways for it to run, jump, and climb.

By activating its legs in different sequences, XRL can execute double jumps, flips, and, through a combination of moves, even pull-ups. For the tallest obstacles, the robot can launch itself vertically, hook its front legs on the edge of the object it’s trying to surmount, then drag its body up and over. The researchers fully demonstrated this particular maneuver under more controlled conditions in the lab.

The paper where Johnson and Koditschek outlined these capabilities—”Toward a Vocabulary of Legged Leaping“—was selected as a finalist for best student paper at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in May.

“What we want is a robot that can go anywhere, even over terrain that might be broken and uneven,” Johnson says. “These latest jumps greatly expand the range of what this machine is capable of, as it can now jump onto or across obstacles that are bigger than it is.”

ARTICLE By Evan Ackerman

RHex has been practicing its jumping skills, and UPenn has a tremendous new video of the robot doing Parkour across campus rooftops.

Was one of these moves particularly difficult to pull off? If so, why, and how’d you solve it?

The double jump across a gap is probably the hardest, in addition to being one of the more dangerous. There are some interesting trade-offs when it comes to gap jumping: do you want to start closer to the gap so you don’t have to jump as far, or do you want to start farther back so you can get full traction with all of your legs? In the end, it helps to sneak up as close as you can to the edge while still getting some amount of torque out of the middle legs on that second bounce. Backing up farther to let the front legs help ended up being a little worse.

One move that didn’t make it is the pull-up onto the table’s edge. That move is still much too hard to do outdoors, and relies on very subtle leg stretching and ground interactions that we are in the process of modeling more carefully.

What are some ways that you might be able to make RHex faster than a speeding bullet and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound?

Well, we can already leap onto ledges in a single bound that are tall compared to the robot, but in order to really push the performance of a robot such as RHex it helps to have a very good actuator model. The motors in this robot are rated to about 2-3A continuous current, but to get these moves I’ve set the current limit at 20A. This means that they heat up quite quickly, but with a good thermal model we can monitor the motor core temperature and ensure that for these quick leaps they stay within the thermal limits. For the worst of these jumps, we know that the motor core heats up by 50C in less than half a second. Knowing how far you can push your robot is key to getting these kinds of peak performance behaviors.

Will this project be extended? If so, what are you working on next, and what are your long-term hopes/dreams/fantasies for RHex?
Yes, this project is ongoing, and one of the challenges that I’m excited to try and tackle is running transitions. Most of these dynamic transitions start from rest, but we have some early results with running flips that look promising. We are also eager to take these behaviors out to the desert where we’ve done some testing with RHex in the past. These behaviors should enable RHex to access even more of the terrain out there.

Any chance of seeing some outtakes? I bet there are some good ones!
The outtakes are pretty painful, if you have any empathy for the robot. In truth RHex can take quite a beating and still run most of the time, but it is hard to watch. We may post some outtakes in the future, for now though we will be posting a longer version of this video with extended clips and some additional angles that didn’t make it into the final cut.

Links:

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/aerial-robots/rhex-does-parkour-all-over-upenn

http://kodlab.seas.upenn.edu/Aaron/ICRA2013

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Sphero – 100% Summer Compatible Video

From the beach to the bonfire, Sphero is 100% summer compatible. As the world’s first app-controlled robotic ball, Sphero is ready for any adventure. Race Sphero down the boardwalk, battle against augmented reality zombies with friends, play handheld and multiplayer games around the campfire, compete in a game of TAG at the park, or take Sphero for a swim in the pool. This summer, take your gaming experience outside with Sphero. Video Link: http://youtu.be/C5q1iw5Oszg

Sphero – Ways To Play

Find out all of the great things you can do with Sphero! From driving to multiplayer games to swimming, Sphero does it all – and with 20 free apps there is something for everyone.

Comment By David Carnoy

Judging from the split reaction my colleagues had to Sphero 2.0 as I took it for a stroll around the office using my iPhone as a steering wheel, that love-it-or-leave-it sentiment remains the same — and so does the exterior design of the ball itself. But the new, second-generation Sphero, due to hit stores on 2013, is twice as fast and glows three times as brightly. Its software has also been upgraded, so it seems a bit more responsive.

The ball connects via Bluetooth and works with both iOS and Android devices. Standard Bluetooth has a range of 10 meters (33 feet) but the Sphero 2.0’s range is 30 meters, which gives you some room to drive it around. It’s easy to set up and get going, though it takes a lot of practice to become a truly adept Sphero driver who’s able negotiate Formula-1-style indoor circuits.

Because it’s hard to control at first, the Sphero 2.0 doesn’t reach its new top speed out of the box. You actually have to level up to top speed by driving it around for a few hours, gaining experience and your Sphero driver’s license so to speak.

The Sphero is completely waterproof and more durable than it looks. It also makes an endearing little chirping sound that gives it a bit of personality, and you can change its color. As for battery life, it gets about an hour of drive time before you have to charge it using the included induction charger and stand (it takes about 3 hours to fully charge).

The Sphero moves along at a good clip. With the increased speed, when you open up the throttle it becomes very difficult to control in tighter spaces. However, if it gets stuck somewhere, the power boost does help you get the ball out of jams.

The novelty of driving the Sphero around does wear off somewhat quickly, which is why Orbotix has included a set of ramps in the box (they’re actually integrated into the packaging, which is pretty ingenious) to pull off miniature Evel Knievel-style jumps.

Orbotix has also developed a variety of free apps to challenge your driving skills and allow you to use the Sphero in various games, including some multiplayer and augmented-reality games. A growing number of third-party apps are also available (some of those aren’t free) and some apps have you hold the Sphero in your hand to control something on your phone or tablet screen.

It’s worth noting that the Sphero does swim, by which I mean it floats. However, to make it move better in water, you need to buy an optional accessory called a Nubby cover that’s a silicone rubber case with bumps on it that provides traction in fluids and on off-road terrain. That cover comes in a few different colors.

As I said in my initial musings on the first Sphero, it’s something of a technological feat to remotely put a ball in motion, and the software upgrade and performance boost make the user experience a little more thrilling. But ultimately, you’ll either look at Sphero in action and think, “Wow, that’s cool,” or you’ll just see a ball rolling around and wonder what all the fuss is about.

As noted, the Sphero 2.0 ships on 2013. The Sphero 2.0 Revealed, a special version for Apple Stores, arrives on September 4.

Links:

http://reviews.cnet.com/robots-and-robot-kits/sphero-2/4505-3510_7-35826410.html

http://www.gosphero.com/

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The machine watches itself while painting and decides indepentently where to add new strokes. This way paintings are created that are not completely defined by the programmer but are the result of a visual optimization process. (informatik.uni-konstanz.de/en/edavid/news/)

Paintings of e-David Robot

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Scientific Motivation of e-David

Our hypothesis is that painting – at least the technical part of painting – can be seen as optimization processes in which color is manually distributed on a canvas until the painter is able to recognize the content – regardless if it is a representational painting or not. Optimization happens intuitively during the drawing process and is highly dependent on the medium and its restrictions. Centuries of so-called academic art have been shown to what extent algorithms for spatial division as well as color and content composition can be used for creating art works.

On the other side computer graphics, and especially in so-called non-photorealistic rendering made a lot of progress in imitating painting styles using the computer. By simulating media and stroke composition a lot of painting-like images were produced, typically by computing pixel information that later was printed on a conventional printer. E-David will substitute this by distributing real color on real canvas and thus will enable us to enclose the whole process of drawing production into an optimization framework. This will allow us to investigate human “optimization schemes” and to find out to what extent such schemes can be formulated using algorithms. We will use iterated optimization schemes to produce color distributions on the canvas which are constrained by given styles. Semantic information can be integrated to optimize representational paintings; a tree will be painted in a different way than a face even if the colors are similar. Such semantic information can be obtained from semantic image analysis of the given target image. A number of other questions arise immediately:

When you watch an artist paint, individual brush strokes can seem random. It’s often not until close to the very end that the image the painter is after becomes clear. This is doubly true when you watch e-David, the robot painter, at work. David, which stands for “Drawing Apparatus for Vivid Image Display,” was created by a team of engineers at the University of Konstanz in Germany.

He’s a former welding robot who has been retrofitted to reproduce, brush stroke by brush stroke, existing works of art. The robotic arm has access to five different brushes and 25 colors of paint, and after each dab of paint, it takes a photograph of what it has painted so far- computer software analyzes the photograph and tells David where to place the next brush stroke. The strangeness of the process is especially evident when David signs his name at the end.

As you can see in this video, he begins by making the dot over the “i” and then writes the rest of his name backwards- hardly how you or I would do it, and a clear reminder that- once someone else has given you the idea- there’s more than one way to make the Mona Lisa.

Resources:

Video Link Vimeo – http://vimeo.com/68859229

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/brainiac/2013/08/paint-by-robot.html

http://www.informatik.uni-konstanz.de/en/edavid/

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