Archive for 2014
KeepOn is a small creature-like robot which is designed to perform non-verbal, yet simple and natural, interaction with children. Designed and developed in 2007 by Hideki Kozima, a cognitive science researcher at Miyagi University of Japan, KeepOn is an interactive toy designed to help children with autism in their social development and interpersonal co-ordination, and goes costs anywhere from $40 to $100, depending on the retailer.
An incredible humanoid robot, I- Sobot is one of the smallest humanoid robots, with a height of just 6.5 inches and a weight of 12 ounces. The ‘Robot of 2008′ winner in Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) also comes in at a price of $300. It has become the most-produced robot in the world. Its advanced technology, together with the entertainment value it offers, are based primarily on its 17 miniature servo motors. This small robot can walk, play air guitar, and perform about 200 moves. This robot uses the gyro sensors for balancing, and can be controlled by either remote control or voice commands.
Unveiled by Caleb Chung in 2006, Pleo is one of the most appealing looking (though relatively useless) robots on the market. An animatronic pet dinosaur that has lifelike animations, the robot is designed with a sophisticated virtual intelligence that allows it to learn from its experiences, and the environment it is kept in. Pleo became especially popular among children, as it could be used for both entertainment and educational purposes. With its amazing sensors, Pleo could recognize colors and patterns, hear and respond to sounds, and even sense food or medicine. It also exhibits lively behavior like eating and sleeping. Though announced to be sold at a cost of $200, it is now available for purchase at a price of $469.
Kuratas is a ride able and user-operated robot built by the Japanese company Suidobashi Heavy Industry. Billed as "the world's first giant boarding robot", the Kuratas was unveiled when the website was opened in 2012. It was demonstrated at Wonder Festival
The Kuratas robot was developed by artist Kogoro Kurata (after whom the suit is named), and roboticist Wataru Yoshizaki.
Kurata stated that he was inspired by the mecha frequently featured in anime, especially those of the series Armored Trooper Votoms, which he watched as a child. "When I was a kid, I thought there were going to be giant robots in the future. But no matter how long I waited, people were only able to make small robots, like Asimo. Eventually, I thought ‘I can’t wait anymore,’ and set out to make one myself." Kurata's goal was to create a piece of art that emulated the mecha he had watched growing up.
The vehicle weighs approximately 4,500 kg, and is approximately 4 meters high.
It can be crewed by one person; that operator would sit in the "body" of the robot in a seat, with the control device in front of them. The Kuratas can also be controlled externally by remote control.
Kuratas sports a four wheeled, thirty joint exoskeleton. Which is controlled by the pilot or can be controlled remotely. The remote operator uses a 3g touch screen phone as the primary interface. The on-board pilot's user interface (UI) is a Kinect based device.
The vehicle can be "armed" with multiple weapons, such as a 6,000 round per minute twin BB Gatling cannon, a "LOHAS" launcher which fires either water bottles or possibly fireworks, and a powered humanoid hand called the "iron crow" that is capable of picking up objects, and is linked to the pilot by "what appears to be a Nintendo Power Glove".The main Suidobashi website lists two other "weapons", a "Kuratas Handgun", and a "Pilebunker".
Currently, the Kuratas is not capable of walking, but is able to drive on its four wheels at around 10 km/h.
Kuratas has a price tag of US$1,353,500 (or ¥134,555,495, or €1,040,976) As of 25 April 2013.
As you can see, the sphere sections are reinforced using some T-shaped aluminium brackets for supporting and holding the plastic (PC) sphere sections. This made a huge difference when it comes to rigidity. On MKII the ribs isn't really needed, simply because of the aluminium brackets that is shaped to match the inner part of each sphere section perfectly.
The main challenge with MKI was that it wasn't able to roll in a straight line of path, only in a curved direction. Having only one DOF (degree of freedom), or only one servo motor for each of the six upper sections made it very challenging. It might be possible to make a more complex linkage system that gave the upper sections a better motion when rolling. Not sure how though..
Having 2 DOF would make it easier to control, so that the upper and lower sections move in a symmetric motion.
The challenge was to make the motors fit inside the upper section without getting in conflict with the electronics.
Compared to the leg section, the femur and tibia sections are mounted very different. One advantage is that the servos in the upper section draw very little energy when holding the ball shape. To make enough space for the upper sections I also had to make new leg sections.
All these hardware updates also made MKII a lot heavier. So he upgrade the servos to 24x HSR-5990TG (all femur and tibias), 6x 5980-SG (coxa) and still using the same HS-5645MG (inner body servo).
The new upper section has a lot more freedom.
The code is still a WIP (work in progress)
the new upper section has a lot more freedom.
- PARO has been found to reduce patient stress and their caregivers
- PARO stimulates interaction between patients and caregivers
- PARO has been shown to have a Psychological effect on patients, improving their relaxation and motivation
- PARO improves the socialization of patients with each other and with caregivers
- World's Most Therapeutic Robot certified by Guinness World Records
PARO is the 8th generation of a design that has been in use in Japan and throughout Europe since 2003.
PARO has five kinds of sensors: tactile, light, audition, temperature, and posture sensors, with which it can perceive people and its environment. With the light sensor, PARO can recognize light and dark. He feels being stroked and beaten by tactile sensor, or being held by the posture sensor. PARO can also recognize the direction of voice and words such as its name, greetings, and praise with its audio sensor.
PARO can learn to behave in a way that the user prefers, and to respond to its new name. For example, if you stroke it every time you touch it, PARO will remember your previous action and try to repeat that action to be stroked. If you hit it, PARO remembers its previous action and tries not to do that action.
By interaction with people, PARO responds as if it is alive, moving its head and legs, making sounds, and showing your preferred behavior. PARO also imitates the voice of a real baby harp seal.
BEAR that stands for Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot is a military robot under
the development of Vecna
Technologies that will be used for taking out wounded
soldiers from the battlefield with no risk to human life. The humanoid robot uses a
powerful hydraulics system
to carry humans and other heavy objects over long distances and rough terrain
such as stairs. The robot's cameras and microphone allow an operator to
remotely control the BEAR. Daniel Theobald invented the robot in 2005. The BEAR is currently
still being developed and tested for applications on and off of the battlefield.
It is a six feet tall humanoid robot with
advanced technology and features that makes it effective and intelligent.
It is remotely controlled, has several sensors, and contains a hydraulic actuator.
The initial versions of the
BEAR were remotely controlled by a human operator who was able to see and hear
through the robot's sensors. Developments to the BEAR's AI have given the robot the ability to
process commands given by an operator such as "go to this
location" or "pick up that box." If the robot is unable to execute the operator's
command, it is programmed to ask the operator for assistance to complete a task.
The
robot may also be remotely controlled by a soldier through a device known as
the iGlove. The motion-capture glove developed by AnthroTronix allows the
soldier to make a simple hand gesture to command the BEAR. Another remote
control for the BEAR is called the Mounted Force Controller. It's a specialized
rifle grip mounted on an M-4 carbine so
soldiers can continue to command the BEAR without putting down their weapon.
The humanoid robot
from NASA just might be mistaken for a superhero it resembles like the Marvel's
superhero Iron Man.
Valkyrie a 6 foot 2 inch tall (1.9 meters)
robot with a glowing NASA logo on its chest. A team of engineers at NASA's
Johnson Space Center in Houston, Tex. designed and built Valkyrie in just nine
months.
This robot was developed for the DARPA Robotics Challenge and is designed to help humans during disasters. To test its capabilities, the DARPA competition will test Valkyrie through a variety of situations that it might encounter in life and death situations. It needs to drive a vehicle, clean up debris, cut through a wall and perform other tasks to show that it has the right stuff.
"We want to get to Mars," the team
leader for Valkyrie, Nicolaus Radford told IEEE
Spectrum in a video about the robot. "Likely, NASA will send
robots ahead of the astronauts to the planet. These robots will start preparing
the way for the human explorers and when the humans arrive, the robots and the
humans will work together in conjunction building habitats laying foundation
and just work together. Technologies such as
Valkyrie are going to really lead into the type of robotic systems that will
one day be the precursor missions before the astronauts go to Mars."
Actroid is a type of android (humanoid robot) with
strong visual human-likeness
developed by Osaka
University and manufactured by
Kokoro Company Ltd. It was first unveiled at the 2003 International Robot
Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan. The robot's appearance has been modelled after an average young woman of Japanese descent.
It can
do such lifelike functions as blinking,
speaking, and breathing. The
"Repliee" models are interactive robots with the ability to recognize and process speech and
respond in kind.
Technology
Internal sensors allow Actroid to react with a natural appearance
by way of air actuators placed at many points of articulation in the upper
body. So far, movement in the
lower body is limited. The operation of the robot’s sensory system in tandem with its air powered movements makes
it quick enough to react to sudden motions, such as a slap or a poke. Artificial intelligence gives it the ability
to react in a different way
to more gentle kinds of touch, such as a pat on the arm.
The Actroid can also imitate human-like behavior, head and eye movements
and the appearance of breathing in its chest. Additionally, the robot
can be "taught" to imitate human movements by facing a person who is wearing reflective dots at key
points on their body. By tracking the dots with its visual system and
computing limb and joint movements to match what it sees, this motion can then be
"learned" by the robot and repeated.
The skin is composed of silicone and appears real.
The interactive Actroids can also communicate on a basic level
with humans by speaking. Microphones within those Actroids record the speech of a human,
and this sound is then filtered
to remove background noise - including the sounds of the robot's own
operation. Speech recognition software is then used to convert the audio stream into words and sentences,
which can then be processed by the Actroid's A.I. A verbal response is then
given through speakers external to the unit.
A humanoid robot designed and developed by Honda.
Introduced on 21 October 2000, ASIMO was designed to be a multi-functional mobile assistant.
At 130 cm (4 ft 3 in) tall
and 48 kg (106 lb), ASIMO was designed to operate in real-world environments,
with the ability to walk or run on two feet at speeds of up to 6 kilometres per
hour (3.7 mph).
With aspirations of helping
those who lack full mobility, ASIMO is frequently used in demonstrations across
the world to encourage the study of science and mathematics.
In addition to ASIMO's ability to walk like we do, it can also understand
pre-programmed gestures and spoken commands, recognize
voices and faces and interface
with IC Communication cards. ASIMO has arms and hands so it can
do things like turn on light
switches, open doors, carry objects, and push carts. ASIMO could also do
jobs that are too dangerous for humans to do, like going
into hazardous areas, disarming bombs, or fighting fires.
NAO is a 58-cm tall humanoid robot. He is small, cute and round. You can't help but love him! NAO is intended to be a friendly companion around the house. He moves, recognises you,hears you and even talks to you!
Aldebaran created
NAO to be a true daily
companion. He is the little creature who helps you be your best. His humanoid form and extreme interactivity make him really endearing and loveable.
Features:
25 degrees of freedom, for movement
· Two cameras, to see its surroundings
· An inertial measurement unit,
which lets him know whether he is upright or sitting down
· Touch
sensors to detect your touch
· Four directional microphones,
so he can hear you
The first body massaging robot in the world, WheeMe is a palm sized robot which caresses and massages the body with a slow and steady movement. Using the 'Tilt sensor technology', WheeMe will stay on your back without falling or losing grip.', providing a delightful sense of bodily pleasure. Weighing just 240 grams, this device has proven itself a great therapeutic device, and costs only $69.
