Are you tired of dieting alone? No need to worry, because soon there is a robot that can help your diet program. A named Autom Oboth can find out how much exercise and diet undertaken by an individual. Even with the touch of his hand on his screen, Autom can know a person’s mood.

Cory Kidd is as owner and chief executive of Intuitive Automata Inc.. Autom which began when the school creates in the Technology Media Lab Massachusetts Institute, United States (U.S.). Kidd also often visit patients at Boston Medical Center Clinic, USA. This is where he got the inspiration to create something that could be useful for many people.

Dieters who want to use Autom can enter details of diet and exercise patterns on the screen. Autom also be programmed to perform some conversations, like “I know talk to me maybe a little weird, but I hope you’ll get used to this,” said Autom. He could write the words “Thank You”, “OK” or “Let go” on the screen that responds to menu choices.

Quoted from Wall Street Journal, Friday (23/07/2010), this robot can blink and see who is talking to him and then end the conversation with the phrase, “I hope we can talk again about your progress,” he said with a tone of women Autom.

Kidd explained that this diet maid robot priced at U.S. $ 500 plus an additional monthly subscription fee that includes software updates.

Intuitive Automata company based in Hong Kong was selected as a finalist in the Asian Innovation Awards, with a target market of the United States to begin to operate the robot in front of her diet. The plan, robots will be tested in a pilot program in one of the leading insurance company in the country. -detikinet-

Good news for wheelchair users. The robotic legs successfully developed to help users to get up and walk again with both feet. Even able to go up and down the stairs.

Robot leg from New Zealand was named Rex. The robot, will be attached to the side legs to support the user’s body. From her appearance, “robot legs” is similar to the legs of Robocop.

“I’ll never forget what it was like to see my feet walking under me the first time I used Rex,” says Hayden, who is 6’4” (193cm) tall when standing. “People say to me, ‘look up when you’re walking’ but I just can’t stop staring down at my feet moving.”

Being out of his chair and on his feet again allows Hayden many more options on a day to day basis, increasing opportunities for employment and recreational activities by providing access for him to independently go places previously inaccessible to him. For example – up stairs!

Rex users self-transfer from their wheelchair into Rex, strap themselves in and control their movements using a joystick and control pad.

Robot with a weight 84 pounds (about 38 kilograms) was developed by Rex Bionics company based in Auckland. Rex is the brainchild of two childhood friends, Richard Little and Robert Irving – co-founders of Rex Bionics. “Both of our mothers are in wheelchairs so we are aware of some of the obstacles and access issues faced by many wheelchair users,” says Richard.

Robert’s Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis seven years ago was the catalyst for these men to put their engineering skills to use to develop a practical, standing and walking alternative to wheelchairs.

The founders are quick to point out that Rex is not a replacement for a wheelchair, but a complement that offers a range of options not currently available anywhere else in the world. It is potentially suitable for manual wheelchair users who can self-transfer and operate hand controls.

Robot with two hours of endurance of this batteries have several limitations for those who would use it. The user must have height of about 4-6 feet (about 120-180 centimeters), weight less than 220 pounds (less than 100 kilograms) and have a waist circumference of less than 14.9 inches (37.85 centimeters)

Rex is expected to cost approximately US$150,000. The decision to purchase Rex will be a very individual assessment of what Rex allows customers to do. The benefits can be social, for the work place, for home and health related.

Rex will soon be available for purchase in New Zealand, where the price will be a bit lower since it will be easier to supply and support close to the company’s home base on Auckland’s North Shore.

Along with the shrinking population and population growth rates in Japan, the Japanese government to allocate funds even big enough to create a robot child. Noby and Kindy is a two robotic boy who accidentally created for medical reasons.

The research team led by professor Minoru Asada of Osaka University had succeeded in creating robotic children. The robot which deliberately created to study the cognitive development of children, is equipped with artificial intelligence and can be used as research material to view a child’s growth and interaction.

Quoted from Cnet, on Friday (18/06/2010), although its size is said to look like the evil doll Chucky movie character, but both robots are actually funny. Noby behavior which weighs 17 kilograms adjusted like a nine-month-old baby. While the other boy robot named Kindy with weights 60 kilograms, programmed behavior, such as children aged five years.

Noby equipped with 600 sensors placed all over his body while Kindy has 42 motors and more than 100 sensors on its body. Both can recognize speech, facial expressions of people and can crawl or even hold hands with someone. Noby and Kindy also has a synthetic leather, two-ear microphone and two cameras in their eyes to understand the situation around.

Child population in Japan is not much because of the shrinking of the population growth there. The presence of Noby and Kindy expected to be entertainers and treat the nostalgia of the Japanese people against the children.

source: detikinet

Robotics technology – robotics news and tutorial

Japanese electronics company, Hitachi, creating a roller skating robot capable of walking on uneven surfaces. In addition, this robot is also capable of carrying out orders and can work as tourist guides or security guards. Wow, great!

Humanoid robot named EMIEW2 has a complex spring shock absorbers in the legs. Tool that enables the robot to move across the small mound in the floor without tripping over wires.

“This robot can control the position like a man when it stabilizes itself after a jump in line skates,” said Yuji Hosoda, chief researcher at Hitachi’s department of transportation systems.

With a height of 80 cm and weight 14 kg, this robot has 14 pieces of helmet-mounted microphone and can hear a human voice even though the atmosphere around being noisy.

Equipped with wheels on both legs, this robot is also capable of sliding with a maximum speed of six kilometers per hour, equivalent to an adult walking speed.

“Robots that have a red and white colors can be used as receptionists and guides for visitors,” Hosoda said. “In addition, it can be used for such security patrols and find a hiding person, at the point of death from CCTV. EMIEW Robot is a new form of security oversight,” he added.

Quoted from AFP on Monday (6/21/2010), Hitachi itself has not announced when it will sell its products. Despite sounding like a bird from Australia – Emu – EMIEW name apparently stands for Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence.

source: detikinet

Play Lego unloading pairs to build a city may already be a regular activity. But a group of Lego fans create a “giant chess robot” using Lego. Uniquely, the whole “Lego pieces” are strung together like a robot that can move.

To finalize the work of such unique needs of a year, and the power of four people to complete these unique works. Quoted from Inhabitat, Tuesday (06/15/2010), required 100 000 lego and field area of 156 meters to show the lego chess robot action.

A team led by master LEGO Steve Hassenplug uses Lego Mindstorms NXT robot to control their chess. This is a sophisticated system that allows someone to build lego robots. Like an ordinary chess game, a robot that is being exhibited at Brickworld, Chicago is controlled by two people who are connected with a remote control.

source: detikinet

Andrew Schwartz, a researcher from the University of Pittsburgh in the United States, developed a robotic arm, which try to test controlled by the brain and the mind of a monkey.

Seven-axis robotic arm with sensors and manipulators were implanted in the body of the monkey. This study aimed to develop brain-machine for people with disabilities or paralysis.

In this experiment, Schwartz inserting two implants in the animal’s motor cortex which covers the arm and the hand control. If the monkey successfully control the robot arm when prompted, then he will get a drink as a gift.

Results from this study is not yet published. However, these researchers reported to have successfully developed an experiment that was published in the journal Nature, where the monkey brain implant successfully control a mechanical arm.

source: detikinet

Robot developer from Spain, Francisco Paz created a mini robot that is funny and adorable. Robot Qbot named this, is predicted to act as a home robot that can be bought a lot of people.

Qbot was created without having your arms and legs. Although the robot is seen can not do anything, but Qbot designed with some interesting features. One is designed to be interactive robots.

Qbot development based on open source software and hardware to upgrade DIY (Do It Yourself). With a height of 18 inches and weighs 19-24 pounds, Qbot was deliberately designed for ordinary consumers, to be enjoyed by many people.

Equipped with three wheels, this robot is claimed to be able to avoid obstacles. Plus four infrared sensors, ultrasonic, and eyes that there is a webcam for stereoscopic vision and detect faces. Not to forget, three microphones to identify the sound, the LED to give a facial expression and speakers to enable speech synthesis.

Quoted from Cnet, on Thursday (26/05/2010), Paz wrote in his blog that it took over five years to design Qbot. This project was inspired by a desire to create a home-based robotic pets like cats and dogs.

Quoted Tokyo University engineering professor, Tomomasa Sato, Paz following the invitation of the creators of robots to begin creating a global standard open-source robot, which later became the Ford Model T or the consumer robotics.

Sato believes global standard robot is able to inspire tens of thousands of engineers around the world to realize the dream of having a personal robot that is useful at home.

Source:
image: cnet
news: detikinet

Robot created not only to alleviate human tasks. Robot function from day to day increasingly diverse, from housekeeper to accompany and comfort the lonely master.

Technology companies from China, Shenyang Siasun Robot & Automation designed a house-sitting robot that can talk, send SMS, and report to authorities if there is a dangerous thing in the house.

In the body there are sensors that detect gas leakage. If something is happening and no one was home, the robot will be contacting the owner of the house via SMS or email.

As quoted from Xinhua on Monday (05/03/2010), Siasun, thus the name of the robot can operate for eight hours of rechargeable battery for two hours. Electrical power consumption of any efficient, smaller than the electricity consumption of home computers.

Robot that looks like an alien, has 80 cm tall and weighs 25 kg. Body shape is not too high, makes it easier to move freely in the home using the wheel. With the help of sensors, Siasun too wily to avoid obstacles or furniture that meets when walking.

This robot is also fond of the elderly. He can be relied upon to treat and cheer them up. The old folks will not feel lonely because Siasun clever can interact and chat invites elderly.

A big screen and the camera on Siasun body function to check the health of the elderly on a regular basis. Another addition, Siasun would invite the elderly or patients who are sick, play interactive games to train their physical and mental fitness.

For now, Siasun still produced in limited numbers. But in five years, the family robot can be purchased for 10 000 Siasun Yuan China. The developer Siasun mention, this time they are also developing a rescue robot that can be employed when a disaster occurs.

The usual therapeutic activity of stroke patients no longer have to be guided by a human therapist, the robot was able to take on this role. Results of treatment no less good. Do you believe this?

This has been proven by scientists from Brown University. By using a robot named MIT-Manus, they succeeded in proving that robots could also be a therapist to treat stroke patients.

This experiment itself included 127 patients stroke patients who already suffer from diseases that interfere with the nervous system since five years ago. The patients were initially divided into three groups.

The first group, are handled by the MIT-Manus, the robot therapist. Second, by a real therapist, and the third is not handled specially. That is simply relying on regular medication.

After three months earlier, apparently the result of these trials concluded that therapeutic results obtained by the patient is handled by a robot and a professional therapist is not much different. That is, they both managed to increase the ability of motor nerves and sensors from the patient’s arm.

Quoted from Tonic, Wednesday (21/04/2010), MIT-Manus work by providing a kind of exercise (exercise movement) to the hand of stroke patients. Hands are given various instructions that point to provide stimulation to the nerves and sensors on the patient’s arm.

“We can see that with this therapy, patients can improve their movement abilities,” said Dr. Albert Lo, head of research at Brown University.

Innovation from Brown University was apparently also encouraged the Institute of Neurology in London to conduct similar projects. They hope that similar robots could be developed in the State of Queen Elizabeth and then the stroke patients can benefit from this machine in their home.

Japanese electronics companies, NEC, to develop a robot that is destined to work as a cashier. This robot named PaPeRo, its funny and cute.

Unlike the robots in general, PaPeRo is not equipped with hand. Then how it serves the consumer? Well that’s where the strengths, he simply relies on his voice to guide consumers to make payments.

Quoted from Cnet News, PaPeRo did not work alone. But it’s also equipped with payment device called “E-Money Twinpos Self-Checkout System” made by NEC.

Through this machine consumers make payments. Any easy way of payment, the customer scans the barcode of each product and then make payments via e-money card or via mobile payment.

With only 15 inches high, PaPeRo are funny. He was able to speak in Japanese and English to give instructions to the consumer. PaPeRo recently exhibited at the event RetailTech Japan in 2010.

Georgia Tech's Healthcare Robotics Lab has developed a new robot called “Cody“, which is pretty handy at a lot of things. It uses equilibrium point controllers to interact with various objects, and can open drawers or doors. This makes it a helpful office assistant, though it can work at places such as a medical facility as well.

What makes this robot interesting is that it has a DPI (direct physical interface), which means that besides being operated by a playstation-like controller, simple human touch can also give it commands. It is pretty much how you would interact with a human, as you can simply take Cody’s arms and reposition it to the place you want it to be.

To be more specific, the robot possesses force sensor readings that measure how much pressure and at what angle your touch acts upon it. Pulling its arms towards or away from the robot also influences the angles of the shoulder joints, telling it where to move. At first it may seem like a blunt way of commanding a robot, but tests have shown that this direct physical interface actually works better than the remote control. Looks like there’s something to “the human touch” after all.

In design, Cody possesses little but a headless upper torso and arms, though for now it doesn’t need much else. The Mecanum wheels with which it moves seem pretty sturdy and capable of taking it where it needs to be, but everything else it accomplishes with its arms. Watching the lady leading it by the hand in the video reminds one a little bit of a child or a blind person, but appearances can be deceiving. At this point, the robot is still open-sourced, so it will be interesting to see what else it can learn.

In the video below, you can watch the robot's Direct Physical Interface in action.

Want to give a special gift for your child? This camera seems to be the right choice. Besides can be used to take pictures, with this camera, the creativity of your child can also more sharply through the lego game.

Lego Digital Camera, so the name of the gadget itself. There are two advantages to be gained from this colorful camera. First, sharpen the creativity of children through the game loading tide. Second, children can learn photography by taking pictures of interesting objects in the vicinity.

Quoted from Gather, Monday (1/3/2010), the specifications presented 3MP camera are:

• 4x digital zoom
• Built-in flash and fixed focus
• 1.5-inch LCD screen
• Capacity of 128MB which can contain up to 80 photos
• USB cable to transfer photos to PC
• Lithium-ion rechargeable battery
• Lego blocks on the top and bottom of the camera
• Has a size of 4″x2, 5″ x1, 5″

This camera can be purchased at a price of 49.99 pound sterling, or about U.S. $ 76.

Note: Lego is one of the companies in the field of robotics and a leader in robotics innovation. Lego often conducted robotics training and robot competitions.

The South Korean government is planning to build “Robot Land”, a research center and recreation, all with robots. That said, this is the first robot park in the world.

Quoted from Cnet, Friday (19/2/2010), this robot island, will be opened in the area of Incheon, one of the largest cities in South Korea. Manufacturing cost is said to reach U.S. $ 560 million.

According to the website “Robot Land”, this robot park will display all forms of entertainment robots nuanced. Eg exhibition famous robots or reconstruction of such a robot movie ‘Minority Report’ or ‘I, Robot’.

Cashier waitress had planned to be a robot. There is also a research center of the robot and robot competition arena. The visitors seemed to be feeling like being on the planet of robots, when entering this “Robot Land”.

Construction of “Robot Land” will begin this year and is expected to be completed in 2013. There will target 2.8 million visitors per year and create 18 thousand jobs because of the “Robot Land”.

“Robot Land” may be one of the event showing off South Korean robot technology. Besides Japan and the United States, this country is one of the leading robot makers.

Recently, Toyota Motor Corp. “attacked” by “storm recall cars” in America, which would make trouble. Not wanting to go on in the problem, Toyota makes a useful pair of robots as human personal assistant.

As reported by Autoevolution, Thursday (28/1/2010), the Japanese car manufacturer announced, if they have created a couple of robots are not just one, but four types of robots!

First is the walking robot, a robot that can walk and is ready to help the parents. The streets were his duty. With two feet and be able to use his hands to perform various tasks. Remarkably, she also can play the trumpet.

Second, the rolling robot. Which can be employed in the factory assembly centers, may eventually be able to help make Toyota cars free recall. He worked very quickly, without requiring much space. He also plays the trumpet.

Third, the transport robot, which can carry passengers anywhere they want to go. But unfortunately, this robot does not have hands and mouth, so it can not play the trumpet.

Last robot is a combination of the three previous robots. He was shorter than the first, has legs, but did not wear a dress like the second, and not like human beings such as the third. This robot was built for a Toyota research.

Interesting, is not it? If later we’ll see and hang out with robots that can walk and drove himself, with trumpet in hand. Is this the future state?

NASA space center diligently to create a humanoid robot astronaut. This sophisticated robot may one day, would replace human tasks when running dangerous missions in space.

Working closely with the General Motors car company, a robot called Robonaut 2 is designed to work side by side with humans. In addition to helping the human astronauts in outer space, Robonaut 2 also would be helped to make cars in the factory.

NASA previously had made the first generation of Robonaut. Robonaut 2 course will be more sophisticated than its predecessor, is designed to work faster, more skilled and stronger construction.

“This sophisticated robotic technology promising something big, not only for NASA but also for the nation,” said Doug Cooke of NASA as detikINET quotes from Computerworld, Friday (5/2/2010).

The United States Government has approved a budget of U.S. $ 3 billion for NASA to develop a variety of robots, especially robots for pioneering space mission. For example a robot that can land on the moon to gather information before humans arrived.

Currently, various types of robots have hired NASA. Robot vehicle called the Phoenix Lander for example, was sent to Mars to conduct research.

NASA may be facing some serious budgetary cuts on many of their projects, but their Robonaut program in partnership with General Motors is going strong 10 years after the first robot was built. The second generation Robonaut 2 humanoid robot designed for assisting astronauts in space was recently revealed to the public and I have to admit that it looks great.

Robonaut is only half a humanoid robot because it does not have legs; however, it is blessed with a state-of-the-art upper body including a pair of powerful arms and dexterous hands (both are nicely demonstrated in the video at the end of this article.) Even though the first generation robot was the results of a partnership between NASA and DARPA, the latest prototype is the result of a collaboration between NASA and GM; the latter hope that by contributing to this program they will be able to develop technologies that can help make driving and operating a manufacturing plant safer.

We don't know of much about  the technical details of the new robot. All we know is that NASA envisions robots like this working next to human astronauts in space. The first generation Robonaut was designed for remote controled use; it is not clear if the new robot can function autonomously. In the below video researchers from NASA and GM introduce Robonaut 2.



[source NASA]

Creating robots which have the ability to grow and evolve has been one of the most intriguing aspects of AI research in recent years, as the process of learning new things on one’s own is a definite sign of intelligence. Scientists at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems in the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne, Switzerland, have been working on miniature prototypes which display exactly those qualities. Their robots have been able to work together and share information when navigating through a maze, and have even mastered their skills in a type of predator-prey relationship—the implications of which, I think, speak for themselves.

The robots are specially designed with random variations that can change through virtual mutation after every experiment. Much like the real process of evolution and selective breeding, the bots that had been more successful in the tests had their gene codes passed on to the next generation, while the ones that failed did not. This neural network allows for each new generation of robots to be an improvement on the last one.

One truly remarkable result came after a test designed to create a predator-pray relationship. One of the bots was the “hunter”, which had better eyesight and could see its “prey” from further away, while the bot being chased had superior speed. At first the robots just shifted towards and away from each other without much apparent thought, but after 125 generations of selective breeding, things changed. The predator bot developed the brains to stalk it’s pray from the sides and hide behind walls, where its enemy’s sensors would not be able to detect it. The prey, however, learned to rotate in its place and scan all sides, effectively nullifying the hunter’s strategy. When it increased its maximum speed and got too fast for the hunter, the latter started setting traps and lying in wait.

Other experiments involved the robots working together to push tokens of various sizes around an area. Some bots elected to push smaller tokens on their own, but those that were awarded the most points and the most offspring were the robots that teamed up to push the larger objects.

Where all this is leading is up for debate, but it is fascinating stuff nonetheless. In the meantime, enjoy the below video of a robot evolving to navigate a maze.

Japanese people’s interest against one species of fish were realized by making the recycling robot fish.

Called “recycling” because produced from a number of secondhand items such as raincoats and glass wipers. A researcher and educator in the field of marine named Masamichi Hayashi is the figure behind the robot that called ‘robo-fish’.

Robots that operated with a remote control can perform some activities such as opening and closing the mouth and eat the clone of ‘prey’. In fact, this robot can take the trash out of the water and give it to people who were on the beach.

Hayashi here not only to make a robot fish, but also create a replica other of water animals, such as a turtle with a length of 5 feet and Prehistoric fish coelacanth. And to share knowledge for students, Hayashi has made a series of video documentation of the findings, thus quoted detikInet from the Telegraph.

I have been a bit busier than expected the last couple of weeks and posting on this blog has been slow. So, I figured I make it up to you by posting a video of Aldebaran's Nao humanoid robot manipulating some photographs displayed on Microsoft's Surface computer.

This is another nice promotional video for the French robotics company. Aldebaran Robotics are making a serious effort to market Nao to academics and at the same time get the average person excited about the many possible uses of such dexterous, intelligent, humanoid robots. If you want to see another video of Nao walking and manipulating objects, check out our previous post "Introducing Nao."

Introduction:
The robots in this book were designed to imitate biological lifeforms. Watching the snake robot moving through a room, it is interesting to observe the surprised reactions of people when it quickly turns towards them. People actually regard the robot as being alive. I am struck with the thought that although these machines are not alive in our biological sense, they actually are alive, but as life-forms unto themselves. These artificially intelligent machines are the products of  uman imagination and technical understanding. As the technology advances, the line between living and non-living matter is slowly becoming blurred.

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One of the most promising application areas for robotics and more specifically miniature and nano robotics is in medicine. Whether the tiny robots are specifically designed to deliver medications or directly attack viruses, their usefulness in prolonging our lives and eliminating the pain and suffering of disease is indisputable. I am always happy to read about recent advances in medical robotics that bring us one step closer to such devices. This post is about HeartLander, a miniature medical robot under development at CMU's Robotics Institute; the robot is designed for performing minimally invasive cardiac therapy.

So how does the robot work?

Basically, a surgeon creates a small incision on the patient's chest. Using a pair of forceps, the surgeon places the robot directly on the beating heart. Using a joystick, he can then guide the robot delivering medicine directly to affected areas, helping to attach pacemaker electrodes or even assisting with specialized techniques for curing arrhythmia. The worm-like robot moves using an ingenious mechanism driven by miniature ultrasonic piezoelectric motors.

Although the robot is still a proof of concept, the CMU research team has been able to demonstrate its use on a pig's beating heart (see the video at the end of this post.) The team still has to work out a number of issues such as the development of wireless remote control mechanism in order to eliminate the reliance on a tether whose stiffness causes problems with locomotion. The same tether is used to supply energy to HeartLander although a future production version would most likely utilize an on-board battery. This is an excellent and very promising research project and I am looking forward to the next generation of HeartLander.



Note: The image and video are copyright CMU.

This news comes from cnn.com about new robotics technology. This is a new project which still under scientists’s research.

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Cyclone Power Technologies Inc. (PINKSHEETS: CYPW) has received a contract from Robotic Technologies Inc. (RTI), of Potomac, MD, to develop a beta biomass engine system which will be used to power RTI’s Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR(TM)), a project sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Defense Sciences Office.

The EATR is an autonomous robotic platform able to perform long-range, long-endurance military missions without the need for manual or conventional re-fueling. The system is designed to obtain its energy by foraging — engaging in biologically-inspired, organism-like, energy harvesting behavior which is the equivalent of eating. The patent pending robotic system can find, ingest and extract energy from biomass in the environment (and other organically based energy sources), as well as use conventional and alternative fuels (such as gasoline, heavy fuel, kerosene, diesel, propane, coal, cooking oil and solar) when suitable.

“Cyclone brings to this project one of the most advanced external combustion engine technologies we have seen,” stated Dr. Robert Finkelstein, President of RTI. “In terms of power-to-size ratio, scalability and fuel flexibility, the Cyclone engine is ideal for a self-sustaining, autonomous intelligent robotic vehicle designed for unique military or civil applications.”

This development project is expected to have two phases. In Phase I, Cyclone will build and deliver within six months the engine with a biomass combustion chamber for demonstration purposes. Cyclone believes that its radial six-cylinder, 16HP Waste Heat Engine (WHE) system is ideally suited for this application. In Phase II, Cyclone would build and deliver the biomass trimmer/gatherer and feeder system to work with its engine power source.

According to RTI, the EATR demonstration project can lead to three potential commercialization projects: (1) the development of prototype and operational EATR systems for military and civil applications; (2) new civil and military applications for the autonomous intelligent control system; and, most relevant for Cyclone, (3) development of the hybrid external combustion engine system for civil and military automotive applications, whether for manned or unmanned vehicles.

“This is an exciting, out-of-the-box application for our engine technology,” stated Harry Schoell, CEO of Cyclone. “Working with RTI on this DARPA-sponsored project will allow us to demonstrate the huge advantages of the Cyclone’s power-to-size ratio compared to other external combustion engines, and great fuel flexibility compared with internal combustion engines.”

DARPA is the central research and development organization for the U.S. Department of Defense. More information about the EATR project can be found at www.robotictechnologyinc.com.

Introduction
In school we learned many things: e.g. vocabulary, grammar, geography, solving mathematical equations, and coordinating movements in sports. These are very different things which involve declarative knowledge as well as procedural knowledge or skills in principally all fields. We are used to subsume these various processes of obtaining this knowledge and skills under the single word ?learning?. And, we learned that learning is important. Why is it important to a living organism?

Learning is a crucial capability if the effective environment cannot be foreseen in all relevant details, either due to complexity, or due to the nonstationarity of the environment. The mechanisms of learning allow nature to create and re-produce organisms or systems which can evolve ? with respect to the later given environment ?optimized behavior.

This is a fascinating mechanism, which also has very attractive technical perspectives. Today many technical appliances and systems are standardized and cost-efficient mass products. As long as they are non-adaptable, they require the environment and its users to comply to the given standard. Using learning mechanisms, advanced technical systems can adapt to the different given needs, and locally reach a satisfying level of helpful performance.

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This article comes from www.independent.co.uk, discuss about Artificial Intelligence in Robot War

The robots are not so much coming; they have arrived. But instead of dominating humanity with superior logic and strength, they threaten to create an underclass of people who are left without human contact.

The rise of robots in the home, in the workplace and in warfare needs to be supervised and controlled by ethical guidelines which limit how they can be used in sensitive scenarios such as baby-sitting, caring for the elderly, and combat, a leading scientist warns today.

Sales of professional and personal service robots worldwide were estimated to have reached about 5.5 million this year ? and are expected to more than double to 11.5 million by 2011 ? yet there is little or no control over how these machines are used. Some help busy professionals entertain children; other machines feed and bathe the elderly and incapacitated.

Professor Noel Sharkey, an expert on artificial intelligence based at the University of Sheffield, warns that robots are being introduced to potentially sensitive situations that could lead to isolation and lack of human contact, because of the tendency to leave robots alone with their charges for long periods.

“We need to look at guidelines for a cut-off so we have a limit to the contact with robots,” Professor Sharkey said. “Some robots designed to look after children now are so safe that parents can leave their children with them for hours, or even days.”

More than a dozen companies based in Japan and South Korea manufacture robot “companions” and carers for children. For example, NEC has tested its cute-looking personal robot PaPeRo on children: the device lives at home with a family, recognises their faces, can mimic their behaviour and be programmed to tell jokes, all the while exploring the house. Many robots are designed as toys, but they can also take on childcare roles by monitoring the movements of a child and communicating with a parent in another room, or even another building, through wireless computer connection or mobile phone.

“Research into service robots has demonstrated a close bonding and attachment by children, who, in most cases, prefer a robot to a teddy bear,” Professor Sharkey said. “Short-term exposure can provide an enjoyable and entertaining experience that creates interest and curiosity. But because of the physical safety that robot minders provide, children could be left without human contact for many hours a day or perhaps several days, and the possible psychological impact of the varying degrees of social isolation on development is unknown.” Less playful robots are being developed to look after elderly people. Secom makes a computer called My Spoon which helps disabled people to eat food from a table. Sanyo has built an electric bathtub robot that automatically washes and rinses someone suffering from movement disability.

“At the other end of the age spectrum [to child care], the relative increase in many countries in the population of the elderly relative to available younger care-givers has spurred the development of elder-care robots,” Professor Sharkey said.

“These robots can help the elderly to maintain independence in their own homes, but their presence could lead to the risk of leaving the elderly in the exclusive care of machines without sufficient human contact. The elderly need the human contact that is often provided only by caregivers and people performing day-to-day tasks for them.”

In the journal Science, Professor Sharkey calls for ethical guidelines to cover all aspects of robotic technology, not just in the home and workplace, but also on the battlefield, where lethal robots such as the missile-armed Predator drones used in Iraq and Afghanistan are already deployed with lethal effect. The US Future Combat Systems project aims to use robots as “force multipliers”, with a single soldier initiating large-scale ground and aerial attacks by a robot droid army. “Robots for care and for war represent just two of many ethically problematic areas that will soon arise from the rapid increase and spreading diversity of robotics applications,” Professor Sharkey said. “Scientists and engineers working in robotics must be mindful of the potential dangers of their work, and public and international discussion is vital in order to set policy guidelines for ethical and safe application before the guidelines set themselves.”

The call for controls over robots goes back to the 1940s when the science-fiction author Isaac Asimov drew up his famous three laws of robotics. The first rule stated that robots must not harm people; the second that they must obey the commands of people provided they does not conflict with the first law; and the third law was that robots must attempt to avoid harming themselves provided this was not in conflict with the two other laws.

Asimov wrote a collection of science fiction stories called I, Robot which exploited the issue of machines and morality. He wanted to counter the long history of fictional accounts of dangerous automatons ? from the Jewish Golem to Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein ? and used his three laws as a literary device to exploit the ethical issues arising from the human interaction with non-human, intelligent beings. But late 20th-century predictions about the rise of machines endowed with superior artificial intelligence have not been realised, although robot scientists have given their mechanical protégés quasi-intelligent traits such as simple speech recognition, emotional expression and face recognition.

Professor Starkey believes that even dumb robots need to be controlled. “I’m not suggesting like Asimov to put ethical rules into robots, but to just to have guidelines on how robots are used,” he said. “Current robots are not bright enough even to be called stupid. If I even thought they would be superior in intelligence, I would not have these concerns. They are dumb machines not much brighter than the average washing machine, and that’s the problem.”

Isaac Asimov: The three laws of robotics

The science fiction author Isaac Asimov, who died in 1992, coined the phrase “robotics” to describe the study of robots. In 1940, Asimov drew up his three laws of robotics, partly as a literary device to exploit the ethical issues arising from the interaction with intelligent machines.

* First Law: a robot must not harm a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to be harmed.

* Second Law: a robot must obey the commands of human beings, except where the orders conflict with the first law.

* Third Law: a robot must protect its own existence so long as this does not conflict with the first two laws.

Later on, Asimov amended the laws by adding two more. The “zeroth” law stated that a robot must not harm humanity, which deals with the ethical problem arising from following the first law but in the process putting other human beings at risk.

Asimov also added a final “law of procreation” stating that robots must not make other robots that do not follow the laws of robotics.

This article come from www.starnewsonline.com

The Da Vinci S Surgical team (from left) Miriam Whitaker, C.S. Technician, Carol Dupalevich, RN, and Amy McCracken, RN, set up the Da Vinci S Surgical Robot arms which are controlled by a surgeon from a remote console with 3D HD Vision. The robotic platform is designed to enable complex surgery using a minimally invasive approach.

Inside one of New Hanover Regional Medical Center?s surgical rooms, wirelessly controlled, robotic arms hovered over patients like something out of a science fiction movie.

Doctors moved the arms while sitting several feet away from the operating table, pinching and swiveling surgical joysticks.

?I believe this is the future of surgery,? said Christian deBeck, a urologist at New Hanover Regional. He was the first surgeon to start using robotic surgery at the hospital, where 15 procedures have been conducted since September.

With the purchase of a da Vinci S surgical system, now dubbed Leo, New Hanover Regional joined a growing number of hospitals nationwide adopting the technology. More than 20 hospitals in North Carolina are using da Vinci systems, though New Hanover Regional is the only one in this area, according to Intuitive Surgical, the only company making the machines commercially.

The benefit, said doctors showing off the unit Wednesday, is that Leo allows for minimally invasive surgeries. Smaller cuts means less pulling and tissue damage than open surgery, and patients lose less blood and recover more quickly.

Some of those claims were backed in a study last month from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, which monitored patients who underwent robotic surgery for two gynecological cancer procedures.

While an open-surgery hysterectomy could require a 6-inch cut, the robotic surgery only makes five, small incision points, said Walter Gajewski, a gynecologic oncologist at New Hanover Regional.

He said working on the machines feels natural because the miniscule clamps attached to the machine?s three arms swivel around, mimicking how the surgeon would be moving if their hands were above the patient and not working remote controls.

?It?s a greater range of motion than the human hand,? said Amy McCracken, a robotics charge nurse.

Peering at a video screen, surgeons zoom in and out from a fourth arm floating over the operating table. The 3-D video appears in high definition, and surgeons can magnify the image up to 10 times.

The result is increased precision, particularly with dissecting lymph nodes in cancer operations.

Because of the system?s expense, both with upfront investment and ongoing supplies costs, the robotic unit is not a money maker for the hospital, deBeck said. He did not say how much the da Vinci cost to buy but put the price tag at more than $1 million.

?It?s patient driven,? he said about the service. ?It is a big commitment from the hospital.?

The news originally come from www.gizmag.com. Posted at December 13, 2008.

Snake-like robots to assist construction work

Researchers at the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory at Virginia Tech have designed a series of serpentine robots that are able to climb poles and inspect structures too dangerous or inaccessible for humans. The robots coil themselves around a beam and roll upward using an oscillating joint motion, gathering important structural data with cameras and sensors.

A 2006 US Bureau of Labor Statistics report listed 809 fatal falls from raised structures and scaffolding. The RoMeLa team hope that by increasing the use of autonomous robots in construction, humans can work in safer conditions. The HyDRAS models (Hyper-redundant Discrete Robotic Articulated Serpentine for climbing) use electric motors , while the CIRCA (Climbing Inspection Robot with Compressed Air) uses a compressed air muscle. Currently the robots are tethered to laptops, but future designs will incorporate a microprocessor and power source, allowing them to operate independently. All robots in the series are roughly three feet long, though the CIRCA is lighter than the HyDRAS.

Dennis Hong, director of Virginia Tech?s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory, said ?The use of compressed air makes this approach feasible by enabling it to be light weight, providing compliant actuation force for generating the gripping force for traction, and allowing it to use a simple discrete control scheme to activate the muscles in a predetermined sequence.?

?These are really wicked cool robots,? Hong said. ?Unlike inchworm type gaits often being developed for serpentine robot locomotion, this novel climbing gait requires the serpentine robot to wrap around the structure in a helical shape, and twist its whole body to climb or descend by rolling up or down the structure.?

The HyDRAS-Ascent, HyDRAS-Ascent II, and CIRCA recently earned recognition at the 2008 International Symposium on Educational Excellence.

In the past, robotics seems just a showman, robotics has now become a popular hobby that many people and also learned a lot in schools.

This robotics news originally published from www.timesunion.com

TROY ? Robots took over Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute on Saturday.

More than 240 middle school students, plus dozens of their families and friends, packed the school’s Darrin Communication Center for the FIRST Lego League Tech Valley Challenge, a robotics competition that had the frenzied atmosphere of a high school wrestling tournament.

The event was organized by FIRST, a New Hampshire nonprofit that promotes science and technology education, and The Lego Group, the Danish toy maker.

And if you think that robotics are just for geeks, think again. FIRST President Paul Gudonis says there are 16,000 teams involved with FIRST robotics leagues kindergarten through 12th grade worldwide. That’s up from just 28 teams in 1992.

The goal is to get kids involved in math and science at an early age.

“This is a sport,” Gudonis said. “This is the fastest-growing sport in schools today. It’s the same theory as Little League. Get them while they are young.”

Teams of 10 participate build and program small, handheld toy robots to perform different tasks that are scored by judges. Twenty-four teams came from around the region and Vermont.

The auditorium was packed to the brim. Many teams had their own cheerleading squads who were waving flags and chanting team songs.

One of the teams was the SuperSonic Squad, a smaller team of just five sixth-graders from Delmar, led by parent John Wilkinson. The team is new to FIRST Lego competition, but they were thrilled with the experience, even if they didn’t perform well enough to win a prize.

“It was really cool,” said James Barnet, 11.

Wilkinson said the team plans to travel to Poughkeepsie next month to participate in a regional tournament. Top winners move on to a national event in Atlanta.

The main sponsor of Saturday’s event was computer chip manufacturer Intel Corp.

Rob Richardson, education manager for Intel’s Massachusetts operations who attended the event, said Intel believes the tournaments teach teamwork and collaboration valuable in the high-tech workplace.

“It brings kids together,” Richardson said. “Kids really want to work together to achieve a common goal.”

Original news from www.marketwatch.com. Said about Robotic Industries Association Safety Training Event 2009 which will be held several times in different place during year 2009.

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ANN ARBOR, Mich., Dec 05, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — As more companies adopt robots the need for safety training is expanding across the U.S. and Robotic Industries Association (RIA) is responding with more training events and locations than ever.

For the first time, Knoxville, Tennessee is host to RIA’s 2009 Spring Robot Safety Conference at the Knoxville Marriott from March 23-25, 2009. This three-day conference features a mix of workshops and conference sessions. Tabletop exhibits also accompany the conference with top companies displaying their latest robots, accessories and safety product innovations.

The RIA continues a twenty-one-year tradition of safety training as the National Robot Safety Conference XXI comes to Detroit at the Hyatt Regency Dearborn October 26-29, 2009. Attendees have four days to receive comprehensive training for their automation safety concerns. Pre- and post- conference workshops accompany the main conference, which features presentations on robot safety, standards, case studies, the latest developments and more. A networking and tabletop trade fair is also included, adding to the event’s value and excitement.

Companies interested in participating in the tabletop exhibits for either conference can call RIA at 734/994-6088.

In addition to its two conferences, RIA offers one-day Robot Safety Standard (R15.06) & Robot Risk Assessment Seminars. These robot safety seminars, modeled after RIA’s popular In-House Training courses, make their inaugural stops in Long Beach, California at host facility DENSO Robotics on February 4, 2009, and in Phoenix on March 30, 2009.

According to RIA’s Standards Development Director, Jeff Fryman, “The addition of the Long Beach and Phoenix seminars highlight the Association’s commitment to reach those interested in industrial safety throughout the West. These seminars extend an opportunity for those in the region to attend and receive training that meets their needs.”

Full seminar, workshop and conference agendas are being developed for all safety events and will be posted on the Association’s website (visit www.robotics.org) along with detailed registration information.

This news come from United Kingdom, from www.ecs.soton.ac.uk:

ECS Student Robotics team members Rob Spanton and Chris Cross were among presenters showcasing their work to UK academics at a workshop discussing ?Robotics in the Curriculum?.

According to Dr Su White, who organized the workshop, their enthusiasm and the success of their project was evidence of the many potential gains which students can experience when teaching with a robotics theme is included in the undergraduate curriculum. The Student Robotics challenge runs competitive activities in local sixth forms colleges and school.

‘Robotics in the Curriculum’ was convened by Su White of the ECS Learning Societies Lab in conjunction with the Higher Education Academy subject centres for Engineering and Information and Computer Science. Curriculum innovations from Southampton were showcased alongside contributions from engineering and computing colleagues from across the UK.

Student Robotics, which has won sponsorship from Motorola, demonstrates that there are accessible and low costs ways in which learning about engineering and electronics can integrate the theory with the practical and at the same time be challenging and enjoyable.

‘Robotics is an important part of the undergraduate curriculum in Southampton and demonstrates practical and exciting applications of computer science and electronics,’ said Dr White. ‘Student Robotics is a voluntary activity which involves students drawn from across our Faculty. Students also have options to study robotics formally at various levels of their degree course. We are particularly proud of the way in which our research and our teaching mutually benefit in this subject area. Rob Stanton has now progressed to PhD studies, and his supervisor Dr Klaus-Peter Zauner can clearly identify benefits which have resulted from the challenges our undergraduates have undertaken.’

This news come from washingtonpost.com

Otto Voettiner’s hands shook slightly as he lined up his team’s robot and released it along a Lego-filled course. The robot, Billybot, had a seemingly simple mission: to cross the table, lift a red ring with its long, gray fingers and return to base.

The seconds ticked down. His eight teammates, all fourth- and fifth-graders from Mountain View Elementary in Haymarket, watched intently beneath furry hats bearing their school’s cougar mascot. The “future MIT student,” as his coach proudly called him, had completed the task correctly dozens of times. But something was off yesterday, and Billybot veered off course, crashing into a little Lego house.

Otto was cool about the crash and the resulting low score. “At least we have two more tries,” he said.

More than 200 students, ages 9 through 14, had three chances yesterday to show judges what their personally designed, built and programmed Lego robots could do at River Bend Middle School in Sterling. Statewide, about 2,400 students donned team T-shirts and funny hats and took their childhood toy to a new level of sophistication.

Turning Legos into robots, complete with sensors and computer hard drives, has become a popular weekend pastime for a growing number of young students in the Washington region and beyond. Ten years ago, the Manchester, N.H.-based educational organization known as FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) joined forces with Lego to establish the FIRST Lego League competition. This year, 135,000 children were expected to compete in about 40 countries. The regional tournament leads to a state championship in December and a world competition in Atlanta in the spring.

Neighborhoods, home-school organizations, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts all organize Lego League teams. Fairfax County has dozens, including seven from Oak Hill Elementary in Herndon. There’s interest for more teams but not enough volunteer coaches, said Martha Cosgrove, a third-grade teacher at Oak Hill, who has coached an all-girls team for seven years. Her daughter, a member of the first team, is a junior in high school and spent her summer at an engineering program geared toward young women.

Cosgrove’s goal is to reach out to students who are underrepresented in engineering and technology careers. That means going after more girls, Hispanics, African Americans and those who aren’t in gifted programs.

But if yesterday’s competition is any indication, the robotics competition, although growing, is still solidly a game for self-identified brainiacs. Most teams came from schools with gifted and talented centers.

Mountain View’s students were handpicked from an enrichment program, said coach and third-grade teacher George Lombardi. As one of his students explained, “You have to be one of the smartest kids in the class to do it.”

The students have eight weeks to put together robots and presentations. On competition day, they are evaluated on a range of objectives, including teamwork and the performance and design of the robots, a category that brought Mountain View a first-place prize.

In addition, the students had to research how technology could help address a real-world problem associated with climate change. The Cougars chose to study drought and came up with a poster-board presentation and a skit called “The Scoop on Drought.”

Some of the children already sounded like scientists.

Paige Payne, 9, presented on an ancient Peruvian irrigation system with three kinds of “raised bed systems,” including a “phreatic system, in which the systems are joined in areas where the groundwater table is close to the surface of the soil and there is a means for groundwater recharge such as an infiltration lagoon.”

While the audience of parents and teachers let the information sink in, she asked, “Do you have any questions?”

Between events, the Cougars marched two by two through the middle school hallways. “We keep our heads up high/For we are the Cougars of Mountain View/Our goal is to reach for the sky,” they belted out.

One second-grader followed, marching and singing along a step or two behind. Her mother, Laurie Payne, held her hand, and said that she wants to be on the robotics team someday, just like her sister.

An education news from glendalenewspress.com:

GLENDALE ? Student Boris Aguilar adjusted a robot?s movement using computer codes in preparation for a competition Saturday at the FIRST Lego Robotics Tournament at Roosevelt Middle School.

His team programmed the Lego Mindstorms NXT robot?s movements on a laptop computer, which through a wireless signal sent codes to the robot made out of Legos.

Seeing the robot perform as it was programmed came as a great relief to Boris and his teammates because they had been working on the robot for two months.

?It takes a lot of stress out,? Boris said.

Boris was a member of America?s Next Top Scientists Team, which represents Gage Middle School in Huntington Park.

About 22 teams of elementary and middle school students from Los Angeles County competed in the second annual tournament at the school.

But at least two teams couldn?t make the tournament because California Highway Patrol shut down several freeways due to fires in Sylmar on Saturday, said Teacher Randy Kamiya, who organized the event.

Seven or eight teams also were missing team members who were unable to make it to the tournament because of the freeway closures, he said. One group had only one student on the team, Kamiya said.

No Glendale schools participated in the event.

?Our students thought it wouldn?t be fair to the other teams to participate in the tournament because they were the host school,? he said.

The competition is a qualifying event in which 70% of the teams move on to another competition at Legoland in Carlsbad, he said. Teams that do well in the Legoland competition go to a national championship in Atlanta.

?It?s a blast,? Kamiya said.

Roosevelt Middle School automatically qualifies for the Carlsbad competition because it hosted the event.

But before the teams move on to other competitions, they had to meet qualifications in four categories in Saturday?s competition.

The theme of the robotics competition was climate change, so robots had to perform weather-related tasks, such moving a polar bear or picking up minerals and placing them in a coal mine.

?Robots are required to perform tasks on a 4-by-8-foot table,? Kamiya said. ?They have two minutes and 30 seconds to complete as many tasks as possible.?

The highest score possible is 400 points.

Teams were judged on their presentation related to climate change, robot design, teamwork and performance, Kamiya said.

?All children must be involved in the entire process,? he said.

The Arcadia Girl Scouts Troop 238, who represent the LOL Comets, practiced six hours a week for two months for the event.

?It gives you the opportunity to be creative,? team member Audrey Chen said.

Robotics is growing fast around the world, team from Phillipine. Not just Japan and United States as the leader in robotics, Phillipine is now improving the robotics knowledge…

THREE elementary-school students, who emphasized the urgency of saving the world from environmental degradation, bagged the silver medal in the open category of the World Robot Olympiad held recently in Yokohama, Japan.

Coached by Melanie Tizon and Warren John Ong Pe, Grade 6 student Joseph Aldrin Chua and Grade 5 students Eldrich Chua and Dominique Sy, all from the Grace Christian Elementary School, bagged the silver medal with a certificate and a Lego trophy, beating 21 other schools.

This is the first time that the Philippines garnered a medal in the open category in the elementary level of the competition.

The students? winning entry, entitled ?Green Whiz Community and the G-Tech Robot Engineering a Better World,? features 12 robots doing various tasks to help save the environment.

The wiz kids? robots aimed to show the urgency of saving the environment, emphasizing that technology can be used to stop the destruction of, and save the planet from, environmental degradation.

The featured robots include Next Gen Car, a lightweight hydrogen-powered car which consumes lesser energy; H2O (Water) Treatment Robot, which is designed to filter wastewater from factories for safe disposal; E-Sorter, a robot that sorts biodegradable and nonbiodegradable garbage using color coding of containers; Paper Recycling Area, a factory robot that recycles used paper into usable materials; Iced Sub-Zero Robot that makes melted ice in the polar region back into ice form; and Forest Surveillance Robot, which has a built-in camera that guards forests and waterfalls from illegal loggers and hunters.

Other robots used were AD Robot, which is perched on the top of a mountain and advertises the importance of planting trees in order to save the earth; Air Pollution Monitor Robot, designed to monitor the level of carbon dioxide and other pollutants; CO2 (carbon dioxide) Sequester E3K, designed to sequester carbon dioxide emitted by factories; E-Card, used to switch on and off household appliances; Heliostatic Mirrors are equipped with mirrors that follow sunlight and magnify it as an alternative source of light; and WM 123 are windmill robots that serve as alternative source of energy for the community.

Students from Benigno Aquino High School and the International School of Manila won certificates for winning the sixth place in the open category of the high- school and primary levels, respectively.

Capturing the gold medals for the open category were Malaysia, Taiwan and South Korea for the senior high-school, junior high-school and primary levels, respectively. In the regular category, South Korea received gold medals for the primary and junior high-school levels, while Sweden got the top prize for the senior high-school level.

South Korea obtained three gold medals, Singapore got one silver and one bronze, and Malaysia got one gold, one silver and two bronze medals in the entire event.

In the open category, student-contestants were tasked to create robots within the theme ?Saving the Global Environment,? which were judged based on their appearance, uniqueness, interactive behavior, good engineering and stability. Team members showed the quality of the entry through successful demonstration, good explanation and projected high team spirit.

Science Education Institute Director Dr. Ester Ogena said the Philippine team?s triumph was proof that Filipino students are on a par with students around the world.

?Our students have shown their best and given more opportunities like these, we could tap more potential in the field of robotics,? she said.

Ogena vowed to increase more support in robotics as it takes the lead, together with Felta Multi-media, in preparing for the staging of the World Robotics Olympiad (WRO) in the Philippines in 2010.

?Preparations are under way for this grand event and we are very excited with the privilege that we would be hosting the WRO two years from now,? she said.

Ogena said the robotics olympiad is a good training ground for future engineers who would like to improve the way of living in the world through robotics.

?Our end goal in supporting the WRO is to entice our students to venture into science careers and beef up the critical mass of scientists and engineers our country needs,? she said.

We have mentioned several times (read One small step for Nao but one giant leap for French robotics) the efforts of French startup Aldebaran Robotics to design an affordable and capable humanoid robot. The company has been working on the robot since at least 2005 and the result of their efforts is the Nao humanoid robot which has begun to gain acceptance as a viable research robot with its introduction to RoboCup in 2007 (read New Nao at Robocup 2007.) The company has also developed a simulated version of Nao that can be used with Microsoft's Robotics Studio application.

Aldebaran has big plans for their creation. They want to make it a true companion robot for families. They hope that in the future, Nao will be customizable (they have recruited two Parisian design school designers to give Nao its current form) with the ability to adopt to its environment and learn new skills. I'd say that we are far from having an affordable robot with such capabilities but Nao is certainly on the right path. The current Nao model can walk, get up from ground after falling over, kick a ball, and grasp small objects. It still has a long way to go before it can perform fluid motions like the now defunct SONY QRIO but it should be there in another 3-5 years (this is my widely unsubstantiated guess.)

At any rate, Nao is a wonderful robot and the video below showcases some of its abilities including interaction with people, visual object recognition, object manipulation, and interaction with other robots.

This news come from www.ntxe-news.com

Austin College became one of 28 high schools, colleges and universities in the nation to receive a grant to enhance computer science curriculum with robotics technology. The grant was provided by the Institute for Personal Robots in Education (IPRE) and a gift from Microsoft Research.

?Implementing robotics into computer science and other sciences makes the curriculum more interesting and interactive,? said Shellene Kelley, associate professor of computer science, who tested robots for the IPRE and attended a three-day faculty workshop at the Georgia Tech College of Computing during the 2008 spring term. ?Hopefully this will help combat the U.S. trend of declining student interest in math and the sciences,? she said.

Kelley will be implementing the technology at Austin College during her fall 2008 Communication/Inquiry (C/I) course, ?Computing with Robots: It?s all a BOT science,? where each student will explore ways to automate robot behavior through computer programming with their own personal robot. Kelley also will be utilizing the robotic technology in a 2008 Jan Term and in a 2009 spring term course.

?It?s much more fun to teach a robot to navigate around obstacles, perform a dance, or roam the halls taking pictures along the way than to write a program to solve a mathematical equation or search for information in a file,? Kelley said. ?But the same logic and problem solving skills are needed to accomplish all these tasks. Students will not only learn to program robots but also learn to program computers to solve many types of real-world problems.?

Kelley said the C/I course, Austin College?s unique brand of freshman seminars, and Jan Term course utilizing the robots will be a way to attract undecided students and some non-science majors to the science and computer science field, aligning Austin College with the IPRE grant?s goal.

?Robots are a compelling way to stimulate students and spark their imaginations to consider the endless possibilities of careers in computer science,? said Dr. Stewart Tansley, senior program manager at Microsoft Research. ?With these awards, we hope to accelerate the broad development of robotics programs, making computer science more immediate, relevant and significant for students and professors everywhere.?

The 28 recipients will share $250,000 and receive book-sized robots, called Scribblers, which are enhanced with special hardware technology and software. ?IPRE?s efforts in developing this technology over the past two years makes it possible to put a robot in the hands of every student in the class for about the same price as a textbook? said Kelley. ?This is key to encouraging experimentation and learning, both in and out the classroom environment.?

Grants were given to schools that met IPRE?s criteria for the technical quality of academic program, chances for successful implementation and matched IPRE?s mission to reinvigorate undergraduate computer science curriculum by delivering robotics technology tailored to education.

The IPRE applies and evaluates robots as a context for computer science education. IPRE was created in 2006 as a joint effort between Georgia Tech College of Computing and Bryn Mawr College sponsored by Microsoft Research.

A News for MHS Robotics:

The team — one of 50 in the nation and only four in South Carolina — was chosen to participate in a Green Machine competition to retrofit a robotic vehicle engine with a hydrogen fuel cell.

Nancy Zende, the Mauldin High team adviser, said the team’s acceptance into the competition is “a testimony to what we’ve been able to do in the past and to our willingness to take on additional challenges.”

The team has also taken on additional members, she said, almost doubling from last year to this year.

The 40-plus team members also have more adult volunteers and business community mentors because of the project, Zende said.

The project, which began in September and will culminate in May during a competition in Cleveland, hinges on the team’s ability to master hydrogen safety and polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell construction, application and maintenance concepts.

Basically, the team will retrofit one of its battery-operated robots to run on a hydrogen cell, she said.

Most of the work now is research, but game design and construction phases are coming.

In January, the team will launch a six-week build period for its annual competition season.

Team members have an “amazing enthusiasm” for the project, she said.

As well as preparing for the actual competition, the team is focusing on how and how soon the technology can be accessed and used by the individual, particularly in commuter situations, she said.

“There may come a day within the lifetime of these students when they see hydrogen fuel cells as the main means of powering automobiles,” Zende said.

She added she has always viewed the Robotics Team as a means of preparing the students for jobs that don’t exist yet, and that this project emphasizes that opportunity.

This is a “significant opportunity to get in on the ground-floor level on what may turn out to be an important industry in this state,” Zende said.

“South Carolina is positioning itself to be a leader in the hydrogen fuel cell (industry).”

The Mauldin Robotics team will display one of its robots Oct. 11 at the Roper Mountain Science Center.

www.greenvilleonline.com

STMicroelectronics and Waseda University Humanoid Robotics Institute Unveil High-Performance Two-Wheel Inverted Pendulum Robot via R&D Cooperation
STMicroelectronics , one of the world’s leading semiconductor companies, and the Waseda University Humanoid Robotics Institute (HRI), a global leader in state-of-the-art robotics research, today announced the development of a high-performance two-wheel inverted pendulum robot, called WV-1 (Waseda wheeled Vehicle-No.1), which is the first result of an ongoing cooperation for the research and development of technology and solutions for innovative humanoid robots and medical-care robot systems. The WV-1 will be displayed at the ST booth (Booth No. 8K26) at CEATEC JAPAN 2008 to be held at the “Makuhari Messe” in Chiba Prefecture from September 30 to October 4, 2008.
ST and HRI are cooperating to use leading-edge semiconductor know-how to promote the speedier development of innovative ‘humanoids’ and medical-care robotic systems, involving researchers and development engineers from both ST and HRI. ST will become a supplier to HRI for semiconductor products, while also furnishing HRI with the leading-edge semiconductor prototypes on a cost-free basis, making it possible for HRI to conduct advanced evaluations of possible humanoid and medical-care robotic applications. In addition, future cooperation between ST and HRI is expected to include the establishment of an ST-sponsored scholarship system for HRI students.

“With expectations running high for the growth of humanoid and medical-care robotic systems markets, semiconductor-fueled innovation is an extremely important field,” said Marco Cassis, Corporate Vice President and President of STMicroelectronics K.K., ST’s subsidiary in Japan. “By combining HRI’s globally renowned breakthroughs in robotics and ST’s highly advanced know-how in semiconductor technology, we are confident in our ability to accelerate technological innovation in humanoid robotics and medical-care robot systems. We are very pleased to announce the development of this robot, in addition to our cooperative relationship with HRI, the first that ST has established with a Japanese university.”
“Robotics Technology (RT) is expected to be a fundamental technology for the sustainable development of human society in the 21st century and is expected to be widely applied in manufacturing industries as well as in such industries such as nursing care and medical treatment as well as in industries confronted by food and environmental issues,” said Professor Shuji Hashimoto, Director of the Waseda University HRI. “HRI has been researching and developing advanced intelligent robots for the next generation through the integration of machine technology and information technology. The introduction of cutting-edge microelectronics technology is essential to the realization of such robots. We thus have high expectations that our cooperation with ST will accelerate our research. In addition, we will pursue a new model of industrial-academic cooperation through concrete cooperative activities with ST in education and research fields.”
The WV-1 is a two-wheeled robot on which a pole with weights is installed in an inverted fashion on a pedestal. A feedback system, controlled with the STM32, ST’s ARM(R) Cortex(TM)-M3 based 32-bit MCU and the LIS344ALH 3-axis digital acceleration sensor, allows the robot to move while maintaining its balance. The MCU rapidly computes the angle of robot body incline, angular velocity and other sensor data, enabling the motor to constantly generate optimum torque, which allows the robot to continue moving smoothly without tipping over. Potential applications for this inverted pendulum robot control technology include postural control functions for humanoids and other devices, realizing new means of mobility.
HRI received a grant from “the project for reinforcement of development technologies for robotics” from The Robotics Industry Development Council. The grant was used for the development of the WV-1. Additionally, HRI is now working on plans to commercialize the robot.

http://www.marketwatch.com

This is one of may videos of Indonesian Fire Fighting Robot Contest for expert division. I’ve tried to participate in Legged Fire Fighting Robot senior division for the first time… but , I’ve failed… still need more knowledge about many sensor, mechanics and programming…

This is my first line follower robot:
Sensor : 5 photodiodas sensor
Motor : Modified motor servo
Microcontroller : Atmel AT89S52
Motor Driver : L293D
Comparator chip : LM324

View the video from youtube.

I’ve build the second line follower robot using 7 photodioda sensor and microcontroller AT89S52… the movement is quite fast and running smoothly…

The third line follower robot has been built using 7 photodioda sensor, microcontroller ATMega8535 and motor driver L298N… already running OK but need suit DC motor to make the movement faster…

Robotics news from Alabama, i think robotics center is great idea…

NewsChannel 19’s Barry Hiett Reports:

Planning ahead for the future. It won’t be long before a new Robotics Center will be calling the Calhoun Community College campus home.

And faculty members here want to make sure that students who participate in the program are well trained before they enter the high tech work force.

“This particular facility really highlights robotics and automation software and that is just…what they tell us it’s an absolute have to do. And the governor is responding to that with this facility,” says Ed Castile who is with Alabama Industrial Development Training.

His company recruits, screens and trains employees.

He realizes a lot of college students are well versed with computers which fits in perfectly with the new Robotics Center.

“Very computer savvy. They know how to maneuver a computer and wade through all the issues so how can we take that fun and interest and excitement to the manufacturing sector? This is the pathway,” says Castile.

It was widely believed the new Robotics Center would work hand in hand with the new Volkswagen plant had VW officials decided to build a plant in north Alabama instead of Chattanooga.

Still, Calhoun President Dr. Marilyn Beck is not too concerned.

“We were disappointed about VW.   I think anyone would have been.  It’s such a great company but we have many businesses and industries in our region who use robots,” Beck says.

And that’s what, Beck says, will make graduates of the Robotics Center so attractive to potential employers.

There’s already a big marketplace here in north Alabama for their soon to be talents.

Dr. Beck says more than 100 businesses in north Alabama already use robots.

Calhoun’s Robotic Center should be completed at the end of 2009.

These laws is well known in robotics education.

Three Laws of Robotics are a set of three rules written by Isaac Asimov, which almost all positronic robots appearing in his fiction must obey. Introduced in his 1942 short story “Runaround”, although foreshadowed in a few earlier stories, the Laws state the following:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first passage in Asimov’s short story “Liar!” (1941) that mentions the First Law is the earliest recorded use of the word robotics. Asimov was not initially aware of this; he assumed the word already existed by analogy with mechanics, hydraulics, and other similar terms denoting branches of applied knowledge.

The Three Laws form an organizing principle and unifying theme for Asimov’s fiction, appearing in his Robot series and the other stories linked to it, as well as his Lucky Starr series of science-oriented young-adult fiction. Other authors working in Asimov’s fictional universe have adopted them, and references (often parodic) appear throughout science fiction and in other genres.

www.roboticslearning.com, this site provide good robotics learning and practice for your children. Look at the gallery preview, the children are happy with their practice..

About www.roboticslearning.com: (more…)

Robotics is going pupular with kids…
A news say that robots may help kids for their social skills:

THURSDAY, Aug. 7 (HealthDay News) — Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) interact more easily with mechanical devices than with humans, according to new reports.

Researchers at the University of Southern California Viterbi School of Engineering, who have presented their finding at various conferences in the United States and in Europe this summer, found that Socially Assisted Robotics (SAR) that blow bubbles, toot horns and even make facial expressions appear to increase the child’s speech and interaction levels.

“I am gratified by these preliminary results,” Maja Mataric, a professor at the USC Interaction Laboratory, said in a news releases issued by the university. “I believe that Socially Assistive Robotics has a part to play in helping families, both the affected children and their parents and siblings.”

The initial study, reported in a June Conference on Interaction Design for Children with Special Needs in Chicago, paired an ASD child with a colorful bubble-blowing wheeled robot that either operated on its own or blew bubbles when the child pushed a button.

(more…)

In earlier days, this was the nation’s watercress king. Then Huntsville became the Rocket City. On Monday, Gov. Bob Riley announced that the Huntsville-Decatur metropolitan area will soon be “the robotics capital of the world.”

Allowing for hyperbole, Riley appears to be on target. A 53-acre site on U.S. 31 across from Calhoun Community College, which will oversee the project with help from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, will eventually become a $71 million robotics education and training center like none other.

It will train some 450 students a year in state-of-the-art robotics. It will become a NASA and U.S. Army Missile Command research and development center. It will also serve as an R&D facility for companies to build and adapt commercial robots.

And it may do something else good for this region’s economy that goes beyond its stated mission: It may help lure a massive Volkswagen assembly plant that would further boost growth and prosperity.

State officials are understandably cagey about the latter possibility. Legislators from the area, commenting on the robotics center that Calhoun won over competing state community colleges, sounded more than cautiously optimistic but less than certain that this might be a key part of a package that will convince Volkswagen officials to call Huntsville home.

(more…)

Visitors look at REEM-B, the new humanoid robot unveiled by Pal Technology Robotics, at its launch in Reem Island in Abu Dhabi, June 11, 2008. The 1.47-meter tall robot, which is able to walk dynamically, grasp objects, navigate within buildings, accept voice commands and recognize faces, is one of the most advanced in the world, manufacturers said. Developed by Pal Technology Robotics, REEM-B supercedes the older REEM-A robot, which was launched last year.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed al-Nahayan hands a gift to the new humanoid robot REEM-B

Visitors touch the new humanoid robot REEM-B

source:
news.xinhuanet.com

University of Massachusetts Lowell professor Holly Yanco will split her share of the money with seven other research teams, including one fromMIT and one from Yale University.

According to the university?s Web site, Yanco founded the school?s Robotics Lab seven years ago. Her Microsoft-backed project will use tabletop multitouch displays to create an interface for emergency personnel to interact and monitor with robots deployed during the response to a disaster, officials say.

Part of the impetus behind Yanco?s project was the federal government?s slow response to help individuals displaced by Hurricane Katrina three years ago. At that time, emergency responders used hand-drawn paper maps to search for survivors, and robotic cameras were used, but were limited to sending video only to operators at the site, and not immediately to command staff. Yanco has said her research project is designed to find out how to remedy that shortcoming.

(more…)

Members of the Winchester Robotics Team, now in its third year at the high school, have developed the first fully autonomous robot in BotsIQ history.

BotsIQ, an organization which promotes education in technology and engineering by hosting robotic competitions, planned to add an autonomous event this year to the regular bill of events which includes battles between 15-pound robots and 120-pound robots. However, when President Nola Garcia decided to hold off for another year, the Winchester team went ahead with the project anyway.

?When most people think of robots, they think of C-3PO, something that thinks, talks, and walks for itself,? said team president Alex Burka, who is also spearheading the autonomous project. ?The fighting robots are really cool but we wanted to challenge ourselves with something different.?

In preparation for the National BotsIQ Competition in late April, Winchester high school students took the initiative in proposing an autonomous competition for BotsIQ, complete with rules and a course.

(more…)

News for FIRST robotics competition - Boston regional:

News source bizjournals.com

The FIRST Robotics Competition Boston regional event kicks off today at Boston University’s Agganis Arena.

Teams practiced at the Commonwealth Ave arena yesterday. Two alliances — either red or blue — composed of three randomly selected high school teams each, squared off before a sparse but raucous crowd made up of other teams.

This year’s competition requires the robots to knock a giant rubber ball off a bridge spanning an oval track, carry it counter-clockwise around the track and either launch the ball over the bridge or pass it under it each time they pass a certain point on the track.

Some squat robots used beetle-like pincers to scoop up and carry the ball, with a launching or punching mechanism to get it over the bridge. One robot had a boxing glove attached to a telescopic arm to knock the ball from the bridge.

Other, taller robots used long arms with robotic hands or claws to grab the ball and drop it over the bridge. The robot controlled by the team from BU Academy used such a robot, RoboRed, named after the school’s terrier mascot. Robo Red is a tower on wheels with an craning arm and a claw to grab the ball. (more…)

Another robotics “battle” in Hawaii… it so cool… :D. Here the news from kgmb9.com:

Dozens of teams are getting ready for a battle of the brains at the Stan Sheriff Center. They spent the day practicing for the regional robotics competition.

The event includes 700 students from 37 high schools throughout Hawaii and the mainland. They had six weeks to design and build their robots.

The machines score points in different ways; like knocking balls off the overpass, throwing them over the rack, or picking them up and putting them back in place. (more…)

Become participant of robotics contest or robotics competition is fun. You will get many experience, meet many people who interest in robotics technology. Sometimes, you will get some money..

Today, i read a news from freep.com about FIRST Robotics Competition result in detroit city. I was happy that many students interested in robotics technology.

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Three Detroit Cody High School students were part of a winning team last weekend at Wayne State University.

A three-team alliance — Cody, Utica Community Schools and Bloomfield Hills International Academy — won the FIRST Robotics Detroit regional. (more…)

Because it won last year?s national championship, Cimarron-Memorial High School?s robotics team gets a guaranteed berth in this year?s competition.

But that doesn?t mean the 25-member team isn?t ready to rumble at next week?s regional contest at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Established in 1989 by NASA and a coalition of public agencies and private-sector businesses, the FIRST Robotics Competition draws 20,000 students from 38 countries annually. This year, about 45 teams ? including 14 from local high schools ? are set to compete.

Each team is provided with the same parts and electronics and given six weeks to build a robot that will complete a specific task. Once teams arrive at the competition they are grouped into ?alliances,? each with three schools. The alliances then compete against one another.

As part of this year?s ?Overdrive? theme, the robots must race around a track and be able to move giant inflated balls around a 6-foot-6-inch overpass. Cimarron-Memorial?s entry, nicknamed ?Pit Boss II,? is a successor to last year?s winning entry. Teacher John Berry, the team?s mentor, said the name is an homage to Las Vegas? casino roots and to the nickname for the staging area at competitions where students make last-minute adjustments to their robots. (more…)

MANASSAS, VA.- Employees from Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) recently mentored more than 1,000 students from Prince William County and surrounding area schools during the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition and Tech Challenge events.

The FIRST program is designed to inspire young people to pursue careers in science and technology. FIRST Robotics Competition and FIRST Tech Challenge teams include engineers and other professionals from some of the world?s most respected companies. Students work closely with and learn from these mentors in engineering and technology fields.
(more…)

In a short article, New Scientist reports that researchers at Virginia Tech University have developed a tripedal experimental robot. With its three legs, this robot, named STriDER — short for ‘Self-excited Tripedal Dynamic Experimental Robot’ — is actually more stable than 2- or 4-legged robots. As said another researcher, ‘It’s like a biped with a walking stick.’ This robot is intended to deploy sensors and cameras in difficult-to-access areas.

STriDER has been developed under the supervision of Dennis Hong, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech and director of the Robotics and mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa). You can see above the various components of this robot. (Credit: Virginia Tech University) (more…)

TOKYO — At a university lab in a Tokyo suburb, engineering students are wiring a rubbery robot face to simulate six basic expressions: anger, fear, sadness, happiness, surprise and disgust.

Hooked up to a database of words clustered by association, the robot _ dubbed Kansei, or “sensibility” _ responds to the word “war” by quivering in what looks like disgust and fear. It hears “love,” and its pink lips smile.

“To live among people, robots need to handle complex social tasks,” said project leader Junichi Takeno of Meiji University. “Robots will need to work with emotions, to understand and eventually feel them.

While robots are a long way from matching human emotional complexity, the country is perhaps the closest to a future _ once the stuff of science fiction _ where humans and intelligent robots routinely live side by side and interact socially.

Robots are already taken for granted in Japanese factories, so much so that they are sometimes welcomed on their first day at work with Shinto religious ceremonies. Robots make sushi. Robots plant rice and tend paddies. (more…)

TRENTON — Local teams performed strongly at this year’s New Jersey Regional FIRST Robotics Competition at Sovereign Bank Arena, with Trenton Central High School taking top tournament honors and Robbinsville High School’s rookie team coming in second yesterday. Each team’s win was shared with fellow alliance members, teams they cooperated with during the tournament. Trenton Central shared its Regional Competition championship with allies North Brunswick Township High School and Palisades High School of Kintnerville, Pa. Robbinsville High shared its Regional Finalist Award with Mount Olive High School and Aberdeen High School of Aberdeen, Md.

Robbinsville High also took home the Rookie All-Star and Highest Rookie Seed awards.

“We are just very thrilled,” Joy Wolfe, faculty adviser for the Robbinsville team, said. “We’re still finding out what these students can do as a team, and this was very unexpected. They were so excited.” (more…)

Another winter snowstorm struck New Hampshire Saturday, but that couldn’t stop thousands of students from competing in the finals of the sixth annual Granite State Regional FIRST Robotics competition held at the Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester.

The event brings students and their mentors together in a two-day competition that emphasizes teamwork, innovation and strategy. Forty-eight high school teams from across New England participated in this year’s Granite State Regional, which was sponsored by BAE Systems.

The following local teams received awards:

? -Team 1058 from Londonderry High School was selected as the winner of this year’s Motorola Quality Award, celebrating machine robustness in concept and fabrication. (more…)

Andrew Chudzik has spent some time building a bumper on his team?s robot.

Covered with white cloth and built with swimming pool tubes, the bumper is a needed accessory for protection against other elements.

?The bumper is in case a smaller robot is in the way or it hits the wall,? the City High freshman said.

Chudzik is a member of the Iowa City Robotics team that is aiming to build the best robot in a regional and national contest this spring. Comprised of students from City High and West High, the team is entering a robot to compete in a series of skill challenges at a regional competition in Milwaukee March 13 to 15 with hopes of competing in the national contest at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta April 17 to 19.

The contests are sponsored by USFIRST, or the Foundation for the Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology, a program designed to encourage high school students to explore engineering careers, according to Dominic Audia, a technology teacher at City High and West High. Sponsored locally by the University of Iowa engineering department and Rockwell Collins, the group has grown to 22 members this year, Audia said.

?We?ve doubled the amount of kids doing it every year,? he said. ?We try to get the kids to contribute as much as they can.?

The competition has a series of rules each of the 40 high school teams competing in Milwaukee must follow. To score points, the robot must either pick up a 40-inch, 10-pound ball and place it on a six-foot high pedestal, take a lap on a track, or shoot a ball over a balcony. (more…)

High school students from east central Indiana competed, informally, with their robotics projects on Sunday. They were preparing for the 2008 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Challenge.

“We are here just, you know, comparing the robotics to other robotics. You know, try to get as much done, fine tuning as possible,” Greigh Davis, president of team 829, said. ?You know, do well, and hopefully we will win.”
Students designed robotics by themselves in their workshops. They decided what they wanted to do, and their mentors helped them bring their projects to reality and assisted fixing technical problems. (more…)

Inspired by the excitement of last year?s event, Bishop-Wisecarver, the manufacturer of the original DualVee guide wheel, has returned as a sponsor of the 2008 FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition (FRC).

Since 1989, FIRST has brought the excitement of a sporting event to science and technology via robotics competitions. At the January 5 kickoff, more than 1,500 teams, each consisting of 10 to 20 high school students and a few engineer mentors, received a common kit of parts.

Using this kit?which included Bishop-Wisecarver?s MCS aluminum profile?and working with mentors, teams have six weeks to design and build their robots to meet the season?s engineering challenge, ?FIRST Overdrive.?

According to FIRST, 41 regional competitions will lead up to the FRC Championship scheduled to be held at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta April 17-19.

?We are very proud to be a ?Silver Supplier? of this fine group and participate in this year?s game,? says Pamela Kan, president of Bishop-Wisecarver. ?Our involvement gives us the opportunity to promote innovation and encourage and engage the engineers and thinkers of the future.?

Bishop-Wisecarver?s continued support of FRC is part of a long tradition. Nearly 40 years ago, Kan?s father, and Bishop-Wisecarver founder, Bud Wisecarver began a life-long commitment to youth programs related to education, engineering, manufacturing and science. (more…)

(Nanowerk News) We are now living in an era of global competition, which is based on scientific and technological strength. Growth of a country is driven by technological renewal and creativity. To follow this situation, Vietnam?s science and technology service should make complete changes.

Global tendencies
According to top the World Bank?s scientific and educational experts, investment and development orientation for global science and technology in the 21st century will concentrate in the English abbreviation ?GRIN?, in which G stands for Genomics; R, Robotics; I, Information Technology and Communication; and N, Nanotechnology.

In fact, over the last ten years, IT, biotechnology, and new material technology have become priorities in the development of Vietnam?s science and technology.

In addition, changes have been seen in the content and access method in these above mentioned fields.
Nanotechnology has become a huge field, which covers such sciences as physics, chemistry, information technology, telecommunication, and biotechnology. The technology has reached the highest level as the science of the era, having created comparative advantage for many countries.

To catch up with the development of global science and technology, Vietnam should have proper investment plans, prepared for ideas and combining scientists and experts with programmes which have completely new contents, and establishing training and research centres. Apart from traditional laboratories, two National Universities have begun to do this way. (more…)

Adept Technology, Inc , the leading provider of intelligent vision-guided robotics and global robotics services, today announced it will host its Adept Global Conference 2008 event at its corporate offices in Livermore, CA April 2-4, 2008. The automation conference will feature industry leaders, real-world case studies, live automation demonstrations and a chance to network with automation leaders. Speakers will include representatives from such manufacturers and industry experts as Great Lakes Cheese, Evergreen Solar, Pepperidge Farm, Covidien, Robotics Industry Association and Medical Design magazine.”We are very excited to be hosting this event which will give attendees the opportunity to learn about the latest trends and opportunities in robotics, meet with manufacturers and solution providers alike and view live demonstrations,” said John Dulchinos, president and chief operating officer for Adept Technology, Inc. “It will also be an excellent forum to connect with peers and some of the top U.S. manufacturers.” (more…)

Six months after being introduced to robotics, the kids at Public School 21 in Bedford-Stuyvesant have scored big.

They were named the top team in Brooklyn during the FIRST LEGO League robotics competition at Brooklyn Tech last month.

FIRST - For Inspiration and Recognition in Science and Technology - is a group that creates innovative ways to get youngsters interested in science, technology and engineering. And the LEGO company creates and markets the popular multicolored interlocking plastic bricks, and other toys.

“It’s unusual to win a top award the first time out,” said Norman Scott, a retired teacher who serves as contest liaison.

On Jan. 26, the PS 21 kids won a Team Spirit Award during the New York City FIRST LEGO League Championship, a citywide competition held at Riverbank State Park in Manhattan.

Teams from St. Clare Elementary School on Staten Island landed the competition’s top honors, the Champion’s Award. The school’s Transformers 2 Team will represent New York City at an international competition in Atlanta. (more…)

Atlanta ? The College of Computing at Georgia Tech today announced the nation?s first interdisciplinary doctoral degree in robotics, to be offered at Georgia Tech. The program, which starts fall semester of 2008, was developed through Georgia Tech?s new Center for Robotics and Intelligent Machines (RIM@Georgia Tech), a collaborative research center that combines the educational strength and expertise of the Colleges of Computing and Engineering at Georgia Tech. Reaching across disciplines and drawing from curricula in computer science, electrical and computer engineering, aerospace, biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering, the doctoral degree is designed to educate a new breed of multidisciplinary researchers who will enter the market best prepared to chart a new course for robotics in the United States.

?We are pleased to offer the first truly interdisciplinary robotics Ph.D. program in the country,? said Dr. Henrik Christensen, KUKA Chair of Robotics for the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. ?Exposing our students to course work from multiple disciplines early on prepares them to think about robotics from a holistic approach once they enter the workforce. True to our mission in robotics at Georgia Tech, our program will recruit and educate outstanding students who will provide leadership in a world that is increasingly dependent on technology.? (more…)

KINGDOM CITY, Mo. - Robots have invaded the North Callaway High School.

The good thing is that they were invited.

Math teacher Kevin O’Neal was inspired by his brother, who works in robotics maintenance, to create a new robotics and automation program at the high school level. The class is taught as part of an after school program that meets every Tuesday and Thursday in the industrial technology department of the school.

?This is my first year doing this so I’m just getting my feet wet,? O’Neal said. ?It allows the kids to explore different concepts of applied mathematics that they have learned in the classroom in a way that is hands-on.?

The students in the program use their knowledge of mathematics, combined with a unique system of building blocks and computerized motors to build automated machines.

?What we do is we use LEGO robotics kits that we can use to build many different types of things depending on what we want the robot to do,? O’Neal said. (more…)

Dynamic Network Services Incorporated, a world leader in domain, DNS and email technologies, today announced its active participation in the seventeenth edition of the FIRST Robotics Competition. The competition started on January 5 and is set to last six weeks, during which over 1,500 teams from around the world will call upon all their scientific and analytical skills to solve a fresh technical challenge, dubbed “Overdrive.”

Staff at Dynamic Network Services will be monitoring students as they build their robots and put their talent into action. Every year, the company heavily invests in the event, which encourages the bright minds of tomorrow to invest in engineering and scientific careers, paving the road for personal achievement and helping the industry move forwards.

“By helping students build their robots, we help them build their future” said Tom Daly, president, highlighting the close relationship the competition entertains with real-world situations and technology.

“We’re all students at heart,” added Jeremy Hitchcock, CEO and CFO, pointing out that “the game helps our staff keep their analytical skills sharp and flexible.” (more…)

The ?ROBAUCO: mobile, autonomous and collaborative robots? project was recently initiated.* The principal objective of the project is the generation of the technologies necessary for the development of mobile robots able to carry out complex tasks with a high degree of autonomy and capacity for collaboration. These robots, moreover, have to share tasks with people in the most friendly and natural way possible.

The technological areas in which solutions are to be developed are:

• The perception of the robots. Using sensors and sensorial systems which, with a holistic approach, are capable of recognising the complex environment (given that the idea is for exterior applications, over unknown terrain and changing situations).
• Communications. Between the robots themselves and with humans, in such a way that mutual collaboration leads to success in the targets set.
• Person-robot interaction Here the idea is that the robot is not limited to just obeying control orders that are formulated electronically, but they are also enabled to interact with their human collaborators and in the most natural manner, including with voice and, above all, with gestures which, for tasks in the exterior and in extreme conditions, may be the most reliable channel of communication.
• Autonomous behaviour. In this case the idea is to resolve complex problems of navigation on surfaces and in spaces that are difficult and equip the robots with self-perception in such a way that they are aware of their state, can undertake self-diagnosis and adopt measures in case of breakdown or limitations to their capacities.
• Mecatronic components. The problem to be tackled in principle is the movement through and overcoming of obstacles in all media, terrestrial, aquatic and aerial.

It is hoped to materialise all these developments in a terrestrial robot prototype which, in all probability, will be a test bank for solutions to emergency situations such as forest fires, rescues, etc. In order to know the peculiarities and skills these tasks require and thereby to orientate the prototype accordingly, contacts have been made with SOS Deia (the Basque Emergency Rescue Service) and it also expected to know other viewpoints from other autonomous emergency services. (more…)

MANHASSET, N.Y. ? Segway inventor Dean Kamen is looking to tap the next generation of students to help develop the “next big thing.”

Kamen is organizing his 17th annual First (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics competition that will culminate at the 2008 First Championship April 17-19 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

The competition is geared to help high schoolers age discover the rewards of science, engineering and technology. Over 37,500 high school students on more than 1,500 teams from Brazil, Canada, Chile, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, the U.K. and every state in the U.S. are participating in this year’s competition.

Earlier this month, teams were for the first time shown this year’s challenge and received a common kit that includes motors, batteries, a control system and a mix of automation components. Students receive no instructions, but work with mentors to design, build and test their robots over six weeks. The teams then participate in regional competitions that measure the effectiveness of each robot, the power of collaboration, and students’ determination.

“We celebrate sports and entertainment people as hero figures,” said Leo Meire, facilities engineer at chip maker Qimonda and a mentor of Team 384 Robotics at J.R. Tucker High School (Richmond, Va.). “We want to attract future engineers by modeling the competition as a sports event, but for technical knowledge.” Qimonda will provide monetary support, use of a machine shop and necessary parts to the high school team. (more…)

When Dr. Andrew Williams began teaching at Spelman College three years ago, he had a hunch that science and engineering students at the all-female and private historically Black college would flock to the study of robotics not unlike the science and engineering students who gravitate to the growing field at the top research institutions. Not only did Williams guess right, it turns out that his teaching and research efforts in the subject would help spark a robotics education movement that now extends from the Atlanta-based women?s college to several historically Black colleges and universities.

Helping out in the effort are scientists from major research universities, such as Dr. David Touretzky, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon University. Williams and Touretzky are the principal investigator and co-principal investigator, respectively, of the Advancing Robotics Technology for Societal Impact (ARTSI) Alliance project. With support from a three-year, $2 million grant by the National Science Foundation announced this past fall, ARTSI will help fund a second wave of robotics education at eight historically Black schools and stimulate outreach efforts at the K-12 level. (more…)

From effortlessly lifting your car that weighs over 1,000 kg to painting it, inspecting it and even sending a text message in case of an emergency - you name the task and they will perform it with ease. In case you haven?t guessed it yet - it robots - and some of them, claiming to be driven by the latest technology are on show at the auto expo.

Given their utility, there are 11 companies including ABB, Panasonic, Kuka, Precision Automation & Robotics India (PARI), Motoman Motherson Robotics, Hi-Tech Robotics Systemz, Fanuc and Rockwell who are at the expo, eyeing the Indian market where companies are increasingly focusing on automation. Of these 11 exhibitors, five are Indians, which shows that despite being a late entrant, the country has finally stepped into the world of robotics and automation.

The application of robotics, artificial intelligence technologies in India is quite new. Initially, companies were apprehensive to use robots in manufacturing or any other industry. But, now, as India is becoming manufacturing hub for companies all around the world, domestic players are realising the advantage of robotics and automation. At present, the growth in India is much faster than in Japan or other Asian countries, says Milind Adkar of PARI. The Pune-based company is displaying its ‘Golfing Robot’, which, it says, can play golf with 97% accuracy.

According to industry estimates, 2008 onwards, the world market for industrial robots is expected to grow 4.2% a year rising to 139,300 units in 2010. “In India, the industry is expected to grow by at least twice the global average,” says Rajive Kaul of CII.
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Over 37,500 High-school Students to Compete in 41 Regional Events MANCHESTER, N.H.–(Business Wire)–FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) launched its seventeenth FIRST Robotics Competition season today with a Kickoff at outhern New Hampshire University in Manchester, NH, hometown and headquarters of FIRST. The FIRST Robotics Competition is an annual competition that helps students discover the rewards and excitement of science, engineering, and technology. Over 37,500 high-school students on more than 1,500 teams from Brazil, Canada, Chile, Israel, Mexico, the Netherlands, the U.K., and every state in the U.S. are participating in this year’s competition.

At the Kickoff, all teams were shown this year’s game field for the first time and received a common kit of parts made up of motors, batteries, a control system, and a mix of automation components - but no instructions. Working with mentors, students now have just six weeks to design, build, and test their robots to meet the season’s engineering challenge. Once these young inventors create the robot, their teams participate in regional competitions that measure the effectiveness of each robot, the power of collaboration, and the determination of students. (more…)

LAS VEGAS ? Looks like it’s time for WowWee to graduate from making robotic toys to making full-fledged consumer robotics. The maker of Robosapien and Roboraptor dipped its toe in the water last year with the release of Robopanda, its first remote-control-less robot. However, with its 2008 lineup, the company is setting its sights on becoming a home-robotics leader.

The company reports that its US product lineup will feature some 15 products, and three new ones are worth noting.

Two years ago at CES 2006, WowWee demonstrated its new two-wheeled P.E.A. (Personality Evolved Robot), the first product of a partnership between WowWee and Segway. Just like Dean Kamen’s Segway human transporter, the roughly 1-foot-tall black and white robot balanced on two wheels. It had two long arms and a screen for a face. Two years later, P.E.A. has returned as “Mr. Personality.” Gone is the two-wheeled balancing act. Instead, this red and silver home-entertainment robot gets around on three wheels set at roughly right angles to each other. What remains is the color LCD face and the robot’s sense of humor. (more…)

PALMER - Pathfinder Regional Vocational Technical High School had great success in its first robotics competition last spring and during this academic year the school will not only compete but also host the Massachusetts regional tournament.

It means a lot of work for electronics technology teacher Eric A. Duda, but he is up for it.

“The educational value of this is great,” Duda said.
He is not only teaching and guiding the students in this program, he is watching them do work at a level that he was involved with as an electrical engineering student at Western New England College.

“It’s amazing,” Duda said. “They design something. They build it. They test it. They record all of their results.”

School teams all over the world compete in the FIRST Tech Challenge Championship by building a robot that meets required specifications and can perform a designated task.

The 2008 contest calls for a robot that can pick up rings that are 3 inches in diameter and put as many of them as possible on a pole while racing the clock.

While Duda’s students find it fun and exciting, their work also fits into the state’s curriculum frameworks for electronics technology.

“It takes a lot of math skills and a real scientific approach. They do a lot of computer programming,” Duda said. “This covers a real wide range and ties everything together.”

“They are doing a great job,” he said. (more…)

AFC Stamping and Production, Inc. produces finished components used in power sports and automotive applications, and automotive stampings that have welded components.
The Dayton, Ohio, company was established in 1989, and employs 100 people. It is a subsidiary of FC Industries, whose family of companies includes Barsplice Products Inc., AFC Tool Inc., Dayton Precision Punch and FC International.

AFC Stamping and Production is housed in an 115,000-square-foot facility that accommodates nine production lines, including a CNC bender, end finish equipment, resistance welding, and fully equipped press and manual welding departments.

Jon Lambert, engineering manager for AFC Stamping and Production, Inc., is responsible for capital expenditure, continuous improvement, plant layout and process and tooling concepts, and supports the company?s lean manufacturing initiatives and internal and external customer requirements.Before adding a robot to the workforce, the product mix was produced by an outside contractor. Prior to outsourcing, the assemblies were welded manually, creating several disadvantages, including cost, lack of manpower, operator control of quality and poor product flows. (more…)

I was working through my rss feed on robots the other day and ran across this short story. It’s worth a read, just some light reading for the holiday. So, for months, I?ve been seeing this ?stock robot? trading machine ad, all over the net. From time to time, it would pop up on my [...]

If you are looking for a job in robotics then you should check out IEEE Robotics and Automation Society's (IEEE RAS) Robotics and Automation Open Positions wiki. Here you can find full-time research scientist positions, post-doc and PhD opportunities and finally, tenure track faculty positions. As I am someone who in the not so distant past had to look for work after graduation, I think this wiki is a great resource for job seekers. It is very difficult to find research related positions on the more popular job websites such as Monster.com. The robotics and automation jobs wiki will be a great place to find a good selection of opportunities for those entering the job market after completing their graduate studies. Check out the recent job posting for positions available at NASA's JPL; I wonder if these will involve working on NASA's next generation planetary rovers!

By the way, another great resource for robotics jobs is the robotics-worldwide mailing list. New positions are posted on this mailing list almost daily so it is worth subscribing to it.

Robosapien Version 2 is the next generation of Robosapien technology and personality from Wowwee. This new member of the robotic family comes with more advanced dynamic motion, interactive sensors, new program functions, speech capability, and a personality all his own. It’s clear from the start that he enjoys bowling, dancing, and having conversations.

Movement
RobosapienV2 is able to walk forward in four different styles, or gaits. He normally uses his IR vision and touch sensors built into his feet and hands to avoid obstacles, but if put into bulldozer mode, he will walk forward or backward and try to push his way through anything.

Beyond controlling him manually with the included remote controller, RobosapienV2 can explore his environment independently in free roam mode. You can also direct his movements by using the remote’s targeting feature–just point the beam to a spot on the floor and he will walk toward it.

RobosapienV2 has been designed with a full range of motion. He can turn his head just like humans. So, too, can he turn at the hips and can move them forward and back and from side to side. RobosapienV2 can move each arm independently, and his hands can grab, pick up, and throw light objects, such as the included bowling balls and pins. He even comes preprogrammed with a selection of dance moves. (more…)

The Robonova I offers educators, students and robotic hobbyists a complete robot package. The advanced and stable Robonova I can walk, run, do flips, cartwheels, dance moves and once programmed, is ready to compete in any Robo One Class “J” competition. This kit version of the Robonova I allows you to enjoy building your new friend from the ground up. The Robonova I kit was designed for easy assembly in six to eight hours using only a screwdriver. On the other hand, if you prefer instant gratification, you can choose the Robonova I in a pre-built, ready-to-walk version.

Built Tough
The custom gold anodized metal servo brackets serve as a strong and lightweight exoskeleton. Robonova I also features durable plastic body case components that protect the control board and battery from damage. (more…)

ASIMO, the world’s most advanced humanoid robot, can’t drive his own car yet, but he is helping manufacturers make vehicles safer.

Twenty-one years of technology have allowed the all-seeing, all-hearing and sometimes-dancing Asimo to evolve from a disembodied set of legs that took up to 20 seconds to pace a single step into a robot that can slalom through road cones and run at 6 kmh.

The latest version of the Asimo robot is touring Australia and will be in Sydney until December 2.

Its engineering achievements have required scientists for the car maker Honda, the company behind Asimo, to master the skills that govern locomotion, such as how humans shift their weight as they walk. This technology has subsequently been adapted to help prevent vehicles from swerving, according to Hongsiri Suesattabongkot, a Honda engineer and former robotics student at the University of NSW.

The mechanical midget, which at 1.3 metres tall would barely be able to peer over a steering wheel, has also been responsible for a technology that warns drivers about impending collisions. (more…)

Wowwee’s Roboreptile is an often startling robotic toy that, once you get the hang of its wonky controls, is actually pretty fun. Like other Wowwee robots, there’s a preprogrammed animation that goes off when it is first powered up. It’s impressive: growling, snapping jaws and a whipping tail. In short, Roboreptile looks like something out of the future and moves like something out of the past.

The Roboreptile has infrared “vision” sensors where its eyes would be and stereo “hearing” sensors on the sides of its face. Its sounds, though a bit tinny, are menacing. During a tail swipe, it lets out a sort of Eagle cry, harkening back to the shared avian/reptile ancestry.

Controlling the Monster
Controlling the Roboreptile with the remote is a bit of a strain. First, because the remote uses an infrared beam and the pick-up sensor is located in its head. You won’t be able to control it from far away, and it’s difficult to control while walking away from you. (more…)

SAN FRANCISCO (Dow Jones) — A small green and tan dinosaur slowly wandered across the table in an airy Emeryville, Calif., office space. As it plodded to the end of the table, one plastic hoof started to step off the ledge and instead it felt thin air. It slowly backed up and murmured a little cry.

The 20-inch-long toy is a much-anticipated robotic device named Pleo, and it will finally ship next month to consumers after a year’s delay. Created by the same team who brought the world the Furby, the Pleo will also mark an advance in robotics, as it packs much of the functionality of far more expensive robotics toys into a much lower cost design.

Some industry futurists believe robotics will be the next big thing. The nascent area has sometimes been compared to the early days of the personal computer industry, when tinkerers gathered in garages and at computing clubs to swap ideas and parts.

“There is a revolution in the offing,” said

Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley technology forecaster. “It’s coming in the next couple of years.”In 2006, a start-up company called Ugobe demonstrated Pleo at an industry conference, with plans to ship by fourth quarter 2006. The little robotic dinosaur got a lot of attention in the press.

But the company, co-founded in 2003 by Furby co-creator

Caleb Chung, missed that target. It had more work to do and Ugobe’s founders wanted Pleo to be great. It now is on track to ship the first Pleos next month, to customers who pre-ordered one of the $350 robots, and to several Web-based retail partners. The Pleo is often compared with the Aibo, the robotic dog put to sleep by Sony Corp. (SNE) when it shuttered its robotics research last year. (more…)

FANUC Robotics America, Inc. and Flexicell will demonstrate the latest intelligent robotic solutions for assembly, machine tending, picking, packing and palletizing at Flexicell?s facility in Ashland, VA, Nov. 28-29, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The event will feature robot system demonstrations, interactive presentations, and breakout seminars on FANUC Robotics? new LR Mate 200iC LEAN (light, efficient, accurate, nimble) robot and iRVision products (built-in vision) including examples of 2D and 3D robotic vision applications. Also, attendees will have the opportunity to meet with automation experts to discuss their own manufacturing challenges.

In addition to the LR Mate 200iC mini robot and iRVision, the event will showcase the FANUC M-430iA high-speed picking robot, R-2000iB and M-710iC material handling robots, force sensing, offline programming, and simulation products. (more…)

Advances in technology have been astounding over the last decade. Electronics are starting to be built into everything from vacuums to toothbrushes and slowly, but surely, computers will become an invaluable part of every aspect of daily living. Someday, you?ll be able to take a shower and the bathroom will not only detect you, it will adjust the height of the sink to your level and set the water temperature to 96 degrees, just the way you like it.

Taking care of the elderly will become much easier, as well. Remember Rosie from The Jetsons? She was able to cook and clean and even read their son, Elroy, a bedtime story. It may be a long time before we see a robot that we?re actually able to communicate with, but robots that cook and clean are already in production. Think about your elderly loved ones. Instead of having to send them away to a retirement home, they?ll be able to spend their remaining years at home with you, where they should be. And you won?t have to worry about leaving them alone or making sure they?re taking their medication.

Now, it?s really going to take a long time before robots are advanced enough to fully take care of us, so don?t start believing that they?re going to take all our jobs. But robots, or more likely just computers, will be built into everything and make life easier. Instead of a robotic nurse pushing grandpa around in a wheelchair, the robot may actually be the wheelchair. Grandpa will simply have to think about which direction he wants to move and his robotic chair will follow. (more…)

Waiakea High School’s robotics team this month took a first-place award in the 16th annual International Microbot competition held in Japan.

Facing off against several college teams from across Asia, students representing the Hilo school won the Fully Autonomous Micro Robot Maze Competition with a robot named Teeny Humuhumu.

The team took third place in the Micro Robot Racer competition with a robot named Stich.05; fifth place, Remote Controlled Micro Robot Maze Competition, with Teeny Humuhumu; and a special judges’ award for best effort. (more…)

Someday the robots will rise up and kill us all. They’ll record our lives, obliterate our privacy, set off nuclear war, and eventually turn on us and eat our brains. If any of this ever did happen, it would serve us right. We, at least American consumers, don’t deserve the future that robots really have to offer.

Recent evidence abounds. What’s more appalling?a television commercial depicting an industrial automotive robot committing suicide or the public outcry that followed? We have a robot psychiatrist (more on her later) and an entire country?South Korea, not the U.S. (for now)?committed to the “ethical treatment” of robots.Talk about putting the cart before the horse.

It isn’t all the fault of U.S. consumers. Our robotics expectations buckle under the massive burden of fantasy robotics. Our conception of consumer robotics is steered, almost entirely, by science fiction. We confer personalities and cognitive thought on robots before we even see them. We assume that they’ll have human emotions and foibles. (more…)

Today?s schoolchildren are getting a healthy dose of robotics ? the newest of the three Rs ? in an effort to inspire more American students to pursue careers in engineering, science, technology and math.

In Galveston County, schoolchildren as young as 6 and as old as 18 are meeting after school to design, build and program robots for competitions.

Students love the program ? ?It?s just so fun,? gushed eighth-grader Chelsea Wolfe ? while teachers are pleased that students are excited about learning.Not only are they absorbing valuable engineering, math and science knowledge, they?re also learning to collaborate with each other and present their research, said local math and science teachers.

?I had a parent say to me, ?I wish they would get as excited about their schoolwork as they do about robots,?? said Anne Morrison, a Galveston third grade science and social studies teacher. ?I said, ?It is schoolwork, but shh … don?t tell them that.?

?Bots instead of books

At least two county school districts ? Galveston and Clear Creek ? offer robotics as an extracurricular activity. (more…)

With robotics playing an ever more integral role in STEM education, Innovation First, the company behind a wide range of robotics initiatives, has launched a new online resource targeted directly toward K-12 and post-secondary education.

Innovation First provides robotics programs to about 140,000 students around the world (making up about 12,000 teams), and just last month the company launched robotevents.com in an effort to provide a resource for those interested in robotics competitions. The new resource, Vex Robotics Education, hosted on the Vex Robotics site, is designed as a resource for educators looking to introduce robotics into STEM curricula. It includes free education and classroom support materials for download and also introduces custom classroom lab kits based on the Vex Robotics Design System. The kits include components for building radio-controlled robots. (more…)

Adept Technology Extends Robotics Distribution Into BrazilLIVERMORE, Calif.CA-ADEPT-TECHNOLOGY

Adept Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADEP), the leading provider of intelligent vision-guided robotics and global robotics services, announced today that it has signed an exclusive agreement with MAR Industries to distribute the company?s full product line in Brazil. The relationship between the companies accelerates Adept?s distribution strategy and provides customers in the expanding Brazilian manufacturing marketplace with extensive automation expertise based locally in their region.

Under the terms of the agreement, MAR Industries will be the exclusive distributor for Adept?s complete Portfolio of robotics, controls, vision and software products, including the innovative Adept Quattro? s650 packaging robot, throughout Brazil. (more…)

Evolution Robotics makers of robotics software and Wowwee makers of robotics hardware (toy and entertainment robots) announced today a partnership to deliver jointly a series of new robotic entertainment products a bit more than a year from now. The companies expect to release 3 new robots in 2009. Let me remind you that Evolution Robotics develops software for robot programming and image processing including object recognition. Wowwee has found much success with their toy robots since the introduction of the first Robosapien humanoid in 2004. Evolution Robotics image processing software was also used in the now defunct Sony AIBO robot dogs; it was their software that allowed AIBO to recognize the different command cards.

According to the Press Release,

Each product will be powered by Evolution Robotics? latest NorthStar 2.0 technology and deliver breakthrough robotic capabilities that have never before been available to the robot and robotic toy mass market.

"Evolution?s technologies are revolutionizing the way we interact with robots and consumers will be truly amazed when they see what these products can do," said Davin Sufer, Chief Technical Officer of Wowwee. "Together we plan to create an entirely new category of products to match the excitement and interactivity of video games, with blazing speeds and real-time action."

The product initiatives are the result of a strategic partnership between the two companies involving 18 months of research and development to design an innovative positioning and tracking system that will enable a robot to autonomously interact with people, environments, other robots and objects with pinpoint accuracy and control.

Under the latest agreement, Wowwee and Evolution Robotics will work closely together to take the completed products to market, leveraging the strengths and skills of each company. Wowwee will manage the product manufacturing, marketing and sales, and Evolution Robotics will provide the key enabling technologies and apply their expertise in robotics to integrate the products? functions.

This looks like a very exciting partnership which spells good news for robotics enthusiasts. I'm looking forward to the first few products resulting from this partnership.

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Swarm robotics is a new approach to the coordination of multirobot systems which consist of large numbers of relatively simple physical robots. The goal of this approach is to study the design of robots (both their physical body and their controlling behaviors) such that a desired collective behavior emerges from the inter-robot interactions and the interactions of the robots with the environment, inspired but not limited by the emergent behavior observed in social insects, called swarm intelligence. It has been discovered that a set of relatively primitive individual behaviors enhanced with communication will produce a large set of complex swarm behaviors. (more…)

by:James Monahan

“AI.” “Bicentennial Man.” “The Jetsons.” “Richie Rich.” “I, Robot.” These films and TV programs may have elicited various emotions and opinions from the viewers.

Indeed, these movies and shows have unveiled the different sides of robots. However, they still point out a certain fact — that robots, or robotic devices, are smart, fast, and hardworking. They perform according to their assigned purpose or duty. And they can be the most reliable members of your household. Yes, your very own household! (more…)

A robot is a mechanical or virtual, artificial agent. A robot is usually an electromechanical system, which, by its appearance or movements, conveys a sense that it has intent or agency of its own. The word robot can refer to both physical robots and virtual software agents, but the latter are often shortened to bots.

While there is still discussion about which machines qualify as robots, a typical robot will have several, though not necessarily all of the following properties: (more…)