Because Robots!

Humanoid “Swimbot”

By Chinmay Jaju | Published: June 19, 2012

In an effort to better understand and model the kinds of movements and forces exerted by olympic swimmers have developed a half scale humanoid robot. The 3D printed bot mimics the arm and leg strokes of a swimmer. The robot can’t swim anywhere near as quickly as a human can. Yet… Humanoid robots are in many ways overly complex and ill suited for a lot of tasks, including swimming. The biggest advantage though is the possibility of one day having humans and robots work side by side in a human environment.

Posted in Videos | Tagged Humanoid, Walking | Leave a comment

Microsoft’s Future Home

By Eric Yeh | Published: June 18, 2012

Imagine your own future home, what does it look like?

Buildings that made up our homes had evolved. Today pipes and wires are all hidden behind the wall that we don’t notice using them. Tomorrow we will see the computer system are hidden, while amazing functions are right in front of your eye.

Posted in Videos | Tagged Convenient, Futuristic | 1 Comment

Biped Hopping Robot

By Chinmay Jaju | Published: June 17, 2012

This interesting little robot is trying to overcome one of the biggest challenges of bipedal robots, keeping the system stable. The team at the University of Notre Dame is expoloring this challenge by using their robot KURMET for investigating non-steady-state dynamic maneuvers such as jumping. Legged robots offer advantages in terms of mobility over uneven terrain and, particularly in the case of bipeds, mobility in human-centered environments. (This robot isn’t supported by the rod off to the side)

The “fuzzy” control of the robot refers to the training process researchers use to control the robot. There aren’t a set of pre defined actions, instead, KURMET is acting based on a set of inputs that it can replicate. Maybe these evolutionary learning strategies can be used more widely in the future to simplify programming for robotics.

KURMET biped robot

Posted in Images, Videos | Tagged Humanoid, Walking | Leave a comment

Self-Balancing Robotic Pogo Stick

By Chinmay Jaju | Published: June 16, 2012

“!Hop” is a toy robot that can hop. It uses two independently actuated arms in order to simultaneously hop and balance in the lateral plane. The “sagittal” plane is stabilized by torque applied to the two drive wheels (note that the wheels are, for the most part, stationary due to the lack of disturbances about this axis). The symmetric design allows it to hop on either end of the central “leg”

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Japanese Sushi Robot

By Chinmay Jaju | Published: June 14, 2012

The title may be a little misleading, while this robot does make sushi, it is in fact a complex robotic hand with interesting technology to actuate it. Skip to the middle to see the pneumatic actuators for the finder tips. The bladders are inflated and deflated to provide the actuation needed to grasp the delicate food without crushing it completely.

Posted in Videos | Tagged Grippers, Humanoid | 1 Comment

Balancing a Robot on a Ball

By Chinmay Jaju | Published: June 13, 2012

Cars can drive in forward and backwards. This robot can drive sideways, while sitting on top of a round ball. The concept of a “ball drive” to move a vehicle has been explored many times due to the advantages of being able to drive in any direction at “full speed” and being able to change direction almost instantaneously. However, there are drawbacks, one of the most notable being the added complexity of 3 wheels/motors (or more) driving a single ball. Furthermore, these kinds of robots dont have very much traction, so unlike your car, they wont be able to accelerate quickly from a stop sign or climb a steep hill. Regardless, the circus act is the result of an impressive use of sensors.

Posted in Videos | Tagged Vehicles | Leave a comment

Robotic Spider Weaves Web

By Chinmay Jaju | Published: June 12, 2012

Alright, maybe I exaggerated a little when I said “robotic spider.” This spider is more of a robotic arm, but that doesn’t make the feat of weaving a web any less impressive. MIT’s Media Lab is developing a robot that is weaving a cocoon-like structure with a little programming help from humans. Eventually it will be autonomous

Right now, the technology isn’t as impressive because the robot knows what is surrounding it. MIT researchers’ ultimate goal is to have the robot be able to map out the environment and create an artistic web on string. Maybe they’ll add in colors and make 3D rainbow string structures!

Posted in Videos | Tagged Art | Leave a comment