Sensitive Robot Arm Reaches Through Clutter
Robots are now able to intelligently maneuver within clutter, gently making contact with objects while accomplishing a task.
Source: Georgia Tech
via Lab Equipment.
The Terrifying Promise of Robot Bugs
via scishow:
Imitating nature to build a better (or possibly more terrifying) future. We’ve been trying to build flapping-wing robots for hundreds of years, and now, ornithopters are finally being developed, and may be used mostly for military purposes.
Piezoelectrics make those little bugs possible, and also enhances the ability of robot arms to feel, in other news from the International Journal of Robotics.
Robots Help Autistic Kids Learn, Communicate
A new robot is designed to help children with learning delays— like those on the autism spectrum— improve their social and communication skills.
Source: Univ. of Connecticut
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/videos/2013/04/robots-help-autistic-kids-learn-communicate
via Lab Equipment.
A Week in Science- 3 May 2013
A Week in Science is the science news brought to you by RiAus.
This week:
H7N9 flu confirmed as being transmitted from birds to humans
Mutation to H5N1 that enables human infection found
Early detection of Alzheimer’s using a blood test
2 doses of HPV vaccine as effective as 3 doses
EU bans use of 3 pesticides to protect bees
Cicadas use jumping dew drops to clean wings
Women may be evolving to become taller and thinner
Miniature flying robots developedYou can follow A Week in Science throughout the week on Twitter, and join the discussion, by following the hashtag #weekinsci
For more information visit riaus.org.au/articles/a-week-in-science-3-May-2013/
via RIAus Vid.
Using robots to reveal secrets of walking baby sea turtles
A sea turtle-inspired robot has been created by a group of researchers in the US to help understand the mechanics of walking and crawling on complex surfaces.
Dubbed “Flipperbot”, the robot has been presented in IOP Publishing’s journal Bioinspiration and Biomimetics, and was designed to test how real-life organisms, such as seals, sea turtles and mudskippers, use flippers and fins to move on surfaces such as sand.
From Wednesday 24 April, this paper can be downloaded from http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-3190/8/2/026007
via Institute of Physics.
Robot-Human Interaction: Will We Bond With Bots In The Future?
We often think of robots as merely assembly-line tools meant for physical labor. But they’re capable of much more than that: like companionship, and even love.
Will we come to depend on robots as a source of empathy? And will we welcome them everywhere, from the boardroom to the bedroom? Research scientist Dr. Leila Takayama studies human-robot interaction at robotics lab Willow Garage, and has seen our relationship with bots evolve.
Full transcript.
‘Terradynamics’ Helps Predict How Legged Robots Will Move
Using a combination of theory and experiment, researchers have developed a new approach for understanding and predicting how small legged robots — and potentially also animals — move on and interact with complex granular materials such as sand.
Source: Georgia Tech
by Lab Equipment.
Cheetah Robot Rivals the Real Thing in Efficiency
A 70-pound “cheetah” robot may soon outpace its animal counterparts in running efficiency: in treadmill tests, researchers have found that the robot— about the size and weight of an actual cheetah— wastes very little energy as it trots continuously for up to an hour and a half at five mph.
Source: MIT
by Lab Equipment.
Robotic Fish has Lateral Line Sensing
Researchers developed robots with a new sense— lateral line sensing. All fish have this sensing organ but so far it had no technological counterpart on man-made underwater vehicles.
Source: Tallinn Univ. of Technology
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/videos/2013/03/robotic-fish-has-lateral-line-sensing
by Lab Equipment.
Brainstorm episode 128 - Robot Teamwork Research!
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by qdragon1337.
Marine Machines
We discover how robotic fish can be engineered to clean up our seas as these marine machines set out to monitor the pollutants in our ports in an efficient and turbulence-free manner by mimicking the movement of real fish…
by Naked Scientists.
SkeptiCamp Winnipeg 2012: Robots and Emotions
Dr. Jim Young is a researcher in computer science at the University of Manitoba specializing in human-robot interaction. He completed his Ph.D. at the University of Calgary, where he focused on mixing robotic interface design with sociology, and worked for four years at the University of Tokyo, designing easy-to-use robotic interfaces for the general public.
Duration: 26:29
by Winnipeg Skeptics.
Website: http://winnipegskeptics.com
Meetup: http://www.meetup.com/WinnipegSkeptics
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WinnipegSkeptics
Podcast: http://www.itunes.com/podcast?id=480386469
Moth Drives Car to Pick Up Girls
via laboratoryequipment:
A small, two-wheeled robot “car” has been driven by a male silkmoth to track down the sex pheromone usually given off by a female mate. The robot has been used to characterize the silkmoth’s tracking behaviors and it is hoped that these can be applied to other autonomous robots so they can track down smells, and the subsequent sources, of environmental spills and leaks when fitted with highly sensitive sensors.
The male silkmoth was chosen as the “driver” of the robot due to its characteristic “mating dance” when reacting to the sex pheromone of the female. Once the male is stimulated by the pheromone it exhibits a distinctive walking pattern: straight-line and zigzagged walking consisting of several turns followed by a loop of more than 360°.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/videos/2013/02/moth-drives-car-pick-girls
Energy-Efficient Robot Plays Badminton
via laboratoryequipment:
A robot to play with. A childhood’s dream has now come true for researchers at the Flanders’ Mechatronics Technology Centre (FMTC) in Belgium. Wim Symens and his team pioneered the development of the first robot ever to play badminton. But this robot is only a guinea pig to test a software application designed to optimize energy efficiency in machine design.
Thanks to the EU funded research project ESTOMAD, a new computer program is now capable of detecting the energy guzzlers in so-called mechatronic systems, that are controlled by both software and electronics. The results are impressive. Following an energy efficiency analysis of the badminton robot with the new software, the team made some small changes where most of the energy was identified as being wasted in the robotic system. “We were able to cut down the energy consumption of the badminton robot by 50 percent,” claims Wim Symens.
Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/videos/2013/01/energy-efficient-robot-plays-badminton
TWIE 130: Land Mine Sweeper that Blows in the Wind
This Week in Engineering:
Asteroid pulling to lunar orbit
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23039-nasa-mulls-plan-to-drag-asteroid-into-moons-orbit.html
Spiked space rovers
http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/december/rover-mars-phobos-122812.html
Dandelion-inspired anti-mine device
http://news.discovery.com/tech/giant-dandelion-is-an-anti-mine-device-130103.html
Robots sterilize hospital rooms
http://news.discovery.com/tech/robots-fight-superbugs-hospitals-130103.html
Graves with QR codes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-north-east-wales-20881406
Printable record albums
http://news.discovery.com/tech/print-records-of-your-digital-music-130102.html
by engineering.com.
