In Japan, and in some other countries is becoming a popular hobby – learning, build robots. Therefore, the market is constantly appear more new sets of robots. Kyosho Company sells a new version of the humanoid robot Manoi PF01. Read more »
Investigation of new sensors or any new system that a priori we may seem of little use if you can have an impact on our daily lives. Today we talk about infrared radiation and a simple application: a fever thermometer.
The company teams as PCE is one of these thermometers can be calibrated with the calibrator temperature in case we need Read more »
It’s almost a little person. The robot Asimo, in which the automaker Honda wanted to show the world who could play “a complete and functional mobility,” showed yesterday for the first time in Europe that runs faster, speaking, serves coffee, is capable of shaking hands and that he can stop without therefore crash. More than many humans. However, one must be trained to talk with him say things very clear and let him know the intentions. And if not, let them ask the mayor of Barcelona, Jordi Hereu, who yesterday stood with his hand in the air awaiting the response of the robot when he helped to inaugurate the second Conference on Robotics. And is that Asimo, despite its progress, has limitations for assessing a situation, but once entered can matter politely admonish the speaker if you think this time is exceeded hold your greeting.
Proof Tray
So the robot, even though it was time employee at the headquarters of Honda in Japan as a friendly and efficient receptionist, crude would still find a job in the world of humans, if only to serve those cafes that with such skill its creators have managed to bring in a tray, which transports and leaves a smooth table. A daily gesture of humans do not stop to think about their complexity: acknowledge the environment, and move around obstacles, assessing the strength to bear weight, perform vertical movements and find a place to deposit the load. All this is possible because the new Asimo has used his fingers and thumbs like humans, to grasp objects. And many new sensors.
“We must improve decision making, the autonomy of behavior and how it works together,” said Edgar Korner, president of Honda Research Institute Europe. That is, make it more efficient. For scientists, he said, have been able to reproduce human mobility, with actions such as climbing stairs, or spinning while running without stop, but have not yet managed to convey the resolution and emotions. “Intelligence-type has a brain, but we to understand how the brain works to reproduce the architecture of control, “says Korner.
Footballer
So far, this android backpack that measures 1.30 meters and weighs 54 kilos, makes his first steps as a player, with a perfect style. For those who want to check today, and free sessions are open to the public, but to see it is to travel to the Biomedical Research Park of Barcelona.
The robot is capable of displaying NanoZoomer with an extremely high resolution tissue samples at various levels in order to help the understanding of cancer. This allows detailed assessment of the effect produced by cancer treatments on cells and tissues. This development is the result of cooperation of the institute of pathology and medical and biometric information from the University of Heidelberg and the Japanese company Hamamatsu Photonics.
Dr. Niels Grabe of the Institute of Biometry and Medical Informatics and research director of TIGA notes that in the future robots will be able to determine in a fully automatic changes in cells and tissues.
This approach applies the knowledge gained from the natural sciences (biology and ethology) and Artificial Life (neural networks, evolutionary techniques and dynamical systems) on real robots, to develop their own skills in close interaction with the environment and without human intervention.
With a fixed design, it is difficult to have a robot suits (self-organized) to a dynamic environment that evolves through-often-chaotic changes. Hence, the evolutionary robotics can provide an adequate solution to this problem because the machine can automatically acquire new behaviors depending on the dynamic situations that occur in the environment where it is located.
Through the use of evolutionary techniques (genetic algorithms, genetic programming and evolutionary strategy), you may decide to evolve the control system or certain features of the robot body (morphology, sensors, actuators, etc.). Or co-evolve both. Similarly, you may decide to evolve physically the hardware (electronic circuits) or software (program or control rules). However, little is done on evolvable hardware [Fernández León, 2004] and usually what is done is to move first driver in a computer simulation, and only then, are transferred to real robots. The robot controller typically consists of artificial neural networks, and evolution is to change the weights of the connections of the network.
Currently, the main drawback is its slow evolutionary control convergence speed and the considerable amount of time that must pass to complete the evolutionary process on a real robot [Pratiharas, 2003]. It is not appropriate for solving problems of increasing complexity [Fernández León, 2004].
Robotics Biomimetics, Biologically Inspired Robotics Biorrobótica or
This approach is concerned with designing robots that function like biological systems, hence they are based on the natural sciences (biology, zoology and ethology) and robotics. Given that biological systems perform many complex processing tasks with maximum efficiency, provide a good reference for implementing artificial systems that perform tasks that living things do naturally (interpretation of sensory information, learning, movement, coordination, and so on. ) [Ros, et al, 2002]. Although it is possible to obtain different degrees of “biologically inspired” (from a vague resemblance to an acceptable reply), the ultimate goal is to make machines and systems increasingly similar to the original [Dario, 2005].
The advantage of building bio-robots is that, as is possible to study all their internal processes, they can be contrasted with the different organs of the animal from which it is based. Currently, scientists develop locusts, flies, dogs, fish, snakes and roaches robotics, in order to emulate a greater or more behavior-robust, flexible and adaptable animals. However, few machines resemble their natural counterparts.
Replicate biology is not easy and could be some time before they can produce biomimetic robots that are truly useful. Another problem, perhaps the most-is that, although well aware of the different processes of many of these living beings, there is a huge difference with their human counterparts. Indeed, the manner in which man perceives and acts is extremely more complex than a lobster does, to give an example.
Sergio Alejandro Moriello is Electronic Engineer (1989), Postgraduate Diploma in Science Journalism (1996), Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration (1997), Specialist in Information Systems Engineering (2005) Studying Masters in Information Systems from UTN-FRBA ( Thesis completed). Author of books Intelligences Synthetic and Natural and Synthetic Intelligence.
The robot exhibition held from October 21 to 23, 2004 in Santa Clara, the heart of Silicon Valley is always a good opportunity to take stock of a rapidly evolving sector. This exhibition, the largest of its kind, brings together the Convention Center of town all that is best in robots. Thousands of professionals and enthusiasts jostle for three days on the stands and conferences to identify trends and see the main news. Read more »
This robot is built using a 6-wheel motorized toy called the BOSS (Battery Operated Spin System) which was available at toy stores a few years ago for about $120. The unit included wheels, gear motors, batteries and charger. The plastic stuff was tossed and a wooden base was attached and multiple decks made from sheets of aluminum. The power electronics including the batteries and motor drivers are on the bottom deck, the computer is on the second deck and the sensors are on the top deck. The computer is a standard PC/XT motherboard which controls the 2 DC motors using the parallel printer port. Software resides on a 3.5″ floppy and automatically boots the robot program which was written in Quick-Basic V4.5. The software has the ability to read a joystick and record motions then play back the motions. This teach-and-repeat technique works well for short robot competitions where the task is well defined. Overall cost was about $450. Email questions to roger@robotics.com
Robot name: ROBBIE (Robot Obeying Bit by Bit Information in interactive Environment) Size : 4.4 feet weight : 40 pounds Power : 12 volts, 6 volts and 4.8 volts. Time to build : one year and continuing Cost : aprox. $1,000 GENERAL: -This robot is controlled by a PC through a remote control connected to a serial port. -It uses 16 servos and 22 DC motors -It has two arms, that can pick objects each consisting of 7 motors -Quickcam is used for remote viewing. -I have programmed it in Visual Basic. -ROBBIE can navigate my whole house without any assistance. -I have made my own electronic compass that is connected to the controller's input. and much more... FUNCTION: ROBBIE can do my laundry, switch home lights on-and-off. It is a security system for my house. It can hand me a glass of water. It follows me arround. and much more... PROBLEMS ENCOUNTED: I learn while making my robot... PARTS: Most of the motors are from junk yard and rest from hobby centers. I have used plastics for the body.
The Japanese carmaker Honda has unveiled the latest version of the biped robot, Asimo. This has improved its performance movement: it runs faster, and he knows now serving coffee to visitors! From spring 2006, Honda is using Asimo as assistant reception or transmission properties at the headquarters of Honda and CEO, Mr Takeo Fukui dream qu’Asimo enters the home by 10 years, with an artificial intelligence more developed. Read more »
Isaac Asimov has a strong scientific spirit and part of that generation novelist standing at the forefront of technology and its times. The content of these novels is affected: the magnificent stories in which reflections on humanity and artificial intelligence, detailed descriptions and imagination structured, complex puzzles that we tape up the end of each book … Read more »