All On Robots Blog
Anybots QBA while ago we saw the first version of this telepresence robot, the QA if you remember. Now it's second version is going to hit the streets. Or offices. The robot's intended use is telepresence at offices and other work places. An opportunity to attend a meeting when physically unable to do so, or you just don't want to drive. A perfect way to spy on employees too. Well, see for yourself:
It'll be available in fall 2010 and it costs some 15k USD. A bit too steep for personal use, but maybe just what's needed for business purposes. Samsung NavibotSamsung make pretty decent vacuum cleaners. I mean, I have one, it does its job pretty well. No wonder they decided to enter the robot vacuum cleaner market. After all, the brand is well known and trusted, the market is growing (supposedly) and there's place for improvements. To be honest, I have to say that this is not actually Samsung's entry in robotic cleaner market. Well, it is but only for certain locations, as Samsung robot vacuum cleaners are around for quite a while now. Only, they were restricted to Asian markets and named differently. Now with the Navibot series they entry such markets as Europe and Australia. An earlier entry was made in the Canadian market with a robot designated as VCR8830T1R. Basically, it's the same robot as European and Australian Navibots with few minor differences - one rotating brush instead of two, different input power required, etc. I haven't heard yet of any US entrants. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Samsung Navibot" Karakuri ningyoKarakuri ningyo are Japanese mechanical puppets. Because of their impact on Japanese view on robotics they take a really significant spot in robotics history. While there are some similarities with western automatons, the idea and purpose of them are often quite different. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Karakuri ningyo" Will we have a new robot vacuum King?Neato XV-11 is a robot vacuum designed by Neato Robotics, a Silicon Valley based company. The company was founded with smart, intelligent household robots in mind that could ease our daily chores. The XV-11 is their first product. At the time I'm writing this it is warmly anticipated as many hope that this robot will be a major competitor of the above mentioned Roomba. Something everyone should be happy about as competition is healthy and eventually improve products available to consumers.
So, the robot will be available in different shops (Hammacher. Follow the link below to read what I've found out about this new robot vacuum cleaner. Ian Permalink -- click for full blog post "Will we have a new robot vacuum King?" Can robotic fish help their natural counterparts?Sure they can! Not that there are many robotic fish species roaming the oceans yet. So, what could these robotic fish do? The main objective is effective pollution detection. Today this task takes awhile and is quite complicated. Divers have to collect water samples that are later tested at laboratories. As you can imagine, a robotic fish could do the job instantaneously giving immediate results. This could help eliminate environmental threats in a more timely manner and save real fish and other parts of marine ecosystems. Currently robot fish are being developed by BMT group and the University of Essex in the framework of a three-year research project funded by the European Commision called SHOAL. These fish will be able to work independently or in a shoal and detect the source and scale of pollution. Watch it here: more info - Roboshoal.com Regards,Ian Robotics historyAlthough robots are usually regarded as something belonging to the future or at least as something really new and innovative, the robotics history can be traced as far back as the ancient times. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Robotics history" AutomatonsNowadays there are animatronics as well as entertainment and toy robots that amuse us. So there were no artificial beings created by humans that resemble animals or people before the rise of robotics? Wrong! Automatons clearly show how interested people have been at all times in imitating life. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Automatons" Flying robot swarm.You know what's a swarm, don't you? In case you don't - let me shortly describe you. Many pretty dumb beings can achieve great things if they follow some simple rules. I mean, no one really thinks that ants, bees, or termites are smarter than dogs or cats, yet can you imagine cats working together to create a 100-story building? And now imagine flying ants that create a flying ant heap and terrorize the planet being actually as dumb as... well, ants. Actually, I firmly believe that people also work in swarms, only, because every single drone is a bit smarter than an ant, our swarm can achieve far greater things than building sophisticated heaps. OK, I 'floated' away again. Anyway, people at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich have created robots that can autonomously and randomly dock with each other and then go airborne as one flying robot. Here, have a look:
People are already talking about possible military applications... I prefer the idea that one day we'll have cars that can be driven around for shorter distances and be docked together to fly together a bit further. Cheers,Ian Military transportation robotsLogistics have always been an important part of a successful warfare. Military transportation robots can increase the efficiency of logistics as well as aid soldiers in movement. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Military transportation robots" Father's Day offer from iRobotHi! Remember, I promised to share with you if I find info on Special offers at robotics shops? Well, it's time to keep that promise. I suppose you're aware of Dirt Dog and Looj. If not - let me shortly describe you what are they. iRobot Dirt Dog is a robotic shop/garage/basement sweeper. It is designed as a low-cost Roomba relative for shop sweeping applications, it has a larger bin, powerful sweepers and other features that make this robot suited for such applications. Looj, on the other hand, is a gutter cleaner robot. As Father's Day is just around the corner - June 20, people at iRobot have decided to sell these robots together at a lower price. So, if you're looking for a gift for your father - here it is! Also, it's a good opportunity if you were about to get a Dirt Dog or Looj anyway!
Best regards,Ian Joseph Marie JacquardThe history of computing is tightly related to the history of robotics, as it's not possible to create a robot without programming. Joseph Marie Jacquard is widely regarded as the inventor of the first highly successful re-programmable machine. Permalink -- click for full blog post "Joseph Marie Jacquard" Willow garage's PR2 robots are travelling to researchers.I'm again in my 'philosopher mindset' so bear it a little, please. How do you think what would happen if a group of modern people were left alone in the woods without anything? Well, they (we) would, probably, die. In an optimistic scenario they (we) would manage to make a bow and a few arrows and hunt something for food, maybe make a primitive shelter and fire. Maybe even make a cart to allow easier transportation of whatsoever. What's for sure is that they (we) wouldn't be able to make an iPhone, or a robot that could help them in their tasks. The idea is, as I have stated previously in some of my articles, that we rely heavily on knowledge accumulated by people before us. In fact, that is how we make things happen - we build and innovate upon work done by others. I'm not the only one who thinks the same way. People at Willow Garage, a robotics company, have the same thoughts. As you may already know, they've made an open-source environment for robot control - ROS, the Robot Operating System. They also have developed an open general purpose robotics platform PR2 that is an iteration of an earlier robot PR1 designed at Stanford university. So, to foster development in personal robotics field and to allow knowledge accumulation in this field, they've given eleven PR2 robots for two years to research institutions around the world. The idea is that these institutions will carry out researches on this platform and make open sourced software for it, thus pushing the development further and faster. So others wouldn't have to reinvent the wheel over and over and over again. Want to tamper with PR2 too? Sure, go get a simulator. Cheers,Ian Microsoft Robotics Studio goes free!
If you know something about robotics studio, you probably are aware that it had a free version previously. This time everything is a bit (a lot) different. Previously there were three separate versions -Standart edition for commercial use, academic version for academic use and a "cut-down" Express edition for non-commercial and commercial uses.
Now these three versions are merged together. So you get everything in one package for free. Free as gratis not libre, of course. Anyway, these are great news in my opinion. Now you can use this powerful robotics development system at no cost.
Great news for everyone, and especially for those people who have robots that are supported out-of-the-box, like Lego Mindstorms, iRobot Create, Parallax, etc. Well, you can get MS robotics studio here.
Cheers,Ian
Have you seen Spielberg's 'A.I.'? If not please do so now! OK, I'm joking, although it's a really good movie to watch if you're a robotics enthusiast. However, if you have seen it you probably remember Teddy.
You know, the teddy bear that wasn't actually a toy, but a smart robot-nanny masqueraded as a toy. Fujitsu have made one! Well, not exactly... They've made a smart robot teddy bear that can express around 300 behaviors, that has 13 sensors including a camera and a microphone, and that, etc.
It's not really clear when and if it'll be widely available. It's main domain, as speculated, will be similar to that of PARO. Well, take a look for yourself:
Best regards,Ian
The main idea of the Phidget system is to lighten the creation of software that can interact with our physical world. The same way Graphical User Interface widgets or elements are used to create graphical software applications, phidgets can help to create 'physical' software applications.
Permalink -- click for full blog post "Phidgets" |
