Fifty-one years after the first commercial robot went to work, the United States is approaching a tipping point. Within a decade, observers say, the average American household will include one or two simple robots, and though they may not look like the ones imagined in science fiction, these robots – some available now – will [...]
Engineers at Cornell have developed robots that can sense and respond to damage without human instruction. Pluck off part of a leg, and they adjust their gait to compensate. Eventually, robots like these could crawl into high-risk areas on search-and-rescue missions, or explore distant planets where no humans are around to repair robotic injuries. Read [...]
After its stalemate in Lebanon last summer, Israel needs new way to fight terrorists. The government has announced a new push into nanotechnology to develop tiny flying robots — but what would keep guerrilla fighters from using them? The “bionic hornet,” could chase, photograph and kill, say, a terrorist hiding with a rocket launcher in [...]
A matchbox-sized robot that can infiltrate a pack of cockroaches and influence their collective behaviour has been developed by European scientists. The robot smells and acts just like a roach, fooling the real insects into accepting it as one of their own. Through its behaviour, the robot can persuade a group of cockroaches to venture [...]
Robots may not be able to do everything humans can, but the latest version of Sony’s humanoid robot has something many people might find useful: a third eye. Read (Reuters) via the Robotics Breaking News Blog I’d like to have a third eye, but instead of having it in the middle of my forehead, I’d [...]
It’s official, Stanley, the Volkswagen Touareg, won Grand Challenge race. Read (Nature)
Four robotic vehicles finished the DARPA Grand Challenge Saturday and achieved a technological milestone by conquering steep drop-offs, obstacles and tunnels over a rugged 132-mile course without a single human command. Read (AP via Washington Post) What a difference a year makes.
Despite losing the race, Tech won some bragging rights at the Grand Challenge. The 2 Virginia Tech vehicles made it approximately 40 miles before breaking down. Read (Roanoke Times)
Dan Homerick has 87 photos that were taken at the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge Qualifying event. View (Flickr) Grand+Challenge
DARPA announced the finalists for Saturday’s (10/8) Grand Challenge. Here’s the list of finalists: TeamVehicle Axion Racing(Westlake Village, Calif.)Grand Cherokee Team Cajunbot(Lafayette, La.) 6-wheel amphibious all-terrain vehicle Team CalTech(Pasadena, Calif.) Ford E-350 Van Team CIMAR(Gainesville, Fla.) Rock Crawler – base vehicle was custom built by Georgia All Terrain Monsters Team Cornell(Ithaca, N.Y.) Vehicle is based [...]
Inventors show off machines that climb walls, change shape and chase people around the room. But a new report finds U.S. funding for civilian robotics research is dwindling. Read (Wired)
Robots that can work together as a team to search collapsed buildings for trapped casualties are being developed by researchers at Glasgow University. Currently, firefighters use a camera on a long pole to investigate dangerously unstable structures following a fire, explosion, or other disaster. The robots would enable them to do this far more thoroughly [...]
DARPA announced (pdf file) the 40 Grand Challenge teams selected to advance to the National Qualification Event. The teams come from a variety of backgrounds including universities, individuals, corporations, and a high school. Both of Virginia Tech’s teams made the cut. Team Jefferson includes someone I used to work with, and their vehicle doesn’t look [...]
On May 18 Stanford announced its entry in the DARPA Grand Challenge, a 175-mile driverless race across the Mojave Desert. It’s a gray Volkswagen Touareg, a state-of-the-art sport utility vehicle modified with oversized wheels, a reinforced bumper and a protective metal plate under the car. The fuel-efficient turbodiesel engine allows the vehicle to complete a [...]
When two robots arrive at a doorway, who should go first? Read (Nature)
A steady stream of mechanical animals is marching out of the lab into the field. Jonathan Knight tunes in to see how these motorized models can expose what makes real creatures behave the way they do. Read (Nature)
Can a robot learn to navigate like a cockroach? To help researchers find out if a mechanical device can mimic the pesky insect’s behavior, a Johns Hopkins engineering student has built a flexible, sensor-laden antenna.
Students from Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering are partnering with Carnegie Mellon University’s “Red Team” in an effort to win a $2 million prize from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). All they have to do is complete the toughest ground course ever devised for a self-guided robotic vehicle.
Scientists at the University of the West of England have designed a robot that does not require batteries or electricity to power itself, because it generates energy by catching and eating houseflies. Read Originally from CNN Via Robotics blog
Opportunity has now had its solar panels “cleaned” on at least four separate occasions – NASA remain stumped as to exactly how