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Acroban Humanoid Robot Project
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TrossenRoboticsBlog/~3/LLJZ7zqmmzI/
− at 00:00, 31. Jul. 2010
Meet Acroban, a compliant humanoid project being developed by the Inria Flowers Research team in France. This humanoid robot, made mostly from RX-64 Dynamixels from the look of it, is impressive in that it uses a semi-passive dynamic locomotion and reliance on natural backlash compliance (along with structural flex & elastics) to portray some very lifelike movements.
Acroban is a lightweight compliant humanoid robot capable of robust semi-passive dynamic locomotion, life-like movements, and offers the possibility of a new kind of playful physical human-robot interaction. We developped this platform to explore how morphological constraints can simplify the developmental acquisition of complex sensorimotor skills, as well as to explore novel kinds of human-robot interaction.
The video demonstrates this very well, bringing a rather mechanical and utilitarian looking robot to life. Inria Flowers calls this the ‘Luxo Jr. Effect’ named after the pint size companion of Pixar’s lovable Desk Lamp mascot. It really is true though; something about the way this robot moves reaches out to our primal emotional response, making our brain think it’s something actually alive. In doing this, the robot effectively leaps over Uncanny Valley by coming across as very human-like without the increasingly creepy aesthetics that many humanoids fall victim to.
The Luxo Jr. Effect
Furthermore, Acroban provokes spontaneous highly positive emotional reactions, especially in children. Yet, as opposed to many other robots, its morphology is neither roundish nor cute. He has no big eyes. He is just made of metal, and its appearance shows it explicitly. At first glance, its visual appearance creates low expectation of intelligence and life-likeness. But when it begins to move and one can touch it, its natural dynamics, much more life-like than most other robots, triggers a high contrast and positive surprise. Life unexpectedly appears out of a neutral metallic object, much as Pixar’s Luxo Jr. This is the Luxo Jr. effect.
Enough talk, check out the demonstration video (especially the interaction with kids later on). If you’re looking for more info, the Acroban Page has a wealth of videos and writing on the project.
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JJ Abrams Bringing “Boilerplate” to Big Screen
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TrossenRoboticsBlog/~3/Kl2QMi9vmf8/
− at 21:33, 30. Jul. 2010
It’s like Forest Gump Meets Short Circuit or something. We assume many of our readers are also JJ Abrams fans, so it looks like these two world meet in one of his new projects. Heat Vision reports:
“Boilerplate” purports to tell the story of the world’s first robot, who, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, fought alongside Teddy Roosevelt and Lawrence of Arabia, journeyed to the South Pole and was involved in the silent movie business before disappearing on the battlefields of World War I.
Via I Watch Stuff
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Developing Well-Designed Packages for Robot Operating System (ROS), Part VI
http://www.sharprobotica.com/?p=347
− at 10:01, 30. Jul. 2010
Part VI: Adding a UI Layer to the Package As the last and final chapter to this series of posts (Part I, II, III, IV, V), we’ll be adding a basic UI layer to facilitate user interaction with the underlying layers of our package. Specifically, a UI will be developed to allow the user (e.g., [...]
go to this entry …2010 AUVSI RoboSub Competition
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Botjunkie/~3/FPBxd1mvzF4/
− at 09:16, 30. Jul. 2010
The 2010 International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition took place last week, and the very first thing that happened was that everybody decided that they’d much rather spend their time building robot subs as opposed to gasping out the name of the competition, so it’s now just called “RoboSub.” These RoboSubs are autonomous (not remote controlled), so the competition operates kinda like the DARPA Grand or Urban Challenge: you push the go button, and then your robot is on its own, and you can do nothing but sit back and have an anxiety attack.
As you can see from the vid, the bots have a lot of fairly complicated tasks to perform, and I imagine that being underwater causes a whole host of sensor issues… For example, several tasks require the robots to differentiate colored objects, and colors change underwater depending on depth as the red light gets filtered out. Not to mention the whole water not mixing with electronics thing…
Day 2 and the day 3 final, after the jump.
[ AUVSI RoboSub ]
Robots: Science Fiction
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/robotspodcast/~3/iFwrARx8uOs/
− at 09:00, 30. Jul. 2010
Patrick Gyger from the Maison d'Ailleurs, one of the major Science Fiction museums in the world, presents the history of robotics in the genre and discusses interactions between science and writing. We the bring you a re-edition of the Selkies stories written by Science Fiction writer Jack Graham in Boston. You can find more of his stories at lonesomerobot.com.
DFRobotshop Rover Or Arduino On Tracks
http://www.gorobotics.net/the-news/dfrobotshop-rover-or-arduino-on-tracks/
− at 23:30, 29. Jul. 2010
RobotShop is proud to announce the immediate availability of the DFRobotShop Rover, an Arduino-compatible robotic tracked platform. At an 89.99 USD price-tag, this is by far the most affordable, programmable mobile robot in the market.
The DFRobotShop Rover is a versatile mobile robot tank based on the popular Arduino Duemilanove. It incorporates all the Duemilanove features (since it uses a surface mount ATMega328), including shield compatibility, and is supplemented with (1) an on-board DC step-up that allows it to be easily powered from small power sources such as AA batteries, (2) a dual H-bridge DC-motor controller (L293B), and (3) an APC220 and Bluetooth serial interface connector for telemetry and radio control. As an addition it also features a temperature and light sensors that can be readily connected to analog inputs on the ATMega328 for immediate use. This Arduino-compatible platform rides on the popular Tamiya twin motor gearbox and the Tamiya track and wheel set. This created a low-cost traction system that has been tested to carry over 2 kg without issues.
Let us know what would you like to do with this very cool Arduino tank.
Via RobotShop Blog.
go to this entry …Robot Eyeballs!
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TrossenRoboticsBlog/~3/vEGTxoxkb8I/
− at 22:08, 29. Jul. 2010
Sourcing the right eyeballs for your bot can be a pain. With the help of our awesome community of roboticists we have identified some great cameras for each level of price point and quality from low cost to high end research.
We have the cameras in stock now. Stay tuned because soon we will offer them with custom made brackets for mounting solutions making your life just that much easier!
Need something cheap and small?
Grab the Microsoft LifeCam VX-800 Webcam for a mere $19.95
Quality Webcam more your pace?
The Microsoft LifeCam Cinema Webcam – 720p HD is an AMAZING BUY giving you HD for $59.99
Need to go wireless for teleprescence or offloading processing? The perfect video solution for your next Mech Warfare entry?
We got you covered with TRENDnet TV-IP110W WiFi Camera for $119.95
and coming soon, the Firefly research camera from Point Grey.
Neato XV-11 Update: Robots Confirmed To Be Shipping
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Botjunkie/~3/9qD14GCsMYI/
− at 09:05, 29. Jul. 2010
A bunch of you have been wondering what the deal is with the Neato XV-11 robot vacuum, since it was a month ago that Neato said they’d started shipping their pre-orders. We got in touch with Neato, and they’ve confirmed that the robots are shipping to people who placed a pre-order. If they seem to be moving kinda slowly getting the bots in the mail, it’s for a good reason: they’ve had an “overwhelming response” to the pre-orders that “exceeded expectations” and they’ve run into a bit of a backlog. Neato says that they should be caught up before the end of August. If you want one, it’s worth noting that they won’t bill your credit card until the robot actually ships.
Anybody get theirs yet? Please post if/when you do!
Zenta Strike Again! Archer the Biped!
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TrossenRoboticsBlog/~3/EnxMrDhpmLQ/
− at 01:28, 29. Jul. 2010
If you’ve read this blog at all over the past few years, you’ll know we’re big fans of Kåre Halvorsen’s (aka Zenta) work. Father of the very popular Phoenix Hexapod Kit, A-Pod the ant bot, and more recently the T-Hex Hexapod (available soon in kit form), it’s very obvious that our Norwegian friend has an incredible grasp of Kinematics. Some might even call him a Kinematics Kung Fu Master. It’s only natural that he would blow us away with his insane math-kinematics skills when he decided to take a shot at a biped walker. Well folks, he did not fail to impress. Utilizing the new Arc-32 board from Basic Micro, armed with only standard hobby servos and an inhumanly good grasp of math, Zenta has created a new biped named Archer.
Okay, so bipeds have been done before, what makes this special? Not only does it have some of the most impressive Inverse Kinematics I’ve seen on a non-professional level, it utilizes a pretty innovative COG-Shifter mechanism that can slide the battery and onboard controller from side to side to assist in walking. Want to see it in action? Look no further!
Also, if you can’t get enough of Kåre and his awesome Norwegian accent, check out this ‘behind the scenes’ video where you’ll be treated to his very impressive workshop and a demo of how he controls his various robots:
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Quadrotor Balances Inverted Pendulum
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Botjunkie/~3/zVsowUAqM4A/
− at 00:57, 29. Jul. 2010
Quadrotors: they can do everything you can do, only better. Way better. Markus Hehn and Raffaello D’Andrea at the Institute of Dynamic System and Control at ETH Zurich have gone from dancing quadrotors to a quadrotor that can actually balance an inverted pendulum in flight. Impressive, yes. Useful? Maybe… If you have quadrotors that are trying to lift something unbalanced, for example, being able to compensate for that could certainly come in handy. Of course, all of this comes with the caveat that you need a pretty swanky external vision system to get it all working properly, but maybe if you mount that on a couple other quadrotors, you’d be good to go.
[ IDSC FMA ]