Robotics > Open Source

Press release by: Rhoeby Dynamics LLC October 2015, Santa Cruz, CA. The new Rhoeby Dynamics R2D LiDAR is the smallest, lightest, lowest-cost 2D LiDAR device on the market today. It’s proven capable of performing mapping, navigation and dynamic obstacle avoidance in the indoor setting, and comes complete with its open-source ROS driver for rapid integration into any robotics platform.                   The device uses IR LED Time-of-Flight (not laser-based), making it a quite novel technology. This novel approach is what enables us to achieve the small form factor, low weight, and helps keep the cost down. All settings are easily controlled via USB […] Read More

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Open source robots will be able to perform many different functions as phones, by downloading apps. See below: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/companies-making-human-robots-think-143545843.html Read More

In University of Reading of England, a free, 4-week online robotics course is offered for beginners to robotics. Begin Robotics is targeted, primarily, at 14 – 18 year olds who are interested in robots and/or the possibility of studying robotics at University. It doesn’t assume any prior knowledge and is open to anyone, around the world however, so will no doubt attract a much broader audience. Begin Robotics will also form part of FutureLearn’s offering to support the BBC’s ‘Make it Digital’ campaign, in the UK this year. Learners will meet a range of ‘Reading’ robots including: ERIC (the mobile robot built specifically for this course), ROVER,  BAXTER, Haptic Master […] Read More

Clearpath Robotics welcomes the PR2 robot and community to its growing family (Menlo Park, CA and Kitchener, ON, Canada – January 15, 2014)  Willow Garage, the developer of PR2, announces the immediate transfer of support and services responsibilities to Clearpath Robotics, a leader in mobile robotics for research and development.  Willow Garage’s development of PR2 along with the Robot Operating System (ROS) has produced the world’s leading mobile manipulation platform for research and development.  Willow Garage will continue to sell its remaining stock of PR2 systems while Clearpath Robotics now becomes the sole provider of hardware and software support to current and future PR2 customers.  Interest in PR2 systems should […] Read More

Many of us remember IBM Watson, when it beat the human champions on the popular TV Show Jeopardy, three years ago. Since then, Watson has undergone constant improvements and has started to be used in practical real life areas, such as Medicine and Law. This is primarily due to its ability to process language, just as humans do. Now IBM is dedicating $1 billion in order to improve Watson’s abilities even further. A team of 2,000 researchers will focus on doing just that. Among the new improvements, open source and cloud-based applications are going to be implemented. We have talked about Watson various times in our magazine, as well. See […] Read More

Press Release from Robotiq:                                                                   December 18h, 2013 – Robotiq – a company making robotic tools for agile automation in manufacturing industries – is proud to announce that its 3-Finger Adaptive Robot Gripper will play a major role at the DARPA ROBOTICS CHALLENGE TRIALS on December 20-21 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida.   Indeed, 4 of the 17 teams that will take part in this challenge have chosen the 3-Finger Adaptive Robot Gripper for their design of a robot capable of assisting humans in responding to natural and man-made disaster, such as Fukushima.   The DARPA ROBOTICS CHALLENGE is an initiative of the US Department of Defense to develop […] Read More

I would like to call this “the most advanced robotics competition we will witness”. It is called DRC (DARPA Robotics Challenge) organized by DARPA, the initiator of internet, the organization which helped advance the use of autonomous cars, and many more cool technologies. It is an ambitious competition that only the most advanced robotics teams around the world is participating, to demonstrate a robot that is capable of doing many tasks that are very difficult to perform for a robot. The goal is to build a humanoid rescue robot, which is capable of demonstrating skills in different categories, so that in real life situations it can be utilized. We had […] Read More

Researchers from the University of Lincoln and Newcastle University in the UK designed a new vision technology for self-moving robots by scrutinizing locusts and their visual ability. This is a 4 year research project which began in 2011. The project is funded by the Seventh Framework Program of the European Union. Professor Shigang Yue from the School of Computer Science at the University of Lincoln and Doctor Claire Rind from the Institute of Neuroscience at Newcastle University lead the project.  Researchers from the University of Hamburg in Germany, Tsinghua University and Xi’an Jiaotong University in China are also in collaboration with them. The main objective of the research is to […] Read More

CHIMP, which is an abbreviation for CMU Highly Intelligent Mobile Platform, is a human size robot being built by Carnegie Mellon University, Tartan Rescue Team. The robot is made to compete in the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) Robotics Challenge (DRC). DRC is a competition that will test competing robots’ human-like abilities, such as, driving a vehicle on site, traveling on rubble, removing debris which blocks an entryway, opening a door and entering building, using tools, climbing ladders, replace a malfunctioning device on site and more… CHIMP, which resembles an ape, is human-like in terms of its strength and dexterity, and has tank-like tracks, which enables it to move […] Read More