Motor mimicks real muscles
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-04-soft-motor-resembles-real-muscles.html
Robot internet allows data sharing between robots
A research project in Europe called the Roboearth aims to make data sharing between the robots universal. It will be a new version of the internet, just for robots, such that once a task is learned and completed by a robot, the same skill will be available to all robots via downloading. The project which […]
Pencil balancing robot
Swiss researchers were able improve a robots balancing abilities by implementing a new type of visual processor. The problem of balancing objects have been known in robotics and large objects such as poles was known to be balanced before. However, an object as small as a pen needs a different type of processing system. Researchers […]
Mind’s Eye Program
In order to improve the effectiveness and safety of ground surveillance missions, a recent project called Mind’s eye and funded by DARPA seeks to improve the visual intelligence of automated surveillance systems. The press release provided by DARPA states: DARPA has contracted with 12 research teams to develop fundamental machine-based visual intelligence: Carnegie Mellon University, […]
Assistant robot arm like an Elephant’s trunk
In Germany, a new type of flexible robotic arm has been developed in the shape of an Elephant’s trunk. The developers emphasized safety in developing this arm and no metallic parts are used. The arm is composed of three main segments and a hand axis. The movement is made possible by the air moving in […]
Gripping any object easily
Researchers have developed a new type of robot griping system, which is able to handle objects of any shape, by utilizing a complete different system than usual robot grippers. The system is based on a totally new concept of filling a flexible container, such as a party balloon, with granular material and removing the air […]
Robot learns archery
Developers of I-Cub have this time taught the robot how to shoot arrows. The robot learned to hit the target which was 3.5 meters away in eight tries. The ARCHER (Augmented Reward Chained Regression) algorithm is used to coordinate the movement of the hands, when it received feedback from its image sensors. An inverse kinematics […]
Making robot development open source
In an effort to encourage robot development in a more efficient manner, DARPA has recently anounced that there will be a dedicated research funding for small business robotics research. Back in July, the US government had also determined Robotics as one of the priority Research and Development priorities of 2012 budget. Among the many purposes […]
Researchers make artificial skin
UC California Berkeley researchers have developed an electronic skin that is capable of sensing touch as sensitive and as fast as the human skin does. The approach was to use a thin rubber film that also includes capacitors to measure the pressures. The new approach, once out of the lab, could find applications in medicine, […]
Robot able to understand and manipulate objects with precision
The robot developed at University of California, Berkeley has the software that can detect the state of an object such as a pair of socks being inside or out and then correctly flipping them. This simple task required precise grasping points and visual recognition, and seems to be a good example of robots performing more […]