2011 VEX Robotics World Championship-------------WEIWEI

I was invited out to Orlando, FL to cover the 2011 VEX Robotics World Championship last week. It was bigger and busier than ever this year. There were lots of things going on besides just VEX matches this year including BEST, Boy Scout, and Coast Guard robot events. It's also turning into a good networking event. I ran into old friends, met friends I'd previously known only online, and even made some new friends. I've spent the last several days working my way through all the photos I shot. Read on to find out more about the event!

Every year, the VEX Robotics World Championship gets bigger. This year it topped 500 teams, and more than 10,000 total participants, from around the world. For 2011, the event moved to the Walt Disney World's ESPN Wide World of Sports complex near Orlando, FL from its previous location in Dallas, TX. The smaller venue resulted in the VEX event being spread out across multiple buildings as well a large temporary structure. Vendors were scattered around in small tents outdoors and some events were held on the baseball field. The downside to this was a lot more walking and decreased probability of seeing the random cool things that teams spontaneously do like parading around, playing instruments and dancing. But the upside (at least for the younger crowd) was the proximity to all the Disney theme parks.

I only saw one alligator during my four days in Florida but every evening as I walked back to my hotel room, I saw dozens of green anoles scurrying out my way. They were apparently attracted to the warm sidewalks after sunset.


This year's VEX challenge was called Round Up and involved the usual tasks of moving red or blue objects around on a square field. You can check out the Round Up challenge description if you're curious about the details. As always, the teams of all age groups came up with ingenious robot designs to tackle the problem. There were a lot more university teams this year than last year in addition to the many High School and Middle School teams. There were also more all girl teams again this year. If VEX is any indication, expect to see more female engineers in the future!

In addition to their own matches, VEX hosted other events including the BEST championship and the US Coast Guard Academy's AROW water robotics competition. The Boy Scouts of America also showed up with lots of scouts, robots, and scouting officials so we could watch the first scouts ever finish the requirements for the recently announced robotics merit badge. There were other distractions including a DJ, random Disney characters, live music, dancing, and occasional pyrotechnics.


The BEST teams continue to be the most enthusiastic robot builders I've seen. Anytime someone mentions the B-word, the response from all the BEST teams is deafening, even though I'm pretty sure all that noise is coming from a much smaller number of people than the VEX group. Somebody needs to figure out what BEST is doing in the cheer training department - it's definitely working!

Artist Kari Byron of MythBusters and Head Rush hosted the event. Last year, MythBuster's Grant Imahara hosted but I think Kari may have him beat on popularity with the kids. What better role model for aspiring female engineers than Kari? And teenage boys seem to really like her too for some reason. In addition to her duties as MC, Kari put in endless hours posing for millions of photos with robot builders (and robots) as well as signing autographs.

VEX Competitions have many awards, lots of complicated "alliances" between multiple teams, and several different divisions, so I won't even attempt to tell you who won what. If you're curous about that sort of thing check out the 2011 VEX Robotics World Championship Awards & Results list (also checkc the BEST webset for BEST competition scores and award rankings). You can read the official VEX news release or check out the more detailed press kit with photos and video.

And, of course, I shot photos while I was there. Lots and lots of photos. More photos than you could possible want to look at. You'll find them over in my 2011 VEX World Championship photo gallery (Update: by popular demand, here's a flickr slide show of the Kari Byron photos).

http://robots.net/article/3158.html

Human-robot interaction-----Senlong Jiang

Human-robot interaction has been a topic of both science fiction and academic speculation even before any robots existed. Because HRI depends on a knowledge of (sometimes natural) human communication, many aspects of HRI are continuations of human communications topics that are much older than robotics per se.

Even through the robots do lots of things that instead of human beings, there are also some rules to control robots' behaviours.

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

The 3 laws of robotics determine the idea of safe interaction.
The robot has to adapt itself to our way of expressing desires and orders and not the contrary. But every day environments such as homes have much more complex social rules than those implied by factories or even military environments. Thus, the robot needs perceiving and understanding capacities to build dynamic models of its surroundings. It needs to categorize objects, recognize and locate humans and further their emotions. The need for dynamic capacities pushes forward every sub-field of robotics.

In addition to general HRI research, researchers are currently exploring application areas for human-robot interaction systems. Application-oriented research is used to help bring current robotics technologies to bear against problems that exist in today's society. While human-robot interaction is still a rather young area of interest, there is active development and research in many areas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human-robot_interaction

Adept Technology Robotics Selected to Participate in Advanced Cancer Treatment Program.

Adept Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADEP), the leading provider of intelligent vision-guided robotics and global robotics services, today announced it is participating in the CLARA (Lyon Auvergne Rhone-Alpes Cancer cluster) program with Lyon Civil Hospitals as the robotics component in a method for treating small cancer tumors.
The goal is to demonstrate that an Adept Viper 6-axis robot will ensure perfect positioning of a treatment probe in a tumor for both percutaneous and laparoscopic surgical approaches.
Currently, early diagnosis of smaller tumors is made possible through screening biological tests and medical imaging. The CLARA project introduces a new concept where Adept robots will be employed to automatically locate a treatment probe close to a tumor using an innovative three-dimensional navigation robot that is guided by a tracking sensor implanted in the body. The goal is to demonstrate that an Adept Viper 6-axis robot will ensure perfect positioning of a treatment probe in a tumor for both percutaneous and laparoscopic surgical approaches.
The success of this project relies on a well experienced surgical and radiological academic team from Universite Lyon 1 (UCBL), whose research is oriented on focal therapies with strong experience in engineering and experimental surgery, and on Adept Technology, with over twenty-five years of robotics and application expertise.
"We believe that the instrument designed will have a strong impact on both therapeutic and economic ground," said Professor Marc Colombel, Head of Surgical Robotics Developments at Lyon Civil Hospitals and Professor at Universite Lyon 1.
"We are very excited to be an active participant in developing technology that supports advanced methods for treating cancerous tumors," said Rush LaSelle, director of worldwide sales and marketing for Adept Technology, Inc. "This opportunity allows Adept to accelerate the development and deployment of safer and more collaborative robotic technologies, further enabling mechatronics to assist the medical community in improving people's lives."
http://www.robotworldnews.com/100713.html

How a robot can replace you at work – and how it can't-- Feifan lu

Telepresence robots are deputising for their human controllers in the workplace, but can they really fit in?
YOU wander around the office, stopping off in the kitchen to chat with colleagues before heading down the hallway to an impromptu design meeting. Afterwards, you head to a colleague's office to continue the discussion.
It is a fairly typical day at work - except that you are in London, while all the people you have been talking to are in your company's New York office. You have, in effect, beamed yourself across the Atlantic in the guise of a telepresence robot.
These robots are essentially a video camera, speaker and screen on wheels, and they can be controlled from anywhere in the world using a web browser. They allow managers to keep an eye on their factories overseas and multinational teams to collaborate on projects - all without setting foot on a ...

iRobot Packbots enter Fukushima nuclear plant to gather data, take photos, save lives (video)-----------WEIWEI

iRobot recently deployed a pair of robots to the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in Japan, where intense levels of radiation have made it increasingly dangerous for human rescue workers to operate. The remote-controlled Packbots entered one of Fukushima's reactor buildings on Sunday morning, in the hopes of providing authorities with a better idea of what's going on inside the plant's nether regions. Each Packbot entered the facility with an attached video camera, allowing Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) to receive live interior images and temperature readings of the troubled reactor building. It would certainly be a daunting task for any human to undertake, but the Packbot is specially designed to cope with hazardous conditions (in the past, it's been used to defuse bombs for the U.S. Army). And the Packbot isn't alone, either. Authorities are also using a mechanical excavator and transporter to wipe away some of the debris outside the plant, while an unmanned helicopter has been hoisted skyward, to take aerial photos of the area. TEPCO has yet to release information on the Packbots' findings, but if Sunday's mission proves to be a success, they'll be sent in to two other reactor buildings, to do it all over again. Check out a video and an extra image of the Packbot, after the break.

 

 

http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/18/irobot-packbots-enter-fukushima-nuclear-plant-to-gather-data-ta/

Six ways to build robots that do humans no harm - FeiFan Lu

With the relentless march of technological progress, robots and other automated systems are getting ever smarter. At the same time they are also being given greater responsibilities, driving cars, helping with childcare, carrying weapons, and maybe soon even pulling the trigger.

But should they be trusted to take on such tasks, and how can we be sure that they never take a decision that could cause unintended harm?

The latest contribution to the growing debate over the challenges posed by increasingly powerful and independent robots is the book Moral Machines: Teaching Robots Right from Wrong.

Authors Wendell Wallach, an ethicist at Yale University, and historian and philosopher of cognitive science Colin Allen, at Indiana University, argue that we need to work out how to make robots into responsible and moral machines. It is just a matter of time until a computer or robot takes a decision that will cause a human disaster, they say.

So are there things we can do to minimise the risks? Wallach and Allen take a look at six strategies that could reduce the danger from our own high-tech creations.

1. Keep them in low-risk situations
2. Do not give them weapons
3. Give them rules like Asimov's 'Three Laws of Robotics'
4. Program robots with principles
5. Educate robots like children
6. Make machines master emotion

Articulated robot ----- Senlong Jiang

 An articulated robot is one which uses rotary joints to access its work space. Usually the joints are arranged in a “chain”, so that one joint supports another further in the chain. Articulated robots can range from simple two-jointed structures to systems with 10 or more interacting joints. They are powered by a variety of means, including electric motors.  

 

The research indicated that most articulated robots are used in companies and productivity progams. Of cource, some articulated robots also used by family in order to help elders do some easy housework, such as move furnitures or passing cups.

Otherwise, because most articulated robots used by companies, it is more important to focus on the accuracy. The difference between the point that a robot is trying to achieve and the actual resultant position. Absolute accuracy is the difference between a point instructed by the robot control system and the point actually achieved by the manipulator arm, while repeatability is the cycle-to-cycle variation of the manipulator arm when aimed at the same point.

The smallest increment of motion or distance that can be detected or controlled by the control system of a mechanism. The resolution of any joint is a function of encoder pulses per revolution and drive ratio, and dependent on the distance between the tool center point and the joint axis.

Articulated robot provides the high speed of productivity and make sure the accuracy, which could make the program more efficiency. In addition, it also help company save the resource of workforce and make more profits. In the future, articulated robot should be get the higher position in the program of productivity.

Bilibot Is the Affordable ROS Platform You've Been Looking For ------WEIWEI

Building robots has never been cheap, which sucks, because all that time and effort and expense that goes into building a hardware platform eats up all the time and energy that you'd probably rather spend making that hardware platform do something useful and cool. Part of the point of PR2 and ROS was to remove this hardware barrier and let people start focusing on software. Every once in a while, though, you run into someone who for some reason can't find $400,000 between their couch cushions for their own PR2. For these unfortunate souls, a new option may be the Bilibot.
The idea behind the Bilibot (which is some variation on "cheap robot" in German) is to create a robotics platform that's cheap enough for just about anyone to be able afford, yet capable enough for serious robotics researchers to be productive with. It consists of three primary components: an iRobot Create base to let it move around, a Kinect sensor to let it see where it's going, and a computer pre-configured with ROS. Part of the appeal of the platform is that it'll be capable of doing stuff right out of the box: there will be a single button you can push to get the robot to start following you around, for example.

The primary reason you might want a Bilibot is that the target price they're shooting for is a scant $650, which is basically just the cost of the parts plus the time it takes to put the thing together. And if you want to go even cheaper, you can build it yourself, the plans will be freely available.
Want in? They're currently finalizing the computer hardware, but you can sign up to be notified when pre-orders start for real at the website below.


http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/diy/bilibot-is-the-affordable-ros-platform-youve-been-looking-for

Debate on robot rights heats up: Fear looms, but what if robots rise?

A government report that supported a debate on granting human-like rights to super-intelligent robots in the near future as ‘a distraction’ is allegedly condemned by the scientists and other critics.
Scientists believe that before granting any rights to these super-intelligent robots, a detailed public debate should be called, over the use of robots by the military, police or as a supporter for the elderly and as sex toys.
Till now robots are regarded as carers and sex toys and this image will stay with them till the time any major development in the field of artificial intelligence comes in.
There is little possibility that robots will be as intelligent as humans are in the near future as till now artificial intelligence technology is still in its infancy and researchers still have to do a lot of work if they want to develop a robot whose intelligence is anywhere near to the human brain.

Any research that would make robots realize that they are much more powerful than humans will require a major technological breakthrough and we are still about many decades away from such a breakthrough and it should not be treated as anything more than science fiction. “It’s really premature I think to discuss robot rights,” said Owen Holland, a computer scientist and expert on machine consciousness at Essex University. “[This report] is certainly not based on science and it is not realistic.”
Noel Sharkey, a roboticist at the University of Sheffield who is a regular contributor to the BBC’s Robot Wars, agreed, but he said there were more immediate concerns. He further stated that:

“The idea of machine consciousness and rights is ... a bit of a fairy tale as far as I’m concerned; my concern is about public safety. I think we need proper, informed, public debate about where we are going with robotics at the moment. We need to tell the public about what’s going on in robotics and ask them what they want.”

Researchers from all over the world are busy developing more intelligent machines that can mimic human intelligence. Samsung has developed a robot border guard for the South Korean military that can shoot targets up to 500 meters away. They also stated that the robot is intelligent enough to shoot at pre-programmed basis, but still these machines require a program that has to be fed into it according to the mission, so we cannot regard them as truly intelligent machines.

In order to regard robots as highly intelligent machines they should be the one who should go to the battlefield in case of war and humans should be kept away from this, but till now this is not the case. Even if robots become more common in wars then also they will be used for different tasks such as surveillance.
Till now we have achieved enough technology to use robots as watch dogs and nothing more than that, researchers have also predicted that with subsequent research, robot scientists will be able to develop robots that can be used as carers for the elderly and as sex toys.
Although, we haven’t developed any super -intelligent robots yet, but we cannot deny its possibility in the near future. And if the dream (some might call it a nightmare) comes true, these robots might demand all the rights that nest with humans as they will be able to perform all the tasks that are done by us with same sanity.
I doubt people would like to share the space in their lives with these super-intelligent machines. What do you say?
http://www.robotster.org/entry/debate-on-robot-rights-heats-up-fear-looms-but-what-if-robots-rise/

Robot Helpers----Senlong Jiang

In Japan, robot-led weddings, robot factory workers and even squeaky robot pets are all fine and good. But in-home helper bots, which are the main goal of many robotics research projects, are anything but widespread, even in that robo-friendly country. Apparently old people and sick people, even in Japan, still prefer that human touch.
       
Not similarly with traditional robot hepler, this one focus on nursing home attendants or in-home care providers. The robot could detect how well you are and make a plan to take care of your health. It is more convenient for old patient that they could take the physical examination at home and get the latest data of healthy situation.
       
Cute, pet-like robot companions have sold modestly well, the BBC notes – more than 1,000 Paro baby seal 'bots are in Japanese nursing homes and hospitals, as well as private homes. This is not a staggering figure, but that could be because of its $2,800 price tag.

However, not everyone prefer the Healthy Robot Helpers. Even lots of patients said: “We want humans caring for us, not machines.”


http://www.popsci.com.au/2011/02/some-japanese-patients-shun-robot-helpers-throwing-high-tech-future-of-elder-care-into-doubt/

Dancing Sony Robots----------WEIWEI

SRI Shows New 'Taurus' Bomb-Defusing Prototype at Stanford Robot Block Party ---------------WEIWEI

The fundamental technology behind the da Vinci Surgical System was originally developed at SRI International, and it's not like they've been sitting around building thumb-twiddling robots since then. Well, not entirely, anyway. This is Taurus, a little manipulator robot that was unveiled to the public for the first time at the National Robotics Week Robot Block Party at Stanford's VAIL automotive research lab.
When I say Taurus is little, it's because the robot was specifically designed to fold itself into a box shape that's a mere 14" wide and 5" tall [36 cm wide and 13 cm tall]. It needs to be so compact because of what its job is: Taurus is meant to be shoved into small spaces in vehicles to detect and defeat vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices. It doesn't have wheels or legs or anything like that; instead, it's intended to be mounted directly onto the robotic arm of a Talon or a PackBot, which is an innovative way to go.
This approach makes a lot of sense, because as we've seen, bomb disposal robots aren't always the most, er, graceful of machines. And obviously, this can be a problem when you're working with high explosives. Using Taurus, a bomb disposal technician can see whatever they need to see in high definition 3D, and using haptic feedback gloves, clip the red wire (or the blue wire! no! the red wire!) while remaining at a safe distance. This system works well enough that users even forget that they're working via a robot.
Taurus is a prototype in active development, and systems should be in the field as early as this summer, for a cheap enough price that they should be affordable for people besides the military.

Also on display was SRI's magical wall-climbing robot that manages to stick to anything you want it to stick to using static electricity. Its plastic and carbon tread can generate an electrostatic charge even in non-conductive materials, and the robot then sticks on in the same way that rubbing a balloon against your hair causes it to stick to your head. This works on surfaces that are smooth or rough or covered with dust, and SRI's robots are currently being used in Japan to inspect buildings.

http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/industrial-robots/sri-shows-new-taurus-prototype-at-stanford-robot-block-party

TOPIO--Pingpong playing robot

Look at this picture.Does it look like a poster of a science fiction which talks about a professional ping-pong robot player.In fact, there is a robot named TOPIO in the real world.It is a bipedal humanoid robot designed to play table tennis against a human being. It has been developed since 2005 by TOSY, a robotics firm in Vietnam. It was publicly demonstrated at the Tokyo International Robot Exhibition (IREX) on November 28, 2007.[1] TOPIO 3.0 (the latest version of TOPIO) stands approximately 1.88 m tall and weighs 120 kg.[2] Every TOPIO uses an advanced artificial intelligence system to learn and continuously improve its skill level while playing.
Recently,TOPIO2.0 came to the 60th Spielwarenmesse International Toy Fair.Apart from TOPIO 2.0, TOSY will present at the fair some other robots and hi-tech toys, including TOPIO tiny – a miniature 40-cm version of TOPIO 2.0.
There are TOSY TyreROBO, the world’s first tyre-shaped robot, and TOSY BallROBO, a ball-shaped robot as gifts used in the World Cup 2010. Both of these robots can run forwards and backwards, turn left and right, and climb up the slopes in different environments (sand, snow, water and grass).
A hi-tech favorite toy for Vietnamese children, TOSY UFO Returning, the latest boomerang
Attending the largest toy fair in the world, TOSY will also bring dancing Tiny TOPIO, the mini version of TOPIO2.0 and two robots that can run forward and backwards, climb, and move o­n snowy, grassy and sandy terrain. The last o­ne is Tosy UFO Returning, a modern boomerang which can fly forward and return precisely, as well as shines brightly at night.
These products are registered for pattern and brand protection in major markets like the US, Europe, Japan, Vietnam, China, South Korea, and India.

reference:http://topio.tosy.com/news2.shtml

Blog Design

The topic of our blog is Technologies. To make the blog more clearly, we designed it for several parts.
Generally, the colour of the background is black, because of it makes people feel mysterious. Otherwise, the colour of content is white, in order to make it clearly.At the top of the blog, it shows the title which called Robots. Next part is a background picture, it composed by some key words, such as Technologies, Robots and so on, all of these words identify the theme of our blog.
Following the blackground picture, there is a flash show that talks about some phenomenon of technologies, which could make visitors have deep impression.
For the last half page, the left side shows the main content of Technologies, which were posted by our groupmembers. It provides some information that related ro our topic. Additionally, every article will offer some pictures so that visitors could understand the content more easly.
The other side shows some links about the blog. Firstly, it has the link of Followers, which could make the relations to the other blogs. Under the Followers, it is Blog Archive that keep the lists of content and make people more convenient to find what they want to looking for. Finally, the part of About Me also shows some information about the author.

Posted by Senlong Jiang

Robots: Robotic Arts - mp3--------WEIWEI

Our episode today features David St-Onge, an engineer working at the interface of visionary arts and creative science. Having participated in numerous robotic-art projects (including the Cloudharp, SAILS/Mascarillons) he talks about the opportunities and challenges of undertaking projects combining the contrasting domains of arts and science/engineering.

David St-Onge is an is an ‘engineer in arts’, and works for visionary artists to give them the technological tools they need to express their talent and vision. At Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal and then at Universite Laval, he trained as a mechanical engineer (specialised in buildings’ structure) and roboticist, and also followed graduate studies in project management to acquire the necessary tools to work in such a multidisciplinary context. More recently, he chose to exclusively specialise in artistic projects involving robotics. The most prominent of his projects includes the flying cube project dubbed ‘SAILS’, which is an art/science/technology, research-stimulating platform initiated by Nicolas Reeves, director of the NXI Gestatio Laboratory at the design school UQAM in Canada, with whom David collaborates closely.
http://www.robotspodcast.com/podcast/2011/04/robots-robotic-arts/

Future Car Technologies ----Senlong Jiang

Potential future car technologies include new energy sources and materials, which are being developed in order to make automobiles more sustainable, safer, more energy efficient, or less polluting.
The major problem of car is the energy saving and prevent pollutions.In one experiment done to improve the future of cars, a new kind of battery was installed which can be easily removed, and recharged in two different ways. First, by a generator integrated with the IC and second by removing the cassettes so that they can be recharged off-board in the home ( Charters, Watkinson, Wykes, & Simpkin, 2008). Moreover, the energy could get from the wind or sunshine, which is more environmental and savety.
Of course, no one uses a drawing board today. That is so last year. Today, future cars are conceived on the computer in great detail. These future cars are actually concept vehicles, which have yet to be built. Once built, the future car is considered to be a prototype. It is so hopefull that one day the car could controlled by the computer system, so that people can do what they want at driving time.
In my personal opinion, I prefer that the future car can fly in the sky, it not means the car could in place of the airplane, but just a idea to aviod the prblems about traffic and accidents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_car_technologies
http://www.future-car.net/

robots in the future

robots technology!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!