Grand Challenge Hijinks

Reading like a robotic comedy of errors, DARPA has produced a masterfully understated official summary of the performance of each of the teams participating in yesterday's Grand Challenge. Some highlights:

Vehicle 22 - Red Team - At mile 7.4. Vehicle went off course, got caught on an obstacle and rubber on the front wheels caught fire, which was quickly extinguished. Vehicle has been disabled.

Vehicle 21- SciAutonicsII - At mile 6.7. Vehicle went into an embankment and became stuck. Vehicle has been disabled, and the team is recovering it.

Vehicle 5 - Team Caltech - At mile 1.3. Vehicle went through a fence, and couldn't come back through. Vehicle has been disabled, and the team is recovering it.

Vehicle 7 - Digital Auto Drive - At mile 6.0. Vehicle was paused to allow a wrecker to get through, and, upon restarting, sensors were not able to determine the proper route. After sensors tried unsuccessfully for three hours, vehicle was disabled.

Vehicle 25 - Virginia Tech - Vehicle brakes locked up in the start area. Vehicle has been removed from the course.

Vehicle 23 - Axion Racing - Vehicle circled the wrong way in the start area. Vehicle has been removed from the course.

Vehicle 2 - Team CajunBot - Vehicle brushed a wall on its way out of the chute. Vehicle has been removed from the course.

Vehicle 4 - Team CIMAR - At mile 0.45. Vehicle ran into some wire and got totally wrapped up in it. Vehicle has been disabled.

Vehicle 20 – Team TerraMax – Got to mile 1.2. Vehicle then started backing up and after .5 miles, the vehicle was disabled.

You can't make this stuff up!

Robots Candy-05 Wants To Be The Next Tiger Woods

One of the prototypes from the last round of NEDO (New Energy & Industrial Technology Development Organization) funding is Candy-05, who seems to like Golf a whole lot. Looks like he has no problem getting the ball in the hole.

Candy-05 is developed by Nirvana Technology (now the Hajime Research Institute) and stands about 120cm tall. He rolls around on wheels and has stereoscopic cameras which help it locate a golf ball, eye the hole, and putt. His goal in life is to be an entertainment robot for park areas, where golf is popular. Video after the break.

Asimo Brandishes Firearms

A tipster sends us word of this image of impending doom. The translation on the page doesn’t help much, but it may just be an action figure. Dear god let it be just an action figure and not a full sized Asimo with guns! Anyway, apparently Asimo and and a female robot were putting on shows at the National Science Museum in Japan. And judging by that image it couldn’t have ended well.

PALRO Robot From Fuji Soft

The PALRO robot from Fuji Soft merges Fuji Soft’s software capabilities with an open architecture that offers developers a whole lot of room to experiment. PALRO is just 15″ tall and lightweight at just 1.9kg. He’s expensive, but not as expensive as you might think at $3.300.

PALRO has a built-in camera, microphones, speakers, an LED array with an Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor running the show. Not bad. Vstone’s Robovie-PC costs $1,100 more, so PALRO seems like a good deal.

Evolving Robots Navigate A Maze, Prey On Each Other

It isn’t just us humans who have to worry about getting killed by robots. Other robots should worry too. We told you about this project last year, but it’s worth revisiting. Especially since several blogs think this is new news. Some boffins at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems in the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale of Lausanne have been working on “evolving robots” for awhile now. Their latest breakthrough is the most astounding yet. And sort of terrifying.

A group of robots programmed to use Darwinian selection in order to learn, evolve and mutate have successfully moved through a maze and helped each other in tasks like pushing tokens around in order to achieve a common goal.

Thing is, some of the creatures displayed early signs of a predator-prey relationship. In short they are learning to deceive, lie and probably warming up to a kill. Video below.

Pneumatically Powered Robot Walks On 24 Oxygen-Tubing Legs

What has 24 legs and walks with the power of oxygen? This robot here. It’s a pneumatically powered walking robot with legs made of hospital oxygen tubing. It was built in 2005 and was controlled by a Mac Mini. The project took about 5 weekends and nabbed two first prizes (for best demo and best presentation) at Hackers’ Conference the same year. We just love to watch it walk, with the accompanying whirring sounds.

RP-7 Wi-Fi-Enabled Virtual Doctor

The RP-7 robot admittedly looks pretty goofy with a doctor’s face that you just want to punch. Smug bastard. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t useful. In theory anyway. It has been functioning as an around-the-clock physician at the Ryder Trauma Center at the University of Miami/Jackson Medical Center in Florida.

The bot stands about 5 feet tall and is Wi-Fi-enabled. It comes from InTouch Health and just likes to roam around the wards in the trauma center, letting the patients and staff communicate with the off-duty doctors wirelessly via the monitor. That’s where the goofy face comes in.

The idea is that the robot will connect doctors to patients, allowing the two to converse even when the doctor is not on duty. It’s a great idea, but come on. Doctors never want to do squat on their off hours. Might as well paint a happy face on the monitor for all the good it will do.

Shinpo Can Play Rock-Paper-Scissors

TMSUK teamed up with Waseda University to create a robot capable of walking without the bent knee approach. Shinpo is the result of this experiment. Basically it takes a step by lifting up its whole leg, while putting all its weight on the other foot, like humans do. In result, the pelvis is rotated. Obviously modeled after the design of the human body, the robot is 5″, 158lbs, 39 DOF, and the speed capacity of 1.8kph. That is one dense robot.

Now displayed in Niigata Hall of Natural Science, Shinpo can take a rest. The exhibit also includes interactive touch screens, movies, and information stands to help the visitors understand Shinpo. If you want to know more about Shinpo, I’d advise you to take a trip to Japan.

Robots BigDog Is Off To War

If you don’t freak out at the sight of BigDog, you are made of sterner stuff than I. Imagine how enemy soldiers will feel, seeing it walk toward them. And soon they will meet.

Darpa has finally approved the contract for Boston Dynamics’ LS3 (Legged Squad Support System) for the US Marines. Like BigDog, it will travel autonomously for 20 miles without needing to refuel, carrying 400 pounds of equipment for the soldiers in its squad.

AIMEC Bot Now Has Legs

When last we checked in with AIMEC he was learning Karaoke and was just an upper torso. But now he’s gone and got himself a pair of legs. We already really liked the robot’s look, but with legs it becomes so much more, capable of delivering your Coke with a song and maybe one day using those legs to dance himself back to the kitchen.

Follow AIMEC on Twitter here.

Dyzplastic’s Android figures

Android is a great OS and it’s just a bonus that it has a cute robot mascot. We’ve been waiting for someone, anyone to come out with some cool Android figures and finally they are coming. Artist Andrew Bell has partnered with Google to release a series of authorized Android robot figurines.

They are starting with an initial run of 12 designs in blind boxes. Of course you want to collect them. Look at these guys. The figures stand 3 inches tall and have articulating heads and arms. Look for them to be available starting the 10th of this month.

FuRo Breaks Wind, Makes Controlling Bots Easier

A division of the Chiba Institute of Technology by the name of FuRo (Future Robotics Technology Center) has created a controller dubbed WIND (Wireless Intelligent Networked Device.) No, it is not controlled by your farts, but rather by your movements. Move your arm left, the robot will do so. Nod your head up and down, the robot will do so. Many different movements are possible with the 3-dimensional sensors mounted on the mid to upper back and on the biceps and forearm. This kind of technology is good for a profession that handles dangerous materials, but also requires the unique, careful perception of a human.

The white boxs are key to this secret. The white boxs are “System On Chip” processors, meaning they contain as much “intelligence” as personal computers. That’s about the power of 250 GB HDD! Though the mini processors are abundant with memory, the Bluetooth wireless transmitter slows down the robot’s reaction speed. There is still much potential for WIND technology. Here is a demonstration video.

Earthquake Detecting Robot Breaks Ground

Hiren Patel’s home village of Gujarat, India was hit by a devasting earthquake back in 2001. After his town was rebuilt, Hiren enrolled in J T Engineering College to study robotics. He set a goal for himself: Create something that detects earthquakes so people can better prepare for them. So Hiren and a hand full of other engineers set out to meet his goal, and the product was the Earthquake Detector Robot. EDR supposedly can detect earthquakes that are 3 hours away from hitting the surface. It senses change in the temperature of the ground and water with one of its sensors, and detects change in water level with the other. It also holds a transmitter that sends any new information to the authorities. Watch a news report with the interview below.

Robonaut2: NASA’s Robot Astronaut

What the hell, we’ve sent monkeys into space and probably other animals that they are all hush hush about. It’s time we got a real robot up in space so astronauts can get creeped out. This guy was developed by NASA and GM. It’s a trainable, expendable crew member who just happens to be a robot.

Robonaut2 is ambidextrous and designed to use the same tools as human astronauts. He can lift up to 20lbs and operate in environments too dangerous for humans. Basically he’s our red shirt. If it looks like someone might die, they’ll send Robonaut2. Video below.

Lego Spider Robot

MkMan’s Lego spider robot was created using pieces from a Mindstorm kit along with milled plastic parts. The legs are a locomotive concept known as Klann Linkage, meaning that they will operate in pairs, converting the rotational force from one motor into movement for both legs. There are four rotating gears that keep the eight legs moving. Looks like it gets around pretty good.

Robocop Competes In The Tough Guy Challenge

The Tough Guy Challenge is an annual competition in England where participants struggle against mud, ice, and fire. And who’s tougher than Robocop? He’s part man, part machine. Sadly he didn’t win though. At least he didn’t have to go up against Ed-209.

Amoeba-Inspired ChIMERA Robot On Video

In a recent TED talk, Dr. Dennis Hong talks about some of the creepier candidates in the world of robots, including the spider-like STRiDER and the amoeboid ChIMERA (Chemically Induced Motion Everting Robotic Amoeba).

ChiMERA achieves locomotion by moving its silicone skin and can squeeze through spaces half its diameter, and travels up to half a meter per second. It could be powered by chemical actuation, electroactive polymers, and air-driven tubes. Video below.

Awesome Nekosaur Crystal Robot Toy With Robot Guts

Check out this awesome robot toy. Not every toy will give you robot guts. The Crystal Nekosaur is 6 inches tall, and comes with a paper insert that creates the illusion. He’ll cost you $79 and was designed by Alen Yen. It looks badass.

ARM-Powered Lego Robot Solves Rubik’s Cubes

We’ve seen several bots adept at the twists and turns of Rubick’s Cube and this guy is the latest. It uses Lego Mindstorms parts, a Lego programmable robotics kit and even a Nokia N95 mobile phone.

The ARM armed Nokia N95 sits above the cube, scanning it with its camera as it solves the puzzle. Interesting take on a cube solving bot.

DARPA Wants An Autonomous, Grenade Throwing Robot

DARPA has put up an interesting job posting. It involves a new research and development program called ARM. DARPA wants to build a robot that can use its arms to autonomously grasp objects.

The robot should be able to “hold an inert grenade with one hand, and pull the pin with the other hand” without any help from humans. The human who is the target should be able to leap up in the air, paddle his feet furiously and then zip away like Bug Bunny.

Thanks DARPA. You sure don’t make it easy to sleep at night.