BrainGate Mind Control of Robotics on PBS (Video)
Watch The Future of Prosthetics: Mind-Bending Robotic Arms on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.
The May 16th PBS NewsHour program featured the latest developments of the BrainGate project, which has the potential to enable handicapped individuals to utilize and regain control, and interaction with, the world around them.
Via: The Future of Prosthetics: Mind-Bending Robotic Arms | PBS NewsHour | May 16, 2012 | PBS
Furby Returns!
Time for a major hacker celebration! It's now official. Later this year, and obviously in plenty of time for the 2012 holiday gift buying season, Hasbro will be bringing back Furby.
The incredibly popular toy sold more than 40 million units between it's introduction in 1998 through 2007 when it was taken off the market by Hasbro.
Furby was, and continues to be, a favorite with hackers who enjoy nothing more than dissecting and improving on the cute little toy.
Via: The Return of Furby - 2012-05-14 21:11:26 | Gifts and Dec
Clothbot: a Robot for Flexible Clothes Climbing (Video)
Researchers from China's Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology present a climbing robot called Clothbot that can grip and climb on various kinds of clothes. Part of the paper, "System and Design of Clothbot: a Robot for Flexible Clothes Climbing," by Y. Liu et al., presented at the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Learn more: http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/home-robots/clothbot-has-no-trouble-navigating-your-pants
By spectrummag
Bottom of the Sea Robot Kingdom (Video)
I ran across Studio Shin Kai Ryuh's robotic creations at Design Festa 35 here in Tokyo last weekend. The studio's founder and designer has captured an imaginary under the sea kingdom complete in every detail, and has managed to bring many of the creatures to life using automation techniques. Design Festa, by the way, is a biannual gathering of artists and creators across all aspects of creative design. It's a endless buffet of inspiration and delight. I highly recommend that you experience it when you have the chance.
By tempusmaster
Fastners for 3D Printing from I Heart Robotics
Designing and producing robot parts with 3D printers has become a reality with the advent of affordable devices like the MakerBot, but after you create the necessary parts, how can you attach them to each other in a reliable, robust way that will withstand actual use in the unforgiving real world?
Our friends over at I Heart Robotics have come up with practical solution - brass inserts that install in most 3D printed plastic parts using a soldering iron. According to their tests, the insert holding strength should be more than sufficient for most applications.
Via: I Heart Robotics: Fastners for 3D Printing: Threaded inserts
Robots and Humans Event in San Francisco – May 21, 2012
I can't be everywhere at once, but there are certainly times when I wish I could. Next week, on May 21st, SWISSNEX is staging a Robots and Humans event in San Francisco I would really like to attend:
Oussama Khatib, from the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at Stanford University, presents new concepts for safe, dependable, and competent robots including design, novel sensing modalities, efficient planning and control strategies, methods for modeling human motion and skills, and other requirements. These developments are providing exciting prospects for novel clinical therapies, athletic training, and performance improvement.
Aude Billard leads the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). She shares recent advances in the development of robust algorithms to enable robots to learn by imitating humans as well as examples of applications for flexible manipulation and quick adaptation, such as catching an object that is just starting to fall.
Via: Robots and Humans — swissnex
Cody Ripley: Finding His Future (Video)
The welding shop at Northwest Classen High School is Cody Ripley's home away from home. It's where the senior spends hours with his teammates and teachers in the afternoon and throughout the evening working through the engineering and mechanics of building a basketball-playing robot. Visitors can't see the shop from the school's entrance. It's a large, but dimly lit building that's found only after taking a winding path through the school's main building and outside to a broken sidewalk. Up to this point, Cody's path has been equally obscured. But thanks to robotics and a knack for computer programming, Cody's future is full of certainty and hope. To find out more about how you can support students like Cody, visit www.okckids.com
By FoundationOKCPS
Female Robot Store Mannequin Real World Test (Video)
A female robot store mannequin developed by the Sugiura Machine Design Office (http://www.machinedesign.co.jp), is currently in actual use at the Parco Department store in Ikebukuro.
Each of the robots arms features 4 degrees of freedom enabling it to mimic human body language. The robot operates over 10 hours a day, so reliability was a major design concern.
The actual movement routines vary over the period of an hour. There are currently three body language routines. The mannequin's limbs were designed and 3D printed (more on that later.)
The robot is expected to be on display for about a month.
By tempusmaster
Simple Robot Claw (Video)
This is a prototype of a new kit soon to be released by DAGU. Intended for younger minds who love all things robotic this is a low cost robot claw that is fun to build and a great accessory for any robotic Halloween costume. The clear plastic body makes this kit easy to light up internally with a few well placed LEDs. The Gripper can be separated from the main body allowing it to be fitted to a small robot.
By OdBot
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