ROBOTS DREAMS - Robot news and robot hacks from a true robot geek

UK Humanoid Robots Gather

Check out photos from the UK humanoid robot gathering/competiton that was staged concurrently with the UK Micromouse 2009 last weekend. It looks like humanoid robotics is definitely drawing attention and builders on that side of the world.

[via RoboSavvy]

Robonova-1 Robot Repeats TV Performance (Video)

It’s been 3 years, almost to the day, since the popular Robonova-1 humanoid robot made its network television debut in Denmark (video below) and ended up going head over heels.

Fast forward to April, 2009 and Robonova gets a second chance to wow the TV audience. This time, as a member of a Japan pop music group, he only has to do a little backup singing and some simple dance moves.

What happened? Well, you get three guesses… and the first two don’t count.

Robot Sightings: Homeless Robot, Widening Robot Gap, Crabfu Challenge, and more...

What's going on today in my crazy robot world?

• 20:27 How many servos does it take to make a walking humanoid robot? How about 2...? tinyurl.com/69xrmv
• 20:40 If you're going to have robot soccer games and robot battles, you have to have cheerleaders! tinyurl.com/6gtfr2
• 22:17 The Tsukuba Real World Challenge was like the Darpa Challenge only on sidewalks with real people: tinyurl.com/tsukubachallenge
• 05:54 The "robot gap" widens and isn't expected to slow down. tinyurl.com/robot-gap Notice that China and India don't make the top 10.
• 06:42 Homeless UK robot will work for food (tinyurl.com/6aranj), or at least his animator will.
• 08:40 Long before the Terminator or Gort, there was "Tik-Tok of Oz" (1914) and "The Clockwork Man" (1923) tinyurl.com/old-stories
• 08:46 I-Wei needs a new challenge for Crabfu Steamworks, so we thought this 1865 creation would do the trick tinyurl.com/crabfu-challenge
• 09:23 It's not Wall-E, but this mobile robotic arm built using 3 mm signboard and superglue comes close. tinyurl.com/pseudo-wall-e
• 10:47 What do robot loving Australian media consultants do in their spare time? They make Robot Wars videos tinyurl.com/robosapien-wars
• 11:10 The MarvelMind Grumbler robot (tinyurl.com/grumbler-alive) looked really hot, but no website or blog updates in a long, long time...
• 13:07 See the world through the other person's eyes. A simple concept, that some never learn... tinyurl.com/6jju4v
• 13:11 Thanks to the Wizard of Oz, the Tinman got his heart... but what happened next? tinyurl.com/2x83db
• 19:36 Spykee and Rovio duke it out. (tinyurl.com/spykee-vs-rovio) We understand the verdict is being appealed due to cheating by one bot.

Robotically posted for Lem by LoudTwitter

UK Robot Gathering Gains Momentum, and Feet (Video)

A small but active and extremely dedicated group of UK robot builders that connected via the RoboSavvy online forums have started to gather regularly to compete, share information, and show off their creations. The group, which includes humanoid, hexapod, and other types of robots, meets during the regular ROBOtic competitions in Birmingham.

BillB, one of the RoboSavvy hexapod fanatics was kind enough to share the video (see below) of their most recent meet-up.

Robot Servo Serial Mode Comparision

Many robot servo manufacturers sell servos that can be controlled serially, but unfortunately their implementations aren't typically well documented which makes it difficult to make design choices. However, the Aichi Institute of Technology Tetsujin Project website has a fairly detailed webpage comparing serial servo designs from Hitec, Kondo, Robotis, and Futaba. Here's the original webpage, and a Google translated version.

Green Robonova-1

CIMG7899
Originally uploaded by Tempusmaster.

We're always looking for new robot versions and options, so the fact that Hitec is selling a 'Green' Robonova-1 version of their popular humanoid robot caught our attention. We don't recall seeing that particular color option available else where, though anything is possible.

RoboGames 2008: The Master's Voice (Video)

Ever wish you could spend some time learning at the feet of a black belt robotics sensei? Thanks to SYSTM on Revision3, you can do just that. Following RoboGames 2008, Patrick Norton interviewed David Calkins, the event founder and well known expert on robotics, for just over 40 minutes (Video below).

David covers the background of humanoid robotics, why you want to start with a kit rather than building your own from scratch, how gyros and other sensors are used, and a step-by-step walk-through of motion creation. The robots used for the session were Hitec Robonova-1 bipeds, but the basic principles covered apply to all humanoids. 

As a special added bonus, David introduces the plans for a full-on MechWars robot competition and shows one of the initial prototypes. He also pulls the wraps off a special Hitec sponsored educational program where qualified schools and universities can purchase ready to walk (RTW) Robonova-1 robots for as low as USD$500 each.

Note: Be sure to watch all the way to the end. The bloopers at the end are hilarious.

Did we mention that David gives buku props to Matt Bauer numerous times during the program? Way to go Matt!

UK RoboSavvy Humanoid Event-Part 3 (Video)

Not only can they sprint, the UK humanoids can also get down and dirty during a Kung Fu/ROBO-ONE style match in the ring. Check out the videos below for a glimpse of the action.

UK RoboSavvy Humanoid Event-Part 2 (Video)

Here are a couple Sprint competition videos posted by Vangos253 (Papacostantis on Robosavvy):

UK RoboSavvy Humanoid Event-Part 1 (Video)

Almost instantly after we mentioned that we would like to see some photos and videos from the UK humanoid event that was held last weekend, Orac pinged us with a pointer to the files. It looks like everyone had a fantastic time.

ROBO-ONE style robotics had definitely taken hold in the UK, which is extremely encouraging. Hopefully it will motivate some of the humanoid robot kit manufacturers to take the market and customers outside of Japan seriously.

We're going to post several of the videos from the event, which was organized by active UK based members of the popular RoboSavvy robot forums. To get things off to a good start, here's a highlight video put together by OraNova (BillB).