Tears of Steel – Robot Evolution Remix (Video)
Robert Roschler, a good friend, fellow robot designer, and AI researcher, put together this impressive remix of "Tears of Steel". Just to be clear, the video footage and impressive animation was done by the Blender Foundation and Robert is using it in accordance with the appropriate derivative license terms and conditions. At the same time, he is the creator, author, and performer of the song "Evolution".
Robert is one of those rare individuals that that is been able to bridge the gap between left brain right brain individuals merging his grasp of both the technical realm and the artistic. He loves creating a fusion of robotics and automation with the performing arts. In fact, that unique talent inspired him many years ago to create the RoboDance project.
That project, which was primarily self-funded by Robert himself, enabled people to create complex dance and performance sequences with computer assistance utilising low-cost robots like the Robosapien. He doesn't let artificial constraints stand in the way of creativity. In fact he sees it as a challenge to apply technology in new ways to create his visions.
Here are the reference links provided by Robert:
Remix of the amazing Tears of Steel animation video by the Blender Foundation. Video footage and some sound effects are used in accordance with the Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution license the video was released. This license allows content usage in both commercial and non-commercial derivative works as long as proper attribution is given. My personal thanks to the creative geniuses at the Blender Foundation for this latest open source project in a series of true gems that they have released over the years. To see the original film in its entirety please visit:
http://mango.blender.org/
The song "Evolution" is an original work and not part of the Tears of Steel project, (c) Android Technologies, Inc. For more information visit:
http://robotsrule.com/
Using 3D Printing for Practical Designs
Design World has an online webinar scheduled for next Tuesday, December 4th, featuring Chong Pak of Olloclip explaining how they used 3D printing technology to design and manufacture their 3-in-one lens system for the iPhone camera. According to the webinar registration webpage:
"Olloclip has created the ultimate 3-in-one lens system for your iPhone that fits in your pocket and takes your picture taking ability to the next level. Product design in the most recent years has been impacted tremendously by 3D printing and Olloclip’s camera lenses are no different. Whether it’s wide angle, fish eye or a macro picture view, this development in camera phone technology has been made possible by Objet 3D Printing. Please join Chong Pak of Olloclip and Objet Geometries as they discuss product design within the iPhone era and how 3D printing can help engineers design, create and ultimately bring products to life faster.
Attend this webinar to learn about:
-Olloclip and their fast hitting iPhone accessory
-3D printing and the design process
-Objet’s multi-platform capabilities"
Makerbot Replicator vs. Lulzbot A0-100 (Video)
I'm not sure what Andrew Mazzotta does for a living, but I do know that he has a boatload of 3D printers and is racking up numerous hours testing and evaluating them, which is all to the good.
This week he compares the Makerbot Replicator to the Lulzbot AO-100, and throws in a few comments about the Uprint SE Plus for good measure. It's not a rigorous, detailed evaluation, but is quite valuable since it's based on his actual experience as a user of all three printers.
DARPA $50,000 Paper Shredder Challenge
DARPA, the same folks that brought us, or at least funded, the development of the Internet and several autonomous robotic vehicles, has a new challenge. If you like puzzles, mental gymnastics, and extremely short deadlines, you're going to love this one.
It turns out that the US military frequently takes over the headquarters of hostile forces, but all too often all the critical paperwork containing precious clues and insights has been shredded before they can get their hands on it. That's where the DARPA challenge comes in. They're putting up a $50,000 prize for the team that can come up with the best solution for putting all the shredded information back together again.
Rather than just present one puzzle, which might be too difficult for any team to solve, DARPA has posted five puzzles with increasing levels of complexity. The puzzles are already up on the challenge website, and can be downloaded by anyone, even if they decide not to enter the competition.
To keep things even more interesting and exciting, they have a Leaderboard on the website that is updated regularly. The winning team will be announced on December 5, 2011.
(Via DARPA Shredder Challenge.)
Affordable Stretch Sensor from AdaFruit Industries
I'm so incredibly jealous. Lady Ada over at AdaFruit Industries has all these great toys to play and experiment with, and she's figured out how to do it while enriching all of our hacker lives and making a little money to find more great stuff.
The 'toy' that triggered this post for me is some conductive rubber stretch cord that acts as a sensor. It's like being able to pull on the end of a resistor and have it's characteristics change linearly as it gets longer and shorter. Way cool! And it is incredibly cheap. She's priced it at less than ten dollars for a full meter and even includes a pair of alligator clips and a 10k resistor. Science teachers, for example, could dice it up and have enough for each student to have a piece for experiments.
The only drawback that I can see is that the sensor takes a little while to recover after being stretched, though I guess that could be compensated for in some applications by using two sensors in opposition.
As usual, the AdaFruit website has a great related tutorial page so you can learn while having fun.
Toyota Showcases Healthcare Partner Robots (Video)
Basic assumptions, whether explicitly defined or not, often determine the eventual success, or failure, of all research and design projects. It's all too easy for an engineer to make assumptions that don't bear out in the real world. It's also very common for corporate management to dedicate huge budgets to projects built on faulty logic.
After watching, and thinking about, some of the patient assistance robotic technology showcased yesterday by Toyota, I really have to wonder what their original design assumptions were. A good example is the Toyota Patient Transfer Assist Robot.
’Toyota Showcases Healthcare Partner Robots (Video)’ continues
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