Forbes has a decent article rounding up the key players in commercial robotics today.
Archive for October, 2006
Forbes Article: The Robots are Coming!
Thursday, October 26th, 2006Need a Hand?
Wednesday, October 25th, 2006
Fortunately, the opportunity to make ham-fisted puns is far from the coolest thing about this project. It has 11 degrees of freedom, and each joint sports roughly the same range of motion as its flesh-and-blood counterpart. Articulation is achieved by 10 standard hobby servos pulling on steel wires that run to the finger joints; plus one servo to rotate the thumb.It doesn’t end there, though. No way. This guy built a contrller for the hand, and it looks like… Well it looks like something you’d have seen in Popular Science magazine in the 1980’s with a caption that read, “You will use something like this… IN THE FUTURE.” And here it is:
Looking like a Nintendo Power Glove on steroids, the controller has a potentiometer rigged to each joint, and everything is translated to servo control signals by an Atmel microcontroller.To see more pictures of these finely crafted pieces of hardware, follow this link.
If you like reading words, I recommend checking out the main project page.
Futaba Shows New Humanoid Robot at iHobbyExpo 2006
Monday, October 23rd, 2006
via Tom Atwood at Robot Magazine
At the iHobbyExpo at the Donald Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, October 19-22, Futaba showed a new 20-servo humanoid robot.
Futaba reps noted it carries 11 high-torque servos and 9 lightweight servos, and it can be operated in at least two modes. One accesses canned programs and one enables motion editing using a PC. Demonstrations were performed using a game controller that communicated wirelessly. Signage indicated that it uses a 16-channel 2.4GHz radio and can run for 25 minutes on a charge. Canned routines included walking punching, kicking and bowing. Note close-up rear view image showing internal components as it bows; note also servo lead “bus” on leg and shoulder. Image of second robot was an earlier prototype mock-up showing a different style exterior. The robot has a projected street price in the U.S. of about $1,200.00. Availability is expected in coming months–Robot will keep you posted.
See also www.robots-dreams.com, where Lem Fugitt reports on the international rollout of the new Futaba robot and also offers a video clip of this bot in action!
Update: We are now carrying this Futaba RBT-1!!
No Prize Money for DARPA 2007?
Friday, October 20th, 2006After Stanford University won a Pentagon robot race through the Mojave Desert last year, engineers and students hoisted an oversized $2 million check and poured bubbly champagne over their unmanned Volkswagen SUV.
Next year’s winners won’t be as rich.
The Pentagon’s research arm, which has twice hosted the high-tech contests since 2004, blames an obscure section in a defense spending law signed by President Bush this week. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency believes the law prevents the agency from awarding the $2.7 million prize money.
So instead, DARPA will hand out shiny trophies to the top three teams whose smart vehicles can weave through congested city traffic without human help.
“I promise that the trophies will be given because I’ll personally buy them myself,” Tony Tether, DARPA’s director, told competitors earlier this year.
Read the full article here
suicidebots.com
Monday, October 16th, 2006
Here’s a new one for the RSS reader: Suicide Bots, a blog about robots edited by Simone Davalos and friends, all of whom have more than a passing acquaintance with the squeaking of gears. The title and logo appear to be a friendly parody of another popular website that features more flesh than machine.
In addition to this new project, Scott Beale of Laughing Squid blog explains that Ms. Davalos “also makes things happen with RoboGames, ComBots, Flaming Lotus Girls, QBOX, Power Tool Drag Races and a bunch of other robotic/mechanical/pyro madness.”
Snip from the manifesto:
The Suicide Bots live in blissful relative anonymity, surrounded by robotty goodness. We are interested in robots, robots, fire, robots and stress relief through power tools. Suicidebots.com strives to bring you the best and freshest in robot excitement, brought to you in a mildly amusing anodized-pink package.
Link to SuicideBots.
(Post via BoingBoing)
The E-Maxx Robotics Platform is now available!
Thursday, October 12th, 2006
The Trossen Robotics team, partnering with the fine people at MachineBus, has taken this impressive RC beast to a new level. The shocks have been upgraded to extra-heavy Trinity springs, increasing the payload capacity. The gear ratio has been lowered to increase torque and reduce speed, allowing for more power and more precise motion control. The steering servo has been upgraded to a Hitec HS-645MG to aid steering at low speeds and on rough terrain. To maximize the space available for additional electronics, the truck is outfitted with a MachineBuss MaxxDeck. What was once a humble, off-the-shelf RC monster truck is now a powerful robotics workhorse!
The E-Maxx is the same RC platform used for the military Bombots. This RC truck boasts such attractive features as high quality interchangeable parts, powerful motors, a two-speed manual transmission, 4 wheel drive, 4 wheel independent suspension, a large chassis, adjustable body mounting posts for attaching custom bodies and decks, four inches of ground clearance, and fully adjustable suspension. The E-Maxx is a serious piece of hardware.
RFID Reader Reviewed
Wednesday, October 11th, 2006
Wei-Meng Lee has an RFID review / tutorial in this month’s CODE magazine called Fun With RFID. The Phidget RFID reader was reviewed and used as part of the article. The online preview of the article doesn’t get to the part with Phidgets RFID reader, but you can check out the article and buy the magazine if you are interested 
Code Magazine & Wei-Meng sent over the actual article as a PDF for us to provide to our readers. That was very nice of them. They also provided this discounted subscription link for people interested in getting the magazine.
Matt
Logic Supply Mini Computers
Wednesday, October 11th, 2006
When it comes to buying mini PCs there really is only one name to know and it’s www.LogicSupply.com.
Logic Supply carries many many different systems and cases to choose from. Their rugged fanless selection offers 11 computer choices now. For the PC based robotics developer this is a one stop shop for buying the “brain” to your creation. Of course you will still need to give your Frankenstein a personality and that’s the job of your code
Dev over at the store suggested we point out the SolidLogic GN-L01 Fanless Nano-ITX System to our developers. (black case pictured above) This computer is fanless and only 7.75″ x 6.1″ x 2.4″! Dev also said that they will be coming out with some more very compact systems over the next few months. I recommend signing up for their newsletter. It’s a good one to be on.
Matt
Robotics Connection Blog
Tuesday, October 10th, 2006
Our friends over at Robotics Connection have started a blog to keep customers informed about their product updates. It’s just this kind of customer service that makes a good company. We plan on using the Serializer in many of our projects and future kits. Lots of good things will be coming out of Robotics Connection, they are a company worth keeping an eye on.
(Trossen Robotics is a reseller of Robotics Connection products)
Matt
The Automatika Dragon Runner
Tuesday, October 10th, 2006
Another Company to look at if you have deep pockets (IE: research grants) and are in need of a very rugged chassis is Automatika.
This is another company we discovered at the 2006 Robobusiness show. Their Dragon Runner Robot can literaly be thrown from a moving vehicle for deployment! I personally have never seen anything tougher at this size. (12.2″ W x 15.5″ L x 6″ H / 14 lbs / spec sheet) These are military bots in the truest sense of the term. Check out this demo video of the Dragon Runner in action. (20 megs) It is hilarious to watch because they beat the crap out of their robot, literally throwing it out of 2nd story windows and moving vehicles.
Currently the Draggon Runner is made as a complete military remote presence package. We talked with Mr. Schempf, the owner, about providing the chassis and drive modules as commercial products. Mr. Schempf expressed interest in working with us to bring such a great high end solution to the market. If you have interest in using the Dragon Runner for a research project please give us a call at 877-898-1005.
Matt
