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Staying Ahead at the FIRST Robotics Competition
Boston team overcomes challenges with strategy at 2007 FRC
After winning the Boston FIRST Regional Robotics Competition this year, high school robotics team the NU-TRONS went on to compete in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) in Atlanta, GA, as Team 125. NU-TRONS co-captain and high school senior John Larkin talks about how the team prepared for this year’s challenge and what it took to stand out in a crowd of 344 teams.
GM has unveiled an entry into the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Grand Challenge competition on November 3, 2007. For those that have been living in a cave and haven’t heard of the DARPA challenge yet, from the Grand Challenge website, “The Urban Challenge features autonomous ground vehicles maneuvering in a mock city environment, executing simulated military supply missions while merging into moving traffic, navigating traffic circles, negotiating busy intersections, and avoiding obstacles”.
Neither of the past DARPA competitions (2004, 2005) attracted much interest from the automotive industry, mostly because creating an autonomous vehicle to travel across the types of roads and other conditions that past competitors were exposed to simply didn’t fit into their business model.
It’s sad but at the same time exciting to hear that corporations are starting to participate in this autonomous vehicle competition. I’d much rather see the past methods continue of corporate sponsorship of teams rather than the actual corporation itself participating, but hey; If this is what has to happen in order for us to see these robotic vehicles on the road and taking ourselves to and from work everyday without us having to touch the wheel then so be it. I’d love to see the day when my car drives itself and I can catch up on things that I need to do while I’m on my way to/from work.
Named “Boss” for Charles “Boss” Kettering, this Tahoe has over 25 external sensors, the computing power of ten Compaq Intel Core 2 Duo laptops, and many other electric and electronic devices all powered by an auxiliary 8-kW generator under the hood.
via (Robot Stock News, Motor Trend)
Hi everybody! I’d like to bring this week to a close with yet another new robot announcement. We’re going to be selling the Futaba RBT-1 Humanoid Robot (known overseas as the HPI GR-001) as soon as it’s released in the states, which should be sometime in June ‘07. Here’s a mugshot of the beast in question:
Unlike the HPI kit already on sale in Japan, the RBT-1 Humanoid will come fully assembled and ready to do battle. Here’s what you’ll find when you open the box:
From what I hear, the 3D Motion Editor software is pretty slick. And what’s this? Another humanoid robot that comes with an accelerometer? I guess the manufacturers are finally figuring out that many of these bots, like many roboticists, are a little unbalanced. 
Anyhow, we’re all set up to start selling this fine piece of equipment as soon as it comes out. The retail price will be $1,699.99. Although we’re not technically taking preorders yet, we have set up a waiting list. Folks who sign up ahead of time will be given first dibs when these bots finally start shipping.
We are now carrying the Futaba RBT-1!
Here’s a moving picture for your enjoyment, courtesy of the fine folks at Robots-Dreams:
Take a good, hard look at this tough little hombre:
The PF01 humanoid robot looks like it’s about to punch you right in the face and then show off its mad breakdancing moves. Well, that was my first impression anyway. With the PF01, we see the return of the original Manoi prototype design. I swear I just heard the sound of thousands of Astro Boy fans all simultaneously opening their wallets. Seriously though, the slick appearance is far from the coolest thing about this bot. Inside, it has much of the same equipment that the AT01 has, with a few interesting additions. Check it out:
If you don’t recognize those bits, they’re KRG-3 gyroscopic sensors, which are included with the kit. The torso has built-in shelves for these, so the sensors can be conveniently mounted inside the robot’s body cavity, close to its center of gravity. Cool! Also, three lithium-polymer batteries fit inside the body piece shown above. These batteries have over four times the capacity of the AT01’s stock battery pack. As an added bonus, the Li-Po cells are equipped with thermal, voltage, and current control circuitry, so you don’t have to worry about them spontaneously combusting!
Here’s the new white/silver Manoi next to the black/biege prototype Manoi. They changed the colors, but they kept the Kyosho sneakers and the clenched fists. Right on. Wait, did I neglect to mention that we are currently selling the Manoi PF01 Humanoid Robot? Well, we are.
Are you a fan of the Manoi AT01 Humanoid? Well, here’s your chance to express your love for the Manoi AT01!
Of course there are some other pretty cool robots to vote for such as Cornell University’s incredible robot that is, well, practical and useful and capable of adapting to injury, relearning how to walk when injured, Lego Mindstorms NXT which is a really awesome system, plus a few other robots. But come on; It’s the Manoi AT01! This bot is awesome! Too bad the Manoi PF01 has only entered the commercial market now.
Get Your Manoi AT01 HERE!
From the JazzMutant website:
The Lemur is a top of the range control surface for audio and media applications, that breaks from the prior art on several grounds. Its major innovation consists in its brilliant modular graphic interface concept and its exclusive multitouch sensor technology. The continiously growing palette of configurable graphic objects enables you to design made-to-measure interfaces by using the free available JazzEditor. This endows the Lemur with the unique and protocol independant capacity to adapt its behavior according to the application you are controlling: sequencers, modular synthesizers, virtual instruments, VJ software, 3D animation tools and light control.
Developed by Zac Wheeler at Poor Robot, Pico is a miniature wheeled robot carrying it’s own power and brains, and, as you can see in the picture below, is small enough to fit on a dime! Even more impressive, it’s autonomous, capable of moving around on its own, avoiding obstacles, all at a top speed of about 0.5 ft/s (0.15 m/s).
Rubber band used to make super tiny robotic flea.
via boingboig:
UC Berkeley researchers are designing a millimeter-long robotic flea that uses a tiny rubber band to launches itself into the air. The current prototype is seven millimeters long and tests have shown that it could jump 20 centimeters off the ground. The graduate student who led the research, Sarah Bergbreiter, is part of UC Berkeley’s effort to build Smart Dust, tiny wireless sensors that form ad hoc networks. Several years ago, I wrote an article for Lab Notes about Sarah’s previous work adding legs to Smart Dust to transform the sensors into miniscule mobile robots. This latest approach involves a rubber band two millimeters long and just nine microns thick, one tenth the diameter of a human hair.
read more at boinboing or Technology Review or Berkley News
Windows for Devices reports on a training robot named WINCETON
Bsquare recently added an unusual guest instructor to its five-day Windows CE 6.0 training classes. A robot named “WINCETON” gives students an opportunity to solve a hands-on, real-world problem using Windows CE 6.0, according to the company.
WINCETON debuted during a Windows CE 6.0 training class in Boston earlier this month. As a final project, students were able to build a Windows CE 6.0 image that programmed WINCETON’s servo-driven sensor head. The objective was to pan the head through 180 degrees, and determine the location of the nearest object within its field of view, which has a range of about 80 cm.
WINCETON is controlled by means of a USB Phidget servo controller, according to Bsquare. Phidgets are small, USB-interfaced modules that can be used in conjunction with a PC to implement low-cost sensing and control projects. A shared source Windows CE Phidgets driver is available from Microsoft’s CodePlex code-sharing site (”Windows Embedded MVP” Jim Wilson recently published an extensive tutorial focused on Phidgets).
WINCETON uses:
Phidget LCD with 8/8/8
Phidget 4 Servo Controller
(looks like) Lynxmotion Pan & Tilt Unit
