Boston Dynamics: Changing Your Idea of What Robots Can Do

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Boston Dynamics is an engineering and robotics design company best known for the development of BigDog, a quadruped robot designed for the U.S. military with funding from DARPA, and DI-Guy, COTS software for realistic human simulation. Early in the company's history, it worked with the American Systems Corporation under a contract from the Naval Air Warfare Center Training Systems Division (NAWCTSD) to replace naval training videos for aircraft launch operations with interactive 3D computer simulations featuring DI-Guy characters.

Marc Raibert is the company's president and project manager. He spun the company off from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992.

Boston Dynamics builds advanced robots with remarkable behavior: mobility, agility, dexterity and speed. They use sensor-based controls and computation to unlock the capabilities of complex mechanisms. Their world-class development teams take projects from initial concept to proof-of-principle prototyping to build-test-build engineering, to field testing and low-rate

production. 

Products

BigDog:

BigDog is a quadruped robot created in 2005 by Boston Dynamics, in conjunction with Foster-Miller, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the Harvard University Concord Field Station. BigDog is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in the hopes that it will be able to serve as a robotic pack mule to accompany soldiers in terrain too rough for vehicles. Instead of wheels, BigDog uses four legs for movement, allowing it to move across surfaces that would defeat wheels. 

What has been called "the world's most ambitious legged robot" is designed to carry 340 pounds (150 kg) alongside a soldier at 4 miles per hour (6.4 km/h), traversing rough terrain at inclines up to 35 degrees.

LittleDog: 

LittleDog is a small quadruped robot developed for DARPA by Boston Dynamics for research. Unlike BigDog which is run by Boston Dynamics, LittleDog is intended as a testbed for other institutions. 

Boston Dynamics maintains the robots for DARPA, as a standard platform. 

RiSE:

RiSE is a robot that climbs vertical terrain such as walls, trees and fences. RiSE uses feet with micro-claws to climb on textured surfaces. RiSE changes posture to conform to the curvature of the climbing surface and its tail helps RiSE balance on steep ascents. RiSE is 0.25 m long, weighs 2 kg, and travels 0.3 m/s.

Each of RiSE's six legs is powered by a pair of electric motors. An onboard computer controls leg motion, manages communications, and services a variety of sensors, including joint position sensors, leg strain sensors and foot contact sensors.

Boston Dynamics developed RiSE in conjunction with researchers at University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon, UC Berkeley, Stanford, and Lewis and Clark College. RiSE was funded by DARPA.

PETMAN: 

PETMAN is a bipedal device constructed for testing chemical protection suits. It is able to sweat. It is the first anthropomorphic robot that moves dynamically like a real person. 

Much of its technology is derived from BigDog. 

LS3:

LS3 is a dynamic robot designed to go anywhere Soldiers and Marines go on foot. Each LS3 will carry up to 400 lbs of gear and enough fuel for missions covering 20 miles and lasting 24 hours. LS3 will not need a driver, because it will automatically follow a leader using computer vision or travel to designated locations using sensing and GPS. The development of LS3 will take 30 months, with first walk out scheduled for 2012. The development of LS3 is being funded by DARPA and the US Marine Corps.

Boston Dynamics has assembled an extraordinary team to develop the LS3, including engineers and scientists from Boston Dynamics, Bell Helicopter, AAI Corporation, Carnegie Mellon Univercity, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Woodward HRT.

RHex (Robot Hexapod):

RHex is a rugged man-portable robot with extraordinary rough terrain mobility. RHex climbs in rock fields, mud, sand, vegetation, railroad tracks, telephone poles and up slopes and stairways. RHex has a sealed body, making it fully operational in wet weather, muddy and swampy conditions, and it can swim on the surface or dive underwater. RHex's remarkable terrain capabilities have been validated in government-run independent testing.

RHex is controlled remotely from an operator control unit at distances up to 600 meters. A video uplink provides front and rear views from onboard cameras. RHex also uplinks navigational data from onboard compass and GPS and from payload sensors. A downlink allows the operator to drive and operate mission payloads.

SquishBot:

SquishBot is a program to develop a new class of soft, shape-changing robot. The goal is to design systems that can transform themselves from hard to soft and from soft to hard, upon command. Another goal is to create systems that change their critical dimensions by large amounts, as much as 10x. Such robots will be like soft animals that can squeeze themselves through small openings and into tight places.

The Boston Dynamics-lead team includes researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who specialize in novel materials and deformable structures. The program leverages MIT's previous work developing slug robots and Boston Dynamics' work on robots that crawl, walk and climb. SquishBot is funded by the Defense Sciences Office at DARPA as part of the ChemBot program.

Cheetach:

The robot's movements are patterned after those of fast-running animals in nature. The robot increases its stride and running speed by flexing and un-flexing its back on each step, much as an actual cheetah does. The current version of the Cheetah robot runs on a laboratory treadmill where it is powered by an off-board hydraulic pump, and uses a boom-like device to keep it running in the center of the treadmill. Testing of a free-running prototype is planned for later this year.

 While the M3 program conducts basic research and is not focused on specific military missions, the technology it aims to develop could have a wide range of potential military applications. The video below shows a demonstration of the "Cheetah" robot galloping at speeds of up to 18 miles per hour (mph), setting a new land speed record for legged robots. The previous record was 13.1 mph, set in 1989.

The DARPA M3 performer for Cheetah is Boston Dynamics of Waltham, Mass. 

I hope you're not scared. 😛

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*by andreascy*

A TED View of the Future: Hypersonic Gliders and Flying Robots

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Recently the TED conference brought researchers out of the lab to show off their latest gadgets - if you can use the word “gadget” to describe a hypersonic Mach 20 glider and autonomous and collaborative flying robots.

It was a good lineup; the TED audience barely had time to put its socks back on before they were knocked off yet again. Better yet, probably to the delight of the investors in the audience, many of the projects are in the process of being commercialized. 

Here’s a glimpse what the future may hold. 

Flying Robots 

Vijay Kumar and other researchers at the University of Pennsylvania build robots - called “Quadrotors” - that can fly incredibly quickly and intelligently. 

While sensing their surroundings and movement, the robots can avoid obstacles, right themselves and carry and deposit things. Kumar showed a robot jumping through a flying hoop and drawing a 3-D map by navigating a physical space. 

Even better, the robots can work together with decentralized control. They can take actions based on local information while being agnostic to who their neighbors are. Kumar said potential applications for the robots include first response work and construction. 

Check out the video below, made for TED of the Quadrotors playing music.

Mach 20 Flight 

DARPA has conducted two tests of hypersonic vehicles, the fastest maneuvering aircraft ever built. 

Towed into space by rockets, both gliders crashed in the Pacific Ocean, but along the way they generated a great deal of data and more information than ever before about how to fly so fast, said DARPA Director Regina Dugan. 

Mach 20 speed would mean traveling from New York to Long Beach, Calif. (where TED is held), in 11 minutes and 20 seconds, Dugan said. The flight would be quick, but it would also be incredibly hot.

Dugan urged the TED audience to “be nice to nerds” (probably not that tall an order, given this constituency) and told them to ask themselves, “What would you attempt to do if you knew you could not fail?” (She sounded a lot like Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who has made “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” a sort of mantra.)

In addition to Mach 20 flight videos, Dugan demonstrated a remote-controlled mechanical flying hummingbird, and showed pictures and videos of a nano-adhesive modeled on geckos, metals that are lighter than Styrofoam and a prosthetic hand controlled by a human mind. She might have the best bag of tricks in the business. 

Enjoy the video!

CHECK ALSO:

- Scientists turn Quadcopters into Flying Power Stations

- Parrot AR Drone 2.0 Quadricopter. Now available for Pre-Order

Any thoughts? 😊

*by andreascy*

Meet Drexel's HUBOs Robots

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Four of Drexel's HUBO robots perform the Beatles' "Come Together" in a demonstration that combines cutting-edge engineering technology and research with creative expression, produced by the Music & Entertainment Technology Laboratory (MET-lab). 

The HUBOs are operating autonomously (not human-controlled). Their movements are directed by student-developed software to perform the gestures necessary to produce the appropriate notes and beats as dictated by a musical score. Every sound in the video was performed by the robots. 

MET-lab student Matthew Prockup created the musical arrangement for drum kit and three "Hubophones", novel percussion instruments designed and constructed by the lab for this performance. 

HUBO was designed and developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Technology (KAIST) Hubo Lab (Dr. Jun Ho Oh, Director).

On the Video below Drexel Engineering kicked-off National Engineers Week by unveiling seven HUBO humanoids at an unprecedented showcase event on February 20, 2012. 

Their presence at Drexel is part of a large collaborative project with KAIST and seven other U.S. universities with the goal of rapidly advancing humanoids research.

You can find more information here. 

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The Robotville Festival Celebrated The Most Cutting-Edge In European Robot Design And Innovation

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

The festival was originally conceived by EUNIC London (European Union National Institutes for Culture), in partnership with the EU Cognitive Systems and Robotics Programme and the European Commission Representation in the UK. RobotvilleEU is sponsored by Transformers: Dark of the Moon. 

Robotville welcomed at the Science Museum over 20 robots from Europe and the UK, and celebrated European robotics culture and advances in robotics design and technology. It was a free event and opened for four days from Thursday 1st December - Sunday 4th December.

Let's meet the robots :

IURO :

The IURO project develops robots that can pick up information by talking to humans. The robot will eventually be able to find its way through towns and cities by asking people for directions.

Source : KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Universität Salzburg

CONCEPT :

Concept was created to study how people react to a robotic face. Why are we drawn to lifelike technology? Interact with Concept and see his expression change as he watches and learns from you.

Source : Plymouth University; EPSRC

NAO :

Nao's secret is his versatility. He can be programmed to do or say just about anything. Scientists are using him to explore how robots learn and how robots see. One day robots like Nao could be lending a hand in your home.

Source : Aldebaran Robotics. Image: Aldebaran Robotics

LADYBIRD :

This colourful 1950's ladybird robot shows how living things learn and forget. It can be trained to follow a trail of light and remember its path. But after a while it forgets and has to be taught all over again.

Source : Dr Daniel Muszka; Foundation of the Computer, Szeged, Hungary; Balassi Institute, Hungarian Cultural Centre London Image: Patu Tifinger

DORA THE EXPLORER :

Dora is curious about the world and wants to explore her surroundings. She looks for objects to tell her what type of room she's in and can search for stuff you can't find.

Source : University of Birmingham and the CogX project. Image: Marc Hanheide.

DEXMART :

Dexmart is a pair of independent robotic helping hands. From lifting a case of juice to holding your cookery book, their tactile sensors enable them to grasp and manipulate objects in the same way humans do.

Source : University of Bologna (Italy) in cooperation with Second University of Naples (Italy), University of Naples Federico II (Italy), University of Saarland (Germany)

FLASH :

You can tell a lot about what people are thinking just by looking at their faces. Flash is a robot with three extra heads - Romek, Samuel and Emys. Flash and its heads are an attempt to simulate human emotions in robots.

Source : Wrocław University of Technology; LIREC EU FP7 project.Image: Wrocław University of Technology

ICUB :

iCub helps researchers understand how the human brain develops. By playing with people iCub learns about itself and how to interact with the world around it.

Source : Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia; Italian Cultural Institute in London

SHADOW DEXTEROUS HAND :

The Shadow Dexterous Hand can mimic all the movements of a human hand. It’s controlled by wearing a sensor-covered glove and has 40 ‘air muscles’ which make it move. Its delicate touch means it can be used in many ways, from handling test tubes to doing the washing up.

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant Agreement No. 222107 HANDLE. Image: The Shadow Robot Company

ECCEROBOT :

If you were to take a peek at Eccerobot’s insides, you’d find they are similar to your own. It’s anatomy is based on human bones, joints and muscles. This means it moves like we do, to pick up a ball or give a friendly handshake.

Source : Emerging Cognition in a Compliantly Engineered Robot & ndash; The Robot Studio; University of Sussex; AI Lab Zurich; Technical University of Munich; University of Belgrade Faculty of Electrical Engineering

COCKROACH ROBOT :

This robot uses the same body movements as insects to propel it along at super speed. They say cockroaches can survive anything. This cockroach robot could one day be scuttling around nuclear power plants or even Martian landscapes.

Source : Structure and Motion Group, Royal Veterinary College; Kod*Lab, University of Pennsylvania. Image: Simon Wilshin / Royal Vetenary College

CHARLY :

Spend some time with CHARLY and he might start to look eerily familiar. That’s because CHARLY’s projected face gradually morphs into the faces of those around him. He was designed to find out how people like their robots to look.

Source : University of Hertfordshire; LIREC EU FP7 project 

KASPAR :

KASPAR the child-size robot can’t walk, but he can move his arms and head and change his expression. Through play he helps children to understand emotions and how to interact with others. He plays games such as peekaboo and will laugh if you tickle his feet! 

Source : University of Hertfordshire; EU FP7 project Roboskin 

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Mahoro lab android automates dangerous lab work

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

DigInfoTV presented Mahoro, co-developed by AIST and Yaskawa, a general-purpose android for automating lab work that previously had to be done manually.

The robot can do tasks, such as dispensing and culturing, faster and more precisely than people. So, it can do clinical tests and work with biohazards efficiently.

"For example, to develop influenza drugs, we do infection trials every day, using virulent strains of influenza. This work is very hazardous, so it should be done by robots. We also have to do lots of tests with radioactive materials. Those should also be done by robots."

"We've tried various robot systems. But if we build special-purpose robots, when we modify trial procedures or switch to different projects, those robots become useless. Also, developing robots is very time-consuming. So, we wanted to develop a robot that can do what people do, using the same tools people use. That's why we've developed Mahoro."

When work precision in genetic amplification trials was compared between Mahoro and people, Mahoro's precision was better than that of veteran technicians. Mahoro also did the work in half the time.

"Mahoro's arm has seven joints. Factory automation robots only have up to six. In factories, a hand can usually be positioned freely using six joints. But with a seventh axis, elbow motion can be reproduced. That enables the robot to move like this."

Previously, to teach a robot with this many joints, a huge amount of programming was required. But Mahoro can be taught easily, in a virtual space on a computer.

"First of all, we use a 3D scanner, to capture 3D CAD data for all the tools we want to use. When we input that to the computer, we create a virtual bench and a virtual robot. For example, if we want to take a tube to this hand position, all we need to do is click in that direction, and the robot's hand will go there. We also do collision simulations. Of course, we can freely change how various tools are arranged. So on the computer, we can simulate the best places to put them, and create movements. To do that, we don't even need to put numbers into the advanced programming technology."

Mahoro is sold by Nikkyo Technos, and it's already being used at pharmaceutical companies and universities. From now on, the company wants to further enhance the safety of the robot, so it can work in coordination with people.

*by andreascy*

Science Nation - Printable Robots Designed to be Consumer-friendly, Inexpensive

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description : 

Hello guys. Today we'll present to you an interesting project funded by the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Expeditions in Computing Program. This project envisions a future in which 3-D robotic systems can be produced and designed using 2-D desktop technology fabrication methods. If this feat is achieved, it would be possible for the average person to design, customize and print a specialized robot in a matter of hours. 

Currently, it takes years and many resources to produce, program and design a functioning robot. This project would completely automate the process, from sketches on-demand, anywhere, and with the skill of a team of professional engineers, leading to potential transformations in advanced manufacturing. 

"This research revolutionizes the design and manufacturing of robots, with a profound potential impact on society," says Ralph Wachter, a program director in the NSF Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering. "It would remove barriers to manufacturing robots, making it possible for average citizens to customize and manufacture their own robots to meet their needs. This opens the door to great possibilities."

"This research envisions a whole new way of thinking about the design and manufacturing of robots, and could have a profound impact on society," says MIT Professor Daniela Rus, project leader and director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL). "We believe that it has the potential to transform manufacturing and to democratize access to robots."

The Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, known as CSAIL, is the largest interdepartmental laboratory at MIT and one of the world's most important centers of computer science and information technology research. The lab has played a major role in the technology revolution of the past 50 years. Currently, CSAIL is focused on conducting groundbreaking research in artificial intelligence, computer systems, and the theory of computation, while also tackling pressing societal challenges such as education, health care, manufacturing and transportation.

"Our goal is to develop technology that enables anyone to manufacture their own customized robot. This is truly a game changer," adds engineering professor Vijay Kumar, who is leading the team from the University of Pennsylvania. "It could allow for the rapid design and manufacture of customized goods, and change the way we teach science and technology in high schools."

Check out the video!

Related articles: 
3D Printing Technology - Make things by printing them : How it works
High Tech & Custom Designed 3D Printed Prosthetics
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Boston Dynamics Unveils BigDog's Dynamic Robotic Manipulation

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description : 

Robot Manipulation is the basic Science in Robotics. Most of the modern theories arise from the classical concepts of Robot manipulation. 

In the last two decades, there has been a tremendous surge of activity in Robotics, both at in terms of Research and in terms of capturing the imagination of the general public as to its seemingly endless and diverse possibilities.

This period has been accompanied by a technological maturation of Robots as well, from the simple pick and place and painting and welding Robots, to more sophisticated assembly Robots for inserting integrated circuit chips onto printed circuit boards, to mobile carts for parts handling and delivery. Several areas of Robotic automation have now become “standard” on the factory floor and the field is on the verge of a new explosion to areas of growth involving hazardous environments, minimally invasive surgery, and micro electro-mechanical mechanisms. 

A manipulator mechanism is a device used to manipulate materials without direct contact. It is an arm-like mechanism that consists of a series of segments, usually sliding or jointed, which grasp and move objects with a number of degrees of freedom.

Our loyal readers might be familiar by now with Boston Dynamics, the local Robotics company creating with remarkable behavior: mobility, agility, dexterity and speed, the most advanced robots on Earth. That includes the "BigDog", one of a few models utilizing the company's LS3 - legged squad support system - technology. But what happens when you add a brick throwing arm to those legs? Uh-Oh...

Yeap, you heard me right. Rise of the machines! 😀

"BigDog" now handles heavy objects and can fling them, using human motion as a model. The mechanical dog is over a meter tall and weighs more than 100 kilograms (which is more than the average man), and can throw using its whole body, 35lbs of concrete blocks across a room (a bit more than 17 ft). The company has been steadily improving “BigDog” for years with funding from the Army Research Laboratory (RCTA) and seems to have high hopes for this latest advance...

"The goal is to use the strength of the legs and torso to help power motions of the arm. This sort of dynamic, whole-body approach to manipulation is used routinely by human athletes and will enhance the performance of advanced Robots. Boston Dynamics is developing the control and actuation techniques needed for dynamic manipulation", a Boston Dynamics spokesperson said.

“There are a wide variety of applications, both military and civilian, where strong and dexterous manipulation would be needed,” another spokesperson added. “Think of anything a person does now in the field, such as clearing ruble, fighting a fire, digging up an IED, etc. Rather than focus on a specific mission right now, the RCTA program is focused on core functionality that will be useful for many applications.”

You might say it is hard to imagine any real world practical applications for this project. Actually almost everything has a real world practical application, especially if imagination flows without bounds. Moreover, in this case, it is not even hard to imagine! How about: close quarter combat, tear/rip the enemy (human or other robot) apart or throw the enemy somewhere to be terminated, rescue excavation (after an explosion, mine collapse, bombing, earthquake etc.)?

The problem though is that when we create things for destruction, they get used for destruction. What do you think? Let us know in the comments below. 

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*by andreascy*