Showing posts with label Robotics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robotics. Show all posts

Friday 20 May 2016

Living with Robots

 

Robots

Robots and Interactive Companions


In a world that has been progressing by leaps and bounds, we now have the entry on robots taking the place of humans. Robots are future machines whose application area seems to be improving. Inventions of robots which tend to imitate human movements are on the rise all over the globe. Technology now has the capability of creating artificial human with bare metal and some electronic chips known as Robots. They are the Autobots who tend to have no real IQ though can think better than the humans, they do not seem to have any power but can perform better than the humans and they have no intelligence but tend to act better than the humans.

One could ask oneself and which Financial Times has asked in their new five-part video series titled `Living with Robots’, regarding robots and their relationship with us mortals. Could they be our friend or foe? The series unfold with the introduction of Zara the robot that seems to work for Spot Digital and is also about the relationship between the robot and man in the 21st century. Some of the robots look like human and could be scared but the big question that arises is `could these machines really have feelings and match up to us mortals?


Robots Helpful or Threatening


Robots could be helpful or threatening and whether we like it not, these machines are becoming common in our daily lives replacing the manual functions done by us humans. FT checks on the roles that robots tend to play in our lives, at home, at workplace and the world around us. Talking to computers is mainly controlled by the human voice for the functions to be carried out by these digital companions. Tech companies have been making progress in providing the smoothest and the most efficient artificial intelligence companions which will make a great impact in our lives.

In an age where popular culture tends to offer vision of intelligent machine that seem to control us; it tends to get difficult to know if artificial intelligence should be embraced or to fear it. Machines have already replaced about 70 to 75% of the work that is done by humans and several of the individuals seem to have meaningless task in their work life only to bring home a salary.

World’s Most Advanced Humanoid


Robots could be an inevitable disaster for many. It could be a friend for some of the rich and the elderly people, impersonal for the assembly-line employees who would welcomeco-bot sometimes and disturbing for the poor as well as for those outside the digital world like those in Africa. Robots have been considered to be the world’s most advanced humanoid robot who can perform any function as well as communicate and interact through its voice and facial recognition systems.

Talking to computers has been a dream of several technologists as well as story tellers for decades which could at time tend to become a bit scary. In the case of digital assistants, intelligence agents and chatbots, there is a grain of ray with these smart companions that are now eager to be our guides in the digital world. Established firmly as manufacturing technology, robots have been gaining acceptance by the labour force, reaping praise for its dependability and is being used more widely in small and medium businesses

Friday 1 April 2016

Microsoft 'Deeply Sorry' After AI Becomes 'Hitler Loving Sex Robot

Robot

Microsoft Compelled to Retire Chatbot Tay


Microsoft has extended an apology after an innocent Artificial Intelligence chat robot became a loving sex robot of Hitler, within a span of 24 hours after it had been introduced to society. The software giant had been compelled to retire the chatbot called Tay, an AI that was modelled to speak `like a teen girl’ after generating prejudiced and sexist tweets. The account of this illuminating though abandoned millennial focused project had been conveyed most briefly by The Telegraph newspaper in a headline stating `Microsoft deletes teen girl AI after it became a Hitler loving sex robot within 24 hours’.

The removal seems like a good move considering the transformation in question. Microsoft’s chat-bot Tay, big eyed, cute and artfully pixelated could represent the future. Chat-bots, AI powered phony people which tend to interact with customers through text messages are becoming a big focus across several industries. Chatfuel of San Francisco helped in creating bots for messaging-app Telegram also tends to work for Forbes and Techcrunch. According to Business Weeks, it recently received funding from one of the biggest Internet firm Yandex NV, of Russia.

Bots – Official Accounts for Chat Apps


Dmitry Dumik, founder of Chatfuel informed the magazine that `they are simple, efficient and they live where the users are, inside the messaging services. Forbes reported that a company, Outbrain, which uses behavioural analytics for determining which set of peculiar stories tend to appear low down on several news websites, will be talking to several publishers about building chat bots to send their news through text.

According to Forbes, these bots would become like official accounts for chat apps to whom one can text keywords like `sports’ or `latest headlines’ for bringing up stories. Artificial intelligence begins with human intelligence and the AI are naturally fed big data and the result of some of the world’s finest brain, Google’s AlphaGo system which learned from millions of moves is played by best players of the difficult board game. The bots then take in communication as well as data from the users in order to interact in an informed and helpful manner specific to the user.

Designed to Engage/Entertain People


The company mentioned in their announcement of the chat bot project, that Tay has been designed to engage and entertain people where they link with each other online via casual and playful conversation and Tay learns language and ideas through the interactions. The project is said to be focused at young millennial American between the ages of 18 to 24, Microsoft states `the dominant users of mobile social chat services in the U.S’.

The chat bot tends to interact with users through text message on Twitter and other messaging platforms. Microsoft recommended that users ask her to tell jokes, horoscope, and stories, play games and also comment on photos. The company has informed that the more one chats with Tay, the smarter she gets. On gaining more information which Tay took in from members of the public, the worse her character seemed to be and she got more precise in her dislikes - `I [bleep]ing hate feminist and they should all die and burn in hell, she tweeted on Thursday noon. Several minutes later, she widened her hatred, tweeting – `Hitler was right I hate the Jews’

Monday 7 March 2016

Watch Google’s Latest Robot Deftly Deal with Snowy Trail


Atlas – Upgraded Version of Humanoid – Designed to Operate Outdoor/Indoors


The robotics company, Boston Dynamics which Google had attained in its mad robotics spree about two years back seems to be good in making robots which can handle surprise or take a beating. Atlas, an upgraded version of its humanoid is designed to operate outdoors as well as indoors and is specialized for mobile manipulation. It is electrically powered and hydraulically activated.

It tends to use sensors in balancing its body and legs together with LIDAR and stereo sensors in its head in order to avoid obstacles, consider the territory, manipulate objects and help with the navigation. It is a five-foot-nine, 180-pound human which tends to walk upright, can pick things up and possibly produce some gasps of awe and concern.

Several of the robots are pretty good at repetitive task though tend to fail when something goes twisted. Atlas had been designed to deal with moderating conditions. One can watch it wander through the snow, maintaining its balance prior to falling. While indoors, a handler knocks a box out of its hands and Atlas tends to move over in order to pick it up. If another human throws it down with a stick, Atlas tends to push itself up.

Humanoid’s New Capability – Endure Abuse


However, what is most appealing is that the humanoid’s new capability is to endure abuse. For instance, when pushed from behind, the robot is capable in determining how to move back on its feet, which has been addressed as `impressive’ by MIT Technology review.

The capability of Atlas to recover swiftly from spills is owing to advances in its software as well as hardware with computer systems which tend to permit it to rapidly respond to unexpected situations as well as durable materials which permit swift movement.

One of the oldest firms among Google’s hodgepodge robotic groups, Boston Dynamics, mainly tends to work with the military though it has not reported of any important business deals from the time they joined Google. After a year of fairly rudderless track Google is said to have put the entire robotics group in Google X, in December, which is its hardware research incubator. The subsequent month X had revealed that it had hired Hans Peter Brondmo, to lead the unit, a tech veteran who had recently come from Nokia.

Atlas Can Function on Its Own


Though it may seem a bit odd, researchers have been putting their humanoid robot through some sequences of test which could aid it in dealing with moderating situations, something which robots do not seem to be good at. Founder and president of Boston Dynamics, Marc Raibert communicated to IEEE Spectrum that Atlas can function on its own with minimum input from its operators.

 He had mentioned that their long term goal was to make robots which have mobility, perception and dexterity together with intelligence similar to humans and animals or possibly beyond them and this robot is a step along the way. Robots seem too good at repetitive tasks though if the changes take place in even small variables within the analysis environment or in the task itself, the robot often seems to be incapable of figuring out what happened or how to handle it. This analysis seems to make Atlas better in dealing with problems when something tends to go awkward.

Tuesday 1 December 2015

A Row Bot that Loves Dirty Water

Row-Bot

Row-bot/Robot Feeds on Rich Organic Matter in Dirty Water


Swimming in the sea or a pool of polluted water could be unsafe though aquatic organism like water boatman would need the nutrients in polluted water to feed on. Researchers at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory – BRL have been motivation by the water beetles and other swimming insects and have developed the Row-bot, a type or a robot which tends to thrive in dirty water.

The Row-bot imitates the way the water boatman move and the way which it tends to feed on rich organic matter in the dirty water in which it swims. The purpose of the Row-bot project is focused to develop an autonomous swimming robot which is capable of operating indefinitely in remote unstructured areas by huntingits energy from the environment. When it tends to get hungry, the Row-bot opens it soft robotic mouth and rows forward to fill its microbial fuel cell – MFC, stomach with nutrient rich dirty water.

Thereafter it tends to close its mouth and the nutrients are gradually digested. The MFC stomach utilises the bio-degradation of organic substanceto generate electricity using bio-inspired mechanisms. When it has been recharged its electrical energy stores, the Row-bot then rows off to another new area for another drink of dirty water.

Row-bot – Environmental Clean-up Operation of Contaminants


The Row-bot had been developed at the Bristol Robotics Laboratory in collaboration between the University of Bristol and UWE Bristol by PhD student, Hemma Philamore together with her PhD supervisors, Professor Jonathan Rossiter from the University of Bristol’s Department of Engineering Mathematics and Professor Ioannis Ieropoulos from the Bristol Bio-Energy Centre at the University of the West of England. Professor of Robotics at the University of Bristol and BRL, Jonathan Rossiter informed that the work shows a vital step in the progress of autonomous robots with the potential of long-term self-power. Several of the robots tend to need re-charging or refuelling and often need human assistance.

Row_Bot_1
A PhD student, Hemma Philamore stated that they anticipate Row-bot to be used in environmental clean-up operations of contaminants like oil spills as well as harmful algal bloom and also in long term autonomous environmental monitoring of harmful environments, for instance those which were hit by natural as well as man-made disasters.

Combination of Two Systems – Bio-Inspired Energy Source/Bio-Inspired Actuation


The sample robot combines two systems namely a bio-inspired energy source and bio-inspired actuation. While the first subsystem portrays the power generations potential of the robot, the second duplicate system begins the refuelling process, moving the robot with an energy needed which is less than the energy that is generated by the first system.

 This has been achieved by feeding of the chemical energy contained in its surrounding liquid to support microbial metabolism within the MFC.Imitating the water boatman’s mechanism of feeding that works on a broad beaklike mouth to sweep in the liquid as well as suspended particulate matter, the Row-bot tends to feed its MFC stomach on opening and closing the mouth life orifice at each end of the MFC by bending of a flexible acetate envelope structure.

On utilising both of these systems, the robot tends to be totally independent in the water with the provision of enough energy available in the liquid.

Monday 26 October 2015

How Robots Can Learn New Tasks by Observing

Robot

Robot Training Academies – Aid Industrial Robots to Perform Difficult Chores


Robot `training academies’ could aid industrial robots to learn performing difficult chores by first, observing how humans tend to do it. It could probably take weeks in reprogramming an industrial robot to accomplish a complicated new job which would make retooling modern manufacturing route expensive and slow.

The development could speed up if robots were capable of learning how to perform a new task by observing others first. This is the idea behind the project which is in process at the University of Maryland, wherein researchers are training robots to be attentive students.

Yezhou Yang, a graduate student in the Autonomy, Robotics and Cognition Lab at the University of Maryland states that it is a robot training academy. They have asked an expert to show the robot a task and let the robot figure out most parts of sequences of things which need to be done and then fine tune things to make it work. The researchers at a recent conference in St. Louis had demonstrated a cocktail making robot which tends to use the approaches they work on.

Two Armed Industrial Machine Robot – Rethink Robotics


A two armed industrial machine robot, made by a Boston based company known as Rethink robotics, had watched a person mix drink by pouring liquid from many bottles into a jug and then copied these actions, clutching bottles in the proper order prior to pouring the precise quantities into a jug.

Yang performed the task with Yiannis Aloimonos and Cornelia Fermuller, who were the two professors of computer science at the University of Maryland. The approach is said to comprise of training a computer system to link specific actions of the robot with video footage portraying the performance of people with various tasks.

 For instance, a recent paper from the group portrayed that a robot can learn how to pick various objects by utilising two differentsystems on observing thousands of instructional YouTube videos wherein one system studies to recognize various object while the other identifies various types of grip.

System of Learning Adopted – Advanced Artificial Neural Network


Observing many YouTube video could be time consuming, however the learning technique seems to be much more efficient than programing a robot in managing various different matters and enabling the robot to handle new object.

The system of learning adopted in gripping work tends to include advanced artificial neural network which has envisaged great progress recently and are now being utilised in several areas of robotics. Researchers are coordinating with many manufacturing companies comprising of electronics business as well as car makers in adapting the technology to be used in factories.

 The companies are looking out for ways to quicken the process wherein engineers reprogram the machines. Yang is of the opinion that at several companies it tends to make a month and a half or more to reprogram a robot. So what would be the current AI potentials that can be used in shortening this span to half?

The project tends to reflect two styles in robotics, while one is to find new approaches in learning and the other is robots working in closeness with people. The Maryland researchers like the other group wishes to connect actions to language in improving the ability of robots to analyse spoken or written instructions.

Wednesday 19 August 2015

Robots Learn to Evolve and Improve

Robots

A team of engineers at University of Cambridge has developed new age robotic system, which possesses the capability to independently build and improve its offsprings. This robotic system has surprised everyone with its ability to evolve with times and improve its performance in much effective manner. A robotic arm essentially helps in developing the offsprings or babies, which get better with passing iteration. The ultimate of this research as published in the journal PLOS One states to develop robots which can adapt to their surroundings.

How offsrpings are created by the robot? 

In the experiments carried out by the engineers, a mother robot is entrusted with the task of designing, building and testing ten generation of offspring robots. The baby robots during the experiment consist of plastic cubes fitted with motor inside. The baby robots are assembled by a mother robot arm which craftily gules them together in different configures as per its own choice. Though this system might appear very simple but it is a rigorous exercise in itself.

It is left at the discretion of the mother robot to assess how much mobility will be given to the babies. Baby robots don’t require any human intervention in their movement and the design improves considerably with each new iteration. Mother robot has been able successfully build ten generations of children with improved movement capability. The final iteration or version of baby robot was able to move distance twice the distance of the first one.

Evolving qualities are at par with living beings 

This research was conducted with an aim of gaining new insights about how the living things evolve. Biology had long tried to find the answer to the emergence of intelligence in the living organisms with the use of theory of evolution. The researchers at Cambridge University are trying to explore the same ministry through the use of robotic system. A lead researcher had stated that most of the time people think that robots are developed to perform repetitive task with increased efficiency. In short, robots are typically designed as an aid in mass production but no effort is made at bringing mass customization. But researchers here tried to see whether robots are capable of possessing innovation and creativity or not.

The future prospects of this new age robotic system 

Researchers had not meaninglessly conducted their experiment to just see the evolving and adapting capability of the robotic system. But they also ensured that these robots fit into working on projects with the help of enhanced capabilities. An application of this system can be seen by employing the robots in car manufacturing units where they easily pick out the defects in the cars and fix them. In agricultural field, robots can be used to find out new and different ways of harvesting in order to improve the yields.

Friday 16 January 2015

NASA Designs Ape-Like Robot for Disasters


Ape
NASA has developed the “RoboSimian”, which is an ape-like disasters relief robot designed to pick up and manipulate the objects in emergency response at the time of disasters. “RoboSimian” is headless robot; NASA has designed it in Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “RoboSimian” has four identical limbs to do double duty as legs and arms, seven cameras as eyes, the robot is able to run on any surface as it has wheels that makes it smooth enough.

NASA scientists has also designed a robot named as “Surrogate” with the help of left-over parts of “RoboSimian” and “Surrogate” was more traditional to ran on the tracks of complicated disaster. According to researchers “Disaster relief robots can go into dangerous environments where human rescue workers can’t go and these robots can also execute the simple tasks such as; lifting debris off survivors or the turning off a valve.

As per Supervisor, Brett Kennedy from RVMG (Robotic Vehicles and Manipulators Group) of JPL, “The stable, durable and deliberate approach suites to their technical strengths and it also provides the model for different vital element of the ecosystem, it is expected that robots will be deployed for disaster scenarios in the future”.

The tasks of RoboSimian will also include the maintenance and assembly of orbital structures, exploration of low-gravity bodies such as; comets, moons and moons; exploration of cliffs and caves on Moon and Mars. The software technique of RoboSimian was influenced by programs which can control the Mars rovers, but now JPL is focusing on the ape-like design, so that it can be used for Earth-bound applications.

If you will imagine the robots of the future, so they will work and move more like humans via using a pair of arms to work and grab the objects and standing up on two legs, but Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA was working on a different type of robot, which can help them in disaster response, which is designed to look and move like an ape. The seven cameras will act like head in this headless robot, whereas; the four identical limbs will act as pair of arms and legs.

RoboSimian is the final entry in DARPA Robotics Challenge from JPL. DARPA Robotics Challenge is 27 month long competition among the world’s top organizations and individuals, who have create robots for an emergency response such as; a nuclear disaster, climate disaster and more. In June 2015, RoboSimian along with other 18 finalists will have to find their way through multiple obstacles simulates eight common scenarios to test the strength and artificial intelligence of robots. In this each and every robot will have to drive car, use a tool and climb stairs, move across rubble and more without human controlling or support. The final winner will receive the prize of $2 million.

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is well known and recognized for robotics the robots for space exploration like those robots who can work on Mars and Moon, but the DARPA competition will be an opportunity for the JPL group to come up with new robotics research where they can directly approach to other talented teams.



Thursday 15 January 2015

Carpenter Who Cut Off His Fingers Makes 'Robohand' With 3-D Printer


Hand
Richard van As was recalling the moment of May 2011, when he was in the hospital of Johannesburg and waiting for the statement that his fingers can be stitch back, before an hour he was in carpentry workshop where saw slipped and ripped through his four fingers of right hand. And all of this happened too quickly to understand and know that what actually happened. Rather than the fear of losing his fingers, he was thinking for the way to fix the problem, which is the habit of any real carpenter.

After a lot of research in medicinal field and scouring on the Internet, he couldn’t find it anywhere to buy a functional prosthetic finger whereas the cost of prosthetic hands and limbs was thousands of dollars. But in the end his online research and surfing paid off as he finds the amateur video which was posted by a mechanical effects artist Ivan Owen, who was from Washington State. After five minutes he finds that, actually people can use it.

Printing Prosthetics: 

The pair of a mechanical finger was developed for Richard van As, but the process has gone for the countless benefit in all over world. In January 2012, it was official launched to create affordable mechanical prosthetics with the help of 3D printers. It has been designed in open source, so anyone with the help of desired technology and 3D printer can print out hands, any fingers, and arms as well.

These specialized printers use the additive manufacturing technique and PLA (thermoplastic material Polylactide) to print body parts like; joints and knuckles which can be produced through the combination of stainless steel and aluminum with personalized approach to assemble and fit in the body of human through the guidance of free open-source manual.

After the five minute of installation people can start ti use it. According to, Leonard Nel, communications manager of team, “It’s anatomically driven by the shoulder, elbow and wrist, which means its movements will be controlled by the user”.

Richard van As drives the whole process simply, by removing unnecessary red tape to reduce the cost with something as essential as a limb. The first Robohand was created for the five-year-old Liam in South Africa, who was born with ABS (amniotic band syndrome) and the syndrome left him with none fingers on his right hand, but after fitting the newly printed mechanical hand Liam he was able to pick up stuff within five to ten minutes.

The hand cost for full adult is $2,000 and it takes five and a half hours to print it and approximately ten to fifteen hours to assemble it. Placing an order for prosthetic is pretty simple as customers need to send measurements by filing the forms and 3-D scans of their hands to get their translation into the software and later that will print out the parts for their desired prosthetic, but for this now an eight-month waiting list from the date of order.

Wednesday 17 December 2014

Why Eel Drones Are the Future of Naval Warfare


Eel _Drones
Eel Drones – Underwater Reconnaissance

The U.S. Navy comprehends the importance of developing updated technology to keep up as well as ahead of other countries and according to recent reports it indicates that at least twelve countries have focused their resources and energy on autonomous underwater vehicles.

It is looking into Eel drones for underwater reconnaissance and/or attack which probably this tech had been around since the 50s though it is now making some progress in several countries which include the US while Russia had begun to explore the capabilities of undersea Eel drone in order to protect battleships and any underwater attack for divers.

The Eel design has been chosen since it has an ideal shape with the capacity to conserve the most energy as well as being undetectable. Aerial drones tend to be an important part of U.S. military strategy and looks more like an aircraft rather than an owl, butterflies or birds. Recently a robotic eel design prototype was debuted by a team of researchers from Singapore led by Jianxin Xu which could signal the future of undersea warfare.

Navy Drone – Slocum Glider 

Presently the most well-known Navy drone is the Slocum Glider from a company – Teledyne Benthos, which received over $200 million this year to develop further, the Glider for the Navy and Xu debates that the Glider, an inflexible torpedo drone leaves much to be desired as well as that nature has provided them with a better design.According to Xu who informed `Defense One’, he states that `Anguilliform’, an eel like fish utilises less energy on a long distance journey than a regular autonomous underwater vehicle. He comments that they are highly manoeuvrable as well as flexible, which makes them more appropriate than Gliders for navigating small spaces.

 Moreover the noiseless propulsion is an added advantage for the military and is less detectable than robot subs which propel themselves like conventional subs. Anguilliform locomotion is derived from the Latin word anguilla for eel which involves wide undulation in the body and is also common to sharks. Due to anguilliform movement, undulation takes the form of a wave which moves down the length of the body of the animal and pushes the water away, from side to side. Research for many years speculating in fluid dynamics, considered thunniform to be faster as well as efficient though recent research disagreed on this issue.

Eel Bots – Less Guidance/Operation 

Eel bots can explore and navigate reefs which tend to be difficult, hulls and undersea geological formations the way other fish are unable to do so. Xu states that the future prototype of his robot would need less guidance for operation and can self-navigate amidst difficult or dark crawl spaces resulting in less operators presiding over robots and make it more cost efficient for the Navy. Its most attractive feature is it adaptability and with the same undulating movement which propels it through the water, can also move forward on land too.

The Pentagon office of Naval Research had provided funds for project and research across the country for the sole purpose of developing UUVs for their military and these underwater drones would probably be used for underwater surveillance purpose like search and rescue operations, attacks on small boats and divers, checking for mines, mapping the sea floor as well as weather data collection. These drones could be powered by hydrogen which would help them in never running out of fuel.

Monday 20 October 2014

Keecker- Interesting Machine That Can Move Around Your Room


Keecker
Keecker is a type of mobile computer  Robot that consists of a projector along with an audio structure on a mobile base and also a group of potentially attractive sensors. However, its designers do not imagine it as a robot. CEO, Pierre Lebeau stated that robots are often portrayed as utilitarian and mechanized man’s tasks, and it is not parallel to Keecker. In fact, they really deemed Keecker as the development of computers and it is 100 percent made for a house or collective atmosphere.

Some hardware and software of the system-

It is a number of sensors and figures that is utilized to help this Keecker to be in motion, lock-in on people and keep away from obstacles. The manufacturers apply a combination of infrared with ultrasound signals, manifold camera imagery system and also Wi-Fi network method and many more.
The machine possesses some of the autonomous abilities.

Keecker shifts from one room to another room and can remember definite spots in your home. Therefore you can order it to go from one spot to another in only one click. You may even manage this Keecker yourself from your own Smartphone even though you are not at home. It is because it will run its camera to your handset and will allow you shift it in actual time.

Keecker can moreover be programmed to shift from room to room in the day or at night to test if all is normal. When the charge of battery is low, this device goes back to revive itself.

In accordance with Lebeau, while you first take Keecker into your home it starts moving around, by means of a 360-degree camera on its head to work out the ground space. When that mapping is finished, you may name every room, then you can point Keecker to move there with the valve of a switch. Lebeau was motivated by cleaning bots such as the Roomba, but he did not want Keecker to be exactly the same. Roomba can just hit into the wall and it is very stupid-like.

When you are out of the home it can be set to identify motion and check temperature, moisture, and CO2 amount. It can also change your babysitter, or even let you to simply keep a watch on her from the ease of your Smartphone. This device also contains a microphone, permitting it to act as a center for video calls or get voice commands. You can connect it with your phone via Bluetooth.

Length of the device-

Keecker is a supple, plastic orb that is about eleven inches broad and sixteen inches in length. It goes around the floor on a couple of wheels, which make it appear like a remote. You can manage it on your phone through an app for iOS system or Android.

Thus, when bring home this HomePod, Keecker and take it out from its container, it would start to look around, examining every part of the room. Later, you can instruct it to go to a specific position in your house, from your app.

Wednesday 15 October 2014

United States Hospitals Will Use Robots to Kill Ebola

Ebola Bot
With the increasing number of cases of the Ebola virus all around the world, it has been able to create an extreme level of panic in every person. Ebola being one of the deadliest viruses can kill a person within a few days after the symptoms appear. If people being informed about various precautionary measures, there is no doubt that this virus can spread as quickly as a wildfire.

With the remote decontamination service market expected to have a good growth, many countries are leaving no stone unturned to handle the virus. Authorities in Madrid have already declared that they will euthanize the dogs of the people who contract Ebola outside Africa. Dogs seem to be showing the symptoms later on. WHO has already declared this situation to be completely unavoidable with increasing number of Ebola cases in Europe.

What is the robot all about? 

With the recent incident of emergency landing of the US Airlines Flight 2791, it has again given rise to the fact that Ebola can be highly infectious in airplanes. Hospitals around the world are taking measures to tackle this virus and they have gone to the extent to using a robot, called Ebola bot or little more. This robot was made by texas-based Xenex Disinfection services, which is basically a UV bulb being moved around on wheels. Although the machine costs around $115000 also, nearly 250 hospitals in America have already started using the device. This robot is being used to treat the first person who was diagnosed with the virus.

The robot emits UV lights which can kill the bacteria, destroys virus, bacteria and other infectious bugs, where ever the light practically falls on. This virus has the tendency to survive for 6 days on solid surfaced and spreads through faces, urine, vomit and blood. The aim of this robot is to eliminate any potential source for virus spreading.

This robot has the capability to clean an entire hospital within 5 minutes and also destroy the Ebola virus. It has the capacity to scatter 1.5 pulses every second in every direction to kill the virus.

Uses of this Robot: 

This robot will be mainly used to protect the healthcare workers in the hospitals, so that they are healthy to treat the ailing patients. According to Mark Stibich, Xenex’s chief science officer, they are ultimately aiming to ensure that the virus doesn’t spread outside the hospital. The company is in touch with government and other agencies to find out ways to tackle the situation in Africa.

What is the Advantage? 

Currently, most of the hospitals are spraying chlorine on these workers, but it can’t guarantee complete disinfection. UV rays will ensure that nothing is missed out. Although currently this robot requires manual operation, the company is hoping to make it automatic so that it can send to infected areas to handle the situation. Recent reports have claimed that the use of this robot has reduced the number of infection cases bay nearly 50 percent.

Tuesday 30 September 2014

Soft Robotics 'Toolkit' Has All That a Robot-Maker Wants


Soft Robotics '
The researchers from numerous Harvard University labs in partnership with Trinity College Dublin unveiled a new resource which will provide both the aspiring as well as experienced researchers with academic raw materials required for designing, building and operating the robots made from delicate and flexible materials.

Soft robotics is rising as an increasingly vital field due to the introduction of laser cutters, low-cost 3D printing and other advances in the manufacturing technologies. Based on the principles taken from the traditional rigid robot design engineers are now working with more flexible materials in the use of the soft robotics which can help in whole range of tasks like minimally invasive surgery, physical therapy and rescue operations in hazardous locations.

The Soft Robotics Toolkit can be considered as an online treasure trove, which can be utilized by the users for fabrication, characterization, modeling, design and to control the soft robotic devices through various open-source plans, case studies, how-to videos and downloadable etc. This toolkit will be providing the researchers details to a level which is still not available in any academic research papers and it includes the 3D models, raw experimental data, bills of materials, multimedia step-by-step tutorials and few case studies of different soft robot designs.

According to Assistant Professor of Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) and a Core Faculty Member at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Conor Walsh; the main aim of this toolkit is to press forward the field of soft robotics and at the same time allowing the researchers and designers to build on each other’s work.

By creating a common source of sharing the knowledge, the developers of toolkit are hoping to stimulate the development of new ideas, creations and methods. According to Walsh, the soft robotics is well-matched to shared design tools as many of the necessary components like valves, regulators and microcontrollers are all easily exchangeable between systems. Dónal Holland, a graduate student at Trinity College Dublin as well as visiting lecturer in engineering sciences at SEAS is among the lead developers of the toolkit and is more interested in this toolkit for education purposes. The toolkit has been developed to capture all the expertise in the education field and make is available for the students.

With the open-source software spurring far-flung improvement in computing, open design has the capability to remote partnership on common mechanical engineering projects, setting free the crowdsourced innovation in robotics and other fields. According to assistant professor of mechanical and manufacturing engineering at Trinity College Dublin and a coauthor of a paper in Soft Robotics, Gareth J. Bennett, Open design can also have a disorderly impact on the technological development similar to that of open source.

Almost all the materials available in this toolkit have been taken from chemist George M. Whitesides, Woodford L., Robert J. Wood, Charles River Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences at SEAS and Ann A. Flowers University Professor. Apart from two other researchers helped establishing Harvard as a leader in soft robotics.

Wednesday 26 March 2014

Soft robotic fish that swims like a real fish

Soft robotic fish
MIT researchers have recently created a synthetic fish made from soft robotics technology. Based on bio mimicry, this flexible and autonomous robot is able to move almost as fast as any true aquatic vertebrate. The prototype was made of silicone printed in 3D, so that it can move with fluidity to withstand shocks and collisions with other fellow species of the ocean bed. It is fully autonomous, synthetic fish is provided with a shank comprising two sections.

In addition to making quick movements, it has great freedom in its movements. It also uses carbon dioxide to "breathe" underwater. Daniela Rus, a professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of the MIT Computer artificial intelligence laboratory told that they are very proud of their flexible robot for a variety of reasons. With flexible robots, there is little danger of collision for the robot or the environment. But the new robotic fish was designed to explore another advantage of flexible robots. The body deforms continuously gives these machines an infinite range of configurations, and it is not possible with machines articulated according to Daniella.

Continuous curvature of the fish body flexes when it allows changing direction so quickly. Hence this robot rigid body can make continuous bending of its body. The robotic fish was built by Andrew Marchese, a graduate student in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering from MIT. They explained that the evolved carbon dioxide from a canister in the abdomen of the fish results in the swelling of the duct and the bending of the tail.

Soft robotic fish
Each half of the tail of the fish has only two control parameters that is the diameter of the nozzle which releases gas in the channel and the time during which it remains open. In the experiments, Andrew found that the angle at which the fish changes direction is almost entirely determined by the duration of the inflation, while its speed is almost entirely determined by the nozzle diameter. This "decoupling" of the two parameters, he said, is something that biologists have observed real fish.

Fish can perform maneuvers 20 or 30 discharge, before exhausting the carbon dioxide cartridge. A new version of the fish, which must be able to swim continuously for about 30 minutes, will use carbon di oxide in the water instead of the carbon di oxide from the inflated channels, but otherwise it will use the same model design movements body than its predecessor.

Daniella plans to experiment the robot in the environment of real fish, to gather detailed information about their behavior in their natural environment information. According to Barry Trimmer, professor of biology at Tufts University, Their algorithms and control theory are almost designed with the idea that they have rigid systems and the principle of the soft robot is based on the certainty. Coping with uncertainty will still be able to control the machines, so we have much more powerful machines said the Professor. For now, the robotic fish is only a prototype but in the near future, it could be used in order to study these aquatic animals in their natural environment.

Tuesday 18 February 2014

Robots Termites, Who Work By Coordinating

Robot Termites -1

Robot Termite -2

Robot Termite -3
Inspired by the example of termites, researchers have programmed robots to construct buildings without any central instructions. These robots are of complex shapes without central instructions. According to Eliza Grinnell of Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; these robots are of complex shapes work without central instructions.

Justin Werfel the first author of the studies says that all their research was inspired by termites, Werfel is one of a researcher at the Wyss Institute for engineering inspired by biology at Cambridge. He added that they discovered the amazing constructions that those small insects could do from that they have created programs and robots that could act very similar way that of the termites. The termites are working on local information rather than a central organization.

Termites can build structures of several meters without requiring a coordinated strategy. Instead, they use simple instructions provided by their peers and the environment to know where to put the next piece of the mound and finally build a mound adapted to their environment. This use of local information is called stigmergy. Justin Werfel and his colleagues have used it to design algorithms that reflect the behavior of termites, which they then applied to a group of robots building.

Each robot follows only a few simple rules: instructions are the same for any structure built by robots and traffic laws that apply to the specific structure. Equipped with sensors, robots are moving along a grid, lifting and depositing bricks. If they perceive a brick on their way, they carry it to the next free space. “The traffic can only go in one direction between two adjacent sites, which maintain a flow of robots and material movement in the structure," says Justin Werfel. If they did things without order, they would find themselves easily trapped in their building.

Researchers have therefore implemented security controls that allow robots to consider where there are already bricks and where there should be. To determine the rules, researchers start of the final structure. Its analysis to determine the number of rules that robots must follow. Once they are set, robots with the independent control have several advantages. “A robot may break but the rest continue “said the authors.” No critical element exists which can compromise the whole of its failure.".

According to the researchers, it is possible to consider using this type of robots to build structures for human use in a dangerous or difficult situation such as making shelter after an earthquake, underwater or even in another planet. An application in the shorter term could form sandbag dikes for controlling flood concluded by Justin Werfel.

Sunday 9 February 2014

A robot spider that moves on its own thread!


Spider Robot
A group of researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, has developed a robot spider capable of moving in a vacuum vertically along a solid wire that fabricated from a thermoplastic adhesive. Such robots could be used for extraterrestrial exploration adapting to changing terrain. LiYu Wang, a member of the team, told in detail. The spider robot developed at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich moves vertically along a solid wire. It manufactures thereof at progressively from thermoplastic adhesive sticks which is heated and stretched. It can carry payloads up to 10.9 kg in its current configuration.

A team of researchers from Bio -Inspired Robotics Laboratory (BIRL) has unveiled this robot spider that produces itself a plastic wire which he uses to travel into space, vertical. In their scientific article published in the journal Bioinspiration & Biomimetics, they explain that the interest of this innovation is that it can be used to develop hybrid robots to land and air time capable of carrying payloads. Another advantage of the system is that the robot adapts the thickness of the wire according to the weight it carries.

The technical challenge with which the team had to deal BIRL was to ensure that the robot makes its wire while moving with only physical support of wire itself. It was therefore necessary to develop an autonomous system capable of producing the wire associated with a mechanism for moving and guiding. The robot weighs 185 grams to 18 cm tall, 5 wide and 3 thick. “The mechanical part includes mechanisms extrusion and pultrusion," says LiYu Wang, one of the researchers involved in the project , which is also a member of the IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology). The technology uses the thermoplastic glue stick, the same as we use for other jobs.

The adhesive is heated to between 65 and 75 ° C to be extruded through a nozzle into a process similar to the spider secretion produced by the ampullary gland. A second phase: glue spots pultrusion be spun stretching and solidify upon contact with air according to Newton's law of thermodynamics. The robot is operated by two motors. The first serves to urge the glue stick through the heating system and the nozzle on a linear axis via a ball screw system. The second motor mechanism actuates the “deformation - locomotion”, which consists of two wheels of 12 mm diameter which will both stretch the wire while sliding the robot progressively. Everything is powered by two lithium -ion batteries.

In its current configuration, the robot can carry a maximum load of 10.9 kg moving at 12 inches per minute. The robot that spins a web like a spider "The advantage of this technology lies in its flexibility, which allows you to adjust the thickness of the wire so that the robot can adapt to different loads while remaining self-sufficient," says Wang LiYu. He also confirmed that the system could be replicated on larger robots by adapting the configuration of extrusion pultrusion accordingly. The next step for the team is to replace BIRL wheels legs, so that the robot can move on a solid surface, but also to switch over to another, like a spider on its web. The researchers believe that the solution would be to create legs inspired by the gecko with adhesive pads for grip. With this, the robot could then weave a fabric by forming vertical and horizontal on which it may then travel.

Monday 13 January 2014

A Nanorobot Based Bacteria Is Able To Cure Cancer

bacteriabots
Robotics continues to fascinate and impress throughout his innovations. This is again the case with these revolutionary nanorobots designed based bacteria that are put at the service of your health.

This is again the Asian continent comes this robotic innovation should be a scientific and technological advance among the most notable of years. Thus, if the Chinese were able to introduce a nanorobot inside a human body in September 2013, in South Korea these robots bacteria are capable of treating cancer has emerged, in Chonnam National University.

The scientific team behind this scientific discovery announced success in eliminating tumors in animals through the use of robots designed based on bacteria. However, a small precision is needed; these nano robots, also called bacteriabots are composed of genetically modified bacteria and microscopic structures and filled with anti- cancer drug solutions. Thus, studies in laboratory animals have shown that harmless bacteria component of nanorobots have “attacked “the infected cells, targeting priority.

In addition, through immune histo chemistry performed a few days after injection of genetically modified bacteria, the researchers found that the tumors were directly targeted by bacteribots; once it arrived in the vicinity of the tumor cell, these free the anti cancer drug solutions that spread at an impressive rate, neutralizing the tumor quickly.

 Finally, Park Jong- Oh, who participated in these experiments within the team from the University of Chonnam, “This research is important for the development of a new biomedical nanorobot and a vector for administration of active drugs that can overcome the limitations of current methods of diagnosis and treatment of cancers.

Our goal is to develop medical micro-robots or nanorobots capable of diagnosing and treating a large number of difficult to cure diseases, building on the convergence of medicine and technology. This is a really encouraging scientific breakthrough for the health! At the office, the team is appreciative of the progress offered nanorobotics and we look forward to these microscopic robots come to the end of cancer.

Thursday 9 January 2014

NASA unveils the first robot Super Ball Bot for landing on Titan, a moon of Saturn



Super Ball Bot
Super Ball Bot-1

NASA multiplies space exploration and it has unveiled a new kind of robot that will be able to lie on the floor of Titan, Saturn's moon, thanks to its particularly amazing abilities. Super Ball Bot is the new prototype rover designed by NASA. Whose main purpose will be to successfully land on Titan, one of Saturn's moons. Indeed, the agency is not limited only to missions lunar and Martian exploration but also wants to gather data about other stellar objects in our solar system.

In this case, the observation of Titan is interesting since the satellite has many features common to Earth, even if it is more akin to a primitive version of our planet. One of the main similarities is the climate on the surface of Titan; since the winds are present and form dunes, hills and cliffs. Quite surprising it that also has seasonal changes as such of Earth. Super Ball Bot represents the first fruits of this exploration mission. And he also has very special characteristics: it is completely designed with only limps.

As we can see from the picture above, the rover is able to move in a rather strange way since it gives the impression of sagging then recover while going forward. Super Ball Bot actually works on the principle of tensegrity. Tensegrity is an architectural principle in which the ability of a structure to stabilize the forces of tension and compression distributed therein and will be balanced.

Structures established by the tensegrity are stabilized, not by the strength of their individual components, but the distribution and balance of mechanical stresses in the entire structure. Main advantage is its less weight while Curiosity weighs nearly a ton (900kg), this robot will be much lighter and easier landing on Titan. However there are still some challenges to control its management and its movements.

NASA explained that if this prototype was validated, it could then launch an exploratory mission and release large number of these robots explorers on the surface of Titan. In any case, it is exciting to see that the U.S. space agency is exploring many opportunities to learn about our solar system. We have to wait for the mission success and to learn more about Titan.