http://phys.org/electronics-news/robotics/ en-us Phys.Org provides the latest news on robotics, robots, robotics sciences and technology science. (Phys.org) —We're told it's the wave of the future. Design, make, enjoy. Beyond home-based 3-D printers, there will be new machines and display screens and apps that will invite you to have day to day products just the way you want them. Digital buffets await and not surprisingly the time is now to contemplate robot bartender systems. Such a system is on display now, which can serve the cocktail of your latest twist of imagination. Makr Shakr is the name of the new system which goes on display at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, starting Wednesday. The drink-making robotic system made its debut during Milan Design Week 2013, and is making a debut in its final configuration at the Google event. The system can make the cocktail you want with its three robotic arms, which mimic the actions of a bartender. Shaking a Martini and slicing lemon garnishes are part of its repertoire. A smartphone app allows users create their cocktail concoctions from scratch. http://phys.org/news287855567.html Electronics - Robotics Wed, 15 May 2013 17:30:01 EST news287855567 (Phys.org) —University of Pennsylvania robotics teams are at it again, this time coming up with a robot that aggressively expands the range of how many moves can be made to successfully cross rough terrain full of climbing and leaping challenges. Aaron M. Jonson, and D. E. Koditschek from the University of Pennsylvania's Kod *lab (a subsidiary of the school's GRASP Lab) presented their research, "Toward a Vocabulary of Legged Leaping," at ICRA 2013 in Germany. The video of their device in motion, showing gymnastic-style feats, recently made the rounds of tech sites. The authors also won attention in being one of five finalists for Best Student Paper Award. ICRA stands for the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. http://phys.org/news287412883.html Electronics - Robotics Fri, 10 May 2013 14:10:03 EST news287412883 (Phys.org) —A team from Harvard and MIT presented their work at the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Germany. Their contribution: "Robot Self-Assembly by Folding: A Printed Inchworm Robot." The authors, Samuel M. Felton, Michael T. Tolley, Cagdas D. Onal, Daniela Rus, and Robert J. Wood are from the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences; the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, at Harvard, and the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT. They presented their printed inchworm robot that can assemble itself. Felton did the introductions in a video of the self-folding device. http://phys.org/news287337739.html Electronics - Robotics Thu, 09 May 2013 17:02:31 EST news287337739 A robot can struggle to discover objects in its surroundings when it relies on computer vision alone. But by taking advantage of all of the information available to it—an object's location, size, shape and even whether it can be lifted—a robot can continually discover and refine its understanding of objects, say researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Institute. http://phys.org/news287060685.html Electronics - Robotics Mon, 06 May 2013 12:04:52 EST news287060685 (Phys.org) —Robotic hands designed and engineered for versatility and dexterity in handling harmful, harmless, small, large, light, and heavy objects tease robotics teams today. The US government's DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is getting attention this month in its steps forward to develop robotic hands that can do the jobs of the human hand's advanced movements, but capable of being built at less prohibitive costs. http://phys.org/news286726923.html Electronics - Robotics Thu, 02 May 2013 16:10:01 EST news286726923 Killer robots that can attack targets without any human input "should not have the power of life and death over human beings," a new draft U.N. report says. http://phys.org/news286726043.html Electronics - Robotics Thu, 02 May 2013 15:07:29 EST news286726043 (Phys.org) —Researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) have used stop-motion technology to capture gait primitives of real animals—the data captured was then used to allow a small quadruped robot to walk and trot like a real horse. The team describes their project in their paper published in Biological Cybernetics. http://phys.org/news286620788.html Electronics - Robotics Wed, 01 May 2013 10:10:01 EST news286620788 (Phys.org) —Whether reaching for a book out of a cluttered cabinet or pruning a bush in the backyard, a person's arm frequently makes contact with objects during everyday tasks. Animals do it too, when foraging for food, for example. http://phys.org/news286521782.html Electronics - Robotics Tue, 30 Apr 2013 06:50:01 EST news286521782 (Phys.org) —Roboticists are currently developing machines that have the potential to help patients with caregiving tasks, such as housework, feeding and walking. But before they reach the care recipients, assistive robots will first have to be accepted by healthcare providers such as nurses and nursing assistants. Based on a Georgia Institute of Technology study, it appears that they may be welcomed with open arms depending on the tasks at hand. http://phys.org/news286455845.html Electronics - Robotics Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:04:11 EST news286455845 (Phys.org) —Your typical robot story tends to be about robotics teams finding clever ways to make their mechanical devices mimic real animals in shape and movement. A study coming out of South Korea has a twist. Researchers there are working with live animals subjected to remote control. Their study subjects are being described by bloggers as cyborg creatures or remote-control pets. The team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology have shown how a live turtle can be made to follow a winding path through special apparatus that is used as a "noninvasive" steering system. Their study, titled "Remote Guidance of Untrained Turtles by Controlling Voluntary Instinct Behavior," describes their work and their results in taking "red-eared sliders" (Trachemys scripta elegans). and placing an attachment to the shells, a half-cylinder remotely rotated with a servo. http://phys.org/news286018923.html Electronics - Robotics Wed, 24 Apr 2013 10:42:54 EST news286018923 (Phys.org) —For sea turtle hatchlings struggling to reach the ocean, success may depend on having flexible wrists that allow them to move without disturbing too much sand. A similar wrist also helps a robot known as "FlipperBot" move through a test bed, demonstrating how animals and bio-inspired robots can together provide new information on the principles governing locomotion on granular surfaces. http://phys.org/news285956537.html Electronics - Robotics Tue, 23 Apr 2013 19:00:01 EST news285956537 A global rights group launched a campaign on Tuesday to ban Terminator-style "killer robots" amid fears the rise of drone warfare could lead to machines with the power to make their own decisions about killing humans. http://phys.org/news285936719.html Electronics - Robotics Tue, 23 Apr 2013 11:52:12 EST news285936719 From the T-101 to Data from Star Trek, humans have been presented with the fictional dilemma of how we empathize with robots. Robots now infiltrate our lives, toys like Furbies or robot vacuum cleaners bring us closer, but how do we really feel about these non-sentient objects on a human level? A recent study by researchers at the University of Duisburg Essen in Germany found that humans have similar brain function when shown images of affection and violence being inflicted on robots and humans. http://phys.org/news285918887.html Electronics - Robotics Tue, 23 Apr 2013 06:54:54 EST news285918887 Mechanical engineers at the University of California, San Diego invented a robot designed to scoot along utility lines, searching for damage and other problems that require repairs. Made of off-the-shelf electronics and plastic parts printed on an inexpensive 3D printer, the SkySweeper prototype could be scaled up for less than $1,000, making it significantly more economical than the two models of robots currently used to inspect power lines. http://phys.org/news285407505.html Electronics - Robotics Wed, 17 Apr 2013 08:52:08 EST news285407505 (Phys.org) —Researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology with funding from the European AMARSI project have built the first passive compliant robot that features both arms and legs. Passive compliant robots are those that have flexible joints that allow the robot to move in more human-like ways. The new robot, called the COmpliant huMANoid (COMAN), is approximately the size of a child and is able to maintain its upright position even when knocked around. http://phys.org/news284799144.html Electronics - Robotics Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:52:36 EST news284799144 (Phys.org) —PETMAN, the anthropomorphic, arm-pumping, walker who can step off the treadmill long enough to do some morning pushups, is a remarkable member of Boston Dynamic's stable of robots. PETMAN is remarkable in its humanlike range of movements, a visually entertaining match for the likes of Big Dog and Cheetah. Visual entertainment, however, is not the top agenda item for Boston Dynamics, with a number of projects that get funding support from the Department of Defense and which deliver functional goals. This time around, PETMAN is impressing viewers with this month's released video of the latest and greatest performance, dressed in a hazmat suit and gas mask. http://phys.org/news284553937.html Electronics - Robotics Sun, 07 Apr 2013 11:46:16 EST news284553937 (Phys.org) —DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is getting closer to its goal of securing robotic hands that mimic the hand's finer movements, at an affordable cost. A research project has been under way to develop artificial hands; the main goals have been of an economic as well as technical nature; DARPA has been looking for robotic hand systems that offer not only optimal dexterity but can also come at a lower cost than in the past. The high costs associated with effective robotic hands have been $10,000 and up. http://phys.org/news284097939.html Electronics - Robotics Tue, 02 Apr 2013 05:30:01 EST news284097939 (Phys.org) —German technology company Festo has unveiled the BionicOpter, a fully functional robotic dragonfly. It can fly forwards, backwards, hover and even fly sideways—just like a real dragonfly. Its introduction marks another step forward in robotics engineering. http://phys.org/news284031157.html Electronics - Robotics Mon, 01 Apr 2013 10:50:02 EST news284031157 Scientists have successfully replicated the behaviour of a colony of ants on the move with the use of miniature robots, as reported in the journal PLOS Computational Biology. http://phys.org/news283707690.html Electronics - Robotics Thu, 28 Mar 2013 17:00:06 EST news283707690 Virginia Tech College of Engineering researchers have unveiled a life-like, autonomous robotic jellyfish the size and weight of a grown man, 5 foot 7 inches in length and weighing 170 pounds. http://phys.org/news283701342.html Electronics - Robotics Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:55:56 EST news283701342 Swarms of robots acting together to carry out jobs could provide new opportunities for humans to harness the power of machines. http://phys.org/news283691677.html Electronics - Robotics Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:14:45 EST news283691677 Robot butlers that tidy your house or cook you a meal have long been the dream of science-fiction writers and artificial intelligence researchers alike. http://phys.org/news283588304.html Electronics - Robotics Wed, 27 Mar 2013 07:31:53 EST news283588304 (Phys.org) —Robots can observe human behavior and—like a human baby—deduce a reasonable approach to handling specific objects. http://phys.org/news283164471.html Electronics - Robotics Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:20:01 EST news283164471 Using a combination of theory and experiment, researchers have developed a new approach for understanding and predicting how small legged robots – and potentially also animals – move on and interact with complex granular materials such as sand. http://phys.org/news283091775.html Electronics - Robotics Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:00:16 EST news283091775 When a robot is moving one of its limbs through free space, its behavior is well-described by a few simple equations. But as soon as it strikes something solid—when a walking robot's foot hits the ground, or a grasping robot's hand touches an object—those equations break down. Roboticists typically use ad hoc control strategies to negotiate collisions and then revert to their rigorous mathematical models when the robot begins to move again. http://phys.org/news283073465.html Electronics - Robotics Thu, 21 Mar 2013 08:31:43 EST news283073465 Salamandra robotica II is a last generation amphibious robot developed by the Biorobotics Laboratory at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne). It is the guest of honor at the booth of Syrobo, the founder of Innorobo, which is the largest European exhibition of service robotics, and takes place in Lyon from 19 to 21 March 2013. Among the many robots inspired by natural designs, the Salamandra robotica II is the only one able to swim, crawl and walk—all by combining robotics, evolution and neurobiology. http://phys.org/news282903530.html Electronics - Robotics Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:19:32 EST news282903530 (Phys.org) —Scientists working on robots often concentrate on how to mimic the shape and movements of animals that show exceptional efficiencies in varied tasks; a recent team accomplishment takes a page out of the study of eagles, in order to create a flying robot that can similarly swoop down and grab objects the way an eagle can fish with its natural claws. Fundamentally, they were after a goal of devices capable of high-speed aerial grasping and manipulation. Scientists at the University of Pennsylvania made a quadrotor equipped with a special gripper that can grasp objects while in flight. http://phys.org/news282749541.html Electronics - Robotics Sun, 17 Mar 2013 15:20:02 EST news282749541 (Phys.org) —A robot research team at Harvard University has found that tiny robots that move by vibrating bristle strands when grouped together, form spontaneously into groups—exhibiting, what the team describes as swarming behavior. In their paper the team has uploaded to the preprint server arXiv, the group describes how they built tiny robots out of tiny vibrating motors, a battery and bristles and then allowed them to roam randomly, and found that once a certain number were placed in a confined space, they grouped together forming what looked like a swarm. http://phys.org/news282559406.html Electronics - Robotics Fri, 15 Mar 2013 10:00:01 EST news282559406 After a long day at the South by Southwest (SXSW) interactive trade show, Susie Kim and her colleagues took a leisurely two-block stroll back to their hotel in downtown Austin. http://phys.org/news282332322.html Electronics - Robotics Tue, 12 Mar 2013 18:38:57 EST news282332322 (Phys.org) —As robotics has become an increasingly popular way to get kids and teens involved in the field of engineering, the robotics projects that the kids are doing have become more creative and sophisticated. A new online exhibit hosted by EXPO21XX, called Junior Robotics, has recently launched and begun showcasing the variety of robotics projects happening in the K-12 scene. http://phys.org/news282298338.html Electronics - Robotics Tue, 12 Mar 2013 09:12:25 EST news282298338