http://phys.org/electronics-news/robotics/ en-us Phys.Org provides the latest news on robotics, robots, robotics sciences and technology science. (Phys.org) -- For several years, roboticists have been working out ways to get a group of robots to perform synchronized activities as demonstrated most often in dance routines. It’s not just about trying to create humanoid machines that can better entertain us though, it’s about getting them to perform simple small scale synchronized activities so that a means can be found to scale up such activities so that robots of the future can work together to autonomously accomplish certain goals that have been defined by their human masters. To that end, MIT researchers Patrick Bechon and Jean-Jacques Slotine have been studying ways to mimic so called quorum sensing, which some organisms use to figure out how many of their own kind are around, and then to perform actions based on it. The two have applied this principal to small dancing robots, to stunning effect. They have written a paper describing what they have learned and posted it on the preprint server arXiv. http://phys.org/news257155711.html Electronics - Robotics Fri, 25 May 2012 09:40:01 EST news257155711 New intelligent algorithms could help robots to quickly recognize and respond to human gestures. Researchers at A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research in Singapore have created a computer program which recognises human gestures quickly and accurately, and requires very little training. http://phys.org/news257068765.html Electronics - Robotics Thu, 24 May 2012 09:50:06 EST news257068765 (Phys.org) -- Sooner than you think, we may have robots to tidy up our homes. http://phys.org/news256886510.html Electronics - Robotics Tue, 22 May 2012 06:22:12 EST news256886510 Jared Peterson, working away in the Caterpillar Mechatronics Laboratory in Iowa State University's Hoover Hall, recently held up a small electric motor. http://phys.org/news256806609.html Electronics - Robotics Mon, 21 May 2012 08:10:21 EST news256806609 (Phys.org) -- As any gathering of scientists working with robots will suggest, attempts toward perfecting techniques and outcomes of grasping and maneuvering are key issues for researchers working on climbing robots. At this week’s IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Saint Paul, Minnesota, the robotics community got to see what a Chinese team has achieved in its presentation of Clothbot. This is a climbing robot that easily climbs up your pants or shirt. The Clothbot is small and lightweight, which did not deter from bloggers’ reactions that the device was “creepy.” System and Design of Clothbot: a Robot for Flexible Clothes Climbing, by Yuanyuan Liu, Xinyu Wu, Huihuan Qian, Duan Zheng, Jianquan Sun and Yangsheng Xu from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, was presented Tuesday at the IEEE event. http://phys.org/news256622333.html Electronics - Robotics Sat, 19 May 2012 05:50:01 EST news256622333 MIT’s Johnson Athletic Center took on the aura of an old-fashioned county fair on Thursday night, complete with popcorn, balloons, jugglers, cotton candy and pitchmen wearing brightly colored jackets and bowties. But rather than ring tosses and sheep-shearing, the central event was a series of one-on-one matchups between an amazing variety of robots that students have spent the whole semester designing, building and testing. http://phys.org/news256192507.html Electronics - Robotics Mon, 14 May 2012 05:35:17 EST news256192507 (Phys.org) -- When Cornell engineers developed a new type of robot hand that could pick up oddly shaped objects it presented a challenge: It was easy for a human operator to choose the best place to take hold of an object, but an autonomous robot, like the ones we may someday have helping around the home or office, would need a new kind of programming. So they have developed a procedure -- an algorithm -- that allows a robot to learn grasping skills from experience and apply them in new situations. http://phys.org/news255753770.html Electronics - Robotics Wed, 09 May 2012 03:43:22 EST news255753770 Like a well-rehearsed formation team, a flock of flying robots rises slowly into the air with a loud buzzing noise. A good two dozen in number, they perform an intricate dance in the sky above the seething hordes of soccer fans. Rowdy hooligans have stormed the field and set off flares. Fights are breaking out all over, smoke is hindering visibility, and chaos is the order of the day. http://phys.org/news255272137.html Electronics - Robotics Thu, 03 May 2012 14:10:05 EST news255272137 (Phys.org) -- One of the big disappointments of the computer age is the distinct lack of robots in our everyday lives. For years we’ve all been teased by the possibilities of robots in SciFi movies and television shows, and still, the only robots in our lives are those little Roomba vacuum cleaners. http://phys.org/news255251620.html Electronics - Robotics Thu, 03 May 2012 08:13:57 EST news255251620 (Phys.org) -- Among the many challenges of designing flying robots is getting them to land gracefully. By taking a cue from birds, a team of engineers has developed a flapping-wing flying robot that can land by perching on a human hand. http://phys.org/news255231161.html Electronics - Robotics Thu, 03 May 2012 05:40:01 EST news255231161 Robots that decompose once they have reached the end of their mission could soon be deployed in the environment, thanks to a Research Project Grant of over £200,000 from the Leverhulme Trust. http://phys.org/news255149195.html Electronics - Robotics Wed, 02 May 2012 03:46:43 EST news255149195 (Phys.org) -- The Mediated Matter Group from the MIT Media Lab is working on a robot that might one day spin its own webs. Project team members are training a robot to weave a web-like architecture, similar to the way a silkworm creates cocoons. The team seeks to train its robot to mimic nature—namely to weave a cocoon like structure. The robot is getting some programming help but eventually the researchers want to see it weaving autonomously, spinning its own web. Latest reports reveal a robot arm deploying yarn-like thread on prearranged hooks. http://phys.org/news254894948.html Electronics - Robotics Sun, 29 Apr 2012 07:10:01 EST news254894948 When industrial robots were first introduced in the early 1960s — initially on automobile assembly lines — computers were still in their infancy, so the robots were designed to perform only the most rigidly predetermined set of repetitive movements. Despite a half-century of exponential growth in computational power, that’s pretty much still the state of industrial robotics. But according to Rodney Brooks, who last year left a tenured position as MIT’s Panasonic Professor of Robotics to focus on his latest company, that may not be true for much longer. http://phys.org/news254551325.html Electronics - Robotics Wed, 25 Apr 2012 06:20:02 EST news254551325 Within the framework of the EU project sFly, researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a new type of flying robot that can be navigated using only on-board cameras and a miniature computer. The micro helicopters require neither GPS nor remote control, thus reaching a new level of autonomy. http://phys.org/news254472266.html Electronics - Robotics Tue, 24 Apr 2012 07:44:55 EST news254472266 As militaries develop autonomous robotic warriors to replace humans on the battlefield, new ethical questions emerge. If a robot in combat has a hardware malfunction or programming glitch that causes it to kill civilians, do we blame the robot, or the humans who created and deployed it? http://phys.org/news254405878.html Electronics - Robotics Mon, 23 Apr 2012 13:18:14 EST news254405878 Tore Fløan smiles at me: “In the past we competed with European organizations, but now we have the Chinese breathing down our necks,” he says. http://phys.org/news254134807.html Electronics - Robotics Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:03:02 EST news254134807 A steerable, jumping mini-robot developed by Michigan State University researchers is generating interest among robotics engineers, who don’t let its small size obscure its potential. http://phys.org/news254124908.html Electronics - Robotics Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:30:01 EST news254124908 (Phys.org) -- South Korea, a nation with a self-proclaimed goal of being a leader in robotics technology has, through the Asian Forum of Corrections (AFC), begun testing the feasibility of using robots as prison guards in an actual prison in Pohang. The robots’ duties, at least initially, are to patrol the halls between cells looking for signs of trouble, and if it finds it, alert the human guards who will take appropriate action. http://phys.org/news253967489.html Electronics - Robotics Wed, 18 Apr 2012 12:20:01 EST news253967489 Hardware, software, modeling and gaming developers sought to link with emergency response and science communities to design robots capable of supervised autonomous response to simulated disaster.     http://phys.org/news253349684.html Electronics - Robotics Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:54:54 EST news253349684 Renowned author Isaac Asimov died 20 years ago today. Although he wrote more than 500 books, the robot stories he began writing at age 19 are possibly his greatest accomplishment. They have become the starting point for any discussion about how smart robots will behave around humans. http://phys.org/news253178480.html Electronics - Robotics Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:25:18 EST news253178480 (PhysOrg.com) -- Robot nannies could diminish child care worries for parents of young children. Equipped with alarms and monitoring capabilities to guard children from harm, a robot nanny would let parents leave youngsters at home without a babysitter. http://phys.org/news252918132.html Electronics - Robotics Fri, 06 Apr 2012 08:02:33 EST news252918132 Robot squirrels from the University of California, Davis, are going into rattlesnake country near San Jose, continuing a research project on the interaction between squirrels and rattlesnakes. http://phys.org/news252677353.html Electronics - Robotics Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:10:00 EST news252677353 Imagine going to a local store, picking out a design for a robot to help with some household chores, and having the device built within a matter of hours. http://phys.org/news252667603.html Electronics - Robotics Tue, 03 Apr 2012 10:40:02 EST news252667603 Researchers at Saarland University together with associates in Bologna and Naples have developed a robotic hand that can accomplish both tasks with ease and yet including the actuators is scarcely larger than a human arm. http://phys.org/news252322981.html Electronics - Robotics Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:43:16 EST news252322981 A tiny prototype robot that functions like a living creature is being developed which one day could be safely used to pinpoint diseases within the human body. http://phys.org/news252226350.html Electronics - Robotics Thu, 29 Mar 2012 07:52:44 EST news252226350 (PhysOrg.com) -- Boston Dynamics’ video gallery of troop-supporting robots that trek and haul loads has a new addition that is drawing a sea of impressed viewers. It’s the Sand Flea Robot, an eleven-pound wonder that jumps 30 feet high, with a style that stands out in the world of jumping robots. The entertainment value in watching the video is due to the new features that Boston Dynamics injected into it, following the debut of its jumping-robot predecessor, Precision Urban Hopper. http://phys.org/news252215396.html Electronics - Robotics Thu, 29 Mar 2012 05:40:01 EST news252215396 Rehabilitation is crucial after a stroke. Yet patients don’t always do their exercises because they’re boring or difficult to do at home. http://phys.org/news252056791.html Electronics - Robotics Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:50:01 EST news252056791 The use of ground robots in military explosive-ordinance-disposal missions already saves many lives and prevents thousands of other casualties. If the current limitations on mobility and manipulation capabilities of robots can be overcome, robots could potentially assist warfighters across a greater range of missions. DARPA’s Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) program seeks to create and demonstrate significant scientific and engineering advances in robot mobility and manipulation capabilities. http://phys.org/news251969805.html Electronics - Robotics Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:36:59 EST news251969805 (PhysOrg.com) -- In robotics, three hands are better than one, in the form of a device that has been developed by Intelligent Automation Inc (IAI) for use as troop support. The Multi-Arm Unmanned Ground Vehicle (MA-UGV) is the name of this device from the Rockville, Maryland, R&D company that focuses on AI applications. The three-armed robot can protect troops by lending its handling skills to carry out backback inspections for explosive devices, for example, and, to use the military term, "disarm" Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). http://phys.org/news251882594.html Electronics - Robotics Sun, 25 Mar 2012 09:00:01 EST news251882594 (PhysOrg.com) -- Sixty-six national and international high school teams will take their robots to the courts this weekend to compete in the 21st season of the Los Angeles regional FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition. This year's theme is "Rebound Rumble." http://phys.org/news251106953.html Electronics - Robotics Fri, 16 Mar 2012 08:56:00 EST news251106953