Robot
Fujitsu Begins Limited Sales of Service Robots
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September 13, 2005 Fujitsu Frontech Limited and Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. today announced that Fujitsu Frontech will begin limited sales of their new service robot, enon, on a limited basis in Japan from September 13, 2005. Jointly developed by the two companies, enon is an advanced practical-use service robot that can assist in such tasks as providing guidance, escorting guests, transporting objects, and security patrolling. Read More
Face Robot facial animation technology pioneers new approach to believable, emotional digital acting
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August 3, 2005 The world’s most important computer graphics showcase SIGGRAPH 2005 opened yesterday with a rash of new important announcements and techniques to be seen on the floor of the Los Angeles Convention Center, though none are likely to have the far reaching ramifications of SoftImage Face Robot, a revolutionary new facial animation technology. Face Robot software is the first technology that allows 3-D artists to achieve realistic, lifelike facial animation for high-end film, post and games projects. The technology is built on a new computer model of facial soft tissue that mimics the full range of emotions portrayed by the human face. SIGGRAPH attendees made a bee-line to the Avid Computer Graphics booth to experience the Face Robot system. The technology offers artists a very intuitive way to interact with CG characters while providing precise control over facial details, including wrinkles, frowns, flaring nostrils and bulging neck muscles. Read More
Robotics toys get very intelligent.
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July 26, 2005 As computer chips get more powerful and cheaper at an exponential rate, we’re going to see toys, cars, shoes, hats and even door knobs becoming surprisingly intelligent. How intelligent? Meet Amazing Amanda. Amanda is a 21” interactive doll that utilises voice recognition, sensory technology and articulated animatronics, so she can play the role of a baby girl more authentically than you’d have thought possible. Like a real toddler, Amanda can show the whole gamut of human emotions including laughing and crying and after an initial five minute bonding session (AKA voice recognition induction session) she even recognises her own ‘mother’s’ voice and responds differently to mum compared with strangers! Amanda can talk, respond to questions and loves to play games and sing songs! She interacts with her food, potty and hair accessories, knows when she is being fed, having her hair brushed and can be programmed to wake at the same time every morning to act as a pseudo alarm clock. She remembers mothers day, birthdays and through realistic animatronics, shows her feelings in her facial movements and voice responses. Does this sound like science fiction? Amazing Amanda hits the shelves in the US, UK and Australia next month with a retail price in the vicinity of US$100. Read More
First human robotic arm implant
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July 15, 2005 The first implantation of robotic arms into a human being is to be performed at the Syrian-Lebanese Hospital, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In a statement issued by the hospital, an agreement was signed during June that will see a team of neuroscientists from Duke University, in the United States, led by Brazilian doctor Miguel Nicolelis, perform the implant in approximately three years time. A microchip implanted into the patient's brain will make it possible to control the prosthetics. Nicolelis has long been regarded as the most-likely to develop the technologies for such a procedure, having recently been named one of the 50 top scientists in the world by Scientific American. Read More
Fujitsu releases HOAP-3 programmable Linux robot
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July 10, 2005 Fujitsu has shown the third iteration of its Humanoid for Open Architecture Platform (HOAP) series of robots which first went on sale to research institutions and universities four years ago. As you’d expect, the HOAP-3 model is way better than HOAP-2 after four years of development and the new model has advanced image recognition capabilities and the ability to not only communicate but also to display emotion – a feature that seems high on the agenda for Japanese robotics manufacturers. HOAP-3 is now available to universities and its open systems architecture is designed so students and researchers can explore the little feller’s (he’s 60 cm tall and weighs 8 kg) RTLinux operating system and many advanced built-in features. Read More
The Robotica Zucchetti Evolution: State-of-the-art Robotic lawnmowing system
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June 19, 2005 If you’re an avid gardener with a sizeable area of lawn to mow, the Evolution might be just what you need so you can spend more quality time with the roses and plants which thrive on additional care. The Evolution is a premium quality lawn mowing robot built by Italian industrial robotics manufacturer Robotica Zucchetti and is a prime example of just how far automated systems have come in saving time and money in the home. It’s electric, recharges itself and will work any hours of the day or night you require, and will look after three quarters of an acre of grass on its own. If you have the right sized lawn that makes the Evolution a bargain at US$2299. Read More
Food Tasting Robot
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June 13, 2005 One of the really scary things about NEC’s Papero robot is all the capabilities it keeps adding and what it eventually may become. We had a good look at Papero last year and we were very impressed with its English-Japanese translation capabilities in conjunction with its personality and social skills – now a new variant of Papero has been shown at EXPO 2005 in Japan and this one is a “health food adviser robot” which analyses any food you give it using infrared spectrum analysis and reports on the fat and sugar content. Read More
World's Fastest Robotic Case Packer - Carbon Fiber reduces weight increases throughput
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June 8, 2005 Think carbon fiber and you think of expensive helmets, mission-critical lightweight components in Formula 1 racing cars and ... places where strength, performance and light weight are not optional. So a seemingly mundane production line robot is not exactly where you'd expect to find an exotic composite. Light weight components can make a huge difference when they're in the right place though and KUKA Robotics' new KUKA KR 40 PA case packing robot is a prime example. Read More
World's First Robotic Floor Washer: iRobot Scooba
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May 24, 2005 The company that brought the world’s first practical, affordable and viable Robotic Floorvac to market is set to show a next-generation model that simultaneously vacuums, scrubs and dries hard floors. The new iRobot Scooba Robotic Floor Washer will be shown in a "sneak preview" today at The Wall Street Journal's "D: All Things Digital" conference in California. Scooba, a next-generation robot, is designed to vacuum, scrub and dry hard floors automatically. The new robot builds on technology advances from the company's iRobot Roomba Robotic Floorvac. The Roomba and Scooba will be seen in centuries to come as the very first robotic assistants to reach the home - some experts predict the home robotics market will rival the automotive industry in size within 20 years. Read More
Snake-like robot conquers obstacles
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May 20, 2005 A virtually unstoppable "snakebot" developed by a University of Michigan team resembles a high-tech slinky as it climbs pipes and stairs, rolls over rough terrain and spans wide gaps to reach the other side. The 26-pound robot developed at the U-M College of Engineering is called OmniTread. It moves by rolling, log-style, or by lifting its head or tail, inchworm-like, and muscling itself forward. The robot's unique tread design prevents it from stalling on rough ground, said research professor Johann Borenstein, head of the mobile robotics lab at U-M. Read More
Hug and SenseChair Robotic Prototypes
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Developed by a team of Carnegie Mellon University interaction and product designers, the Hug and the SenseChair are robotic product prototypes designed to improve the quality of life for the world’s growing elderly population. The Hug, which looks like a 16-inch pillow, uses vibrations and heat, light and sound signals to mimic human interaction (such as a child's hug) and is designed to augment phone calls and ultimately help the elderly communicate more meaningfully with distant family members. The SenseChair is equipped to sense, monitor, stimulate, interact and communicate with the sitter. The products will go on show in New York this week. Read More
3.5 metre Tyrannosaurus Rex Robot
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March 12, 2005 There can be little doubt that the Japanese lead the world in robotics, and the 2005 World Expo to be held in Aichi Prefecture later this year will be the country’s first real opportunity to showcase its advanced robotics capabilities to the rest of the world. Toyota will lead the way with several distinct robotics projects on display such as partner robots, the i-unit mobility system and its robot buses, but a new robotic display has come to light that will be one of the hit features of the Expo – two giant robotic dinosaurs. Read More
Golf robot designed to give everyone the perfect swing
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March 5, 2005 Top Swing is an electronically controlled robot that can hold your golf club, feel your swing, and guide you how to get the perfect swing - unlike all previous golf teaching aids, the Top Swing can enable everyone to FEEL just what the perfect golf shot FEELS like, enabling even beginners to grasp the proper motion concept. With Top Swing, students can feel and execute a perfect swing while advanced golfers and professionals can work on their shot and clinically measure what's happening each and every swing. Read More
Korea shows its robotics prowess with a rival for Asimo
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January 25, 2005 A humanoid robot developed by the Korea Advanced Institute of Science (KAIST) has significantly bridged the gap between Japan's advanced robotic technologies and the rest of the world, once again affirming that Korea will be a major player in the fast-growing robotics industry. Developed in just three years at a fraction of the cost of the world's most advanced humanoid robot, Honda's Asimo, KAIST's robot will be known as Hubo. Hubo is a 150cm tall, 67 kilogram prodigy with a natural walk, voice recognition and synthesis faculties and advanced vision capabilities with both eyes operating independently. Unlike any previous humanoid, Hubo's on-board intelligence is largely supplemented a wireless connection to a powerful external server. Read More
Talon Explosive Ordnance Disposal robot gainfully employed in Baghdad
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BAGHDAD, Iraq January 13, 2005 As robotics, automation and autonomous robotics eventually reach consumers in numbers, we will find uses for cost-efficient, energy-efficient, systems that we have yet to conseive. As the robotic age dawns though, there are already some compelling advantages to using robots. The US Army is using robots to reduce the dangers to Explosive Ordnance Disposal in Baghdad. Read More
Talon robot soldiers shipped to Iraq
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December 10, 2004 A new era of robot warfare has been launched with the US Army employing 100 TALON robots equipped with off-the-shelf chemical, gas, temperature, and radiation sensors for deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan. The explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) robots are to be used for a variety of missions ranging from clearing live grenades to neutralising mines in shallow water, and can be adapted for small mobile weapons systems (SMWS) for force protection. Read More
Self-transforming robots promise versatile future
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November 29, 2004 Scientists at the Dartmouth Robotics Lab have developed the first reliable methods to produce self-configurable robots capable of controlling their shape according to the task at hand and environment they are in. Based on a 'lattice' of autonomous units linked into a networked organism, the breakthrough promises a new generation of self-transforming robots that can perform a variety of different tasks without human intervention. Read More
U.N. releases World Robotics 2004 survey
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November 21, 2004 Over 600,00 household robots are already in use with several million more expected for domestic consumption in the next few years according to the World Robotics 2004 survey, produced by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), in cooperation with the International Federation of Robotics (IFR). Read More
Robotic Doctor marks breakthrough in telemedicine
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November 13, 2004 Known as RP-6, this "Remote Presence Robot" represents yet another advance in the use of robot technology for the delivery of healthcare. Already utilised in numerous medical roles including surgery, robots are set to become increasingly valuable in the delivery of a wide range of healthcare services, including remote or "telemedical" applications. RP-6 acts as a surrogate presence, allowing doctors to visit patients from a remote location and expedite health services to a greater number of users. Doctors can guide the robot to the patient's bedside, take pictures of charts and speak to the patient through the robot. Aimed particularly at those recovering from surgery, the RP-6 is is currently undergoing trials in US hospitals. Read More
Meet Milo - the world's first Robot Personal Assistant
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November 2, 2004 At a time when most handhelds PDA's are racing to miniaturise their hardware, MILO, the world's first Robotic Personal Assistant platform (RPA) - takes a brave step in the opposite direction, developing a four foot tall mix of robot butler and mobile telecommunications hub with programmable commands. Read More
Intelligent network based robots on the market in 2005
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November 2, 2004 A new type of network-based robot will debut in Korea in late 2005, greeting customers in around 200 post offices and interacting in real time service applications for commercial and home uses.
One male based robot security guard will guard post offices around the clock and is equipped with a net it can shoot to capture intruders. Another female styled robot will tend to customers and make those long queues more bearable by screening fun video clips on embedded monitors.
The network-based robots are part of a project called the Ubiquitous Robot Companion (URC) being promoted by the Korean Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), who are taking advantage of the country's highest per capita use of high-speed Internet connection and wireless broadband services to deliver flexible robot programming through wireless networks and pre-empt the emerging robotics market. Read More
Using robotics to learn how to walk again
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October 27, 2004
The Lokomat is a bio-treadmill with robotic arms to move a stroke and paralysis victim's legs, allowing them to feel the 'pattern' of walking - which rebuilds muscles faster and speeds recovery.
Designer and manufacturer Hocoma specialises in developing innovative equipment for applications in medicinal engineering and now their new 'Lokomat' bio-treadmill is helping people with disabilities to walk again. Read More
Robot parachutists hit the mark
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Two US Marine Corps' skydivers made their first combat zone landing earlier this year in a remote hot spot in Iraq's Al Anbar Province. The landings were significant enough to go down in history but there was little fanfare as the aim of the exercise was to supply remote troops in a combat zone - the Sherpas, as this robot parachure controller is known, each rode a pallet of rations to the drop zone, controlling their chute from two miles high to within 200 metres of their target. Read More
Fujitsu Develops Human Task Support Robot
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Fujitsu Laboratories and Fujitsu Frontech have announced their joint development of a service robot that can provide support for various services in offices and commercial facilities. The newly developed robot features functions that enable it to provide such services as greeting and escorting guests onto elevators, operating the elevators, moving parcels using a cart, and security patrolling of buildings at night. Fujitsu Frontech Limited will commercialise the robot, with sales scheduled to begin in June 2005.
Fujitsu Frontech Limited will commercialise the robot, with sales scheduled to begin in June 2005. Details of the robot are to be presented at the 22nd Annual Conference of the Robotics Society of Japan scheduled to be held from September 15 at Gifu University in Japan. Read More
Miniature robot for exploring your inner self (quite literally)
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A fantastic journey in medicine is beginning with recent advances in miniaturisation by Japanese company RF System Lab. The Norika 3 RF Endoscopic Robot Capsule brings the body alive with live video of the patient's gastrointestinal system. Norika 3 uses a 1/6 inch colour 410,000-pixel CCD camera inside a micro capsule that is swallowed by the user. Image technology allows for variable focus by disc type magnets and a profound and dynamic range of microscopic data. The capsule camera travels through the digestive system and can be controlled by rotor coils for tilt control by remote operation with a joystick. Lighting volume can be adjusted and switched to infrared spectrum for multiple analyses. Read More
More inductees into the ROBOT HALL OF FAME
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And the winner is - Shakey the Robot! It's not the Oscars but it is the robot world's closest equivalent - the Robot Hall of Fame, an annual award to honor landmark achievements in robotics technology and the increasing contributions of robots to human endeavors. Established by the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University in 2003, the Robot Hall of Fame honours two categories, robots from Science - which have served a useful function and demonstrated real skills in accomplishing the purpose for which they were created - and robots from Science Fiction. Shakey enters into the Hall of Fame this year in the Robots from Science category. Read More
HAL and Artoo win a place in the Robot Hall of Fame
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Carnegie Mellon has announced the 2004 inductees to the Robot Hall of Fame at the Carnegie Science Center. The robots honored in this first annual Hall of Fame event included NASA's Mars Pathfinder Microrover Flight Experiment (MFEX), better known as "Sojourner"; Unimate, the first industrial robot; R2-D2, the unforgettable droid from the Star Wars movie trilogy; and the evil HAL-9000 computer, featured in the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey," created by science fiction writer and futurist Sir Arthur C. Clarke and director Stanley Kubrick. Read More
DARPA Schedules 2nd Autonomous Robotic Ground Vehicles Event
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The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) of the U.S. Department of Defense has announced that it will hold a second Grand Challenge for Autonomous Robotic Ground Vehicles on October 8, 2005. Read More
Electrolux Trilobite Robotic Vacuum Cleaner v2.0
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Electrolux, the first company to bring a robotic vacuum cleaner to market in the Trilobite, has released the first second generation vacuum, the Trilobite 2.0. The new Trilobite 2.0 can be programmed to clean at a particular time, has an active infra-red stair sensor and improved navigation algorithm. Read More
The Robots are Coming!
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January 19, 2004 Helper, security and companion robots will be commonplace a decade from now. There are already more than 100 robotic commercialisation projects in the global public arena, and a dozen commercially available robots in the Japanese domestic market. In the next two to three years, that number will grow considerably, with research companies forecasting the home robotics market may one day be equal in size to the automotive market.
Toyota announces a coming range of partner robots
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Toyota, the world's second largest automotive manufacturer, has made a clear statement of its intention to participate in the personal robotics market by announcing an internal project to develop partner robots designed to function as personal assistants for humans This year has seen a flurry of activity in the personal robotics area and the heightened activity has encouraged a number of companies such as Toyota, which has been known to be developing robots for some time, to play its hand. Toyota does not see itself solely as an automotive manufacturer, and sees itself as a manufacturer of products which contribute to society. Read More
Korean start-up rocks fledgling robotics industry
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Korean robotics start-up Mostitech has rocked the fledgling personal robotics marketplace by announcing the mid-year availability of a home security robot that will sell for around AUD$1100. Prior to the announcement, the home security robot ics marketplace had seemed likely to become the domain of the Japanese consumer electronics manufacturers which already have several such robots available on the Japanese domestic market for prices in the AUD$15,000+ area. Read More
Artemis - the robot guard
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Japanese robotics company Tmsuk has announced its latest creation, the T63 Artemis Guard Robot. Artemis will autonomously patrol a multi-story building and report back wirelessly to security HQ if it finds anything amiss. Though not yet capable of apprehending any intruders, it is armed with several non-lethal offensive weapons such as a fluorescent paintball gun and the capability to spray a cloud of mist to temporarily blind the intruder. Read More
Personal Robotics Industry set for massive growth
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Tuesday December 9, 2003 The term 'robot' has been in existence for a short time - it was first used in 1920 by Czechoslovakian playwright Karel Capek and comes from the Czech robota, which means 'tedious labor.'One hundred years hence, in 2020, analysts project that most households will own a robot, or at least be considering one. Robotics is already a US$8 billion industry globally, but mostof the robots in use today are industrial robots employed in manufacturing for welding, painting and assembly line tasks. The consumer robotics marketplace is just emerging, with a gross of US$600 million in 2002, comprised mainly of programmable robots which mow lawns, clean floors and amuse children. Read More
Epson develops World's Smallest Flying Micro-robot
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The world's smallest flying micro-robot has been unveiled at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo. Seiko Epson Corporation's FR ("Micro Flying Robot") stands just 70 mm high and uses 130 mm wide contra-rotating propellers powered by a tiny ultrasonic motor to achieve balanced mid-air flight. Read More
