Despite similar concepts and design, two new robotic exoskeletons designed to assist humans are intended for very different audiences and very different purposes. The first is designed to enhance a person’s strength while preserving mobility. The second is designed to provide mobility to those in which it has been severely restricted. HULC, or Human Universal [...]
Posts under ‘Robotics’
The State of Transhumanism Around the World
Over at The Extropist Examiner, Hank Hyena has a fascinating article about where transhumanist ideas and technologies are progressing and taking hold around the world. I had no idea, for example, that a Russian company is leading the way in inexpensive cryopreservation, that Italy is poised to be a world leader in service robots, or [...]
Does the road to AI begin with smartphone chips?
While the computer chips in our smartphones (say, iPhones or Android phones) are increasingly capable of processing a large amount of information, their most valuable asset is their low power consumption. Steve Furber is a computer engineer who plans on combining 50,000 of the chips, however, to create an “artificial brain” that simulates one billion [...]
Robot competition pits mini-mechs against each other
I’ve never heard of the “Mech Warfare” competition at RoboGames, but it looks like a blast. Small robots stalk the streets of a model cityscape armed with automatic airsoft weapons, which fire plastic BBs. Each mini-mech is equipped with a small camera and a sensor that measures how many times it’s been hit. Operators control [...]
Togolese student’s passion for building robots
Togolese student Sam Todo has a passion for science, technology, and most of all, robots. He built his latest bipedal robot, “SAM10,” out of parts from old television sets, which is remarkable. I imagine opportunities for learning mechanical engineering in Togo are slim, especially considering that half the population lives on less than US $1.25 [...]
I welcome our new robot gas station attendants
Pumping gas is a pain, especially in the winter for those of us in northern climates. The days of gas station attendants are over in most places (New Jersey a rare exception), but there’s really no reason, aside from cost, that the entire process couldn’t be automated. TankPitstop bills itself as the “first working refuelling [...]
Robots in human environments
The New York Times has a neat photoessay on “The Robots Among Us” – how robots are interacting with humans on our turf, such as grocery stores, classrooms, the battlefield and factories. It’s easy to test robots in a lab under controlled conditions, but quite different getting mobile robots into dynamic environments designed for humans. [...]
Robots “celebrate” Passover Seder
Passover began at sundown yesterday, as Jews around the world came together to celebrate Pesach, gather for a Seder, and tell the story of the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. As seen in the video above, even robots are getting into the spirit with what looks like a very pleasant, surprisingly traditional gathering. (Via [...]
Robotic surgery not evolving quickly enough, say docs
The da Vinci Surgical System was revolutionary when it was debuted by Intuitive Digital in 1999. The system consists of several components, including a console that is situated near the operating table. This console allows the surgeon to control the three to four robot arms that replace the traditional surgeon’s tools. The robotic arms are [...]
The ultimate in portable bomb disposal robots
Today the British Ministry of Defense unveiled a new bomb disposal robot called a “Dragon Runner” that breaks new ground in portability – the system is a mere 14 pounds and small enough to fit in a backpack. Despite its small size, however, it sounds remarkably capable: The sophisticated robot is manoeuvred over tough terrain [...]