Posts tagged robotics
Articles and news from the latest research reports.
How long before robots can think like us?
Will this summer be remembered as a turning point in the story of man versus machine? On June 23, with little fanfare, a computer program came within a hair’s breadth of passing the Turing test, a kind of parlour game for evaluating machine intelligence devised by mathematician Alan Turing more than 60 years ago.
Turing proposed the test – he called it “the imitation game” – in a 1950 paper titled “Computing machinery and intelligence”. Back then, computers were very simple machines, and the field known as Artificial Intelligence (AI) was in its infancy. But already scientists and philosophers were wondering where the new technology would lead. In particular, could a machine “think”?
HOW THE CAMO-ROBOT WORKS:
The soft robot can be seen in the video walking on a bed of rocks, before being filled with fluid to match the color of the rocks and break up the robot’s shape. By introducing narrow channels into the molds through which air and various types of fluids can be pumped, the robot can be made to change its color, contrast, apparent shape and temperature to blend with its environment.
It can also glow through chemiluminescence, and most importantly, achieve movement through pneumatic pressurisation and inflation of the channels. At a pumping rate of 2.25 milliliters per minute, color change in the robot required 30 seconds. Once filled, the color layers require no power to sustain the color.
The robot moves at a speed of approximately 40 meters per hour - without the colored fluid, it can move at approximately 67 meters per hour. Future research will focus on smoothing the movements; however, speed is less important than the robot’s flexibility. Soft robots are useful because they are resilient and can maneuver through very constrained spaces.
(Source: Daily Mail)
A robot that can reproduce the dexterity of the human hand remains a dream of the bioengineering profession. One new approach to achieving this goal avoids trying to replicate the intricacy of the bones, joints and ligaments that produce our most basic gestures.
A Sandia National Laboratories research team has adopted just such a strategy by designing a modular, plastic proto-hand whose electronics system is largely made from parts found in cell phones. The Sandia Hand can still perform with a high level of finesse for a robot, and is even capable of replacing the batteries in a small flashlight. It is expected to cost about $10,000, a fraction of the $250,000 price tag for a state-of-the-art robot hand today.
Face off: Disney scientists reveal technique to ‘clone’ a human face onto an animatronic head
Disney has revealed its scientists have perfected how to recreate a human face on a robot head.
The team at Disney’s Zurich research lab say the breakthrough could lead to a new generation of digital animatronic characters far more lifelike than those currently seen in its theme parks.
'We propose a complete process for designing, simulating and fabricating synthetic skin for an animatronics character that mimics the face of a given subject and expressions', Disney said in a researcher paper.
HOW IT WORKS:
- The multi-step process begins with a three-dimensional scan to capture every detail of the actor’s face.
- Measurements that catalog minute details such as facial hairs are taken and entered into a virtual rendering of the actor’s face.
- Scientists then take the image from virtual to physical, using a carefully developed synthetic skin made of silicone placed on an animatronic head to complete the model.
- During their experiments, researchers let the completed head sit for seven days at room temperature before installing the complex robotics inside.
Prosthetics through time
(Source: BBC)
Researchers have developed a system that allows the soft robots to either camouflage themselves against a background, or to make bold color displays. Such a “dynamic coloration” system could one day have a host of uses, ranging from helping doctors plan complex surgeries to acting as a visual marker to help search crews following a disaster, said Stephen Morin, a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Chemistry and Chemical Biology and first author of the paper.
"When we began working on soft robots, we were inspired by soft organisms, including octopi and squid," Morin said. "One of the fascinating characteristics of these animals is their ability to control their appearance, and that inspired us to take this idea further and explore dynamic coloration. I think the important thing we’ve shown in this paper is that even when using simple systems – in this case we have simple, open-ended micro-channels – you can achieve a great deal in terms of your ability to camouflage an object, or to display where an object is."
"One of the most interesting questions in science is ‘Why do animals have the shape, and color, and capabilities that they do?’" said Whitesides. "Evolution might lead to a particular form, but why? One function of our work on robotics is to give us, and others interested in this kind of question, systems that we can use to test ideas. Here the question might be: ‘How does a small crawling organism most efficiently disguise (or advertise) itself in leaves?’ These robots are test-beds for ideas about form and color and movement."
Soft autonomous earthworm robot at MIT
Earthworms creep along the ground by alternately squeezing and stretching muscles along the length of their bodies, inching forward with each wave of contractions. Snails and sea cucumbers also use this mechanism, called peristalsis, to get around, and our own gastrointestinal tracts operate by a similar action, squeezing muscles along the esophagus to push food to the stomach.
Now researchers at MIT, Harvard University and Seoul National University have engineered a soft autonomous robot that moves via peristalsis, crawling across surfaces by contracting segments of its body, much like an earthworm. The robot, made almost entirely of soft materials, is remarkably resilient: Even when stepped upon or bludgeoned with a hammer, the robot is able to inch away, unscathed.
Soon, space robots like Curiosity may evolve even greater intelligence
After more than eight years of planning and a 254-day journey through the cold emptiness of space, NASA’s Curiosity rover has finally landed on Mars. Curiosity is the most advanced mobile robotic science lab to ever explore another planet and thus this is an exciting moment for NASA and the world.
But robotics and artificial intelligence continue to advance at an exponential rate. As we look towards the future of space exploration in the next decade and beyond, we can expect the next generation of space robots to be orders of magnitude more powerful and intelligent, while at the same time costing a fraction of Curiosity’s $2.5 billion price tag.
Having an operation?
Don’t be surprised if the surgeon performs it from the room next door.
Indeed, he could even operate from halfway across the world — because these doctors are increasingly using robots to treat disease and injury.
‘These are incredibly exciting times,’ says Brian Davies, emeritus professor of medical robotics at Imperial College London and inventor of the surgical robot, which in April 1991 became the first in the world to remove tissue from a living human.
‘Robots can work much more accurately than human hands, which is fantastic now that we are seeking minimally invasive surgery through a tiny incision where precision is key,’ says Professor Davies.
Of course, the surgeon still performs the operation, but uses the robot to see inside the body, or operates it using a joystick or console so it’s like a spare arm — but without the human hand’s natural shake.
‘Medical robots are not like the sci-fi images of autonomous humanoids; they are sophisticated computer-assisted instruments that remain always under the surgeon’s control,’ says Dr Patrick Finlay, founder of medical robotics firm MediMaton.
Robot Learns to Pick the Sweetest, Ripest Strawberries
Richard Dudley imagines a world where strawberries grow in perfect rows and every day a robot army tastes their colors before harvesting the ripe ones. No, that isn’t LSD talking. The research scientist at the United Kingdom’s National Physical Laboratory is building a bot that uses multiple wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation to identify the sweetest, ripest fruit — then plucks it from the vine.