A Scientific Research Vault
Inspired by a small rodent, gerbil, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have unleashed robot Jerboa. This dynamic bot has no legs but actuated hips and a tail through which movement is achieved.
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Biomimicry has always fascinated developers, every now and then they try mimicking nature into the human work force. This time, Festo, German technology firm, has come up with human hand sized robotic ants, which the developers envision might collaborate on factory production systems in the near future.
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A hotel run by humanoid robots is no more a far fetched dream, especially from a country that is famous for robotics and technological innovation, Japan. The Henn-na Hotel located in Nagasaki plans to recruit 10 humanoid robot also named as actroid androids. These lifelike bots would greet the guests with a smile and would assist the guests by carrying their baggage, prepare coffee and even clean their rooms. Actroid, woman robot of Japanese descent Kokoro is the robotics company that is developing theses actroid robots since 2003 that looks…
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After the success of REEM humanoid, PAL Robotics, Spain has come up with TIAGo (Take It And Go). The bot is integrated with mobile manipulator system, which gives it an edge of mobile platform by extending the workspace of robotic manipulator arm.
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For the first time consumer-grade electronics are used for programming autonomous drones. This drone makes use of smartphone as its brain. The phone senses its environment by taking real time pictures. Even the real time computation is done on the device itself along with higher-level autonomy, maneuvering, navigation, control and computer vision algorithms. The product is the brainchild of GRASP Laboratory, University Of Pennsylvania. Click on the video below to see the autonomous flying robot: This makes me think, if you lose your smartphone, you’d end up losing the drone…
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Biomechatronics researchers at Bielefeld University, Germany have come up with a bot called Hector that is inspired from stick insect, another invention in the field of biomimicry. The insect bot has six limbs with an ability of functioning independently. The embedded sensors help it in reacting autonomously to its external setting and accordingly assist in learning from experience. Only for research platform Jan Paskarbeit, the developer envisions Hector in areas like testing animal locomotion theories. The bot however, is not designed with an intention of severing humans in areas like…
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Drones embedded with cameras or infrared sensors have been doing well in areas like farming and surveillance but it seems that researchers are looking forward to extend the current restrictions. Thinking on these terms, some engineers have come up with tiny crafts that have an ability of scooping up water samples for identifying invasive species and checking oil leaks over the surface. Some drones of the similar kinds have been upgraded as they can even carry out rudimentary analysis on the collected water sample. This would come as a handy…
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Disney Research Zurich in collaboration with ETH Zurich have designed a robot called Beachbot that has the potential of carving impeccable huge sand drawings. Equipped with wi-fi computer, an inertial measurement unit (IMU) and laser scanner, the Beachbot walks effortlessly on sand making paintings. Laser scanner helps it to restrict its canvas boundaries within four poles mounted alongside the area. It also uses laser data and the IMU for its own location while it steers with millimeter accuracy inside the restricted area. Building rake mechanism that would compliment drawing tool…
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The Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich has come up with a robot, movement of which is inspired from cuttlefish. One of its own kind, Sepios is a bot with four orthogonal fins. Peep on the link below and see the undulating fin propulsion from the ETH’s nautical robot:
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Japan has revolutionized their traditional karakuri puppets by embedding a set of servomotors within the plastics. Market of action figures is already booming in Japan, hence, the plastic model industry is going to be the next big thing in the country. Taking this into consideration, Speecys, a robotics company came up with their Motion Figure system, which they claim is pioneering the spirit of robotic action figures not only in the nation but also across the globe.
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Boston Engineering in collaboration with the U.S. Navy is developing a ‘tuna fish’, their new unmanned underwater vehicle. Developers envision that the fish would autonomously navigate across the sea for fetching information including surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. The project has been named Project Silent Nemo that comes from Disney’s famous movie, Finding Nemo, where Nemo was the subject of search but in here, Nemo will do the finding. Swimmer drone The unmanned underwater vehicle weighs around 100-pound while it’s length is about 5 feet. As a product of…
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George Clooney, the brand ambassador of Nespresso has a stiff competition now, I say stiff because the new face is cute, chatty & cuddly and it happens to be an android. Pepper is the name of the droid that Nestle has lately launched. It’s not just a single robot but a fleet to bots taking the Japanese stores. The four feet tall bot has a cute human like face mounted on top of a plastic body. The interface in tablet form is located at the chest of the machine while…
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Silicon Valley, the renowned center for invention and development, is always in news. Lately, Microsoft’s robo cop has been creating waves in the tech ocean of the Valley. Start-up, Knightscope has named its security robot K5. Makers of the robot using high tech robotics, predictive analytics and social engagement, wanted to use the bot in predicting and preventing crime. Till now, the company has designed seven robots and envisions positioning four more by the end of this year.
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It’s not just the design but the falling mechanics too are being studied for implementation by researchers in biomimicry. In an attempt to develop natural reflexes in robots, scientists at the US are studying the techniques through which cats and athletes twist their body mid-air without being injured at the landing. By recreating the similar reflexes in droids, researchers aim to cut down the probability of robots crashing especially during hazardous missions like search-and-rescue operations.
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Cockroaches are one organism that is disliked by a majority of people but these creepy looking creatures is soon going to help in tracing humans trapped in disaster sites. Similar to penny sized micro robots, these tiny roaches can make its way through the extremely small spaces where others like dogs, camera or robots might not reach thus making rescue operation slow and risking lives of people.
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