IVRE: Human Machine Virtual Collaborative Systems

Getting work done through robots is no more a challenging task, with the continuous progression in technology, more and more machines are being designed keeping in mind the safety factor which still reigns supreme when interacting with a machine. Yet we are too far from two equally important aspects, which if conquered, might thoroughly revolutionize robotics, and they are – consciousness and self-awareness. In an attempt to reach fluency in human-robot interactions, researchers at the Johns Hopkins’ Computational and Interactive Robotics Laboratory have come up with a simulated setting, which…

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The UHTTR-1: Hoffman’s Table Tennis Robot

Ulf Hoffman, a hobbiest engineer has designed the table tennis robot, a bot that plays tennis but with one hand. The team has named it the UHTTR-1. Within no time, the machine reverts the ball after servicing. Its ability to respond rapidly is due to its efficient servo motors and light weight aluminum construction. At the moment, the bot works in passive mode but the engineer claim to tune it to work for the next higher level and envision to integrate other higher dimensional skill set. Unlike Watson, it is…

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Robots Might Perform At Live Concerts: Prosthetic on the Sticks

Robots got advanced and sophisticated in the last few decades after all, they are capable of performing various tasks with precision making our life all the more simpler. Now, Gil Weinberg Professor at Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology has designed an innovative robot that can create music of its own. The bot is not the one that just plays the music instead it has been designed to create music by first ‘carefully’ listening a song or melody and then improvise new tunes. Imagine how interesting it would to have…

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Researchers Conceptualizing An In-built Privacy Design: Humanoids

With an increasing use of robotics in various fields, more and more vital information are being transferred to these bots. Sharing information with these machines might seem grandeur but its brings along the challenge to safeguard the information stored in the robots from being hacked or being shared by others. British researchers to explore different ways of preventing these stored data are carrying out a three-year project worth 2 million pound. 

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Ghost Knifefish Inspired Autonomous Underwater Vehicle: Biomimicry

In an attempt to design an underwater vehicle that can go into the depths of ocean, which are not, accessible or not safe for humans to dive in, scientists are studying the Ghost knifefish method of locomotion. The fish are known to hunt in the murky water of the Amazon basin with precision and to sense the environment, rely on the current that they pass through the water and whirl their long fin for smooth motion to move both horizontally (forward and backward) as well as vertically. 

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Biomimicry: Robotic Bats Might Fill the Skies Soon

According to a recent study, the manner in which bats flap their wings could actually be the source of inspiration for the upcoming designs of flying robots. The researchers investigated the way the fruit bats made use of their wings for manipulating the air around them. By developing the correct understanding of the functioning of these processes in nature, the engineers could practically come up with the design of small flying robo machines called the micro air vehicles. According to Danesh Tafti, from Virginia Tech, bats comprise of varied shapes…

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Super Ball Bot: NASA’s Latest Space Rover

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) keep coming up with new era robots that can be sent to space for exploration. There are certain limitations in each design such as time taking research, clumsy motions and prone to damage. Therefore, NASA is trying to design a bot that can transform the traditional way robots perform work assigned to them here on our planet or in the space. They are aiming to build a Super Ball Bot, which looks more like a motor fitted in between a mesh of rods…

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Toro-Bots: The Movable Garden Lamps in Your Garden

We all have seen beautifully maintained gardens with flowers, plants, colored pots, lamps statues and so on. But I am sure no one might have seen a garden with robots moving around and also taking care of it. The adorable looking robots with lights on the top and too many limbs are known as Toro Bots, created by the Japanese, are basically garden lamps that are capable of moving around in your garden of their own. And they are surely going to turn heads and attention towards your garden. 

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Machines Would Guard Drainage Tunnel: Fight Against Drug Peddlers

Most of us may not be aware that the drainage system that lay beneath our city and carry sewage, are also being actively used for drug smuggling. The underground system that runs between the Mexico and the United States are among the frequently used routes by the drug smugglers. Till date officers from U.S. Border Patrol were responsible to keep an eye on these activities going inside these filthy drains. These officers guarding the city used to crawl through these rotting, smelling puddles and completely counting on their instinct to…

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On Road Traffic Controller: Humanoids Take Over Streets

Robotics is one such area, which many people think can pose threat to human jobs. Bots could be seen everywhere, from automatizing work in mega factories to performing daily household chores. For instance, after the bar tending robot, now we would be witnessing a machine taking the charge of a traffic cop. 

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Termites Inspire Crew of Tiny Autonomous Bots: Biomimicry

Inspired from termites, which are usually known for causing damages to the buildings, researchers from Harvard University have created a crew of tiny robots that are designed to work autonomously. The bio-inspired robots termed as TERMES can work without any central supervision and can carry bricks to construct structures as towers, castles and pyramids. 

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Quest To Design Jellyfish Robot: Propulsion Movement Under Research

Animals have always inspired our scientists, whether it is in the field of medicine or robotics. Robots based on animal movement are not a new concept because animals perform activities more efficiently and proficiently, that are not yet achievable in our robots. In another animal inspired, jellyfish robot, researchers studied different animals from small creatures like moth to the largest like humpback whales, to understand how animals moved through water or air, with minimal transport cost. They discovered that the secret about their movement lies in the way these animals…

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Robots Capitalizing On The Efficiency Of Nature: Biomimicry

Tentacles of biomimicry have entered into the technology realm as well and hence we are witnessing robots derived from the workings of mother nature. Researchers are working towards developing designs that might bestow the animal capabilities to machines. Cats Inspired E-Whiskers Electronic whiskers are one such offshoot created by the researchers at the Berkeley Lab. They fabricated this design using carbon nanotubes and silver nanoparticles. With this it seems after eclipsing the Silicon, the CNTs would now make its presence felt among robotics as well. These artificial whiskers are made…

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Rise Of The Lizard Bots: Gecko Robot Might Go For Spacewalk Soon

What would be the field of robotics without biomimicry, I guess, nothing. After Cheetah bot and the Big Dog, researchers have come up with lizard-bot, to which they call gecko robot. Fabricated by a research team in Canada, the gecko robot can easily cross through a vertical surface. This mechanism (of sticking) is brought about by means of dry microscopic toe hair called the setae. Christened as Abigaille, the bot weighs around 240 gram. The six-legged climbing bot project is indeed inspired from the way lizards glue and walk effortlessly…

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Meet Valkyrie, Johnson Space Center’s New Super Hero

NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) in association with the University of Texas and Texas A&M and with funding from the state of Texas itself have built a humanoid to which they call, Valkyrie, officially designated as “R5”. The bot is 6.2 feet tall, weighs around 125 kgs with 44 degree of freedom and is powered by battery. The machine is not built for any space mission or otherwise but for the DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC), that’ll hold its first round of competition in the second half of this month.

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