Search Results for: autonomous

Algorithm Aiding Machines for Determining Navigation: Scene Understanding

Pooja Kashyap

Re-orientation of scenes and multi-target tracking are the fundamental problems for majority of vision applications. Occlusions and slight change in scene alignment make tracking by detection approaches a lot more challenging. Thinking on the same lines, MIT researchers have come up with a new algorithm that would assist the vision applications in combating the re-orientation problems. The algorithm is chiefly written for bots and machines that are employed for navigational purposes. Manhattan Frames The mechanism is based on recognizing the main orientations in the given scene. These alignments act as…

Biomimicry: Insect-Inspired Micro-Robots For Stealthy Surveillance

Neha Shukla

Drawing inspiration from tiny insects, researchers at the University of Maryland, are developing the world’s tiniest mobile robot, suitably named as micro robots. These tiny robots are designed to take the long distance leap just as bugs do, with the aim of moving quickly or jump over any obstacle with ease in extremely rough terrain. Sarah Bergbreiter leading the research and other teammates from UM, envision the micro robots helping rescue teams in searching victims by quickly crawling through the rubble, at the disaster site, where humans and other traditional…

Altaeros’ Buoyant Airborne Turbine: Floats at High Altitude

Neha Shukla

We visualize wind turbine as tall tower with a huge fan mounted on it and fixed at some distant place. But we might have never imagined a wind turbine that floats in the air. Does it sound like a sci-fi movie subject? Surprisingly, it’s a reality being developed by MIT startup Altaeros Energies and will be seen floating in the sky above the city of Fairbanks and the power so generated will be used to power remote military sites and families residing off the grid that usually depend on expensive…

Humans Might Welcome The New Robot Overlords: An Obedience Study

Pooja Kashyap

How would it feel working under a ‘robo boss’, constantly pecking on top of the head, reminding the amount of work that is still left. Many would feel frustrated and might leave but there would be some, who might like to finish the task without questioning. In an interesting experiment, performed by the Human-Computer Interaction Lab at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada, revealed the responses that were received by working under a robotic supervisor. Task that was assigned to humans was extremely monotonous which of course became boring…

HyQ: The Most Versatile Quadruped Robot

Pooja Kashyap

With its first launch, HyQ, the brainchild of Italian Institute of Technology had already conquered how to manipulate the terrains. Now the quadruped robot has resurrected but with more tricks than before. Claudio Semini, the lead researcher claimed that the ‘second coming’ of HyQ is sodden with wide variety of motion skills that would help the bot in facing the dynamically changing terrain. Initially, the bot was designed in terms of reactive behavior, the mode that helped it from recovering from huddles but this time, the focus is kept on making…

Biomimicry: Robotic Bats Might Fill the Skies Soon

Pragati Kashyap

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…

Super Ball Bot: NASA’s Latest Space Rover

Neha Shukla

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…

Toro-Bots: The Movable Garden Lamps in Your Garden

Neha Shukla

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. 

Meet Valkyrie, Johnson Space Center’s New Super Hero

Pooja Kashyap

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.

Sinfonia’s Robot Up For Cleaning Solar Panels

Neha Shukla

We already know the importance of solar energy in this era when our regular fuel sources are being depleted. Need of the hour is to construct bigger solar plants to meet with the ever rising demand. However, it is not easy to maintain such immense Solar Plants. Dust particles, bird droppings or sand grains, bar the sunlight and result in lowering the overall output of the plants by 30% in just one month (as per some research). However, until now there was no cost effective and potent solution for the…

Epson’s Dual Arm Robot, Amongst Hottest Trends In Industrial Robotics

Pooja Kashyap

The dual-arm, adaptable industrial robot by Seiko Epson, Japanese electronic company, reminds me of Sid, the sloth. Unlike the existing industrial bots, this prototype by Seiko Epson can visualize, take decisions, adapt as per the environment, can adjust the force while grabbing objects and above all, its portable. This dual-arm bot is capable of moving independently while performing simple tasks on assembly lines. As per the press release, Epson’s autonomous dual-arm robot is able to accurately recognize the position and orientation of objects in three-dimensional space, much like the human…

Budgee Bot Likes To Carry Packages & Bags

Pooja Kashyap

Shopping is always good but becomes cumbersome when there happens to be a load of bags or to navigate trolleys across a rush. Pushing trolleys is not only weighty but at times, creates inconvenience to others as well. However, Five Elements Robotics has come out with a simple problem to ease this issue. They have named the solution, Budgee. A cute and autonomously driven bot that’ll hold items while talking behind the person. It is so portable that it can be operated in shopping malls, parks, home, offices etc..

Technology, An Explosively Dynamic Milieu Of Exponential Time & Innovation

Pooja Kashyap

The immeasurable manifestations of science and technology have deeply affected our thought process and the way we live. This scientific knowledge and its technological applications is expediting at a very fast pace. For instance, the tech industry today, is sodden with explosively dynamic milieu of ever-increasing innovation that every next day we witness some milestone or a breakthrough. The Exponential Time Tech paraphernalia morphed into a completely new growth dimension within a gap of few decades only. For instance, radio took 38 years to reach 50 million users, TV took…

Design Is An Art, Says Shawn Moghadam: An Interview

Pooja Kashyap

Shawn Moghadam is an Industrial / Vehicle / 3D Designer from Greater Los Angeles Area, CA. He has served Peugeot/Citroen (PSA), Audi, BMW, GM, Subaru, and Volvo trucks. His designs clearly show his in-depth understanding of customer requirements, which happens to be his asset in creating life in his concepts. When he is not designing, Moghadam is busy teaching design student the basics of 2D to 3D translation, how to make 3D models and generate photo-real images from them. Lately, we’ve got the honor of interviewing the much talented designer,…

Self Assembling Modular Robots: The Future Of Robotics

Pooja Kashyap

Modular bot will be the new dimension in the field of Robotics. Unlike the conventional scheme of robots, the modular bots are cube and without any external moving part. Researchers behind the discovery have named each as M-Block. Scientists of MIT, John Romanishin, Daniela Rus and postdoc Kyle Gilpin are going to present a paper describing their new robots at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.