An ongoing research project of the PERCRO Perceptual Robotics Laboratory, this is a highly interdisciplinary effort involving coordination and collaboration between engineers, artists, designers and neuroscientists. The aim is to develop a sophisticated full-body robotic interface, driven by sensors capable of sensing human muscle activity and interpreted by intelligent software systems, through which the robot becomes a natural extension of the user’s body and mind.
Robots categorized as: Science
2000
ASIMO – Advanced Step in Innovative MObility
ASIMO is a humanoid robot created by Honda. Standing at 130 centimeters (4 feet 3 inches) and weighing 54 kilograms (114 pounds), the robot resembles a small astronaut wearing a backpack and can walk or run on two feet at speeds up to 6 km/h. ASIMO was created at Honda’s Research & Development Wako Fundamental Technical Research Center in Japan, and was unveiled i 2000.
Officially, the name is an acronym for “Advanced Step in Innovative MObility” and not a reference to science fiction writer and inventor of the Three Laws of Robotics, Isaac Asimov.
Asimo represented state of the art robotics i 2000 when it was first introduced. Amongst other things it has the capacity to recognition of moving objects, recognition of postures and gestures, recognizing its environments, distinguish sounds and recognize faces.
1956
Squee
Squee (named after “squirrel”) is an electronic robot squirrel. It contains four sense organs (two phototubes, two contact switches), three acting organs (a drive motor, a steering motor, and a motor which opens and closes the scoop or “hands”), and a small brain of half a dozen relays. It will hunt for a “nut”. The “nut” is a tennis ball designated by a member of the audience who steadily holds a flashlight above the ball, pointing the light at Squee. Then Squee approaches, picks up the “nut” in its “hands” (the scoop), stops paying attention to the steady light, sees in stead a light that goes on and off 120 times a second shining over its “nest”, takes the “nut” to its “nest”, there leaves the nuts, and then returns to hunting more “nuts”. [www.blinkenlights.com]
2005
Partner Ballroom Dance Robot (PBDR)
Developed by scientists at Tohoku University, the Partner Ballroom Dance Robot (PBDR) is able to predict the steps of a human partner based on body movement and react accordingly on its three wheels.
The robot is 1.65 meter high and has a female face, wears a plastic ballgown and comes in pink and pastel blue. A male version is also being developed.
Although it can match the movements of a human partner’s upper body, Professor Kazuhiro Kosuge, who led the team behind PBDR, said it could not yet perform dance steps.
PBDR is a platform for human-robot coordination with physical interaction is thus also a step towards developing responsive robots that could provide care for the sick and elderly.
1989
Genghis
Genghis was built at MIT in the mid-1980s to demonstrate the efficacy of using numerous small, light, mobile robots to reconnoitre the Martian surface. Genghis was famous for being made quickly and cheaply due to construction methods and was the prototype for the later autonomous “spider” robots Attila and Hannibal. Genghis weighs about 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds), contains 6 pyroelectric sensors for detecting animal life, and employs 12 motors to power its 6 independently operating legs.
Its six sensors picked up on the heat of a living creature, such as a person or a dog, and triggered the stalking mode. It would scramble to its feet and follow its prey, moving around furniture and climbing over obstacles to keep the prey in sight.
Genghis is now located in the National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C.
1948
Elmer and Elsie
Grey Walter’s most famous work was his construction of some of the first electronic autonomous robots. He wanted to prove that rich connections between a small number of brain cells could give rise to very complex behaviors – essentially that the secret of how the brain worked lay in how it was wired.
His first robots, which he used to call Machina speculatrix and named Elmer and Elsie (ELectro MEchanical Robots, Light Sensitive), were constructed between 1948 and 1949 and were often described as tortoises due to their shape and slow rate of movement – and because they ‘taught’ about the secrets of organisation and life. The three-wheeled tortoise robots were capable of responding to light, by which they could find their way to a recharging station when they ran low on battery power. [Wikipedia]
2006
Lego Mindstorms
LEGO Mindstorms is a line of Lego sets combining programmable bricks with electric motors, sensors, Lego bricks, and Lego Technic pieces (such as gears, axles, and beams). Mindstorms originated from the programmable sensor blocks used in the line of educational toys. The first retail version of Lego Mindstorms was released in 1998 and marketed commercially as the Robotics Invention System (RIS). The current version was released in 2006 as Lego Mindstorms NXT.
2008
WALL-E
WALL-E is a 2008 computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. It follows the story of a robot named WALL-E who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future. He eventually falls in love with another robot named EVE, and follows her into outer space on an adventure that changes the destiny of both his kind and humanity. (Wikipedia)
1495
Leonardo’s robot
Da Vinci’s pioneering work on anatomy and mechanics also led him to the construction of several robotic creatures. The most famous perhaps is a robot soldier. Though it is not known to have been built in da Vinci’s time, recent models have shown the “mechanical knight” to be relatively successful, allowing the robot to sit up and move its arms and head.
Another robotic project was a mechanical lion made to honor the King of France. The lion is described to have been able to walk and with a paw open a hatch in its chest poring lilies at the Kings feet.
