One thing I like most about robots, is the possibility to make things in the physical world that are impossible to do so for humans. This is based upon the fact that - in theory - every physical constraint can be disappear by accurate constructing of certain body parts.
This one here for example would require tons of practice for a human to do so. It is a video of a Beluga (Weißwal), that blows rings of air into the ocean. They are beautiful to look at and not less than the counterpart for having rings of smoke in the air. Anyone already constructing this? Make it a friendly underwater cannon! (Here is another video)
The future of robots will be somewhere decided between the Carnegie Mellon University and Boston Dynamics. Last time the robot-builders from Pittsburgh showed us how to build incredible snaky robots for indoor and outdoor use. The engineers at Boston Dynamics continue with their developments on the *dog-series.
A video appeared on YouTube, that shows the "BigDog". A donkey-like creature that moves extremely like an real animal: just have a look to see what I mean.
Driven by a very loud gas engine for outside use, the donkey feels lively playing in the snow. Skip the first few minutes, because the first highlight is when the robot slips on ice. Just keep on to believe how human it looks! Next highlights are the Big Dog climbing a pile of rocks. Very interesting! The BigDog got four legs and the engineers maybe thought: why not teach the robot to jump? And so they did. At very first levels he can jump over obstacles!
On the science-fiction movies big robots were always slow and clumsy, just think of the AT-AT walkers on Star Wars. Can you imagine, that the future will more look like this?
I am not sure if this robot is a legged locomotive robot, like we learned yesterday, or not. At least it is a very basic approach of controlling the robot movements.
The robot is controlled by a simple program that mimics the way neurons control reflexes in humans and other animals. Unlike most other two-legged robots, RunBot has few sensors and can detect just two things – when a foot touches the ground, and when a leg swings forward.
Nice to watch this video, though, at least I really wonder what this thingy at the end of the video is? Is the the bar holding the robot crushing? That robot broke the speed records for biped walking robots. The Run Bot Website holds a good overview on all the record-holders and also a comparison to the speed world record of a human athlete.
The latest version got a cam and more context-aware features. Also read here.
Four industrial robots performing like a music group, making forms, that somehow reminds me on alien monsters from time to time. Industrial robots are always a little strange, because they stand in the ground like a tree, only able to move their arm, that is their body. Is it true that you can buy such a robot for 100 dollars these days?
This is a cute one, very versatile on every ground. I especially like the profile view where you can see the RHex legs or wheels in motion. For more backgrounds on the walking-principle look here.
This weblog is dedicated to fresh and alternate views on robotics. We will focus especially in music robots, toy robots, play and game and robots as well as the culture of robots. We are the the first robot-blog from Germany - and maybe from Europe - that write regularly on this topic! This blog is made by the same people around the Digital Tools Magazine. We will have some nice surprises later this year, so stay tuned!
