First pool tests for robotic turtle (w/video)
A fully actuated and independant 3DOF fin actuation system is the main speciality of this underwater robot. This actuation system allows efficient as well as agile movements.
Nov 26th, 2012
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Robotics, AI and SmartTech News – Latest Headlines
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Playing catch and juggling with a humanoid robot
Using a theme park type animatronic humanoid robot, Disney Research developed a test bed for a throwing and catching game scenario.
Nov 23rd, 2012
Read moreRobot scanner reads 250 book pages a minute
BFS-Auto can achieve high-speed and high-definition book digitization at over 250 pages/min using the original media format. This performance is realized by three key points: high-speed fully-automated page flipping, real-time 3D recognition of the flipped pages, and high-accuracy restoration to a flat document image.
Nov 23rd, 2012
Read moreA robotic system to reduce the cost of solar power
QBotix, a company bringing the power of robotics to solar energy, developed the QBotix Tracking System, a comprehensive dual-axis tracking system that employs rugged, intelligent and mobile robots to dynamically operate solar power plants and maximize energy output.
Nov 23rd, 2012
Read morePiano-playing swarm robots
Georgia Tech's networked robots coordinate their movements to play music on a simulated piano.
Nov 22nd, 2012
Read moreWorld's first kitchen-free, robot-run fast-food restaurant
San Francisco-based robotics company Momentum Machines - which produced a fully-automated burger-making machine earlier this year - may be opening a chain of 'smart', robot-run gourmet fast food restaurants.
Nov 21st, 2012
Read moreToshiba shows four-legged robot for nuke disaster
Toshiba Corp. unveiled a robot Wednesday that the company says can withstand high radiation and help in nuclear disasters. But it remains unclear what exactly the new machine will be capable of doing if and when it gets the go-ahead to enter Japan's crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant.
Nov 21st, 2012
Read moreRobotic fish research swims into new ethorobotics waters
Researchers at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) have published findings that further illuminate the emerging field of ethorobotics - the study of bioinspired robots interacting with live animal counterparts.
Nov 20th, 2012
Read moreBan 'killer robots,' Human Rights Watch urges
Governments should pre-emptively ban fully autonomous weapons because of the danger they pose to civilians in armed conflict, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. These future weapons, sometimes called "killer robots", would be able to choose and fire on targets without human intervention.
Nov 19th, 2012
Read moreHuddling penguins may guide the design of swarming robots
Mathematicians at the University of California, Merced created a model of penguin huddles that assumes each penguin aims solely to minimize its own heat loss. Surprisingly, the model reveals that such self-centered behavior results in an equitable sharing of heat.
Nov 19th, 2012
Read moreManufacturers employ robots to improve worker health and safety
In the past the key reasons for investing in robot based automation were all about improving productivity, reducing costs, increasing manufacturing flexibility or delivering consistent product quality. But more and more manufacturers are now citing employee safety as a key reason to deploy robots.
Nov 16th, 2012
Read moreYoung gamers offer insight to teaching new physicians robotic surgery (w/video)
Using skills gleaned from video games, high school and college students outmatch medical residents in surgical simulations a new UTMB study finds.
Nov 15th, 2012
Read moreRobotics set to 'revolutionise the UK economy in the next 20 years'
Britain's desire to be at the forefront of robotics research has been reinforced by universities minister David Willetts, who saw world-leading technology when he visited the Bristol Robotics Lab.
Nov 13th, 2012
Read moreSAIC awarded DARPA contract for the Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel program
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) was awarded a prime contract by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV) program phases two through four to design, build and test a new prototype unmanned autonomous surface vessel.
Nov 12th, 2012
Read moreRobots replace costly US Navy mine-clearance dolphins
Navy plans to phase out its Sea Mammal Program and retire its pods of dolphins and sea lions that are currently used to help locate - and in some cases destroy - sea mines. Swimming into their place is a new generation of robotic mine hunters.
Nov 8th, 2012
Read moreRobots being used as classroom buddies for children with autism
Max and Ben, two knee-high humanoid robots that can dance to ?Thriller?, play games and emulate Tai Chi, are to be showcased by researchers at the University of Birmingham as part of the ESRC festival of Social Sciences.
Nov 8th, 2012
Read moreLEXI the robot improves safety for explosives handlers
LEXI is a new robot at work in the firing tanks of the Lab's High Explosives Applications Facility (HEAF) and the work that's done there for the National Explosives Engineering Sciences Security (NEXESS) Center. The tri-lab program is funded by the Department of Homeland Security to assess threats from explosives and to evaluate countermeasures.
Nov 8th, 2012
Read moreExperimental interplanetary Internet used to test robot from International Space Station
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) successfully have used an experimental version of interplanetary Internet to control an educational rover from the International Space Station. The experiment used NASA's Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN) protocol to transmit messages and demonstrate technology that one day may enable Internet-like communications with space vehicles and support habitats or infrastructure on another planet.
Nov 8th, 2012
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