Archive for the ‘Robotics’ Category

Iran’s got a walking humanoid robot, too

Two years ago, Iranian students built Sorena, a white humanoid machine that reportedly wheeled about via remote control. For 2010, robots experts at Tehran University decided to update the creature — and apparently, channel a little bit of Asimo. Surena 2 was unveiled by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad this week, its purpose unknown. Named after a famous Persian warrior, the robot stands 4.7 feet tall, and can walk about slowly carrying its own weight of 99 pounds. Gulf News reports the robot will get vision and speech modules later on down the road. If it ends up conducting orchestras or performing show tunes, we’ll be sure to keep you informed.

Iran’s got a walking humanoid robot, too originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Jul 2010 03:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source AFP , Gulf News | Email this | Comments

Posted: July 5th, 2010
at 7:06am by Sean Hollister

Topics: Asimo, HumanoidRobot, HumanoidRobots, Robotics, Tehran, Tehran University, TehranUniversity, WalkingRobot, humanoid, humanoid robot, humanoid robots, iran, robot, walking robot

New robotic system could let surgeons operate on a beating heart

It may not have been put into practice just yet, but it looks like a new robotic-assisted system could one day let surgeons use a surgical robot (like Da Vinci system pictured at left) to operate on a beating human heart. That impressive development comes courtesy of a group of researchers at France’s Montpellier Laboratory of Informatics, Robotics, and Microelectronics, and centers on a new 3D modeling system that can track the motion of the heart’s surface as it beats. It can even apparently adjust for things like movement of the patient’s chest wall during breathing, and predict the movements in a single step (unlike previous attempts that resulted in a delay). When paired with a robotic arm, the system would effectively let surgeons operate on a heart as if it were completely still. In addition to being generally amazing, the system could also potentially open up a number of new possibilities for heart surgery, not the least of which is the ability to operate on patients for whom the risks of surgery have previously outweighed the benefits.

New robotic system could let surgeons operate on a beating heart originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 21:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink | source Physorg | Email this | Comments

Posted: December 11th, 2009
at 9:42pm by Donald Melanson

Topics: Medical, MedicalRobot, MedicalRobotics, Montpellier Laboratory, Montpellier Laboratory of Informatics, MontpellierLaboratory, MontpellierLaboratoryOfInformatics, RoboticSurgery, Robotics, Surgery, and Microelectr, france, medical robot, medical robotics, robotic surgery

Stanford Unveils Robotic Pikes Peak Racer, Autonomous Valet System

tts1

Stanford University is already famous for its autonomous robotic vehicles, including Stanley (who won the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2005) and Junior (runner up in the DARPA Urban Challenge in 2007). This weekend, Stanford held an event to showcase their partnership with Volkswagen on a new $2 million autonomous innovation laboratory. On display was Stanford’s latest autonomous vehicle, a robotic Audi TTS named Shelley. Shelley currently holds the unofficial world speed record for an autonomous car at over 130 mph, and will be racing up Pikes Peak all by herself next year:

Stanford also demonstrated an autonomous valet parking system, where an almost stock Volkswagen Passat entered a parking lot, located an empty space, and parked itself:

We’ve got a bunch more details over on BotJunkie:

[ Pikes Peak Audi TTS ]
[ Autonomous Valet Parking ]
[ Volkswagen Automotive Innovation Laboratory ]

Posted: October 27th, 2009
at 1:11am by Evan Ackerman

Topics: Automotive, BotJunkie, General, Robotics, Robots

Harvard Developing Colony Of Robot Bees

robobee

By Evan Ackerman

I guess the bee crisis is worse than it seems, because the National Science Foundation is giving Harvard a cool $10 million to develop a robot bee colony. That’s right, not just one, but an entire colony of robot bees. The bees will buzz around on flapping wings, use optical flow sensors for navigation and obstacle avoidance, sport cute little antennae as well as “pollination and docking appendages,” and use an as yet unspecified power source…

Review: WowWee Roborover gets friendly with your furniture

See that glowing face? Yep, it’s the super-enthusiastic Roborover from WowWee. We won’t lie: we were a bit stoked by the arrival of this yellow explorer at Engadget’s doorstep. Too bad it didn’t exactly walk all the way from its warehouse, forcing us to go through the painful procedure of cutting up the tapes and untangling the ties of its shipping box. Five minutes later we’ve got a 4-pound robot on our hands, and we’d say overall the build quality is an eight out of ten (the cuts on the plastic parts could do with a finer finish) which is pretty good for a toy. You’ll be pleased to know that those treads are for real and supported by a third mini roller at the back, but the friendly manual does say, “For indoor use only.” Think we’ll skip that page, thank you. Now kids, you might need your daddy’s screwdrivers and some extra cash to feed the Roborover three “C” size batteries, and another three “AAA” ones for the chunky IR remote. All ready to go? Skip along to learn how the Roborover explores the “ancient tombs of your parents’ closet.”

Gallery: Review: WowWee Roborover gets friendly with your furniture