Robotics Trends

Slam Dunk for Future Smart Robots Four universities working under the European Union’s Rawseeds project have developed set of free benchmarking tools that allow roboticists to effectively compare different Simultaneous Localization and Mapping approaches and algorithms against each other for the first time. “What does the world look like?” and “where am I?” are two questions robots must solve if they are to act autonomously in an unknown environment. Work by European researchers will help future robot generations provide smarter answers. The process by which robots use vision, laser and/or sonar sensors to map an environment and, at the same time, determine their location in it is known as Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM), a field of robotics that has been the focus of intense research for three decades. Over the years… View this post
Filed in: Design and Development • Feature • Robotics Features
Tagged: Robot, Research, Robotics, Rawseeds, Simultaneous localization and mapping, Slam

Hybrid Remotely Operated Vehicle “Nereus” Reaches Deepest Part of the Ocean A new type of deep-sea robotic vehicle called Nereus has successfully reached the deepest part of the world’s ocean, reports a team of U.S. engineers and scientists aboard the research vessel Kilo Moana. The dive to 10,902 meters (6.8 miles) occurred on May 31, 2009, at the Challenger Deep in the Mariana Trench in the western Pacific Ocean. | The dive makes Nereus the world’s deepest-diving vehicle and the first vehicle to explore the Mariana Trench since 1998. Nereus’s unique hybrid-vehicle design makes it ideally suited to explore the ocean’s last frontiers. The unmanned vehicle is remotely operated by pilots aboard a surface ship via a lightweight, micro-thin, fiber-optic tether that allows Nereus to dive deep and be highly maneuverable. Nereus can also be switched into… View this post
Filed in: Academics and Research • Feature
Tagged: Research, Whoi, Nereus, Deep-sea, Woods hole oceanographic institute

Laser-Ranging System Provides Precision to the Nanometer The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced the development of an ultra-precise laser-ranging system that combines two different approaches to range-finding and an “optical frequency comb”—a set of spectrometry tools that can precisely identify the color of light from specific sources. The system combines time-of-flight method of distance ranging and interferometry, a technique that usually involves splitting a single beam at its source and recombining them at the destination, to measure distance or other influences by the difference between the two beams. Inteferometry is frequently used in fiberoptic telecommunications, astronomy and other laser-using specialties. Using the two methods simultaneously with ultrafast-pulsed fiber lasers that are more portable than comparable crystal-generated laser systems, NIST researchers built a system they said could measure distance to… View this post
Filed in: Design and Development • Latest News • RT News
Tagged: Research, Lidar, Design and development, Laser vision systems

World’s Smallest Voice-Activated Robots Researchers at Taiwan’s National Cheng Kung University have unveiled what they call the world’s smallest voice-controlled robot. The robots, which stand 15-centimeters high, take voice instructions to perform Tai Chi, kneel, or shake hands. Users can program the ‘bots for other behaviors as well. The robots were designed by a team led by Wang Jhing-fa, professor of electronic engineering at NCKU, and announced to mark the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Symposium on Circuits and Systems in Taipei beginning May 27. The miniature robots are equipped with cameras as well as audio processing equipment so they can be used to inspect hazardous or awkward areas, or to act as security guards, Wang told the Taipei Times. View this post
Filed in: Design and Development • Feature • Latest News
Tagged: Service robotics, Research, Voice command robot, Ieee, Voice activated