Robots are already capable of doing many things for us. As this video shows, mobile robots can be used to automate tasks in the lab. They use tags and picture recognition to handle items. The robots are also capable of accessing lab devices.
Meet the LTU Vortex Robot: a clever machine that is capable of moving on the body of an aircraft to perform inspection. It weighs 1.7kg and has force sensors to measure adhesion. It comes with position/velocity/torque controlled motorized wheels to deliver accurate performance. The Vortex actuator is capable of delivering 7.5kg adhesion force.
The ANYmal shouldn’t need any introduction. It is a versatile robot dog that can be taught to take on many tasks. It can handle autonomous navigation in challenging environments. This video shows how it can be used for last-meter package delivery.
So you are passionate about developing smarter autonomous robots? The Visual Teach & Repeat Package from ClearPath can help. It enables long-range autonomous operation of mobile robots in outdoor environments using only a stereo camera. As the company explains:
Similar to how you would learn to drive in a new area, this navigation method has two phases: “teach phase” and “repeat phase”. During the teach phase, the robot is manually driven to build a map or route network. The VT&R processes captured images by extracting features and estimating records of a persona and attitude of the robot. In a similar way, learning a new area requires you to drive all over the area and build a sort of “mental map” of the roads.
The kit has a web-based user interface to allow the operators to interact with it intuitively. VT&R has an advanced image processing, adjustable path planning, and configurable path tracking modules. It has an ROS agnostic data logger.
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Meet the MagicHand Mini R2: a 7DOF dexterous robot hand that can handle objects with natural motion. It has five fingers driven by a servo and a wrist that can turn around. The arm weighs 360g while the complete piece measures 250mm.
Meet the Velodyne Ultra Puck LiDAR: another smart component for drone, robot, and driveless car researchers. It comes with a 200m range and compact form. It has a horizontal (360°) and vertical (40°) FoV. Ultra Puck has a power efficient design. The below video shows it in action:
Robots are being used in plenty of medical facilities to help patients recover faster. The Healbot-T Rehabilitation Robot is a treadmill type walking assist robot for stroke patients. It has 14 degrees of freedom to support natural walking motion.
Remember T-800‘s robot arm from the Terminator movie? You can now bring an animatronic version of it home. It is fully articulated and comes with hundreds of handcrafted parts. The piece features motion and sound. Its motion can be programmed from a PC. The motion and sound file can be stored on a SD card.
Robots are getting smarter all the time. They still need basic programming and algorithms to take on complex tasks. Columbia Engineering Researchers are working to unshackle robots. They are aiming to create a robot that learns what it is from scratch. The robot get to work with no knowledge of physics and geometry. Once it creates a self-simulation, it can adapt to different situations to handle different tasks. It can also repair damage on its own body.
Remember Sophia? She has gotten a lot of coverage in the media over the past couple of years. Little Sophia by Hanson Robotics is a 14″ version of it that you can bring home to introduce your kids to technology and coding. This cute little robot girl has various facial expressions, face tracking, and programmable features.
