Meet the 3D Cocooner from Festo: a robotic system that can spin complex structures in space. It uses a UV-curing resin to turn soft thread into a sturdy rod. The system comes with a high-speed handling system that can be controlled precisely in the space.
Robots building structures and sculptures is nothing new. But would it make sense to use them in a design studio? The RISD Glass Robotics Studio explores that idea. It is about combining industrial robots and gravity fed additive manufacturing.
Our cars and buses are going to become driverless in the future. In fact, many companies are working on these solutions. Residents of Trikala, Greece, already have access to a driverless bus. It can carry up to 10 people at a time. The bus has GPS and sensors to follow a circular route. A manual control mode is available in case of an emergency.
Here are 3D printed robots made of both solid and liquid materials that can be programmed to perform tasks. As researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) explain, these dynamic robots are 3D printed in a single step and do not require any assembly.
Many researchers are always looking for new ways to improve obstacle avoidance in drones. This video from Ross Allen shows how a robot can be taught to avoid obstacles dynamically. For this test, a quadcopter was used to avoid contact.
In the past few months, we have covered plenty of cool telepresence robots that you can buy for your business. Joey Wilson has built his own robot. It uses sound control to perform. The robot lets users to attend meetings at a remote location. It can be controlled using a series of simple tones.
Having to shovel snow during winter is not fun. Why not rely on a robot to get the job done? The 6WD RC Snow Plow Robot Platform is a powerful machine with a mounted ATV snow plow that can drive up steep slopes and climb curbs. You get a Spektrum remote control to wirelessly drive the robot.
This robot snow plow comes with 2 x 135 RPM wheelchair motors, 13-inch tiller wheels, Sabertooth 2×60 motor controller, and everything you need to get started. More information is available here.
Here is a female robot modeled after Scarlett Johansson that can answer to a set of preprogrammed questions. The developer spent a year and half and over $50k to make this robot. Ricky Ma used 3D printing technology to build the body.
In the past, we have covered robotics project that involve teaching robots how to automatically adapt to injuries like animals. As Jean-Baptiste Mouret explains, the Intelligent Trial and Error algorithm enables robots to adapt to damage in am matter of minutes. The team has extended the algorithm to allow robots to learn to compensate for damages while completing their tasks.
