7.29.2007
Evolutionary algorithms now surpass human designers
A really interesting article on evolutionary algorithms and how they are replacing human designers:
Evolutionary algorithms now surpass human designers
Evolutionary algorithms now surpass human designers
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7.27.2007
Robotic cockroach
A very strange wheeled and legged bug-like robot. Here is a video:
Engadget article:
Halluc II
Engadget article:
Halluc II
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7.21.2007
Robot fly
Robotic Insect Takes Off: "A life-size, robotic fly has taken flight at Harvard University. Weighing only 60 milligrams, with a wingspan of three centimeters, the tiny robot's movements are modeled on those of a real fly. While much work remains to be done on the mechanical insect, the researchers say that such small flying machines could one day be used as spies, or for detecting harmful chemicals."
The techniques they use are interesting:
The techniques they use are interesting:
- For example, to create a flexure joint, the researchers arrange two tiny pieces of carbon composite and leave a gap in between. They then add a sheet of polymer perpendicularly across the two carbon pieces, like a tabletop on two short legs. Two new pieces of carbon fiber are placed at either end of the polymer, as a final top layer. Once all the pieces are cured together, the resulting part resembles the letter H: the center is flexible but the sides are rigid.
By fitting many little carbon-polymer pieces together, the researchers are able to create rather complicated parts that can bend and rotate precisely as required. To make parts that will move in response to electrical signals, the researchers incorporate electroactive polymers, which change shape when exposed to voltage. The entire fabrication process will be outlined in a paper appearing in an upcoming edition of the Journal of Mechanical Design.
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7.19.2007
The perfect game of checkers
The game of checkers has now been completely solved:
Check on Checkers: In perfect game, there's no winner
From the article:
Check on Checkers: In perfect game, there's no winner
From the article:
- Computers have been able to beat people at checkers since 1994, when a program called Chinook won the checkers world championship. The program, written by computer scientist Jonathan Schaeffer of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, used rules of thumb to guess the best available move, a method that imitates how people play. Now, Schaeffer has removed the guesswork with a program that examined every possible position that can occur on a checkerboard to find the best move every time.
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7.12.2007
Synthetic snot might help robot nose smell trouble
Synthetic snot might help robot nose smell trouble: Now researchers at the University of Warwick in England have hit upon a way to dramatically improve a robot's sense of smell: synthetic snot...
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7.11.2007
Researchers Dream of Humanizing Androids
Researchers Dream of Humanizing Androids
From the article:
From the article:
- Household androids, like flying cars and Martian colonies, have disappointed generations of science-fiction enthusiasts by failing to materialize. Most research in robotics has drifted toward robots that, like Mars rovers and Roombas, have no resemblance to anything living, let alone human. And while it may be cute, let's face it: Asimo can't dance.
Bucking the trend, a small coterie of devoted professionals and amateurs are working to make fully articulated, humanoid and even sinuously dancing robots a reality...
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7.01.2007
HRP-3 Promet II, Coming Soon to a Job Near You
HRP-3 Promet II, Coming Soon to a Job Near You
From the article:
Archives
From the article:
- Nicknamed Ma-Kun, the amazing new worker robot is dust-proof, water-proof, and has an improved balance system designed to navigate treacherous paths and slippery floors.
The HRP-3 Promet II, a product of Kawada, Kawasaki, and Japan’s AIST, was designed with the goal of developing a humanoid robot with sufficient skills to enter the workforce. Kawada hopes to court employers by offering the Promet II at $120,000 per robot by 2010.
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