A pardon we beg from all of our bot-tastic readers and Twitter-followers for such a prolonged absence! Our two week adventure turned into four times that, packed full of traveling, family and investigations into prospective opportunities for future Bots 4 Tots development. To be certain, though, our minds were never far from the world of robotics!

One of our adventures took Don and I to Science World at TELUS World of Science in Vancouver, British Columbia. There, we were delighted by the robotic band in the Our World exhibit; we brought it to life for our enjoyment purely by alternate energy sources FTW! Also, we visited Science World’s Omnimax Theatre where we viewed the very well-executed and touching film, Roving Mars. Robots in space get me every time.

But wait, there’s more! Our good friends at Luscious Layers, who have kindly provided cupcakes for our participating Bots 4 Tots youngsters in the past, have asked for our help in roboticizing (I just made that word up. Take that Merriam-Webster.) cakes. Yes, you read correctly. Robot cakes. Boosh. We started where most burgeoning hobby electronics projects start: we lit an LED. In our first cooperative project, we effected a very impressive cake that included lit LEDs as part of the sky-motif decoration. It is a rather extraordinary design because all you need to do is insert the LEDs into the cake and they will light up, and furthermore you can cut a slice including an LED out of it and the slice will come out cleanly and the LED will turn off as the slice separates from the rest of the cake. Can you guess how we did it? Hint: we did not electrify the cake.

And then there was Halloween, quite possibly our favorite day of the year. It turns out that this is also true for our friends at Luscious Layers; they decided that this “All Hallows Even” was the perfect opportunity to take our epicurean madness to the next level. Behold: the Arduino-animated, palatable-yet-programmable, raucously-raspberry-filled-red-velvet Zombie Cake from Beyond the Grrrraaavvve! Where will we go from here? Only time will tell.

Last but not least, we have also been spending a good deal of these past two months discussing the future of Bots 4 Tots. Don and I have decided to make some exciting site and program changes, which I will post more on in the very near future! We are also in the midst of planning our upcoming Winter 2009 auction (featuring the always awesome Bunk Bots), the specifics of our planned Winter 2009/2010 workshop sessions, and lots of other good stuff to ensure that kids will be building robots well into the new year. Thanks to all of you who have helped and are helping to make Bots 4 Tots a successful program!

“Death and the Powers” is the first Robotic Opera ever produced, and is currently in development as a collaborative project by the MIT Media Lab and the American Repertory Theater. It is scheduled to open Fall of next year (2010), premiering internationally at locations including the American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) in Massachusetts as well as the Chicago Opera Theater. Read on! You really want to hear the rest of this, it’s good!

What do Yo-Yo Ma, Prince and Guitar Hero have in common? Tod Machover, that’s what!

Composed by Tod Machover of MIT’s Media Lab, this opera will prove to be one of the freshest additions not only to the world of opera, but to the music world itself! See the video below to get the whole scoop directly from Mr. Machover himself. He speaks of the opera from minute 7:33 to 10:15, but I highly suggest watching the whole thing to get a better understanding of what this man does, and how he may have already changed the way humans understand and interact with music!

If you don’t have the 20 minutes it takes to watch the above video, or even the three minutes it takes to watch the segment I referred to, read this:

“It is a one-act, full evening work that tells the story of Simon Powers, a successful and powerful businessman and inventor, who wants to go beyond the bounds of humanity. Reaching the end of his life, Powers faces the question of his legacy: ‘When I die, what remains? What will I leave behind? What can I control? What can I perpetuate?’ He is now conducting the last experiment of his life, passing from one form of existence to another in an effort to project himself into the future. Whether or not he is actually alive is a question. Simon Powers is himself now a System. His family, friends and associates must decide what this means, how it affects them, and whether to follow.

New performance technologies for Death and the Powers are being developed at the MIT Media Lab, including a new technique of Disembodied Performance to translate Simon’s offstage performance into an expressively animated stage. Other novel ‘instruments’ include a Musical Chandelier and a chorus of robots.” source

Oh, and that little snippet didn’t mention the fact that the chandelier gobbles up the main character, the chorus of robots will interact, dance and perform autonomously, and that there are also living bookcases devoted to expressing the attitude of the disembodied librettist.

I have a feeling you’ve just found the time to go back and watch that clip.

]]> http://www.bots4tots.org/2009/08/24/robots-to-star-in-opera/feed/ 0 http://www.bots4tots.org/2009/08/18/the-ultimate-kitchen-gadget/ http://www.bots4tots.org/2009/08/18/the-ultimate-kitchen-gadget/#comments Tue, 18 Aug 2009 23:42:41 +0000 Alexis http://www.bots4tots.org/?p=808

Have a craving for some authentic Japanese noodle soup? Then call up the makers of these babies, and have a pair installed in your home today! No, seriously. And then invite Don and I over for dinner. Tonight works for us.

Fua-men, a restaurant in Nagoya, Japan, features robotic arms that prepare pork-broth ramen with the ultimate goal of publicizing the latest technological achievements of local robot manufacturer Aisei. However, we hear the soup’s not half bad either! According to Aisei’s president, Kenji Nagaya, the method has tangible merit:

“The benefits of using robots as ramen chefs include the accuracy of timing in boiling noodles, precise movements in adding toppings and consistency in the taste and temperature of the soup.” source

All this, AND it can make eighty bowls a day! Not bad! Did I mention that I want one of these? Watch the video, you’ll want some too! Oh, and be sure to stay tuned in for the finale. These bots get cooking with more than just ramen!

The San Jacinto College of Pasadena, TX, in conjunction with the National Science Foundation, is hosting a series of week-long summer camps called Robot Extravaganza. In these camps, eight and ninth graders are participating in problem solving, field trips and projects that focus on the fascinating world of robotics! This is Robot Extravagnaza’s second year, and this year they are offering three levels of difficulty in their courses. We applaud the teachers, students and parents involved in the planning and participation of this camp! The Bots4Tots teams sends a resounding “holla at ‘cha”! 

The Robot Extravaganza planners and partners, such as the N.S.F., want not only to introduce today’s young American student to the fascinating world of technology, but moreover to engage and educate him/her in that world. The goal is to prepare the coming generation of professional minds in such a way that, as their hobbies perhaps evolve into careers, they can make an impact on and improve the technology of our world.

“This program is interested in addressing such questions as:  What does it take to effectively interest and prepare students to participate in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce of the future?  What are the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that students need in order to participate productively in the changing STEM workforce and be innovators, particularly in STEM-related networked computing and information and communication technology (ICT) areas?” source

The students are using the Lego System Mindstorm’s NXT kits; they are making robotic arms, anthropomorphic robots, canimorphic robots (that’s “robot doggies” in layman’s), and they are even designing and creating their own robots as well!

“And, it can even get a little competitive: after building their own robots, campers are told to build a difficult maze. ‘The first task is can they themselves go through their own maze, and the second is can they go through their opponents’ maze,’ [camp director Johnny] Moya said.” source

See for yourself:

Also, a local news channel in Texas featured this unique camp this week. You can see a video clip from that feature here!

As mentioned in our last blog post, the Robot Hall of Fame has found a new home at the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh, PA. On behalf of the Robot Hall of Fame, we proudly announce this year’s inductees.

• NASA Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity
• iRobot Roomba (WOOT!!!! You go, Meticulor!)
• DaVinci Medical Robot System
• Huey, Dewey, and Louie, from the 1971 film “Silent Running”
• T-800 Terminator, from the 1984 film “The Terminator”

source

Congratulations Class of 2010! Read on for more information about the Robot Hall of Fame!

As you can see from this year’s inductees, both real and fictional robots have been inducted into the hall of fame since its inception in 2003.

“Robots from Science – These are real robots that have served useful or potentially useful functions and demonstrated unique skills in accomplishing the purpose for which they were created. These may also be robots created primarily to entertain, as long as they function autonomously.

Robots from Science Fiction – These are fictional robots that have inspired us to create real robots that are productive, helpful, and entertaining. These robots have achieved worldwide fame as fictional characters and have helped form our opinions about the functions and values of real robots.” source

The creation of the Robot Hall of Fame was announced on the 30th of April, 2003, at the Opening Gala Celebration  for the RoboCup First American Open. (You may remember our recent post about the Robocup. The American Open is a local Robocup event, whereas the one we blogged about was the international competition; both are part of the same family of events).

If you can, I encourage you to visit the Robot Hall of Fame. You can view up-close many of the robots who have been honored with induction there, including many of our favorite television/movie robots of the past and present. Bask in the robotic glow of  star-bots such as:

• Maria
• Gort
• Robby
• B-9
• HAL 9000
• Dewey
• and last but certainly not least, C-3PO & R2-D2

Finally, you can take a look at this video to get a peek at the Robot Hall of Fame… as if you needed more of a reason to go!

2009 has proven to be a very exciting year for robots everywhere. The Carnegie Mellon’s Robot Hall of Fame announces that it will have a permanent residence at the Robo World exhibit! Roboworld is the world’s largest permanent robotics exhibition, and is located in the historic Carnegie Science Center, one of four museums founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1895.

“Hardly a month goes by without news-making innovations coming out of local universities and companies engaged in the robotics industry. Yet for all of this activity, connections between robotics and everyday life are often unknown or misunderstood by the general public. At the same time, public interest in robotics is high, and the topic can effectively engage people of all ages. Robots fascinate us, and the topic can be used to motivate youth toward careers in science and technology. Carnegie Science Center’s roboworld™ exhibition captures the essence of the fascination of robotics. And what better city to host the world’s largest permanent robotics exhibit than Pittsburgh, where so many innovations have occurred already? (1)

…For the past decade Pittsburgh, also known by the moniker ‘Roboburgh,’ has been identified as one of only a handful of locations leading the country in developing cutting-edge robotics technology. From the establishment of The Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in 1979, to the formation of The Robotics Corridor educational initiative, to the opening of roboworld™, Pittsburgh has been at the forefront of robotics education, development, and public interaction.(2)” sources: {1, 2}

Not only does the exhibit sound fantastic, but I highly recommend checking out the site too! For example, as a part of the RoboWorld exhibit, the museum has created a fun website to entertain and educate entitled  RobotTRUTH.com! There you can do lots of cool things, including:

• Take a quiz to determine your Robo IQ.
• Watch interfacing robo-puppies.
• Convert your secret messages to binary code! For example:

01001001001000000111011101100001011011100111010000100000011

10100011011110010000001100111011011110010000100100000010010

000110110101101101001011000010000001101001011101000010011101

110011001000000110111101101110011011000111100100100000001110

000010000001101000011011110111010101110010011100110010000001

10000101110111011000010111100100100000000011010000101001100

010011110010010000001100011011000010111001000100001

We rarely say anything about industrial robots here at Bots 4 Tots. It’s a shame, really; industrial robots are an oft-overlooked facet of the world of robotics as it exists today, one that needs recognition now more than ever. Think of a robot, a real life robot such Asimo, and recognize that it’s robotic-great-grandparents were probably employed on an assembly line. Take a walk with us, if you will, through the fascinating Arcadia of industrial robotics!

As you can probably tell from posts such as GOAL!!! Robocup 2009! and Chicago Hosts Int’l Robot Show, many of the awesome robotics events that are held around the world are actually fun ways to display the current capabilities of robots for potential investors in industrial robotics. The advances that we have seen just this past year in the varieties of fields that the robotic sciences apply to, from the scientific (Garden Bots, Robots Simulate Evolution) to the social/artistic (Robot Rolls, Rocks, Tweenbots Capture Hearts)… these advances would arguably not have been possible without the precedent set by robots used in industrial and commercial settings*!

“The first digitally operated and programmable robot, the Unimate, was installed in 1961 to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them. Today, commercial and industrial robots are in widespread use performing jobs more cheaply or with greater accuracy and reliability than humans.” source

The world-wide interest in robotics (beyond science-fiction, that is) saw its coming-of-age not so long ago, around the 1970s, when American companies such as General Electric and General Motors made huge investments with Japanese partners to change the way their factories produced. Development needs funding, and obviously huge conglomerates such as these were willing and able to provide the impetus for the leaps and bounds we have seen in the field of robotics since the seventies. Today, the field of robotics is seeing a new dawn wherein normal every day people like Don and I are building robots in our spare time, and even teaching kids to do so as well. But, as you can see from the video above, the industrial robot has become far more sophisticated than its predecessors.

Meet the FlexPicker, an example of the latest advancements in industrial robotics. It can sort items with a mass of under one hundred grams in as little as three tenths of a second. THREE TENTHS OF A SECOND! People… that’s the average reaction time to visual stimuli in most animals (source)! And consider that the FlexPicker is doing almost the same thing: it analyzes images taken, visual stimuli for all intents and purposes, from a camera mounted on the robot. I, for one, am impressed. This is not like the kind of speed we have come to expect from a bullet, for instance. This is an autonomous interpretation and relay the likes of which have never been known to mankind outside of that which occurs organically! Oh, and did I mention that it is fully washable? I cannot even say that about my cats!

By the way, thanks to our friends at BotJunkie for the video!

So, as our last homage to industrial robots, I would like to post this video as well: the Adept Quattro. It claims to be the fastest industrial robot, “with cycle times faster than any other robot of its kind” source, but I couldn’t find the exact cycle time. Either it’s an industry secret, or the information hasn’t been updated in the admittedly fast-paced world of robot rivalry. But it’s definitely worth a watch. Which one do you think is faster? I find it’s hard to tell; the snappy music for the FlexPicker makes it seem faster, but that’s unfair.

*I find it interesting to note, in respect to the seminal influence industrial robotics has had on the field of robotics, this little tidbit: “The field of robotics may be more practically defined as the study, design and use of robot systems for manufacturing.” source

File this under super cool! Based on Lego System’s Mindstorm NXT kits, this sphere uses the magic of geometry and gravity to move with a surprisingly simple construction! Check out the specifics here, and maybe make one to freak out your dog or cat! This project was constructed by Nils Völker, who evidently has a great sense of humor about his work. From the main page of his Spherical Robot site:

“At the moment it’s remote controlled via Bluetooth from a second NXT. So to be precise it’s actually not a real robot more kind of a Rolling-Orbital-Bluetooth-Operated-Thing (to make it short: robot). But seriously: It’s planned to implement the ability of moving autonomously later on. And to answer the most obvious question right away: No, there is no deeper sense or purpose, but a lot of fun driving it.” source

Last week, from June 29th to July 5th, Robocup 2009 was held in Graz, Australia. The Robocup project brings together robotics, AI and programming enthusiasts from all over the world and pits them against each other on the same playing field… literally! Above, we see the winners of the middle size league, Universität Stuttgart (Germany). In the finals, they took on Tech United from Eindhoven (The Netherlands) for the win with a dominating score of 4:1 (in Germany’s favor). The ultimate goal of the Robocup is to, “by the year 2050, develop a team of fully autonomous humanoid robots that can play and win against the human world champion soccer team.” source

By having the autonomous robot teams compete in standardized soccer games, every type of technology available can display its range within the same sets of limitations! These restraints are supposed to encourage the participants to think differently, and attempt new applications for the most recent advancements in the robotic sciences. These breakthroughs allow the competing teams to not only win the Robocup and achieve worldwide recognition for their efforts, they ultimately lead to social and industrial application.

“Preconditions for the successful participation at these competitions are extensive efforts in current research topics of computer science such as real-time image processing and architectures, cooperative robotics and distributed planning. Possible application scenarios of these research activities reach from autonomous vehicles, cooperative manufacturing robotics, service robotics to the point of planetary or deep-sea exploration by autonomous robotic systems. In this context autonomous means that no or only a limited human intervention is necessary.” source

Apparently, this year’s Robocup was one of the most interesting ever. Stuttgart’s team of cooperative soccer-playing robots advanced steadily through the competition, a total of thirteen teams representing eight different countries. They stripped the title from last year’s winners, Portugal, and blazed through their worthy foes (neighboring Austria and Italy, as well as teams from Iran, China, and, of course, Japan) before meeting The Netherlands on the field. The final test for the winning team was to play against the human officials of the Robocup Federation, against whom our valiant Stuttgart robots were as of yet no match.  However, considering the advancements that have been made in the Robocup and in the field of robotics itself in the last few years, it would not surprise me in the least if the goal of the Robocup is met well before their 2050 deadline!

Imagine you are walking downtown in the middle of rush-hour. You make your way down the crowded sidewalk, easily moving side to side to avoid a collision with another person or object. It comes naturally to us, this ease of motion, and even as toddlers we can do it. It may shock you, then, to discover that the achievement of such autonomous, intelligent motion in robots has been one of the most challenging problems in the history of robotics. But that nut may have just been cracked!

Researchers at the European-funded research consortium Decisions in Motion decided to approach this problem three years ago, and as of this year they are now announcing stunning breakthroughs. The success of their team is a cooperative effort of both neuro- and cognitive scientists who study biological visual systems in humans and high-order mammals such as primates, as well as computer scientists and roboticists.

This rare amalgamation of many disciplines has proved very fruitful to the consortium. The biological researchers are engaged in a dialog with the roboticists and programmers, who then incorporate their findings into neural networks and mobile robots.

“The approach paid off. Decisions in Motion has already built and demonstrated a robot that can zip across a crowded room guided only by what it ’sees’ through its twin video cameras… The computerised brain controls the behaviour of a wheeled robotic platform supporting a movable head and eyes, in real time. It directs the head and eyes where to look, tracks its own movement, identifies objects, determines if they are moving independently, and directs the platform to speed up, slow down and turn left or right.” source

The structure of the robotic “brain” that is being developed by Decisions in Motion is very much inspired by the architecture of a high-order mammal’s biological brain, the flow of information following similar pathways through three layers, or subsystems, that then control the behavior of the robot. The secret of the solution lies in the discovery of anticipatory feedback as observed in organisms such as ourselves. When you make your way through that busy street, you are not plotting the present course so much as you are predicting the next dozen steps. I think that anyone who has misstepped can completely relate; when a person who is walking stumbles, one is already mentally taking those next few steps and it almost comes as a surprise that one is suddenly not along the plotted course anymore and is, instead, on one’s way towards the ground.

The work done by Decisions in Motion will not only benefit movementally challenged bots, but will also dictate further development in the field of electronic mobility assistance for the visually or cognitively impaired. Keep up the good work, guys!