29 January 2010Robots: QuadrotorsToday's show is centered around robots in the air, and more specifically on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) of the quadrotor variety. We chat with Joshua Portlock from Cyber Technology about their portfolio of different-sized UAVs with special emphasis on the CyberQuad, a four-rotor helicopter with advanced autonomous capabilities. Near the end of the show we also start what will hopefully be an animated debate on what exactly is the definition of a Robot, so join in the discussion!Joshua Portlock 
Joshua Portlock is the project manager of the CyberQuad project at Cyber Technology out of Perth, Australia. Portlock tells us about his company's fleet of UAVs and their increasingly broad range of applications in the civil market. He then gets into the nitty gritty on his own creation, the CyberQuad, a four-rotor autonomous aircraft that's the final result of years of research started while he was still an engineering student at the Curtin University of Technology.
The CyberQuad is a highly-optimized quadrotor that uses ducted fans to increase the efficiency of the drivetrain and provide protection from obstacles. Recently featured in Wired magazine, the platform can fly and hover in constrained environments and has already been used to visually survey oil platforms, bridges or search for bushfires in the Australian outback before they go out of control. What is a Robot? Have you ever wondered what a robot really is? Over coffee the other day we were trying to find a sleek and simple one size fits all definition for all the robots we've covered on the show from molecular robots to smart houses, humanoids or flying crawling and jumping robots. However, for every definition we came up with there was a counter example that either didn't fit the definition or did although it wasn't really what we think of as a robot! For example, the definition "A robot is a machine with inputs and outputs" was not satisfying because a calculator fits that definition although it is not a robot. Therefore, every episode from now on will explore a new or modified definition and submit it to the "counter-example" test until we are satisfied with the result. We'll be asking our friends, colleagues and you our listeners for your best answer to the question "What is a robot?". If you think that you have a good answer, email us your short definition at info@robotspodcast.com with your phone number so that we can call you and ask you directly on the air! Links:
Latest News: For more information on the future of the Spirit Mars Rover, the plans for a fuel-cell powered exoskeleton and Korea's Mahru-Z robot, visit the Robots Forum.View and post comments on this episode in the forum | More |
Robots: Quadrotors
15 January 2010Robots: Deep-Sea ExplorationIn today's show we focus on the great depths of our ocean and robotic vehicles capable of taking us deeper than we ever imagined. Alberto Collasius Jr. tells us about his institute's highly-advanced remotely operated vehicle, or ROV, capable of bringing high-definition video from over 5km underwater. We then announce the winner of our Christmas contest and proud owner of two Didel SA robot kits.Alberto Collasius Jr.  Alberto Collasius Jr., or Tito to those who know him, is part of the Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts in the US. Collasius spends much of his time at sea as expedition leader with the JASON ROV which is used throughout the world's oceans to search for old shipwrecks, underwater volcanoes or deep-sea natural environments that are inaccessible to human-operated vehicles. He tells us about the particular difficulties involved in operating at depths beyond 5000m and the sophisticated sensors and control systems present on their advanced ROV and base station.
Click to see a video of the underwater volcanic eruption
(photo courtesy of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)
Contest Before Christmans, we asked you "who made the giant six legged robot?" for a chance to win the two robot kits offered by Didel SA. Turns out there were actually two answers to this question any of which qualified our many participants for the lottery. The first possible answer was Julie Townsend from the NASA and her Athlete robot for Lunar missions which was featured on a recent episode. The second giant six legged robot was actually called "the giant six legged robot" by its creator Jaimie Mantzel who was featured in April of last year.   The lucky winner of our competition is Will Preston who will be receiving his prize shortly. Links:
Latest News: For more information on this episode's news, including some first robotics milestones for 2010, videos of ROV Justin's close encounter with an underwater volcano and this year's robot novelties at the CES 2010, visit the Robots forum!View and post comments on this episode in the forum | More |
01 January 2010Robots: New Year's SpecialFor this special episode, we'll be speaking with three people who made it into Christine's news section for a debriefing on why their robot was such a breakthrough and what they see coming up in 2010. Our first interview is with Cecilia Lashi, the co-coordinator of the Octopus European project that made the news with their soft bio-mimetic robotic octopus arm. Our second guest, Carl Morgan, is from the hobbyist community. He presents Joules, the sleek silver humanoid that rides behind your tandem bike and does all the pedaling. Finally, we speak with Carson Reynolds who is professor at the University of Tokyo, he'll be telling us about his high-speed robotic hand with incredible dexterity.Cecilia Laschi 
Assistant Professor Cecilia Lashi joins us from the ARTS Lab at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna in Pisa, Italy, where her group takes inspiration from the sea surrounding them when creating robots. Their European Octopus project which they coordinate aims at developing soft robotic arms inspired by octopus muscles to create a robot with nearly infinite degrees of freedom. Laschi discusses their preliminary achievements with their latest robotic octopus arm that was featured in Robots news and her hopes for the future of soft robotics.
Carl Morgan 
Carl Morgan was featured in the news this year for his elegant Joules robot that he developed in response to a bet with his pro-cyclist son. From his workshop in the basement, this retired electrical engineer built a kinetic sculpture which has the power to push a tandem bike and its rider up a hill with elegance and style. With more and more hobbyists diving into the bolts and nuts of robotics, he tells us how he hopes more and more people will be picking up their screwdriver in 2010.
Carson Reynolds 
Our final guest brings us to japan which has attracted a large portion of this year's news. Assistant professor Carson Reynolds from the Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory in Tokyo tells us about their work in high-speed visual servoing and their robot hand that can grasp a grain of rice with a tweezer or dynamically catch a flying mobile phone. He is hoping to see more high-speed control in the year to come, with dynamic systems approaching and even surpassing the speed and dexterity of human reflexes.
Links:
View and post comments on this episode in the forum | More |
18 December 2009Robots: Weight-Loss CoachTake the 5-minute survey to help us improve ROBOTS!With the holiday season ahead of us and Christmas dinners already started, many of us are starting to feel the pinch at our waistlines and are planning some ambitious weight-loss goals as New Year's resolutions. To help with those resolutions, today's show will focus on robotic help for losing weight! We speak with Cory Kidd from Intuitive Automata about his robotic weight-loss coach that can help you take those pounds off and keep them off, and may take your Roomba's place as your new robotic best friend. We'll also be holding a Christmas contest for a chance to win two kits to build tiny hyperactive bug-like robots offered by Didel SA. For a chance to win, just tell us "who created the giant 6-legged robot" featured in one of our episodes this year at contest@robotspodcast.com. Cory Kidd 
Photo: Sam Ogden During his Ph.D studies Kidd designed Autom, a sociable robot who's sole purpose is to help you keep track of your diet, stay motivated and achieve your personal weight-loss goals. Autom is embedded with learning algorithms that adapt to your personality and your progress, as well as years of research in human-machine interaction to help you connect with the robot and take it seriously when it recommends your daily diet! Kidd tells us about how people react to inanimate objects as soon as you put a set of eyes on them and which aspects of embodiment are important in creating a true bond between a human and a robot which ultimately aids the robot in succeeding in its task. He also speaks about a study he conducted using a prototype version of Autom and how it performed compared to traditional weight-loss techniques such as pen-and-paper or a virtual avatar on a computer screen. Introducing Autom™ from Erica Young on Vimeo. Contest Don't miss our Christmas contest for a chance to win two robot Kits offered by Didel SA.
With the first kit, you'll make a tiny "Bimo" robot that runs around like a hyperactive bug using two motors. The kit contains a radio controller and all the electronic components which you'll need to build your robot. You'll need your own soldering iron so make sure you have that handy. Once you've built your robot, you can reprogram its microcontroller if you're unhappy with its original behavior.
In the second kit, you'll be designing legs for a vibrating robot called the Milpat Veloce. Think out of the box and you might be strapping all types of slippery or hairy surfaces under the robot for maximum speed, climbing or hopping.
Two win these two kits just answer to the following question by email at contest@robotspodcast.com. We'll be randomly picking a contestant with the correct answer on the 1st of January. Links:
Latest News: For more information on today's ROBOTS news, including Festo's CyberKite', Arimaz's MyDeskFriend Pingo and the TETRA Micromouse visit the Robots forum!View and post comments on this episode in the forum | More |
04 December 2009Robots: Planetary ExplorationTake the 5-minute survey to help us improve ROBOTS!Today's show is a special episode on space robots. We start by speaking with Julie Townsend from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the California Institute of Technology and her work with NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers and the lunar ATHLETE robot. We then speak with Sebastian Gautsch from the SAMLAB in Neuchatel, Switzerland, who tells us about his Atomic Force Microscope that was sent to Mars aboard the Pheonix lander in the Spring of 2008. Julie Townsend 
Julie Townsend completed her Bachelor in Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT and then went on to Stanford for her Master's degree. She's now continuing a PhD there while working for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) which she joined in 2001. The JPL exists as a NASA laboratory and has been involved in missions relating to the exploration of Earth and space with plans to send robots and humans to explore the moon, Mars and beyond.
As a robotics engineer at the JLP, Townsend has been working on the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity. After touching on the development, integration, and testing of the rovers earlier in her career, she then became a Rover Planner, creating command sequences to drive the robots and move their arms on Mars. Townsend tells us what it is like to be the one behind the wheel of a robot on another planet, with all the mind boggling details that make space robots seem so improbable. She also gives us her insider's view on efforts to get Spirit out of its sand trap on Mars. In the second part of the interview, Townsend presents the prototype of the All-Terrain Hex-Legged Extra-Terrestrial Explorer (ATHLETE) robot which will be used as part of the Human Lunar Return campaign to help load, transport, manipulate, and deposit payloads to any desired site of interest. In particular, she speaks about its six legs capable of rolling or walking over extremely rough or steep terrain. After some redesigns, the ATHLETE is now onto its second prototype, getting ready for its mission to the moon. Sebastian Gautsch 
Sebastian Gautsch recently completed his PhD at the SAMLAB, part of the Institute of Microtechnology in Neuchatel, Switzerland, the goal of which was to design an miniature Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) destined to analyze dust particles on the martian surface. It is hoped that by analyzing the surface of the red planet in minute detail we can gain some insight into the geologic history and potential for biology on the planet.
Gautsch tells us about the difficulties in creating sensors for space, especially the limited payload and autonomy constraints of such a system. He then describes the impressive results they achieved with their sensor which was sent to Mars on the Phoenix lander mission in the spring of 2008, where they took the first ever atomic force microscope image on another planet (see below)!  An AFM calibration image taken on Mars Links:
Latest News: For more information on the robots demonstrated at Japan's IREX, retiree robot Charlie and the Mobile Manipulation Challenge visit the Robots forum!View and post comments on this episode in the forum | More |
Published: 5.6.2008/dm Last update: 29.1.2010/ak
This site uses Google Analytics, Feedburner, Blogger, and the Yahoo Mediaplayer to enhance your experience. You can access the small print here
