I’m a big fan of swarm robotics. Swarms have a lot of distinct advantages over single robots that are bigger and more complex, including cheapness, simplicity, expandability, and redundancy. Just because the robots in a swarm are small doesn’t necessarily mean that the swarm itself can’t exhibit complex behavior or carry out complicated tasks, as we’ve seen. But one of the biggest hurdles to overcome in swarm robotics is figuring out how to program them all to do what you want them to do without spending a few years doing it. MIT’s James McLurkin has been working on this very thing, with what appears to be no small amount of success:

The bots in use for this project are members of the iRobot Swarm, which was a DARPA sponsored project to develop scalable algorithms for controlling large numbers (10-10,000) of robots. There are 100 robots in this particular swarm, and each one operates on a “glass box” principle, which means that the hardware and software are designed to run in a look but don’t touch mode. There’s a simple reason for this: every action you’d have to perform on one robot (say, turning it on) would then have to be duplicated on every other robot in the swarm. That’s a nuisance for 10 robots, a huge pain in the ass for 100 robots, and impossible for 10,000 robots. The robots are therefore able to charge themselves, turn themselves on and off, and upload and download data. The researchers don’t have to do anything besides upload programs, run them, and watch the results unfold. That’s the idea, anyway.

More after the jump. (Read more…)

You can find tons of humanoid robot kits scattered around Japan, but ever since the demise of the Aibo, our mechanical four legged friends have been sadly underrepresented. This G-Dog robot is part of the G-Robot family, which sell as kits from HPI Racing. It’s 14cm tall and 40cm long, has 9 servos, a built in battery, dedicated motion processing software, and a data cable. It knows some tricks, too:

It’s no Little Dog, but it will be for sale… it should be released in Japan this July for something like $1000.

[ G-Robots ] VIA [ Impress (In Japanese) ]

KUKA robot arms: great toy, or greatest toy ever? We’ve seen them programmed to write calligraphy, DJ, chuck flaming bowling balls at RVs, and fling people around. From back in the archives (before the existence of the BotJunkie archives, actually) comes this video of a KUKA robot modified to play tennis and wield a sword, all controlled with a Wiimote:

FYI, KUKA robots run in the mid five figs, although there is a used one on eBay right now for only $10k.

[ WiiBot ]

Last August, we wrote about the deployment of three TALON SWORDS armed robots into active service in Iraq. The bots, designed by Foster-Miller, can be armed with a variety of weaponry, and are remote controlled, not autonomous. Back in the August article, I commented that the SWORDS “also feature a kill switch, because sometimes the bots kinda go crazy.” I wasn’t just making a joke; Danger Room had reported that “the machines had a tendency to spin out of control from time to time.” Two months later in October of 2007, Foster Miller introduced a new version of SWORDS called MAARS, which included a bunch of new safety features designed specifically to prevent friendly fire incidents. It now seems as though these improvements came too late, as the SWORDS robots have been withdrawn, reports Popular Science:

[T]he Army’s Program Executive Officer for Ground Forces, Kevin Fahey, was asked what happened to SWORDS. After all, no specific reason for the 11th-hour withdrawal ever came from the military or its contractors at Foster-Miller. Fahey’s answer was vague, but he confirmed that the robots never opened fire when they weren’t supposed to. His understanding is that “the gun started moving when it was not intended to move.” In other words, the SWORDS swung around in the wrong direction, and the plug got pulled fast. No humans were hurt, but as Fahey pointed out, “once you’ve done something that’s really bad, it can take 10 or 20 years to try it again.”

It’s understandable that armed robots can be dangerous, even if they’re only semi-autonomous. I agree on principle with Fahey’s position; if a SWORDS robot were to injure or kill someone (for lack of a better phrase) by itself, it may very well take years (although maybe not 10 or 20) before armed robots that work in concert with humans are tried again. However, people make mistakes too. Equipment malfunctions. No matter how concerned you are with safety, wars are going to remain dangerous. But robots are replaceable, and the longer it takes to get them into service, the worse it’s going to be for humans on the battlefield.

[ Foster-Miller ] VIA [ Danger Room ]

And when they do, they wipe with this:

Makes things nice and smooth and shiny. Works on humans too, just try it!

[ b3ta ] VIA [ Suicide Bots ]

This, unfortunately, is a 3D render and not a sculpture. It’s by an artist named Andre Kutscherauer who, if he actually constructed some of these little guys, has the potential to get very very rich. I’m not saying they have to actually be able to run around looking for a power socket to keep themselves from dying or whatever, but the idea is undeniably clever. Two more neat pieces, after the jump. (Read more…)

Paro, the world’s “Most Theraputic Robot” (seriously, ask Guinness), has just gone on sale in the US. Finally. I mean, there is a serious shortage of cuddly baby sealbots on the market right now. Paro (which stands for personal robot) originated in Japan, where about a thousand of them are being used to treat patients with Alzheimer’s and other debilitating physical and emotional illnesses. Each Paro is handmade, so each one is a bit different and can learn and respond to an individual name. They have light sensors, tactile sensors, pressure sensors, and audio sensors, and can respond to a variety of stimuli with sound and movement.

Paro can learn to behave in a way that the user prefers, and to respond to its new name. For example, if you stroke it every time you touch it, Paro will remember your previous action and try to repeat that action to be stroked. If you hit it, Paro remembers its previous action and tries not to do that action. By interaction with people, Paro responds as if it is alive, moving its head and legs, making sounds, and showing your preferred behavior. Paro also imitates the voice of a real baby harp seal.

A harp seal pup wasn’t chosen as a model for Paro just because it’s one of the cutest animals on the planet. Rather, it was a carefully thought out decision to choose an animal that people couldn’t directly identify with. If you have a robotic dog, for example, it’s far too easy to compare it to a real dog and end up disappointed (not that that necessarily happens). But since nobody has pet seals, that comparison (subconscious or otherwise) doesn’t take place, making it far easier for users to suspend their incredulity at the robot and develop an emotional bond with it. And it really, really works to improve people’s lives, both in clinical and domestic settings:

Unfortunately, Paro costs about $5000. Honestly, I can’t help but think if you did a little bit of anatomical hacking on a Pleo and bought it a fur coat you might get better results for a lot less money. Paro is several years old, however… My guess is that we’ll be seeing a lot more companion robots like Paro in the near future, most likely originating in Japan and drifting over to the US just as Paro has done.

[ Paro ] VIA [ Smart Machines ]

I first wrote about SuperBot(s) over a year ago, and since I did, they’ve learned some new tricks. If you’re not familiar with these things, each SuperBot is itself made up of some number of relatively simple SuperBot modules working together. The modules are robots themselves, as each one has its own brain, motors, power source, and sensors, but the cool thing about SuperBots is their ability to work together. They’re able to autonomously attach to each other in an effectively infinite number of different ways, allowing them to adapt their structure (and consequent behavior) to virtually any situation. Take a look at a couple videos, and you’ll see how awesome these little guys are:

[ SuperBot ] VIA [ Communist Robot ]

Robotic insects have got to be the ultimate fantasy of intelligence services around the world. Although people have certainly been working on them, so far they’ve been unable to duplicate the spectacular motor and control systems that insects are born with. One solution is to hijack the insects themselves, using implants to control their nervous systems and steer them around. Although (as you can see from the video above) the basic control systems are understood, there’s still a long way to go in terms of power use, control miniaturization, guidance… And of course the point of the whole exercise, which is getting some data back. Otherwise, spying on people just isn’t as much fun.

[ DARPA Hybrid Insect Program ] VIA [ New Scientist ]

Maybe this little guy is kinda dumb, but whatever… The only things I love more than robots are small fuzzy animals, so I just had to write about this. His name is Hal, and he’ll do a little dance while singing “Mr. Roboto” by Styx. He’s $10, which makes him a super easy gift guaranteed to provide no less than 15 seconds of entertainment.

The picture of him is also very long.

Like, totally disproportionate to his entertainment value.

And if I don’t fill up the space, it’ll turn the formatting all wonky.

You know, I’ve always been more of a gerbil person.

Although currently I am a snake person.

And snakes and gerbils are unfortunately incompatible.

They do have robotic snakes, though.

Maybe I should buy one, and feet this robot hamster to it.

Om nom nom robot hamster nom.

[ Hal The Dancing Hamster ] VIA [ Nerd Approved ]