Juanma Oyarzábal and Álvaro Amor are two students of Computer Engineering at the University of Deusto in Bilbao (that’s in Spain). For their final year project, they created this small swarm of construction robots who cooperate to build a structure (mostly) autonomously. The long-term concept is that robots will be able take over many of the repeatable heavy lifting tasks on a construction site with minimal human supervision.

Thanks to this new way of looking at construction, costs and construction time can be reduced considerably, and it exempts the workers of the most arduous tasks so that they can focus on more rewarding tasks such as finishing facilities and monitoring that everything runs properly.

While this is the first swarm of constructobots I’ve seen, getting robots to build structures by themselves is something we’ve seen a few times before around here… There was that robot bricklayer that’s able to lay bricks so precisely that they create pictures out of reflected sunlight, and the robot that can “print” an entire custom house out of concrete in a single day.

Incidentally, I love how the video looks like it was shot in a dorm room, and evidently they only had access to one color sensor that had to be shared between four robots. Mad props on the suit (gold cufflinks!) and fancy shoes… Way to keep it classy guys.

Thanks Juanma and Álvaro!

This, kids, is yet another reason why you should start teaching yourself robotics. Plus, you can tell your parents (or your significant other, if you’re a big kid) that you “need a new paintball gun for your science project” (or something). Instead of a Tippman, though, I’d have to suggest something way better; something like an AKALMP Excalibur (otherwise known as the greatest paintball gun ever made).

Anyway, wouldn’t it be cool if you could somehow buy this turret setup as a kit or something? Yeah it would.

[ Alter Robotics ]

The original Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em robots game has a certain charm about it, but nothing that can’t be improved with a bunch of servos and some fancy movement detecting watches from Texas Instruments. Fancy yes, but remarkably cheap (especially considering the fact that a Ti-83 graphing calculator with 32kb of RAM and a 6 (six!) MHz CPU still costs a blasphemous $130) as you get a three axis accelerometer, pressure sensor, and RF wireless communications (plus a watch) for only 50 bucks. Anyway, with one of these watches on each wrist, the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots game can be completely controlled by the users’ motion, albeit with a bit less ferocity than what tends to be traditional. Quick, somebody call Hugh Jackman…

[ TI Wiki ] VIA [ Hackaday ]

Alex over at Trossen Robotics writes,

“Our intern Jennero Rossi has been working diligently on his very first short documentary to give a first hand look into the world of robotics. We’re hoping that people who are interested in learning about robotics could find this video inspirational and see that they don’t need a PhD to start getting involved.”

Not that you should underestimate the knowledge, skill, and ingenuity of robot builders, but you shouldn’t let the fact that it’s robotics intimidate you, either. As several people in the video point out, a lot has changed in a very short time, and robotics is easier to get started with now than it’s ever been before. Go to an event. Take a class. Join a club. Buy a kit. Before you know it, you’ll have your very own mechanical minion with which to enslave and/or destroy humanity. It’ll be fun, I promise!

[ Trossen Robotics ]

It takes some work to combine a bunch of parts into a working anything, but Trossen Robotics is making things easy if you want your own remote control dual axis robotic turret. It’s a cinch to build, and includes a MosquitIO Microcontroller, two HS-322HD Hitec Servos and some software to get you started. Of course, it starts out as just a turret, so it’s up to you to add some of the stuff that makes turrets fun. Like guns.

The kit is $99 from Trossen.

[ Trossen Robotics ]

About a month ago we saw some Robot Survival Game test footage, but the actual competition took place in Japan just last week. Eight robots entered the fray, which is much like Mech Warfare in that the robots are armed (with airsoft guns) and controlled remotely via onboard cameras. The most significant difference between the two competitions seems to be that the Survival Game doesn’t penalize robots for having more legs and allows other mobility systems, leading to some pretty interesting designs.

The hit sensors, by the way, are brilliant in their simplicity and effectiveness: the ‘tinfoil hats’ are covering light sensors, and when holes are shot in the tinfoil, the sensors register more light. When a certain threshold is reached, the robot is declared destroyed.

Some of the robots designed for this contest are pretty sweet… My favorite has to be this one, called ‘Vanga:’

Not only does Vanga have six legs, it’s also got some wheels underneath, which enable it to squad down, lift up its legs, and zip around:

There’s a five legged robot in the mix too, and it’s much more nimble than you might think.

Check out more competition vids at the link below.

[ Biped Robot News ]

Baxter may not have arms, and he may look just like a trashcan, but that’s not going to stop him bringing you a beer. At least, as long as he has help from his trusty sidekick, RoboFridge. Baxter and RoboFridge together form the BDS, or Beer Delivery System. As long as no stairs are involved, Baxter will use an impressive variety of navigation techniques (including wheel encoders, line following, and homing beacons) to make his way from wherever you are to RoboFridge. Once there, RoboFridge opens, spits out a can into Baxter’s maw, and then closes again, and Baxter will retrace his non-steps back to you.

Apparently, Baxter is only the first phase of a system designed to solve the issue of beer being over there and me being over here. Also, there are many other things that are over there and I’m still over here, and Baxter can be adapted to carry all pretty much whatever you want. Say, chips, for example. Mmm, chips.

Since so far, none of these beer serving robots have spontaneously appeared next to my couch, I’m going to go take care of the problem myself. Cheers!

[ Norris Labs ] VIA [ CNet ]

A big train station seems like a very appropriate place to try for a world record in robot line following, and for a brief period last week, Union Station in Kansas City was (partially) given over to a bunch of little robots following a really, really long line. Over 400 feet of line, to be specific. 50 robots managed to follow the line all at once for a few seconds, setting a new world record which, to be fair, hadn’t officially existed beforehand. Now, though, 50 robots on one line for 2 seconds or 15 robots on one line for 1 minute are the numbers to beat. If you want a part in the challenge, you can build a line following robot for next to nothing (or a lot more than that).

After the jump, a bot’s-eye view of the event. (Read more…)

Mech Warfare is so awesome that the concept has made the jump across the pacific to Japan. The Trial of Survival Game puts multiple armed robots in combat with each other, and just like Mech Warfare, the bots are controlled strictly via remote camera systems. The Japanese version is a bit less structured… Multi-legged bots aren’t penalized with extra target plates, and wheeled vehicles are allowed. Either way, looks like fun:

The tinfoil hats, by the way, cover the hit sensors for the robots.

Or maybe they’re actually there to keep the government from brain controlling armed robots.

Or aliens.

(It’s aliens).

VIA [ Biped Robot News ]

It’s just like the walking iPhone, except bigger! Oh, and accelerometer-controlled googly eyes FTW.

VIA [ Robots Dreams ]