I grew up in Oregon, one of the two US states in which it’s illegal to pump your own gas. Roadtrips were always extra special, since Dad let my brother and I fill up the ol’ Volvo ourselves. Looks like those days are coming to an end, in the Netherlands anyway, thanks to Dutch inventor Nico van Staveren, who has developed a robot arm that does the fun part for you. The “Tankpitstop” robot is (for any car which it’s been programmed for) able to open the gas flap, unscrew the cap, fill the tank, and then put everything back just the way it was. It doesn’t look like the robot is able to come around and take your credit card, but it’s probably got some sort of laser cannon attachment to ensure that you don’t just drive off. The cost for this tiny extra bit of convince? $111,100… And I bet it’s not going to come programmed with specs for my ‘85 Volvo wagon.

VIA [ Reuters ]

The 2007 robot of the year award (as decided by Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry) went to FANUC’s dual arm, vision based industrial robot system. Take a close look at the arms operating in the video above, and you’ll notice that they’re plucking randomly positioned and oriented objects off of the conveyor belt. In other words, the robot isn’t just repeating actions, it has to think about every single thing it picks up. And it’s pretty damn quick about it, if you ask me, with the ability to pick up and position up to 120 items per minute. If only my arms could move that fast, just think of the possibilities! Or, on second thought, don’t.

[ FANUC ] VIA [ Pink Tentacle ]

Maybe that title is just a wee bit sensationalist, but how else am I supposed to describe this?

The robot doing the tossing is a Kuka industrial robot, which can also be quite dexterous. What I want to know is how the heck these guys got their destructive little hands on one, so that I can get my fair share of playtime… Not that I’d have a clue how to program a robot to chuck bowling balls over a hundred feet based on a custom made visual targeting system. Impressive, most impressive.

[ RoboPult ] VIA [ Hack a Day ]

The Tokyo fire department has a well rounded robot helper, saving lives and keeping fire fighters safe. It moves using caterpiller tracks, so can roam over just about any terrain. Equipped with a camera and various other sensors, it is capable of measuring the level of carbon dioxide and combustible gases in the air.

If it encounters obstacles, they are not obstacles for long, thanks to two arms which can be controlled to clear obstructions in it’s path. The arms can be fitted with water or foam dispensers to aid in battling the fires themselves. Should fire fighters need to get an unconscious victim out of harm’s way, the robot has a special area where the patient can be secured and then taken away quickly.

I can easily imagine this robot coming in very handy for fire fighters in many areas, but somehow I don’t think they get much use out of it’s special features in the streets of Tokyo.

[New Launches]

In this somewhat abusive video, the researchers are trying to get a robot named Justin to hit himself, or hit (ahem) his two balls together, but Justin is having none of it: he knows exactly where his arms are in relation to the rest of his body at all times, and is able to prevent collisions. To figure out where the different parts of his body are, Justin uses feedback from the artificial muscles in his arms, which is analogous to how humans do it. When you touch your nose with your eyes closed (or try to), you’re using kinaesthetics to know where your arm, hand, and finger is without looking. Instead of relying on pre-programming, Justin is able to self-model his appendages to dynamically prevent accidents.

If you’d like to know more about Justin, please see the citation in the comments or visit http://www.phriends.eu/.

VIA [ New Scientist ]

This is Monty, a teleoperated humanoid robot powered by compressed air. Despite (or perhaps because of) his questionable facility with dishes, he’s designed (in the near future, anyway) to perform tasks in industrial or hazardous environments that would otherwise require the physical presence and decision making skills of a human. He can balance on his own on two wheels (like a Segway), can carry up to 20 kgs, and will operate for “hours” off of a scuba tank. His hand is modeled very closely on the human hand, and is nearly as dexterous. As you can see from the video, operating Monty takes a substantial amount of coordination: a joystick in one hand moves his body, and a glove on the other hand will transmit the arm and hand movements of the operator to Monty’s arm and hand. In the second video clip, Monty accidentally knocks an object off the table he was at, so we asked if he was capable of picking things up off the ground (he didn’t look like he was designed to bend over). I was pretty impressed that he was able to do so, albeit with the operator standing nearly over his shoulder.

[ Anybots ]

This industrial robot, called Kuka, is busily writing out the full version of the Martin Luther bible by hand. Or I guess you’d say by robot arm, but it’s actually doing very precise calligraphy with a pen, putting my chicken scratch to shame. I think it’s pretty cool to see an industrial robot doing something so delicate and (okay, okay) beautiful. There are a few more photos available on here on flikr.

[ robotlab ] VIA [ Gearfuse ]

Making robots spatially adaptive can be a complex and time consuming process. Really, it’s a lot easier (albeit less flexible) to just give a robot a detailed map of its environment to help it navigate. The only problem is that making high resolution spatial maps of large areas is a huge chore, demanding precise and repetitive measurements. Geez, if only there was some sort of system that was good at completing repetitive tasks with precision…

This (unnamed) survey robot developed by Spatial Robotics Solutions (of course) is able to autonomously wander around any area, using high resolution cameras and LIDAR to map interior spaces with millimeter accuracy. The data it produces can be integrated with a GIS or CAD system, and it’s damn fast, able to map anywhere between 70,000 and 240,000 square feet per day. Additional capabilities include live video, two-way audio, change detection, and support for sensor packages. The robot is being promoted as a facility maintenance device, but there’s a lot of inherent versatility in an automated mapping robot. It’s worth mentioning, I suppose, that the base unit for this robot is from Mobile Robots, who are responsible for these outrageous platforms.

[ Spatial Robotics ] VIA [ Spatial Robots ]

Thanks to the Kanagawa Institute of Technology’s Air Pressure suit, in the very near future the elderly will have super strength. The suits would be used by old people to get around and lift things more easily. And it would be just as beneficial to their caregivers, who need to carry them around. The wearer can lift a person as heavy as 100 kilos as if they were carrying only half that weight.

Admittedly, the suit is clunky, and yes it likely takes a long time to put on. It also weighs 66 pounds. But if an elderly person does manage to actually put one on, what you have is a world where elderly people stomp around in robot exoskeletons, complaining about rock music and how “they don’t make ‘em like that anymore”. The next thing you know Grandma is throwing a car at you! A world where robots evolved from little old ladies? It could happen. And soon.

For the moment, the suit is only made to order and is destined for nursing homes and hospitals. But they do hope it will be in homes in the future.

You have been warned. Start treating your elders with respect NOW. They like revenge.

[Yahoo] VIA [The Raw Feed]

A restaurant in Germany has replaced waiters and other staff with an automated system that handles just about everything. You select your meal by using touchscreens at the table and it arrives a few minutes later on the gravity feed rail system. Very “The Jetsons”.

Arguably, this is not full fledged robotics. It is however a step in the right direction as far as dining out. If these kinds of restaurants take off, in the not too distant future we might see hover-bots delivering meals, or even robots wearing bow-ties to take our orders. Or maybe not, but it’s still awesome.

If future robot restaurants ever take off, they’ll have places like this to thank for their innovation.

[ Gizmodo ]