Looking for educational resources about robotics? Try S.P.A.R.K. (Starter Programs for the Advancement of Robotics Knowledge) at http://spark.irobot.com/. This website, sponsored by iRobot, the makers of the Roomba, has educational resources, links and videos and much more. Check it out!
Virgin Galactic just keeps on ticking off the milestones on its way to becoming the first commercial company to take tourists on high-altitude flights to suborbital space and return them safely through the atmosphere to Earth. In the video below, we actually get to see Virgin’s SpaceShipTwo (aka VSS Enterprise) making its first “feathered” flight.
“Feathering,” as it is known, is probably the biggest innovation integrated into SpaceShipTwo’s design. In the feathered position, the entire tail section of the plane rotates upward about 65 degrees, creating a different aerodynamic shape that is highly stable yet creates tremendous drag to slow the aircraft down during re-entry. Though that drag is pretty significant, the light weight of the aircraft keeps the skin temperature from rising too high, circumventing the need for heat shields and other thermal protection.
Moreover, when feathered correctly the aircraft is so stable that the pilot can more or less take his hands off the sticks and let the aircraft work its way through the atmosphere naturally, based purely on its aerodynamic shape. That’s a huge safety feature, as the pilot doesn’t have to maintain a specific degree of entry or rely on a sophisticated fly-by-wire computer.
The test shown below took place May 4 and did not actually include a trip to space. But this first feathering test, which began when SpaceShipTwo was dropped from the carrier aircraft WhiteKnightTwo at 51,500 feet, proves that Burt Rutan’s feathering design actually works as well in the air as it did on paper. Where you see the aircraft feather, keep in mind that it is basically falling straight down at 15,500 feet per minute, a rate that is slowed significantly by the aerodynamic drag generated by the feathering configuration.
[Update: 4:00pm 5/25/2011 – canceled due to weather]
“PARO”, the therapeutic baby seal robot invented by Dr. Takanori Shibata of Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology, will be on display for viewing and interactions with guests on Wednesday, May 25th, from 5:30 – 7:30 p.m. at the FedEx Institute of Technology, Methodist Presentation Theater, at the University of Memphis.
Dr. Shibata will present a lecture entitled “PARO the Seal Robot: Improving and Enriching Human Lives through Robot Technology.” This program will outline the development of the robot over the last two decades and its use in health care facilities in Japan and around the world. PARO is currently being used to soothe victims of the earthquake and tsunami in the Tohoku area of Japan.
To attend the lecture and demonstration, please contact Akemi Sommer at asommer@memphis.edu or (901) 482-1830 by Friday, May 20th. A reception will follow the event.
The Mini-Urban Challenge is a national competition sponsored by The Institute of Navigation and the United States Air Force Research Laboratory that challenges high school students to design and operate a robotic car to autonomously navigate a LEGO® city. The cars are developed using LEGO® MINDSTORMS® Education kits that are provided to high school teams free of charge.
Two seniors (Brian MAcArthur and Stephen McKinney) at the University of Memphis Engineering Technology Department created a program to use the Wii remote with a Microbot TeachMover Roboto.
They started with WiimoteLib which is a .NET managed library for using a Nintendo Wii Remote (Wiimote) and extension controllers from a .NET application.
Yesterday, UofM Computer Science department held its “Programming Challenge” Competition. This year they changed the format a bit and added ROBOTICS to the competition. They used Lego RCX robotics and programmed them with LeJOS.
They had around 80 students compete in both the Robot and Website challenges.
I was helping out by judging the Robotics Event and had a ball.
This is an annual event run for High Schools by the University of Memphis Computer Science Department. For more information see the Programming Challenge Website.
Finally found the info on the FSLBOT (FreeScale Bot) I mentioned in my March 10th Stuff from Robotics Summit post (although it was called Freebot not FSLBOT in that post).
Freescale’s Robot Kit that operates with the Tower System Mechatronics Board is an easy-to-use mechatronics development and demonstration platform. This toolset allows for the science of combining mechanics, electronics, and software into an integrated system. The kit includes four PWM controlled servos (actuators), metal legs, and the Tower System Mechatronics board that has a 3-axis accelerometer and a 12 channel touch sensor. Through building the kit, you can experience what the 4 degree of freedom bipedal walking robot can do.
The Tower System Mechatronics board is programmable in C/C++ using CodeWarrior and an on-board OSBDM flash programming tool. For fast prototyping or for individuals without C/C++ experience, the Tower System Mechatronics Board is supported by the Robot Vision Toolkit and RobotSee (a language as simple as BASIC with the power of C).
This tool will be available in May 2011
Cost is $199 but does not include the TWR-MECH board ($99).
