The hand holds 4 NXT motors to control the fingers and thumb. The 4 fingers are controlled by the 2 outside motors, that are attached to the index finger and pinky. All fingers are connected to a sliding beam, so that the middle and ring finger can also move. This system makes the hand compact, because you don’t need 4 motor for each finger. The drawback is that the fingers can’t be move separately. Anyone who has seen this always asks if it can give ‘the finger’, the answer is NO 🙂 The middle motor has 2 functions. It moves the thumb from and towards the hand. When the motor rotates further it touches the construction that make the fingers spread. So the thumb first moves a bit and the last past of that movement the fingers spread as well. The last motor moves the thumb in and out. It give a nice impression as a palm of the hand.
From IEEE Specturm
Date: Dec 20, 2012
By: Evan Ackerman
Last week, we brought you a bunch of different videos of aerial grasping robots, including robots from DARPA, UPenn, and Yale. Perhaps in response (or just because it’s really freakin’ cool), we’ve had a couple people write in with flying grasping robots of their own, including researchers from University of Twente in the Netherlands, and a scruffy-looking hobbyist from Trossen Robotics.
This first vid comes from the University of Twente, in the Netherlands. It’s part of the AIRobots project, the goal of which is ::deep breath:: “to develop a new generation of aerial service robots capable to support human beings in all those activities which require the ability to interact actively and safely with environments not constrained on ground but, indeed, freely in air.”
It’s kind of amazing how, just in the last few years, plummeting hardware costs and skyrocketing capabilities (which together are enough to give any sane roboticists severe motion sickness) have enabled the group of geniuses that we like to call “hobbyists” keep more or less up with just about whatever the latest research is, at least when it comes to the hardware itself.
Andrew Alter, one of the instigators of Mech Warfare and current senior executive robot geek at Trossen, writes:
I designed a modified PhantomX Hexapod and we built it out of carbon fiber so it’d be light enough to fly. Some friends at Mad Lab Industries are quadcopter gurus so building the rest of the custom hexacopter was a breeze.
Maybe a breeze for you guys, but coming up with what is essentially a hexacopter duct-taped to a hexapod that works is no small feat, as far as we’re concerned. Check it:
Developing robots that can fly and move along the ground has been a priority for the military for a while, because flying robots are versatile but suck down batteries like nobody’s business, while ground robots are, well, stuck on the ground. While perhaps not the most efficient of compromises, the hexapodocopter is (let’s face it) pretty sweet, and there has to be some potential there just for that reason. So if anyone from DARPA is reading this, how ’bout tossing these guys some grant money to see what they can come up with?
Fans of freaky-looking robots will already be familiar with DARPA’s quadruped Legged Squad Support System, or LS3 (although it’s also known as Big Dog by its builder, Boston Dynamics). Yesterday, two prototypes of an improved version of the LS3 were demonstrated, and DARPA has posted the video to show off what’s new.
The basic purpose of the LS3 is to serve as a sort of pack mule, carrying heavy gear for troops over rugged, varying terrain. It can follow them autonomously, and respond to verbal and visual commands.
Among the improvements in the new version of the robot is reduced operating noise – it is approximately one-tenth as loud as the original version, allowing soldiers walking next to it to carry on a regular conversation.
From: IEEE Spectrum
POSTED BY: Erico Guizzo and Stephen Cass / Mon, January 07, 2013
One of the best robotics kits is now even better. Lego is unveiling its new Mindstorms EV3 kit today at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), in Las Vegas. Check out the new features.
As in the previous set, the Mindstorms NXT, the EV3 comes with hundreds of Lego bricks, plus four motors and five sensors, including a new infrared unit that can be used as robotic eyes or to allow a robot to follow a remote control.
This year marks the 15th anniversary of the Mindstorms kit, and Lego really wanted to make the product more exciting to “an audience of children who have grown up with technology.” So the company set out to redesign the kit by making it, among other things, “more hackable,” to use Lego’s own words.
One of the biggest upgrades is the EV3 programmable brick, which now runs Linux and has a USB port and a micro SD card slot that builders can use add more capabilities to their robots. But the biggest innovation is that Lego made it easier for the EV3 brick to communicate via Bluetooth with Android and iOS apps. That means you can use a smartphone or tablet to control a Mindstorms robot or give it new behaviors.
To program your robotic creations, you can enter commands directly into the EV3 brick via its LCD or you can use the easy-to-use PC software provided. The set also includes a program that Lego created with Autodesk that shows step-by-step 3D instructions for various projects.
The EV3 set will include instructions for 17 different robots, including walking humanoids and insect-like creatures. It will sell for $350 and will be available in the second half of this year.
Roboy, the robot boy being created by scientists, is scheduled to be “born” in March 2013. That would make the human-like robot’s arrival come at a cheeky nine months from its creation date.
Engineers at the University of Zurich’s Artificial Intelligence Lab have announced their intent to create a humanoid robot comprised of artificial muscles that can be used as a helper to humans. Roboy is being modeled to resemble a child and engineers hope that the mechanical helper’s future lies with servicing the elderly and sick.
The Daily Mail reports that approximately 40 engineers and 15 partners are currently on board for the project. Backing for the endeavor will come from combination of sources. Professor Rolf Pfeifer, head of the project, said the following:
“Financing the project through sponsorship and crowd funding enables us to implement an extremely ambitious project in an academic environment.”
Engineers are modeling Roboy after humans by giving the robot artificial tendons to drive movement. Typically robots are are built with motors in their joints which gives them a shaky type of movement. A tendon-driven robot should be able to move as gracefully and fluidly as its human counterparts.
Kurzweil writes that because service robots like Roboy share living spaces with their human owners, the team is making user-friendliness and safety a priority. Engineers plan to use “soft robotic” technology in the robot’s creation including a “soft skin” covering, giving it a more gentle interaction with its users.
You can take a peek at Roboy in the following video:
Upon completion of the ambitious project the Artificial Intelligence Lab team plans to debut Roboy at Zurich’s Robots on Tour event in March of 2013.
Meanwhile, you can make Roboy the robot boy your friend when you visit his official Facebook page.
