Robotics

November 21, 2004 Over 600,00 household robots are already in use with several million more expected for domestic consumption in the next few years according to the World Robotics 2004 survey, produced by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), in cooperation with the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).  Read More

November 13, 2004 Known as RP-6, this "Remote Presence Robot" represents yet another advance in the use of robot technology for the delivery of healthcare. Already utilised in numerous medical roles including surgery, robots are set to become increasingly valuable in the delivery of a wide range of healthcare services, including remote or "telemedical" applications. RP-6 acts as a surrogate presence, allowing doctors to visit patients from a remote location and expedite health services to a greater number of users. Doctors can guide the robot to the patient's bedside, take pictures of charts and speak to the patient through the robot. Aimed particularly at those recovering from surgery, the RP-6 is is currently undergoing trials in US hospitals.  Read More

November 7, 2004 A rehabilitation glove powered by artificial muscles has won the recent AUD $10,000 British Council Eureka Prize for inspiring science. Designed by the Quadriplegic Hand Research Unit at the Royal North Shore Hospital, the invention will help people with permanent hand-movement loss to perform the daily functions most of us take for granted.  Read More

November 5, 2004 Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh have demonstrated that a monkey can feed itself with a robotic arm simply by using signals from its brain, an advance that could enhance prosthetics for people, especially those with spinal cord injuries. The robotic arm, or neural prosthesis, is about the size of a child's arm and moves much like a natural arm, with a fully mobile shoulder and elbow and a simple gripper that allows the monkey to grasp and hold food while its own arms are restrained.  Read More

November 2, 2004 At a time when most handhelds PDA's are racing to miniaturise their hardware, MILO, the world's first Robotic Personal Assistant platform (RPA) - takes a brave step in the opposite direction, developing a four foot tall mix of robot butler and mobile telecommunications hub with programmable commands.  Read More

November 2, 2004 A new type of network-based robot will debut in Korea in late 2005, greeting customers in around 200 post offices and interacting in real time service applications for commercial and home uses. One male based robot security guard will guard post offices around the clock and is equipped with a net it can shoot to capture intruders. Another female styled robot will tend to customers and make those long queues more bearable by screening fun video clips on embedded monitors. The network-based robots are part of a project called the Ubiquitous Robot Companion (URC) being promoted by the Korean Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC), who are taking advantage of the country's highest per capita use of high-speed Internet connection and wireless broadband services to deliver flexible robot programming through wireless networks and pre-empt the emerging robotics market.  Read More

October 29, 2004 The popular RoboSapien developed by WowWee for the toy market has come third in the 2004 RoboCup in Lisbon with the addition of a Pocket PC to give it autonomous functionality. Team NimbRo, from the Institute for Computer Science at the University of Freiburg in Germany, created the robot Frankenstein by hacking off the head, arms and arm motors from the toy, which was renamed the NimbRo RS. The head was replaced with a Toshiba e755 Pocket PC that communicated via infrared to the robot and a LifeView FlyCam. Team NimbRo then wrote software to make the robot totally autonomous and have released the API and details on their website.  Read More

October 29, 2004 One of the leading pioneers in automated robot development is Tomotaka Takahash of the 'Robo Garage' at Kyoto University. Takahash has built the Chroino, Magdan and Neon model robots, which combine sleek, manga inspired design with cutting edge functionality and human like mobility. Following on from his work the Robo Garage has further developed the VisiON, ENRYU, robovie-R and GUNWALKER models. The Chroino (a combination of "to chronicle" and "black," which is pronounced kuroi in Japanese) is a 35cm tall humanoid robot with sophisticated movements, powered by a lithium polymer battery. A newly developed "monocoque frame" covering is made of carbon and plastic, giving Chorino a friendly appearance, light weight and robust body.  Read More

Toyota, the world's second largest automotive manufacturer, has made a clear statement of its intention to participate in the personal robotics market by announcing an internal project to develop partner robots designed to function as personal assistants for humans This year has seen a flurry of activity in the personal robotics area and the heightened activity has encouraged a number of companies such as Toyota, which has been known to be developing robots for some time, to play its hand. Toyota does not see itself solely as an automotive manufacturer, and sees itself as a manufacturer of products which contribute to society.  Read More