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In early 2010 the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR) unveiled the M3-synchy, which was built with the robotics company Vstone. It was designed to be small and portable, while still providing image and voice recognition functionality. Vstone is still selling the M3-synchy, but they’re now taking orders on a similar product called the RPC-S1.

Its specifications are nearly identical: it’s approximately 30cm (12″) tall, has 17 degrees of freedom, and comes equipped with an embedded PICO 820 computer, a single 1.3 mega pixel camera, two microphones, and a speaker. The main difference between the two robots can be seen in the RPC-S1′s smaller and less detailed head, and the arms, which are covered with the same foam rubber as its body.

While popular research platforms such as Aldebaran Robotics’ NAO are capable of image and speech recognition, they lack sophisticated eyes. The RPC-S1′s eyes can move independently from the head, so they can be used to study gaze direction during interaction. This sets it apart from just about every other platform except for the Hanson Robokind, which has an even more expressive head.

source: Vstone (JP)

LG's New RoboKing Vacuum Can Now Explain Its Failures

LG's RoboKing series of robot vacuums may or may not be variations on the Roomba theme to the extent that they're not allowed to be sold here in the United States, where Roomba is the undisputed king (queen?) and reigns with a tight fist and lots of patents. But we have to give credit to LG for thinking outside the box disc when it comes to introducing nifty features. For example, unlike the Roomba, Mint, or Neato XV-11, the RoboKing navigates (and maps its environment) using a pair of cameras that scan the ceiling and the floor, which is a pretty neat trick.

The latest version of the RoboKing, announced just yesterday, adds a self-diagnostic mode where the robot actually checks itself out and tells you what's up. Push the diagnostic button, and the robot will give itself a 30 second shakedown cruise and then report back (in a sultry female voice, no less) with the status of 14 different components. No word on just exactly what it'll tell you, but I imagine something like, "that awful noise I'm making is because I just tried to eat one of your socks; please remove it before I explode."

We don't have too much else to go on at this point beyond that for those of you fortunate enough to live somewhere with less stringent patent enforcement, the LG RoboKing VR6172LM will be available soon for the equivalent of about $730.

Via [ Akihabara News ]

AIST’s HRP-4C Walks More Like A Person

AIST (Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology) has published a video showing their female android HRP-4C (nicknamed “Miim”) walking more like a person. Previously, HRP-4C walked with its knees bent at all times, which looked very odd given the robot’s otherwise realistic appearance. Because the robot was built with the entertainment industry in mind, it should be able to walk more like a person, and even display a specific emotion or attitude in how it walks. In other words, a choreographer shouldn’t be limited to one type of performance when working with the robot.

The team admits that they could not combine a realistic motion with robust balance, focusing instead on a few key areas. The robot’s toes now support the legs longer during each stride, allowing the legs to straighten out more. As you can see in the stills from the experiment (above), the knees are still bending more than they probably ought to in order to maintain balance. As a result the motion still looks stilted, but it’s a marked improvement over the previous walking gait.

Since making headlines around the world with its incredible dancing last year, and the success of “live” concerts starring digital idols (Hatsune Miku), it seems there does exist a market for this kind of entertainment. It’ll be pretty interesting to see where this goes in the next decade.

The technical details are presented in “Human-Like Walking with Toe Supporting for Humanoids,” by Kanako Miura, Mitsuharu Morisawa, Fumio Kanehiro, Shuuji Kajita, Kenji Kaneko, and Kazuhito Yokoi, Proc. 2011 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems.

sources: http://www.plasticpals.com

Honda представила новое поколение андроида ASIMO

Японцы объявили, что самый передовой человекоподобный робот на Земле обновился кардинально: дескать, это «all-new ASIMO» – совершенно новая машина целиком новой конструкции. И хотя внешне андроид остался всё тем же белым «космонавтом» с чёрным провалом вместо лица, нововведений действительно много.

Первым делом компания Honda Motor сообщает, что отныне вся хондовская робототехника от мала до велика носит единое коллективное имя – Honda Robotics.

Создание этого подразделения, очевидно, свидетельствует о возросшем интересе к роботам со стороны производителя автомобилей и мотоциклов. Honda Robotics будет не только продолжать исследования (к которым по большому счёту относится и ASIMO), но и «заниматься вопросами практического использования робототехники и её массового производства».

Итак, all-new ASIMO. Робот стал легче, быстрее и сильнее. По основным техническим характеристикам в сравнении с предшественником новичок легче на 6 кило и весит 48 кг.

Андроид получил прибавку в 23 степени свободы, и число таковых у ASIMO достигло 57. Плюс возросла скорость движения машины: 9 км/ч против прежних 6 км/ч. Но эти параметры всё же второстепенны, ибо главное, по словам японцев, что «ASIMO прошёл путь от автомата до автономной машины».
Honda объявила, что улучшила интеллект андроида. Теперь мозг машины собирает и «всесторонне оценивает» данные от многочисленных сенсоров, выполняющих функции зрительных и слуховых органов, а также воспринимающих тактильные ощущения.

Основываясь на оценке текущей ситуации в окружающей среде, реагируя на действия людей, ASIMO выбирает соответствующее поведение. Андроид может узнавать людей одновременно по лицу и голосу, а также распознавать голоса нескольких человек, говорящих наперебой.
Новый ASIMO умеет показывать жестами не только любовь. На снимке вверху он демонстрирует приветствие, знак на втором кадре означает «семья», а на нижнем – «язык жестов»

Кроме того, ASIMO отныне способен на основе пространственного анализа предсказать направление, в котором человек пойдёт в течение ближайших секунд, и быстро найти пути обхода, чтобы избежать столкновения (фото Honda Robotics).
Модернизировали андроиду и руки. Новые датчики в ладонях и пальцах позволяют ASIMO, к примеру, взять бутылку, открутить крышку и налить себе выпить (фото Honda Robotics).

Источник: www.membrana.ru

Honda Celebrates ASIMO’s 11th Birthday with “All-new ASIMO”

ASIMO’s 11th birthday passed with nary a whisper on October 29th, but today Honda unveiled a new model dubbed “All-new ASIMO”. This is the first major update since 2007, and the first aesthetic change since “New ASIMO” was revealed in 2004. The new version is less revolutionary than evolutionary. Its form factor has undergone only a slight redesign (it’s the same height, but shaved 6kg in weight), but its physical capabilities and artificial intelligence have been improved.

On the physical side, ASIMO’s degrees of freedom have jumped from 34 to 57 (mostly due to its new hands). It is now able to jump a few inches off the ground, and it can jump and balance on one foot, which is no mean feat for a bipedal robot of this size. It was also shown running much faster than before (from 6kph to 9kph), can now run backwards, and was shown walking on a field of bumpy obstacles without losing its balance. It still walks and runs a little goofy compared to something like Boston Dynamics’ PETMAN, which is a bit disappointing, but not entirely unexpected.

A new model robot hand (which we reported back in October of 2009), may be the one fitted onto the new ASIMO. Its fingers are now independently actuated, which allows it to perform sign language and more natural gestures. Independent fingers are hardly exciting – KAIST’s HUBO and other robot hands have had them for years – but it’s nice to see Honda finally catch up. With tactile sensors in the palm of each hand and force sensors built into each of the fingers, ASIMO unscrewed the top of a thermos and poured a cup of tea.

Honda claims they are working on a new system which increases ASIMO’s autonomy, which brings it closer to the possibility of coexisting in busy public places. They say ASIMO is able to adapt to changes in its surroundings, including people walking around it, through the use of vision and other sensors. It can estimate what direction a person is walking and plan accordingly. The previous version was able to stop and yield the right of way to a single person approaching it head on, so one assumes this is a more complicated planning system.
And they’ve combined face recognition with voice recognition work that has been in the research stage for many years. The robot is now able to parse words spoken by three individuals simultaneously, and recognize who said what. It’s difficult to say how good its speech recognition is as a whole, but it’s a nifty trick.
This is clearly an absolutely beautiful piece of engineering, and the refined design makes ASIMO cuter than ever before. I’m glad to hear that the company’s new president Takanobu Ito has reaffirmed Honda’s stance on the long-term goal of commercializing ASIMO. I wanted to see ASIMO react to being shoved from various directions, as well as stand up from lying on the ground. While Boston Dynamics’ PETMAN may have leapfrogged Honda’s work, ASIMO continues to distance itself from virtually every other robot in development. While they’re busy trying to catch up to the last version, Honda has once again raised the bar. In addition, Honda showed off a new prototype robot arm (which it says applies technology from ASIMO) that will be used at the Fukushima nuclear power plant.


sources: http://www.plasticpals.com

The 1st Hobby Robot To Ride A Bicycle

Now here’s an impressive display, and almost certainly a world first, courtesy of one Dr. Guero (a researcher who has worked at AIST, Boston Dynamics, and Osaka University). For a fun project he programmed his hobby-level KHR-3HV bipedal robot to ride a custom-made bicycle built to scale. Recently Panasonic’s EVOLTA robot completed an Iron Man triathlon, a portion of which involved cycling, but its bicycle had training wheels to keep it upright. And Murata Manufacturing’s Murata Boy relies on a large spinning disc in its chest to maintain balance (and can do so even when it is completely still).

Dr. Guero’s robot rides the bike pretty much the same way a person would, reaching speeds in the range of 10kph. The robot automatically adjusts its direction to maintain balance thanks to its internal gyroscope, but he can also control it manually with a remote control. The bicycle is not equipped with brakes, so in order to stop it has to put its feet down, but it can start back up again just as easily. You may notice that the robot has wires coming out on either side near the seat; according to Dr. Guero these are piano wires that he attached to provide some shock absorption should the robot fall over.

sources: http://www.plasticpals.com