* Astronomy

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RE: Robots

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Starfish Robot


Robot walking	Robot standing	Top view on robot laying flat

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Starfish Robot Shows Robotic Introspection And Self-Modelling
A new four-legged robot can automatically synthesize a predictive model of its own topology (where and how its body parts are connected), and then successfully move around. It can also use this "proprioceptive" sense to determine if a component has been damaged, and then model new movements that take the damage into account.

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Robot-Hosting of New Zealand has solved the dangers associated with using humans in mines.
Robot-Hosting makes on-line and mechanical robots to help humans who act, think, talk and understand 8 languages. Their on-line Androids already work as assistant lecturers for several blue chip Universities helping students one on one. Now they are providing mechanical robots to work as miners in mines.
Auckland based Robot-Hosting Ltd currently has 12 of their on-line computer personalities working as assistant lecturers at various prestigious universities all over the world including AUT University and the University of Auckland.

"These assistant lecturers actually converse with the students, learn about the student's progress and tailor the students instructions to their exact needs"- Alvin Donovan of Robot Hosting

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VITL robot

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RE: Robots

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Inspired by the efficient swimming motion of the bluegill sunfish, MIT researchers are building a mechanical fin that could one day propel robotic submarines.
The propeller-driven submarines, or autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), currently perform a variety of functions, from mapping the ocean floor to surveying shipwrecks. But the MIT team hopes to create a more manoeuvrable, propeller-less underwater robot better suited for military tasks such as sweeping mines and inspecting harbours-and for that they are hoping to mimic the action of the bluegill sunfish.

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The Lockheed Martin Multifunction Utility/Logistics and Equipment (MULE) robotic vehicles Engineering Evaluation Unit (EEU) recently reached a major milestone in demonstrating autonomous navigation over complex obstacles, such as steps and gaps.
The EEU autonomously climbed a 30-inch step and bridged a 70-inch gap without operator intervention, using only parametric descriptions of the obstacles and the vehicles self-awareness. This capability exceeds the performance of other high-mobility vehicles, such as the HMMWV. Although a smaller vehicle, the MULE is able to address complex obstacles, such the ones used for the demonstration at a testing facility, by employing its specialised articulating suspension.

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Runbot

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Roboticists are using the lessons of a 1930s human physiologist to build the world's fastest walking robot.
Runbot is a self-learning, dynamic robot, which has been built around the theories of Nikolai Bernstein.

"Getting a robot to walk like a human requires a dynamic machine" - Professor Florentin Woergoetter.

Runbot is a small, biped robot which can move at speeds of more than three leg lengths per second, slightly slower than the fastest walking human.
Bernstein said that animal movement was not under the total control of the brain but rather, "local circuits" did most of the command and control work.

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