Topic: Robotics

[Nemesis]

Robotic World Cup

This year all eyes are on a team from Japan who are expected to do well in the humanoid category, while the current world champions from Germany are a force to be reckoned with in the four-legged tournament.

Hacking the Roomba

You can make a Roomba even more interactive: iRobot has released the documentation for the Roomba SCI serial protocol, which lets you control the motors, LEDs and speakers, or get data from the various sensors. You can add to the existing behaviours (vacuuming, finding the dirtiest spots on the floor, not falling down stairs, backing away from obstructions and calling for help if it gets stuck) or tell it to do something completely different.

The hackers at Make magazine dressed a Roomba in green and played Frogger with it in traffic. We've already seen the first Roomba cockfights. Hopefully, there will be some more productive uses as well; you could get a report on whether the dirtiest spot on the floor is always in the same place, experiment with new algorithms for how the Roomba gets round the room, or fit it with a webcam and use it as a security system that cleans the floor at the same time.

[Just plain old Punisher]

Why oh why is current artificial intelligence limited to automated vaccums and robitic death matches?

[Commander Maxillius]

Terminator Series
I, Robot
Bicentennial Man
The Borg
The Matrix Series


Any questions?

[Dracho]

Don't forget Runaway

http://imdb.com/title/tt0088024/

[Nemesis]

Link to full article

Microsoft Developing Robotics Software

Dubbed the Microsoft Robotics Studio, the system aims to create common technological underpinnings for what is now a relatively fragmented industry. The company says it's intended for use with a wide range of robots, from those in factories to the growing number of robots available to consumers.

It might take many years, but Microsoft believes robotics could present a big opportunity as the market grows, said Tandy Trower, general manager of the Microsoft Robotics Group. He cited estimates predicting that consumer robotics alone will grow into a multibillion-dollar industry in five to 10 years.

"It's an investment that we're making now for the future," said Trower, a veteran employee whom Gates tapped to explore the opportunity, eventually leading to the formation of the group.

Such an initiative may not sit well with people already worried about Microsoft's widespread clout in the technology world. Even when the company enters new areas, for example, it can face concerns over locking others in to its own technologies, said JupiterResearch analyst Joe Wilcox.

[Nemesis]

Link to full article

To spur more development of robots at the hobbyist level, Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) is promoting a humanoid creature named HRP-2m Choromet. One problem with current robots, AIST says, is that they tend to be little more than remote-controlled devices. Another is that getting beyond that evolutionary stage tends to take a lot of cash.

Choromet, which bears a striking resemblance to the Transformers character Optimus Prime, comes with programmable software that runs on Linux. It was developed by General Robotix, one of the two start-ups working under AIST together with Pirkus Robotix and Dai Nippon Technical Research Institute. The controller, which is driven in real time by ARTLinux, was developed by Moving Eye, the other start-up in the group.