Robots in Higher Education | Scoop.it

Robots in Higher Education | Scoop.it:

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Algorithms Allow MAVs to Avoid Obstacles with Single Camera and Neuromorphic Hardware - IEEE Spectrum

Algorithms Allow MAVs to Avoid Obstacles with Single Camera and Neuromorphic Hardware - IEEE Spectrum:

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Robots are learning to walk and run at Delft University

Robots are learning to walk and run at Delft University: "Robots are learning to walk and run at Delft University

By Jason Falconer

Leo and Phides – two planar biped robots built at the Delft University of Technology – are walking and running, respectively. Leo improved its walking gait through reinforcement learning, which shapes behavior by rewarding success and punishing failure. Phides, the running robot, has achieved an impressive flight phase (the period in a running stride in which both feet are off the ground)."

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Disney Robots Play Catch With Your Kids [VIDEO]

Disney Robots Play Catch With Your Kids [VIDEO]: "Attention all parents: Disney, the company that wants to absorb all childhood happiness, both past and present, is planning to replace you with robots. Unsatisfied with the secondary love and attention they receive from controlling your favorite characters and cartoons, Disney means to spend quality time with the world’s children in an attempt to feel what it’s like to have a child of its own. (No, having subsidiaries like ABC and ESPN doesn’t count.)"

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Nano Quadrotors: Quadricopters with Artificial Swarm Intelligence by GRASP Lab & KMel Robotics - YouTube

Nano Quadrotors: Quadricopters with Artificial Swarm Intelligence by GRASP Lab & KMel Robotics - YouTube: "



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CBBC Newsround - The poo powered robot invented by Bristol scientists

CBBC Newsround - The poo powered robot invented by Bristol scientists: "


The EcoBotIII feeds off sewage, turning energy from the nutrient rich waste into electricity.

It's hoped the robot could help improve the way our waste is treated in sewage plants - bringing down energy costs.

It's made up of batteries that produce electricity, trays to hold the waste and even a fly trapping hat!"

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Dad’s Robot Lab! | lab13network

Dad’s Robot Lab! | lab13network: "Last week, we had some visitors! They demonstrated how all of the robots worked. There were some amazing remote controlled robots and a Lego robot. The name of the person who worked with all of the extraordinary robots was Scott Turner. We were amazed by the robots. Thank you for coming.

 The Lego robot could be controlled by the computer. The other robot could do handstands, roly-polys and cartwheels. Some were doing gymnastics, walking, bowing and dancing. The Lego robot just went all over the place!



Emily’s stepdad, Robin, said “It was fantastic – I want a robot for Christmas.” Unfortunately they are £800! And Kris, Kieran’s dad said “Thanks for organising the robot lab … a nice little event, an amazing robot!” "

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Mind-Controlled Robots Bring Us One Step Closer To Our Avatar Future

Mind-Controlled Robots Bring Us One Step Closer To Our Avatar Future: "Mind-Controlled Robots Bring Us One Step Closer To Our Avatar Future
Andrew Liszewski
It's been speculated—in big budget movies, no less—that one day mankind will never leave its computers, and will instead explore the world through virtual reality and robots. And here's the cutting-edge research that will make that nightmarish future possible.

Researchers at the CRNS-AIST Joint Robotics Laboratory have created an android that can be controlled using thoughts alone. But it's not quite at the point where a user can don an electrode-embedded cap and their robot avatar will run off into the streets. At the moment the user chooses and concentrates on flashing images which then give the robot instructions on a given task.

The technology is crude and in its infancy, but before we all turn into office chair planted vegetables, the research could be used to improve the life of paraplegics providing them with mind-controlled assistants to help them in their daily routines. [DigInfo TV]"

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Smart as a bird: Flying rescue robot will autonomously avoid obstacles

Smart as a bird: Flying rescue robot will autonomously avoid obstacles: "Smart as a Bird: Flying Rescue Robot Will Autonomously Avoid Obstacles
ScienceDaily (Oct. 30, 2012) — Cornell researchers have created an autonomous flying robot that is as smart as a bird when it comes to maneuvering around obstacles."

Able to guide itself through forests, tunnels or damaged buildings, the machine could have tremendous value in search-and-rescue operations. Small flying machines are already common, and GPS technology provides guidance. Now, Ashutosh Saxena, assistant professor of computer science, and his team are tackling the hard part: how to keep the vehicle from slamming into walls and tree branches. Human controllers can't always react swiftly enough, and radio signals may not reach everywhere the robot goes.

The test vehicle is a quadrotor, a commercially available flying machine about the size of a card table with four helicopter rotors. Saxena and his team have already programmed quadrotors to navigate hallways and stairwells using 3-D cameras. But in the wild, these cameras aren't accurate enough at large distances to plan a route around obstacles. So, Saxena is building on methods he previously developed to turn a flat video camera image into a 3-D model of the environment using such cues as converging straight lines, the apparent size of familiar objects and what objects are in front of or behind each other -- the same cues humans unconsciously use to supplement their stereoscopic vision.

Graduate students Ian Lenz and Mevlana Gemici trained the robot with 3-D pictures of such obstacles as tree branches, poles, fences and buildings; the robot's computer learns the characteristics all the images have in common, such as color, shape, texture and context -- a branch, for example, is attached to a tree. The resulting set of rules for deciding what is an obstacle is burned into a chip before the robot flies. In flight the robot breaks the current 3-D image of its environment into small chunks based on obvious boundaries, decides which ones are obstacles and computes a path through them as close as possible to the route it has been told to follow, constantly making adjustments as the view changes. It was tested in 53 autonomous flights in obstacle-rich environments -- including Cornell's Arts Quad -- succeeding in 51 cases, failing twice because of winds. The results were presented at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems in Portugal Oct. 7-12.

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BBC News - Robots in the classroom help autistic children learn

BBC News - Robots in the classroom help autistic children learn: "Autistic children may learn better from robots than from human teachers, according to evidence emerging from a trial at a school in Birmingham.

Two humanoid robots, Max and Ben, have been helping teach children with autism at Topcliffe Primary since March.

The school is one of the first in the UK to try the technology.

Head teacher Ian Lowe said: "The robots have no emotion, so autistic children find them less threatening than their teachers and easier to engage with."

He added: "They are really cute looking. Children with autism struggle with communicating with adults and with other children, but for some reason they engage with these robots.

"Children who first come into school unable to make eye contact with humans start to communicate through the robots."

About a quarter of the children at the school are autistic. It is a mainstream primary that receives specialist funding to support autistic children in separate classes, using a range of technologies.

The robots are knee-high and move like children. The school is using them to teach phonics and play cards or memory and imitation games with children aged from five to 10."

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Robots Inspired By Animals - Business Insider

Robots Inspired By Animals - Business Insider: "Ten Robots That Were Inspired By Animals
The Week | Oct. 7, 2012, 12:04 PM | 1,856 |

The Robot Turtle
Roboticists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology have developed a mechanized sea turtle, dubbed "Naro-Tartaruga."
The aluminum explorer bot, unlike its slow-poke real-life cousins, is actually quite speedy, swimming robot
elegantly through the water at 6.6 feet per second. "This thing could kick some butt," says Alyssa Danigelis at Discovery News. "All that's missing is a ninja eye mask."
Here, nine other robots inspired by animals.
This story was originally published by The Week."

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BBC News - Bee brains help to make robots smarter

BBC News - Bee brains help to make robots smarter: "Bee brains help to make robots smarter

Studying how bees sense the world could help robots become more autonomous

The way that bees smell and see is being studied in a £1m project to produce a simulation of the insect's sensory systems.

The simulated bee brain will then be used by a flying robot to help it make decisions about how to navigate safely.

Robots that emerge from the research project could help in search and rescue missions or work on farms mechanically pollinating crops.

The researchers, which involves scientists from the Universities of Sheffield and Sussex, aims to create models of the neural systems in a bee's brain that helps it make sense of what it sees and smells.

The working model of the sensory systems will then be used in a robot to see if it can move around the world with the sophistication of a honey bee."

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Beijing Robots Dance Like Michael Jackson [VIDEO]

Beijing Robots Dance Like Michael Jackson [VIDEO]: "Beijing Robots Dance Like Michael Jackson [VIDEO]
September 25, 2012 by Kenneth Rosen


One day we’ll have robots that fold our laundry, but for now we can settle for ones that can mimic Michael Jackson.

Beijing College hosted the first student robotic competition this week. Nearly 100 teams entered the competition and enrolled robots into several categories.

Each robot was programmed with software that choreographed three minutes of movement. Among robots that sang and played sports such as boxing and soccer, one robot danced Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”"

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Chatty, contest-loving robots now 10% of web traffic, says study — paidContent

Chatty, contest-loving robots now 10% of web traffic, says study — paidContent: "A growing army of bots are doing everything from leaving comments to entering sweepstakes, harming the online environment for both publishers and advertisers. Solve Media has a study on the problem.


A new study by ad firm Solve Media claims that 10 percent of all web traffic is now driven by bots, automated computer programs that can mimic humans by leaving comments or entering contests.

The study also cites a 400 percent rise in so-called “aberrant traffic” in actions like registration and voting, resulting in a costly nuisance for both publishers and advertisers. Solve Media says it conducted the 18-month study on the basis of 2 billion authentications performed across more than 5,000 publishing sites."

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I robot, would you like fries with your burger? - The National

I robot, would you like fries with your burger? - The National: "I robot, would you like fries with your burger?
Tony Glover

         
California's Silicon Valley is in the throes of giving birth to its next world-changing technology - robotics.

Start-up companies are scrambling to develop humanoid-stye robots to cater for a growing demand from both businesses and consumers.

Silicon Valley Robotics, which represents 40 organisations, reports a boom in robotics start-ups in San Francisco in addition to more established companies elsewhere in the area concentrating "

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These Robots Can Help Disabled Officers, Veterans Get Back to Work [VIDEO]

These Robots Can Help Disabled Officers, Veterans Get Back to Work [VIDEO]: "These Robots Can Help Disabled Officers, Veterans Get Back to Work [VIDEO]


The 1987 science fiction film RoboCop introduced us to a brave cyborg law enforcer who was “part man, part machine” and “all cop.” Today, the idea of a police officer who’s part-robot no longer seems so far-fetched.

Florida International University’s Discovery Lab is designing a “telebot” that can be controlled by a disabled police officer or war veteran off site, according to CNET."

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Sociable trash box: Proxemics in dynamic interactions

Sociable trash box: Proxemics in dynamic interactions: "Sociable Trash Box: Proxemics in Dynamic Interactions
ScienceDaily (Sep. 24, 2012) — Toyohashi Tech researchers use 'robotic social trash boxes' to investigate interactions between humans and robots for improving robot-to-human communications.

Humans regulate their interactions according to different contexts, the degree of the relationship, cultural factors, gender, age, and so on. These factors can be utilized as an interpersonal boundary-control mechanism which is totally dependent on encouraging or discouraging another person's interactions. Humans are expected to dynamically optimize the above mechanism according to the interpersonal distances and personal spaces (proxemics)."

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NASA plans to explore Mars using astronauts in robotic rover missions

NASA plans to explore Mars using astronauts in robotic rover missions: "NASA's future plans to explore Mars may end up using astronauts as space messengers.

The new idea surfaced as a special team looking for a new Mars robotic exploration plan released a preliminary report Tuesday.

One of the option calls for a Martian robotic rover to collect rocks on the red planet. Later, astronauts in a newly built spaceship would be used to pick them up from a cosmic delivery point somewhere between Earth and Mars and return them home."


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Wearable sensor system automatic maps building while wearer is moving

Wearable sensor system automatic maps building while wearer is moving: "Wearable Sensor System Automatic Maps Building While Wearer Is Moving
ScienceDaily (Sep. 24, 2012) — MIT researchers have built a wearable sensor system that automatically creates a digital map of the environment through which the wearer is moving. The prototype system, described in a paper slated for the Intelligent Robots and Systems conference in Portugal next month, is envisioned as a tool to help emergency responders coordinate disaster response."

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Intuitive visual control provides faster robot operation

Intuitive visual control provides faster robot operation: "Intuitive Visual Control Provides Faster Robot Operation
ScienceDaily (Sep. 25, 2012) — Using a novel method of integrating video technology and familiar control devices, a research team from Georgia Tech and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is developing a technique to simplify remote control of robotic devices."

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How Rethink Robotics Built Its New Baxter Robot Worker - IEEE Spectrum

Robots in Higher Education: "How Rethink Robotics Built Its New Baxter Robot Worker - IEEE Spectrum
spectrum.ieee.org - In the center of an otherwise unremarkable office stand six large robotic torsos mounted on pedestals and positioned along a bench that’s covered with piles of plastic widgets."

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Robots: BEAM Robotics

Robots: BEAM Robotics:

Mark Tilden, discusses about the history beforeWowWee‘s RoboSapien and FemiSapien and about his belief that bottom up BEAM robotics (which stands for Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics, and Mechanics) is essential in creating low cost, competent, robust and flexible robots.

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BBC News - Robots join the fight against cancer

BBC News - Robots join the fight against cancer: "A 30cm (1ft) snake slowly moves through the body of a man on a spotless table, advancing its way around the liver.

It stops, sniffs to the left, then turns to the right and slithers behind the ribcage.

This is a medical robot, guided by a skilled surgeon and designed to get to places doctors are unable to reach without opening a patient up"

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Robotic dog unveiled by the US military

BBC News - Robotic dog unveiled by the US military: "The US military has unveiled its latest piece of hardware - a robotic dog.

The AlphaDog - developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) - obeys commands through a touchscreen device."

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Japanese Robot to Take University Entrance Exams - Computing Now | Newsfeed

Japanese Robot to Take University Entrance Exams - Computing Now | Newsfeed: "Researchers from Fujitsu and Japan's National Institute of Informatics are jointly developing a robot capable of taking the math portion of Tokyo University’s entrance exam. "

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Robots and humans could 'talk' via new software

BBC News - Robots and humans could 'talk' via new software: "Software that will allow robots to "talk" with people is being developed at the University of Aberdeen."

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BBC News - Cheetah robot 'runs faster than Usain Bolt'

BBC News - Cheetah robot 'runs faster than Usain Bolt':

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Jellyfish Robots Could Help the World’s Oceans - Computing Now | Newsfeed

Jellyfish Robots Could Help the World’s Oceans - Computing Now | Newsfeed:

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The latest biomimetic research is examining jellyfish locomotion in order to create autonomous robots that could one day be deployed in the world’s waterways. Researchers from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University’s College of Engineering are a part of a multiuniversity team developing different-sized versions of RoboJelly, which would propel itself through the water using either hydrogen or batteries. The military-funded research could be used for military reconnaissance, oceanic research, cleaning oil spills, and monitoring the environment. (PhysOrg)(Virginia Tech)

Soft, autonomous Meshworm robot moves like an earthworm:

In an effort to create robots with soft, pliable exteriors that would be suited to exploring hard to reach places and traversing bumpy terrain, a team of researchers from MIT, Harvard University and Seoul National University has developed a robotic earthworm called Meshworm
http://www.gizmag.com/meshworm-robotic-earthworm/23674/ 


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The robotic datacentre: Is this the future of the cloud? | ZDNet

From: http://www.zdnet.com/the-robotic-datacentre-is-this-the-future-of-the-cloud-7000001821/
 By the end of this decade it could be possible to automate datacentres to the point where humans need never enter them. The robotic datacentre could mean profound changes for the cloud

The robotic datacentre: Is this the future of the cloud? | ZDNet:

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Curiosity Rover Makes Successful Landing on Mars, First Photos Released

NASA's Curiosity rover has landed on Mars in the Gale Crater. http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/mars/curiosity_news3.html

Curiosity Rover Makes Successful Landing on Mars, First Photos Released:

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Bees Solve Complex Problems Faster Than Supercomputers

Extract taken from:http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/07/bees-solve-complex-problems-faster-than-supercomputers-weekend-feature.html

In a landmark 2010 study, researchers found that bumblebees were able to figure out the most efficient routes among several computer-controlled "flowers," quickly solving a complex problem that even stumps supercomputers. We already know bees are pretty good at facial recognition, and researchers have shown they can also be effective air-quality monitors. 

Bumblebees can solve the classic "traveling salesman" problem, which keeps supercomputers busy for days. They learn to fly the shortest possible route between flowers even if they find the flowers in a different order, according to the British study

For more details go to: http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2012/07/bees-solve-complex-problems-faster-than-supercomputers-weekend-feature.html

'Most realistic' robot legs developed

An interesting article on the BBC news website http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-18724114 about a 'more realistic robot legs' based on modelling how babies learn to walk based around central pattern generation (ie. neural networks that produce rhythmic and pattern outputs without necessarily an input).

STEM Outreach: Dancing robots

For the last few months at lot of the outreach work from the Junkbots project was focused on the exercises based around turning cans into drawing bots or junk clearing bots. Yesterday (21st June 2012) the robot programming side of the project was trialled with primary schools.


The Northamptonshire based Nene Lakes Extended Services ran "Chemistry at Work Day" event hosted by Scott Bader, Wollaston and the robot programming was also included as well. The programming idea, an off-shoot of the junkbots project, was for the students to programming an NXT Lego robot to dance using only four commands that allowed the robot to:

• go forward for so many centimetres
• go back for so many centimetres
• go turn right for so many degrees
• go turn left for so many degrees

The structure of the activity was

1. up to 5 minutes introduction to the activity
2. up to 10 minutes as a group of usually up seven; design a dance routine of no more than four moves
3. up to 10 minutes putting the routine on to the robot using a template Java program 
4. up to 10 minutes testing the routine; redesign the routine with up to eight moves, repeat 3
5. remaining time involves forming a large circle putting the groups robot in the centre and watching them preform and saying which is the best and why.

When the instructions are being entered into the computer, the facilitator does the first one and then the students add the remaining instructions themselves and decide which instruction to use, and the first student tells then next student how to do it and so on. The facilitator does the compiling and uploading to the robot largely for speed.

Because of a limited access to the computer to program the robots an extra activity was incorporated - one person reading out the instructions one by one and then one or more members of the group acting out the actions.


Objectives aimed for

• they can write and design programs;
• STEM is fun;
• robots are fun;

Lessons learn by the facilitator - it would be much easier if there was two facilitators!




If you would like to know more about the Junkbots project contact scott.turner@northampton.ac.uk

Stunt robot helicopter

embodied chatbots

T7 Embodied conversational agents and affective computing

View more presentations from EASSS 2012

more social personal robots

BBC News - Training computers to recognise emotion

BBC News - Training computers to recognise emotion:

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The Affective Computing Research Group is working on computers that can read facial expressions and track basic states like confusion, liking or disliking. Wearable devices, such as electronic bracelets, can detect stress or excitement by measuring minimal changes in the sweat level.

Microsoft and Computer Science Educators—Inspiring the Next Generation - Microsoft Research Connections Blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

Microsoft and Computer Science Educators—Inspiring the Next Generation - Microsoft Research Connections Blog - Site Home - MSDN Blogs:

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EECCEROBOT

Saw this and was fascinated. Certainly has the Wow factor!
 

Build Your Own Robot With MIT's DIY Kit [VIDEO]

Build Your Own Robot With MIT's DIY Kit [VIDEO]: Build Your Own Robot With MIT’s DIY Kit [VIDEO]
April 04, 2012 by Joann Pan

'Socially assistive' bots to help kids read, exercise, and more | Cutting Edge - CNET News

'Socially assistive' bots to help kids read, exercise, and more | Cutting Edge - CNET News: 'Socially assistive' bots to help kids read, exercise, and more
The National Science Foundation awards $10 million to a team led by researchers at Yale to develop bots that help kids physically, emotionally, and cognitively.

by Elizabeth Armstrong Moore April 12, 2012 5:11 PM PDT
What if kids with special needs had their own robot to work with them every day in school, guiding them toward long-term educational goals that develop not only their cognitive and social skills but also healthy habits such as exercise?

MIT 'smart sand' and 'robot pebbles' replicate objects | Cutting Edge - CNET News

MIT 'smart sand' and 'robot pebbles' replicate objects | Cutting Edge - CNET News: MIT 'smart sand' and 'robot pebbles' replicate objects
Research effort uses distributed robots that communicate with each other to auto-duplicate shapes by forming an object out of a larger pile of smart sand.

Professor receives top award for robotics project : News : News and events : University of Sussex

Professor receives top award for robotics project : News : News and events : University of Sussex: University of Sussex Professor Owen Holland is among a team of robotics scientists who were awarded the Royal Academy of Engineering Rooke Medal, at a special dinner London's Guildhall (Mon 7 June).


The team - Professor Holland from the University of Sussex, Professor Alan Winfield, Dr Karen Bultitude and Dr Claire Rocks from the University of the West of England and Professor Noel Sharkey from the University of Sheffield - came together for Walking with Robots, a three-year project that enabled the public to engage with advanced robotics

AI robot: how machine intelligence is evolving | Technology | The Observer

AI robot: how machine intelligence is evolving | Technology | The Observer

Article in the Observer giving an overview of AI

Horizon and AI

An interesting programme on the BBC - The hunt for AI (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01fmbvb) worth a look at.


"Marcus Du Sautoy wants to find out how close we are to creating machines that can think like us: robots or computers that have artificial intelligence."

BBC News - Robotic cheetah 'breaks speed record for legged robots'

BBC News - Robotic cheetah 'breaks speed record for legged robots':

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The Oxford Mobile Robotics Group

The Oxford Mobile Robotics Group

Salvius - The standalone open source robot: Robot's on-board laptop folds out for quick modifi...

Salvius - The standalone open source robot: Robot's on-board laptop folds out for quick modifi...: One of the benefits of having the robots on-board computer mounted in the recessed space on the robot's torso allows modifications to be ...

Robots and neurones in teaching

Work within the School of Science and Technology, University of Northampton was presented at a recent workshop,  Robotics Workshop: Bot Shop! 28th October 2011 at the University of Derby.

The work presented discussed using Lego Robots to support the learning of Neural Networks on an artificial intelligence module.The aim being to use the advantages of using robots, their visual and physical nature, as a way of making the slightly abstract nature of the neurons and multi-layer perceptrons more concrete by examples.

Derby presentation

View more presentations from Scott Turner

For more details on the Workshop go to: http://www.ics.heacademy.ac.uk/events/displayevent.php?id=260