Soft robotics are inspired by animals which don't have hard internal skeletons, like squid, worms, and starfish. Developed at Harvard, with funding from DARPA,
this particular soft robot, "not only walks, it knows several different gaits and can deflate to stuff itself through tiny little gaps."
Another design here,
and another (
also),
and another. In addition to movement, soft robotics can also be used
for grip. More information about the Harvard lab is available
here (
with a student describing the research here).
posted by codacorolla
on Nov 29, 2011 -
26 comments
Dancing babies and robot squirrrels (YT) Gustav Hoegen is an animatronics and prosthetics technician - perhaps his most immediately recognisable work to a MetaFilter audience being the spider-centaur (and quite possibly queen of Mars) Rachnos from Doctor Who's
The Runaway Bride, along with the clockwork robots which menaced Madame de Pompadour in
The Girl in the Fireplace. He has also contributed to
Hellboy and
Clash of the Titans.
[more inside]
posted by running order squabble fest
on Nov 1, 2011 -
13 comments
PossessedHand is ostensibly a training system for students of stringed musical instruments. It teaches fingering positions by means of electrodes that stimulate muscles in the forearm, forcing the hand into the correct configuration.
posted by contraption
on Jun 27, 2011 -
31 comments
Valentino Braitenberg's 1984 book,
Vehicles: Experiments in Synthetic Psychology was a seminal work for its discussion of how one might design a system (biological or otherwise) in order to generate behavior like that seen in beings with brains. He embarks on a series of thought experiments in which he creates thirteen
"vehicles" through simple components that (arguably) display intelligent behavior, evolving in a Darwinian fashion to demonstrate what appears to be high-level cognition.
[more inside]
posted by emilyd22222
on Jan 17, 2010 -
16 comments
Cyberdyne. Works on robotic systems that shouldn't kill you unless you are named John Connor. And, maybe not then.
Cyberdyne. Works on robotic systems that could actually
help you walk.
Does it help any that they named it HAL?
posted by dwivian
on Oct 8, 2008 -
26 comments
The
Autonomous NanoTechnology Swarm (ANTS) "...is a
generic mission architecture consisting of miniaturized, autonomous, self-similar, reconfigurable, addressable components
forming structures. The components/structures have wide spatial distribution and multi-level organization. This ‘swarm’
behavior is inspired by the success of social insect colonies...."
ANTS may one day
teem through the solar
system....
(last two links large QT files) [more inside]
posted by Kronos_to_Earth
on Sep 14, 2008 -
14 comments
Science Hack is a unique search engine for science videos focusing on Physics, Chemistry, and Space. For example,
things to do with
sulfur hexafluoride. Still growing, the editors are presently indexing other scientific fields of study including Geology, Psychology, Robotics and Computers. Ever wonder
why things go bang?
posted by netbros
on Aug 7, 2008 -
6 comments
"I began to realize that "robots"-- in all their various forms-- can really be seen as a symbol of a larger relationship between people and technology." In 1988,
Frederick Schodt wrote about the Japanese fascination and use of robots in his book
Inside the Robot Kingdom, curious by the disparities between American and Japanese manufacturing processes . In 1988, the American public wasn't ready for the book, or for robots.
Today, Japan still has embraced
robotic automation in a way that arguably no other country has. For more similar topics,
Mangobot is a column that reports on Asian futurism.
posted by artifarce
on Jun 22, 2008 -
22 comments
In
research that may one day help restore mobility to the paralyzed and amputees, Dr. Charles Higgins of the University of Arizona has created a
"robo-moth": a 6-inch tall wheeled robot guided by an electrode inserted into a single neuron responsible for vision stability during flight in the
hawk moth (aka the Tobacco hornworm).
[more inside]
posted by mayfly wake
on Nov 20, 2007 -
7 comments
Meet Jules, a new humanoid robot from
Hanson Robotics, the folks who built the
Einstein and
Phillip K. Dick robots, (the latter's head went missing a while back.) Jules loves you, as much as his newfangled software will allow. He also seems a little awkward and angst ridden for a robot, but it's not his fault; it must be the designers who made his software.
posted by Blingo
on May 4, 2007 -
58 comments
Introduced to Western culture by the Beatles in their single
Norwegian Wood, the
sitar has featured prominently in North Indian classical music for centuries. Princeton-based computer scientist Ajay Kapur updates the instrument with his
ESitar, an audio and video controller that uses
gesture input (PDF) and
machine learning algorithms to facilitate joining the computer with Ajay in his sitar performance. Undergraduate engineering students at the University of Pennsylvania work from the other direction, building
RAVI-bot, an
award-winning, self-playing
robotic sitar (YouTube) programmed to generate music from classical
Raga scales and melodies all on its own. For those in the Philadelphia area, be sure to check out a live performance of RAVI-bot at the local
Klein Art Gallery.
posted by Blazecock Pileon
on Apr 19, 2007 -
32 comments
New surgical
robots are not only capable of working more precisely than human hands, but they have no metal or electrical parts, so will work under
MRI machines on tumors that would otherwise be invisible. The NeuroArm will set you back $27 million, but may confer more karma than that trip to space.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium
on Apr 17, 2007 -
25 comments
The
FIRST ("For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology") robotics competition has recently begun it's 2007 competition season. The competition, which began and still enjoys it's greatest popularity in the United States, challenges high-school students and mentors to design and build a (teleoperated) robot to play a game in six weeks. Founded by
Dean Kamen, of
segway, IBOT,
the first home dialysis machine, and
clean drinking water fame founded the competition in 1988 to inspire students to enter the engineering profession.
Every year a new challenge is put forth, and
this year's game involves placing inner-tubes on a cylindrical rack in addition to lifting other team's robots. A
sizeable community has sprung up around FIRST, with much attention paid to Dean Kamen's ideal of
gracious professionalism which is like sportsmanship without the sports.
The 2007
regional competitions provide teams an opportunity
to show off their work. If you're interested in getting involved, or just
watching the events, FIRST provides a handy
Event Locator.
posted by martinX's bellbottoms
on Mar 8, 2007 -
14 comments
