http://servomagazine.com/index_ee.php/blog/index/ en Copyright 2012 2012-02-01T17:33:56+00:00 http://servomagazine.com/index.php/blog/post/swarm_of_nano_quadrotors/ Experiments performed with a team of Nano Quadrotors at the GRASP Lab, University of Pennsylvania. Vehicles developed by KMel Robotics. Is anyone else thinking about Space Invaders? Where did I put my laser…? 2012-02-01T17:33:56+00:00 http://servomagazine.com/index.php/blog/post/robockey/ Robockey = Robot Hockey!  For students in the School of Engineering and Applied Science’s Design of Mechatronic Systems class, “the finals” are more than an exam; they are a tournament in which the winners hoist The Robockey Cup high above their heads in victory. Each team produces three robots that skate on wheels, shoot with pistons, and see the puck, the goals, and each other using a variety of sensors.  2012-02-01T08:44:58+00:00 http://servomagazine.com/index.php/blog/post/the_shrewbot/ The Shrewbot is the latest in a series of robots which use ‘active touch’ rather than vision to navigate their environment. It was developed at Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL) in collaboration with the Univ. of Sheffield Active Touch Laboratory as part of the BIOTACT project, Professor Tony Pipe (UWE Bristol) and Professor Tony Prescott (Univ. of Sheffield) are working on the Shrewbot project with a number of partners. BRL is a collaboration between UWE Bristol and the Univ. of Bristol.   2012-01-31T19:59:32+00:00 http://servomagazine.com/index.php/blog/post/us_digilent_design_contest/ Digilent is proud to announce the 8th annual US regional Digilent Design Contest, to be held on May 6-7, 2012 in conjunction with the IEEE EIT conference in Indianapolis. 2012-01-26T17:21:36+00:00 http://servomagazine.com/index.php/blog/post/cloud_robotics_hackathon/ Embrace the era of social machines by participating at the first Cloud Robotics Hackathon, a full weekend of hacking and learning about cloud-robotics and social machines. By using web services and readily available programming tools we invite hackers, programmers and tinkerers to create fun and useful robotic behaviours. Want to know more? See more information about the event, and register your teams or organize your local hackathon. 2012-01-24T18:00:45+00:00 http://servomagazine.com/index.php/blog/post/r.i.p._dick_tufeld/ Best known for voicing the Robot from the Lost In Space TV series and the movie, as well as many TV show announcer spots, Dick Tufeld has died at 85. Tufeld was a cancer survivor and suffered from Parkinson’s disease. The news comes from fellow Lost in Space alum Billy Mumy’s Facebook page in which he said:  “Dick Tufeld was a really cool guy. He’s reunited with his wife Adrian now. R.I.P. Dick. You will be missed big-time.” 2012-01-24T17:28:32+00:00 http://servomagazine.com/index.php/blog/post/ieee_icra_2012/ IEEE ICRA 2012 will be holding its 5th annual ICRA Robot Challenge in St. Paul Minnesota in May this year, and ROBOTIS in collaboration with the IEEE ICRA will be organizing and hosting the first ever “DARwIn-OP Humanoid Application Challenge.” 2012-01-19T16:57:13+00:00 http://servomagazine.com/index.php/blog/post/parrot_ar_drone_2.0/ Version 2 of the AR Drone Quadricopter debuted at CES 2012 and features an HD (1280x720) camera that takes video and pictures. It also features a new “traveling” mode, which allows for autonomous video recording along a pre-determined flight path. The new AR Drone is much more nimble which makes it easier to fly and is capable of much higher altitude than its predecessor. 2012-01-13T17:14:17+00:00 http://servomagazine.com/index.php/blog/post/rex_bionics_exoskeleton/ For the past 8 years Rex Bionics, a company in New Zealand has been developing a robotic solution for wheelchair bound people to walk and move in an upright standing position. It is already available in their home country and currently being tested by Australia, and various countries in Europe. Rex Bionics is also seeking approval by the FDA for the US market. 2012-01-12T16:28:44+00:00 http://servomagazine.com/index.php/blog/post/trossen_robotics_is_hiring/ Trossen Robotics is looking to add another member to the team with the job title: Roboticist Apprentice Extraordinaire! The optimal applicant will be able to handle very very long hours, extremely sarcastic work environments, have a diverse skill set (IE: customer service skills are as good as engineering skills), readily tackle challenging projects, and be able to hold their own in Halo Firefight. Interested in applying? 2011-12-22T22:07:08+00:00 http://servomagazine.com/index.php/blog/post/asimo_gets_upgraded/ Honda’s human-shaped robot can now run faster, balance itself on uneven surfaces, hop on one foot and pour a drink. Some of its technology may even be used to help out with clean-up operations at the stricken Fukushima nuclear plant. 2011-12-07T17:01:14+00:00 http://servomagazine.com/index.php/blog/post/bipedal_bike_riding_robot/ This robot system consists of a commercially available two-legged robot and a bicycle made by Yamaguchi. To detect how much the robot is tilting, the TAG201 gyro from Tamagawa Seiki is used. Based on the tilt data, a method called PID control is used to control the robot’s balancing motion. The robot is currently control by a remote but Yamaguchi is working towards making the robot autonomous. Check out the clip to see the Robot ride his bike! 2011-11-23T14:57:07+00:00 http://servomagazine.com/index.php/blog/post/rc_tankbot/ This part of the project is called a Tankbot, instead of a generic RC tank, because it uses a platform that was originally designed for a robot and we are using Synapse Wireless RF nodes that are user-programmable and can be used to control the tank autonomously or as a hybrid autonomous/user-controlled system. The tankbot can easily become autonomous by adding sensors and programming the on-board node to sense, compute, and react. You could even hook the node up to another microcontroller, such as an Arduino, and program it over the air. 2011-11-08T19:08:45+00:00 http://servomagazine.com/index.php/blog/post/boston_dynamics_ls3_alphadog/ LS3 is a dynamic robot designed to go anywhere Soldiers and Marines go on foot. Each LS3 will carry up to 400 lbs of gear and enough fuel for missions covering 20 miles and lasting 24 hours. LS3 will not need a driver, because it will automatically follow a leader using computer vision or travel to designated locations using sensing and GPS. The development of LS3 will take 30 months, with first walk out scheduled for 2012. The development of LS3 is being funded by DARPA and the US Marine Corps. 2011-10-07T13:40:18+00:00 http://servomagazine.com/index.php/blog/post/the_circuit_design_ecosystem_launches_comprehensive_ecommerce_website/ Mulino, OR – September 27, 2011 – The Circuit Design ECOsystem has announced a new collaborative eCommerce website that facilitates faster and smarter PCB prototyping and ordering for design engineers. From parts research, to design, to fabrication, to test, design engineers now have the streamlined integration tool they need to make their design flow easier. 2011-10-03T15:23:58+00:00