Army Robotics

[buglerbilly]

Army Short-Circuits Robotic Future; Axes Drone Helo, ‘Mule’ (Updated)

By Nathan Hodge January 14, 2010 | 2:04 pm



Once upon a time, the Army had grandiose plans for its future force, with a full wired array of robots, drones and high-tech armored vehicles. Budget realities, however, caught up with the $160-billion-plus Future Combat Systems, and the service has been seriously scaling back its modernization efforts.

The latest casualties? According to Roxana Tiron of The Hill, the Army is canceling plans for an autonomous ground vehicle and a pilotless helicopter. The move marks the end the for the counter-mine and transport versions of Lockheed Martin’s MULE (Multifunction Utility/Logistics and Equipment) vehicle, six-wheeled ‘bots that would lighten the load for dismounted troops or scour minefields. (Work continues on an armed version of the robot, called the Armed Robotic Vehicle-Assault Light, which takes the lion’s share of MULE funding.) It also terminates the Northrop Grumman FireScout, a robotic helo that was originally designed for the Navy. Both programs came out of FCS, which was formally canceled in June.

So what’s left of FCS? As Danger Room readers may recall, the service has already ended a push to build new hybrid-electric Manned Ground Vehicles for future brigades. The service is now focused on smaller bits and pieces that can be “spun out” to the current force. The remaining technologies are now referred to as Army Brigade Combat Team modernization.

For instance, the service is still experimenting with the the Class I Unmanned Aerial System (aka the “flying beer keg“) and the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle (a souped-up version of the portable, tracked ‘bots that are currently used by soldiers). It is also testing out Unattended Ground Sensors — networked intrusion detection sensors and spy cameras that can help units on the ground spot their adversaries. And of course, there’s also the Non-Line-of-Sight Launch System, a port-o-potty-sized crate full of rockets that can be fired remotely.

As David Axe so aptly put it, it’s important not to throw out the technological baby with the programmatic bathwater, and the Army has spared the items that showed the most promise. More importantly, the service has recognized that, with two wars on its hands, it needs to speed technology that will be the most useful to soldiers on today’s battlefields.

Update: Paul Mehney, director of communications for the Army’s Program Executive Office - Integration, tells Danger Room that the sensing requirements that would have been met by FireScout are still valid — but the Army is looking to see if it can accomplish the same mission by upgrading the Shadow tactical UAV with new payloads. “The [congressional] letter indicated that the Shadow is a possible platform – to see what can be integrated on that platform in a fiscally responsible manner.”

The decision to can the MULE variants, he added, was based on recent lessons learned from infantry operations. In current operations, he said, the transport and counter-mine MULE “isn’t appropriate.” The robotic assault vehicle, he added, “does make sense. So the Armed Robotic Vehicle - Assault Light will continue as a follow-on to [FCS] increment one.”

[buglerbilly]

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

RUM - a Digging Robot to Bust Bunkers

Posted by Graham Warwick at 3/15/2010 8:29 AM CDT

Those of us brought up on the Thunderbirds - Gerry Anderson's television series, not the USAF display team - will smile at a new request for information from the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency for a Robotic Underground Munition (RUM).

The RFI is seeking ideas for a "one-time use, air-delivered, highly mobile vehicle having certain characteristics similar to an unmanned ground vehicle". Maybe it's just me, but I immediately thought of the Mole, the burrowing vehicle ferried to the site of a nail-biting underground rescue in the cargo pod of Thunderbird 2.


The Mole (courtesy Keith McNeill, website here)

DTRA's RUM program aims to demonstrate a prototype robotic munition that would make a soft landing from an aircraft and autonomously navigate underground, with passive and active defenses. Needed technologies include robotic sensors and perception, survivable underground communications, and capabilities to traverse or defeat natural and man-made obstacles,

The RFI does not identify what a robotic underground muntion would do, but it doesn't take much imagination to see a Mole-like vehicle digging its way to a deeply buried command bunker or weapons site - as an alternative to the air-delivered, brute-force, rock-and-concrete pulverizing Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP).


MOP drop test (credit: DTRA)

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Darpa Wants to Create Brainiac Bot Tots

By Katie Drummond September 10, 2010 | 12:00 pm



A Pentagon-funded scientist has come up with a comprehensive program to turn today’s robots into tomorrow’s A.I. overlords. Step one: Imbue them with toddler-level intelligence. Step two: Run them through a “cognitive decathlon” of tests. And finally, use programmed learning abilities and human instruction to turn bot tots into supersmart A.I. agents “that [can] learn and be taught like a human.”

Darpa, the Pentagon’s far-out research arm, wants robots that can outdo (or at least match) human smarts, from data analysis to C3P0-esque language translation. Advanced A.I. was also the overarching goal of their Biologically Inspired Cognitive Architectures, or BICA, program, which sought to mimic the physiological and neurological elements of the human mind.

But given the agency’s lofty A.I. goals, they also needed a better way to determine just how well their bots mimicked human functioning in the first place. Enter Shane Mueller, a senior research scientist at Applied Research Associates, and an expert in cognition, perception and memory.

In 2008, Mueller and a team of researchers developed a program on devising and testing bots as part of Darpa’s BICA program. Their paper, which was released online (.pdf) last week after a Freedom of Information request, wants to see military scientists start young — literally — by rearing robots with the capabilities of an average toddler.

“There were many motivations for this target, but one central notion is that if one could design a system with the capabilities of a two-year-old, it might be possible to essentially grow a three-year-old, given realistic experiences in a simulated environment,” Mueller writes.

To test how well the bots stacked up against their pint-size human peers, Mueller designed a decathlon of evaluations that expand on the Turing test, which was developed in 1950 as a means of testing the linguistic capacities of an A.I. agent compared to an intelligent human.

Of course, A.I. agents have yet to ace the original Turing test — and it’s applicability is largely considered irrelevant in modern A.I. initiatives, because the test demands much of a robot’s linguistic capacities without evaluating a wider range of abilities (like visual analysis or motor skills).

Mueller’s testing schema is more more involved, and includes categories for visual recognition, search abilities, manual control, knowledge learning, language and concept learning and simple motor control (including eye movement). And while the initial expectation is that A.I. agents operate much like a tot — capable of, for example, finding a red ball amid a room of objects — they’d gradually learn from both surroundings and an instructor, advancing to more advanced cognitive capacities.

For example, a bot would gradually learn to move “[by] replicat hand movements of an instructor (with identical embodiment), including moving fingers, rotating hands, moving arms, touching locations, etc.”

Darpa’s BICA program never took off, but that hasn’t stopped Mueller and others from continuing to refine the cognitive decathlon approach, sharing progress on a web-based forum. Now, after testing several components of the battery, Mueller’s published his latest paper. The results? Prepare for bots that’ll outdo you, even when they make mistakes: Humans boast myriad strengths over bots, but as training improves, Mueller notes that biologically-inspired bots will one day mimic human behavior … flaws and all.

Take human eyes, for example: A lack of calibration could be “sidestepped by an artificial system.” Or, one day, strategically imitated:

“But the lack of calibration turns out to be incredibly useful because we are able to perform shape-based matching to objects regardless of size or orientation…. AI systems that have taken this biologically-inspired skill seriously have exhibited impressive performance…. This phenomena is likely to recur across a wide range of human skills: When consistent errors or imprecisions are found in human performance, it may go hand-in-hand with a flexibility and robustness, such that if our performance were better, it would also be more brittle.”

[I]Photo: UConn

[buglerbilly]

Watch: Rolling Robot Transforms Into Helicopter

By David Axe May 19, 2011 | 3:41 pm



Wheeled robots are nothing new. Flying bots are old-hat, too. But this is new: a dumbbell-shaped hybrid bot that can roll on thin, end-mounted wheels … and fly with two sets of counter-rotating chopper blades.

Switching between the two modes involves a Rube Goldberg-esque series of maneuvers and contraptions. It ain’t elegant, but it works. And as a result, the foot-long automaton — designed by a team led by Nikolaos Papanikolopoulos at the University of Minnesota — boasts the freedom of movement of a flying drone with the long endurance and stability of a ground bot.

The hybrid bot’s creators unveiled their experimental machine at the recent International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Shanghai.

The transforming robot represents the latest attempt to solve one of the most vexing problems in the world of robotics — variable terrain. Before, a robot could be optimized for one kind of ground: Drones with tank treads were ideal for mud and sand. Wheeled robots worked best on roads. Legged bots could traverse rubble. Segmented machines similar to snakes were ideal for slithering through grass and scaling poles.

For dual roles on varied surfaces, roboticists have tried to combine one or more modes. “Chaos,” the U.S. Army’s search-and-rescue robot has treads that double as rudimentary legs, for handling the toppled walls and piled debris from collapsed buildings. A snake-bot from a company called Sarcos features treads on its end segments, allowing it to twist into the rough shape of a miniature tank, making it road-worthy between vertical ascents up poles.

Papanikolopoulos’ transforming drone is the first to tackle variable terrain by simply flying over the rough patches. At least, it’s the first to “leap” over obstacles under its own power. So-called throw-bots — either dumbell- or ball-shaped — can be tossed over walls and hills by their human operators before rolling out on their own wheels or, in the case of the Israeli EyeBall, rotating to point its onboard camera.

The major downsides to the University of Minnesota transformer are cost and complexity.

“It was actually more efficient to design the robot with two completely independent motor systems than to try to design a transmission that would allow the low-speed wheel motors to power the rotors or vice versa,” IEEE Spectrum notes.

The rotor system alone cost $20,000 to build. “With that in mind, future developments for this platform will focus on making things simpler,” the magazine notes. But not too simple: That’s a market the unwieldy throw-bots have cornered.

[buglerbilly]

Running Robot Breaks Speed Records (Now All It Needs Is a Head)

By Katie Scott, Wired.co.uk August 17, 2011 | 6:31 am




Uploaded by DynamicLegLocomotion on Aug 12, 2011

University of Michigan's MABEL runs free for over 110 steps! In our opinion, this is the most realistic, human-like running achieved on a robot. It has a very satisfying feel to it. The robot just moves right. It is up in the air for more than a third of the duration of step. The height off the ground is right. Whereas other robots had their feet maybe one sixth of an inch off the ground, MABEL is 3 to 4 in inches in the air. The motion of the hip, which is like a bouncing ball, and the pitching of the torso give you the sensation of running. It all just makes you say, that is running.

Feedback algorithm for running was designed by Koushil Sreenath as part of his PhD dissertation. The detailed model used in the work was developed by Hae-won Park as part of his PhD dissertation.

For the feedback control aficionados, we used a nonlinear, compliant hybrid zero dynamics controller with active force control, running in real-time. How about that! MABEL weighs over 65 Kg, has a heavy torso (40 Kg), has point feet, and a cable-driven transmission system with compliance. This makes it a challenging machine to control. The Hybrid Zero Dynamics (HZD) framework was instrumental in our success.

The achieved peak speed is 3.06 m/s (6.8 mph), with an average speed of 1.95 m/s (4.4 mph). The obtained gait has flight phase that's almost 40% of the gait, with a ground clearance of 3-4 inches.

How did we do it?

The answer is not as simple as "we got one thing right". Our success arose from a combination of things, several of which are very technical, but if we had to focus on two primary things, it would be very good machine design and very good feedback algorithm design. Specifically, the coordination of those two aspects. The machine design determines the passive behaviors of the robot, or how it will move when all power is turned off; springs, masses, and so on will enable or limit what you can do with the feedback control. Therefore, the machine was designed with the intent to emulate some aspects of human biomechanics; we then created an extremely detailed mathematical model of the robot after it was built, and then designed our control algorithms around this very precise model. This approach is rare in robotics, and has not been accomplished in past bipedal running robots.

Machine design: The bipedal robot MABEL was designed in 2006-2007, and built in 2008. The novelty was to have a machine with a roughly human weight distribution and springs that act like tendons in the human body.

Human weight distribution means that most of the weight of the robot is concentrated in the torso (upper body), while the legs are relatively light, so they can be moved forward and backward quickly for fast locomotion.

The springs in the robot serve two purposes. The first purpose is that when the robot's legs strike the ground, the springs act as shock absorbers. Specifically, running has a flight phase, where both feet are off the ground, and a stance phase, where one leg is on the ground. When a 145 pound (65 Kg) robot like MABEL ends the flight phase by landing on a leg, the force is pretty large. The springs make the landing more gentle. In some sense, this is what the arch in your foot does for you, or a good pair of running shoes. The second purpose of the springs is to store energy. This is analogous to a pogo stick, where the robot bounces up and down on the springs, storing and releasing energy with each stride. This effect has been shown to be an important aspect of all animal running. MABEL seems to be the first robot with human-like morphology to get this right.

Feedback Control:

What is feedback? Most everyone has an intuitive notion of feedback, such as when a supervisor provides feedback on an employee's performance, or when your body regulates your temperature to a constant 98.6 F (37 C) despite varying levels of physical activity and outside temperature. Feedback means that the input signals that are regulating a system are adjusted as a function of measurements (observations) of the system.

MABEL has four electric motors, two for each leg, which provide power. Whether the robot is walking, running, or just standing, there is a feedback controller on a computer that measures all of the positions of the robot's joints and the angle of its body, and then determines the proper power commands to send to the motors.

The foundation for our feedback controller is the detailed mathematical model of the mechanism: we have used this model to determine the best relationship between the measured leg angle relative to the ground, and the motions of all other robot joints. Our feedback controller implements this specific relationship on the robot, using information from sensors to control the motors. The resulting motions, in conjunction with the springs and masses of the robot mechanism, determine the forces that the leg applies to the ground, realizing a running gait.

After three years of “training”, including broken limbs, the gold medal for “the world’s fastest bipedal robot with knees” is to be hung around the neck of a robot called MABEL.

The creation of a team of engineers at the University of Michigan, MABEL has just clocked a record of 6.8 miles per hour, but it’s been a tough training regime to get the robot from walking smoothly to running like a human.

She was originally built by Jessy Grizzle, a professor in the University’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and Jonathan Hurst, who was then a doctoral student at the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Doctoral students Koushil Sreenath and Hae-Won Park have since joined the project working on the feedback algorithms that allow MABEL to balance even when faced with uneven ground. The team says in a release that the robot “took its first jog” in July.

MABEL is designed to have almost a human physiology — her weight is distributed like a human’s namely she has a heavier torso and “light, flexible legs with springs that act like tendons”. Grizzle adds that MABEL is in the air for 40 percent of each stride, “like a real runner”. In other running robots, claims the team, this “flight phase” lasts for less than 10 percent of each step.

Hurst, who is now an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering at Oregon State University, says that MABEL’s achievement could have implications for the development of human exoskeletons. He says: “We envision some extraordinary potential applications for legged robot research: exoskeletons that enable wheelchair-bound people to walk again or that give rescuers super-human abilities, and powered prosthetic limbs that behave like their biological counterparts.”

However, much like BigDog, MABEL could have a more immediate role as a robot rescuer. “The robotics community has been trying to come up with machines that can go places where humans can go, so a human morphology is important,” Grizzle said. “If you would like to send in robots to search for people when a house is on fire, it probably needs to be able to go up and down stairs, step over the baby’s toys on the floor, and manoeuvre in an environment where wheels and tracks may not be appropriate.”

Sreenath adds that robots designed like MABEL but able to carry humans could offer a new transport solution: “Imagine a future where you don’t have to first clear a path and build roads before a vehicle could move around,” he said, “but rather, we have a class of running machines like animals that could transport you around with no roads, but with a smooth and efficient ride.” That’s if you don’t see them coming and run the other way.

[buglerbilly]

Run! Here comes BigDog's bigger brother

By: Tim Hornyak September 30, 2011 10:35 AM PDT


Who wants to go walkies?
(Credit: Video screenshot by Tim Hornyak/CNET)

Meet AlphaDog--it's BigDog on steroids.

This is our first glimpse of the brother of Boston Dynamics' robotic beast of burden, BigDog.

The vid below shows a lab prototype of the quadruped war robot, aka the Legged Squad Support System, or LS3, funded by DARPA and the Marine Corps.

The donkey-sized machine is designed to carry up to 400 pounds of gear and follow troops over rough terrain on missions of 20 miles and up to 24 hours.

That's more than BigDog's payload of 340 pounds and 12 miles; as a general rule, horses can comfortably carry up to 240 pounds. AlphaDog will have some degree of autonomy like animals, using computer vision to follow a leader or automatically trotting to GPS way points.

In the video, AlphaDog is seen walking with 400 pounds of barbell weights. It scrambles over rocks and a log before breaking into a gallop.

As with BigDog, Alpha can stay upright when shoved by one or two men. If it does fall over, it can get up, as seen at the end of the vid.

AlphaDog is also quieter than BigDog, and obviously doesn't run on the latter's noisyLeopard go-kart engine. We should see more details about the beast over the next six months.

"We expect to have the full-up system ready for initial field testing in mid-2012," says Boston Dynamics President Marc Raibert.

I just hope he has enough Milk-Bones to keep it happy.



Uploaded by BostonDynamics on Sep 29, 2011
The AlphaDog Proto is a lab prototype for the Legged Squad Support System, a robot being developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA and the US Marine Corps. When fully developed the system will carry 400 lbs of payload on 20-mile missions in rough terrain. The first version of the complete robot will be completed in 2012. This video shows early results from the control development process. In this video the robot is powered remotely. AlphaDog is designed to be over 10x quieter than BigDog. For more information visit us at www.BostonDynamics.com.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20112919-1/run-here-comes-bigdogs-bigger-brother/#ixzz1ZUgivKAe

[buglerbilly]

Army, Pentagon Seek Small, 'Throwable' Robots

(Source: US Army; issued Sept. 30, 2011)

WASHINGTON --- The Army, Marine Corps and the Pentagon's Joint IED Defeat Organization are working to procure and deliver thousands of small, easily transportable "throwable" robots equipped with surveillance cameras designed to beam back video from confined spaces, buildings, tunnels and other potentially dangerous locations, service officials said.

"These robots can provide dismounted troops that extra bit of stand-off distance," said Marine Corps Lt. Col. Dave Thompson, project manager, Robotic Systems Joint Project Office.

The JEIDDO is in the process of responding to a joint urgent operational needs statement for an ultra-light recon robot capability to support dismounted operations in Afghanistan; combatant commanders are looking to receive an initial delivery of about 4,000 of the small robots, some of which are engineered to be thrown through a second-story window to provide "eyes" on a potentially hazardous combat situation, said Mathew Way, program integrator for Mitigate and Neutralize, JIEDDO.

After finishing up a market survey of which commercially-available technologies might be able to meet the needs of the JUONS -- and quickly conducting testing on numerous small robots designed to establish quantitative data with the National Institute for Standards and Technology -- JIEDDO chose three lightweight, "throwable" robots to run through a series of combat-assessments in Afghanistan.

Included among those systems are iRobot's 110 First Look robot, MacroUSA's Armadillo V2 Micro Unmanned Ground Vehicle, and QinetiQ North America's Dragon Runner .

About 50 of each of these robots will be deployed with forces in different parts of Afghanistan in order to assess the capability of the "throwbots" to perform across different types of combat terrain. The bots will be placed with infantry, engineering and explosive ordnance disposal units, among others, Way said.

"What we are going to try to do is give a sampling of every type of system down range across different regions of Afghanistan. More than likely there will be more than one system needed to answer this JUONS," said Way.

The theater assessment in Afghanistan, called an "OCONUS" trail, is aimed at informing development of requirements regarding the tasks the systems will be needed to perform.

"This OCONUS trial will give us the Soldier feedback that we need. This will allow us to go to industry and tell them what we want. JIEDDO can then use those precise requirements to support a rapid, open competition, to then field the final solution or solutions to fulfill the warfighter need," Way said.

At the same time, the Army-led RS JPO is coordinating efforts across the DOD and also working on developing, purchasing, and deploying several of the small, mobile "throwable" robots such as iRobot's First Look and the Recon Robotics Recon Scout XT Throwbot.

"This is an area of joint interest. JIEDDO has a large part of this, as does the Army's Rapid Equipping Force and the Marine Corps. We are all looking at similar systems. RS JPO is trying to do some coordination between all of these organizations and see if we can look at the systems that are out there, look at the requirements, and start to posture ourselves for the sustainment and the maintenance of these systems in the long term," said Thompson.

The anticipated value of the "throwbots" is in part driven by the frequency of dismounted small unit and squad patrols in Afghanistan, where Soldiers and Marines routinely check areas for IEDs and insurgent activity, Thompson explained.

At the moment, many units use the Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle 320, a small tactical robot equipped with video reconnaissance technology that is 32 pounds. Still, there is a need for something that is lighter, more easily transportable by dismounted units on the move and able to be "thrown" into forward locations such as buildings and caves, Way and Thompson said.

Throwbots

The Recon Scout XT Throwbot, for instance, is only 1.2 pounds. The device is designed to withstand a 30-foot vertical drop and provide "eyes" or forward-positioned cameras able to capture images from dangerous locations. It is a small, barbell-shaped robot with wheels at each end of a titanium tube along with a camera, antenna and illuminator. The Recon Scout also includes an operator control unit with a small viewing screen and joystick. The Recon Scout is currently being acquired by the Army's REF.

"The Recon Robot XT responds to the soldiers' need to see where they're going before they get there. With this throwbot capability, warfighters gain situational awareness of an area, thus mitigating risks and casualties," an REF spokesperson said.

QinetiQ's Dragon Runner, originally developed for the Marine Corps, weighs about 14-pounds and includes cameras, motion-detectors and an optional small manipulator arm able lift about 10-pounds.

iRobot's First Look is about 10-inches long and weighs less than five pounds. The robot has four built-in cameras facing different directions and is engineered to withstand a 15-foot drop. It is waterproof up to three feet and is designed to climb steps as high as eight inches. The robot is configured like a miniature model of the well-known and widely used PackBot robot. The First Look's sensor payload includes cameras, thermal imagers and chem-bio radiation sensors.

The Armadillo V2 is also about 5-pounds. It has four small wheels, is built to withstand eight-meter "throws" and also includes multiple cameras and thermal imaging.

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[buglerbilly]

Army Orders Up 315 Recon Scout XT Robots from ReconRobotics

(Source: ReconRobotics, Inc.; issued October 5, 2011)





EDINA, Minn. --- ReconRobotics, Inc. announced today that it has been awarded a $4.8 million contract from the U.S. Army Rapid Equipping Force for 315 Recon Scout XT micro-robot kits and an equal number of SearchStick devices.



The SearchStick enables warfighters to convert any Recon Scout Throwbot into a pole camera, which warfighters can use to see over compound walls, onto rooftops and into culverts. ReconRobotics plans to complete deliveries of these micro-robot systems by October 31, 2011.

"The era of the personal robot has arrived for U.S. troops and, like the ballistic vest and night vision goggles, our Recon Scout XTs will save many lives," said Ernest Langdon, Director of Military Programs for ReconRobotics. "We are extremely proud that the U.S. military has chosen ReconRobotics to help protect our warfighters as they conduct dismounted operations in theatre."

Recon Scout XT micro-robots are deployed at the fire-team level – i.e., one robot for each four- to six-man fire team – to maximize situational awareness and standoff distance during route- and compound-clearing operations. More than 2,000 of the company’s Recon Scout systems have been deployed by the U.S. military and international friendly forces, and by hundreds of law enforcement agencies, worldwide. Warfighters use the Recon Scout system to determine the layout of the enclosed spaces, identify potential IEDs and the fix the location of friendly, indigenous or enemy personnel.

The company’s Recon Scout XT weighs just 1.2lbs (540g), and yet it can be deployed in five seconds and thrown up to 120 feet (36m). Highly regarded for its simplicity and durability, the XT can be controlled with a single button and can be recharged in the field using standard 5590 or 2590 batteries.

ReconRobotics is the world leader in tactical, micro-robot systems. The company’s Recon Scout Throwbot system saves lives by providing immediate situational awareness and greater standoff distance to warfighters and law enforcement personnel. The company was formed in 2006 to commercialize robotics technology developed at the University of Minnesota Distributed Robotics Laboratory under funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). ReconRobotics is based in Edina, Minnesota, USA and markets its products through a distribution network in 33 countries.



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[buglerbilly]

Via Soldier Systems blog...........

Warrior Expo 2011 – iRobot

October 7th, 2011

A great overview of iRobot’s line brought to you by Warrior Expo 2011.


Uploaded by adstactical on Sep 20, 2011

http://adsinc.com/irobot

[buglerbilly]

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Welcome Our New Autonomous Robot Overlords!

Posted by Paul McLeary at 10/11/2011 8:21 AM CDT

Consider the possibilities of the Pentagon deploying swarms of robots to the battlefield, while fielding fewer human operators and sucking up less bandwidth than the current, one operator/one robot system does. The folks at iRobot are working to make it reality.

iRobot’s COO Joe Dyer says that the company is working on both autonomy and waypoint “point and click” capabilities for their robots, meaning that a single operator could direct multiple robots to single or multiple points from a safe distance, while the bots would lay cyber-breadcrumbs along their path so the operator would know where they had been.

The company recently unveiled both a new throwable ‘bot and an upgraded software package for its workhorse PackBot robot, both of which should be able to operate semi-autonomously in the near future. The PackBot upgrades can be uploaded to the robot simply by plugging in a new “box” with the software installed. New upgrades include a self-righting function; mesh networking capabilities; and the ability to expand on the 14 preset positions the PackBot is capable of starting from, giving users the ability to make up their own preset positions and store them into the system.

Then there’s the “FirstLook,” the 5 lb. throwable robot that the company introduced earlier this year. IRobot faces some tough competition in the small, throwable robot market from Recon Robotics, who has already delivered more than 700 XT Throwbots to the U.S. military—cashing in over $10 million in contracts over the past two months alone for the 1.2 lb. throwbot.

Still, FirstLook has been designed to survive a 15 foot drop onto concrete and operate for up to six hours without a charge, and spend 10 hours shooting streaming video while stationary. Asked why the Army should buy the 5 lb. FirstLook instead of the 1.2 lb. Throwbot, whose titanium shell allows it to be dropped from up to 30 ft. or tossed up to 120 ft., and which is capable of sending live video back to a user armed with a small controller/tablet; iRobot’s Dyer extolled the virtues of his product, explaining that its software package is upgradeable, giving it a long service life, and citing the company’s long experience in the field.

Whether you prefer the Throwbot or FirstLook, one thing is for certain: the small robot wars have begun.

[buglerbilly]

AUSA 2011: iRobot announces UGV production start date

October 11, 2011



The first production model of iRobot's latest UGV, the 710 Warrior, is expected to be completed by December, according to a company official.

Speaking to Shephard at the AUSA conference on 10 October, Tim Trainer, VP of operations for government and industrial robots, said the platform has been demonstrated to the US Army, and a model had already been delivered to Israel for testing.

Japanese company Tepco has also received two platforms, on which it added a vacuum to the arm to be used for nuclear dust clearance.

Demonstrated for the first time as a fully-operational system at AUSA, the 710 Warrior is the largest UGV the company has built to date. Trainer said that a platform any larger would require gas power, and therefore this is the largest size a platform could be built to while still being battery-powered.

The system has a four to eight hour battery life, and weighs 500lb including its 150lb payload capacity. It has a 9mph top speed, and was developed as a counter-EOD platform.

The company told Shephard it has also received interest from a potential undisclosed Asian customers, as well as the UK. It is also looking into the possibility of adding an IR camera to its SUGV 310, as well as 'plug and play' arms for a range of its vehicles in an effort to 'strap on autonomy'.

Trainer also praised the inclusion of game controller control systems for iRobot's systems, claiming it saves on training costs because it is 'so easily picked up'.

The FirstLook 5lb throwable UGV was also demonstrated, which is currently completing its testing, with production expected in 'early 2012'.

Beth Stevenson, Washington, DC

[buglerbilly]

More on this plus video...........


Uploaded by irobotitube on Jun 28, 2011
The iRobot 110 FirstLook is a small, light, throwable robot that provides hasty situational awareness, performs persistent observation and investigates confined spaces.

iRobot looking to produce man’s new best friend

Posted by Chris Kelly | October 11th, 2011 | AUSA 2011


iRobot

BY ZACHARY FRYER-BIGGS- Growing progressively smaller, packable robots are quickly becoming a common sight in combat. iRobot, a manufacturer of military packable robots, is betting that the future lies in systems that respond to handlers more like a beloved hunting dog than a controller-directed machine.

Having already shrunk a surveillance robot, the 110 FirstLook, to 5 pounds, and having improved durability sufficiently to deem the device “throwable,” iRobot is focusing on automation and recognition of both voice and hand signals to allow its devices to work more intuitively with operators.

“If you’ve ever had a bird dog, that’s what we want,” said Robert Moses, president of the company’s government and industrial robots division. “You really want to have a relationship with the robots.”

The company has developed software that allows robots to drive downrange to a predetermined distance without the need for an operator constantly overseeing movement, as well as a feedback feature that causes the systems to reverse if it’s wandered beyond communications range. With previously engineered solutions to allow the robots to right themselves in the event of a tumble, the company is pushing for further tweaks to make the systems easier to use.

“What we are testing are the autonomous solutions, putting actions on the robots to take the workload off of soldiers,” said Moses.

The company is already offering ground robot systems from 5 to 350 pounds with varying attachments, from gas detectors to infrared cameras, but it’s the software enhancement that has him excited, Moses said.

[buglerbilly]

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Warbots Go Wireless

Posted by Paul McLeary at 10/14/2011 7:01 AM CDT



The U.S. Army’s Rapid Equipping Force (REF) has approved funding to purchase and deploy six wireless recharging systems for robots used to disarm roadside bombs.

The REF has turned to a product developed by WiTricity Inc. that “will enable drive on/drive off charging” of the batteries that power Qinetiq’s Talon robots without requiring human intervention, according to the REF.

By installing a power capture module under the Talon chassis, the robot can simply drive on to a “rapid deployment system” that determines the battery charge level and automatically charges the battery to maximum capacity. The REF says that it is deploying the technology “in response to requests from soldiers suffering from direct enemy fire while replacing batteries on Talon robots. The need to exit armored vehicles to replace batteries while en route in Afghanistan left troops vulnerable to attack and gunfire.”

This technology is part of a broad effort by the Army and Marine Corps to decrease the reliance of their ground troops on bulky, cumbersome batteries they have to hump for miles on long combat patrols. The operational need has led to things like lightweight,foldable solar “blankets” and other portable, renewable technologies that are starting to find their way to the small, dusty combat outposts that dot Afghanistan.

Pic: US Army

[buglerbilly]

Robot Builds Itself With Foam

Analysis by Jesse Emspak

Thu Oct 20, 2011 11:42 AM ET



It looks like something my old dog threw up! :eek3

Combine off-the-shelf insulation foam and modular robot components and you get a self-assembling robot that could be fit to a variety of tasks.

The Modular Robotics Laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania, in a project led by Shai Revzen, has created a robot that can be assembled from foam that hardens and pieces that allow the robot to move. The “foambot” looks ungainly, and it is. But once you have a shape -- and a task -- in mind, the foam sprayer can lay down a body plan that fits.

For example, lining up a bunch of the actuators (the modular robot parts) can create a snake-like bot that can move into small, narrow spaces, while arranging them in another pattern allows for a more conventional four-legged arrangement.

A key advantage of this kind of construction is that you don’t need to know what your robot has to do beforehand. Robots today are, for the most part, designed with very specific tasks in mind. Think of a Roomba –- it is designed solely to vacuum floors. But if one is sending a robot someplace where it isn’t clear what you need, then it helps to be able to decide on the task and build on the spot.

The robot’s parts are CKBot modules, which can be taken apart and reassemble themselves, because the components can recognize where they are in relation to each other. The foam is commercially available insulation, and it turns out such foams are a great material. Revzen noted in an email that they expand to 30 times their initial size, and are actually quite strong. That means that the apparatus building a robot can be smaller than what it is building.

This has applications in areas such as space exploration, where building a robot that can crawl, slither or climb allows for exploring an unknown landscape, or rescue operations, where the situation is unknown and it isn’t clear what you need a robot to do (crawl through small spaces or clamber over rubble, or both).

Image: Modular Robotics Laboratory



Uploaded by shrevz on Jul 12, 2011
FoamBot built of CKBot robot modules builds a quadruped robot which crawls away. Details of quadruped robot synthesis task from IROS 2011 presentation of Revzen, Bhoite, Macasieb and Yim.

[buglerbilly]

Video: Headless, Humanoid Robot Preps for Army Duty

By Spencer Ackerman October 31, 2011 | 10:57 am



Uploaded by BostonDynamics on Oct 30, 2011
PETMAN is an anthropomorphic robot developed by Boston Dynamics for testing special clothing used by the US Army. PETMAN balances itself as it walks, squats and does simple calisthenics. PETMAN simulates human physiology by controlling temperature, humidity and sweating inside the clothing to provide realistic test conditions. PETMAN development is lead by Boston Dynamics, working in partnership with Measurement Technologies Northwest, Oak Ridge National Lab and MRI Global. The work is being done for the US Army PD-CCAT-TI. For more information about PETMAN visit us at www.BostonDynamics.com.

Sauntering toward you like a mechanized zombie is the Army’s newest recruit: a robot with a blinking red light where its head should be.

That’s the PETMAN, the latest creation of Boston Dynamics, the robotics shop best known for its eerily lifelike BigDog, a quadrupedal robot that wants to carry troops’ gear. The PETMAN, in development for years, is built like a human being, walks autonomously on two legs while pumping its arms like a person, and resists efforts by Boston Dynamics engineers to push it over.

As recently as 2009, the PETMAN — or Protection Ensemble Test Mannequin — was little more than a circuit board connected to hydraulics that terminated in mannequin feet. Now it weighs 180 pounds, looks like the Terminator with the skin burned off, walks much faster than any non-28 Days Later zombie and can do a push-up. In the new video above, it also kind of looks like it can perform the Super Bowl Shuffle.

PETMAN isn’t supposed to be a robo-mule. Boston Dynamics sells it as a way to “simulate how a soldier stresses protective clothing under realistic conditions,” including wearing heavy chemical weapons gear. Lest anyone think the Terminator comparison is far fetched, the company assures that PETMAN’s ersatz “human physiology” means it will be “sweating when necessary.” A headless robot that sweats.

That points to a benign path for the robo-zombie. A robotic simulation of human physiological conditions — with parts that “mov[e] dynamically like a real person,” in the company phrase — could open the door to new innovations in prosthetics. Darpa already has a big push to introduce subtle neural sensations into prosthetic limbs for the most realistic feel possible. The PETMAN might be a boon to that effort.

Of course, the PETMAN could use a prosthesis of its own, since it still doesn’t have a head. Even the Octavia robot developed for the Navy has a cherubic face built out of white plastic. The PETMAN’s remorseless flashing red light atop its shoulders is anything but soothing. Which points to another potential use for the robot: scaring the hell out of an enemy.

[buglerbilly]

How Hi-Tech Robots Will Prevent the Next IDF Soldier Kidnapping

A Rishon Lezion academic institution is at the cutting edge of robotics technology that will prevent future IDF soldier kidnappings.

By TechIsrael Staff
First Publish: 11/3/2011, 10:35 PM


Smart Patrol Robot
Courtesy COMAS

While there is no guarantee that Gilad Shalit will be the last IDF soldier to be kidnapped and imprisoned in Gaza, the army has an advantage today that it didn't have five years ago, when Shalit was nabbed: A fully mechanized and computerized patrol system that can provide full 24/7 coverage of events at the border, allowing soldiers to quickly and efficiently - and safely - respond to problems. The technology for this sophisticated robotic system was developed at he Research and Development Institute for Intelligent Robotic Systems, of the Computer Science Department of the College of Management Academic Studies (COMAS) of Rishon Lezion (Hamichlala leMinhal), and last week some of the top robotics geniuses from the U.S. visited the College in order to get a first-hand look at the new technologies the Institute is creating.

The Robotics Institute, among other things, develops artificial intelligence algorithms for robots to be used by Israel’s military and security forces, to help guard Israel’s borders and prevent kidnapping of soldiers by infiltrators. Already in production for several years, the Institute was the brains behind the development of the Genius Robotic Patrol system, which is in use on the Gaza border, and is produced jointly by Elbit and Israel Aircraft Industries. The system basically replaces infantry and jeep patrols along the border fence. An unmanned smart vehicle – controlled from a base station by a live soldier – follows the border fence road, avoiding obstacles automatically.

If it detects a problem – a breach in the fence, or the presence of an individual or object that shouldn't be there – it immediately transmits pictures and data to the control center. At that point the soldiers in charge can decide how to handle the situation; for example, they can instruct one of the fighter pilots in the sky patrolling the fence area to zero in on the target, eliminating it. The robots actually travel in a fleet, says Dr. Yehuda Elmaliach, founder and director of the Institute. “This way, the area is fully covered even when one of the robots is engaged in a specific mission. Another robot that is part of the patrol can take over its duties, thus preventing the use of diversions by terrorists to get over the border or launch an attack,” he says. This is the first land-based unmanned rover used for defense purposes (all other systems are either seagoing or airborne).

The visitors, who included 13 university presidents and professors, included some of the leaders in robotics technology in the U.S. Among the delegation were Leo Morton of the University of Missouri, Dr. John L. Anderson of the Illinois Institute of Technology, and Dr. Gary D. Russi of Oakland University. All three schools have advanced robotics departments, and have worked on developing defensive systems for U.S. security services. The visitors were treated to the latest developments in robotics for security and defense purposes – all of which, says Dr. Elmaliach, can help save the lives of soldiers.

The Institute, headed by Dr. Elmaliach, was founded in 2008 on the initiative of Dr.Shmuel Itzikowitz with the help of the parents of three IDF soldiers, Benny Avraham, Adi Avitan and Omar Souad, who were kidnapped and killed by Hezbollah in 2000. A son of Prof. Itzikowitz was also in the same unit as the 3 soldiers, and at Benny Avraham's request, he had exchanged places with him and so was on leave when the attacks took place.

The Institute has set itself the goal of creating robot-powered applications for the military and security forces. It works closely together with the IDF Engineering Corps on projects to find technological solutions to prevent the circumstances facilitating the kidnapping of soldiers, an issue which is still very much on the mind of Israelis, with the prolonged captivity and recent release of IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. An increasing amount of robotic technology is being incorporated into militaries and security bodies around the world. According to the projection of the American FCS (Future Combat Systems), by the year 2015, one third of the US military will consist of unmanned forces (robots).

During the event, Prof. Itzikowitz introduced a video presentation about the events following the 2000 kidnappings, and discussed the role of Academia in the defense of Israel. He was joined by Dr. Elmaliach, an expert in artificial intelligence and robotics, who discussed the vision and activities of Robots in the Battle Field. In addition, IDF Colonel (Res.) Lior Lotan, former commander of an elite Special Forces unit, and one of the world’s foremost experts in hostage situations and hostage negotiations, discussed the Israeli Experience of Counter Terrorism – Understanding the Threats, Counter Strategy, Tactics and Future Trends. Lotan was awarded the IDF Chief of Staff Medal of Honor for his part in an operation for the attempted release of abducted IDF solder Nachshon Waksman and was in charge of the negotiations in which Israel received the bodies of the 3 soldiers kidnapped and killed in 2000.

[buglerbilly]

Ares

A Defense Technology Blog

Robots Piggybacking on Robots

Posted by Paul McLeary at 11/7/2011 10:26 AM CST



Put new technologies in the hands of soldiers, without any real rules as how to use them, and you’ll invariably get scenes like this.

Down at Ft. Benning late last month at the Army Expeditionary Warrior Experiment (AEWE), Spc. Roberto Alejandres set himself up on the roof of the police station at the McKenna Urban Training site, giving himself a clear look down the main road that cut through the middle of the cluster of buildings that make up “main street.” Setting up his tablet and his laptop, he was able to both operate an unmanned ground vehicle while monitoring a smaller robot his squad had piggybacked on top.

Got that? A robot-mounted robot.

The unmanned ground vehicle was the load-carrying Lockheed Martin-made Squad Mission Support System (SMSS), which was recently sent to Afghanistan for operational testing in dismounted infantry operations, and on this day its job was to carry around the Cougar 10, a small robot made by TiaLinx that uses sensors to detect human movements behind walls and closed doors. The problem with the Cougar 10, according to soldiers, was that it was just too slow and made “mapping” the inside of multiple buildings too time-consuming. So they picked it up, put it on the back of the faster SMSS, and off they went.

None of this was very stealthy—the SMSS is neither small nor subtle. The six-wheeled hauler is designed to carry about 600 lbs. of soldier gear, and is quite loud when the engine is cranking. Still, it performed the mission the soldiers wanted it to. With the Cougar 10 on its back, “it made our mission possible, a company cannot clear and occupy a town” by itself, one officer would later say.

As for the Cougar, it “looks” through walls by using its RF Scanner mounted on a lightweight arm while transmitting wideband signals to capture the reflections from targets inside buildings or behind barriers. Spc. Alejandres later explained that when the Cougar “sees” though a wall—its so sensitive that it can pick up breathing—it sends back an image that looks like a seismograph, with undulating lines that show the presence of humans.

The SMSS didn’t get such a glowing reception by other soldiers however, who said that they would be reluctant to take the vehicle on a dismounted patrol with them given its limitations in wooded or extreme terrain, the noise it makes, and the fact that it can’t be left alone if the unit has to disperse of move quickly. Staff Sgt. Robert Hollett said that he would rather lug his own gear and have a manned vehicle with a mounted weapon come up for resupply missions.

Still, the SMSS was pretty effective—with some big caveats—during a night ambush during the exercise, when it was mounted with a Lockheed Martin Gyrocam 9, which includes thermal and high-def color imaging, laser pointing, geo-location, and a laser range finder than can mark targets up to 20 km away. The SMSS was driven to the northernmost point of the ambush site and parked in the woods, protecting the unit’s flank. An iRobot PackBot was placed a few dozen meters down the trail to provide more coverage, and a single soldier was able to access feeds from both platforms on one laptop screen.

Standing silently in the dark with the Gyrocam’s thermals on, the unit was able to keep watch on its sector, with one problem. About once an hour they had to turn the SMSS on for about 5-10 minutes to keep the battery juiced, and when you’re sitting quietly in an ambush in the pitch black, that kind of noise is rather unwelcome. (The riflemen a little way away were communicating with one another and positioning their squads by texting on their Nett Warrior handhelds, and would later praise the system for keeping them in touch, silently.)

As it turns out, the opposition force walked into the ambush further down the line that night, but later, the opposition commander said that he had redirected some fighters toward the SMSS when he heard the engine kick in from hundreds of meters away—but they were unable to reach us before the exercise ended. So the SMSS was effective in keeping watch, but it appears that its stealthiness / battery time still needs a little work. Since the vehicle is currently in Afghanistan, we’ll be curious to hear what soldiers there think of it.

[buglerbilly]

Video: Darpa’s Robo-Ostrich Will Outrun Usain Bolt

By Katie Drummond November 15, 2011 | 6:30 am | Categories: DarpaWatch



Uploaded by plasticpals1 on Nov 9, 2011

Dr. Russ Tedrake (MIT) and Dr. Jerry Pratt (IHMC) are working on a bio-inspired ostrich robot that should be able to achieve running speeds in excess of 20 mph.

More info:
http://www.ihmc.us/groups/fastrunner/
http://www.plasticpals.com/?p=30686

Today’s robots move about as fast as your grandma’s morning mall-walking group. Tomorrow’s robots will move as fast as Usain Bolt — all thanks to limbs modeled on ostrich legs.

That’s exactly the point, according to the Darpa-funded researchers behind a collaborative effort underway at MIT and the Florida Institute of Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC). Only one year into a four-year research contract, the team is showing off stunning results that are expected to produce the fastest, most agile ‘bot ever. He’s called FastRunner, and he’ll zip along at 10 times the speed of a standard mobile robot, which clocks a mere 3 miles per hour.

“We’re using principles found in biology to build efficiency and speed right into the robot,” Johnny Godowski, a research associate at IHMC, tells Danger Room. “And we’re confident that this will open up the possibility for humanoid robots that are useful in all sorts of situations — military for one, but also fire rescues or natural disasters, for example.”

Already, the team has developed a simulation of FastRunner’s eventual capabilities and a full test leg that can zip along at 27 miles an hour — the same pace as Usain Bolt’s record-setting 2009 sprint. Eventually, they hope to see the ‘bot hit speeds in excess of “30, 40, 50 miles an hour,” according to Dr. Russ Tedrake at MIT.



IF I saw this thing bounding along in real-life I'd expect it to at least go Beep Beep! :razz

“We’re really excited to show off what FastRunner can do,” Godowski tells Danger Room. “This doesn’t just mean one fast robot. It means we’ve developed the architecture for all sorts of robots, humanoid robots for example, to maneuver and show off impressive agility at high speeds.”

In the future, that architecture could be applied to any ‘bot body. The team’s leg design relies on a locking knee, a single motor per leg (which reduces the weight of each leg and maximizes efficiency) and springs that can store energy and then release it to allow the robot to sustain a powerful pace. All of those elements, they say, can be applied to four-legged or humanoid robots. Not to mention that the ‘bot’s design allows it to clamber over obstacles, race up a flight of stairs or scurry up and down hills, while carrying as hefty a load of gear as its legs will support without using much battery power — meaning missions and payloads can be expanded to be useful in real-life situations.

“The architecture takes zero energy to carry weight,” Godowski says. “The legs lock and unlock, a lot like a folding table, to support what we imagine will be quite a lot of mass when the prototype is finished … really, as much as the legs will hold.”

Obviously, FastRunner will be speedier and more agile than the most athletic of humans, let alone a soldier loaded down with gear. But it’s a mystery how FastRunner will compare to Atlas, the cheetah-bot being designed by the veteran robo-geniuses over at Boston Dynamics: Researchers haven’t released the cheetah’s anticipated speeds, but did boast that it’d be “faster than any existing legged robot and faster than the fastest human runners.”

Photo/Video: IHMC

[buglerbilly]

Australian technology turns world cop into robocop

Heath Aston

November 27, 2011.


The robots have the capacity to "think for themselves" as they are programmed to try and escape fire when another robot is shot. Photo: Anthony Johnson

A GROUP of ''Taliban terrorists'' has been transported from Australia to the United States, where American marines will be allowed to take pot shots at them with live ammunition.

But no matter how many times these enemy targets are hit, they will live to face another day of gunfire, because while they look, move and behave like humans, at least from the thighs up, they are cutting-edge robots.

Eight of the robots - made by Sydney company Marathon Targets - have been shipped to the US Marine base at Quantico, Virginia, where US troops train before heading to war zones such as Afghanistan.


Illustration: Matt Golding

Moving on two wheels, the T2 robots have a capacity to ''think for themselves'', as they are programmed to try to escape fire when another robot is shot. While they are autonomous, they can also communicate between themselves.

The robots are able to turn and flee at up to 16km/h - running speed for soldiers in combat gear - and are designed to seek shelter inside buildings.

As well as the T2 model, there is the T4, a four-wheel version that can move over rough terrain. When a robot is shot - soldiers are advised to aim for the upper body - it falls backwards before righting itself.

The company - formed by a group of robotics experts who met at the University of Sydney - won a $57 million contract with the US Marine Corps after demonstrating that its robots were the most lifelike and the best targets for live-ammunition training.

Marathon founder Dr Tobias Kaupp said he was approached by the Australian Defence Force in 2003 to design robot targets for live-firing exercises and ''shoot or don't shoot'' exercises. Marathon was formed in 2007.

''The system is unique,'' Dr Kaupp said. ''Each unit is autonomous so when one gets shot the rest of them run for cover.''

Marathon has supplied the robots to Australian military bases in Western Australia, where SAS troops train, and is considering more overseas sales to agencies with an interest in marksmanship training.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/australian-technology-turns-world-cop-into-robocop-20111126-1o0it.html#ixzz1erTAYoGY

[buglerbilly]

Darpa’s Creepy Robo-Blob Learns to Crawl

By Katie Drummond Email Author December 2, 2011 | 9:55 am



Uploaded by chipchickcom on Oct 15, 2010
Read more at: http://www.chipchick.com/2010/10/irobot-iadapt-technology.htm

The Pentagon’s robo-blob has grown up a lot these past two years. Now the thing’s got six legs and some seriously creepy crawling abilities.

In 2008, iRobot, the company behind household vacuum ‘bot “Roomba,” teamed up with the Pentagon’s far-out research arm, Darpa, for a new program called “ChemBots.” The idea was to create a team of ‘bots whose movements were inspired by the locomotive talents of “mice, octopi and insects,” allowing them to slide under doors, squeeze into tight spaces or maneuver other tough-to-navigate terrain.

Already, Darpa-funded researchers have made remarkable progress. A team at Harvard last year unveiled a soft robot that could walk with different gaits, crawl, and deflate itself completely to cram into tiny gaps — on terrain as varied as pavement, mud, or, um, Jell-O.

And in 2009, iRobot and their collaborators at the University of Chicago introduced the first iteration of their robo-blob, which used new technology known as “jamming,” whereby a series of pressure changes inside a flexible polymer structure, which is filled with granular particles, make those particles either diffuse or “jam” together, creating a soft structure or a hard one. So as pressure changed inside the round, palm-sized ‘bot, it was able to roll on-demand.

Now, robo-blob has blossomed from that rotund, awkward baby-bot into a lean, mean six-legged walking machine. Researchers have affixed legs, made of that same elastic polymer, onto the robot’s body. Each leg uses the same jamming technology to alternately soften and harden, allowing the ‘bot to crawl — ever so creepily — into a terrorist’s nightmares.

[buglerbilly]

Video: Army’s Leaping ‘Bots Grow Lizard Tails

By Katie Drummond Email Author January 5, 2012 | 4:00 pm



Uploaded by ucberkeleycampuslife on Jan 3, 2012

University of California, Berkeley, biologists and engineers studied how lizards leap successfully even when they slip and stumble. The lizards swing their tails upward to prevent them from pitching head-over-heels into a rock. After the team added a tail to a robotic car named Tailbot, they discovered that robots and lizards must actively adjust the angle of their tails just right to remain upright.
This video shows, in normal and slow-motion, an Agama lizard after a leap from a surface with good traction versus a slippery surface, showing how the lizard uses its tail to prevent forward pitch, and Tailbot, a wheeled robot with a tail, taking a nose-dive off a cliff with a passive tail, but able to maintain its orientation with an actively controlled tail. Video courtesy of CiBER/UC Berkeley.
For full story: http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2012/01/04/leaping-lizards-show-robots-the-val...

The military’s robot army continues to evolve by leaps and bounds. Quite literally, now that some of the ‘bots have grown tails.

A research team at the University of California, Berkeley, funded in part by the Army Research Laboratory, have come up with a nifty new way to help robots stay upright and stable, even when making precarious hops and strides over difficult terrain. Inspired by the stabilizing powers that tails imbue in lizards (and, eons ago, dinosaurs) the group decided to add similar tails to their robots.

The precise angle at which a lizard flexes its tail, in response to the surface off which it jumps and the angle of its body, helps that lizard maintain control, even in mid-air, and land upright. The idea is to do the same for mechanical monsters.

“We showed for the first time that lizards swing their tail up or down to counteract the rotation of their body, keeping them stable,” Dr. Robert Full, a professor of integrative biology at UC Berkeley, said in a statement. “Inspiration from lizard tails will likely lead to far more agile search-and-rescue robots.”

Not to mention far more freaky lookin’ ones. In the video above, the team’s “Tailbot” mimics the tail control of a live Agama lizard. Without using its tail, the robot basically free-falls off a cliff. But once researchers add a gyroscope that can sense the robot’s body position and give feedback to the ‘bot’s tail, Tailbot is able to make ideal use of its new appendage — and demonstrate some impressive in-air agility.

Of course, this is only the latest bit of bio-inspiration to trickle over to military-funded robot design. Last year, scientists at MIT and the Florida Institute of Human and Machine Cognition developed the fastest ‘bot yet, courtesy of legs designed like ostrich limbs. Not to mention Darpa’s creepy, crawly robo-blob, inspired by the locomotion of octopi and mice, that recently grew six legs and learned to walk.

Video: UC Berkeley

[buglerbilly]

RE2 to develop HDMS for US Army

05 January 2012 - 12:41 by the Shephard News Team



RE2 has announced that it has been selected by the US Army's Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) to develop a two-arm Highly Dexterous Manipulation System (HDMS). The award was issued under a Phase II Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) competitive contract.

The work will focus on work to enhance the capabilities of unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs) currently used for explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) to perform critical tasks such as inspection, detection, and neutralisation of explosive devices. These systems currently include a single arm manipulator, and are often limited in their dexterity, reach and lifting capacity.

RE2 will develop the dual-arm HDMS technology to provide the robot operator with capabilities that far exceed currently fielded single-manipulator robots. These capabilities include inspection in tight and cluttered spaces, manipulating wires, opening bags or packages, unscrewing lids on containers, and other abilities to provide access and information while operating at a safe distance.

RE2 currently holds prime contracts with various branches and organizations of the US military, including the Navy, Army, Air Force, and DARPA, to develop advanced manipulation systems that interoperate with both existing and future robotic platforms. According to the company, RE2's development efforts are focused on creating plug-n-play manipulation systems and end-effectors that are interoperable with existing and next-generation robotic platforms.