Tag Archives: control

#431045 Jet-Powered iCub Could Be the First ...

Italian researchers are developing a control system that they hope will allow an iCub humanoid robot to hover on four jet thrusters Continue reading

Posted in Human Robots

#431013 Robots won’t steal our jobs if we ...

The technologies driving artificial intelligence are expanding exponentially, leading many technology experts and futurists to predict machines will soon be doing many of the jobs that humans do today. Some even predict humans could lose control over their future. Continue reading

Posted in Human Robots

#430814 The Age of Cyborgs Has Arrived

How many cyborgs did you see during your morning commute today? I would guess at least five. Did they make you nervous? Probably not; you likely didn’t even realize they were there.
In a presentation titled “Biohacking and the Connected Body” at Singularity University Global Summit, Hannes Sjoblad informed the audience that we’re already living in the age of cyborgs. Sjoblad is co-founder of the Sweden-based biohacker network Bionyfiken, a chartered non-profit that unites DIY-biologists, hackers, makers, body modification artists and health and performance devotees to explore human-machine integration.
Sjoblad said the cyborgs we see today don’t look like Hollywood prototypes; they’re regular people who have integrated technology into their bodies to improve or monitor some aspect of their health. Sjoblad defined biohacking as applying hacker ethic to biological systems. Some biohackers experiment with their biology with the goal of taking the human body’s experience beyond what nature intended.
Smart insulin monitoring systems, pacemakers, bionic eyes, and Cochlear implants are all examples of biohacking, according to Sjoblad. He told the audience, “We live in a time where, thanks to technology, we can make the deaf hear, the blind see, and the lame walk.” He is convinced that while biohacking could conceivably end up having Brave New World-like dystopian consequences, it can also be leveraged to improve and enhance our quality of life in multiple ways.
The field where biohacking can make the most positive impact is health. In addition to pacemakers and insulin monitors, several new technologies are being developed with the goal of improving our health and simplifying access to information about our bodies.
Ingestibles are a type of smart pill that use wireless technology to monitor internal reactions to medications, helping doctors determine optimum dosage levels and tailor treatments to different people. Your body doesn’t absorb or process medication exactly as your neighbor’s does, so shouldn’t you each have a treatment that works best with your unique system? Colonoscopies and endoscopies could one day be replaced by miniature pill-shaped video cameras that would collect and transmit images as they travel through the digestive tract.
Singularity University Global Summit is the culmination of the Exponential Conference Series and the definitive place to witness converging exponential technologies and understand how they’ll impact the world.
Security is another area where biohacking could be beneficial. One example Sjoblad gave was personalization of weapons: an invader in your house couldn’t fire your gun because it will have been matched to your fingerprint or synced with your body so that it only responds to you.
Biohacking can also simplify everyday tasks. In an impressive example of walking the walk rather than just talking the talk, Sjoblad had an NFC chip implanted in his hand. The chip contains data from everything he used to have to carry around in his pockets: credit and bank card information, key cards to enter his office building and gym, business cards, and frequent shopper loyalty cards. When he’s in line for a morning coffee or rushing to get to the office on time, he doesn’t have to root around in his pockets or bag to find the right card or key; he just waves his hand in front of a sensor and he’s good to go.
Evolved from radio frequency identification (RFID)—an old and widely distributed technology—NFC chips are activated by another chip, and small amounts of data can be transferred back and forth. No wireless connection is necessary. Sjoblad sees his NFC implant as a personal key to the Internet of Things, a simple way for him to talk to the smart, connected devices around him.
Sjoblad isn’t the only person who feels a need for connection.

When British science writer Frank Swain realized he was going to go deaf, he decided to hack his hearing to be able to hear Wi-Fi. Swain developed software that tunes into wireless communication fields and uses an inbuilt Wi-Fi sensor to pick up router name, encryption modes and distance from the device. This data is translated into an audio stream where distant signals click or pop, and strong signals sound their network ID in a looped melody. Swain hears it all through an upgraded hearing aid.
Global datastreams can also become sensory experiences. Spanish artist Moon Ribas developed and implanted a chip in her elbow that is connected to the global monitoring system for seismographic sensors; each time there’s an earthquake, she feels it through vibrations in her arm.
You can feel connected to our planet, too: North Sense makes a “standalone artificial sensory organ” that connects to your body and vibrates whenever you’re facing north. It’s a built-in compass; you’ll never get lost again.
Biohacking applications are likely to proliferate in the coming years, some of them more useful than others. But there are serious ethical questions that can’t be ignored during development and use of this technology. To what extent is it wise to tamper with nature, and who gets to decide?
Most of us are probably ok with waiting in line an extra 10 minutes or occasionally having to pull up a maps app on our phone if it means we don’t need to implant computer chips into our forearms. If it’s frightening to think of criminals stealing our wallets, imagine them cutting a chunk of our skin out to have instant access to and control over our personal data. The physical invasiveness and potential for something to go wrong seems to far outweigh the benefits the average person could derive from this technology.
But that may not always be the case. It’s worth noting the miniaturization of technology continues at a quick rate, and the smaller things get, the less invasive (and hopefully more useful) they’ll be. Even today, there are people already sensibly benefiting from biohacking. If you look closely enough, you’ll spot at least a couple cyborgs on your commute tomorrow morning.
Image Credit:Movement Control Laboratory/University of Washington – Deep Dream Generator Continue reading

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#430640 RE2 Robotics Receives Air Force Funding ...

PITTSBURGH, PA – June 21, 2017 – RE2 Robotics announced today that the Company was selected by the Air Force to develop a drop-in robotic system to rapidly convert a variety of traditionally manned aircraft to robotically piloted, autonomous aircraft under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. This robotic system, named “Common Aircraft Retrofit for Novel Autonomous Control” (CARNAC), will operate the aircraft similarly to a human pilot and will not require any modifications to the aircraft.
Automation and autonomy have broad value to the Department of Defense with the potential to enhance system performance of existing platforms, reduce costs, and enable new missions and capabilities, especially with reduced human exposure to dangerous or life-threatening situations. The CARNAC project leverages existing aviation assets and advances in vehicle automation technologies to develop a cutting-edge drop-in robotic flight system.
During the program, RE2 Robotics will demonstrate system architecture feasibility, humanoid-like robotic manipulation capabilities, vision-based flight-status recognition, and cognitive architecture-based decision making.
“Our team is excited to incorporate the Company’s robotic manipulation expertise with proven technologies in applique systems, vision processing algorithms, and decision making to create a customized application that will allow a wide variety of existing aircraft to be outfitted with a robotic pilot,” stated Jorgen Pedersen, president and CEO of RE2 Robotics. “By creating a drop-in robotic pilot, we have the ability to insert autonomy into and expand the capabilities of not only traditionally manned air vehicles, but ground and underwater vehicles as well. This application will open up a whole new market for our mobile robotic manipulator systems.”
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About RE2 RoboticsRE2 Robotics develops mobile robotic technologies that enable robot users to remotely interact with their world from a safe distance — whether on the ground, in the air, or underwater. RE2 creates interoperable robotic manipulator arms with human-like performance, intuitive human robot interfaces, and advanced autonomy software for mobile robotics. For more information, please visit www.resquared.com or call 412.681.6382.
Media Contact: RE2 Public Relations, pr@resquared.com, 412.681.6382.
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#430630 CORE2 consumer robot controller by ...

Hardware, software and cloud for fast robot prototyping and development
Kraków, Poland, June 27th, 2017 – Robotic development platform creator Husarion has launched its next-generation dedicated robot controller CORE2. Available now at the Crowd Supply crowdfunding platform, CORE2 enables the rapid prototyping and development of consumer and service robots. It’s especially suitable for engineers designing commercial appliances and robotics students or hobbyists. Whether the next robotic idea is a tiny rover that penetrates tunnels, a surveillance drone, or a room-sized 3D printer, the CORE2 can serve as the brains behind it.
Photo Credit: Husarionwww.husarion.com
Husarion’s platform greatly simplifies robot development, making it as easy as creating a website. It provides engineers with embedded hardware, preconfigured software and easy online management. From the simple, proof-of-concept prototypes made with LEGO® Mindstorms to complex designs ready for mass manufacturing, the core technology stays the same throughout the process, shortening the time to market significantly. It’s designed as an innovation for the consumer robotics industry similar to what Arduino or Raspberry PI were to the Maker Movement.

“We are on the verge of a consumer robotics revolution”, says Dominik Nowak, CEO of Husarion. “Big industrial businesses have long been utilizing robots, but until very recently the consumer side hasn’t seen that many of them. This is starting to change now with the democratization of tools, the Maker Movement and technology maturing. We believe Husarion is uniquely positioned for the upcoming boom, offering robot developers a holistic solution and lowering the barrier of entry to the market.”

The hardware part of the platform is the Husarion CORE2 board, a computer that interfaces directly with motors, servos, encoders or sensors. It’s powered by an ARM® CORTEX-M4 CPU, features 42x I/O ports and can support up to 4x DC motors and 6x servomechanisms. Wireless connectivity is provided by a built-in Wi-Fi module.
Photo Credit: Husarion – www.husarion.com
The Husarion CORE2-ROS is an alternative configuration with a Raspberry Pi 3 ARMv8-powered board layered on top, with a preinstalled Robot Operating System (ROS) custom Linux distribution. It allows users to tap into the rich sets of modules and building tools already available for ROS. Real-time capabilities and high computing power enable advanced use cases, such as fully autonomous devices.

Developing software for CORE2-powered robots is easy. Husarion provides Web IDE, allowing engineers to program their connected robots directly from within the browser. There’s also an offline SDK and a convenient extension for Visual Studio Code. The open-source library hFramework based on Real Time Operating System masks the complexity of interface communication behind an elegant, easy-to-use API.

CORE2 also works with Arduino libraries, which can be used with no modifications at all through the compatibility layer of the hFramework API.
Photo Credit: Husarion – www.husarion.com
For online access, programming and control, Husarion provides its dedicated Cloud. By registering the CORE2-powerd robot at https://cloud.husarion.com, developers can update firmware online, build a custom Web control UI and share controls of their device with anyone.

Starting at $89, Husarion CORE2 and CORE2-ROS controllers are now on sale through Crowd Supply.

Husarion also offers complete development kits, extra servo controllers and additional modules for compatibility with LEGO® Mindstorms or Makeblock® mechanics. For more information, please visit: https://www.crowdsupply.com/husarion/core2.

Key points:
A dedicated robot hardware controller, with built-in interfaces for sensors, servos, DC motors and encoders

Programming with free tools: online (via Husarion Cloud Web IDE) or offline (Visual Studio Code extension)
Compatible with ROS, provides C++ 11 open-source programming framework based on RTOS
Husarion Cloud: control, program and share robots, with customizable control UI
Allows faster development and more advanced robotics than general maker boards like Arduino or Raspberry Pi

About Husarion
Husarion was founded in 2013 in Kraków, Poland. In 2015, Husarion successfully financed a Kickstarter campaign for RoboCORE, the company’s first-generation controller. The company delivers a fast prototyping platform for consumer robots. Thanks to Husarion’s hardware modules, efficient programming tools and cloud management, engineers can rapidly develop and iterate on their robot ideas. Husarion simplifies the development of connected, commercial robots ready for mass production and provides kits for academic education.

For more information, visit: https://husarion.com/.
Photo Credit: Husarion – www.husarion.com

Photo Credit: Husarion – www.husarion.com

Media contact:

Piotr Sarotapublic relations consultant
SAROTA PR – public relations agencyphone: +48 12 684 12 68mobile: +48 606 895 326email: piotr(at)sarota.pl
http://www.sarota.pl/
Jakub Misiurapublic relations specialist
phone: +48 12 349 03 52mobile: +48 696 778 568email: jakub.misiura(at)sarota.pl

Photo Credit: Husarion – www.husarion.com
Photo Credit: Husarion – www.husarion.com
Photo Credit: Husarion – www.husarion.com

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Posted in Human Robots