Tag Archives: robot
#439652 Robot Could Operate a Docking Station ...
Picture, if you will, a cargo rocket launching into space and docking on the International Space Station. The rocket maneuvers up to the station and latches on with an airtight seal so that supplies can be transferred. Now imagine a miniaturized version of that process happening inside your body.
Researchers today announced that they have built a robotic system capable of this kind of supply drop, and which functions entirely inside the gut. The system involves an insulin delivery robot that is surgically implanted in the abdomen, and swallowable magnetic capsules that resupply the robot with insulin.
The robot's developers, based in Italy, tested their system in three diabetic pigs. The system successfully controlled the pigs' blood glucose levels for several hours, according to results published today in the journal Science Robotics.
“Maybe it's scary to think about a docking station inside the body, but it worked,” says Arianna Menciassi, an author of the paper and a professor of biomedical robotics and bioengineering at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy.
In her team's system, a device the size of a flip phone is surgically implanted along the abdominal wall interfaced with the small intestine. The device delivers insulin into fluid in that space. When the implant's reservoir runs low on medication, a magnetic, insulin-filled capsule shuttles in to refill it.
Here's how the refill procedure would theoretically work in humans: The patient swallows the capsule just like a pill, and it moves through the digestive system naturally until it reaches a section of the small intestine where the implant has been placed. Using magnetic fields, the implant draws the capsule toward it, rotates it, and docks it in the correct position. The implant then punches the capsule with a retractable needle and pumps the insulin into its reservoir. The needle must also punch through a thin layer of intestinal tissue to reach the capsule.
In all, the implant contains four actuators that control the docking, needle punching, reservoir volume and aspiration, and pump. The motor responsible for docking rotates a magnet to maneuver the capsule into place. The design was inspired by industrial clamping systems and pipe-inspecting robots, the authors say.
After the insulin is delivered, the implant releases the capsule, allowing it to continue naturally through the digestive tract to be excreted from the body. The magnetic fields that control docking and release of the capsule are controlled wirelessly by an external programming device, and can be turned on or off. The implant's battery is wirelessly charged by an external device.
This kind of delivery system could prove useful to people with type 1 diabetes, especially those who must inject insulin into their bodies multiple times a day.
This kind of delivery system could prove useful to people with type 1 diabetes, especially those who must inject insulin into their bodies multiple times a day. Insulin pumps are available commercially, but these require external hardware that deliver the drug through a tube or needle that penetrates the body. Implantable insulin pumps are also available, but those devices have to be refilled by a tube that protrudes from the body, inviting bacterial infections; those systems have not proven popular.
A fully implantable system refilled by a pill would eliminate the need for protruding tubes and hardware, says Menciassi. Such a system could prove useful in delivering drugs for other diseases too, such as chemotherapy to people with ovarian, pancreatic, gastric, and colorectal cancers, the authors report.
As a next step, the authors are working on sealing the implanted device more robustly. “We observed in some pigs that [bodily] fluids are entering inside the robot,” says Menciassi. Some of the leaks are likely occurring during docking when the needle comes out of the implant, she says. The leaks did not occur when the team previously tested the device in water, but the human body, she notes, is much more complex. Continue reading
Posted in Human Robots
#439640 Elon Musk says Tesla’s robot will ...
After dominating the electric vehicle market and throwing his hat into the billionaire space race, Tesla boss Elon Musk announced the latest frontier he's aiming to conquer: humanoid robots. Continue reading
Posted in Human Robots
#439622 Robot Could Operate a Docking Station ...
Picture, if you will, a cargo rocket launching into space and docking on the International Space Station. The rocket maneuvers up to the station and latches on with an airtight seal so that supplies can be transferred. Now imagine a miniaturized version of that process happening inside your body.
Researchers today announced that they have built a robotic system capable of this kind of supply drop, and which functions entirely inside the gut. The system involves an insulin delivery robot that is surgically implanted in the abdomen, and swallowable magnetic capsules that resupply the robot with insulin.
The robot's developers, based in Italy, tested their system in three diabetic pigs. The system successfully controlled the pigs' blood glucose levels for several hours, according to results published today in the journal Science Robotics.
“Maybe it's scary to think about a docking station inside the body, but it worked,” says Arianna Menciassi, an author of the paper and a professor of biomedical robotics and bioengineering at Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa, Italy.
In her team's system, a device the size of a flip phone is surgically implanted along the abdominal wall interfaced with the small intestine. The device delivers insulin into fluid in that space. When the implant's reservoir runs low on medication, a magnetic, insulin-filled capsule shuttles in to refill it.
Here's how the refill procedure would theoretically work in humans: The patient swallows the capsule just like a pill, and it moves through the digestive system naturally until it reaches a section of the small intestine where the implant has been placed. Using magnetic fields, the implant draws the capsule toward it, rotates it, and docks it in the correct position. The implant then punches the capsule with a retractable needle and pumps the insulin into its reservoir. The needle must also punch through a thin layer of intestinal tissue to reach the capsule.
In all, the implant contains four actuators that control the docking, needle punching, reservoir volume and aspiration, and pump. The motor responsible for docking rotates a magnet to maneuver the capsule into place. The design was inspired by industrial clamping systems and pipe-inspecting robots, the authors say.
After the insulin is delivered, the implant releases the capsule, allowing it to continue naturally through the digestive tract to be excreted from the body. The magnetic fields that control docking and release of the capsule are controlled wirelessly by an external programming device, and can be turned on or off. The implant's battery is wirelessly charged by an external device.
This kind of delivery system could prove useful to people with type 1 diabetes, especially those who must inject insulin into their bodies multiple times a day.
This kind of delivery system could prove useful to people with type 1 diabetes, especially those who must inject insulin into their bodies multiple times a day. Insulin pumps are available commercially, but these require external hardware that deliver the drug through a tube or needle that penetrates the body. Implantable insulin pumps are also available, but those devices have to be refilled by a tube that protrudes from the body, inviting bacterial infections; those systems have not proven popular.
A fully implantable system refilled by a pill would eliminate the need for protruding tubes and hardware, says Menciassi. Such a system could prove useful in delivering drugs for other diseases too, such as chemotherapy to people with ovarian, pancreatic, gastric, and colorectal cancers, the authors report.
As a next step, the authors are working on sealing the implanted device more robustly. “We observed in some pigs that [bodily] fluids are entering inside the robot,” says Menciassi. Some of the leaks are likely occurring during docking when the needle comes out of the implant, she says. The leaks did not occur when the team previously tested the device in water, but the human body, she notes, is much more complex. Continue reading
Posted in Human Robots
#439614 Watch Boston Dynamics’ Atlas Robot ...
At the end of 2020, Boston Dynamics released a spirits-lifting, can’t-watch-without-smiling video of its robots doing a coordinated dance routine. Atlas, Spot, and Handle had some pretty sweet moves, though if we’re being honest, Atlas was the one (or, in this case, two) that really stole the show.
A new video released yesterday has the bipedal humanoid robot stealing the show again, albeit in a way that probably won’t make you giggle as much. Two Atlases navigate a parkour course, complete with leaping onto and between boxes of different heights, shimmying down a balance beam, and throwing synchronized back flips.
The big question that may be on many viewers’ minds is whether the robots are truly navigating the course on their own—making real-time decisions about how high to jump or how far to extend a foot—or if they’re pre-programmed to execute each motion according to a detailed map of the course.
As engineers explain in a second new video and accompanying blog post, it’s a combination of both.
Atlas is equipped with RGB cameras and depth sensors to give it “vision,” providing input to its control system, which is run on three computers. In the dance video linked above and previous videos of Atlas doing parkour, the robot wasn’t sensing its environment and adapting its movements accordingly (though it did make in-the-moment adjustments to keep its balance).
But in the new routine, the Boston Dynamics team says, they created template behaviors for Atlas. The robot can match these templates to its environment, adapting its motions based on what’s in front of it. The engineers had to find a balance between “long-term” goals for the robot—i.e., making it through the whole course—and “short-term” goals, like adjusting its footsteps and posture to keep from keeling over. The motions were refined through both computer simulations and robot testing.
“Our control team has to create algorithms that can reason about the physical complexity of these machines to create a broad set of high energy and coordinated behavior,” said Atlas team lead Scott Kuindersma. “It’s really about creating behaviors at the limits of the robot’s capabilities and getting them all to work together in a flexible control system.”
The limits of the robot’s capabilities were frequently reached while practicing the new parkour course, and getting a flawless recording took many tries. The explainer video includes bloopers of Atlas falling flat on its face—not to mention on its head, stomach, and back, as it under-rotates for flips, crosses its feet while running, and miscalculates the distance it needs to cover on jumps.
I know it’s a robot, but you can’t help feeling sort of bad for it, especially when its feet miss the platform (by a lot) on a jump and its whole upper body comes crashing onto said platform, while its legs dangle toward the ground, in a move that would severely injure a human (and makes you wonder if Atlas survived with its hardware intact).
Ultimately, Atlas is a research and development tool, not a product the company plans to sell commercially (which is probably good, because despite how cool it looks doing parkour, I for one would be more than a little wary if I came across this human-shaped hunk of electronics wandering around in public).
“I find it hard to imagine a world 20 years from now where there aren’t capable mobile robots that move with grace, reliability, and work alongside humans to enrich our lives,” Kuindersma said. “But we’re still in the early days of creating that future.”
Image Credit: Boston Dynamics Continue reading
Posted in Human Robots
#439612 Boston Dynamics’ latest video ...
Boston Dynamics, the company known for its robotic dogs, now has a humanoid robot capable of doing gymnastics. Continue reading
Posted in Human Robots