Tag Archives: video
#439710 Video Friday: Robotic Gaze
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We'll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months; here's what we have so far (send us your events!):
DARPA SubT Finals – September 21-23, 2021 – Louisville, KY, USAWeRobot 2021 – September 23-25, 2021 – [Online Event]IROS 2021 – September 27-1, 2021 – [Online Event]Robo Boston – October 1-2, 2021 – Boston, MA, USAROSCon 2021 – October 20-21, 2021 – [Online Event]Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today's videos.
Gaze is an extremely powerful and important signal during human-human communication and interaction, conveying intentions and informing about other's decisions. What happens when a robot and a human interact looking at each other? Researchers at the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) investigated whether a humanoid robot's gaze influences the way people reason in a social decision-making context.
[ Science Robotics ]
Reachy is here to help you make pancakes, for some value of “help.”
Mmm, extra crunchy!
[ Pollen Robotics ]
It's surprising that a physical prototype of this unicorn (?) robot for kids even exists, but there's no way they're going to get it to run.
And it's supposed to be rideable, which seems like a fun, terrible idea.
[ Xpeng ] via [ Engadget ]
Segway's got a new robot mower now, which appears to use GPS (maybe enhanced with a stationary beacon?) to accurately navigate your lawn.
[ Segway ]
AVITA is a new robotic avatar company founded by Hiroshi Ishiguro. They've raised about $5 million USD in funding to start making Ishiguro's dreams come true, which is money well spent, I'd say.
[ Impress ]
It's interesting how sophisticated legged robots from Japan often start out with a very obvious “we're only working on the legs” design, where the non-legged part of the robot is an unapologetic box. Asimo and Schaft both had robots like this, and here's another one, a single-leg hopping robot from Toyota Technological Institute.
[ TTI ] via [ New Scientist ]
Thanks, Fan!
How to make a robot walking over an obstacle course more fun: costumes and sound effects!
These same researchers have an IROS paper with an untethered version of their robot; you can see it walking at about 10:30 in this presentation video.
[ Tsinghua ]
Thanks, Fan!
Bilateral teleoperation provides humanoid robots with human planning intelligence while enabling the human to feel what the robot feels. It has the potential to transform physically capable humanoid robots into dynamically intelligent ones. However, dynamic bilateral locomotion teleoperation remains as a challenge due to the complex dynamics it involves. This work presents our initial step to tackle this challenge via the concept of wheeled humanoid robot locomotion teleoperation by body tilt.
[ RoboDesign Lab ]
This is an innovative design for a powered exoskeleton of sorts that can move on wheels but transform into legged mode to be able to climb stairs.
[ Atoun ]
Thanks, Fan!
I still have no idea why the Telexistence robot looks the way it does, but I love it.
[ Telexistence ]
In this video, we go over how SLAMcore's standard SDK can be integrated with the ROS1 Navigation Stack, enabling autonomous navigation of a kobuki robot with an Intel RealSense D435i depth camera.
[ SLAMcore ]
Thanks, Fan!
Normally, I wouldn't recommend a two hour long video with just talking heads. But when one of those talking heads is Rod Brooks, you know that the entire two hours will be worth it.
[ Lex Fridman ] Continue reading
Posted in Human Robots
#439700 Video Friday: Robot Gecko Smashes Face ...
Your weekly selection of awesome robot videos
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We'll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months; here's what we have so far (send us your events!):
DARPA SubT Finals – September 21-23, 2021 – Louisville, KY, USA
WeRobot 2021 – September 23-25, 2021 – [Online Event]
IROS 2021 – September 27-1, 2021 – [Online Event]
ROSCon 2021 – October 20-21, 2021 – [Online Event]
Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today's videos.
The incredible title of this paper is “Tails stabilize landing of gliding geckos crashing head-first into tree trunks.” No hype here at all: geckos really do glide, they really do crash head-first into tree trunks, and they really do rely on their tails for post-landing stabilization and look ridiculous while doing it.
Their gecko-inspired robot features a soft torso, where the tail can be taken off and put back on. When the front foot hits a surface, the robot is programmed to bend its tail just like the reflex that Jusufi discovered previously in climbing geckos. The information is processed via a microcontroller on the shoulder. This signal activates the motor to pull on a tendon and hence pushes the tail into the wall to slow the head over heels pitchback.
“Nature has many unexpected, elegant solutions to engineering problems—and this is wonderfully illustrated by the way geckos can use their tails to turn a head-first collision into a successful perching maneuver. Landing from flight is difficult, and we hope our findings will lead to new techniques for robot mobility—sometimes crashes are helpful,” Robert Siddall describes.[ Paper ] via [ UC Berkeley ]
Thanks, Robert!
The subterranean stage is being set for the DARPA Subterranean Challenge Final Event at Louisville's Mega Cavern. The event is the culmination of a vision to revolutionize search and rescue using robots in underground domains. Tune in Sept 21-24 on SubTV.
I'll be there!
[ SubT ]
Remote work has been solved thanks to Robovie-Z.
[ Vstone ]
The best part of this video is not the tube-launched net-firing drone-hunting drone, it's the logo of the giant chameleon perched on top of a Humvee firing its tongue at a bug while being attacked by bats for some reason.
[ Dynetics ]
I'm pretty sure this is an old video, but any robot named “Schmoobot” has a place in Video Friday.
LET ME TAKE YOU TO THE LOCATION OF JUICES
[ Ballbot ]
Some more recent videos on Ballbot, and we're very happy that it's still an active research platform!
The CMU ballbot using its whole body controller to maintain balance on top of its ball while also balancing a red cup with water on the right hand while tracking a circular motion and an empty water bottle on the left hand.[ Ballbot ]
On Aug. 18, 2021, the MQ25 T1 test asset refueled a U.S. Navy E-2D Hawkeye command-and-control aircraft. This is the unmanned aerial refueler's second refueling mission.
Not to throw shade here, but I think the robot plane landed a little bit better than the human piloted plane.
[ Boeing ]
We proposed a method to wirelessly drive multiple soft actuators by laser projection. Laser projection enables both wireless energy supply and the selection of target actuators. Thus, we do not need additional components such as electric circuits and batteries to achieve simple and scalable implementation of multiple soft actuators.
[ Takefumi Hiraki ]
Thanks, Fan!
In this video, we demonstrated the motion of our biped robot “Robovie-Z”, which we used to enter the “ROBO-ONE Ultimate Action” contest.
[ Robo-One ]
Some impressive performance here, but that poor drone is overstuffed.
[ RISLab ]
Proximity sensors and analog circuits are all it takes to make a fairly high performance manipulation.
[ Keisuke Koyama ]
Thanks, Fan!
This video showcases an LP control algorithm producing both gravitational load compensation and cuff force amplification capabilities via whole-body exoskeleton forces. Parts of this video contain an additional payload of 25lbs (a weight on the back).
[ UT Austin HCRL ]
An overview of Tertill the solar-powered weeding robot for home gardens. Watch Joe Jones, the inventor of Tertill (and Roomba!) talk about how the robot and how and where it works.
[ Tertill ]
One small step integrating our Extend AMAS VR software to operate Universal Robots UR5e. This VR application combines volumetric telepresence technology with interactive digital twin to provide intuitive interface for non-robotic expert to teleoperate or program the robot from remote location over the internet.
[ Extend Robotics ]
Enrollment is open for a pair of online courses taught by Christoph Bartneck that'll earn you a Professional Certificate in Human-Robot Interaction. While the website really wants you to think that it costs you $448.20, if you register, you can skip the fee and take the courses for free! The book is even free, too. I have no idea how they can afford to do this, but good on them, right?
[ edX ]
Thanks, Christoph! Continue reading
Posted in Human Robots
#439678 Video Friday: Afghan Girls Robotics Team ...
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We'll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months; here's what we have so far (send us your events!):
DARPA SubT Finals – September 21-23, 2021 – Louisville, KY, USAWeRobot 2021 – September 23-25, 2021 – [Online Event]IROS 2021 – September 27-1, 2021 – [Online Event]ROSCon 2021 – October 20-21, 2021 – [Online Event]Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today's videos.
Five members of an all-girl Afghan robotics team have arrived in Mexico, fleeing an uncertain future at home after the recent collapse of the U.S.-backed government and takeover by the Taliban.
[ Reuters ] via [ FIRST Mexico ]
Thanks, Fan!
As far as autonomous cars are concerned, there's suburban Arizona difficulty, San Francisco difficulty, and then Asia rush hour difficulty. This is a 9:38 long video that is actually worth watching in its entirety because it's a fully autonomous car from AutoX driving through a Shenzhen urban village. Don't miss the astonished pedestrians, the near-miss with a wandering dog, and the comically one-sided human-vehicle interaction on a single lane road.
The AutoX Gen5 system has 50 sensors in total, as well as a vehicle control unit of 2200 TOPS computing power. There are 28 cameras capturing a total of 220 million pixels per second, six high-resolution LiDAR offering 15 million points per second, and 4D RADAR with 0.9-degree resolution encompassing a 360-degree view around the vehicle. Using cameras and LiDAR fusion perception blind spot modules, the Gen5 system covers the entire RoboTaxi body with zero blind spots.[ AutoX ]
Sometimes, robots do nice things for humans.
[ US Soccer ]
Body babbling? Body babbling.
[ CVUT ]
Thanks, Fan!
Matias from the Oxford Robotics Institute writes, “This is a demonstration of our safe visual teach and repeat navigation system running on the ANYmal robot in the Corsham mines/former Cold War bunker in the UK. This is part of some testing we've been doing for the DARPA SubT challenge as part of the Cerberus team.”
[ Oxford Robotics ]
Thanks, Matias!
We built a robotic chess player with a universal robot UR5e, a 2D camera, and a deep-learning neural network to illustrate what we do at the Mechatronics, Automation, and Control System Lab at the University of Washington.
[ MACS Lab ] via [ UW Engineering ]
Thanks, Sarah!
Autonomous inspection of powerlines with quadrotors is challenging. Flights require persistent perception to keep a close look at the lines. We propose a method that uses event cameras to robustly track powerlines. The performance is evaluated in real-world flights along a powerline. The tracker is able to persistently track the powerlines, with a mean lifetime of the line 10x longer than existing approaches.
[ ETHZ ]
I could totally do this, I just choose not to.
[ Flexiv ]
Thanks, Yunfan!
Drone Badminton enables people with low vision to play badminton again using a drone as a ball. This has the potential to diversify the physical activity for people with low vision.
[ Digital Nature Group ]
Even with the batteries installed, the Open Dynamic Robot Initiative's quadruped is still super skinny looking.
[ ODRI ]
At USC's Center for Advanced Manufacturing, we have developed a space for multidisciplinary human-robot interaction. The Baxter robot collaborates with the user to execute their own customizable tie-dye design.
[ USC Viterbi ]
I will never understand the impulse that marketing folks have to add bizarre motor noises to robot videos.
[ DeepRobotics ]
FedEx and Berkshire Grey have teamed up to streamline small package processing.
[ FedEx ]
ABB robot amalyzing COVID tests in a fully automated, unmanned state, back and forth between the stations Assist in the delivery of specimens between points, 24 hours a day, 24 hours a day, test results of 96 specimens can be completed every 60 minutes, processing more than 1,800 specimens per day.
[ ABB ]
Thanks, Fan!
This is, and I quote, “the best and greatest robot death scene of all time.”
[ The Black Hole ]
Thanks, Mark!
Audrow Nash interviews Melonee Wise for the Sense Think Act podcast.
[ Sense Think Act ]
Tom Galluzzo interviews Andrew Thomaz for the Crazy Hard Robots podcast.
[ Crazy Hard Robots ] Continue reading
Posted in Human Robots
#439658 Video Friday: Constant Gardener
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your Automaton bloggers. We’ll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months; here's what we have so far (send us your events!):
DARPA SubT Finals – September 21-23, 2021 – Louisville, KY, USAWeRobot 2021 – September 23-25, 2021 – [Online Event]IROS 2021 – September 27-1, 2021 – [Online Event]ROSCon 2021 – October 20-21, 2021 – [Online Event]Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today's videos.
It's been a hectic couple of days, so here are some retired industrial robots quietly drawing lines in sand.
[ Constant Gardener ] via [ RobotStart ]
Engineers at MIT and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have designed a soft, lightweight, and potentially low-cost neuroprosthetic hand. Amputees who tested the artificial limb performed daily activities such as zipping a suitcase, pouring a carton of juice, and petting a cat, just as well, and in some cases better than, more rigid neuroprosthetics.
[ MIT ]
To perceive the world around it, the Waymo Driver uses a single, integrated system comprised of lidars, cameras, and radars that enable it to see 360 degrees in every direction, day or night, and as far as three football fields away. This powerful sensing suite makes it easy for The Waymo Driver to navigate the complex scenarios it comes across multiple times a day while driving in San Francisco, like safely maneuvering around three, large double-parked vehicles on a narrow street.
[ Waymo ]
“Robot, stand up” – Oscar Constanza, 16, gives the order and slowly but surely a large frame strapped to his body lifts him up and he starts walking. Fastened to his shoulders, chest, waist, knees and feet, the exoskeleton allows Oscar – who has a genetic neurological condition that means his nerves do not send enough signals to his legs – to walk across the room and turn around.
[ Wandercraft ] via [ Reuters ]
Thanks Antonio!
Nothing super crazy in this video of Spot, but it's always interesting to pay close attention to some of the mobility challenges that the robot effortlessly manages, like the ladder, or that wobbly board.
[ Boston Dynamics ]
This video shows the evolution of a dynamic quadruped robot Panther. During my Ph.D. study, one of the most rewarding experiences is to improve upon the Panther robot. However, publication videos only show success, and the process of advancement (including failures and lessons) is rarely shared among the robotics community. This video, therefore, serves as complementary material showcasing the inglorious yet authentic aspect of research.
RIGHT. ON.
[ Yanran Ding ]
Thanks Fan!
This paper proposes the design of a robotic gripper motivated by the bin-picking problem, where a variety of objects need to be picked from cluttered bins. The presented gripper design focuses on an enveloping cage-like approach, which surrounds the object with three hooked fingers, and then presses into the object with a movable palm. The fingers are flexible and imbue grasps with some elasticity, helping to conform to objects and, crucially, adding friction to cases where an object cannot be caged.
[ Paper ]
Tin Lun Lam writes, “Recently, we have upgraded FreeBOT (a kind of Freeform Modular Self-reconfigurable Robot) such that they can detect the connection configuration dynamically without using any external sensing system. It is a very important milestone for our ongoing work to make FreeBOT fully autonomous.”
[ CUHK ]
Thanks Tin Lun!
Dusty Robotics develops robot-powered tools for the modern construction workforce. Our FieldPrinter automated layout robot turns BIM models into fully constructible layouts. This digital layout process shortens schedules, eliminates rework, and enables projects to finish faster at lower cost.
[ Dusty Robotics ]
NASA's Curiosity rover explores Mount Sharp, a 5-mile-tall (8-kilometer-tall) mountain within the basin of Gale Crater on Mars. Curiosity's Deputy Project Scientist, Abigail Fraeman of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, gives viewers a descriptive tour of Curiosity's location. The panorama was captured by the rover's Mast Camera, or Mastcam, on July 3, 2021, the 3,167th Martian day, or sol, of its mission.
[ JPL ]
Robot arm manages to not kill plants. Or people!
[ HydroCobotics ]
Thanks Fan!
One Step Closer to Mapping Icy Moons Like Europa, Enceladus – Astrobotic tested AstroNav in Alaska to demonstrate precision landing and hazard detection on icy moons in the outer solar system.
[ Astrobotic ]
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a robotic disassembly system for used electric vehicle batteries to make the process safer, more efficient, and less costly, while supporting recycling of critical materials and reducing waste.
[ ORNL ]
In a partnership with ANYbotics, Vale highlights its commitment to becoming one of the safest and most reliable mining companies in the world. The results showed that ANYmal helps reduce exposure to hazardous conditions and integrates seamlessly into Vale's team to autonomously perform routine inspections and deliver improved reporting during operations and periods of downtime.
[ ANYbotics ]
Thanks Cheila!
Adapted to the Spirit as an optional payload module, Exyn's industry-leading autonomous software, ExynAI, provides unprecedented 3D LIDAR mapping in GPS-denied environments. Now with Level 4 Autonomy and advanced data collection software, this payload enables volumetric autonomous navigation, superior security encryption, and increased speed and agility.
#SkinnyCopter
[ Ascent ]
At the Karolinska University Laboratory in Sweden, an innovation project based around an ABB collaborative robot has increased efficiency and created a better working environment for lab staff.
[ ABB ]
Alex from Berich Masonry shares his experience as a new member of the masonry community, and his positive experience with Construction Robotic's MULE, a lift-assist solution that can keep Alex stay safer and healthier throughout his career.
[ Construction Robotics ]
Older adults sharing what it's like to live with ElliQ, a personal care companion, for the past two years.
[ ElliQ ] Continue reading
Posted in Human Robots
#439642 Video Friday: Constant Gardener
Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your Automaton bloggers. We’ll also be posting a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months; here's what we have so far (send us your events!):
DARPA SubT Finals – September 21-23, 2021 – Louisville, KY, USAWeRobot 2021 – September 23-25, 2021 – [Online Event]IROS 2021 – September 27-1, 2021 – [Online Event]ROSCon 2021 – October 20-21, 2021 – [Online Event]Let us know if you have suggestions for next week, and enjoy today's videos.
It's been a hectic couple of days, so here are some retired industrial robots quietly drawing lines in sand.
[ Constant Gardener ] via [ RobotStart ]
Engineers at MIT and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have designed a soft, lightweight, and potentially low-cost neuroprosthetic hand. Amputees who tested the artificial limb performed daily activities such as zipping a suitcase, pouring a carton of juice, and petting a cat, just as well, and in some cases better than, more rigid neuroprosthetics.
[ MIT ]
To perceive the world around it, the Waymo Driver uses a single, integrated system comprised of lidars, cameras, and radars that enable it to see 360 degrees in every direction, day or night, and as far as three football fields away. This powerful sensing suite makes it easy for The Waymo Driver to navigate the complex scenarios it comes across multiple times a day while driving in San Francisco, like safely maneuvering around three, large double-parked vehicles on a narrow street.
[ Waymo ]
“Robot, stand up” – Oscar Constanza, 16, gives the order and slowly but surely a large frame strapped to his body lifts him up and he starts walking. Fastened to his shoulders, chest, waist, knees and feet, the exoskeleton allows Oscar – who has a genetic neurological condition that means his nerves do not send enough signals to his legs – to walk across the room and turn around.
[ Wandercraft ] via [ Reuters ]
Thanks Antonio!
Nothing super crazy in this video of Spot, but it's always interesting to pay close attention to some of the mobility challenges that the robot effortlessly manages, like the ladder, or that wobbly board.
[ Boston Dynamics ]
This video shows the evolution of a dynamic quadruped robot Panther. During my Ph.D. study, one of the most rewarding experiences is to improve upon the Panther robot. However, publication videos only show success, and the process of advancement (including failures and lessons) is rarely shared among the robotics community. This video, therefore, serves as complementary material showcasing the inglorious yet authentic aspect of research.
RIGHT. ON.
[ Yanran Ding ]
Thanks Fan!
This paper proposes the design of a robotic gripper motivated by the bin-picking problem, where a variety of objects need to be picked from cluttered bins. The presented gripper design focuses on an enveloping cage-like approach, which surrounds the object with three hooked fingers, and then presses into the object with a movable palm. The fingers are flexible and imbue grasps with some elasticity, helping to conform to objects and, crucially, adding friction to cases where an object cannot be caged.
[ Paper ]
Tin Lun Lam writes, “Recently, we have upgraded FreeBOT (a kind of Freeform Modular Self-reconfigurable Robot) such that they can detect the connection configuration dynamically without using any external sensing system. It is a very important milestone for our ongoing work to make FreeBOT fully autonomous.”
[ CUHK ]
Thanks Tin Lun!
Dusty Robotics develops robot-powered tools for the modern construction workforce. Our FieldPrinter automated layout robot turns BIM models into fully constructible layouts. This digital layout process shortens schedules, eliminates rework, and enables projects to finish faster at lower cost.
[ Dusty Robotics ]
NASA's Curiosity rover explores Mount Sharp, a 5-mile-tall (8-kilometer-tall) mountain within the basin of Gale Crater on Mars. Curiosity's Deputy Project Scientist, Abigail Fraeman of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, gives viewers a descriptive tour of Curiosity's location. The panorama was captured by the rover's Mast Camera, or Mastcam, on July 3, 2021, the 3,167th Martian day, or sol, of its mission.
[ JPL ]
Robot arm manages to not kill plants. Or people!
[ HydroCobotics ]
Thanks Fan!
One Step Closer to Mapping Icy Moons Like Europa, Enceladus – Astrobotic tested AstroNav in Alaska to demonstrate precision landing and hazard detection on icy moons in the outer solar system.
[ Astrobotic ]
Researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory developed a robotic disassembly system for used electric vehicle batteries to make the process safer, more efficient, and less costly, while supporting recycling of critical materials and reducing waste.
[ ORNL ]
In a partnership with ANYbotics, Vale highlights its commitment to becoming one of the safest and most reliable mining companies in the world. The results showed that ANYmal helps reduce exposure to hazardous conditions and integrates seamlessly into Vale's team to autonomously perform routine inspections and deliver improved reporting during operations and periods of downtime.
[ ANYbotics ]
Thanks Cheila!
Adapted to the Spirit as an optional payload module, Exyn's industry-leading autonomous software, ExynAI, provides unprecedented 3D LIDAR mapping in GPS-denied environments. Now with Level 4 Autonomy and advanced data collection software, this payload enables volumetric autonomous navigation, superior security encryption, and increased speed and agility.
#SkinnyCopter
[ Ascent ]
At the Karolinska University Laboratory in Sweden, an innovation project based around an ABB collaborative robot has increased efficiency and created a better working environment for lab staff.
[ ABB ]
Alex from Berich Masonry shares his experience as a new member of the masonry community, and his positive experience with Construction Robotic's MULE, a lift-assist solution that can keep Alex stay safer and healthier throughout his career.
[ Construction Robotics ]
Older adults sharing what it's like to live with ElliQ, a personal care companion, for the past two years.
[ ElliQ ] Continue reading
Posted in Human Robots