21 November 2008Robots: Bio-inspired LocomotionIn our 13th episode we talk with biologist Robert Full from UC Berkeley about the research he's been doing on animal locomotion and how his insights have been inspiring engineers to create robots. We then talk to expert Auke Ijspeert from the EPFL on his insight on bio-inspired locomotion.Robert Full  Prof. Robert Full is the director of the Poly-Pedal Lab at UC Berkeley where he has been interacting with engineers, biologists and mathematicians for the interdisciplinary study of locomotion in animals and robots.
By studying how cockroaches run over complex terrain or how crabs can run in sand, he's inspired roboticists to create the RHex robot with open-loop control and bouncy legs capable of running along in rough terrain. With the running out of the way, Full then looked at climbing animals such as geckos and the Van der Waals forces which allow their hairy feet to cling to a wall. The resulting bio-inspired dry adhesives have been covered in Talking Robots by Prof. Ron Fearing and Prof. Mettin Sitti. However, what happens when a gecko slips or even falls? After a quick inquiry from an engineer about the use of gecko tails, Full found the answer by discovering that geckos can actively use their tail to stabilize and even do controlled gliding! Finally, Prof. Full presents his view on bio-inspired engineering, the use of robots for biologists, and the amazing compliance and robustness of living creatures still unachievable by robots. Auke Ijspeert  Prof. Auke Ijspeert is a long-time colleague of Full, meeting at countless conferences and exchanging visits to each other's labs on both sides of the Atlantic. As professor of the Biologically Inspired Robotics Group at EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, he is involved in many bio-inspired robotics projects such as the Salamandra Robotica, and has been featured in a Talking Robots interview on his work. Ijspeert tells us a bit about Full's work as seen by the scientific community, and what he thinks are Full's most important contributions to the field of robotics.
Links:
Latest News: Visit the Robots Forum for links and discussions about the
Death of the Phoenix Lander, World's largest robotic truck and Honda's assisted walking prototype presented in the podcast.
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Robots: Bio-inspired Locomotion
07 November 2008Robots: Androids, Human Presence and the Uncanny ValleyThis episode covers android science and human-robot interactions with expert Hiroshi Ishiguro from Osaka. After the interview we feature the last installment of Jack Graham's Selkies story, as well as a poll on the future of Androids.Hiroshi Ishiguro 
Hiroshi Ishiguro is Professor of the Department of Adaptive Machine Systems, and the group leader of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Osaka University.
If you've ever seen an Android robot in the news, it probably came out of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory. Starting from the robotic replicate of his then 5 year old daughter, Prof. Ishiguro then went on to model a female android after Ayako Fujii, the NHK news announcer. Finally, his latest robot Geminoid, which is a close copy of himself, is able to replaceits creator in lectures and interviews. His robots are highly actuated to give them human like facial expressions and reflexes. However, because the AI needed to interact in a human-like manner is not always advanced enough, Prof. Ishiguro has been looking to partially teleoperate his robots. Another approach investigated is to make his robots autonomous by having them perceive and react to their world thanks to networks of cameras and microphones. Using these robots as a tool, Prof. Ishiguro has been exploring the field of Android Science, which looks at both the appearance and behavior of humanoid robots and their impact on human robot interactions. In particular, he is looking to verify the existence of the uncanny valley and to explore how to make androids which sufficiently resemble humans to be likable. On the more philosophical side, his androids open the door to understanding what human presence really means. Survey   What is your take on androids? Will androids ever become indistinguishable from humans, both in looks and behaviour? Will they become unrecognizable like the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica, or remain awkward like Data from Star Trek? Take the poll on the Robots forum!
Selkies In this last installment of the Jack Graham's Selkies story Mangan sets his Selkies free with a new schooling algorithm in a sea full of sharks. Will this new generation of robotic swimmers escape the jaws of the sharks? Tune in to find out... Links:
Latest News: As always, you can find more info on the robots mentioned in this episode on the robot forum, including what may be your future robot
housemaid, Australia's anti IED robot SPIKER as well as videos and a slideshow of 25 years of CMU's Field Robotics Center.
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24 October 2008Robots: Jumping and Crawling in MillirobotsThis episode concentrates on how to scale down robots to the size of our creepy crawly friends, insects. Sarah Bergbreiter tells us about the micromachining techniques required to build jumping robots at this small scale and the applications in sensor networks. Aaron Hoover then talks about his 6-legged crawling robot that is slowly approaching the cockroach in size and locomotion capability.Sarah Bergbreiter 
Sarah Bergbreiter is Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Maryland where she directs the Micro Robotics Lab.
With her vision of mobile sensor networks composed of large numbers of autonomous robots, Bergbreiter first started designing the CotsBots, built entirely from commercial off-the-shelf components. She then went to micro-sized robots which could be used in a non-invasive manner in their deploying environment. As a first step in her endeavor she contributed to Seth Hollar and Anita Flynn's walking microrobot and then went on to her own tiny jumping robots to achieve better mobility. To enable jumping, she demonstrated the quick release of a mechanical leg based on a silicon micro rubber band (see video here). Finally, to avoid spending hours in a clean room, Bergbreiter is looking to develop fabrication techniques for the fast prototyping of novel robots, in particular with respect to challenges in scaling down robotic components for energy storage, actuation, power, sensing and control. Aaron Hoover  Aaron Hoover is a research assistant in Prof. Ron Fearing's lab at the University of California at Berkeley. His expertise lies in the use of novel manufacturing techniques based on smart composites, flexure joints and folding structures. Hoover's efforts to mimic complex biological systems such as beetles that can run over a myriad of surfaces has culminated in the 2.4g RoACH hexapod robot. The RoACH is capable of crawling autonomously at 1 body length per second and can last for almost 10 minutes on a single charge. Check out a video of the RoACH in action!
Selkies 
In the third quarter of the science fiction story "Selkies" by author Jack Graham, we meet researcher Sylvia Ochoa from the UN Marine Fisheries and follow Mangan in his endeavor to shark-proof his robot-seals. Don't miss his other SciFi stories straight out of Cambridge MA on lonesomerobot.com, such as "arm" and "posthuman playground". Links:
Latest News: Visit the Robots forum for links, videos and discussions
about the wirelessly-powered robot swarm, the new robotic instrument which allows surgery on a beating heart and the iPhone's robotic legs.
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10 October 2008Robots: Warehouse RobotsIn this episode we sit down with Raffaello D'Andrea, professor at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETHZ) and founding member of Kiva Systems, to speak about their Kiva robotic warehouse system. We then continue with the second quarter of Jack Graham's sci-fi story, Selkies.Raffaello D'Andrea 
Prof. Raffaello D'Andrea is an expert in multi-robot systems, leading the Cornell Robot Soccer Team to four world championship wins at the international RoboCup competition. After ten years of assistant and then associate professorship at Cornell University, D'Andrea crossed the lake to take a position as full professor at ETHZ in Zurich.
Not satisfied with research however, D'Andrea has applied his knowledge to industry, and is co-founder and Engineering Fellow at Kiva Systems. He describes for us Kiva's Mobile Fulfillment System, a revolutionary robotic warehouse concept that uses hundreds of mobile robots to fetch items for workers, increasing efficiency and looking really cool in the process! Besides creating robots for research or industry, D'Andrea is also a creator of dynamic sculpture. His robotic art has appeared at various international venues, including the National Gallery of Canada and the Venice Biennale. In an attempt to spread his passion and get students thinking about robotics outside the laboratory, D'Andrea is teaching a project course at ETHZ in which students design and build a dynamic sculpture purely for public display. Selkies Science Fiction author, Jack Graham from lonesomerobot.com treats us to the second quarter of his story "Selkies". As a flash back, the first episode introduced roboticist Mangan, his sea-lion pet Cato and the team of seal-like robots called selkies which work in the depths of the ocean to clean up waste. In this episode, Jack, further pushes us into the ambiance of his futuristic world where unexpected visits and disappearing selkies create the intrigue. Links:
Latest News: More links and discussions on Cyberdyne's exoskeleton, the fly-controlled robot and the new robots exhibited at CEATEC in the Robots Forum.
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25 September 2008Robots: Swarming Autonomous Underwater VehiclesIn this show we dive into the world of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with an emphasis on the challenges when having to localize and communicate in the deep blue. While Navinda Kottege at the Australian National University has been looking at how swarms of small Serafina AUVs can determine their range, bearing and posture with respect to neighboring robots, Marc Sherman from Teledyne RD Instruments tells us how his Doppler Velocity Log systems are used to provide positioning for slightly larger beasts.For a more futuristic view on underwater swarms, we present the first episode of our Science Fiction Special written by Jack Graham in Cambridge, MA. The "Selkies" will be following us over the next four episodes so don't miss today's debut. Finally, if you're curious about last week's Uncertain Roomba Competition, check our forum for the winner and the actual solution. Navinda Kottege  Navinda Kottege is a research assistant at the Australian National University, and has spent the last few years working on an underwater localisation system for swarms of AUVs, in particular the Serafina Robot.
Links:
Latest News: Visit the Robots Forum for links and discussions about
Singapore's TechX Challenge, Stanford's free robotics and AI courses and the Mars Rover's new 2-year trek presented in the podcast.
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Published: 5.6.2008/dm Last update: 21.11.2008/mw
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AboutRobots is the podcast for news and views on robotics. In addition to insights from high-profile professionals, Robots will take you for a ride through the world's research labs, robotics companies and their latest innovations. New episodes are released every two weeks, on Fridays at 9am GMT. Next episode: Friday, 5th of December 2008 Subscribe to feedSubscribe to Robots using iTunes or other podcatchers by clicking on the following links:
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