NerdBeach

Robots Are Taking the Pictures at London Olympics

The good news is that Skynet has not happened yet, and we are free to live without robotic overlords. That is, except for maybe professional photographers, who may find that the robots are indeed taking over the London Olympics.

Reuters will have 11 robots set up in places that no human photographer will be able to access. Whether or not this will lead to pictures that no human photographer will get remains to be seen, but the hardware just might be on the robots’ side.

The robotic system, developed by Fabrizio Bensch and Pawel Kopczynski, flaunts Canon’s 18.1 megapixel 1-DX with an array of lenses perfect for the opportunity. You will find lenses that include a 24-105mm, a 70-200mm and telephotos up to 400mm.

Now, to be honest these three-axis mounted cameras are not completely self-aware (sigh of relief), since they are joystick operated by a human. The images are fed directly into the Reuter’s network for editing and distribution.

You can expect to find the camera system reaching into popular event venues as well as the main Olympic Park. According to Bensch,

We are essentially able to put cameras and photographers where they have never been before, capturing images in ways they have never been captured.

For example, one of those ways includes a truss mount 30 meters high in a position that no Olympic photographer has been. As they say, the truly successful photo takes the right eye and timing, but those are certainly some tough robotic advantages to compete against.

via DeviceMag

 

London Olympics 2012

The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad, also known informally as London 2012, are scheduled to take place in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July (when the opening ceremony is held) until 12 August 2012, although the first event begins on 25 July.

source:wikipedia

Architecture Built by Flying Robots

What if you could have a structure that was built brick by brick by flying robots? Well, the Swiss Federated Institute of Technology in Zurich made that rather Skynet-esque picture a reality recently when they showed their system for the Flying Machine Enabled Construction.

The video below shows several quadrocopter-based flying robots picking up and stacking bricks to form a circular structure. It is almost like a ballet as the robots work in tandem to stack the 866 bricks.

Is this the future of construction? While it might take a bit longer for the technology to be met with materials that are conducive to this type of building, it is easy to see how well it could work. In the future, a swarm of flying robots could erect a building close to you. Now that would be fascinating to watch.



Additional Video Showing Greater Robot Detail

via techi

Quadrocopter

A quadrotor, also called a quadrotor helicopter or quadrocopter, is an aircraft that is lifted and propelled by four rotors. Quadrotors are classified as rotorcraft, as opposed to fixed-wing aircraft, because their lift is derived from four rotors. Unlike most helicopters, quadrotors use fixed-pitch blades, whose rotor pitch does not vary as the blades rotate; control of vehicle motion is achieved by varying the relative speed of each rotor to change the thrust and torque produced by each.

source:wikipedia 

 

Robotic Duo Cook Up a Meal

Technology with robotics has finally reached a practical zenith. Introducing robotic partners TUM James and TUM Rosie, who can work together to create the holy trio of guy life – pancakes, popcorn, and, perhaps most importantly, a nice toasted sandwich.

The pair performed their cooking expertise at the CoTeSys Demo in Spring 2011. The versatile robots were presented by Intelligent Autonomous Systems Group at Technische Universität München.

First up, a pancake to get the day started.

Now for a nice meal consisting of popped popcorn and a toasted sandwich.

Finally, a real time (and, consequently, longer) video that explains the mechanics of the process, with the robots fixing a Bavarian Breakfast. It is fascinating to hear the mechanics of the food preparation being described, and it is easy to see the work that goes into something as simple as fixing a meal. But if this keeps up, that robotic chef I have always wanted is just around the corner…

Chef

The word "chef" is borrowed (and shortened) from the French term chef de cuisine, the director or head of a kitchen. (The French word comes from Latin caput and is cognate with English "chief".) In English, the title "chef" in the culinary profession originated in the haute cuisine of the 19th century. Today it is sometimes erroneously (in the view of those in the profession) used to refer to any professional cook, regardless of rank.

source:wikipedia 

 

Ember, The Pocket-Sized Military Robot

The PackBot by iRobot has quite a reputation on the field as an important tool of war.  But it may soon have company from a smaller sibling.  The tiny bot is known as Ember, and what it lacks in size it makes up for in durability and convenience.

Ember, roughly the size of a paperback book, can be carried in groups by a single soldier and deployed in the field, creating a mini swarm of multi-function robotic fun.  One potential use is to load up the small bots with multiple transmitters and let them create a mobile wireless network to bridge the gaps for communication and control scenarios. 

The one pound wonders are extremely durable, welcoming the bangs and bumps that are sure to happen in the given environment.  If the going gets too tough, the bot packs dual flippers  to lift and throw itself out of a jam.  While  the miniscule marvel is currently remote control only, future versions will pack artificial intelligence to allow it navigate around obstacles and no doubt carry out given instructions autonomously.

 

 

Ember will no doubt be a solid hit on the battlefield, but it could be useful in the private sector as well, tagging along after kids and patrolling houses at night.  No word on the runtime per charge, but given its small weight (which adds to its durability from falls), it could have a fairly respectable up time.  It might be good to keep an eye out on this one.

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The Short History of iRobot

iRobot was founded in 1990 by Rodney Brooks, Colin Angle and Helen Greiner after working in MIT's Artificial Intelligence Lab. In 1998 the company received a DARPA research contract which led to the development of the PackBot. In September 2002, iRobot unveiled its home robots flagship, the Roomba, which has gone on to sell more than 3 million units to date.[1] iRobot began being traded on the NASDAQ in November 2005 under ticker symbol IRBT. In October 2008, iRobot announced that over 2000 PackBots have been deployed.

source: wikipedia