A couple of weeks ago we reported on Jon Hyland’s NanoSeeker Micro AUV project. Today Jon posted some more details on his project and he seems to be making rapid progress. With the help of a rapid prototype machine there are now working prototypes of the vehicles in the water. The NanoSeeker has a “3-axis, solid state compass, with an integrated 3-axis accelerometer”, a bluetooth debugging interface, and runs on a ATmega328 microcontroller. The vehicle is steered via two control surfaces controlled by a Solarbotics GM15 pager gearmotor. Oh, and don’t forget that the vehicle is 6 inches long and 1.25 inches in diameter!

Video of the prototype after the jump.

(more…)

Boilerplate, the fictional robot created by artist Paul Guinan, now has a robolicious coffee-table book called Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel. Featuring historic scenes from the 19th and 20th century, we see Boilerplate’s military prowess as he fights along-side military giants like Teddy Roosevelt and Pancho Villa. The book’s “trailer” is hilarious and worth a watch (after the jump.)

Boilerplate was a mechanical man developed by Professor Archibald Campion during the 1880s and unveiled at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.



Built in a small Chicago laboratory, Boilerplate was a prototype soldier for use in resolving the conflicts of nations. Although it was the only such prototype, Boilerplate was eventually able to exercise its proposed function by participating in several combat actions.

Unfortunately Boilerplate was lost to history during WW1 and his final location remains a mystery to this day. According to wikipedia, some speculate he was captured by Germans and used to fuel their mighty technological advances between the wars.

Great alternate history.

BOILERPLATE: History of a Victorian Era Robot.



[Via io9.com]

MEDbot is good for what ails you | The Brothers Brick | LEGO Blog.

Intel is cooking up something, and they’re using stereotypical engineers and some gadget-y sort of glove to advertise it. Check out the video, help support GoRobotics, and post your conspiracy theory in the comments.

Watch CBS Videos Online

The video above is worth watching for two reasons. One, the amount of engineering and hard work put into these arms and legs is astounding. It should make any engineer applaud. Second, and more importantly, it shows people trying to fix a huge problem and pay back a debt we owe to the soldiers that defend our country.

The video is a segment from the US show “60 Minutes” that describes DARPA’s work into developing a prosthetic arm. It closely profiles the work done by Dean Kamen’s DEKA company in creating the world’s most sophisticated (and useful) arm, dubbed the “Luke” arm after the famous scene from Star Wars. Also shown is some cutting edge work at Duke University (just down the road from me!) on creating an arm that is controlled via electrical signals from the brain to the now missing arm. Pretty amazing stuff. It’s well worth watching. The point where Fred Downs describes what it was like to have a hand after 26 years is very moving. You can also read an accompanying article here.

I’m constantly reminded of my shortcomings as a blogger, especially with this story, as I don’t think I’ve ever posted about Vecna’s BEAR, or Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot. Regardless, the BEAR is a “humanoid” (well, it has a face and arms) robot that is designed to lift, carry, and extract humans from battlefield situations. It can carry up to 500 lbs with it’s hydraulic actuated arms, and either roll or walk via it’s unique independent tracks.

Robot Magazine posted a great article on the BEAR a while back, with lots of nice pictures of the early development of the system. CNet News has more details on the current status of The BEAR. Vecna is currently working on improving the BEAR’s ability to work alongside soldiers and navigate various environments. There’s video of the BEAR in action after the jump.

(more…)

Robot lovers, start saving for airfare to Korea, because you’re gonna want to be there for RobotLand. “Fun and fantasy with robot”. We’ve covered the robot mecca before when it was still in early concept phase, but things seem to be humming along for a 2012 grand opening. The centerpiece of the amusement/business/research park/city will be a gigantic statue of Robot Taekwon V.

Another shot of the robotic paradise after the jump.

[Via Gizmodo]

(more…)

Jon Hylands, on his blog this week, posted a link to his NanoSeeker Micro AUV project. The vehicle is 6 inches long and 1.25 inches in diameter. That’s tiny! Jon plans to outfit the AUV with a 6 DOF IMU, a compass, depth sensor and an ARM based microcontroller.  You can see some pictures of the prototype here.

Good work Jon, I hope to see these things swimming soon!

EngineeringTV has two tasty interviews with Boston Engineering about their tuna-like AUV, GhostSwimmer. GhostSwimmer is a project sponsored to by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to create an underwater robot that mimics the swimming motion of fish. The smoothness of motion of this vehicle is amazing. GhostSimmer weighs about 40 lbs and can carry up to a 10lb payload. The vehicle is fully functional is “user ready”. GhostSwimmer has 7 degrees of freedom in the tail, and each pectoral fin has 2 degrees of freedom. The vehicle was developed with $100k USD of STTR grants.


You can see the two interviews below. Sorry about the horrible “auto play” issue.

(more…)

I’m not quite sure what to make of this, but iRobot just posted a music video to their YouTube channel featuring the music of Lansdown and lots of footage of Packbots blowing up things. See it below:

Cornell University has won the 12th annual AUVSI Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition. And, according to Cornell’s tweet, second place goes to University of Victoria and 3rd to University of Rhode Island. Interestingly, these three teams weren’t even in the top 5 of last year’s compeitors (pdf), so they seem to have put in a lot of work. You can read all of the team’s technical papers here. Cornell’s, U.Vic. and URI’s papers will make interesting reading for all the 2010 competitors with an ax to grind.

Congratulations to Nova, Aerius, and Ram-Boat ‘09 and all the engineers behind them on a job well done.

After the jump are two recap videos from the 1st and 2nd days competition.

If you like this story, will you please Digg it? Thanks!

(more…)

AUVSI and ONR’s 12th Annual International Autonomous Underwater Vehicle Competition starts up tomorrow (July 30th), with two days of prelimiary runs and testing, followed by 2 days of competition this weekend. Last year’s winner, University of Maryland, along with 29 other teams are signed up to compete. Several of the teams have blogs where you can follow the competition as it unfolds. Cornell (update: along with ETS) will also be tweeting the events. You can read the full rules for this year’s competition, entitled “Divin’ Dozen”, here.

Personally, I’m rooting for the NCSU Underwater Robotics Club – a club I helped found. Go wolfpack!

Update: Here’s a nice compilation shot of a bunch of different vehicles at the competition. The picture was taken by the Naval Academy Team.

Update: We have winners!

Robotic Technology Inc. is working on a robot that is powered by biomass – grass, wood, or even dead bodies. The steam powered robot, which is being developed for the Pentagon under a Phase II SBIR grant, is designed for fuel itself off materials in its environment. While the title, “… could feed on dead bodies”, is quite sensational, the ability to power a vehicle using naturally occurring sources of fuel would be a big boon to military vehicles. The “Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot”, or EATR,

… will be powered by the Waste Heat Engine developed by Cyclone Power Technology of Pompano Beach, Fla., which uses an “external combustion chamber” burning up fuel to heat up water in a closed loop, generating electricity.

All that said, in Skynet’s view, what’s the difference between a dead and a live body? Questions to ponder.

Update: Ah ha! I feel vindicated now. RTI and Cyclone Power have issued a press release to combat the roumors that EATR will feed off of dead bodies. Interestingly enough, descriation of the war dead is a crime under the Geneva Convention.