MIT team building robotic fin for submarines
... The propeller-driven submarines, or autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), currently perform a variety of functions, from mapping the ocean floor to surveying shipwrecks. But the MIT team hopes to create a more maneuverable, propeller-less underwater robot better suited for military tasks such as sweeping mines and inspecting harbors-and for that they are hoping to mimic the action of the b...A walking robot goes mountaineering
... In their study, publishing in PLoS Computational Biology July 13, 2007, scientists around Florentin Wrgtter, Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience at the University of Gttingen, have simulated the neuron...'Biomimetic Technologies' project will create first soft-bodied robots
... Barry Trimmer, professor of biology, and David K...NASA-funded robotic sub finds bottom of world's deepest sinkhole
PITTSBURGH -- A robotic vehicle designed for underwater exploration plunged repeatedly into the depths of Mexicos mysterious El Zacatn sinkhole in late May, finding its previously undiscovered bottom 318 meters below the surface and generating a sonar map of its inner dimensions. The vehicle employed autonomous navigation and mapping systems developed by Carnegie Mellon Universitys Robotics Inst...NASA-funded robotic sub makes final dive to reach bottom of Earth's deepest sinkhole
... ... Previous expeditions tested the robotic probe that will make the dive. The Deep Phreatic Thermal Explorer, known as DEPTHX, is a tangerine-shaped submarine design...Novel salamander robot crawls its way up the evolutionary ladder
... In a paper appearing in the March 9, 2007 issue of the journal Science, scientists from the EPFL in Switzerland and the INSERM research center/University of Bordeaux in France introduce their robot, Salamandra Robotica. This four-le...Robotic cameras join search for 'Holy Grail of bird-watching'
... Developed by researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and Texas A&M University, the high-resolution intelligent robotic video system installed in the Bayou DeView area of the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas is part of a major effort to locate the ivory-billed woodpecker in its historic habitat, the bot...Of I robots go solar; new system could drastically reduce herbicide use
... ... <p...Underwater robots work together without human input
... ... But the project has potentially larger implications. It may lead to the development of robot fleets that forecast ocean conditions and better protect endangered marine...U of MN uses robotic surgery techniques in cardiac cell therapy research
Researchers at the University of Minnesota were successful in using robotic surgery to deliver stem cell treatment to damaged heart tissue in pigs.... Using minimally invasive robotic surgery equipment, researchers injected the stem cells into the damaged hearts. The cells were "labeled" with iron particles so that researchers would be able to see if they engrafted in the pig hearts.... The ce...BACS breathes perception into robots
We are sitting in a soccer stadium and discover our neighbor sitting in the 10th row. We recognize him with no difficulty at all, even though he is wearing sunglasses and a cap in his club colors. Complex recognition processes like this work because the brain, sensory organs and nerve pathways are able to pick up stimuli and process them. The ability to classify things (categorization) appears...Controlling robots that search for Mars life
... The fourth decade of this century could see Europe participating in a manned mission to Mars in what would be one of humanity's grandest space expeditions ever. ...Aurora is ESA's programme aimed at the long-term robotic and human exploration of the Solar System, with Mars and the Moon as the main targets. ... A human mission t...Cincinnati surgeon leads first test of mobile robotic surgery
CINCINNATI--A team of military, telecommunications and surgical experts led by University of Cincinnati (UC) faculty are using an unmanned aircraft and sophisticated communication tools to take the next step toward making "telesurgery" a reality. ...... Telesurgery is a new approach to surgical care in which a surgeon performs operations using a surgical robot and advanced computer technology on...Robotic joystick reveals how brain controls movement
By training a group of human subjects to operate a robot-controlled joystick, Johns Hopkins researchers have shown that the slower the brain "learns" to control certain muscle movements, the more likely it is to remember the lesson over the long haul. The results, the investigators say, could alter rehabilitation approaches for people who have lost motor abilities to brain injuries like strokes....Robots manipulating animal behaviour
Little larger than a thumbnail, the cubic insect-like robots or 'insbots' are technological marvels. Developed under the European Commission's Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) initiative of the IST programme as the project Leurre, the insbots are fitted with two motors, wheels, a rechargeable battery, several computer processors, a light-sensing camera and an array of infrared proximity sen...No place like home: Ant navigation skills used in robot navigation
Next time you find yourself lost despite having a map and satellite navigation, spare a thought for the unfortunate ant that must take regular trips home to avoid losing its way. Dr Markus Knaden, from the University of Zurich, will report that a visit back to the nest is essential for ants to reset their navigation equipment and avoid getting lost on foraging trips. "Knowledge about path integ...Robo-rodent gets 'touchy-feely'
But even more important, perhaps, are the lessons researchers learned about robot design and artificial intelligence. The project funded by the Future and Emerging Technologies initiative of the IST programme even developed new insights into biological brain function.... ...Researchers from Italy, Germany and Switzerland developed a 'feeling' robot by developing a new sensor modelled on hypersens...Robot exhibition to highlight WTEC international study of robotics
On September 16, 2005, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will host more than a dozen robots and their creators for a showcase of advanced robotics technology from across the nation....... The robotic exhibition will highlight the release of a new report: the World Technology Evaluation Center International Study of Robotics, a two-year look at robotics research and development in the United S...Coming to grips with robot learning
"The last decade has seen enormous advances in the design and implementation of all kinds of robot platforms," says Alois Knoll of Technische Universitt Mnchen and coordinator of the ArteSImit project. "However, their abilities to 'learn' how to solve even simple tasks are still very restricted." ...... According to Knoll imitation is a powerful shortcut to successful task learning. "If a robot l...Monkeys adapt robot arm as their own
DURHAM, N.C. -- Monkeys that learn to use their brain signals to control a robotic arm are not just learning to manipulate an external device, Duke University Medical Center neurobiologists have found. Rather, their brain structures are adapting to treat the arm as if it were their own appendage....... The finding has profound implications both for understanding the extraordinary adaptability of...Talking robots, green buildings, and shockwave healing
Melville, New York, April 12, 2005---Do students change their accents shortly after they enroll in college? How can ultrasound trigger healing in bone fractures that are otherwise very stubborn to mend? Could airplane noise lower a student's test scores?...... These and other questions will be addressed at the joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA) and the Canadian Acoustical...Robot-based system developed at Carnegie Mellon detects life in Chile's Atacama desert
PITTSBURGH--A unique rover-based life detection system developed by Carnegie Mellon University scientists has found signs of life in Chile's Atacama Desert, according to results being presented at the 36th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference March 14-18 in Houston. This marks the first time a rover-based automated technology has been used to identify life in this harsh region, which serves as...Technological revolutions in sensors, robotics, and telecommunications allow new views of ocean
Washington DC Scientists can now visualize the ocean floor in remote areas of the Arctic, observe rockfish hideouts, and see live images of coral cities thousands of meters under the sea's surface. Soon their robots will be able to "live" on the bottom of the ocean - monitoring everything from signs of tsunamis to the effects of deep sea drilling. ...... "We have very complex problems in the o...Robots walk with close-to-human efficiency
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Robots that walk like human beings are common in science fiction but not so easy to make in real life. The most famous current example, the Honda Asimo, moves smoothly but on large, flat feet. And compared with a person, it consumes much more energy. ... But researchers at Cornell University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Holland's Delft University of Tec...Brain controls robot arm in monkey, University of Pittsburgh researcher reports at AAAS
WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 Reaching for something you want seems a simple enough task, but not for someone with a prosthetic arm, in whom the brain has no control over such fluid, purposeful movements. Yet according to research presented at the 2005 American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting, scientists have made significant strides to create a permanent artificial device...Worms, slugs inspire robotic devices
Drawing on an understanding of how slugs, leeches and earthworms traverse their environments and grasp objects, a team of Case Western Reserve University biologists and engineers has developed two flexible robotic devices that could make invasive medical procedures such as colonoscopies safer for patients and easier for doctors to administer. ... The researchers from Case's departments of biology...Teams build robots that walk like humans
Three independent research teams, including one from MIT, have built walking robots that mimic humans in terms of their gait, energy-efficiency, and control. The MIT robot also demonstrates a new learning system that allows the robot to continually adapt to the terrain as it walks. ...The work, to be described in the Feb. 18 issue of the journal ...Developed at MIT, Cornell, and Holl...Robots that act like rat pups can tell us something about the...behavior of both, according to UC Davis researchers....... Sanjay Joshi, assistant professor of mechanical and aeronautical...engineering, and associate professor of psychology Jeffrey Schank...have recorded the behavior of rat pups and built rat-like robots with...the same basic senses and motor skills to see how behavior can emerge...Argo robotic instrument network now covers most of the globe
Scientists have crossed an important threshold in an international effort to deploy a global network of robotic instruments to monitor and investigate important changes in the world's oceans.... ...Researchers with the international Argo program announced they have reached the point where 1,500 ocean-traveling float instruments--half the target 3,000-float array-- are now operating. This marks an...Study using robotic microscope shows how mutant Huntington's protein affects neurons
Using a specially designed robotic microscope to study cultured cells, researchers have found evidence that abnormal protein clumps called inclusion bodies in neurons from people with Huntington's disease (HD) prevent cell death. The finding helps to resolve a longstanding debate about the role of these inclusion bodies in HD and other disorders and may help investigators find effective treatmen...