Robot Builder Home

Home

Links

Events

Home

Well, it's been a long time coming, for which I appologise, but better late than never... hope you're going to find the new functionality usefull. Questions, suggestions and bug reports should be posted in the Site Feedback section of the forum.

Existing members should use the login link to synchronise their status on the site with their existing forum status. If you check the 'remember me' box when you login, this should be a one-time operation. I'm pretty sure that the merging of membership operation between the site code and the forum has gone OK, but in case anyone experiences any problems, the standard Snitz forum code will be running on http://www.robotbuilder.co.uk/oldforum

Although the site is up, it's still quite heavily a work in progress. Status reports, updates and other site related ramblings will be published in the Robot Builder News section of the forum.

Robot Builder Resources

This section contains various robot building related resources. Currently these are Articles, Tutorials and FAQs.

Robot Builder Links

Directory of robot building related links and contact information for other robot building related resources.

Robot Builder Events

Robot related events - competitions, exhibitions, seminars, get-togethers, conferences. If it's robot related and you know the date, put it in the calendar and let everyone else know about it.

Search ...

Go

New Events

Power Tool Drag Racing

Event: Silverline Power Tool Drag Racing
At: Haynes International Motor Museaum, Somerset, UK
On: Sunday 10th August 2008
Price: £7.50 per person to spectate, £10 to enter your creation
Tickets sold at door to spectate or to take part download a booking form at www.silverlinetools.co.uk
See you there!

National Space Centre, Robots Event 17-18 May 2008

The National Space Centre in Leicester Uk is currently organising a large scale robots event on the weekend of the 17th and 18th May.

We currently seek interest from anyone who may want to have some form of input into this event.

I Love Robots - Competition

A competition for UK robot builders and UK robot dreamers to show off their robots and their ideas. Two competitions one for real robots and one for robot blueprints. The Robot Idol competition winner will win £500 of credit with nominated UK online robot material retailers, while the Robot Blueprin

Latest posts on RobotBuilder
RobotBuilder

Pummer Dude! (by: Bob)

Last Post by: Bob on 08 May 2008 @ 16:20:24

new toys for robotics (by: suzo)

Last Post by: suzo on 07 May 2008 @ 14:49:40

BEAM headbot (by: suzo)

Last Post by: suzo on 28 Apr 2008 @ 16:39:08

Robot that can play a guitar (by: robotwannabe)

Last Post by: robotwannabe on 27 Apr 2008 @ 03:27:34

Possible RB get together NSC (by: slurp)

Last Post by: slurp on 22 Apr 2008 @ 23:30:39

Last Refreshed 5/9/2008 1:35:05 PM

robots.net
Recent robots.net articles

Ultra-Super-Tiny, Sensitive Gripper Developed

We've see super-tiny grippers before, but the ultra-super-tiny gripper developed by Yu Sun of the University of Toronto in Canada moves to the next level. Not only can it grasp individual objects just 10 micrometres across, it also exerts a tiny, yet controllable force of as little as 20 nanoNewtons using feedback. The result is the ability to grab tiny items and not damage them in the process. This comes in handy when manipulating living cells that are deformed or damaged easily when man-handled. The microscopic gripper can also detect objects it bumps into allowing software to autonomously close in on them for manipulation faster and more accurately than manual control by a human could. Unlike many other exotic advancements, these tiny tweezers are also easy to manufacture by standard silicon etching processes resulting in a production quantity price of only $50.

Environmental Risk Assessment Rover-AT

How far are you from a Superfund site or Nuclear power plant? How many chemicals are in human breast milk? Well, you need a ERAR-AT V1.0 - Environmental Risk Assessment Rover–AT to find out, aggregate the threats, and help you understand the riskiness of contemporary life. While difficult to call a robot due to its lack of self-mobility, ERAR-AT looks ripe for upgrades with a couple of synthetically lubricated gear motors, a ROHS-compliant H-Bridge, and a hexavalent chromium-free drive train. After all, it already has key components of robotification including a solar power system, GPS, and vast array of sensing elements. ERAR-AT can also project video of fourteen-tiered threat levels onto natural and architectural surfaces in a similar way as R2D2 spilled the beans with that Princess Leia Hologram trick. This question stands out among the many asked: "Why has modernity, which was supposed to create a sense of security, produced more anxiety and threats than ever? "

Robot Chef Learns to Make an Omelet

Sylvain Calinon writes, "I am a postdoctoral fellow working on humanoid robot and imitation learning, at the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory (LASA), Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. We just posted some videos of our work on Youtube, showing a humanoid robot learning to whip egss, cut ham and grate cheese to do an omelet." There are two videos, a short version and a long version. You can read more about Sylvain's work on his website. The work is designed to allow robot learning by imitation using a three phase approach: demonstration, modeling, and reproduction. A number of research papers are available if you want to learn more about their approach. This work is being done at the EPFL Learning Algorithms and Systems Lab.

Fluidhand: Prosthetic or Robotic Advancement?

An 18 year old patient at the Orthopedic University Hospital in Heidelberg is the first to test the Fluidhand prototype and compare it to the i-LIMB. The hand has a large contact area and a soft interface giving it greater grasping ability and a more life-like action. Actuators are mounted in the fingers instead of in the wrist eliminating the power transmission systems normally required for artificial hands. Beyond the intended prosthetic application, one has to wonder if this type of technology will eventually be recruited for robotic applications where having human-like qualities could improve the acceptance and functionality of an otherwise cold machine.

Random Robot Roundup

Sorry for the news slowdown, folks! The editor mailbox is filling up fast. First up is an announcement from Trossen Robotics of their new chat rooms (don't forget the robotics IRC group is still out there too). Markus Waibel sent links to info on the Navy's $1.16 billion robot aircraft program, a gizmodo article on a flexible wing, crawling micro-drone, and engadet posts about the Quadrotor Aeryon Scout and the Caltech fruit fly flight simulator. From the Swirling Brain come links the creepiest robots around, swarming Belgium bots, an update on the O Terrill bum bot - it's being criticized by homeless advocates now, robot jellyfish (with video), a concept for a futuristic clear cut robot (to stop fire, not destroy rain forests, hopefully!), and a DARPA award to Boeing for development of an ultra-long endurance UAV that can maintain a stationary position above a target for as long as five years. Neil Shurley let us know that he's started a new blog called This Week in World Robot Domination. Kevin Prescott of ITC results writes, "I thought you might be interested in a couple of our recent robotics research articles, both about EU-funded research projects." He includes links to an article on the MACS project and RoboCup. We have two new blog posts from Roland Piquepaille, one on a robot crab built from Lego Technic bricks and one on those robot jellyfish mentioned by the Swirling Brain. Finally, Mark Miller sent a link to an assortment of videos he made using his android prototypes, for anyone who needs a little robot humor. Know any other robot news, gossip, or amazing facts we should report? Send 'em our way please.

Last Refreshed 5/9/2008 1:35:06 PM

KurzweilAI.net Accelerating Intelligence News
A collection of news articles and stories relating to the accelerating nature of technology

Closer encounter: Nasa plans landing on 40m-wide asteroid travelling at 28,000mph

NASA plans to use Orion, the Space Shuttle replacement, for a three to six month round-trip to an asteroid, with astronauts spending a week or two on the rock's surface. The mission will give space officials a taste of more complex missions, and samples taken from the rock could help scientists understand more about the birth of the solar system and how best to defend against asteroids that veer into Earth's path. (Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/may/07/starsgalaxiesandplanets.spaceexploration)

NASA's new supercomputer aims for 10 PFLOPS by 2012

SGI and Intel Corp. are teaming up to build a supercomputer for NASA that they expect will hit 10 PFLOPS by 2012. A petaflop is a quadrillion floating-point operations per second. The system will be used for NASA's next-generation rocket for getting to the moon and then eventually to Mars, and to model the ocean, study global warming, and build the next-generation engine and aircraft. (Source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9084238)

Climate scientists call for their own 'Manhattan Project'

The world's climate modellers are drawing up plans for a global supercomputing center with computing power of 100 petaflops that would provide detailed local forecasts of future climate change, with the intent of generating useful forecasts of water supply, droughts, health, and future food supply. (Source: http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn13855-climate-scientists-call-for-their-own-manhattan-project.htmlcientists)

Cable Driven Robot Assists Patients With Neurological Disorders

Florida Atlantic University scientists have invented a unique robotic device to assist with the physical rehabilitation process of patients suffering from neurological damages to their upper extremities such as those due to stroke or Parkinson's disease.

(Florida Atlantic University) The invention is composed of motors, cables and spools enclosed within an acrylic case with a joystick that is indirectly connected to the system through magnetic attraction. This device is the first-known cable-driven robot to utilize a barrier between the operator and the moving mechanisms of the system. The system does not contain any rigid parts that could suddenly harm or injure the user, and the device can be used in a physical therapy office or at home without supervision. (Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/05/080505223023.htm)

Catalytic nanotransporters for nanotechnology applications outside biological systems

Pennsylvania State University chemists have built micro/nanofluidic pumps that transduce energy catalytically. The catalytic conversion of chemical to mechanical energy is ubiquitous in biology, powering such important and diverse processes as cell division, skeletal muscle movement, protein synthesis, and transport of cargo within cells. The chemists have demonstrated that one can build nanomotors from scratch that mimic biological motors by using catalytic reactions to create forces based on chemical gradients. These motors are autonomous--they do not require external electric, magnetic, or optical fields as energy sources. Instead, the input energy is supplied locally and chemically.

(American Chemical Society) (Source: http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=5628.php)

Copyright 2001-2008 KurzweilAI.net
Last Refreshed 5/9/2008 1:35:12 PM