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Luke [Skywalker] Arm and other robostuff
Fly, Robot Fly By Robert Wood http://spectrum.ieee.org/mar08/6017
We do live in amazing times. Robotics as a field, after many delays, is starting to yield solutions to many of the world's concerns and problems. Each innovation moves the field that much farther ahead. Robot Flies have their uses and the limitation on their physical size is a constraint that requires an extra amount of creativity. Creative efforts like these generate discoveries that enrich the entire field of robotics. To be useful they will need to incorporate a great deal of autonomy in their tiny body, which could be used in any size robot. The projected uses see robot flies released by the bushel full at a time to perform important tasks. What would you use them for if they were cheap and plentiful?
A video worth seeing: Dean Kamen's "Luke Arm" for DoD's Veteran's Administration Hospitals http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/82 Here is a case where DARPA funded the development so that manufacturers then could step in and start producing the artificial arms that the Veterans Administration wants to buy. The development cost, clinical trials, and FDA acceptance testing were what was holding commercial firms back from producing advanced technology artificial arms. An important element here too is that the utility of the artificial arm has to be high enough to make it worth the effort to use, rather than it being easier to do without. Up until now artificial arms just were not considered worth the bother and discomfort by the people who used them. When I asked one University administrator, why they had done away with their degree in Robotics, he said it was not because the subject went away but because it now applies to all fields of endeavor. There is a robotics component in each of the degrees they offer. Do you want to become a doctor? Be sure to study your robotics in medicine textbook. On the other hand, maybe you want to become a farmer. Be sure to get your robotics in agriculture textbook, it will be on the final exam.
April 8-9, 2008 in Pittsburg, PA.
Robo Business 2008 http://www.robobusiness.com/ called today to confirm my registration for the for the conference. They said that the registration deadline is approaching for those who have not signed up yet. It sounds like it will be a very interesting show and series of seminars. With it in its fifth year, it should have all the rough edges rounded off by now. It seems to be the robot conference for every kind of robot. What more could you ask for? If you can't go, copy down the list of exhibitors and their web page links, it is a who's who of the robot business and could be a valuable professional reference for you to have these companies in your roll-a-dex.
DARPA GRAND CHALLENGE I & II
NOVA's documentary, free on-line http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/darpa/ .
You may have seen this documentary on Discovery Channel or rented the DVD. NOVA is making their documentary and the "extra stuff" available on-line, free, at their website. The documentary is done well and a good video account of what happened in both races. The success of these races is what encouraged DARPA and Congress to create the more complex third race in the series. Has DARPA's goal of getting the ball rolling, been met? Has enough been achieved that the technology will now take off on its own and continue to be developed or will additional encouragement, perhaps another DARPA race, be needed? It certainly looks like driverless system development is either at that point of being self-sustaining or very close to that point. People are starting to see where they can make money with driverless systems, that is what it takes for people to start pouring private resources into the development of a technology. It is the expected cash payback that justifies their investment in further development. Six vehicles were able to complete the 55 mile 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. How far away are we from a vehicle being able to travel 100,000 miles safely? What might we expect will happen within those 100,000 miles? (2,000 hours at 55 mph.)
Why good steats for a truck that is supposed to be driverless? Two reasons, we need to showcase as many sponsors products as we can and it turns out that the driverless truck will actually have a driver much of the time. A safety driver will be in it when testing, and when transporting it between driverless exhibitions. The seats I am sure will be something that reporters will be curious about. They will want to know what kind of seats we put in a driverless truck and why, what better exposure could a truck seat maker get!
GO ROBOTS !
Paul F. Grayson - Chief Engineer
AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL MAGIC, LLC
Racing to build technology that saves soldier's lives.
390 4-Mile Rd. S.
Traverse City, MI 49686-8411
(231) 946-0187, (231) 883-4463 Cell
pgrayson@aimagic.org
http://aimagic.org
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/robotcluboftraversecitymi/
http://www.controleng.com/blog/1180000318.html
Luke [Skywalker] Arm and other robostuff
March 17, 2008
Fly, Robot Fly By Robert Wood http://spectrum.ieee.org/mar08/6017
We do live in amazing times. Robotics as a field, after many delays, is starting to yield solutions to many of the world's concerns and problems. Each innovation moves the field that much farther ahead. Robot Flies have their uses and the limitation on their physical size is a constraint that requires an extra amount of creativity. Creative efforts like these generate discoveries that enrich the entire field of robotics. To be useful they will need to incorporate a great deal of autonomy in their tiny body, which could be used in any size robot. The projected uses see robot flies released by the bushel full at a time to perform important tasks. What would you use them for if they were cheap and plentiful?
A video worth seeing: Dean Kamen's "Luke Arm" for DoD's Veteran's Administration Hospitals http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/82 Here is a case where DARPA funded the development so that manufacturers then could step in and start producing the artificial arms that the Veterans Administration wants to buy. The development cost, clinical trials, and FDA acceptance testing were what was holding commercial firms back from producing advanced technology artificial arms. An important element here too is that the utility of the artificial arm has to be high enough to make it worth the effort to use, rather than it being easier to do without. Up until now artificial arms just were not considered worth the bother and discomfort by the people who used them. When I asked one University administrator, why they had done away with their degree in Robotics, he said it was not because the subject went away but because it now applies to all fields of endeavor. There is a robotics component in each of the degrees they offer. Do you want to become a doctor? Be sure to study your robotics in medicine textbook. On the other hand, maybe you want to become a farmer. Be sure to get your robotics in agriculture textbook, it will be on the final exam.
April 8-9, 2008 in Pittsburg, PA.
Robo Business 2008 http://www.robobusiness.com/ called today to confirm my registration for the for the conference. They said that the registration deadline is approaching for those who have not signed up yet. It sounds like it will be a very interesting show and series of seminars. With it in its fifth year, it should have all the rough edges rounded off by now. It seems to be the robot conference for every kind of robot. What more could you ask for? If you can't go, copy down the list of exhibitors and their web page links, it is a who's who of the robot business and could be a valuable professional reference for you to have these companies in your roll-a-dex.
DARPA GRAND CHALLENGE I & II
NOVA's documentary, free on-line http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/darpa/ .
You may have seen this documentary on Discovery Channel or rented the DVD. NOVA is making their documentary and the "extra stuff" available on-line, free, at their website. The documentary is done well and a good video account of what happened in both races. The success of these races is what encouraged DARPA and Congress to create the more complex third race in the series. Has DARPA's goal of getting the ball rolling, been met? Has enough been achieved that the technology will now take off on its own and continue to be developed or will additional encouragement, perhaps another DARPA race, be needed? It certainly looks like driverless system development is either at that point of being self-sustaining or very close to that point. People are starting to see where they can make money with driverless systems, that is what it takes for people to start pouring private resources into the development of a technology. It is the expected cash payback that justifies their investment in further development. Six vehicles were able to complete the 55 mile 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge. How far away are we from a vehicle being able to travel 100,000 miles safely? What might we expect will happen within those 100,000 miles? (2,000 hours at 55 mph.)
Why good steats for a truck that is supposed to be driverless? Two reasons, we need to showcase as many sponsors products as we can and it turns out that the driverless truck will actually have a driver much of the time. A safety driver will be in it when testing, and when transporting it between driverless exhibitions. The seats I am sure will be something that reporters will be curious about. They will want to know what kind of seats we put in a driverless truck and why, what better exposure could a truck seat maker get!
GO ROBOTS !
Paul F. Grayson - Chief Engineer
AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL MAGIC, LLC
Racing to build technology that saves soldier's lives.
390 4-Mile Rd. S.
Traverse City, MI 49686-8411
(231) 946-0187, (231) 883-4463 Cell
pgrayson@aimagic.org
http://aimagic.org
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/robotcluboftraversecitymi/
http://www.controleng.com/blog/1180000318.html
Posted by Paul Grayson on March 17, 2008 | Comments (0)
Industries: Machine Control
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