Robotics - General News

US Marines Test Awesome New Futuristic Military Combat Robots In Action

https://www.facebook.com/special.ops.magazine/videos/2309209545786996/
 
https://io9.gizmodo.com/this-outstanding-metal-gear-solid-art-makes-us-yearn-fo-1828260396

All images Jordan Vogt-Roberts, via io9
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ORIGINAL CAPTION: A new fabrication process enables the creation of soft robots at the millimeter scale with features on the micrometer scale as shown here
with the example of a small soft robotic peacock spider with moving body parts and colored eyes and abdomens.
Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Soft_multi_functional_robots_get_really_small_and_spider_shaped_999.html​

Roboticists are envisioning a future in which soft, animal-inspired robots could be safely deployed in difficult-to-access natural and man-made environments, such as in delicate surgical procedures in the human body, or in spaces too small and unpredictable to be conquered with rigid robots or too dangerous for humans to work with rigid robots in. Centimeter-sized soft robots have been created, but thus far it has not been possible to fabricate multifunctional flexible robots that can move and operate at smaller size scales.

A team of researchers at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and Boston University now has overcome this challenge by developing an integrated fabrication process that enables the design of soft robots on the millimeter scale with micrometer-scale features.

To demonstrate the capabilities of their new technology, they created a robotic soft spider - inspired by the millimeter-sized colorful Australian peacock spider - from a single elastic material with body-shaping, motion, and color features. The study is published in Advanced Materials.

[snip]
 
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ORIGINAL CAPTION: A soft robotic device powered by popcorn, constructed by researchers in Cornell's Collective Embodied Intelligence Lab.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/A_kernel_of_promise_in_popcorn_powered_robots_999.html​
 
https://gizmodo.com/the-viral-robot-video-thats-freaking-everyone-out-is-to-1828460077
 
https://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/99-things-that-robots-were-supposed-to-be-doing-by-now-1828078927

(Slightly NSFW)
 
https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-trending-45282805

https://gizmodo.com/russian-arms-maker-reveals-mecha-concept-that-looks-sus-1828486804
 
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/articles/2018/8/23/army-to-field-robotic-truck-convoys-by-2019

After a decade and a half of development, the Army has decided to forgo normal acquisition procedures and field leader-follower robotic truck convoys by 2019, a service official said Aug. 22.

The Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center will begin outfitting 50 to 70 Palletized Load System trucks with autonomy kits by the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2019, Jeffery Ernat, the center’s team leader for autonomy teaming, said at the National Defense Industrial Association’s Army Science and Technology Symposium in Washington, D.C.

The trucks will be split between two Army companies and be used in operational field tests in the United States, he said. Leader-follower concepts usually have one manned vehicle in front of the convoy with the rest of the trucks following autonomously without drivers.
 
http://www.bostonherald.com/business/business_markets/2018/09/amazon_has_patented_a_system_that_would_put_workers_in_a_cage_on

Oh dear. :D
 
https://youtu.be/0zA1YULfHEw
https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2018-09-11/director-yoshihiro-kanno-will-wow-you-in-45-second-ad/.136648
 
https://developers.slashdot.org/story/18/09/23/0311221/coding-error-sends-2019-subaru-ascents-to-the-car-crusher

Woops.
 
https://youtu.be/Jg-5Rk0j-F8

https://www.fastcompany.com/90242694/these-adorable-robots-work-together-to-build-alien-structures
http://matter.media.mit.edu/news/article/fiberbots
 
I see a formidable space application in that: assembling modules connection, building automatically temporary structure in space where human can go and use supports to build the definitive structure etc... Imagine those robot buiding a giant netted ball where space worker could work inside in total security with way more freedom of movement than what we see today. Just park all the modules in orbit somewhere, let the robot work around and then bring-in workers to start assembling your station. Once finished, you can keep the temporary structure as space debris protection or cut it away and de-orbit it to be burned upon re-entry.
 
https://youtu.be/ARpd5J5gDMk
https://techcrunch.com/2018/10/01/watch-this-humanoid-robot-install-drywall/
https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/1/17923442/aist-japan-humanoid-robot-drywall-hrp-5p-construction

In other news:
https://www.engadget.com/2018/10/03/future-indoor-agriculture-vertical-farms-robots/
 
I will run you down and hit you with a hockey stick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LikxFZZO2sk
 
fredymac said:
I will run you down and hit you with a hockey stick.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LikxFZZO2sk

As much as I like humanoid robots, I can't help thinking that something like Handle is the future - not something as complicated as that.
 
Damn! Came here to post that. It did make me laugh with the moonwalk. ;D
 
Break out the plasma rifles and the tactical nukes!

We'll likely need some of these as well (assuming their A.I assist systems don't go rogue or get hacked):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ldJswGpkjY
 
If they started sniffing each other's behinds that would have been weird ;D
 
Boston Dynamics objectives and goals. 1000 Spotminis per year beginning next year.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZgNPmeaTjo
 
Came to my mind that they should explore variable viscosity gelified interfacing components that can be tuned either with the dynamics of movement (friction, heat) or controlled via magnetoresistance. That should solve the delta of stability they are lacking notably at the joint level of the hand.

Fantastic achievement and kudos for the modesty of the presentation devoid of most of the egocentric displays we have too often to endure.
 
A little bit more detail on the HRP-5P: https://phys.org/news/2018-11-humanoid-robot-prototype-hrp-5p-capable.html
 
I am not impressed:

- Did those guys never heard about Suction cups?
- When the vision is obstructed, this nice robot would crush anyone on its path (pre-generated map of the surrounding space). I guess it's part of the marketing strategy to scare the S*** out of human competition ("can't keep an hold on your manpower? Use our robots")"?
- It's a robot, it can have its sensors off-board, made to swivel or even pole dancing around, nobody cares... But it must keep situational awareness at any time(see point above)!
 
https://youtu.be/3_2Jy1Ur0js
https://gizmodo.com/in-video-debut-cimon-the-iss-robot-throws-an-unexpecte-1830768737
 
https://youtu.be/4QUKjURoXro

https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/uk-space-agency-self-driving-mars-rover-software/​
 
One hour documentary on military robots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8TE-SihJRM
 
(Should AI be a separate topic?)
 
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Looks like Softbank is accelerating commercial sales objectives for Boston Dynamics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iV_hB08Uns
 
A bit of background: https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2019/03/boston-dynamics-latest-robot-is-a-mechanical-ostrich-that-loads-pallets/
 
fredymac said:
Looks like Softbank is accelerating commercial sales objectives for Boston Dynamics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iV_hB08Uns
\I have the feeling Alphabet selling off BD will be looked back on in a few decades as one of those huge missed opportunities.
 

I would have hoped we'd have been a little more intelligent than to let it be bought up by a foreign power.
 

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