BigDog - The Most Advanced Quadruped Robot on Earth!!!

Terminator Trilogy might be one of your favourite series... One of the reasons for that being your favourite might be Arnold and his bulging biceps... however, it might be that the imagination that machines would grow to such a scale sometimes makes us wonder, although a bit creepy... This article that you are currently reading is about such an innovation and feature loaded Robot which is capable of such acts that you'd be astounded!!! What you read below are the excerpts from the original article...

BigDog is the alpha male of the Boston Dynamics family of robots. It is a quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by a gasoline engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system.

BigDog's legs are articulated like an animal’s, and have compliant elements that absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next.

BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule, measuring 1 meter long, 0.7 meters tall and 75 kg weight.

BigDog has an on-board computer that controls locomotion, servos the legs and handles a wide variety of sensors. BigDog’s control system manages the dynamics of its behavior to keep it balanced, steer, navigate, and regulate energetics as conditions vary. Sensors for locomotion include joint position, joint force, ground contact, ground load, a laser gyroscope, and a stereo vision system. Other sensors focus on the internal state of BigDog, monitoring the hydraulic pressure, oil temperature, engine temperature, rpm, battery charge and others.

In separate trials, BigDog runs at 4 mph, climbs slopes up to 35 degrees, walks across rubble, and carries a 340 lb load.BigDog is being developed by Boston Dynamics with the goal of creating robots that have rough-terrain mobility that can take them anywhere on Earth that people and animals can go. The program is funded by the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).

Such robots when become affordable and production ready are going to bring about a revolution in our world and the way we live currently... hope we are not really moving towards the Judgement Day!!!

Source:BigDog Website...

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The Winglet!!!

While you were a child or were growing up, you just might have thought of a travel system which is affordable and highly efficient... May be you learnt skating, or how to use a skate board to achieve that, if not on the national highway, surely in the large Shopping Malls or the Airports... or it just might be the long corridor of your college...

Keeping in mind a similar requirement, Toyota has developed a motorized, stand-up-and-ride scooter designed to help people dash around at malls and airports. But the "Winglet" takes some getting used to. A demonstrator accompanying a reporter cautiously trying out the Segway-lookalike on a short course in a Toyota showroom was visibly worried about its safety. Toyota officials insist anyone can learn to ride it with some practice, including the elderly its major target buyer.

But Toyota Motor Corp. has no plans yet to turn the Winglet into a commercial product. The Japanese automaker will start testing the two-wheeler later this year at an airport and resort complex and next year at a shopping mall, all in Japan, to get user feedback. Overseas test plans are undecided.

The Winglet goes up to 6 kph (3.7 mph), about the same speed as pedestrians and far slower than U.S.-made Segway at 20 kph (12.5 mph). It stops easily with little pressure, pivots full-circle and goes smoothly over bumps on roads, according to Toyota.

The machine is designed to respond almost intuitively moving forward when you lean to the front, and turning when you sway to the right or left, similar to skiing.

One of three models shown comes with a protruding handle that can be grabbed and used like a steering wheel.

Toyota executive Takeshi Uchiyamada, who zipped around on a Winglet as though he was on a skateboard, said experimenting new ways of mobility and robotics is a pillar of company strategy to contribute to society through helping the aged and providing environmentally friendly products. Winglet, which runs on electricity, goes about 5 kilometers (3 miles) on one charge.

"We hope to create friendly robots that can exist side by side with people," said Uchiyamada. "Winglet will help everyone move around safely and stay active."

The smallest version of Winglet, weighing 22 pounds (9.9 kilograms), can be folded up to be carried on commuter trains or packed in car trunks. Winglet evolved out of Toyota's takeover of parts of Sony Corp. robotics division last year after the Japanese electronics maker decided under reforms led by Chief Executive Howard Stringer to focus on electronics and wipe out its Aibo pet robot and other peripheral businesses.

Toyota Project General Manager Yoshihiro Kawarasaki, a former Sony engineer, said Winglet is designed to be unobtrusive in elevators and other tight spaces.

"This is the kind of product that's making a completely new proposal to society,"

he said, adding that it can come in handy in urban neighborhoods with steep slopes. Toyota envisions a future in which Winglet will be packed with wireless technology so it relays shopping information at stores. Or it may move on its own to recharge its batteries, or collect its owner when summoned, Uchiyamada said.

Toyota has previously shown human-shaped robots that play the violin and the trumpet. It has also shown an experimental single-seat vehicle that resembles a motorized wheelchair. Further ore once this product becomes a reality, a production ready conveyance material we all are going to be on our toes and active...

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A robot that displays Emotions!!! - Heart Robot.

How do you react when dealt with respect, when cuddled, when scolded and when loved? Now thats a genuine human reaction which is almost unique to inidividuals... As much as those emotions are automated... so is the desire to innovate and create...

Something on those lines: Scientists have come up with a ROBOT which is able to display emotions when it is dealt with love or anger...

It has a beating heart, a breathing belly and appears to react emotionally to the way it is treated - no it is not a human being but a mechanical robot 'with feelings'.
Scientists have developed Heart Robot, which relaxes when it is shown kindness and flinches at anger.

Heart Robot has sensors that respond to movement, noise and touch. Cuddle him, and he seems to soak up the affection. His limbs become limp, his eyelids lower, his breathing relaxes, and his heart beat slows down. But if he is given a violent shake, or shouted at, he gets upset. He flinches, his hands clench, his breathing and heart rate speed up, and his eyes widen.

Created by scientists at the University of the West of England in Bristol, the evolutionary machinery was designed to explore how humans react to a machine that appears to show feelings.

Holly Cave, who helped organise the Emotibots event at the Science Museum where the machine was unveiled, said:

"Heart Robot looks like a cross between ET and Gollum and is about the size of a
small child." "He's half robot, half puppet.

You move him around by hand, but he has innate responses that appear emotional. Different children react to him very differently. They either want to hug and cuddle him, and look after him like a doll or baby, or they just want to scare him," Telegraph quoted Cave, as saying.

Now imagine having a robot similar to the Heart Robot with you, how would you react?

"We hope to create friendly robots that can exist side by side with people," said Uchiyamada - Toyota executive, while zipping around on a Winglet as though he was on a skateboard "Winglet will help everyone move around safely and stay active. more on this next...

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