Robot Living

iRobot announced it has purchased technology from the University of Washington. Seen here are the components of Seaglider, an underwater AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle).

Seaglider works by diving down and then surfacing. When it surfaces, it’s antennae is in the air and it can determine its position via GPS. It also sends in its data via a satellite and gets any new instructions.

Seaglider is 1.8 m long and weighs 52 kg, a small enough size to launch or retrieve from a small boat by two people.

Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairman of iRobot, said the company has a strong track record of transferring new technology from research initiatives into products that support military missions an stated,

Ten years ago we transformed the original PackBot into a combat-proven robot used today by soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afghanistan and licensing the Seaglider from the University of Washington will help our robots conquer new underwater frontiers.

Link to more photos of Seaglider here.

Link via (Engadget)

Tags: iRobot, UAV, University of Washington

The A160 Hummingbird UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) is made by Boeing. The Hummingbird was originally developed by Frontier Aircraft in 2004, who was later acquired by Boeing.

The unmanned aircraft is able to make flying decisions on its own and can reach a top speed of 140 knots, which is about 161 miles per hour.

What is also unique about the Hummingbird is that it can adjust rotorspeed in mid flight to save on fuel. Most helicopters tend to have a fixed rotor speed.

On May 14 - 15 of this year, the Hummingbird flew for 18.7 hours without refueling. This is a first any rotorcraft in it’s weight class.

See the press release here (PDF).

See our post about the Humminbird from last year here.

Link

BAE Systems has just signed a $38 million agreement with the US Army to develop insect like robots. This collaborative is called Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST).

The picture here is what the future spiderbots may look like. Also see the BAE promotional video here. We especially like the robotic tank that deploys the robotic dragonflies.

The general idea is to build spiders or dragonflies with cameras and sensors to assist soldiers in a more urban environment. Such as a spider crawling under a door to see who is inside before soldiers enter.

The press release states:

The alliance will create an autonomous, multifunctional collection of miniature intelligence-gathering robots that can operate in places too inaccessible or dangerous for humans.

Link via (Business Wire)

University of Massachusett’s uBot-5 is a robot that is being developed. This cheeky fellow does not actually have any hands yet, but one day hopes to become a home helper robot for the elderly.

uBot-5 will be able to handle tasks like dialing 911 for emergencies or unloading the dishwasher. The robot also contains a microphone and can act as a link to your telephone.

Across the hall at UMass, another group of students are working on a project called Dexter that has fingers to pick up objects with. They hope to combine the two projects soon and make a robot that can help the aging baby boomer population in the United States.

Link via (MassLive)

The University of Pennsylvania has received a $7.5 million grant from the miltary. This grant will be used to develop swarm robotics over the next 5 years. These folks should speak with James McLurkin from MIT. He has made several different swarm projects such as in this photo and you can see them here and our previous post about him here.

The purpose of the grant is to create robots that can coordinate attacks with each other and humans. The University of Pennsylvania will be looking to biological organisms such as ants, bees or schools of fish for inspiration.

Other school involved in this project include Georgia Tech and MIT among others. Some work has already been started and can be seen here.

Press release

Link via (Cnet)