Hajime Sakamoto is the founder of the Hajime Research Institute and creator of an impressive series of robots. He recently hit the news big time with ‘Hajime 33’.
It’s tall. It’s weird. It has gigantic eyebrows. And it plays soccer. Meet ‘Hajime 33’.
Elsewhere:
Botropolis – DBLP (publications)
for more cool gadgets and gizmos:
http://technabob.com
======================These tiny little AI animals from Japan’s TakaraTomy are so cute, you’ll want to puke.
A major issue in the teleoperation of robots (e.g. UGVs) is the idea that teleoperation can be made easier by creating telepresence. Telepresence is not a thing that is limited to teleoperation, and the term appears to originate from work on teleconferencing. Below is an illustrative video about telepresence. Further down are a few more vids that provide an impression of the sort of camera images an operator has at his or her disposal for teleoperation of a robot.
POC: Kyle D. Fawcett, kfawcett@mitre.org
Telepresence technologies use interfaces and sensory input to mimic interaction with a remote environment to trick your brain into thinking you’re actually in the remote environment. Visual telepresence tricks your eyes into thinking they’ve been transported into a remote environment. This unlocks the brains natural spatial mapping abilities and thus enhances operation of closed cockpit armored vehicles and teleoperation of unmanned vehicles. The MITRE Immersive Vision system is a highly responsive head aimed vision system used for visual telepresence. Videos of MIVS experiments show the effectiveness of the system for robot teleoperation and virtually see-through cockpits in armored vehicles.
recorded video stream of a bird eye cam located in front of the robot
recorded video stream of a bird eye cam located in front of the robot
Lately, I have been studying the teleoperation of UGVs. Many people have tried various forms of gestural interaction to ‘teleoperate’ robots or robotic arms. Here is a nice, larger-than-life example where they control a robotic arm with a Wiimote.
15 tonnes of steel, 200 bar of hydraulic pressure and a control system written in Python. Oh, and a Wiimote.
To be quite honest, I do not think that using a Wiimote for teleoperation is a good idea at all. The only immediate advantage of using a Wiimote instead of using a more elaborate manual controller may well be a better ‘walk-up-and-use’ intuitiveness, although one still has to learn how the Wiimote ‘commands’ are mapped to the robotic arm’s motions, much as one needs to learn this with any other controller. A disadvantage may lie in the limited precision and the limited number of commands that the Wiimote offers. I think it all boils down to a basic ergonomical design of a manual controller for teleoperation. Operators must be able to (learn to) map the controllers options (degrees of freedom and commands) to the robot’s options (degrees of freedom and functions). This will likely involve a lot of prototyping and user testing to see what works best, but there is also quite a large literature on this topic (some of which originates from my current workplace at TNO, for example by Van Erp en by De Vries).
More info: http://chrisharrison.net/projects/scratchinput
Scratch Input: Creating Large, Inexpensive, Unpowered and Mobile Finger Input Surfaces
We present Scratch Input, an acoustic-based input technique that relies on the unique sound produced when a fingernail is dragged over the surface of a textured material, such as wood, fabric, or wall paint. We employ a simple sensor that can be easily coupled with existing surfaces, such as walls and tables, turning them into large, unpowered and ad hoc finger input surfaces. Our sensor is sufficiently small that it could be incorporated into a mobile device, allowing any suitable surface on which it rests to be appropriated as a gestural input surface. Several example applications were developed to demonstrate possible interactions. We conclude with a study that shows users can perform six Scratch Input gestures at about 90% accuracy with less than five minutes of training and on wide variety of surfaces.
This one is about six months old, but I only just saw it. Definitely good for a laugh. And, it goes to show that the iPhone is not so much something that does ‘gesture recognition’. Rather, it has a really sensitive touchscreen and the ability to create various interactions using that touchscreen. Snorting coke is not a gesture, it is a recognizable ‘practical action’ (if you will allow the term here). So, anyone thinking of iPhone apps can consider going in the direction of any well defined action. I just can’t wait to see who will be the first to build iSwaffel.
Download The iSnort v0.1 NOW at www.TheiSnort.com This is a demonstration of a simulated Apple iPhone / iTouch Application invented by Directed and Produced by Irish (Belfast-based) Filmmaker / Action Artist Peter ‘Magic’ Johnston. Animation and a Co-Directing credit goes to Steven Henry.
I’m dreaming of a WHITE Christmas… just like the ones I used to BLOW…
The ultimate in last-minute Christmas (or New Year) gifts for iPhone and iPod Touch users.
Forget the Virtual Pint – it’s piss. What YOU need is an unlimited supply of ‘Class A’ Virtual Narcotics.
Be the envy of the in-crowd. Get ejected from pubs and nightclubs. Shock and amaze your so-called friends. Get oral sex from Z-list celebrities.
Introducing The iSnort – an ultra-edgy simulated iPhone / iPod Touch application.
Go on… give it a toot… it’s virtually addictive. I Can’t Believe It’s Not Cocaine.
Download The iSnort v0.1 NOW at www.TheiSnort.com for £10 – all future versions and updates are included in this one-off subscription.
Please pass this on. Going Viral on this would be naughty, but nice…
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