Archive for October 2013
TELESAR V is a telexistence robot system, being researched by a group at Keio University led by Professor Tachi. Telexistence is a concept first advocated by Professor Tachi in the 1980s. The aim of this technology is to free people from time and space constraints, by using remotely operated robots to interact with the remote environment.
"What you can do with this telexistence robot is, you can see the things you usually see, even at a remote location. If you're a physician, for example, to examine a patient, you need to extend your hands. With this system, you have hands that you can move just like your own. You can also hear what's going on around you. Those are the first things we've achieved with this system. And now, as a feature of TELESAR V, we've added sensors that communicate what the robot's fingers are touching, and a system to feed the touch sensation back to the operator. This technology makes it possible to operate the robot as your avatar, and feel what you're touching, even if you're a long distance away."
The operator uses a 3D head mounted display which covers the entire field of view, to see exactly what the robot can see. The sense of touch, recorded using force vectors and temperature data obtained by the robot's sensors, is also transmitted to the operator allowing them to feel the shape and temperature of objects. Currently, the robot can recognize surface unevenness as fine as that on Lego blocks.
"The robot consists of a body, arms, and hands. The body has 7 degrees of freedom, the head has 8, and the arm joints have 7, like a person's arms. The robot's hands can't move as freely as a person's, but they do come very close, with 15 degrees of freedom."
"Our aim is to make it feel as if you're really in another place, and this is really your body, and to enable you to do the things you can with your own body."
This multi-viewpoint robotic camera system, under development by NHK, links the motion of eight sub-cameras to that of an individual camera, so that all the cameras film the same moving object.
"Using this system, you can create the effect of stopping time, and moving the viewpoint all around the subject."
"Previous methods used a fixed camera, so they could only capture subjects moving in a narrow or limited space. But this multi-viewpoint robot camera system can film dynamically moving sports, or subjects at lots of locations in an extensive space."
Mechatronics Engineer
What is "Mechatronics"
In playing devil's advocate to spark controversy and conversation ...It use to be USA’s manufacturing and other industries where set apart from the rest of the world by its innovation and efficiency brought about by education, teamwork and individual capitalistic drive. In plain English, our young knew the way to a financially secure future was to become a master of their trade. If you had an electrical problem you called a master electrician, mechanical problem… get a master mechanic, need something machined, a machinist. Need electronic device designed, you get electronic engineer, an electrical control designed… get an electrical engineer.
10 Weird & Amazing Robot Facts
1. Elektro, the world’s first humanoid robot, debuted in 1939. Built by Westinghouse, the seven-foot-tall walking machine “spoke” more than 700 words. Elektro later appeared in the 1960 B movie Sex Kittens Go to College.
