Robot snake learns to tackle sandy hills by copying sidewinder

     Robots offer a way of entering dangerous places where humans cannot venture unassisted such as nuclear disasters. However in the past they have sometimes been thwarted by terrains such as sand. In the future this should be less likely to occur as scientists have been studying one of the few animals in the world that can tackle sandy terrains with ease, the sidewinder rattlesnake. They conducted research and analysed the patterns of movement of the sidewinder and then copied them over to the robot snake. Now the robot snake is able to deal with sandy inclines in the same way as the rattlesnake does.

 

The sidewinder rattlesnake is well known for being able to undulate with ease over the sands surface in a sideways motion, hence its name. Now the snake robot of the Carnegie Mellon University can too. In the past, the robot snake has struggled when it comes to sandy terrains as it failed tests in the Red Sea in 2011. - See more at: http://interestingengineering.com/robot-snake-learns-to-tackle-sandy-hills-by-copying-sidewinder/#sthash.WsZx0RVh.dpuf

The sidewinder rattlesnake is well known for being able to undulate with ease over the sands surface in a sideways motion, hence its name. Now the snake robot of the Carnegie Mellon University can too. In the past, the robot snake has struggled when it comes to sandy terrains as it failed tests in the Red Sea in 2011.

 Georgia Institute of Technology researchers along with the Oregon State University became interested in the robot when they wanted to find out how the sidewinder rattlesnake could deal so easily with sandy terrains. They filled up an enclosure with sand at a zoo in Atlanta and watched six sidewinder snakes make their way from the bottom up to the top. They then watched videos of the snakes and carefully analysed the subtleties in their movement.

They realised that the snakes climbed up the sandy terrain by moving their bodies in two types of independently controlled waves. When the aspect ratios of the waves were continually adjusted, over the vertical and horizontal, the snakes controlled the part of their body that remained in contact with the sandy terrain. As the slope become steeper, there was more total contact area.

This pattern was then transferred to the robot snake and this allowed it to climb up sandy slopes that it would otherwise been impossible for it to manage.

The Professor of Robotics at Carnegie Mellon, Howie Choset said “In this study, we got biology and robotics, mediated by physics, to work together in a way not previously seen.”

"This type of robot often is described as biologically inspired, but too often the inspiration doesn't extend beyond a casual observation of the biological system," Choset said. "In this study, we got biology and robotics, mediated by physics, to work together in a way not previously seen."

Choset's robots appear well suited for urban search-and-rescue operations in which robots need to make their way through the rubble of collapsed structures, as well as archaeological explorations. Able to readily move through pipes, the robots also have been tested to evaluate their potential for inspecting nuclear power plants from the inside out.

For the Goldman's team, the work builds on earlier research studying how turtle hatchlings, crabs, sandfish lizards, and other animals move about on complex surfaces such as sand, leaves and loose material. The team tests what it learns from the animals on robots, often gaining additional insights into how the animals move. "We are interested in how animals move on different types of granular and complex surfaces," Goldman said. "The idea of moving on flowing materials like sand can be useful in a broad sense. This is one of the nicest examples of collaboration between biology and robotics."
 

Robots offer a way of entering dangerous places where humans cannot venture unassisted such as nuclear disasters. However in the past they have sometimes been thwarted by terrains such as sand. In the future this should be less likely to occur as scientists have been studying one of the few animals in the world that can tackle sandy terrains with ease, the sidewinder rattlesnake. They conducted research and analysed the patterns of movement of the sidewinder and then copied them over to the robot snake. Now the robot snake is able to deal with sandy inclines in the same way as the rattlesnake does - See more at: http://interestingengineering.com/robot-snake-learns-to-tackle-sandy-hills-by-copying-sidewinder/#sthash.WsZx0RVh.dpuf

Robots offer a way of entering dangerous places where humans cannot venture unassisted such as nuclear disasters. However in the past they have sometimes been thwarted by terrains such as sand. In the future this should be less likely to occur as scientists have been studying one of the few animals in the world that can tackle sandy terrains with ease, the sidewinder rattlesnake. They conducted research and analysed the patterns of movement of the sidewinder and then copied them over to the robot snake. Now the robot snake is able to deal with sandy inclines in the same way as the rattlesnake does - See more at: http://interestingengineering.com/robot-snake-learns-to-tackle-sandy-hills-by-copying-sidewinder/#sthash.WsZx0RVh.dpuf

Robots offer a way of entering dangerous places where humans cannot venture unassisted such as nuclear disasters. However in the past they have sometimes been thwarted by terrains such as sand. In the future this should be less likely to occur as scientists have been studying one of the few animals in the world that can tackle sandy terrains with ease, the sidewinder rattlesnake. They conducted research and analysed the patterns of movement of the sidewinder and then copied them over to the robot snake. Now the robot snake is able to deal with sandy inclines in the same way as the rattlesnake does - See more at: http://interestingengineering.com/robot-snake-learns-to-tackle-sandy-hills-by-copying-sidewinder/#sthash.WsZx0RVh.dpuf

Robots offer a way of entering dangerous places where humans cannot venture unassisted such as nuclear disasters. However in the past they have sometimes been thwarted by terrains such as sand. In the future this should be less likely to occur as scientists have been studying one of the few animals in the world that can tackle sandy terrains with ease, the sidewinder rattlesnake. They conducted research and analysed the patterns of movement of the sidewinder and then copied them over to the robot snake. Now the robot snake is able to deal with sandy inclines in the same way as the rattlesnake does - See more at: http://interestingengineering.com/robot-snake-learns-to-tackle-sandy-hills-by-copying-sidewinder/#sthash.WsZx0RVh.dpuf

Robots offer a way of entering dangerous places where humans cannot venture unassisted such as nuclear disasters. However in the past they have sometimes been thwarted by terrains such as sand. In the future this should be less likely to occur as scientists have been studying one of the few animals in the world that can tackle sandy terrains with ease, the sidewinder rattlesnake. They conducted research and analysed the patterns of movement of the sidewinder and then copied them over to the robot snake. Now the robot snake is able to deal with sandy inclines in the same way as the rattlesnake does - See more at: http://interestingengineering.com/robot-snake-learns-to-tackle-sandy-hills-by-copying-sidewinder/#sthash.WsZx0RVh.dpuf

Robots offer a way of entering dangerous places where humans cannot venture unassisted such as nuclear disasters. However in the past they have sometimes been thwarted by terrains such as sand. In the future this should be less likely to occur as scientists have been studying one of the few animals in the world that can tackle sandy terrains with ease, the sidewinder rattlesnake. They conducted research and analysed the patterns of movement of the sidewinder and then copied them over to the robot snake. Now the robot snake is able to deal with sandy inclines in the same way as the rattlesnake does - See more at: http://interestingengineering.com/robot-snake-learns-to-tackle-sandy-hills-by-copying-sidewinder/#sthash.WsZx0RVh.dpuf

Robots offer a way of entering dangerous places where humans cannot venture unassisted such as nuclear disasters. However in the past they have sometimes been thwarted by terrains such as sand. In the future this should be less likely to occur as scientists have been studying one of the few animals in the world that can tackle sandy terrains with ease, the sidewinder rattlesnake. They conducted research and analysed the patterns of movement of the sidewinder and then copied them over to the robot snake. Now the robot snake is able to deal with sandy inclines in the same way as the rattlesnake does - See more at: http://interestingengineering.com/robot-snake-learns-to-tackle-sandy-hills-by-copying-sidewinder/#sthash.WsZx0RVh.dpuf

Engineers building teleoperated robots for disaster response in national challenge

This robot has a mounted camera and router to transmit the robot’s view of the scene, and built-in haptics technology allows the operator to receive force feedback from the robot. Credit: U of Washington

Phys.org) —University of Washington electrical engineers have developed telerobotics technology that could make disaster response faster and more efficient.

They are working with a team of eight other organizations as part of the SmartAmerica Challenge, an initiative designed by two of this year's Presidential Innovation Fellows to encourage new technologies that help society in our increasingly connected world.

"We are working on an application of technology that's clearly for the public good, and that's what motivated our team's idea," said Howard Chizeck, a UW professor ofelectrical engineering and team leader from the university.

UW engineers and partner organizations will test and demonstrate their disaster-response technology for the news media and university community from 1 to 4 p.m. May 13, in the Electrical Engineering Building atrium (second floor), before presenting their project in Washington, D.C., in June. The team formed about six months ago at an initial brainstorming gathering in D.C.

The group, called the Smart Emergency Response System team, aims to combine existing "smart" technologies to better serve society during disaster and crisis response. This includes using teleoperated robots for rescues and safety operations; a high-tech dispatch system that gathers information from cameras and sensors and pushes it out to first responders; drones for damage surveillance and rescues; and vests outfitted with sensors and GPS tracking to be worn by search-and-rescue dogs.

"The key is we're taking many developed technologies from different organizations and putting them together in a way that's innovative," Chizeck said.

In a disaster scenario, a robot’s arm could be programmed to turn off a gas valve, as seen in this demonstration. Credit: U of Washington

In addition to the UW, the Smart Emergency Response System team members are BluHaptics, Boeing Co., MathWorks, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, National Instruments, North Carolina State University, University of North Texas and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

At the UW, engineers in Chizeck's lab as well as at spinout company BluHaptics are leading the effort to develop robots that can interact more seamlessly with human operators. The technology lets a robot operator actually feel feedback in the form of pressure on his or her hand controller from a robot on the ground. This force feedback can help the operator avoid objects and realize when the robot's arm has reached its limits. Known as haptic feedback, this technology essentially instructs the human operator through touch sensation as though the person were in the field with the robot.

"The idea is really to combine the skills and situational awareness of a human operator with the precision and repeatability of an autonomous robot. This way we can rely as much on a robot as we can on a human," said Fredrik Ryden, co-founder and vice president for engineering at BluHaptics, and a postdoctoral researcher with the UW Center for Commercialization.

For example, a first responder at a disaster scene could control a robot from a nearby command center to go into the field and turn off a gas valve. The responder could see on a computer screen from the robot's field of vision and steer it toward the valve. When the robot approaches the correct valve, it would send force feedback to help the human operator make a safe and efficient valve turn.

Using a robot from National Instruments, based in Austin, Texas, the UW engineering team mounted a camera and high-end router to allow the human operator to see from the robot's perspective. The idea is for the human to feel immersed in the robot's landscape, seeing depth and real-time movements and receiving force feedback from the robot.

This telerobotics technology, combined with the other smart systems, could help with future disaster responses and even create jobs, particularly for veterans, team leaders said. The robotics technology itself is not complicated to operate and could be used by anyone, not just highly trained technicians.

"We are trying to show that these robotics and communication system can be used by anyone. It's really about making something that's simple to use," Ryden said.

More information: www.bluhaptics.com/

Provided by University of Washington  

Top 5 Factors That Will Help You Design Better

It's a straightforward affair to design, but it takes knowledge and experience to implement the design successfully just as the customer wants it. Gaining the wisdom to do so takes time to learn, which is why we decided to gather advice from those 'who know' and bring it to you.

ABHISHEK MUTHA

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Expertise in the incorporation of a reasonable number of distinct skills and the ability to manage multiple design constraints are the two main things required for designing and developing electronic systems for the industry. Important skills like robust domain knowledge and experience, skilled design implementation and verification, and leveraging the best in-class design methodologies and tools, are a must have for design teams.

The term Electronic System Level (ESL) Design was first defined by Gartner Dataquest as:"the utilization of appropriate abstractions in order to increase comprehension about a system, and to enhance the probability of a successful implementation of functionality in a cost-effective manner." Let's find out on how to really go about designing an electronic system.

Expertise in the incorporation of a reasonable number of distinct skills and the ability to manage multiple design constraints are the two main things required for designing and developing electronic systems for the industry. Image Courtesy: http://www.heber.co.uk/ An Outline

Typically in Electronics System and Product Design, the system or the product is to be thought of as a concept to be created. L R Subramanyan, Chairman at Visiting faculty at IIT-B & Chairman of Seto Teknolog Pvt Ltd says, “First and foremost, the 'what', 'why' and 'how' aspects of the concept to be created need to be analyzed.” Next, a proof-of-concept must be developed followed by developing something like a bread-board design or the circuit design, which would eventually show that the proposed idea does work. Subsequent to that, the next stage would be the product development stage where there would be some specifications or some requirements that must be met.


Subramanyan notes, “If it's your own product or system, it would be your own specifications. If it's a contract based product, the specifications would depend on the customer.” After having completed the basic design and getting it principally approved by the user or the client, the next step would be assembling the whole system and perform a verification of it to check if it's working to the final specifications.


Perhaps, an additional certification by government bodies would also be required in some cases. Finally, after all these processes are accomplished, we enter the stage to prepare for the production of the pilot batch and re-run the product.


Finalising the design

Finalising the design is extremely important and it must be clear. Various members of the organization could chip in. Image Courtesy: http://www.siliconforestelectronics.com

Finalising the design is extremely important as the design should have achieved the desired output from the product, and it must be clear and jotted down to clear any confusion. To assist in finalizing the design, various members of the organization could chip in like the marketing professionals, engineers and manufacturers. “Bigger or mega projects would include more people such as the test team, industrial designers, logistics and support,” believes Subramanyan. The final go or no-go decision must be made. After the decision is made to go ahead with the project, the reviews, evaluation tests and field tests are performed. Finally, this phase is completed when the design is finished, appropriately tested and is hence manufacturable. Therefore, the design phase is very critical.


In the production hand-off stage, having completed the design of the product, it's handed over to the manufacturer for production. Once the design team has gone through everything, the design is handed over to production house – large scale or small scale - depending on the type of project. “It's important to ensure that all the open issues are closed(especially in the case of embedded related projects) and the design is validated,” notes Subramanyan.


Again, all the marketing professionals and engineers come into the picture to decide a suitable time for the product to be released. Citing an example, Subramanyan says, “In the case of refrigerators, the slack season would be monsoon. So it's important that the production is minimum during the slack season and maximum during the summer season.”


He further adds, “The components that go in the making of the product must also be very carefully chosen.” Most of the components are easily available where as few of them are not easily available over-the-table. These two things are the most important things to be taken care of particularly in this field of electronics.


Next step would be the quality assurance of the design. Tests for integration, environmental survival and qualification with respect to the product are performed. Finally, the customer agrees and signs the contract after he's satisfied and his requirements are met.


Select Components Wisely

Selecting components wisely is another important factor Image Courtesy: www.123rf.com

To elaborate on why the electronic components must be picked carefully for a product, the electrolytic capacitors would be a good example to consider. Power supplies contain lots of electrolytic capacitors. Unless the highly reliable electrolytic capacitors are used, the normal capacitors available in the market have a low shelf-life. Subramanyan points out, “For a 100 micro Farad capacitor, the capacitor contains a film inside formed at the time of manufacturing. The variations in tolerance for electrolytic capacitors range from -50 per cent to 100 per cent. So the capacitor could be 50 micro Farad or it could even be 200 micro Farad at the time of actual usage.”


For normal capacitors, he says, “The manufacturing tolerance is 10 per cent. If the product is made using these kind of electrolytic capacitors and has not been used for more thank one year and then subsequently used, the capacitor is no longer an electrolytic capacitor. It may be just a 2 or 3 micro farad capacitor but not 100 micro Farad.” So if the power supply is kept as a spare and has not been used for a long time, they would not work immediately when fed power. The same response is not achieved as desired similar to an ideal power supply.


These are the issues that the customer would not understand. According to the customer, the equipment has failed.


A Good Design is Equal to a Good Set of Requirements

A Good Design is equal to a good set of requirements Image Courtesy: http://www.gbelectronics.com/

A good set of requirements for a design has a number of characteristics. The most important characteristic is that the need or the purpose of the product must be met. In the case of the customer, it means whether it meets his requirements or specifications. If it covers all the requirements, it's complete. It must also be unambiguous. There must be only one possible interpretation.


“If it's 'A', there must be just an 'A', there cannot be a 'B',” notes Subramanyan.


Consistency is an important factor. There must be no conflicts between the requirements. It must also be verifiable, traceable and modifiable. “Especially considering today's requirements in embedded design, people expect last minute changes in the program. For example, once the PCB is made, it's obviously difficult to make changes in the basic circuit. Therefore, it must be easy to add new requirements,” says Subramanyan. He adds, “At the end of the day, it's important to find out what the customer requires not what he wants.” This is one major issue that needs the most attention.


Analog vs Digital

Another area of consideration in the electronics design would be the analog vs. digital circuits. While designing the circuit, the amount of analog or digital that must be incorporated is not an easy task to decide. “It's one area of trade-offs that electrical/electronic engineers consider while designing circuits,” believes Subramanyan.


Is it better to build an analog filter in the front end or would it be more appropriate to do digital signal processing to do the filtering?, Can an analog amplifier increase the signal magnitude sufficiently to reducing the amount of processing later?, Is reprogramming and reconfiguring the processing important enough to put functions in software and remove the analog circuits? - are the questions that need to be addressed and it's important to put in a lot of thought into these questions. All of these trade-offs aim at reducing cost, unnecessary functions, development work and circuitry.


Quality is of paramount importance

Quality must be built-in right from the concept stage up to the final stage. Image Courtesy: http://www.tub.za.net

As far as electronics is concerned, it should not be an after thought. Quality must be built-in right from the concept stage upto the final stage. The Parettos' principal which says “Optimal of the sum is not equal to the sum of the optimals,” must be kept in mind while doing optimization. The design and development of new products requires the combination of electronic engineering knowledge with creativity, innovation skills and business know-how. Electronic Product Design is an ever-growing and a highly-demanding consumer driven market.

10 Useful Websites For Those Interested In Electronics!

The widespread use of electronics in everything from mobile phones to refrigerators, is drawing more and more people to the field.  Interested in learning more about electronics? Microprocessors, microcontrollers, electronic projects, circuits, whatever you're looking for, these websites will have it. Go ahead and check them out! 1. Circuits for the Hobbyist This website can be used for finding circuits and building your own projects. The website contains include high voltage projects, schematics diagrams, tutorials, schematics, tutorials and history about electronics circuits. 2. Electronics Club This website is meant for those who want to learn about electronics and build their own projects, however simple. According to the website introduction, it has been written for beginners but is used by many other as a quick reference. 3. All About Circuits This is a very useful website for getting textbooks on electronics and electricity online. It contains information for both hobbyists and students interested in the field. The textbooks have been written by Tony R. Kuphaldt and were released under the Design Science License. 4. Discovercircuits.com How much time will it take you to go through over 30,000 electronics circuits and schematics? We’re guessing lots. You get a number of quickfire ways to deal with various problems that you may have related to electronics design and other helpful information. 5. Electro Schematics Not quite as large a number as the one above, but this one still contains 1,400 electronics projects and circuits. You can find datasheets, photos and schematics that will help you learn how the projects work and how you can build them too. Found what you need yet? 6. ElectronicsZone When it comes to electronics circuits, nothing improves your skills the way do-it-yourself projects do. This is a website where you will find help in this direction. From free electronic circuits to DIY projects, you will find them in various categories like robotics, audio, radio, computer hardware and many others. 7. Electronics Circuits Want electronic circuits and projects, which are easy to build using the PCB layout? This is the website to go to. It is useful for both students and hobbyists. 8. Circuits Today Circuits and projects along with schematic diagrams is the name of the game for this one. You can find them both in bulk. 9. Hobby Projects.com This is a resource for hobbyists, students,engineers and research and development personnel. You can find tutorials, projects, microprocessor tutorials and many other useful information related to electronics on this website. 10. Delabs This one focuses on product design, instrumentation and automation. Delabs is a collection of tech blogs that revolve around various electoronics engineering technologies.

Top Robot Builders across the globe.

Google to create Army of Robots

Many people who are familiar with the story line of the Terminator series now make a comparison between Skynet and Google. For the people who aren’t familiar, Skynet is an artificial intellect which developed its own will and decided to destroy the man kind. For that purpose Skynet created an army of humanoid, flying and other robots called Terminators.
So, why is that “demonization” of Google? The answer is simple – the American company acquired 8 smaller companies that work in the field of robotics. And it just happened in the past few months. Although pretty far from the destructive Skynet nature, the attempt of Google to spread widely in more and more technological fields is obvious.
Now we will take a closer look over the companies that are a part of the Google Empire at present.

Boston Dynamics

The company was founded by former members of Massachusetts Institute of Technology – a team led by Marc Raibert. The company was born in 1992 and is focused on creating robots and software in order to recreate the human body and its abilities with mechanic parts. Boston Dynamics is probably the jewel in the Google’s “collection” of robotic companies. The engineers from Boston gave life of impressive “Terminators” like Atlas, a humanoid robot with high mobility, SquishBot, which is able to change its shape for moving through narrow places, and many others.

Schaft, Inc

This company is based in Tokyo and received some fame by winning the gold medal at Robotics Challenge Trial. This competition was held by DARPA (not a surprise at all, right?). The Japanese team created the most competitive machine, a 1.5 meters tall and 95 kg heavy robot able to walk and even climb stairs.

DeepMind Technologies

As the name suggests, the company is interested mainly in development of artificial intellect and brain, instead of building functional machines. Inventions of this company could probably be applied to Google’s search algorithm and engine or to any other field of interest of the global internet company.

Holomni

All available information for this company is just “Creators of high-tech wheels for omnidirectional motion.”. This sentence could be found on the Holomni non-active website where is also explained that the company “has stopped all external design work and product production” because of the acquisition by Google.

Bot & Dolly

This company has more artistic approach and makes robots for movies. Probably nobody believes that Google plans to invade the film industry, but it could reveal different applications for robots.

Meka Robotics

This company is also too busy to maintain more detailed website, stating that they’re “too busy building the robot revolution” after the acquisition by Google. Their activity could be best described by their flagship model – M1 Mobile Manipulator, a humanoid robot built in an attempt to achieve the agility of a human hand.

Redwood Robotics

Here we see exactly the same text as on the Meka Robotics website. The company is focused on creating agile robotic arms and was born by the combined efforts of Meka Robotics, SRI International, and Willow Garage.

Industrial Perception, Inc

Robots developed by this company are supposed to be used in industries and warehouses where different objects will be sorted and moved to different locations.