I recently picked up a few more HerkuleX robot servos from Road Narrows. I love these servos; they have a great form factor, plenty of power for the price, and all the features you’d expect in a modern smart servo, and then some. Moreover, they have a detailed, clearly written manual written in good English (also available in Korean and Japanese if you prefer).
The only thing they don’t have, is servo manager software that runs on something other than Windows. I’m a Mac guy, and don’t feel inclined to find a Windows machine at the office or buy a copy of Windows myself just to configure a few servos. But with communications API so clearly documented, who needs manager software anyway? So, tonight I configured four servos using nothing but the manual, terminal software, and a little utility I banged out to calculate the checksums (only because I’m too lazy to calculate them every time myself). Here’s how I did it.
Disney Research in Pittsburgh has released a video showing one of their current projects to make theme park robots more interactive.
The new robot, a full-sized (but non-walking) humanoid, can catch and throw balls with untrained park-goers. It uses an off-the-shelf ASUS Xtion PRO LIVE camera system to track both the balls, and the user’s head. The robot reacts to the user’s (ahem, I mean park-goers) movements, as well as its own success or failure in catching the ball. A number of participants spontaneously started talking to the robot, though it apparently has no conversational skills at this point.
Interacting with humans has always been one of the most challenging demands for a robot, and while simple, what this robot does would have been impractical only a few years ago. I think it’s a sign of how far we’ve come, and a hint of what to expect in the future. Check out the video below.
Robot gymnast “No. 12,” which has been featured here before, has a new trick in his horizontal-bar routine: a half twist on the dismount. As it’s the only serious gymnastics bot on the planet, we can’t resist sharing this cool new video.
OK, this one isn’t exactly news anymore; it came out over a year ago. But it hasn’t been posted here before, and is so cool that I just had to make sure you’ve seen it: a biped robot, with a very human-looking gait, made out of nothing but LEGO.
The robot was built by students at the Friedrich Schiller University of Jena. It’s not self-supporting at this point; it’s held up by strings and can walk only on a treadmill. But it does demonstrate the proper two-phase (swing/stance) gait and heel-toe step characteristic of human walking. In short, you really need to check out the video below.
Japanese hobby robotics store Robotma.com has announced a new humanoid robot kit called the ISAMARO MarkII. As explained by our friends at PlasticPals, this second version of ISAMARO cuts the price in half, from $4130 to $2040 or so. This cost reduction was achieved by replacing the original 19 kg cm servos with less expensive ones with only 13 kg cm of torque. The kit is approved for use in the ROBO-ONE Light competition, and goes on sale next month.
We all love humanoid robots duking it out in the ring or flipping off a horizontal bar. But all that technology development has a more serious use as well: helping restore function and autonomy to disabled people.
A great example is the BeBionic3 robotic hand, one of the most advanced bionic hands in the world. A new video shows user Nigel Ackland putting the arm through its paces.
A Japanese robot builder who goes by hinamitetu on YouTube has uploaded a new video of his horizontal bar gymnast robot “Number 12”.
No.12 weighs about 6 kg, and stands 45 cm tall. It uses a two-axis accelerometer, located in the head, to determine when to bend and flex its legs. In the latest video, you can see No.12 swing itself around the bar, dismount with a full flip, and stick the landing. (And I do mean “stick” literally — it has stickum on its feet to avoid slipping.)
The Dekinnoka 11 Robot Pro Wrestling tournament took place in Soka City on November 3rd. Eight robots faced off in the ring. Each robot started with one large screw, but after each match, the winner took all the loser’s screws. In the end, one robot had them all, and earned one wish granted by Nejiron, God of Screws. See the videos and results below.
No, I’m not talking about subscribing to a humanoid robot blog (like this one). I’m talking about a subscription that gets you, week by week, all the parts and instructions to build a complete, modern, humanoid hobby robot from the ground up. Each issue includes a magazine with articles, pictures, and instructions, as well as some robot parts. After 70 issues, you have all the parts and, if you’ve been following along the whole time, your RoboOne-suitable robot is complete.
Dongbu Robot, makers of the Herkulex line of servos and the Hovis humanoid kits, has announced two new servos: the DRS-0401, packing 40 kg cm of torque, and the DRS-0601, at 60 kg cm. That means the DRS-0601 could lift 60 kg (that’s 132 pounds, for the luddites) with a lever arm of 1 cm, or lift 6 kg at a distance of 10 cm. These new servos complement the existing models, the DRS-0101 (12 kg cm) and DRS-0201 (24 kg cm).
Bot Scene 