Cool article, Ann. The video is quite amazing. While robots have been used for years in automation, your stories lately show a whole new side of robot potential.
I think the key here is the Kinect visual-based motion sensor--a picture is worth 1000 lines of code? It's analogous to talking to your computer. They are both much more natural ways of interacting with machines, at least from the human perspective.
The Kinect approach is definately an important one for machine control. It is also most like human vision. I have seen, over many years (decades) the attempt to create autonomous vehicles and machines. They often use exotic sensors. Lately, though, there have been articles about using a Kinect system to drive these. The vision system is often coupled with a database or model of the scenario. This is much like what we humans do. Factory robots are starting to use some of this technology as well. This is a lot like the small robots that mimic insects, or other creatures. Mimicing humans may be the way to go here as well.
Very cool project. It's really interesting how widespread an impact gaming technology is having on so-called "serious" development, from robotics to CAD software. Kinect-like interfaces are popping up in a variety of different platforms and will push the envelope in terms of helping people interact with previously pretty inaccessible technologies.
Andrew Morris designed a circuit that could detect a stroke victim's groan and convert the sound into a signal so caregivers would know when help was needed.
New disc magnet motors fit into the design trend of stepping up to closed loop performance while maintaining the cost advantage of stepper motor technology.
At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
On April 21, NASA launched a novel project, putting into orbit three satellites that employ an off-the-shelf commercial smartphone as the control system.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
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I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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