jobs that you don’t really want to do,
such as cleaning up after a party,
taking out the trash, loading the
dishwasher, sobering up Uncle Ralph,
and so on. According to Ng, a
practical maidbot will need to
unite areas of artificial intelligence,
including speech processing —
navigation, manipulation, planning,
reasoning, machine learning, and
vision — into one package, which
poses a substantial challenge.
In the present stage of development, the team designed an
algorithm that allowed STAIR to
recognize familiar features in various
objects and select the right grasp to
pick them up. The robot was trained
in a computer-generated environment
to pick up a cup, a pencil, a brick, a
book, and a martini glass. The
algorithm locates the best place for
the robot to grasp an object, such as
a cup’s handle or a pencil’s midpoint.
“The robot takes a few pictures,
reasons about the 3-D shape of the
object based upon computing the
location, and reaches out and grasps
the object,” Ng said.
In tests, the robotic arm picked
up items similar to those for which it
was trained, as well as unfamiliar
objects including keys, screwdrivers,
and rolls of duct tape. Which brings
up the question of what STAIR will
do with the duct tape after picking it
up. Is a Red Green robot in the
works?
Robytes
Pittsburgh. You are invited to nominate your favorite robot at www.
robothalloffame.org/nominate.
php. Only one nomination is allowed
per computer, and (duh!) previous
inductees are not eligible.
One for the Gripper
If your bot is having trouble
grasping things using rubber-clad fingers or other standard end effectors,
maybe you should consider grippers
that are fitted with razor-sharp
needles. Assuming you aren’t doing a
pick-and-place operation on hamsters,
the operation could be improved with
the GRN needle grippers from SAS
Automation ( www.sasgripper.com).
The company recently upgraded
the product to incorporate titanium
needles rather than the previous steel
ones, thus offering longer production
life and lower overall replacement
costs. The needles extend from 3 to 5
mm from the gripper body and are
pneumatically activated. The grippers
are compatible with the entire
SAS end-of-arm tooling (EOAT) line
and come in both 14 and 20 mm
mounting shaft sizes. Among the
usual applications are gripping fabric
or mesh, insert molding for floor mats
and other automotive materials,
and handling of lightweight porous
matting. SV
Industrial
Strength
Motor Control
for All
AX2550
AX2850
AX1500
AX3500
Get the DC Motor Controllers
that are at the heart of many of today’s
world’s most demanding Industrial,
Military and Research Robots, and other
innovative Motion Control applications.
- RS232, RC, or Analog input
- Speed or Position Mode
- Dual channel output up to 140A
- Optical Encoder Inputs
- Intelligent Current Limiting
- Thermally Protected
- Field Upgradable Firmware
- Enclosed and Board-Level versions
- and many more advanced features ...
Add Your
Nomination
Just a reminder
that the fourth annual
induction ceremony
for the Carnegie
Mellon Robot Hall of
Fame is scheduled for
this summer (date to
be announced) in
Model Amps Features Price
AX1500 2x30A B $275
AX3500 2x60A O-R-B $395
AX2550 2x120A A $495
AX2550HE 2x140A A $645
AX2850 2x120A O-A $620
AX2850HE 2x140A O-A $770
A=Aluminum Extrusion, B=Board-Level, O=Optical Encoder In,
R= RC outputs. Qty1 price. Contact us for OEM Qty prices
The GRN grippers now feature titanium needles.
Photo courtesy of SAS Automation.
8180 E.Del Plomo Dr.
Scottsdale AZ USA 85258
(602) 617-3931 - info@roboteq.com
www.roboteq.com
SERVO 01.2007 9