bots
IN BRIEF
ROBOT SNAKE WITH LEGS
Most robot snakes tend to look like real snakes, but
this new design has a central “body” with three
“branch legs,” each of which has a wheel.
The “trident” snake robot is an example of a
nonholonomic mobile robot The basic idea of this
invention is based on a purely mathematical interest on
nonholonomic systems with multi-generators. In terms
of nonlinear controllability, multi-generator systems are
structurally different from single-generator systems such
as chained systems, which have been comprehensively
investigated since the early ‘90s. Control problems for
these systems are a relatively new field that is actually
pretty complicated.
Additional info is at www.robotworldnews.com.
Image courtesy of SSA/ETH Zurich
COME SAIL AWAY ...
Mechanical engineering students from ETH Zurich have developed an
unmanned sailing boat in a focus project that can reach any given
destination completely autonomously. The Avalon robot sailing boat is
due to set sail from Ireland in the fall and head for the Caribbean.
Avalon has already had a taste of the water on Lake Zurich.
Admittedly, the first run ended on a sandbank, but that can happen to
any sailor, right? The students are just happy that the boat is ready and
in the water.
Organizers of the Microtransat Challenge — which Avalon will be
competing in — expect that it will take somewhere between two to
three months for the boats to reach the tropical waters on the Atlantic
crossing. If you’d like to set sail yourself, go to www.microtransat.org.
A PREFERRED PROCEDURE ...
Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers have found that — based
on a study by Fox Chase robotic surgeon Rosalia Viterbo, MD —
outcomes of robotic assisted kidney cancer surgery prove more
beneficial to patients when compared to open surgery.
As a result of the fast recovery, patients do not delay treatment
plans with chemotherapy or radiation therapy which help to stop
the disease from progressing. Go to the Fox Chase Cancer Center
website at www.fccc.edu if you’d like to learn more.
SERVO 06.2009
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