Music-Art-Robots-Science

Picture of the week first week of july

2008-07-09T11:59:00.004+10:00

My first Demotivator but not my first cynical thought (being vegan has nothing to do with it)

some interesting kinetic and musical art

2008-07-09T11:24:00.005+10:00

Phoenix finds Five Cent Piece

2008-07-02T20:18:00.004+10:00

Phoenix Lander finds what appears to be an Australian five cent piece buried in Martian Soil. "Does this mean that Aussies beat us to the Pole. First We need to use the Electron microscope and then run the data on the Zados program. Then we can be sure of the authenticity"

Picture of the week last week of june 08

2008-06-30T21:37:00.003+10:00

Toy robots to replace real Endangered species by 2020

Aussies win embedded technology comp

2008-06-29T18:02:00.005+10:00

UNSW wins the Artemis Music Orchestra competition. The rules are simple to make music with real instruments using embedded control. The team picked the Clarinet a tough instrument. And with a special robotic mouthpiece, vibration on the reed was eliminated and a superior sound produced. That is some serious speed those pneumatic actuators playing.

You can see in the video why they won.

But if you want a robot band to play your gig check these guys The Trons out from across the Tasman

Picture of the week third week of june 08

2008-06-27T00:02:00.002+10:00

Tim Burton praises NASA for morbid looking Snow White trench and use of black and white for dramatic effect

NASA confirms reasons for nursery rhymes

2008-06-26T17:05:00.013+10:00

"We just wanted to have a little fun" is the reason given by NASA for using nursery rhymes characters for the names of the geological formations observed by the Phoenix Lander. "We didn't want elementary school students to get confused about whether it was make-believe or not. We had suggestions of using the names of Polar Explorers but we didn't want to confuse the students with names that are unrecognisable and the last thing we want is a Science class to turn into a history lesson".

Disco robo reborn

2008-06-26T14:12:00.003+10:00

Anyone who remembers the 1980's should remember the Disco Robo "for $299 I gotta make it mine". If not, here is a new mobile robot music device from Sega Toys for making your party the coolest party in town.

Newsflash..Toy show in Japan has Toy Robots

2008-06-26T09:30:00.010+10:00

Tokyo international toy show 2008

The toy shows are ever increasing in their interactive electronic content. Mostly cute and cuddly and sometimes a bit strange. But there is a serious change in the level of sensory interaction of the cheaper toy robots. And with 2007 products like pleo and isobot we have come to expect more than simple electronics.

The coolest one I saw is from CUBE WORKS and It is a usb hub that is a r2d2 that has sound and moving head

haptics is haptics is haptics is haptic

2008-06-26T08:51:00.008+10:00

Scope is the Strategic Information and Communications R&D Promotion Program from the Japanese government that highlights the new technologies in the fields of Human-Computer interaction and Computer Vision. Haptics is the backbone of Robotics, VR/AR and AI.

The image at the top is of a hand manipulator for tele-diagnosis.

Cyber Feral Industries Launches the Uncle Bob Guitar demo videos

2008-06-19T17:34:00.008+10:00

Hey Check out the Cyber Feral- Uncle Bob Guitar. This is an awesome Guitar, it sounds great, it feels nice and COSTS NOTHING. As soon as I have the time I am making a left handed beatuy for myself.

and there are demos of the various prototypes and the design variations they have here is verson 004

Crabfu wins best in show at robogames 2008

2008-06-19T11:13:00.006+10:00

Yes I was almost right, well Crabfu won gold with the Swashbot 3. Congratulations to all who won and participated

Picture of the week second week of june 08

2008-06-19T10:31:00.004+10:00

Extinct bird joins with fairytale characters on class-action against NASA for improper use of their names

Telesurgery breaks new boundaries in origami

2008-06-19T10:20:00.003+10:00

United we stand Divided we end up buying robots off the other guys

2008-06-19T09:37:00.005+10:00

Four of the big players in consumer robotics in japan have joined forces on Wednesday to try to give Japan jump start against South Korea. Both countries are the leaders of consumer robots at the moment and they both have plans to be the top. So ZMP, Vstone, Tsmuk and Business Design Laboratory are getting together I have been watching watching the development of these companies for many years and yes I signed up to the open pino back in 2002 and no I never built
one. The only thing is I guess that the direction is of the new supergroup will be to continue to make elite expensive robots for the rich.

Picture of the week first week of june 08

2008-06-13T02:18:00.002+10:00

HOAP-3 "My Programmers taught me to cook and prepare meals among other things, How about you?" KEEPON- "chirp chirp I can dance." HOAP-3 "Well you better start, say how do you start this cooking pot"

Intel makes robot hand intelligent

2008-06-13T00:32:00.005+10:00

Intel researchers have made a three finger hand that can use an active electronic field and I guess using resistance values it can predict the shape and orientation of an object that it is about to grasp. The process has be done in the past using vision systems which require much more processing (and also the camera to be focused on the object). They have labeled the process "Pre touch" a type of localised compliance that ensures the most gentle and efficient grip. The only problem I can see is if the object is charged in some way it may give a false reading and drop the item. It could possibly sense what material the object is or even if it is a hazard like a live wire.
This would work well with the DEKA (Segway) bionic arm

Best Robot Computer Module ever

2008-06-06T14:46:00.006+10:00

There is an awesome robot processing system that is made here in Australia. It is called the HyInt and it Has everything you need to control actuators and sensors power them and run some serious on board computations to run your cutting edge experimental robot. I want one, no ten.
But the Board is primarily designed to use Robotis actuators, and this is some cutting edge design right, so you need to use Robotis.
The processing system HyInt is in the Hykim which is the highly advanced bear Tribotix made for tender as standard for the robocup soccer which it lost to the highly government funded aldeberan nao from France.

Phoenix finds MARS covered in riches

2008-06-06T13:53:00.009+10:00

Phoenix Lander has found particles of Diamond, Gold and Sapphire

The first of the microscope experiments into the mineralogy found more than Martian dust. The slide array opened on landing to catch any dust and particles kicked up from the retro rockets. So before any samples from the robot arm are processed there are several pre-dig experiments can occur. Much to the delight of prospectors are the particles on the slide. Diamond, Gold and Sapphire

"were gunna be rich" claims NASA spokesman.
"The first priorities now are to fire up the high power microscope to see get a better idea how much money we are going to make" Unknown source.

"We re-routed the mass spectrometer and boosted the heat on the gas analyser so we can forge some BLING for Phoenix" NASA engineer

But seriously the images are exiting, I can't wait for the results as to what these particles really are. The results of the REAL first analysis will be three days or so and I will post updates then.

Crabfu plots to win big at robogames 2008

2008-06-05T14:19:00.009+10:00

STEAM CRAB WINNER ON IRON CHEF
"No wait thats Robo Games"

I would put my money that I-Wei Huang, he is going to show a creation that will be sure to win. My guess is that he has built a Crab robot. Using the swashbot platform as a base. I guessed that it is a natural progression from swashbot 3.
And if I am wrong then whatever he enters will be interesting.

Luis von Ahn should get a Nobel for his work

2008-06-05T12:12:00.012+10:00

A few months ago I saw the wired segment on Luis von Ahn, Assistant Professor at CMU. He was basically showcasing his technology. And The concept struck a chord with me as I have long believed that the human computation will be a major part of a broad range of robotics platforms for the most part of this century. And many industries will arrive to meet the need for the various real time human computations.
For positive robotics platforms I see a future where people want to give their time to help the cause, weather it is disaster relief, re vegetation, endangered species protection, space exploration.
I also am a very strong believer in Serious Gaming and positive computer interaction.
The technology that he has produced will have uses in fields such as,

for the Internet- Search, Online Validation, dynamic intelligent interactivity,,,,,,
(I am not going to mention advertising and marketing)

for education- accelerated learning systems, testing,,,,,,,,

for research- thought behaviour, cognition, memory, DNA analysis, data analysis,,,,,,,,,,,

for robotics- Artificial intelligence, Vision systems, behaviour systems, cognition, language systems, non-linear inter-modal referencing
basically building blocks that evolutionary systems can use to their own ability to sense the world with the same level as humans. The robot would only then understand and feel like a human once it has made its own links between all the data that it has received over the course of its life.
By using ones own model of the world that is built from (mainly) ones own experiences. Then a robot will appear, even in the next ten years and will not only know the meaning of blue or red to the same degree but also the same validation as a human does.
In other words you can start with known shapes and make points of reference between them but to really perceive the shapes you must have both an inward and outward looking model. And both need to be able to construct themselves to a large degree from personal experience.
This could be seen as similar to the collective conscious that exists with humans of a similar standing (age intellect gender class interests)
Individuality is a core component of a collective system, it enables evolution.

I better stop now but I will cover the GWAP games with a purpose more in another post as I just spent three hours playing them. Check them out so when you read the post you will have your own set of experiences thoughts to compare.

ICRA 2008 HRI Challenge was a given

2008-06-03T11:29:00.002+10:00

To me the dual first place winners of the challenge are by far the best projects I have seen in the last year.
The Keepon for the design and cute factor but the main positive for me is the focus on educational therapy for autistic and disabled children. Also that Japanese electro music clip that Keepon danced in with one of its creators is by far the best music clip in the robot storyline genre (this one actualy has a real robot in it with real social intelligence)
And the HOAP-3 for its ability to not only mimic observed behaviours but can learn complex sequential tasks using sort of look see copy query confirm repeat structure all using voice and body movements using an advanced learning engine.

And another thing is we get to see the workings of Keepon which are elegant and balanced

Opportunity finds life on MARS before Phoenix

2008-06-03T10:59:00.004+10:00

No only kidding. But the famous panorama in they used for the background for the ICRA 2008. And original image is a work of art. If you dont have it get it here...
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/spotlight/odyssey-10000-image06.html

2008 ICRA robot challenge

2008-06-03T08:47:00.000+10:00

So The first ICRA Robot Challenge was held in Pasadena, CA. Two weeks ago. And is a multiple task competition with a theme of space robots. Being held in conjunction with the ICRA I am sure the event will grow in stature and popularity. Watching the videos I found it exiting to see how the various specialized robots overcome the challenges of the competition. The overall winner USC ISI with their platform Morpheus. The guy in the middle of the photo using the Mac looks a bit like he is jealous of all the fun the Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio guys are having.
(I realise he is connecting to the runtime via a web browser or app but he still wishes he had the xbox controller in his hands)

G'day from Australia

2008-06-02T22:17:00.001+10:00

Hello all here is the first post of many and the format will include a mix of what i am watching on the net, what music and art shape my being, what robotic projects I am doing, news on my clothing label and the developments of robotics association I am in the process of founding. Also there is the crazy theories and concepts I have in my head (most of which are nonsensical) note the serious look in the photo
Enjoy
Luke J