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Segway-Based Robot Opens Doors
Roland Piquepaille writes "In this short article, Technology Review tells us that Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have built a new robot, named Cardea, which is able to push open doors and has the bottom half of a Segway scooter. Cardea will be five feet tall with a torso, three arms, a variety of sensors, and a human-like head with expressive features and vision, and mounted on a Segway base. More details and references are contained in this review which also includes several pictures. For even more details, go to the Cardea Project homepage."
Holy %$#@.... it's the robot from "Short Circuit" !!
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
Just a dumb question, but if I remember correctly the regular segway works by having the operator balance it somewhat like a bicycle, hence the small learning curve to operate the Segway.
So my question is, does this robot have some sort of balancing algorithm programmed into it so it doesn't fall flat on its face?
Nathaniel P. Wilkerson
www.haidacarver.com
This is such a good thing, as somehow nobody has ever been able to invent a door that opens on its own. But now Johnny 5 comes to the rescue!
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But what if it runs into stairs?
Ah, the most fearsome killing machine in the universe, foiled by a staircase.
Well, at least this robot can thank its lucky stars it isn't made by gluing tennis ball halves all over the outside of an upsidedown dustbin.
KFG
Two Cardeas roll into a bar..
..which is really stupid since the second one should have seen it.
Harald
This robot's design is actually pretty cool. If you go to this site you will see a bunch of really cool pictures, and even a video about the Cardea. It has three arms, which may seem awkward at first, but actually it is a pretty ingenius design. The "extra" arm isn't really its own arm, it is more of an extension of the left arm that allows the Cardea to open doors and hold objects better.
The base for that robot is an official development platform called, I think, the Segway RMP, not just "the bottom half of a Segway." My college has one, too. It acts a bit differently from a regular Segway and can reasonably easily be remote controlled, balancing itself with up to 250 pounds on it. At the moment, it seems they've stuck a robot torso on top of the RMP. Not to say that's not a reasonable accomplishment in itself. I'm an undergrad research assistant in a robotics lab, and real-world application can be extremely frustrating.
Honor Among Slackers. A veri
...without ending up in an endless loop?
Is this truly the only Earth I can live on?
The Segway balances itself, actually you shift your weight to control it.
Now, the genious part. You robot only has to shift its weight in order to move about. You've eliminated a lot of relatively hard problems by piggybacking on the segway.
It's really kinda like using a library instead of implementing everything from scratch.
Stop the brainwash