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Google, Intel, Microsoft Fund Robot Recipes
Dotnaught writes "Google, Intel, and Microsoft are funding what may become a robot invasion. Money from the three tech companies has enabled researchers at Carnegie Mellon University to create a new series of Internet-connected robots that almost anyone can build using off-the-shelf parts. These "recipes" describe how to build a robot that connects to the Internet using common parts and a $349 Qwerk controller from Charmed Labs."
...welcome our new internet-connected robotic overlords.
What is going to be the name of the first model?
Why on earth would I want a web connected robot in my house? Because I already have too much privacy? Because bored kids would never think to trash my house with my own robot? Why not just install webcams and tape a web controlled taser to my neck..
We are all just people.
brings new meaning to "bots" doesn't it.
Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
$129 - Nintendo DS
$54 - Supercard-Lite-MicroSD
$15 - 1GB microSD
$49 - DSerial2
$99 - RoboDS
---
$350
Combine with the open source full linux wifi environment, and I don't know why you'd want to spend $350 on that controller (I'm lazy and haven't even read the specs on the thing, but seriously, I can't imagine there is anything the roboDS can't do that it could)
http://www.natrium42.com/shop/robods.php
-dmc/jdog
Do you want your house trashed
Accept Decline
Engineering is the art of compromise.
what about itsatrap?
That should be the title of this piece of news.
if I could only find a cheap supply of red LEDs for the eyes.
Recycle PCs and build a wireless community network www.hillsborough.org.nz
Whilst it's laudable that companies are investing in robotics at all, it seems to me that the time has come for investment on a commercial scale in robotics for specific applications. These 'hobby' type robots are all well and good (and no doubt particularly appealing to many around here) but they don't actually DO very much of any use, and the average member of the public is not going to be all that excited by them.
Roomva and similar robots are a step in the right direction, IMHO: relatively cheap, one- or two-function robots which have an obvious and straightforward function. People can see that, understand it, and if it works well (which I gather is not really the case just yet), will want to buy it. Once there's actual profit to be had, investment will increase rapidly and voila, the real robot revolution* begins.
We seem to be at a point where we have the tech for some truly cool everyday use robots. Perhaps even something like an x-prize for robotics, with the objective being to build a cheap, mass-produce-able, functional robot to perform a specific household task, would do the trick. Some major investment from some major players could kick start a very fundamental change to the way we live.
Plus, having lots of robots around the house would be frickin cool...
* the good kind, not the humanity-crushing kind
Read Pynchon.
As someone marginally involved with the project (my wife is Illah's student), I thought I might clear up some confusion that I've seen in the comments so far.
First of all, the writeup focuses a lot on the funding from Microsoft, Google, and Intel, but in reality these robots' hardware and software are being designed at Carnegie Mellon. Specifically, Microsoft isn't involved with any of the programming and design. The robots indeed run Linux, not Windows. They're not using the MS robotics studio to develop the robot.
This robot is primarily geared toward education: interesting kids in science and robotics. The project lead (Illah Nourbakhsh) has extensive experience creating science museum exhibits, tour-guide robots, and other forms of human-robot interaction. The networking functionality allows users to teleoperate the robot easily from a web browser.
Right now, the project has obtained funding for curriculum development, integrating the TeRK into beginning computer science courses at the junior college and university levels, in order to increase the appeal of computer science to people who might not otherwise be interested in the field.
-- I'm not a pessimist, I'm a realist. It's not my fault that life sucks so much. --
Well, there is a BSOD screensaver for linux, and we could define an init state with no processes. So we could fake a BSOD after turning on the gas in your home.
When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
Google, Intel, And Microsoft Fund Robot 'Recipes'
j html?articleID=199201449
Abstract: Money from the three companies has enabled researchers at Carnegie Mellon University to create a series of Internet-connected robots that almost anyone can build using off-the-shelf parts.
By Thomas Claburn, InformationWeek
April 25, 2007
URL: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.
Google, Intel, and Microsoft are funding what may become a robot invasion. Money from the three tech companies has enabled researchers at Carnegie Mellon University to create a new series of Internet-connected robots that almost anyone can build using off-the-shelf parts.
As part of the Telepresence Robot Kit (TeRK), a joint effort unveiled last summer between the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute and Charmed Labs, associate professor of robotics Illah Nourbakhsh and members of his Community Robotics, Education, and Technology Empowerment (CREATE) Lab have created a series of "recipes" for robot building. (Those who recall The Twilight Zone will be relieved to find that "To Serve Man" is not among them.)
Possible robots range from a three-wheeled model with a mounted camera to a sensor-equipped flower.
The project's goal is to expand involvement in robotics.
The heart of the TeRK is the robot controller, called Qwerk, available from the Charmed Labs Web site ($349). The unit functions as an electronic brain and handles wireless Internet connectivity, motion control, and functions like sending and receiving photos or video, responding to RSS feeds, and searching the Net.
Qwerk is a Linux-based computer. It uses a field-programmable gate array to control motors, servos, cameras, amplifiers, and other devices. It also can accept USB peripheral devices, such as Web cameras and GPS receivers.
"We leveraged several low-cost, yet high-performance components that were originally developed for the consumer electronics industry when we designed Qwerk," said Rich LeGrand, president of Charmed Labs, in a statement. "The result is a cost-effective robot controller with impressive capabilities."
The robots are intended for practical uses, in addition to education and entertainment. They can be used for home or pet monitoring, for example. A future recipe being developed includes environmental sensors for measuring noise and air pollution.
Nourbakhsh doesn't subscribe "to geeky notions of what robots should be." That may explain one of the recipes that he and his team are working on: a controllable stuffed teddy bear.
Be afraid.
If you think the "browser wars" were bad, just wait untill Microsoft and $POTENTIAL_COMPETITION fight over control of a household robot.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
I'm always lookin' for a new way to eat robot.
As copyright owner of this comment, I authorize everyone to defeat any technological measure which limits access to it.
I/O
- 4 closed-loop 2.0 Amp motor controllers (supports both quadrature encoder and back-EMF "sensorless" feedback)
- 16 RC-servo controllers
- 16 programmable digital I/Os
- 8 12-bit analog inputs
- 2 RS-232 ports
- USB 2.0 host ports for connecting standard USB PC peripherals
- 10/100BT Ethernet port
- Built-in audio amp for playing MP3 and WAV files
More than I could squeeze out of a $10 microcontroller and a couple of dollars worth of driver silicon. If you can, I bow to you. However, for us mortals, it's often easier to learn from a kit than to start from scratch, and this seems like one powerful little kit.When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
I contributed to TeRK while working on my MS at CMU.
The idea is to provide as simple of an interface to programming the robot as possible. You can write your own stuff directly on the hardware if you like (it's got a serial connection so it's easy to connect to). Or, you can take advantage of the layers of code and write something which runs on your PC... but still has access to things like values from the analog inputs and moving the motors -- all via 802.11. The project uses a lot of open source and the source code for all of the components is available. There is a lot of framework code written in C that runs on the Qwerk board itself, and it uses ICE to connect from the board to either a relay server or your PC. Then, for the people who don't like to program at all (or are just starting out), there is a lot of software, including a basic emulator of the board, mostly written in Java, that they can just run on Windows, Mac OS, or Linux.
During development, we took our PC app and a couple of Qwerks to a group of robotics hobbyists and they were floored by the kind of capability you can get for free with the Qwerk and all of the software that's already been written. Most of them wanted to find a way to incorporate the board into their own projects.
Anyway, the goal of the project is to have a wide appeal. I hope it can get a lot more people excited about what they can do, and all at a very low cost compared to other kits.
// No comment
Carl and Tom spoke at one of the Pittsburgh dorkbot meetings. There's iPod video and MPEG-4 of their presentation in the March archives.
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
* Vacuum (we sort of have that but I have dogs so i need a real sized canister)
* Clean and stack Dirty Dishes
* Fold and hang clothes (I can wash and dry them).
* Mow lawn (we sort of have that)
I can't see buying a robot for fun. But I would pay about $300 to $500 per item on that list.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.