GetRobo Blog English

Controlling a swarm of robots by drawing on your iPad

 Wouldn't it be cool if you drew something on your iPad and then a swarm of robots diligently copied that? Well here you go.

 Keisuke Uto built the hardware and software for an idea contest at his company in Japan. He says the most difficult part was to get the camera to recognize the bar codes on all the robots accurately. And to build everything within a tight budget.

Also he says that he didn't have the time to build an anticollision system, but actually it looks cuter when the robots bump into each other trying to get to the right configuration.

 Here's how he made the system (although it's in Japanese). (The instructions below are in English now!) Could be used as a great attraction at events. Thank you Uto-san!

How To Make Multi-Robots Formation Control System

View more presentations from Keisuke Uto

[IREX 2011] These candy colored robots will tell you a story

 There is a new humanoid robot in town!  Meet Matanya from Singapore!

 

 

 What's cute about Matanya is how you can press it's arm down to tell it to continue with the story. It's a little like flipping a page of a book. If you want to listen to a part over again, just press down the other arm. That's what Kenichi Kato, who designed the robot, is doing in this photo. 

 It's the first robotic product from Katotec.  The robot now costs 200,000 yen (about 2,600 dollars) and the business model is to sell stories online. Katotec will sell you its original microcontrollers in case you want to build your own humanoid robot too.

Marriage of Robotics with Handicraft

 Engineer and electronics shop owner Osamu Iwasaki who's been building robots for some time is currently interested in using "soft material" for his machines. His newest work is the RoboKnit which is a collaboration with Hanakomet who did the knitting. 

 

 A little while ago, Iwasaki-san worked with textile artist Tomoco Mouri to make the Kinetic Quilt.  He used a Lilypad Arduino, one $12 servo motor and piano wire and it took him about an hour to build this.

 He is fascinated with what in Japan is now called "extreme handicraft" which seems to have a strong following of its own. You can see examples of this art form here and there's even a group called  O-DA-I Craft where someone comes up with a theme and people send in photos of their work according to that theme.

 So why combine handicraft with robotics?

 People's reactions to these kinds of robots is what motivates Iwasaki-san. The RoboKnit is "Cute!" and many children gathered around when he was filming the video at the park.  On the other hand, the general impression of the Kinetic Quilt was "Creepy~~." "If they were just made of motors and metal, people would've reacted differently. I'm curious to find out what kind of movements and structure make people react in certain ways," he says.

Doll Robot Dances to the Polka

 Alice - the 60 cm (24 inches) tall doll robot - dances to the Ievan Polkka tune. Music was composed using MIDI.

 Found out from NODE that you can find the DancingDoll's website here. According to the information on this page, the robot uses 25 servo motors, a 2-axis gyro sensor and a 3-axis accelerometer. So the inside is STUFFED with components but it still manages to fit into a doll outfit. Movements are programmed by a PC and it can walk with its two legs. You can also operate it with the PlayStation 2 cordless controller.

  

WOW!! Gymnastic Robot has New Stunt