Ultra-Super-Tiny, Sensitive Gripper Developed
We've see super-tiny grippers before, but the ultra-super-tiny gripper developed by Yu Sun of the University of Toronto in Canada moves to the next level. Not only can it grasp individual objects just 10 micrometres across, it also exerts a tiny, yet controllable force of as little as 20 nanoNewtons using feedback. The result is the ability to grab tiny items and not damage them in the process. This comes in handy when manipulating living cells that are deformed or damaged easily when man-handled. The microscopic gripper can also detect objects it bumps into allowing software to autonomously close in on them for manipulation faster and more accurately than manual control by a human could. Unlike many other exotic advancements, these tiny tweezers are also easy to manufacture by standard silicon etching processes resulting in a production quantity price of only $50.

Environmental Risk Assessment Rover-AT
How far are you from a Superfund site or Nuclear power plant? How many chemicals are in human breast milk? Well, you need a ERAR-AT V1.0 - Environmental Risk Assessment Rover–AT to find out, aggregate the threats, and help you understand the riskiness of contemporary life. While difficult to call a robot due to its lack of self-mobility, ERAR-AT looks ripe for upgrades with a couple of synthetically lubricated gear motors, a ROHS-compliant H-Bridge, and a hexavalent chromium-free drive train. After all, it already has key components of robotification including a solar power system, GPS, and vast array of sensing elements. ERAR-AT can also project video of fourteen-tiered threat levels onto natural and architectural surfaces in a similar way as R2D2 spilled the beans with that Princess Leia Hologram trick. This question stands out among the many asked: "Why has modernity, which was supposed to create a sense of security, produced more anxiety and threats than ever? "

Robot Chef Learns to Make an Omelet
Sylvain Calinon writes, "I am a postdoctoral fellow working on humanoid robot and imitation learning, at the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory (LASA), Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. We just posted some videos of our work on Youtube, showing a humanoid robot learning to whip egss, cut ham and grate cheese to do an omelet." There are two videos, a short version and a long version. You can read more about Sylvain's work on his website. The work is designed to allow robot learning by imitation using a three phase approach: demonstration, modeling, and reproduction. A number of research papers are available if you want to learn more about their approach. This work is being done at the EPFL Learning Algorithms and Systems Lab.

Fluidhand: Prosthetic or Robotic Advancement?
An 18 year old patient at the Orthopedic University Hospital in Heidelberg is the first to test the Fluidhand prototype and compare it to the i-LIMB. The hand has a large contact area and a soft interface giving it greater grasping ability and a more life-like action. Actuators are mounted in the fingers instead of in the wrist eliminating the power transmission systems normally required for artificial hands. Beyond the intended prosthetic application, one has to wonder if this type of technology will eventually be recruited for robotic applications where having human-like qualities could improve the acceptance and functionality of an otherwise cold machine.

Random Robot Roundup
Sorry for the news slowdown, folks! The editor mailbox is filling up fast. First up is an announcement from Trossen Robotics of their new chat rooms (don't forget the robotics IRC group is still out there too). Markus Waibel sent links to info on the Navy's $1.16 billion robot aircraft program, a gizmodo article on a flexible wing, crawling micro-drone, and engadet posts about the Quadrotor Aeryon Scout and the Caltech fruit fly flight simulator. From the Swirling Brain come links the creepiest robots around, swarming Belgium bots, an update on the O Terrill bum bot - it's being criticized by homeless advocates now, robot jellyfish (with video), a concept for a futuristic clear cut robot (to stop fire, not destroy rain forests, hopefully!), and a DARPA award to Boeing for development of an ultra-long endurance UAV that can maintain a stationary position above a target for as long as five years. Neil Shurley let us know that he's started a new blog called This Week in World Robot Domination. Kevin Prescott of ITC results writes, "I thought you might be interested in a couple of our recent robotics research articles, both about EU-funded research projects." He includes links to an article on the MACS project and RoboCup. We have two new blog posts from Roland Piquepaille, one on a robot crab built from Lego Technic bricks and one on those robot jellyfish mentioned by the Swirling Brain. Finally, Mark Miller sent a link to an assortment of videos he made using his android prototypes, for anyone who needs a little robot humor. Know any other robot news, gossip, or amazing facts we should report? Send 'em our way please.

Talking Robots: Yoky Matsuoka

In the latest Talking Robots podcast we interview Yoky Matsuoka, head of the Neurobotics Laboratory at the University of Washington in Seattle. Combining robotics with neuroscience, Matsuoka has constructed an Anatomically Correct Testbed hand (ACT) using passive compliant materials coupled with simple control algorithms rather than traditional materials. Apart from serving as a testbed for scientific studies of the neuro-control of movement, Matsuoka is also working on future applications in tele-manipulation and prosthetics. For more on this and other projects conducted at her lab listen in.

Report on 2008 MOBOT Race
John Palmisano of the Society of Robots writes, "I just wanted to tell you about the recent MOBOT contest at CMU last weekend as potential interesting news. I competed in MOBOT 2008 at CMU last Friday. I got up two competition videos I figured were worth posting. C|net also reported on it (My robot is on page 6 and 11). The documentation on my robot includes video and the final score at the bottom of the page. And within the next day or two, the CMU newspaper should also have an article on it." (and another article)

Robots from Letters
Jonathon Yule, a freelance designer studying at the York/Sheridan Bachelor of Design program in Toronto, shows off his keen interest and talent in typography with Font Bots - a robotic artform created from a collection of everyday letters. T-Shirts have not escaped the mighty Helboticia.

New SigmaTel ARM9 SoC Looks Ideal for Robots
LinuxDevices.com reports that SigmaTel has released an ARM9-based System-on-Chip aimed at Linux-based personal navigation devices but it looks like it would be ideal for robots as well. To help reduce the cost of handheld devices, SigmaTel added a NiMH/Li-ION battery charger, boot ROM, power management, audio circuitry, and other goodies. The SoC is also designed to easily integrate with several popular GPS chips including Broadcom, SiRF, and NXP. All the usual I/O ports are available too: LCD, FLASH interface, S/PDIF, GPIO, UARTS, timers, even some ADCs. If you weren't aware, SigmaTel is also in the process of being acquired by Freescale.

Make Announces the Make A Cyclon Contest
Collin from Make writes, "I thought the Robots.net readers might be interested in the "Make a Cylon" contest we're running over @ Makezine.com". This looks like fun. The idea is that you make something, anything, that's your idea of a Cylon. Maybe it's a toaster with a roving red eye; perhaps a model; maybe it's a full-size replica of shiny metal Cylon Centurian, or something inspired by one of the softer and friendlier Cylons? Use your imagination - maybe some Cylon cookies or a Cylon Halloween pumpkin. Who knows - maybe the The Swirling Brain will build a Cylon rolling ball sculpture of some sort. The only catch is that it has to be something physical that you've made - no photoshop images or drawings. Photos of the entries will be posted to Make's flickr group with a dvicemakecylon tag and they will be judged by Tricia Helfer (Number Six) and Grace Park (Boomer).

Random Robot Roundup
Sergey Popov writes, "Skilligent recently released an updated version of its computer vision system" (PDF format). He also posted a YouTube video of a robot using their software. Steven Frye writes, "Unlucky Fried Kitten has a new musical coming out soon titled The Robot's Revenge. It's about the day that Robots will inevitably take over the world.". The Swirling Brain has been busy sending me more links than I know what to do with including a NewScientistTech story on Capuchin, Stanford's climbing robot, a CNN story on Robosapient:Rebooted, a film starring the WowWee robot, a Wired story on mini-robot spy balloons, io9 stories on Surrogates, an upcoming technology-oriented Bruce Willis moving and a creepy emotional robot, an AfterDowningStreet update on the Pentagon's cyborg insect program, and an article on El-E the human interaction bot (another reader sent links to the Healthcare Robotics lab where El-E was designed). Roland Piquepaille, meanwhile, has posted new stories on firefighting beetle-bots and the 3D-R1 mine mapper we mentioned Tuesday Know any other robot news, gossip, or amazing facts we should report? Send 'em our way please.

Prototyping Boards and DIY PC Boards
The uC Hobby blog reviews six types of prototyping boards including a phenolic 0.1 grid prototyping board where the user cuts the traces as needed to separate pads. Another interesting prototyping board has break-away corners that turn it into a circular board; maybe just what you need for your little, round robots. A related article in the YourITronics DIY electronics blog describes the process of making your own photo etched printed circuit boards using a Canon Ink-jet printer. It offers plenty of photos and step-by-step help on going from PC artwork to an etched and drilled pc board.

David Byrne Teams up with Hanson's Talking Head
We've reported on David Hanson and his uncanny android heads numerous times in the past. Now the most famous Talking Head of all has partnered with Hanson to create a singing android for a show at the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid. David Byrne blogged about the collaboration, describing his trip to the Dallas, Texas area to visit David Hanson's Richardson lab. In addition to describing their project, Byrne also muses on previous singing robots such as HAL's performance of "Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two) in 2001: A Space Odyssey. He also notes that he and David Hanson both ran into similar problems in art school because the schools weren't equipped to handle people with non-traditional interests.

Robot Completes 3D Scan of Silver Mine in Mexico
3D-R1 is a remote operated survey vehicle equipped with a Riegl LMS-Z laser scanning system. The robot recently completed a scan of the San Jose silver mine in Mexico where it spent 3 and half days mapping 2.2km of "underground drives, stopes and access ramps", doing more than 80 scans per day and producing nearly 100 million data points. In less the a month the mining company was able to replace old mine drawings with accurate 3D data that "corresponded exactly with existing topographic aerial photographs and contour maps of the mine site".

Cornell Walking Robot Sets a Distance Record
The Cornell Ranger is a walking robot with 4 legs and no knees. It's energy efficient but not particularly so compared to other walking robots. Ranger also shares one trait with the Energizer bunny that makes it different from all other walking robots; it keeps going and going. Ranger has previously walked 1km without human intervention. The builders discovered that another walking robot was reported to have walked 2.5km on a treadmill and a six-legged robot is supposed to have walked 2km. So Cornell Ranger set out to beat them and has now set a new record by walking over 9km - 45 laps non-stop around Cornell's Barton Hall running track. The Cornell Ranger was developed by Andy Ruina, Cornell professor of theoretical and applied mechanics and his team of students. For all the technical details on Ranger's construction see the technical report, Design and Construction of the Cornell Ranger, a world record distance walking robot (PDF format).