Impressive HRP-4 robot will make you bow in deference (video) -- Engadget:

Now, all we need is about $300,000 for this and we're set !! :)

Impressive HRP-4 robot will make you bow in deference (video) -- Engadget:
By Thomas Ricker posted Sep 17th 2010 6:29AM

Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) is back with the mighty impressive HRP-4 humanoid. Created in partnership with Kawada Industries, this 151-centimeter (5-feet) tall, 39-kilo (86-pound) walking followup to the HRP-4C, HRP-3 and HRP-2 robots (pictured in the background) was developed to help take over manufacturing duties from a rapidly aging Japanese work force. The highly mobile HRP-4 features 34-degrees of movement with AIST proprietary control software running on a Linux core. Things get weird at the 5:30 mark of the video embedded after the break when a human enters the stage for a good ol' fashioned stare down. Probably has something to do with his hot wife."

Here's the video

Chumby Hacker single board Linux computer

We should take a look at these and see if this is good for the next robot project.

Chumby hacker boards

For hackers who missed out on the Chumby craze, Adafruit has a pile of Chumby PCBs for sale.

The Chumby Hacker Board is a cool single board Linux computer that has much of the same hardware as the famous Chumby One. It's great for people who are experienced with Linux and want to have the power of a microcomputer with audio and video output while at the same time getting all the peripherals of a microcontroller such as analog-to-digital conversion, PWM outputs, sensors, bit twiddling, and broken-out GPIOs!

Open source synthetic intelligence project - a new Brain for a Robot [?]

This looks very interesting to build with for a Robot

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Open source synthetic intelligence project

Another day, another cool-sounding Kickstarter project. This one is titled E1: synthetic intelligence, open source.

E1 is an inexpensive open source hardware kit in the same theme as the Arduino--for bringing synthetic intelligence to electronics projects. We've made tremendous progress over the past year, but now we need your help to get it manufactured.

A while ago we realized even the most powerful microcontrollers are just too limited for complex machine learning tasks. At the same time, we weren't interested in all the overhead of a processor and OS. We wanted something right in the middle, made for the task, to coordinate between our sensors, locomotion, and the user. E1 is a custom core embedded within an FPGA. It requires no PC to use or train, is thoroughly flexible, and completely open.

Here's how it works. Attach inputs like cameras, microphones, and sensors--and output mechanics, like servos, actuators, or motors. E1 starts out in an untrained state, but can receive reward and punishment with a remote. It can also detect some set of behaviors, like facial expressions. Over time E1 not only learns what you teach it, but learns the conditions that lead to reward and punishment and so when it should reward or punish itself.

Surprisingly complex behaviors are possible with the combination of simple training and the sensory analytics done by the E1. And all of these details are handled out of your way, from signal decoding to feature detection. Tap the outputs via the header pins on the board itself, or let E1 talk to your outputs for you.

See more on the project website. (Note that the Kickstarter funding goal must be met by 9/6)

The Cyborg Fly Project Guides a Robot Through an Obstacle Course

I want my Cyborg !!


The Cyborg Fly Project Guides a Robot Through an Obstacle Course
http://gizmodo.com/5624422/the-cyborg-fly-project-uses-a-tethered-fly-to-guide-a-robot-through-an-obstacle-course


So what's the significance of having a fly-controlled robot? Apparently, the technique could be used to help track micro and nano robots, which are difficult to follow due to their high relative velocities. Although the Cyborg Fly Project is not the only bug "flight simulator", it has a unique high-speed vision component that could translate into both future biology research and industrial applications like keeping tabs on a production line. [IEEE Spectrum via Boing Boing]

Free booklet on mechanisms for automata and other projects

MAKE:

Free booklet on mechanisms for automata and other projects

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/free_booklet_on_mechanisms_for_auto.html

For a limited time, Cabaret Mechanical Theatre is offering a free download of an eighteen page booklet by famed automata-maker Paul Spooner. This is a great resource for the mechanically-curious and must have for automata-makers.




--enjoy !!

--http://www.vintagecomputer.net/ragooman/

ERROR !!
***The schematic is being updated to reflect the fixes made over the weekend and will be posted online soon. ***

This is still using the AVR TINY2313. One of the guys picked up a RC Car from the Thrift store. So naturally he wanted to hack this into a Terminator, crush, kill, destroy --hah-- a robotic rover of course, something which could navigate on it's own.

The drive motor and the steering motor is wired using a L298 motor driver chip.

BTW, from all this we have another AVR convert !! Yes, another hacker devoted to the world of AVR microcontrollers :)

Make: Online : Multitouch robot swarm controller

This is a very interesting application for Robot Swarming technology

Make: Online : Multitouch robot swarm controller:
"Got an unruly swarm of robots that needs taming?
Whip them into shape with this multitouch control interface by Mark Micire of UMass Lowell. [via BotJunkie]"