A small photo essay from this year’s ICRA in Stockholm featuring photos from the exhibition hall. At the end, you can watch a video with all the companies, their robots and systems. (All photos by Ioannis Erripis @ Robohub.)

Consequential Robotics

MIRO is a very advanced biomimetic companion robot originated from Sheffield University.

http://consequentialrobotics.com/
http://www.sebastianconran.com/

Furhat Robotics

Furhat is a very original take on human-robot interaction. They bypass the stereotypical uncanny valley problem with a mix of realism and abstraction that focus on the crucial parts of what someone may value in a conversation. Furhat may act as an interface between a human and a service like Siri. You can see in this series of photos its simple, but clever, construction with a vertical video projection to the face acting as a screen, via a tilted mirror.

http://www.furhatrobotics.com/

Cogniteam

Cogniteam, from Israel, presented the hamster, a small but capable rover similar in size to an R/C car.

http://cogniteam.com/

HEBI Robotics

HEBI Robotics had on display an arrangement comprised of several X-Series modular actuators.

http://hebirobotics.com/

Husqvarna

Husqvarna initiated a project where they provide a version of their established autonomous lawnmowers to researchers. These are modified versions that have an open architecture so one can add various modules and have direct access to the functions of the platform. The robots are not for sale, but if you are interested, and your research can make use of this platform, you can contact Husqvarna and they may collaborate with your lab or institute.

http://www.husqvarna.com/

Milvus Robotics

Milvus Robotics, from Turkey, had on display their smart kiosk robot and their research platform.

http://milvusrobotics.com/

Moog

Moog produces a variety of products for industrial or aerospace use. The photos show examples of metal 3D printing where the company is heavily focused. 3D printing can produce shapes that otherwise would have been impossible to manufacture. Currently, apart from fatigue, their products are on par mechanically with die-cast items. Moog is working on improving the final item properties and create products comparable to extruded metal items, or better.

http://www.moog.com/

Sake Robotics

Sake robotics have a direct demo of their griper which is robust, strong and relatively cheap. It has a clever system of pulleys that allow every component to be loose while standing by, but on the same time it can tighten up and hold heavy objects when under load.

http://sakerobotics.com/

ROBOTIS – Seed Robotics – Righthand Robotics

Robotis, apart from their big variety of products, hosted two other companies: seed robotics and Righthand robotics. Each company had their own specialized gripers and robotic hands.

http://robotis.com/
http://www.seedrobotics.com/
http://www.righthandrobotics.com/

Phoenix Technologies

Phoenix Technologies demonstrated their fast and modular 3D tracker.

http://www.ptiphoenix.com/

PAL Robotics

The REEM-C humanoid managed to attract most of the interest on PAL Robotics stand. It was able not only to perform standing but also walked throughout the exhibition hall (loosely attached to a frame for security reasons).

http://pal-robotics.com/

Here you can watch a video with various clips from the exhibition area:

Robohub covered the Airbus Shopfloor Challenge that took place during #ICRA16 in Stockholm. Below, you can see an extensive photo gallery as part of our coverage. Check it out!

Team Naist

Team Naist, from Nara Institute of Science and Technology, Japan won first prize. They used a KUKA robot arm, an advanced head with stabilizing rods, and an advanced computer vision system that enabled them to drill holes efficiently and with great precision.

Team CriGroup

Team CriGroup is based at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, within Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. They used ready made parts and a Denso arm with a special focus on software. Their method produced an innovative drilling pattern that minimized robot motion. They came in second place.

Team Sirado

Team Sirado brings together 6 researchers from the graduate School of Engineering, Arts et Métiers Lille campus, and 3 experienced industrial representatives from KUKA Systems Aerospace France, and KUKA Automatisme Robotique SAS. They also used a KUKA arm and a specially designed drill unit. Sirado took third place in the competition.

Team R3

R3 is a robotics collective based out of Ryerson University in Ontario, Canada. Their custom-made XY platform used 7 drill bits in one unit to drill many holes at once. They performed two rounds and competed on the final round.

Team Vayu

Team Vayu from India brings together five undergraduate students who share a passion for aerospace. They had the simplest approach with a compact 3 axis robot that performed well throughout the challenge.

Team Akita Prefectural University

Japanese team Akita Prefectural University implemented a unique solution for the challenge. Their robot used a delta-based solution to place the drill bit accurately. The arms themselves used rolled metallic tape under restrictors to extend and contract. They were able to demonstrate their setup, but weren’t able to compete.

Team Bug Eaters

The Bug Eaters team from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, USA is made up of four undergraduate Mechanical and Materials Engineering students. Their robot is an innovative version of the delta robot, but issues with their motors didn’t allow them to perform.

In a surprise move today, Toyota held a press conference (see video below) announcing a substantial investment in robotics and AI research to develop “advanced driving support” technology, with former Program Manager of DARPA’s DRC Gill Pratt directing the overall project as Executive Technical Advisor. Toyota will allocate USD$50M over the next five years in a partnership with MIT’s CSAIL (headed by Daniela Rus) and Stanford’s SAIL (headed by Fei-Fei Li) to develop research facilities in Stanford and Cambridge.

Two main themes from the press conference underline the tone of this effort:

First,  Toyota doesn’t refer to autonomous cars but to ‘advanced driving support’ . And this makes sense because, unlike Google (with its fully autonomous car), Toyota’s origins are in car manufacturing and not in software development. Car manufacturers have for some time been introducing ever rising levels of autonomy in their cars and Toyota is following that vector. There are legal advantages to having the driving be ultimately responsible for the car’s movements and therefor any possible accidents; when a vehicle doesn’t respond as expected, a costly product liability suit could follow, as Toyota well knows. Thus what appears at one level to be a more conservative approach to autonomy on the road may in essence be a way to bypass potential legal nightmares and bring autonomous driving technology to the market sooner.

Kiyotaka Ise, Toyota Motor Corporation Senior Managing Officer, repeatedly stated hybrid cars as an example of a specific technology that Toyota pioneered (along with Honda) and brought to market even while it was borderline unprofitable due to its large cost at the time. This offers a possible hint of what may follow.

The second interesting point made clear during Toyota’s Q&A is that this project is only part of the auto manufacturer’s investment in the field. $50M is a lot of money, but for a profitable car maker the size of Toyota, it isn’t much. It looks like Toyota wants to establish a strong presence in the US by collaborating with two of the best research centers in the world (the budget will be equally split between the two universities) … but being a truly global company, it is developing other projects elsewhere as well. It’s worth mentioning that almost all large car manufacturers have similar research projects, and they usually collaborate with research institutes, universities or with each other.

In this respect, Toyota’s decision to bring on Pratt as the project lead appears astute. Pratt’s high visibility role as Program Manager of DARPA’s DRC has left him with significant experience managing and promoting large, big-budget projects, and has provided him with deep connections into US research labs.

You can read Toyota’s press release here for all the details. Automaton has also an excellent coverage of the story (see Toyota Announces Major Push Into AI and Robotics, Wants Cars That Never Crash) and says they will be releasing more in-depth stories about the deal early next week. You can watch the full press conference below:

ICRA 2015 – exhibition hall

A small photo essay from the exhibition hall of ICRA 2015. (All photos by Ioannis Erripis @ Robohub.)

Integrating Matlab with ROS – Mathworks

Robotic arm – Schunk GmbH & Co. KG

Lego EV3 robot – Washington FIRST Robotics

MaxAero – Autel quadcopter

Fetch Robotics

OUR Robot – Smokie Robotics

Motion capture installation – Motion Analysis Corporation

Roomba – iRobot

Stanley Innovation

Harmonic Drive LLC

mems IMU & AHRS – MOOG Inc.

Titanium 3D printed actuator – MOOG Inc.

Clearpath Robotics Inc.

Mobile Baxter platform – Clearpath Robotics Inc.

Robotic Gripper – Robotiq

Abraham Lincoln animatronic head – Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development

LBR IIWA – KUKA Robotics

Dynamixel OpenCM – Robotis Inc.

Dexterous Hand – Shadow Robot Company

GRP 4400 wheeled platform – American Robot Company

Matrix 100 quadrotor for developers – DJI

WAM arm – Barett Technology Inc.

Maplesoft

da Vinci Xi – Intuitive Surgical

Baxter – Rethink Robotics

Flexible Grasping – RightHand Robotics

Hexapod build with modular field robotic actuators – HEBI Robotics

Modular field robotic actuator – HEBI Robotics

MINI – Robotis

Rapid manufacturing – The Rapid Group

Dual Arm SCARA robot – Mecademic Inc.

3D Force sensor demo – OptoForce

Raven II – Applied Dexterity Inc.

Adept Mobile Robots

University of Washington College of Engineering

SICK 3D laser scanners

CyPhy Works raises 230K in first two days of the crowdfunding campaign for their new autopilot drone, LVL 1.

Competition is fierce in the world of consumer drones these days, especially among companies marketing products than can produce pro quality video and photography without having to hire a drone operator or a camera person.

April saw the launch of new Phantom UAVs with suped up cameras from DJI as well as the Solo drone by 3D Robotics, whose products will be available on the shelves at 400 locations of retailer Best Buy starting in May.

Also just launched is a new Kickstarter campaign by CyPhy works for their new LVL 1 drone, which they hope will have you filming “right out of the box”. Launched only two days ago, the campaign has already reached more than 90% of its ambitious $250K goal. All 200 early bird packages are sold already, and are slated to ship in February 2016 (unfortunately just a bit too late for holiday shopping). The crack team at CyPhy is lead by Helen Greiner, who co-founded iRobot with Rodney Brooks and Colin Angle, and co-designed the first version of the Roomba.

Aerial photography simplified

The idea behind LVL1 is clever and simple. The norm on multicopters is to have the propeller discs on the same plane. This simplifies construction and dynamics, but in order to move sideways a multicopter must apply differential thrust and tilt its thrust vector (and body), and so most have a lateral thrust component. Keep in mind that a small UAV must make micro corrections continuously just to stay in the same place. This is very troublesome for aerial photography, and especially videography: the image will be jittery unless an expensive gimbal is used to counteract this motion. Otherwise the brushless motors and very high disc loading of most multicopters make up for a very stable platform.

CyPhy bypasses this problem by placing each rotor of its hexacopter in a different plane. Each rotor creates a thrust vector with a lateral component; by applying the same thrust across all the rotors, each lateral vector counteracts the others. Altering the thrust distribution between two sets produces the same vertical component (thus retaining the same altitude), but disrupts the balance of the lateral vectors. The result is lateral thrust without tilting the aircraft. The difference is obvious in the following animated GIF:

The trade-offs to this system are a slightly lower efficiency and the need for more advanced control algorithms.

Other systems have used a different approach to solve the problem, with the DJI Inspire being the most obvious. With the Inspire, rotors are on intersecting planes, but this introduces only a slight instability that counteracts the very low center of gravity when the rotors are raised (similar to the anhedral angle on high mounted wings of airplanes).

DJI Inspire

In their newest report on drones, Texas research firm Markets and Markets, projects that the global commercial drones market will grow to $1.27 billion by 2020. Andra Keay, Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics, expects that the gradual lifting of regulatory roadblocks to commercialization in the US will see the market for drones expand significantly.

“The ability to film from the air is incredibly useful in a wide range of industries, from utilities and agriculture to forestry and mining. But I’m very excited about the potential new technology users out there,” says Keay. “In the near future, we’ll think nothing of every realtor, maintenance or yard crew lifting a drone out of their trunk to get photos of your roof, your gutters or trees. We’ll know that robots are mainstream when a drone is just an accessory for your smartphone.”

Fifteen years after it was founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Blue Origin completed a successful test flight of its ‘New Shepard’ suborbital system and emerged from their secretive modus operandi, where only the absolutely necessary information were released, to take on a drastically more extrovert profile.

The company enters a new stage of maturity and prepares the path for selling services in the next couple of years. The first step is the New Shepard, a one-stage reusable rocket that can deploy an autonomous capsule, performs a suborbital flight (just above the Kármán line), and lands with parachutes. Take a look at the video showing the successful test below:

Blue Origin’s moto, gradatim ferociter, is frequently repeated by Jeff Bezos, and the timeline of development accurately reflects its meaning: bold but gradual steps. In contrast to SpaceX, which was founded two years later, Blue Origin still doesn’t have anything for sale. However, they have a very impressive body of work that includes the successfully tested (if not yet ready) suborbital system, a similar two-stage orbital rocket/capsule that builds on the experience from the first one, and of course a potentially very big contract to provide rocket engines to ULA, currently the biggest contractor for US Air Force space launches.

From a robotics perspective it worth focusing on the New Shepard system. Currently there are three competing systems aspiring to provide suborbital rides to non-pilot passengers that would pay a ticket to go to space with minimal or no preparation: New Shepard, SpaceShipTwo and Lynx from Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and XCOR respectively.

While Virgin Galactic and XCOR use piloted winged rocket powered spaceplanes that land horizontally, Blue Origin will use an autonomous capsule. The spacecraft will be able to accommodate up to six passengers and will be launched on top of a reusable rocket (that will also land autonomously, in a similar – perhaps too similar – fashion with Falcon 9R). Passengers will enjoy a few minutes of weightlessness and return to land with the help of parachutes and small retro-rockets (like the Russian Soyuz).

The first tests will be unmanned and if the system is reliable enough passenger rides will follow in a couple of years.

You can read more on Blue Origin’s new website.

Following a Kubrick’s 2001 lookalike teaser video, 3D Robotics (3DR) presented their most ambitious product yet, ‘SOLO’ – an advanced quadcopter that above all focuses on ease of use and hassle-free operation, along with some quite unique features.

The first thing you will notice is that Solo has a very elegant design. On par with the competition from DJI (the current market leader) and Parrot, Solo was designed by Astro Studios, a well-established industrial design agency, and is far more polished than Iris, the first 3DR consumer-friendly drone.

Solo has all the features one can expect from a very advanced camera drone. It uses 3DR’s Pixhawk2 autopilot along with a separate second linux mission computer and a dedicated controller that can host a smartphone or tablet. The gimbal (sold separately) can not only accommodate a GoPro camera (also sold separately), but for the first time the controller and its software can control the camera through the software (in a similar fashion to the GoPro app but this time integrated on 3DR’s software).

As stated from 3DR the goal is to forget about flying the drone and just manipulate the camera while the autopilot takes care of the rest.

You can take a look at Solo’s functions on the official video below or from 3Drobotics website.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SP3Dgr9S4pM

It is worth noticing that, for the first time, 3DR is outsourcing the manufacturing to China, a move that possibly underlines their sales plans (they continue to use their own factories for the production of the rest of their product range). Solo is slightly more expensive than its direct competitors (like Phantom 3), but if you take into account the actual features, specs and equipment, the pricing is really close.

You can read the following articles for more details, some hands-on experience from the actual product and more.

http://www.theverge.com/2015/4/13/8394359/3d-robotics-solo-drone-quadcopter-gopro
http://gizmodo.com/3drs-new-solo-drone-promises-airborne-footage-without-a-1697427874
http://www.bidnessetc.com/39699-best-buy-co-will-sport-smart-drones-by-3d-robotics/

A video feature from Verge :

Boston Dynamics just released a video of a new four legged robot named “Spot”.  It is an evolution along the lines of their previous four-legged robots like BigDog and Wildcat, but this one is much smaller and lighter (160lbs / 72.5kg). As usual not many details are known, but Spot is electrically powered (others had an internal combustion engine onboard) and has a prominent rotating LIDAR on top.

Spot can perform the usual Boston Dynamics trick: it can withstand a kick without tipping over in an eerie life-like manner; and it can also move slowly and accurately indoors while being able to run faster if necessary.

You can watch the video below and you can read other Boston Dynamics articles here.

autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS)

Several hours ago, ISS astronauts opened the cargo bay of the Dragon spacecraft that was recently berthed to the space station. It was both the 7th successful Dragon mission and the 5th successful ISS dock (under NASA’s CRS program) — a perfect record, which on its own is exceptional. Dragon missions are becoming so uneventful now that they are starting to look routine. SpaceX is advancing rapidly, however, and despite this weekend’s failed attempt to recover the first stage of the Falcon9 rocket on an unmanned barge mid-ocean, it remains the most impressive feature of the ongoing CRS-5 mission.

Falcon9 v1.1 with landing legs

Reusability is the holy grail of space systems and probably the main technology that will allow orders of magnitude in cost reduction. SpaceX first announced its reusable launch system three years ago, and significant progress has been made since then, initially with the Grasshopper experimental vehicle, then with Falcon9R dev, and since April 2014 during regular Falcon9 launches, by incorporating and testing various recovery sub-systems.

During the January 10th launch, the most ambitious step was attempted: after separating from the second stage, the first stage of the Falcon9 v1.1 rocket performed a re-orientation maneuver that ultimate lead to a controlled decent and (almost) soft landing on a specially modified unmanned ocean barge.

The recovery was only partially successful, however: the rocket descended on the barge as planned but it went down faster than expected and ultimately didn’t manage to stay on board. The rocket was lost at sea while the barge suffered minor damage. Elon Musk had previously declared that the likelihood of a successful landing was 50%, although at a later Reddit AMA admitted that he had made up the figure, stating that an attempt such as this was nothing short of highly experimental. The failure certainly provided valuable knowledge, however, and though we may not be able to calculate the chances of success for the next attempt, it will no doubt be higher.

Rocket made it to drone spaceport ship, but landed hard. Close, but no cigar this time. Bodes well for the future tho.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 10, 2015

Falcon9’s decent stage used one of its nine engines for deceleration, and a set of grid fins for additional control (you can learn more for this specific surface control design here). According to Elon Musk, the hypersonic grid system worked well but it ran out of hydraulic fluid just before touch down. It’s not clear whether that contributed to the loss, however the next flight will have 50% more hydraulic fluid on board.

F9 v1.1 with hypersonic grid fins

The barge (or “autonomous spaceport drone ship” (ASDS), as it is called by SpaceX) is modified so it can accurately place itself at a specific location using GPS and four diesel-powered azimuth thrusters. It is unmanned for obvious safety reasons, but placing the recovery point mid-ocean instead of land means that it is closer to the first and second stage separation, the rocket doesn’t have to travel a long distance but just to descent and decelerate, thus minimizing the necessary extra fuel it has to carry.

SpaceX autonomous spaceport drone ship (ASDS)

The ASDS recovery is not just an interim solution until SpaceX rockets are cleared for touchdown over land, but an integral part of SpaceX’s future reusable space system. For the time being, the plan is to recover the first stage on the barge, temporarily welding it in place in order to secure it, and then transferring it to land for refurbishment. In future, especially when the Falcon Heavy R becomes operational, only one of the three F9 cores will return to its launch pad; the other two will be recovered further downrange, probably by some version of ASDS. In the event of an emergency, the Dragon v2 may also need to land on a barge if a problem occurs at a stage where it doesn’t have sufficient fuel to return to land.

You can read more details about future SpaceX operations in this excellent blog post by Stephen C. Smith, which is based on a draft document published by Patrick Air Force base about the environmental impact of the use of Launch Complex 13 at Cape Canaveral, the complex that SpaceX is set to lease.

The next Falcon9 launch is set for the end of this month, and we may see another attempt to land an autonomous rocket on a robotic barge at sea. If successful, it will mark a major milestone in spaceflight.

Unfortunately there is no good footage released yet from this attempt; the video below is from a previous attempt where the rocket performed a soft touchdown at sea:

This is an unofficial cgi video (not made or approved by SpaceX), showing the CRS-5 mission, not necessarily accurate but interesting nonetheless:

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

• SpaceX unveils its next generation Dragon V2
• SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully completes 100m lateral maneuver before returning to launchpad
• Touchdown! Rosetta’s Philae makes first ever landing on a comet
• One giant leap: Rosetta and the space mining frontier

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Google just unveiled their first ‘real-build’ self-driving prototype vehicle. This is a follow up to the concept presented in May and signifies the progress of this particular Google project.

According to the short Google announcement, the purpose of this new prototype is testing, initially on a closed test track and then later in 2015 on public roads. Even so, very few actual details are known, beyond those we covered in our previous article for the initial mockup.

The differences between the two cars, however, are actually quite interesting. Google emphasizes the presence of headlamps, which are an indication that the vehicle could be road legal, although it’s not clear to what extent. A glimpse of its frame and construction hinted at a properly engineered vehicle that may be possible to fulfill all the necessary requirements for a regulatory approval (crash tests etc). However, a loophole for this highly experimental vehicle is possible; it may, for example, be regarded as an electric golf cart of sorts.

The composite photo above presents the most obvious differences: a better integrated LIDAR, the headlights and other small details. The most important visible difference is the mirrors. On the first mockup, the mirror fairings were small and so could only accommodate the sensors or cameras of the autonomous system. The new one retains the sensors but adds a proper mirror for the driver. It is almost certain that the car will have manual controls (steering wheel, accelerator and brake pedals) so it can be “supervised” on public roads.

2015 will be an interesting year for autonomous driving. Apart from this purpose-built concept, many manufacturers offer ever more advanced systems, and Google is promoting a modular solution of their own.

Still image from animation of Philae separating from Rosetta and descending to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014 (photo:ESA)

UPDATE: ESA’s Rosetta mission has soft-landed its Philae probe on to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The signal confirming the successful touchdown arrived on Earth at 16:03 GMT (17:03 CET), it’s the first time in history that such an extraordinary feat has been achieved and it’s a great milestone for space exploration and Europe. Read here the full press release from ESA.

LIVE VIDEO FEED | In a few hours a major milestone in space exploration will take place when the Rosetta orbiter deploys a small robotic lander named Philae towards comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. This is the first time a spacecraft will reach the surface of a comet and, if successful, will greatly increase our knowledge in this field. Rosetta was launched over 10 years ago and followed an extremely complex trajectory with deep space maneuvers that used the gravity of Earth and Mars to propel it alongside its target and successfully orbit around it. Now the next step, Philae’s landing, will be transmitted live. See the video feed below.

Landing on the comet will be quite tricky: its weak gravity could allow the lander to bounce and escape into deep space. The shape of the surface was unknown until Rosetta came close enough so the landing spot was only recently selected. Philae is equipped with shock absorbers, spring loaded drills and even a harpoon that should be enough to keep it attached upon landing.

You can watch the live transmission from ESA below:

Tweets by @ESA_Rosetta

Overview of Philae lander instruments and their function, from DLR

Reaching 67P wasn’t easy. A rare Ariane 5 failure delayed its launch and the mission was repurposed to its current destination. The trajectory was extremely complicated with multiple gravity assist maneuvers, and required the spacecraft to enter hibernation mode, going into standby to save energy. Rosetta is powered by two huge solar panels that demand constant solar exposure instead. Other spacecraft (like Voyager 2) that went this far from the sun, used radioisotope generators.

The video below show the full trajectory of the mission:

An excellent overview of Rosetta/Philae mission is provided by the following Royal aeronautical society podcast. Paolo Ferri (Head of Mission Operations Department, European Space Operations Centre, ESA) introduces the Rosetta mission and its scientific objectives, describing also the spacecraft, its payload and its lander.

Additional resources:

ESA – Rosetta mission
ESA – Rosetta blog
DLR – Rosetta mission

#CometLanding (official hashtag)
@ESA_Rosetta
@Philae2014

Philae separating from Rosetta and descending to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014. (Credit:ESA/ATG medialab)

If you liked this article, you may also be interested in:

• One giant leap: Rosetta and the space mining frontier
• Space mining: Robots in the final frontier
• Astronaut on International Space Station successfully controls K10 rover on Earth, supporting use of telerobotics in future deep space missions

See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Orbital Science corp. Antares orb-3, pre-launch (photo: NASA)

A very unfortunate incident for NASA and the commercial orbital transportation services program took place yesterday. The Antares rocket that was about to send the Cygnus spacecraft on the ISS exploded a few seconds after its launch from NASA’s Wallops flight facilities. No casualties or even small injuries were reported, although the area is being contained and treated with caution. It is a major incident for US spaceflight that breaks a trouble-free period and could have important implications for the private spaceflight sector.

The Antares launcher and the Cygnus spacecraft it was carrying were both developed and operated by Orbital Sciences corporation, one of the two private companies (along with SpaceX) under contract from NASA for supplying the International Space Station with cargo, supplies and secondary experimental, and commercial ISS payload. The video below shows that the explosion started from the base of the rocket, close to the nozzles, while the rest above was intact. The first stage engines are the major suspect but it is still too early to know exactly what went wrong.

As stated by NASA’s press conference, the flight termination system was activated. This is a remote manual intervention that initiates a self-destruction mechanism when the vehicle’s attitude is beyond recovery or control, in order to contain the damage from any explosion or debris in the launch area. As you can see in the launch video and the video below (shot from a small airplane from a distance) the explosion was huge. Even hours later, fires caused by kerosene and solid propellant were still burning.

Unlike SpaceX, which is almost completely vertically integrated, Orbital outsources most of its components and focuses on system integration and design. Antares is a two-stage rocket, and in its first stage it uses a pair of liquid propellant motors originally designed (and constructed!) during the ‘60s for the Soviet N-1 rocket. Despite their age, these motors are highly advanced, more so than most contemporary rocket engines. They were constructed as NK-33s in Russia but they are refurbished from US Company Aerojet (and renamed AJ26). It is too early to attribute the accident to these engines but it is worth mentioning that the use of Russian rocket engines from US operators recently became a very sensitive matter. The Ukraine crisis and the US/Europe sanctions are placing Orbital and ULA (the USA defense contractor for space launches that also use Russian made RD-180 engines) in an uncomfortable position. A side-effect of that crisis is a boost to the US private sector, which could step in and fill the gap created by the withdrawal of Russian engines from US launches.

(photo: Orbital Sciences corp.)

That may be beneficial for the private sector in general but not so for Orbital, which could face delays until this mishap is resolved. Meanwhile, the competition from SpaceX and established companies like Lockheed and Boeing is very strong. During the press conference that took place shortly after the accident, NASA official stated their satisfaction from the way Orbital operates and their will to resume Antares/Cygnus missions after the accident investigation is resolved.

The COTS program, apart from its obvious mission of ISS resupply, also aims to validate the privately developed Dragon and Cygnus spacecraft. Both usually have room and payload to spare so they’re used extensively for transporting experiments. The Cygnus cargo vehicle destroyed on this accident was carrying a lot of small satellites owned by schools, universities and startups. For example, Planet labs, an earth imaging startup lost 26 small satellites that were on board. Orbital stated that the payload is insured, although the extent of the coverage and the details are different for each client and contract. The rocket and general hardware is also at least partially covered, and as stated on the press conference, NASA and Orbital will find a way to deal with the cost of any replacements.

Any correlation between payload and this accident is practically impossible, so the rules and requirements should not change for the next missions. However, Orbital’s system could take some time until it resumes the rest of its contracted missions, and the delay or additional modifications may raise the payload cost. It could also indirectly raise the payload cost for other operators simply by reducing supply. Insurance prices could also increase and the total cost for a school, research team or startup may be bigger for future missions. Nevertheless, today there is unprecedented activity over commercial spaceflight, even if we are still very far away from the glory days of nationally funded Apollo or Space Shuttle. Competition will certainly make access to space easier and cheaper for everyone, even with occassional incidents like this along the way.

Robots, selfies and remote connectedness … It may be a lonely place to celebrate an anniversary, but on June 24th, Curiosity made the universe that much smaller – and robots that much more ubiquitous – by snapping a selfie to mark its one year anniversary on planet Mars. This photo will surely go down in history as a sign of the times.

To help celebrate Curiosity’s achievements, we’ve compiled a brief list of links, articles and videos that show just how far the Mars mission has come.

NASA press release reviews the first Martian year and the advances of MSL’s very succesful mission so far.

You can access all the photos (in RAW format also) from JPL’s dedicated MSL website as well as read NASA’s Curiosity webpage.

We covered Curiosity’s mission since its launch on November 2011 up until now, you can access all our articles here:

Robohub – MSL Curiosity articles

PS. Something a little more fun, in the tumblr blog named Martian Wiggles you can find a compilation of animated gifs made from the raw images provided by JPL like the following showing images from Left Navcam, during Sol 283:

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• Space Robotics coverage on Robohub 
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See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Did you know that the majority of the cars we buy and drive today are able to act by themselves and maneuver themselves out of an accident? They can also beat the best human drivers in breaking accuracy and manage even the most finicky engines. Our cars may not yet be fully autonomous but they’re much closer to driving themselves than we realize.

From a pioneering mode of transport to an everyday necessity (or necessary evil) for commuters the world over, the car has come a long, long way since its inception. In its early days, the act of driving required significant expertise; now it is considered almost a right, directly linked with a person’s mobility or even personal freedom. The trend towards  automation covers all aspects of a car’s operation and systems, including driving aids such as climate control and smart lighting, as well as control of the actual movement of the vehicle. This article gives an overview of the milestones along the road to autonomy, focusing especially on the systems and devices that directly control the behaviour of the car: the engine and transmission, the steering and the breaks, and the various sensors and processors that provide and manage the data.

Drivers of the first passenger cars were fully occupied with engine management, and had to control the ignition timing and the air-fuel mix, and perform a highly synchronized ballet of movements just to change gear. Gradually, however, the engine and transmission of our cars became more and more self-sufficient. Manual ignition control gave way to mechanical and then to electronic control. Sensitive carburetors were replaced by self-controlled electronic fuel injection systems, while manual transmissions evolved and became much easier to use. Early on, automatic transmission systems were available to the public where the economy and the market allowed. Nowadays efficient multi-gear automatic transmissions are exceedingly popular and are rapidly replacing manual gearboxes. And of course there is a substantial and growing percentage of electric cars, which can be operated almost as easily as a child’s toy.

The important thing is that, in many commercially available cars today, the input from the driver towards the engine and transmission passes through potentiometers and actuators, with no mechanical link. A computer filters the input from the driver and manages the engine and transmission accordingly.

Data input for the engine management is provided by the engine monitoring sensors, but also from the ESP/ABS (more on that below) and even from the navigation system. By using GPS and cellphone coverage, a car may predict its route and act accordingly, for example changing gear before a steep slope, or having the break pressure stand by in maximum pressure before a bend.

Steering has been more resistant to technological advances; the steering in a car today isn’t very different in principle than that of a 1910 Ford Model T. The most significant improvement was the addition of hydraulic, and later, electric (or electro-hydraulic) assistance. The driver has always a direct link with the steering wheels and, apart from active steering systems (mentioned below), few advances have been made in this area.

It probably isn’t a coincidence that brakes, arguably the most sensitive area from a safety point of view, are by far the most automated system of an everyday car, and where people are less reluctant to have their actions moderated by computers. While, as mentioned above, loss of direct mechanical linkage is relatively new to throttle (usually this loss is found only in research vehicles for steering), brakes lost their mechanical linkage almost a century ago. Their hydraulic system (used in practically all passenger cars) not only augments the force of the driver but, aided by a system of valves, distributes the breaking force in order to compensate for weight transfer.

The biggest breakthrough though was the introduction of anti-lock breaking system (ABS) first introduced in the 60s. It was designed to prevent the wheels from locking up while the vehicle was moving. Its operation is relatively simple: speed sensors on each wheel detect lock and electronically controlled valves reduce breaking force on the each wheel, thus keeping it within the desired slip percentage (~20% or less). Although a very good driver could use threshold breaking in order to maintain traction, ABS is a milestone because it can perform better than any human by monitoring and controlling the breaking force on each specific wheel. One would have to have four fast, super-human feet and four break pedals (along with the necessary brain capacity) to perform as well as an ABS system, which is found in almost any car on the market today, even the cheapest ones.

An even bigger breakthrough that quietly saved many lives and averted numerous accidents is what’s known as electronic stability program, or ESP. It’s an evolution of ABS and uses wheel speed sensors, a steering wheel position sensor, a simple (by robotic standards) yaw sensor and algorithms to govern the ABS valve unit. Judging from each wheel speed, the steering angle and the yaw of the car, the ESP monitors the car’s trajectory (as dictated by the amount the driver turns the steering wheel). If it detects any deviations, it breaks individual wheels in order to pivot the car towards the desired direction. It can also take into account the throttle travel and reduce the power of the car if necessary.

The result is a system that monitors the driver’s input and acts directly through the breaks (and throttle) to retain control of the car. By detecting skids at their earliest stages, and acting quickly on individual wheels and the engine, it can prevent accidents more effectively than any human could.
(You can also check this older video of TV show’s Fifth Gear that demonstrates the abilities of ESP.)

Some new systems also employ steering to assist the driver in controlling the car, such as actively controlled rear-wheel steering – a system occasionally used in specific high performance cars for more than two decades, or as it is the case more recently, by acting directly on the main steering system of the front wheels. By adding a corrective input, ESP can use steering to introduce small corrections along with any breaking action.

Active steering is not yet very wide-spread, although rear wheel steering under computer control is quite old (Honda, Nissan, BMW and Mitsubishi were selling cars with active 4WS decades ago, Porsche and Renault still are today). Active front wheel steering is newer but still rare. It’s worth mentioning that it always acts as an additional input and the driver maintains a direct mechanical linkage to the steering. The ESP control mechanism adds an additional or counterweight force (usually through a planetary gear, in parallel with the steering column) that translates to a slightly corrected slip angle.

A different approach with similar (thought not identical) results is to employ active differentials. A system with clutches and/or auxiliary gearboxes inside the transmission and differentials can actively manage how much power is delivered on each wheel, thus providing the necessary yaw moment to influence the attitude of the car. The effect is similar to active rear wheel steering, providing yaw moment without slowing the car (like individual wheel breaking does). This is why, like RWS, active differentials are mostly used on performance cars.

Another area of gradual automation is adaptive cruise control systems. This is an enhanced version of the regular cruise control systems that are very popular in the US (although not so much in Europe). Cruise control maintains a certain speed until the driver hits the breaks. Additionally, adaptive cruise control can automatically reduce speed when the car is approaching a vehicle in front of it and restate the desired speed when conditions allow.

The system usually includes a radar sensor placed in the front bumper and the same technology is also applied in collision avoidance systems even without the cruise control function. By detecting obstacles in front of it, the car can notify the driver or even take action and break by itself. Nowadays even very small and inexpensive cars can be equipped with it, and its performance is more than adequate. A similar function is the lane departure warning, where sensors (usually placed under the rear-view mirrors) scan the road and detect from the white lines if the vehicle is going off course.

Finally the most impressive task a commercial passenger car can do today is without doubt park by itself. Already on sale, park-assist can scan the surroundings and perform the necessary maneuvers in order to park, as long there is sufficient space. Probably a luxury and not really necessary given that it operates where even a mediocre driver can easily park, it’s is the most visible picture of a self-driven car available on the market.

A very important point is that all the systems described above could co-operate with each other and maximize their influence. Although in general they’re used independently it is inevitable that they’ll be integrated into a complete set. Steps towards this direction have already been made but there is a lot of room for improvement.

How close are today’s cars to complete automation?

Engine-wise, many cars today (and certainly more in the future) have no mechanical link between the throttle pedal and the engine. Power delivery is under fully electronic control, so from the perspective of the engine, everything is primed for a fully autonomous car.

Likewise for the powertrain and transmission. Automatic gearboxes are ever more popular and already they require no human input. Of course things are even easier for electric cars.

Breaks are also already highly automated, but they usually rely on the force one is exerting on the pedal. However by-wire breaks have already been used in passenger cars (Mercedes W211 & R230) even with an analog hydraulic backup for safety (or legislative reasons).

The steering system, although it will probably be the last to come fully under computer control, is already getting there with active steering systems currently on sale. The step from an assistive active steering system to a full authority one is very small (at least technically).

The data input and processing necessary for an autonomous car is technically the most difficult part by far. What we described above is automation that builds on human input: even the most capable commercial cars today rely on their drivers to tell them where to go, how fast and what to avoid. A new set of sensors along with the necessary onboard computational power should eventually substitute for the driver, but this is already happening both partially (as we examined in this post) and fully, as in Google’s new purpose-built self-driving car.

Though functional fully autonomous cars exist and perform well even today, the last obstacle they have to overcome in order to reach the market is the product liability and the legal complications of having a car acting on its own.

Glossary:

VGS: variable gear ratio steering

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Tonight at 7PM PT SpaceX will reveal Dragon V2 -their next generation spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to space.

UPDATE: read our de-briefing of the presentation below

A brief but as always interesting press conference by Elon Musk presented the new version of the Dragon capsule, with substantial improvements over Dragon v1. You can read our overview below but here are the key points from the presentation:

Even though it had some revolutionary elements, the first Dragon space capsule was relatively conventional. It landed on water and used parachutes for deceleration after re-entry. It had also a basic life support system (although it was never manned).As mentioned, the Dragon v2 will be able to land anywhere in the world upon re-entry, with the accuracy of a helicopter. Its propulsive deceleration and landing will allow its navigation system and/or pilot to pin-point a landing site and touch down on a specific platform. The new Dragon will retain the parachutes of v1 as a backup measure despite its ability to land safely even with 2 superdraco engines off line.Dragon v2 will be able to accommodate seven astronauts for several days, and it has an enhanced life-support system. It will also be able to automatically (and autonomously) dock with the ISS. Currently Dragon capsules require the assistance of the Canadarm robotic arm to dock, although they have some level of autonomy.

Key elements of the updated capsule were unveiled at the event. The advanced pressurized tanks for helium and propellant, CFRP-wrapped titanium spheres, and of course what makes all these possible, the new superDraco engines. 3D printed in Inconel alloy, they are used in pairs (each nested on its own protective nacelle). Also, a new more robust thermal shield will allow the capsule to be re-used many times (~10 times before major refurbishment as mentioned). Elon Musk also entered the spacecraft and gave us a glimpse of the interior and controls. Apart from the very critical controls that are conventional tactile buttons and switches, all systems and monitors are combined in two huge touch screens. Boarding and exiting the capsule looked slightly inconvenient, but it’s probably easier than doing so from a Lotus Elise, and far easier than the gymnastics necessary for a Soyuz capsule.

Take a look at the presentation video and the animation of all Dragon v2 features below:

Below our original post before the press conference:

Dragon V2 will be only the third spacecraft in service capable of carrying humans, along with the Russian Soyuz and the largely experimental Chinese Shenzou. It’ll also be the first American manned orbital spacecraft after the Space Shuttle, and of course the first ever designed and developed under a private initiative.

Even though speculative at this point, the V2 of the Dragon capsule will focus on the following key aspects: re-usability, increased performance, and being rated for human use.

From the start it’s been no secret that SpaceX launch systems had human transportation as a core goal. For a launch system to be rated for human use means that there must be a significant increase in safety margins apart from (but including) all life support systems. As mentioned by Elon Musk himself, a system rated for humans must have a safety factor of 1.4 instead of 1.25, which is the norm for unmanned space systems. Given that SpaceX started from scratch and that the clean sheet approach is essential to their modus operandi, safety margins can be designed from the start to be high enough and turn this inconvenience into an advantage.

The other factor is re-usability. Even though a new Dragon has been used in every launch up until now, the capsule with most of its systems can be refurbished and used again. However the water-landing is a very costly, time consuming and in some cases a risky and dangerous process, especially if it is carrying humans instead of cargo. SpaceX is working towards propulsive landing both for the capsule and the rocket. A prototype landing system was tested recently on Falcon 9R that sent the latest Dragon to the ISS with encouraging results, even if it was over water, while several prototypes have successfully launched, hovered and landed from small altitudes. This would allow the Dragon capsule to land anywhere with accuracy and safety, without mobilizing a small fleet for recovery.

A few days ago SpaceX completed qualification tests for the SuperDraco thrusters, a more advanced and powerful throttle-capable rocket engine that acts both as a launch abort system and as RCS for orbital re-entry and positioning. Additionally, the new more powerful SuperDraco engines on board the new Dragon will allow it not only to land safely with enough power margin for all the necessary manoeuvres but it also could be powerful enough to decelerate the spacecraft from out-of-earth trajectories, to enable visiting an asteroid or even (as the futuristic ‘red’ Dragon) traveling to Mars and back.

Google completed a major step in its long and extensive self-driving cars project by presenting its first purpose-built autonomous car, which is designed from scratch for its role and is not a modified conventional Toyota.

The as yet unnamed car is very small (looks smaller than a Smart) and can accommodate two people and some luggage. It’s probably electric and its maximum speed is limited to 25mph (~40km/h). Its most striking characteristic is that it doesn’t have any controls — no steering wheel, accelerator or brake pedals — and you can ride it strictly as a passenger, which is probably a strange feeling, but according to Google’s video not entirely unpleasant.

This is a purely experimental project in every aspect. Google will make about a hundred prototypes and it looks like it’s a very serious effort. It is equipped with multiple sensors (a big LIDAR on its roof is probably doing most of the work), but there are also sensors in the front, in the back and where the side view mirrors would have been in a regular car. Thanks to Google’s previous experience with self-driving cars, one can expect very good performance in real environments; other Google self-driving cars have completed hundreds of thousands miles with no major incidents.

The car itself may look like a toy but it is cleverly and purposefully designed to be as cute as possible in order to inspire trust and reduce fear of its autonomous status. Small cars in general may be more vulnerable in a crash with a heavier vehicle, but it’s already proven that with clever engineering you can have almost no compromises in their passive safety, and most small cars from established manufacturers achieve very high scores in a crash test. The main chassis is made from robust box sections of (probably) aluminum tubing and there’s also a tubular roll cage above. Even the suspension wishbones look highly over-engineered for a 25mph city car. A substantial crash box is placed in the front, and above it the whole front panel is made of foam, so the car is not only safe for its passengers but for pedestrians as well. Of course at this stage there are no independent crash tests to verify its performance.

As mentioned above, the most striking aspect of the car is its lack of any kind of manual control. This is a very clever move from Google that aspires to overcome the legal and ethical problems of who should be able to drive or control a self-driving car.

If you completely eliminate any kind of input from the occupants (apart from the destination selection), then anyone on board is defined strictly as a passenger and a question like “should we allow a child to ‘drive’ an autonomous car” is transformed into “should we allow a child to be transported by an autonomous car” — a question that is still probably not very easy to answer, but which is certainly easier than the former one.

Google will launch a small pilot program in California in the next couple of years. The prototypes released on public roads will have manual controls for obvious legal reasons but the goal of this project is to learn and develop the technology and know-how. Read the full post in Google’s official blog here.

It’s worth mentioning that similar concepts and ideas (but not a functional prototype) have been presented over the years. The concept closest to this is ‘UC’ by the pioneering design firm Rinspeed, presented four years ago at the Geneva Motor Show. It was also a two-seater (loosely based on a Fiat 500) but its main feature was the interior, where similarly to Google’s car, no manual controls were present.

This animatronic mannequin is designed by i-bodi Technology for Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL), based in Porton Down in Wiltshire (hence the name). Its frame is made from CFRP parts, and in addition to the realistic movement emulation, it will be used to test equipment in extreme risk environments. The DSTL is the only laboratory in the world that can use chemical warfare agents to assess the effectiveness of complete clothing systems such as the chemical, biological and radiological suits used by UK Armed Forces.

Press release from UK MoD
Press release from Dstl

(via Royal Air Force / UK Armed Forces facebook page )

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See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

What’s with all the quadrotors in auto advertising these days? And what do quadrotor swarms have to do with cars? Probably not much at all, but apparently associating your auto brand with high-performance quads is de rigeur. Subaru is following the lead of Lexus (which launched its quadrotor ad last November), upping the ante by having the driver of the new WRX STI engage in a pas de deux (or should we say, ‘pas de plusieurs?’) with a swarm of 300 LED-lit quadrotors. It makes for some pretty stunning footage, but before you get too excited, unlike the original Lexus ad (which had at least a decent portion of real footage from Kmel’s impressive quads) almost all of the quadrotor eye-candy in the new Subaru ad is CGI. The automaker’s desire to associate themselves with cutting edge technology may be a sign of just how popular quadrotors have become, but is hyper-realistic CGI enhancement inflating consumer’s expectations of what quadrotors can actually do? (see the video below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-e4RUrjW4I&amp

Quadrotors are famous for performing amazing stunts in the frontier of what we think is possible from a machine. DDB Canada/Tribal Worldwide, which is the ad agency behind this project, wanted to associate the performance and especially the maneuverability of the new Subaru WRX STi with the stunts performed in various quad videos-gone-viral.

The production used live action captured in the Hughes Airport Hangar in Los Angeles, California (which was purchased by Youtube and converted to a 41,000-square foot mega studio) along with Big Block’s Drive-a-tron system where a car is accurately modelled – both geometrically (with manufacturer’s CAD models) and dynamically (its physics and performance envelope). However the quadrotors (although modeled according to real drones) are all computer generated (note that none of the behind-the-scenes photos contain a quadrotor). The final footage is almost completely CGI and the process took 8 weeks.

By using real-life emulating models, the production ensures that what you see on the video could have been performed in real life. That is true for the car, which is accurately modelled, but it’s speculative for the quads, even if it’s not totally far-fetched based on what has already been done (but not at that scale) by several labs like the Flying Machine Arena, or even K-Mel, the robotics company behind the Lexus drone ad.

Just how far away are we from quadrotors actually being able to perform stunts like these? Raffaello D’Andrea, the lead researcher behind the Flying Machine Arena, says “With enough of a budget, this could be done by a few groups of people now. But it is much, much cheaper to do this with CGI.”

“It definitely changes people’s expectations and is no different than the portrayal of any advanced technology in technology in movies, television, and videos. But: seeing it live is completely different; even though people may be partially “desensitized” by CGI, this immediately disappears when they see it live,” added D’Andrea, who is no stranger to giving live demos that feature his quadrotor research. “As someone who thrives on doing live demonstrations, I don’t see this as being harmful in any way.”

We also asked Alan Winfield, Hewlett-Packard Professor of Electronic Engineering at UWE Bristol and expert of the portrayal of robotics in the media his thoughts on whether CGI will inflate people’s expectations of what quads can do, and he agreed that it’s a problem. But, he adds, “What I also find curious and interesting (in a geeky kind of way) is that the CGI in the Subaru ad faithfully reproduces the grey reflective spheres needed by the tracking system in labs – especially at ~44s. It’s ironic that the eye-candy drones include the very tracking tech that many people don’t realise is needed to make them do precision formation acrobatics.”

We can’t blame Subaru for wanting to jump on the quadrotor bandwagon … quadrotors are popular, cutting edge and hip (they are already making an entry into concept cars).  But while car enthusiasts will already have their opinions about the new Subaru WRX STi (it’s an evolution of a well-proven and popular model), we have to wonder how people’s expectations of drone technology will be shaped when they’re exposed to mostly CGI videos and advertisements rather than real footage.

In fact there is some astounding work being done with high-performance quads and aerial swarms. If you want to get a sense of what’s really doable, check out the following 2012 video, which was developed for the The Ars Electronica Futurelab with input from ETH-Zürich, the University of Pennsylvania’s GRASPlab, and the MIT-Medialab. You can find the full behind-the-scenes story about this project here.

PS. The Lexus ad mentioned above

Amazing in Motion – SWARM (Lexus Ad)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj0v1BgzUdc

The making of “SWARM”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9SqJk5zSZM

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See all the latest robotics news on Robohub, or sign up for our weekly newsletter.

[UPDATE] – KUKA just published the well-advertised video of the table tennis match of top athlete Timo Boll and one of its fastest robots, the KUKA KR AGILUS. Don’t forget that even if the actual movements performed by the robot are real, the match is a directed and scripted advertisement with multiple takes (as you can see in the making of video below). It’s a very impressive presentation of the agility and speed of AGILUS, but it’s not an actual match. KUKA is celebrating with a very popular sport in China to mark the occasion of its new plant in Shanghai.

Watch the video of the match below and read more about the making of.

The making of:

[original post from Feb 21, 2014 below]

Mark your calendars for March 11th! Timo Boll, Germany’s table tennis champion, currently ranked 8th in the world, will go up against a KUKA Agilus robot armed with special vision and software and a paddle. The promo video is pretty cool – it certainly makes you want to watch the match.

Click here for viewing details.

Hype aside, will the KUKA robot be able to beat a real ping pong champion? We can only watch. Thus far there’s been no details about the vision system and software used by KUKA. There are, however, stats for the Agilus robot – a single-armed 5 axes robot with a reach of 35.4″.

Will this be another Jeopardy moment? Will the Agilus win? We’ll see on March 11th.

[UPDATE-2] Don’t forget to read Evan Ackerman’s excellent post on Automaton:
Robots Playing Ping Pong: What’s Real, and What’s Not?

“For the competition, NASA will upload software developed by high school students onto bowling ball-sized spherical satellites called Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Experimental Satellites, or SPHERES, which are currently aboard the International Space Station. From there, space station Expedition 38 Commander Oleg Kotov and Flight Engineer Richard Mastracchio will command the satellites to execute the teams’ flight program. “

Below you can find the link for the live broadcast

http://webcast.mit.edu/i/institute/2013-2014/zero_robotics/17jan/index.html

You can also watch it on NASA TV:

Live streaming video by Ustream

Tweets about “#Zerorobotics”

SPHERES consist of 3 flying satellites on board the ISS able to test a diverse range of software and hardware. You can find more info at NASA’s website and you can also listen to our older interview of Dr. Alvar Saenz-Otero from MIT, lead scientist of the SPHERES project on Robotspodcast.

Day One

Day Two

 
[ UPDATE 2 ]: This is the final results list with the points gathered by each team. You can also read the extensive coverage from Automaton blog here:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/darpa-robotics-challenge-trials-results
and of course on the official website:
http://www.theroboticschallenge.org/

[ UPDATE 1 ]: coverage from Automaton blog:
http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/darpa-robotics-challenge-watch-it-live

Tweets about “#DARPADRC”

Click here for the trials event agenda (pdf)

This is a general overview of the arena and the tasks the robots need to perform, you can find more on the official website.

MyKeepon is the commercial version of Keepon Pro, a social robot made for research purposes. It’s great fun and also great value, you can buy it for around $25. Available on Amazon.

A novel from The New York Times bestselling author Daniel Wilson, set in the near-future where technology and humanity clas in surprising ways.  Available in hardcover and paperback, from ~$15 on Amazon.
See previous coverage on Robohub.

With €15 and some winding-up, these robots will pass the salt and pepper around the table for you! Available on Amazon.

Let a robot make your tea for you – the arms even move up and down to fit any size mug. $12. Available on Amazon.

After years of research into fast prototyping and bio-inspired robots, and following a successful crowdfunding campaign, Dash robotics now offers a kit for the very small and fast Dash robot, a foldable hexapod that you can easily built. The kit will cost $69.99 and you can pre-order it here.
See previous coverage on Robohub.

Littlebits are kits of modular electronics that snap together magnetically: you can create and reconfigure an almost infinite number of combinations of electronics, actuators and sensors using the various ‘bits’ provided in every kit. It’s ideal for kids because they can learn and create without the worry of soldering. Starting price is $99 for the base kit, and of course you can combine parts and bits for more complex projects. Available on Amazon.

Robosapiens X is an update of the popular Robosapiens series. In its latest iteration it can be controlled by your iOS or Android smartphone. ~$55. Available on Amazon.
See previous coverage on Robohub.

Robotgrrl’s very cute social robot is now available after a very successfull crowdfunding campaign. You can buy some of its parts now, and the full kit is estimated at ~$150-200.
See previous coverage on Robohub.

Goldie Blox is designed to make science and engineering concepts appealing to young girls. From $29.99. Available on Amazon.

For ~$150 you can buy a Thymio II, a small, very well designed and capable robot and educational tool. It is released under open source hardware license, was developped along with ASEBA programming language, and you can program it either with a visual graphic interface or via text programming.
See previous coverage on Robohub.

Planning to overindulge this holiday season? Gift yourself to a New Year’s resolution: this friendly robot weightloss coach helps you track your eating habits and exercise.  $199 plus monthly subscription fee.
See previous coverage on Robohub.

With Makerbot’s digitizer you can create accurate 3D models of almost any object. You can buy the Digitizer on Amazon for $799 or try the Replicator Mini at $1375 to print anything in 3 dimensions.
See previous coverage on Robohub.

Sphero 2.0 is a slightly more expensive but much more capable version of the original Sphero. You can control it as a mobile robot, use it as an input device, play games with all the available apps or write your own programms. You can buy it for $99.99 and for an additional $14.99 you can also buy a “nubby” protective cover. See on Amazon.
See previous coverage on Robohub.

The CH3-R hexapod robot uses 18 servos (3 for each leg), is made from aluminum and Lexan, and is equipped with an onboard programmable controller. $694.47.

By far the most popular quadcopter, the affordable and easy to use AR.Drone costs around $400 and can be optionally equipped with a GPS flight recorder. See on Amazon.
See previous coverage on Robohub.

This is the most advanced iteration of iRobots vaccum cleaning robot. $699.99.
See previous coverage on Robohub.

The popular open source mini-submarine is now upgraded. Buy the kit for $849.
See previous coverage on Robohub

Barobo’s modular robotic system. Prices start from ~$200 and you can select the number and type of components you need for your projects.

eBee is the most advanced UAV offered by senseFly. It’s not only an aircraft but a complete system that provides professional aerial mapping. Price upon request.
See previous coverage on Robohub.

Get your own personal bartender: Monsieur is capable of preparing 300 different drinks. It’s suggested retail price is $5000 but you can pre-order it now for $3999.

iRobot offers a version of its latest telepresence robot for research purposes. Ava Mobile Robotics Platform is capable of autonomous navigation in real world environments and can be developed into a robot for various applications (some idea concepts shown in the image above). Learn more here.

UBR is the first robot with intelligence, manipulation and mobility in this price-range (below $50,000). Read more about it here. See previous coverage on Robohub.

Need more ideas? Take a look at these posts:
8 robotic toys for the holidays
It’s time to think about robotic Christmas gifts

General Atomics Aeronautical Systems – Predator A /B

These are probably the most widely recognizable military robots; their characteristic design frequently appears in pop culture, art and even in protests. Originated by the work of Abe Karem that later developed into DARPA’s project Amber, under the ownership of the Aeronautical division of General Atomics it evolved into a family of UAS. Based on the GNAT drone, the first RQ-1A Predators were initially used for reconnaissance in the Balkan wars during the 90s. The later MQ-1 armed version in 2002 flying over Afghanistan and operated by CIA was the first drone to shoot a missile at a car convoy. MQ-1 is similar in size to a light passenger plane (it has a 6cyl. reciprocating engine) and is still in use today by many countries while its later -C variant (with a diesel engine) recently entered service with US Army.

The similar in concept but much bigger MQ-9 (Predator B according to GAASI or Reaper as called by USAF) is the main large drone currently used by the US in almost every place there is military action. It has a turboprop engine and can carry a bigger payload. A completely new model, the turbofan stealthy Predator C is currently under development. In a similar fashion to its predecessors it is funded internally — an unusual model for the defense sector but financially very successful for the company.

https://www.ga-asi.com/products/aircraft/

Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk

Another DARPA project, the RQ-4 was designed by Ryan Aeronautical (later absorbed by Northrop Grumman). It is one of the larger UAVs and it operates in high altitude / long endurance flight profiles. Although it is probably the most capable system of its kind, it is also one of the most expensive to the point that USAF is on the verge of dropping it in favor of the manned U-2 aircraft that it was supposed to replace. However newer versions with more capabilities are still being developed (and even delivered) while an armed version (MQ-4C Triton) is being developed for the US Navy.

http://www.northropgrumman.com/Capabilities/GlobalHawk/Pages/default.aspx

Samsung-Techwin SGR-A1

Military robots are still in their early days and this is a very characteristic example of a system that was developed for very specific needs. The SGR-A1 is an automated gun turret that is designed to replace an armed guard. It has an electro-optical detection system and a machine gun. It can detect a human, shout warning messages and even exchange passwords orally or understand gestures (like raising hands for surrender). Of course it can also shoot bullets, but usually (though not necessarily) a human is in the loop for that decision. It will be fielded along the borders between North and South Korea. The de-militarized zone here isn’t the biggest in the world lengthwise, but due to local tension it is guarded for its entire length.

http://www.samsungtechwin.com/product/product_01_01.asp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMkV8E2re9U
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/rok/sgr-a1.htm

Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout

Fire Scout is one of the first VTOL UAVs. The MQ-8B is an improved and armed version of the initial RQ-8A and both are based on the manned commercial Schweizer helicopters (330 and 333 respectively). MQ-8 is already in use by the US Navy and it had been deployed to Afghanistan and Libya. The next more capable version, the MQ-8C will be based on the Bell 407, a completely different aircraft, providing a good example of the hierarchy inside an unmanned system where the aerial platform isn’t always (or usually) the primary component.

http://www.northropgrumman.com/Capabilities/FireScout/Pages/default.aspx

Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel

This is probably the first UAV designed to operate in a hostile environment where air-superiority isn’t a given. The RQ-170 was revealed from ‘paparazzi’ photos shot in the Kandahar airfield in 2009 that gave it the “beast of Kandahar” nickname. It was officially declared RQ-170 (an out of line number and a non-too accurate RQ- designation, in similar fashion to the F-117 stealth bomber) but most details were revealed when Iran captured one in late 2011. From the images and video released from Iran media, the RQ-170 appeared to be much smaller than initially estimated and not as high-tech. It has a low rcs design but it appears to be simple in construction, for example it has a mesh in the engine inlet (like the first generation stealth aircraft) instead of a serpentine duct. Even so it is probably the only large UAV that can operate undetected and it is rumored that it was used in the operation that lead to the kill of Osama bin Laden.

http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=16001

iRobot Packbot

Packbot is a very successful robot made by iRobot. It uses a patented variable geometry track system that enables it to overcome obstacles like climbing stairs while being very stable. There are many versions and it can be equipped with various accessories like manipulators and cameras. More than 2000 packbots are already in use in several roles such as disposing IEDs, reconnaissance and more.

http://www.irobot.com/us/learn/defense/packbot.aspx

Insitu Scan Eagle

ScanEagle is a military derivative of SeaScan, a small UAV designed by Insitu for the fishing industry. A patented system that uses a catapult with a slingshot for launch, and a wire-hook pole called Skyhook, enable its deployment and recovery from a small ship. This concept is the core of Insitu products and it is very useful for military use as a portable system. Insitu is now owned by Boeing, and although SeaScan wasn’t successful commercially, the Scan Eagle is widely used and it has developed into a family of UAVs that includes the larger ‘integrator’ and others.

http://www.insitu.com/systems/scaneagle

Qinetiq-NA Talon

Talon is a small tracked robot initially developed by Foster-Miller (now part of Qinetiq North America). It is a versatile platform that can carry many sensors and actuators, and it can move through difficult terrain like a small tank. An armed version called SWORDS is equipped with a machine gun, a first for a robot like this, although it is not yet in use.

https://www.qinetiq-na.com/products/unmanned-systems/talon/

Aerovironment RQ-11 Raven

The smallest system in this post, the RQ-11 looks like a small R/C plane. It is hand launched by throwing and it ‘crash’ lands with the wing detaching from the fuselage. It has many capabilities for its size, and can be easily transported. Almost 20 000 have been produced and are in use by many militaries around the world.

http://www.avinc.com/uas/small_uas/raven/

Key dates:
Application deadline :15 March
Development phase : 4–12 April
Finalist down-selection phase : Beginning May
Competition event : Mid-October

As mentioned on the ESA website:

Robots will receive their instructions wirelessly. To make the competition more challenging, the robot operators will not have a direct view of the playing field but have to rely on video from four cameras in the playing area and from sensors on their robot, if they choose to equip their robots with them.

The playground is a scaled-down model of the International Space Station, starting at ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) and finishing at the European laboratory, Columbus.

In under five minutes, the robots must unload cargo of different sizes from ATV, carry it to Columbus and stow it safely. Like in any game, there will be bonus points  and penalties.

The route to Columbus includes scaling a ramp and all robots must end the game in one piece to qualify. ‘Astronauts’ floating around the game area must be avoided and teams must cope with losing video signal for up to 15 seconds.

This is a sketch of the competition area layout:

The competition rules are available on pdf (Volare space robotics competition details – PDF ) and you can see a presentation of the concept by ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano:

Volare robotics challenge link – esa.int

One of the biggest steps in space exploration, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) named Curiosity was launched today with an Atlas V 541 vehicle and it is now on its way to Mars. The Curiosity rover is similar in size and weight to a small car and it will be the largest spacecraft to ever land on Mars with a very elaborate procedure that not only enables it to reach safely the Martian surface but also to land in a relatively tight spot with great geological interest.

The mission cost approximately 2.5 billion dollars. It was scheduled for launch in 2009 but various delays forced NASA to abort that goal. The optimum launch window when Mars and Earth are in the relative position that makes the trip as short as possible occurs every two years so two years after 2009 it is now the time for launch. The primary mission will last one Martian year (98 earth weeks) and if the rover is operational it could be further extended for much more. Landing sequence is scheduled for August 2012.

The system is comprised by the rover, the descent stage and the two parts of the aeroshell, the back shell and the heat shield. The later is the largest one that has ever used for a capsule atmospheric re-entry. It is larger in diameter than the one used in the Apollo spacecrafts and it is covered by phenolic impregnated carbon ablator (PICA) tiles able to withstand the peak temperature of 2.100C.

The Curiosity rover is a scaled-up version of the design used in the Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity. It has six wheels, each powered by a hub brushless electric motor and four of them, 2 in the front and 2 in the back, can be steered independently. The chassis is suspended via a rocker-bogie system, the preferable for all NASA rovers. This allows the rover to stay almost level in uneven terrain and it provides stable movements to the very slow moving rover.

Instead of solar cells the MSL uses a thermoelectric radioisotope generator (multi-mission radioisotope thermoelectric generator – MMRTG) that converts the heat emitted from a pellet of radioactive Plutonium-238 dioxide to electricity via a set of solid-state thermocouples. It is much simpler and compact (it weighs only 4.8kg) than a nuclear reactor and of course much safer (personnel that worked on it received negligible amounts of radiation). NASA calls it a ‘nuclear battery’ and apart from electricity it also provides heat for the electronics inside the vehicle’s cell. MMRTG could power the rover for years. Lithium-ion batteries are charged by this generator and provide peak current when needed in conditions that exceed the maximum power provided by the MMRTG.

The main objectives of the mission are the evaluation of the habitability of the planet, its ability to host life, the preservation of it and the study of past and present environments. Curiosity has on board the most advanced set of cameras and scientific instruments ever sent on Mars.

Curiosity will use a very innovative delivery system. Apart from being the largest interplanetary aeroshell ever used, the MSL capsule will be able to actively change its trajectory for the first time. While entering the atmosphere, tungsten ballast will drop off, thus creating an asymmetrical center of mass. That introduces an angle of incidence and by controlling the yaw of the aeroshell via the reaction control system installed on the backshell the spacecraft can modify its trajectory and glide almost like a winged aircraft. At mach 2 the heat shield is dropped and a parachute (the largest ever used in such a mission but similar to the ones used before) is deployed. Without the heat shield the downwards facing radar and landing systems are operational and at a lower altitude the parachute and the backshell are dropped while the deceleration is now provided by the final descent stage. This uses four pair of fully throttleable engines (derivatives of those used in the Viking missions) and it is able to position the craft over the desired landing spot. HD images from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter help avoid rocks and rough terrain with great accuracy. At a very low altitude the rover is deployed through a system of cables and an umbilical cord with a specific rate controlled by a mechanical system that doesn’t allow it to spool very fast or too slowly. The relatively low landing impact is absorbed by the suspension and the descent stage is detached and crashed at a far distance.

This innovative sky crane system solved the problem of propulsive landing of a rover. The 3 previous rovers were landed via airbags but the Curiosity is too big for that and placing the rockets below the rover (similarly to other propulsive landing but static missions, like the Vikings) would overcomplicate the rover deployment. Sky crane was not very popular initially in JPL but extensive study and tests established it as a sound solution.

The chosen landing spot is the Gale-crater, a very tricky place for unpropulsive landing but accessible with this new much more precise method. This area is believed to be very interesting geologically and Curiosity will explore a significant part of it.

Scientist and engineers from JPL don’t seem to worry about the complicated landing procedure because of the very extensive tests. However there is always the risk of some software bug or small glitch that could endanger the mission. Everyone hopes that MSL starting from August 2012 will be able to continue the very successful missions of previous rovers.

You can find more on the MSL NASA mission page and JPL’s MSL Curiosity website.

The most famous humanoid robot, Honda’s ASIMO has a new version. A few days ago Honda presented a more advanced model and performed a small display of its new capabilities. Meanwhile the robotics sector of Honda is now an official entity under the name Honda Robotics.

The new ASIMO is lighter and faster. It weighs 48kg (6 less than the previous version), it can run faster, reaching 9km/h (instead of 6km/h) and it has improved dynamic stability. It can hop, move over uneven surfaces, kick a ball and even compensate to small perturbations like an accidental push. It may not be yet as stable as for example the robots of Boston Dynamics, but we shouldn’t forget that they are either tethered prototypes or multi-legged robots while ASIMO is a biped that moves freely.

Advancement of its intelligence capabilities allow it to acknowledges data from its surroundings and act autonomously. It takes into account other people’s movement and adjusts its path according to where they are and also where it predicts they go. Additionally it has advanced face and voice recognition and can interact when multiple persons address to it.

The new version has 57 degrees of freedom, 23 more than before. This increase is mostly due to the much more advanced fingers. As displayed in the photos above and in this video, ASIMO can perform elaborate movements and handle a variety of objects with advanced dexterity.

For the first time in its long history, ASIMO is available in three different colors. At first this looks like a minor detail (considering the color variations are very discreet) but it may well be the most important new feature as a hint to a future production version. With the establishment of Honda Robotics as a separate division that covers all robotic research, and product applications the day when ASIMO or other robotic products will be commercially available becomes closer. Honda has the resources to pursue this goal and can endure the extremely steep process of developing an elaborate product for consumer use.

You can read the official press release by Honda:http://world.honda.com/..All-new-ASIMO/..
Videos from the presentation:http://moriyama.com/archives/3122 (via PlasticPals)

(Images & Video : Honda )

In this recently released TED talk, Dennis Hong from VirginiaTech presents all the recent developments of his RoMeLa Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory and also the aim of developing a car that could be driven safely by a blind driver. The prototypes use a significant part of the technology developed for autonomous vehicles that participated on DARPA’s challenge competitions like IMU’s, Lidar and optical sensors. However here it is combined with interfaces that use tactical, acoustic or other feedback that substitutes the optical awareness that a blind driver lacks with feedback from his or hers other senses. In the video presentation along with some very innovative robots you can see a demonstration of such a car that took place in the Daytona speedway in January.

In the video above (viaDIYdrones) the demonstration is quite straightforward. Big commercial rockets (like Ariane) use a similar design for their payload fairing that can hold its shape and withstand the aerodynamic loads only when closed. Maverick has the disadvantage of not having wing control surfaces like ailerons and while stable it could experience weaving or roll, however it is equipped with a gimball camera and its footage is quite good for its size and role. More information and videos on Prioria’s website.

The use of UAVs has skyrocketed, a wide variety of systems ranging from extremely small flying bots to large airframes like the Predators or Global Hawk drones is currently in use, mostly from armed forces around the world. Despite this growth, UAVs in civil airspace is a very rare sight with a lot of bureaucracy and strange ramifications.

During the Libya crisis many people who monitor aerial traffic as a hobby, report what is going on from their twitter accounts (like @FMCNL from The Netherlands). One of the most exotic planes for radio plane-spotters is the RQ-4 Global Hawks based in southern Italy that operates in a very crowded region. As David Cenciotti describes in his blog they use special corridors and dedicated climb/descent areas for proper deconfliction with other traffic while specific notifications are also given to other aircrafts. The Global Hawk as a system has two separate ground segments a Launch and Recovery Element (LRE), and a Mission Control Element (MCE). When they are beyond line of sight they are piloted via satellite link. However they carry radio equipment that enable pilots working at the ground station to talk as if they were on the aircraft. Air Traffic controllers communicate with the virtual pilots in a similar way to the ones in human piloted aircraft. The use of large UAVs (military and of course civilian) inevitably will increase and they will communicate routinely like that or in a more advanced stage they may be able to transmit messages on their own.