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On internal models, consequence engines and Popperian creatures
Alan Winfield
08 Sep 2014
So. We've been busy in the lab the last few months. Really exciting. Let me explain.
For a couple of years I've been thinking about robots with internal models. Not internal models in the classical...
New algorithm lets drones monitor their own health during long package-delivery missions | MIT News
Hallie Siegel
28 Aug 2014
In the near future, the package that you ordered online may be deposited at your doorstep by a drone: Last December, online retailer Amazon announced plans to explore drone-based delivery, suggesting ...
When you can’t collect all the data you need, a new algorithm tells you which to target | MIT News
Hallie Siegel
01 Aug 2014
Levine and How developed an algorithm that can efficiently calculate just how much information any node in the graph gives you about any other — what in information theory is called “mutual inform...
When fully autonomous cars are the norm, will you miss driving?
Open Roboethics Initiative
22 Jul 2014
A few weeks ago, one of our readers, Javier Lopez, submitted a number of questions to the ORi team. He brought up many interesting points, and we won’t attempt to cover them all in one poll. But on...
Autonomous car poll: Participants choose random chance over informed decision
Open Roboethics Initiative
21 Jul 2014
Given a choice between crashing into a motorcyclist wearing a helmet vs. a motorcyclist who isn’t wearing one, which one should an autonomous car be programmed to crash into? What about the choice b...
Fast robot arm catches flying objects | Automaton
Hallie Siegel
15 May 2014
At the Learning Algorithms and Systems Laboratory at EPFL, they're leveraging fast vision, fast computers, fast controllers, fast motors, programming by demonstration, and object modeling to be able ...
ShanghAI Lectures: Rafael Núñez “Where mathematics comes from’”
Nathan Labhart
03 Apr 2014
Guest talk in the ShanghAI Lectures, 2010-12-16
In this guest lecture, Rafael Núñez from the University of California, San Diego, USA, talks about Mathematics as a paradox for embodiment and cog...
ShanghAI Lectures: Nikolaos Mavridis “Robots, language, and social networks”
Nathan Labhart
27 Mar 2014
Guest talk in the ShanghAI Lectures, 2010-12-16
The lecture starts with a short introduction to the Interactive Robots and Media Lab and the United Arab Emirates. Then, it continues by exploring so...
Chess, Jeopardy and now… Ping Pong? Kuka robot goes up against table tennis champion Timo Boll
Frank Tobe and Ioannis K. Erripis
11 Mar 2014
Timo Boll & Agilus robot Photo credit: KUKA
[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 ...
Quadrocopter failsafe algorithm: Recovery after propeller loss
Mark Mueller
04 Mar 2014
UPDATE 04/03/2014:
In this video update, we show that a quadrocopter can be safely piloted by hand after a motor fails, without the aid of a motion capture system. This follows our previous video, ...
Cubli – A cube that can jump up, balance, and walk across your desk
Gajan Mohanarajah and Markus Waibel
20 Dec 2013
2022 update: A new, one-wheeled version of the Cubli has been developed. The one-wheel Cubli is a three-dimensional pendulum system that can balance on its pivot using a single reaction wheel, as it i...
Fully autonomous flapping-wing micro air vehicle weighs about as much as 4 sheets of A4 paper
Guido de Croon
16 Dec 2013
The DelFly Explorer, a flapping wing MAV equipped with a 4-gram stereo vision system that can fly completely by itself in unknown, cluttered environments. © Delft University of Technology.
The DelFl...
Three new quadrotor videos demonstrate agile control and the power of machine learning
Hallie Siegel
18 Nov 2013
Quadrocopters assembling tensile structures in the ETH Flying Machine Arena. Photo credit: Professorship for Architecture and Digital Fabrication and the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control, ETH...
VIDEO Flying robots perform amazing acrobatics | CNN
Hallie Siegel
12 Nov 2013
Professor Raffaello d'Andrea has created a series of complex algorithms allowing airborne robots to perform acrobatics.
Watch the video on CNN...
Transformational robotics and its application to agriculture
John Payne
25 Oct 2013
No, this is not about shapeshifting robots, come to save or destroy Earth. It is about transforming the contexts within which robotic technologies are applied, and about practicing robotics with the i...
Researchers use single joystick to control swarm of RC robots
Aaron Becker
09 Sep 2013
What can you do with 12 RC robots all slaved to the same joystick remote control? Common sense might say you need 11 more remotes, but our video demonstrates you can steer all the robots to any desi...
Construction with Amorphous Materials, with Nils Napp
Sabine Hauert
06 Sep 2013
Link to audio file (25:03)
In this episode, Sabine Hauert interviews Nils Napp from the Self-organizing Systems Research Group at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
Napp tells us about his...
Timelapse: Building an arena for flying robots | TED Blog
Hallie Siegel
12 Jun 2013
Our photographer Duncan Davidson loves to shoot time-lapses; before every TED, you can find him behind the scenes hiding cameras to snap away for hours and days. In his latest piece, he tracks the c...
Live at TED Global 2013: Tweets, photos and video for quadrotor fans
Robohub Editors
11 Jun 2013
Raffaello D'Andrea demos his quadrotor "athletes" at TED Global 2013.
Update with the full video below
Check out live tweets, amazing photos, TED blog posts and awesome video coverage of the session...
Behind the scenes at TED Global: Raffaello D’Andrea and team demo amazing quadrotor “athletes”
Markus Waibel and Hallie Siegel
11 Jun 2013
With reporting and photos by Dario Brescianini and Mark Mueller and timelapse video by James Duncan Davidson.
Raffaello D'Andrea juggles quadrotors at TED Global 2013.
A quadrocopter swoops th...
Athletic machines: Raffaello D’Andrea at TEDGlobal 2013 | TED Blog
Hallie Siegel
11 Jun 2013
“Athletic” is a term we use to describe human beings. But could it also be used to describe a machine?
In a demo recorded yesterday in his robot lab at TEDGlobal 2013, systems engineer Raffaell...
Those Flying Things: The speakers in Session 2 at TEDGlobal 2013 | TED Blog
Hallie Siegel
11 Jun 2013
When it comes to drones, a lot of ideas float in the ether. Technologists see potential for flying machines to help us in all sorts of unexpected ways, governments take measures that seem hard and fix...
Quadrocopters learn from prior experience to improve slalom flying
Mike Hamer
11 Jun 2013
A new video released today by researchers from the Flying Machine Arena shows how a quadrocopter is able to learn from prior experience to improve future performance.
This new research is an extens...
The Swinging Blind Juggler
Markus Waibel
03 May 2013
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Child's Garden of Verses by Robert L. Stephenson...
First controlled flight of an insect-sized robot
Sabine Hauert
02 May 2013
Researchers from the Wyss Institute and the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard have developed a millimeter-scaled insect robot that can autonomously control its flight. Their findin...
Designed to mingle: Rezero ballbot’s smooth moves can handle a crowd
Hallie Siegel
05 Mar 2013
Designing robots that can function outside of controlled, factory environments isn’t easy. When those environments have people in them, they are especially unpredictable and difficult for a robot to...
Video: Throwing and catching an inverted pendulum – with quadrocopters
Markus Waibel
21 Feb 2013
Two of the most challenging problems tackled with quadrocopters so far are balancing an inverted pendulum and juggling balls. My colleagues at ETH Zurich's Flying Machine Arena have now combined the t...
Surrounded by his quadrocopter drones on stage, Raffaello D’Andrea explains feedback control and talks about the coming Machine Revolution
Markus Waibel
04 Feb 2013
During the 20 minute presentation, Raffaello D'Andrea revealed some of the key concepts behind his group's impressive demonstrations of quadrocopters juggling, throwing and catching balls, dancing, an...
