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Subscribe to RSS"The robot has moved a step closer to humanity," concludes a news release put out today by a German research institute on the development of a robotic skin.
The "skin" consists of 2-inch square hexagonal plates packed with sensors for things like touch, acceleration and temperature that are joined together in a honeycomb-like configuration.
"We try to pack many different sensory modalities into the smallest of spaces," said Philip Mettendorfer, who is developing the skin at the Technical University of Munich, in the news release. "In addition, it is easy to expand the circuit boards to later include other sensors, for example, pressure."
The technology, according to the researchers, will provide robots with tactile information to complement their camera eyes, infrared scanners and gripping hands. Tap it on the back, in the dark, and it will know you're there.
In the video above, researchers test the sensors on a robotic arm by doing things such as brushing it with a piece of tissue paper and touching it with a warm hand to show how the robot quickly jerks away. In another test, the accelerometer allows it to keep a cup on a tray steady as the arm is moved around.
For now, the skin consists of just 15 sensors, though the researchers plan to create a prototype completely draped in the skin-line sensors that can interact with its environment.
The research effort, described in June issue of IEEE Transactions on Robotics, joins other quests around the world for robotic skin.
Ali Javey's group at the University of California at Berkeley, for example, recently reported on a new material for e-skin that can detect a range of pressures. This could, for example, allow a robot to distinguish between an egg and a frying pan and adjust its grip accordingly.
NASA scientists reported development of a skin that would give robots a sense of touch as it moved about its environment. Similar to Mettendorfer's concept, this would help robots react, for example, when they bump into an object.
The goal for robotic skin experts doesn't stop at the current sensory accomplishments. "These machines will someday be able to incorporate our fundamental neurobiological capabilities and form a self-impression," according to the Technical University of Munich.
More on robot sensory abilities:
- New skin lets robots get sensitive
- New e-skin could give robots human-like touch
- Electric fish could be model for underwater robots
- Wearable robots may help those who are paralyzed
John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by hitting the "like" button on the Cosmic Log Facebook page or following msnbc.com's science editor, Alan Boyle, on Twitter (@b0yle).
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It's an interesting problem they are working on. You can give the robot the ability to sense that it has touched something but giving it the ability to recognize the object and put the right amount of force on it would presumably be much harder unless the robot works in a very controlled environment and meets only known objects and tasks.
For instance, in a home environment does it understand the difference between an egg and a hammer? Picking up an egg like you would pick up a hammer results in a crushed egg but picking up a hammer like you would an egg results in the hammer flying across the room the first time you swing it. Then, how does it pick up a kitten or a baby ... etc.
Depends on the heuristic you use. There are parameters you could define: direction of gravitational pull, lag distance towards gravity, change in applied pressure, difference in perceived resistance, etc. and those could tell the robot which way is down? is the thing I'm grabbing slipping down? How much more pressure do I exert to stop the slippage? Is the material resisting the extra pressure or is there still give left in the surface? The trick is knowing what we do as humans to figure out if we are dropping a baby or holding an egg. Also, this would (presumably) not operate in a vacuum. It would compliment the eyes and other systems of the robot that may be able to add more information to the picture.
sounds like a good story line for howard on the big bang theory.
And what is the point of this? To try to prove man can make a human-like being? Please don't tell me the government is funding this and burning away mounds of cash.
Better to have 'mounds of cash' going to science than to have it fund endless unjust illegal wars and to the lazy slobs on Wall Street getting Corporate Welfare!
kill it before it grows. there are too many fatasses on welfare already.
Yea, like the bums 'running' Corporate America and Wall Street getting hundreds of BILLIONS of YOUR tax dollars in Corporate Welfare.
David, they have blowing and making skyscrapers of cash on projects we will NEVER know about....its the way the elite roll
At this rate unemployment will be 90% with three thousand people vying for one job. Soone going to cut our own throats.
If you think the economy is bad now with jobs going overseas wait until they perfect the robot: "The only reason why you have a job today is because no one has automated it yet"
Then I would recommend everyone start going to school to make robots...Then you will have a job!
:-)
Laugh now, but I want a robot that works for me, so I don't have to. In fact I want several. I have far better things to do then work at some pointless job, working for the sake of working. Only because I need to.
I should be in a shop playing with stuff, working on my inventions. Brewing potions, etc.
I wouldn't mind having a universal robot to help me with the yard work (weeding and trimming) while I am mowing the lawn...Hell, I would even buy the auto-mechanic's module that allows my robot to 'plug-in' to my car and analyze the diagnostics and can fix/tune up my car to have it running optimally at all times. I would even purchase the homeowner's module that allows my robot to plug into my house and perform a diagnostic on my appliances and HVAC system to determine the health of the house. It would have built in sensors that can 'sniff' formaldehyde, carbon monoxide other toxic chemicals/biologicals. That data could be emailed or transmitted via cellphone text message to the CDC for further action...I would even have the robot plug into the house electrical panel to analyze each circuit to determine if there were potential shorts in the wiring, measure the health of each light bulb to find out which one was the least efficient and which appliance was drawing the most power to determine the best time to offset certain appliance usage (i.e. when to operate the dishwasher)...I would also purchase the WebMD module that allows my robot to scan my body as I am in the house to determine if my vitals are within parameters of a healthy human and if I get hurt or have a cardiac arrest, my robot would be able to alert first responders as well as tend to me until the first responders arrive to include provide me first aid and CPR. Lastly, my robot would be my sentry. It would alert first responders if an intruder broke into my home and would incapacitate the intruder until the authorities arrived.
Just some coolguy thoughts for the robot of the future...Cheers!
:-)
Establish a "1-everything" world. Currency, language, etc. It's about time we considered ourselves "earthlings" and stop dividing ourselves up by imaginary borders. Next, have robots produce/provide EVERYTHING. Would money still need to exists if those of which provide everything for us have no living expense?
Considering there are not enough jobs to employ everyone now moving to this frame of mind and state of society, with no money and no concept of an accessed value for everything, needs to happen. No borders and peoples drive in life being the advancement of our technology and society and not personal profit.
Unfortunately this will never happen because the wealthy and powerful will not give up having more than the majority of people and living a life of luxury.
It's all about GIGO. Humans have other sensors besides touch. We can see and we interpret what we are seeing. We touch and feel and interpret what we are touching and feeling. This can be added to robots as well where they see the shape of the egg and can review in its catalog of data on its harddrive to determine it is an egg. If the thresholds are programmed into the database to determine what the crushing force threshold of an egg is with plus/minus tolerances, the computer chip would direct the 'hand' of the robot to only apply gripping force that reaches a ceiling or a percentage of that crushing force threshold to prevent crushing the egg. The other way I can see them creating a database of gripping forces would be to 'learn' the amount of force to generate while gripping. The robot could have a sub-routine that when it is introduced to something new it automatically 'catalogs' the object, introduces gripping force in graduated levels of force that it can catalog with results from the application of that force. In doing so, another sub-routine can be written that automatically lowers the threshold if the resultant is not what was expected. The only limitation is the tolerances of the robot's mechanics that prevent the robot from over-exerting too much force that it could damage itself. Then again, there can even be a safety 'switch' that prevents the robot from damaging itself and then a human would have to 'pop the circuit breaker' on the robot to reset it...
Sorry if I am babbling...I need a cup of coffee...
:-)
ken ...... only people well off financially could afford this sort of robot, not people on welfare ...... your right wing nuttyness is showing .....
....... im thinking of a more leisure use for those robots ....... imagine a very realistic (heh heh) twenty five year old Raquel Welch robot ...... so , lets hope the scientist get all the glitches ironed out ....... after all , we dont want to hear your robot say " Do you want those nuts crushed Master" ? yikes !
......... so, there you are with your Raquel Welch robot living the good life ....... a hot babe who never has a " headache" no crabby mother in law , no rug rats , and a girl who can watch the big game with ya and fetch your beer.