Robotics Trends: 16-22 April 2012

The DARPA Humanoid Challenge is still a hot topic! Competitors start to organize. Davide Faconti who led the REEM-B humanoid project at Pal Robotics is currently recruiting partners for a European team.

In the meanwhile, the DARPA continues to prepare the competition. The newly launched Open Source Robotics Foundation (OSRF) is in charge of the simulator that will be used in the simulation league. Since OSRF takes over Willow Garage for the development of ROS and Gazebo, this latter is likely to be improved and adapted to fit the DARPA’s requirements.

Speaking of challenges, there are other ones that will take place next may: ICRA Robot Challenge 2012. It is discussed by Steve Cousins CEO of Willow Garage interviewed in episode 102 of the RobotsPodcast. Cousins believes that no team will succeed to achieve the mobile manipulation challenge (AKA Sushi Boat Challenge) this year. Indeed, it involves complex manipulation and perception in a dynamic  environment. The robot has to pick dishes on a rotating table based only on its sensors. No tags or any other landmark will be put on items that should be handled by robots.

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Videos of the Week

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News of the Week

• New Robots(9)
• ROS(9)
• DARPA Challenge(6)
• Events(5)
• DIY(4)
• Applications(4)
• Drones(3)
• Robotics Business(2)
• Misc(8)




New Robots

• Q.bo Uses Object Recognition on Mirror Image – Robots.net – 19 April 2012
• Mobot by Barobo – low cost modular robot – Robots.net – 19 April 2012
• Qbo Robots Now Up for Pre-Order – IEEE Spectrum : Robotics – 19 April 2012
• The New Neato XV-21 Is your Pet’s Best Friend – RobotShop – 18 April 2012
• ROS news: Q.bo now available for order – Planet ROS – 18 April 2012
• Dan Mathias of FutureBots Introduces KATE 1.0 – Plastic Pals – 18 April 2012
• U.S. Navy Showcases LASR’s Ridiculous Fire-Fighting Robot – Plastic Pals – 17 April 2012
• KATE: A New Humanoid Robot from FutureBots Labs – Hizook – 16 April 2012
• Voice Control wheelchair – The NXT Step – 16 April 2012




ROS

• ROS news: ROS Fuerte Release Candidate 3 – Planet ROS – 21 April 2012
• Mario Prats: Interactive Markers with OpenSceneGraph – Planet ROS – 20 April 2012
• ROS news: romeo stack annoucement – Planet ROS – 20 April 2012
• ROS news: ROS Fuerte Release Candidate 2 – Planet ROS – 18 April 2012
• Oddwerx Robots Run ROS on Your Smartphone for $99 – IEEE Spectrum : Robotics – 18 April 2012
• ROS news: rxDeveloper 1.3b with sourcecode generators – Planet ROS – 17 April 2012
• ROS news: Open Source Robotics Foundation – Planet ROS – 17 April 2012
• ROS news: ROS Fuerte Release Candidate 1 – Planet ROS – 17 April 2012
• ROS news: An Oddwerx Visit – Planet ROS – 16 April 2012




DARPA Challenge

• New DARPA Challenge: Make a Robot Action Hero – RobotShop – 20 April 2012
• Icarus Technology Assembling Team for DARPA Challenge – Plastic Pals – 20 April 2012
• Call for participation: DARPA Robotics Grand Challenge – Robots.net – 20 April 2012
• DARPA $2 Million Disaster Robot Challenge – Robotland – 17 April 2012
• DARPA Awards Simulation Software Contract to Open Source Robotics Foundation – IEEE Spectrum : Robotics – 17 April 2012
• Boston Dynamics Takes Center Stage In New DARPA Challenge – Plastic Pals – 16 April 2012




Events

• RoboGames Starts Today! – IEEE Spectrum : Robotics – 20 April 2012
• Symposium on Robotics @ Collège de France, Paris – nil – 20 April 2012
• Innorobo 2012: Recap – Plastic Pals – 19 April 2012
• Expo 2012 Yeosu Korea: Robotics Pavilion (preview) – Plastic Pals – 18 April 2012
• Agricultural Robotics at European Robotics Forum 2012 – Robots.net – 16 April 2012




DIY

• Tutorials : Adafruit Industries, Unique & fun DIY electronics and kits – Hobby Robotics – 20 April 2012
• Arduino 5 Minute Tutorials: Lesson 4 – IR Distance Sensor & Push Button – RobotShop – 20 April 2012
• Arduino 5 Minute Tutorials: Lesson 3 – Potentiometer – RobotShop – 19 April 2012
• Arduino 5 Minute Tutorials: Lesson 2 – Basic Code – RobotShop – 17 April 2012




Applications

• Crop Scout Robot – Robot Living – 18 April 2012
• Robotic Assistant for Prison Guards – Robots.net – 17 April 2012
• Robo-Guard Deployed With New Look – Plastic Pals – 17 April 2012
• RoboCops Now Guarding South Korean Prisons – IEEE Spectrum : Robotics – 16 April 2012




Drones

• Magnetic Resonance Power Transfer – Robots.net – 18 April 2012
• Wireless Power Transfer to Ground Sensors Using a UAV (Quadrotor) – Hizook – 18 April 2012
• Learning acrobatic maneuvers for quadrocopters – Autonomous Robots – 17 April 2012




Robotics Business

• Neato Robotics Raises $12.2 Million In Funding – RobotShop – 20 April 2012
• $10 Million Robot Ad Campaign – Robotland – 19 April 2012




Misc

• Robots in Advertising: Absolut Greyhound – Plastic Pals – 21 April 2012
• Robots Podcast #102: Steve Cousins & Roland Siegwart – Robots.net – 20 April 2012
• Video: Mini Doc About Mini Bots – Plastic Pals – 20 April 2012
• MyRobots Connect Now in Stock – RobotShop – 19 April 2012
• Seven Videos from Festo – Robots.net – 19 April 2012
• Sandia Shrinks Neutron Generator – Robots.net – 17 April 2012
• Robot Virtual Worlds – New Release – The NXT Step – 16 April 2012
• Status Report: We’re Back! – Plastic Pals – 16 April 2012