Picking up things is pretty sucky for robots, since so many complex variables are involved. And the more complicated the object, the more complicated the task of picking it up seems to be. This new type of robotic gripper can pick up all sorts of objects (the more complicated, the better) by using a technique called ‘jamming.’ Jamming is simple and effective: a balloon is filled with coffee grounds. When air is blown into the balloon, it expands slightly, the coffee grounds can move around a little bit, and the gripper can conform to complex objects. When air is sucked out of the balloon, the coffee grounds bind together, and the object is now firmly held. It’s basically a practical method of shape shifting. Cool! The funny thing about jamming is that effectiveness of the grip is, in most cases, directly proportional to the complexity of the object. This means that flat, smooth objects like sheets of paper are pretty much impossible to pick up using jamming, which is the inverse of using a different technique like suction. Porous or squishable objects like cotton balls also don’t lend themselves to being gripped in this manner. But this is a small price to pay for being able to pick up more or less any object without having to first examine that object and calculate exactly how to go about doing it… Plus, a balloon and coffee grounds? Sounds pretty damn cheap to me. [ PNAS ] VIA [ Hizook ]

[ Tom Gauld ] VIA [ Eggshell Robotics ]

On Monday, Barack Obama opened the (first ever) White House Science Fair with the following: “One of the great joys of being President is getting to meet young people like all of you — and some of the folks in the other room who I just had a chance to see some of their exhibits and the work that they were doing. It’s inspiring — and I never miss a chance to see cool robots when I get a chance.” Wow, me neither! Also introduced at the event was a new DARPA initiative to give resources to students to help them build those aforementioned robots. BTW, I’m still waiting to hear back on that anti-robot takeover czar position… [ The White House Blog ] VIA [ Robot Living ]

Remember 5 years ago when a bunch of robotic cars managed to navigate through the desert all by themselves? And remember 3 years ago when a bunch of robotic cars managed to navigate through a (fake) urban area all by themselves? Well, today it’s the future, and autonomous robotic cars from Google have already logged 140,000 miles on busy, complex city streets and highways with only occasional human intervention, and 1,000 miles without any human control whatsoever. Writing about this kind of thing makes me all tingly, because ever since I saw that autonomous Passat park itself at Stanford a year ago, it’s become clear that robotic cars aren’t some far-off futuristic dream, but that this technology is actually achievable in the near term. I mean, consider how much time you spend in your car effectively doing nothing, and then think about how much things would change if you could be productive (or asleep) instead. And of course, it’s not just that: autonomous cars have the potential to reduce traffic by driving closer together, drastically improve gas mileage with cooperative drafting, and (most importantly) significantly reduce the number of car accidents, which cause 1.2 million fatalities worldwide and exponentially more injuries plus untold emotional (and financial) trauma. Lots more, after the jump. On to the cars themselves. Besides the big honkin’ LIDAR system mounted on the roof, the rest of the equipment is fairly low-key… There’s a position sensor mounted on the wheels, some small radar sensors in the bumpers, and a video camera in front of the rear view mirror to detect stop lights, stop signs, pedestrians, and bicyclists. The real trick, though, seems to be that Google sends out manned scout cars ahead of the autonomous ones to map the route (lane markers, etc.) in detail. You might […]

Do you own a robot? Are you are a robot? Either way, Carnegie Mellon wants to hear from you as part of their 2010 Robot Census. Initially, the idea was to just count up all the robots at CMU (547), but the project has since expanded to all robots. Everywhere. So that they can get proper representation and federal funding, or something. Of course, in order to qualify for the robot census, a robot has to be, uh, a robot. So what’s a robot? According to CMU’s Heather Knight, who’s running the show, “everyone agrees there are 3 minimum requirements. These are the minimum, but not sufficient requirements: They must act in the world, sense the world, and they need to have computation.” The “minimum but not sufficient” bit is in there to preclude registering a thermostat as a robot, but this brings up all kinds of questions about just what exactly a robot is. I would just say that robots are like profanity: you know it when you see it. Register your robot here. [ Robot Census ]