AR Drone to fly

We have seen the AR Drone here before. This is the quadcopter that can be flown around using the WiFi from your iPhone, iPad or an iPod Touch. 

The accelerometers in the Apple product are used to fly the device around, you simply tip it in the direction you would like the AR Drone to fly. 

The quadcopter has a sophisticated onboard processor which allows the AR Drone to maintain predictable flight. 

There is an ultrasonic sensor on the bottom to allow the height of the quadcopter to be easily maintained. 

Movement of the AR Drone is watched by a bottom facing camera, by analyzing each passing frame it can be determined how far it has flown. This is a similar technology to what is done in an optical mouse to detect in what direction and how far the mouse has been moved.

The front facing camera allows the AR Drone to be flown out of visual range, you simply watch the action on the iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch. 

Some of the AR Drones you see have some colored bands, these are used to allow for some fun augmented reality games where you can follow another drone and even make it look different.

Watch the video for some technical details of what is inside the AR Drone and continue watching the second half of the video for some flight action. 

The people flying the quadcopters are out of the crowd so it shows how easy it is to just pick up and play. 

I can see all sorts of extended applications beyond the fun flying aspects, just imagine the security guards that need to make long far patrols, instead of walking a mile he could just make a quick flight around to make sure nothing is wrong.

 via 

hackedgadgets

movies become real Laser Gun

Remember all the people warning you never to look directly at the sun because you will go blind !!

Well believe me when I say do not look into the barrel of this gun because it will make you blind.

This DIY Pulse Laser Gun was built by Patrick Priebe who you might remember from the Iron Man Repulsor Light Laser Glove Project.

This is what you get when you convert a ton of energy into light energy in a fraction of a second.

Looks fun enough to build but I probably won’t since I would probably end up with a few holes in my hand or something.

It holds a small pulse laser head, capable of generating aMW-pulse of coherent infra-red light.

One shot can punch through a razorblade, plastic, 5mm styrofoam when focussed.

Effective range on 3m (dark surfaces)…you will see a stinging flame and a 5mm stain will remain on target. The goal was, to create handheld device…AS COMPACT as possible.

Its 320mm long and weights about 2 pounds.

Materials used: Plexi for the center-plate, and brass / aluminum for the casing. Each and every part, handmade…took about 70 hours of work.

Iron Man Light Laser it`s become really

If you have seen the Iron Man movie the image above is sure to be familiar to you.

Patrick from Germany shared this project with us in the Hacked Gadgets forum, we have seen other cool Iron Man Repulsor Light projects before but as far as I know this is the first that it truly very dangerous.

So a word of warning, do not attempt to copy this build unless you know what you are doing! Patrick already has plans for version 2 in his head, I look forward to seeing that in the future.

The goal was to create a hand-held laser…powerful…balloons pop across the room…cuts plastic…
Made SOME laser-guns before, and the most “useless” space-eating part, was the grip.

So I had to get rid of it. I am am a HUGE fan of the new Iron Man movies, so I decided to try my own design and make a glove. Took a whole weekend to make it, and another 2 days for the paint-job {made EVERYTHING myself…from metal-work, wiring, paint-job}

 PLZ not this not for kids play this like super weapon 

Technical info:

# made of 2mm brass-sheet
#constant current LM317 driver
# 445nm 1000mW laser diode
# 2x 3.7V Li Ion cells (=7.4V total)

Ant navigation Robot

Next time you find yourself lost despite having a map and satellite navigation, spare a thought for the unfortunate ant that must take regular trips home to avoid losing its way. Dr Markus Knaden, from the University of Zurich, will report that a visit back to the nest is essential for ants to reset their navigation equipment and avoid getting lost on foraging trips. "Knowledge about path integration and landmark learning gained from our experiments with ants has already been incorporated in autonomous robots. Including a 'reset' of the path integrator at a significant position could make the orientation of the robot even more reliable", says Dr Knaden who will speak on Tuesday 4th April at the Society for Experimental Biology's Main Annual Meeting in Canterbury, Kent [session A4]

Ants that return from foraging journeys can use landmarks to find their way home, but in addition they have an internal backup system that allows them to create straight shortcuts back to the nest even when the outbound part of the forage run was very winding. This backup system is called the 'path integrator' and constantly reassesses the ant's position using an internal compass and measure of distance travelled. Knaden and his colleagues hypothesised that because the path integrator is a function of the ant's brain, it is prone to accumulate mistakes with time. That is, unless it is regularly reset to the original error-free template; which is exactly what the researchers have found.

When they moved ants from a feeder back to a position either within the nest or next to the nest, they found that only those ants that were placed in the nest were able to set off again in the right direction to the feeder. Those left outside the nest set off in a feeder-to-home direction (i.e. away from the nest in completely the opposite direction to the source of food) as if they still had the idea of 'heading home' in their brains. "We think that it must be the specific behaviour of entering the nest and releasing the food crumb that is necessary to reset the path integrator", says Knaden. "We have designed artificial nests where we can observe the ants after they return from their foraging trips in order to test this."

What next? The group plan to study other ant species that live in landmark rich areas. "Maybe we will find that such ants rate landmarks more highly and use them, not the nest, to reset the path integrator", explains Knaden. 

A 'NASA explores' article on testing robots at farming

Viaeurekalert

ASMIO Robot

From Honda Motor Co.comes a new small, lightweight humanoid robot named ASIMO that is able to walk in a manner which closely resembles that of a human being.

One area of Honda's basic research has involved the pursuit of developing an autonomous walking robot that can be helpful to humans as well as be of practical use in society. Research and development on this project began in 1986. In 1996 the prototype P2 made its debut, followed by P3 in 1997.

"ASIMO" is a further evolved version of P3 in an endearing people-friendly size which enables it to actually perform tasks within the realm of a human living environment. It also walks in a smooth fashion which closely resembles that of a human being. The range of movement of its arms has been significantly increased and it can now be operated by a new portable controller for improved ease of operation.

ASIMO Special Features:
Smaller and Lightweight
More Advanced Walking Technology
Simple Operation
Expanded Range of Arm Movement
People-Friendly Design

Small & Lightweight Compared to P3, ASIMO's height was reduced from 160cm to 120cm and its weight was reduced from 130kg to a mere 43kg. A height of 120cm was chosen because it was considered the optimum to operate household switches, reach doorknobs in a human living space and for performing tasks at tables and benches. By redesigning ASIMO's skeletal frame, reducing the frame's wall thickness and specially designing the control unit for compactness and light weight, ASIMO was made much more compact and its weight was reduced to a remarkable 43kg.

Advanced Walking Technology Predicted Movement Control (for predicting the next move and shifting the center of gravity accordingly) was combined with existing walking control know-how to create i-WALK (intelligent real-time flexible walking) technology, permitting smooth changes of direction. Additionally, because ASIMO walks like a human, with instant response to sudden movements, its walking is natural and very stable.

Simple Operation To improve the operation of the robot, flexible walking control and button operation (for gesticulations and hand waving) can be carried out by either a workstation or from the handy portable controller.

Expanded Range of Movement By installing ASIMO's shoulder's 20 degrees higher than P3, elbow height was increased to 15 degrees over horizontal, allowing a wider range of work capability. Also, ASIMO's range of vertical arm movement has been increased to 105 degrees, compared to P3's 90-degree range.

People-Friendly Design In addition to its compact size, ASIMO features a people-friendly design that is attractive in appearance and easy to live with.

About the Name
ASIMO is an abbreviation for "Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility"; revolutionary mobility progressing into a new era.

Specifications
Weight: 43kg
Height: 1,200mm
Depth: 440mm Width 450mm
Walking Speed: 0 - 1.6km/h
Operating Degrees of Freedom*
Head: 2 degrees of freedom
Arm: 5 x 2 = 10 degrees of freedom
Hand: 1 x 2 = 2 degrees of freedom
Leg: 6 x 2 = 12 degrees of freedom
TOTAL: 26 degrees of freedom
Actuators: Servomotor + Harmonic Decelerator + Drive ECU
Controller: Walking/Operation Control ECU, Wireless Transmission ECU Sensors - Foot: 6-axis sensor
Torso: Gyroscope & Deceleration Sensor
Power Source: 38.4V/10AH (Ni-MN)
Operation: Work Station & Portable Controller

VIA

asimo.honda.com

Robots can Full of Love

However they are assisting the elderly, or simply popping human skulls like ripe fruit, robots aren't usually known for their light touch. And while this may be fine as long as they stay relegated to cleaning floors and assembling cars, as robots perform more tasks that put them in contact with human flesh, be it surgery or helping the blind, their touch sensitivity becomes increasingly important.

Thankfully, researchers at the University of Ghent, Belgium, have solved the problem of delicate robot touch.

Unlike the mechanical sensors currently used to regulate robotic touching, the Belgian researchers used optical sensors to measure the feedback. Under the robot skin, they created a web of optical beams. Even the faintest break in those beams registers in the robot's computer brain, making the skin far more sensitive than mechanical sensors, which are prone to interfering with each other.

Robots like the da Vinci surgery station already register feedback from touch, but a coating of this optical sensor-laden skin could vastly enhance the sensitivity of the machine. Additionally, a range of Japanese robots designed to help the elderly could gain a lighter touch with their sensitive charges if equipped with the skin.

Really, any interaction between human flesh and robot surfaces could benefit from the more lifelike touch provided by this sensor array. And to answer the question you're all thinking but won't say: yes. But please, get your mind out of the gutter. This is a family site.

Via New Scientist