StomachBot: Magnetic Self-Assembly of Swallowable Modular Robots
Found @ http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081129173859.htm:
"A Surgeon You Can Swallow"
"ScienceDaily (Dec. 1, 2008) — In the future, tablet-shaped robots could perform some surgical operations without injuring the body. A new publication by the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems of ETH Zurich shows how such surgical bio-microrobots might function.
Paolo Dario, Professor of Biomedical Robotics at the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna in Pisa, Italy, explained the dawn of a new medical era in the September edition of the American financial magazine “The Economist”. Surgical operations with open wounds are increasingly being replaced by non-invasive techniques extending even to systems that enable operations without a single scar.
Bio-microrobotics has a decisive role in this development. Like the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna, ETH Zurich is also a part of the EU’s ARES research project (Assembling Reconfigurable Endoluminal Surgical System), a consortium of robotics experts from four European higher education institutions. Together, the researchers want to make micro-robots usable for medical applications. The plan is that, in the future, robots no bigger than a conventional capsule will perform a series of tasks in the gastro-intestinal tract, e.g. a gastroscopy or a tissue biopsy.
Although pill-shaped micro-cameras have existed for seven years now and are currently being used successfully in surgery to study the gastro-intestinal tract, these systems are passive. The camera takes thousands of pictures as it passes through the gastro-intestinal tract, but its position during this time cannot be controlled. This should soon change, because the ARES scientists are currently developing micro-robots with controllable insect-like legs with which the “robot pills” would be able to move around in the stomach. Other groups are working on special devices for tissue biopsy. In the future, such instruments could be used to make a precise examination of damaged regions in the gastro-intestinal tract while at the same time taking tissue samples for subsequent investigation.
Multi-segment, self-assembling stomach robots
One of the biggest challenges facing the robotics scientists relates to the enormous miniaturisation of the electronic systems. Room for the system’s entire technology, including the power supply, must be found within a few cubic millimetres. In the micro-cameras that are already established, the battery alone takes up 60 percent of the capsule’s volume. Hence one key question: how can a series of surgical robot functions be brought into a form that the patient can swallow and which is at the same time compatible with the body?
In a recent publication, Zoltan Nagy, a doctoral student at the Institute of Robotics and Intelligent Systems of ETH Zurich (IRIS) since 2006, presents the following approach to a solution: the patient swallows not one but several “robot pills” fitted with individual functions, such as the controller or forceps for tissue sampling. The pills can be swallowed one after another and assemble themselves automatically to form a larger, more powerful system only when they reach the stomach. For this purpose, Nagy developed a magnetic mechanism that enables the parts of the robot to join together automatically in the stomach to form an entire system. The individual components are polarized at right angles to the surface, so they arrange themselves in a predictable sequence when they come together.
The system was tested in an artificial stomach with a 75 percent success rate. Because a rigid chain of several robot components moves only with difficulty through the stomach and intestine, Nagy has also developed intermediate links that make the system more mobile. This would enable the surgical system to move as a whole through the stomach and intestine, like a multi-link chain. A magnetic system has the added advantage that the magnetic field changes in a characteristic way when the individual members of the chain come together. This change is measurable and can be communicated to a computer and used as an indicator of the exact position and arrangement of the robot snake.
Probing the limits of feasibility..."
Reach this article in its entirety at its source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081129173859.htm
also read "Building a Self-Assembling Stomach-Bot" @ http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/21401/page2/
Monday, December 1, 2008
Surgical Robots That Operate on You from the Inside
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Open Wide!
..........................................From: thesouthern.com"Robotics, orthodontics a winning combination"
"HERRIN - Patient satisfaction with orthodontic care has been enhanced greatly with the development of robotics. This new procedure, known as the SureSmile system, is being performed by only a handful of specialists in Illinois.Dr. Kyle R. Childers, who owns a practice at Logan Professional Park in Herrin, is one such specialist. He has spoken at seminars to inform fellow orthodontists and dentists of the technological advancement.
"HERRIN - Patient satisfaction with orthodontic care has been enhanced greatly with the development of robotics. This new procedure, known as the SureSmile system, is being performed by only a handful of specialists in Illinois.Dr. Kyle R. Childers, who owns a practice at Logan Professional Park in Herrin, is one such specialist. He has spoken at seminars to inform fellow orthodontists and dentists of the technological advancement.
Childers said that instead of eyeballing a wire and bending it for the patient's braces by hand, he is able to maneuver the wire through robotics to the exact shape it needs to be to benefit the patient most.This custom-built wire is within 50 microns (width of a human hair) of perfection and allows Childers to move each of the patient's teeth to the target position."The finishing part or detail work is what takes the longest in orthodontics," Childers said.
To design the customized wire, a 3-D computer image of the patient's smile is scanned into the computer. Childers reviews the image, and with the help of the computer, determines the best position for the teeth..."
Read the full article @ its source: http://www.thesouthern.com/articles/2008/11/08/business/26466966.txt
Monday, October 13, 2008
The Clothes Make The Man
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> From: The Herald Net"Robot suit helps disabled people walk"
"TSUKUBA, Japan -- A robotic suit that reads brain signals and helps people with mobility problems will be available to rent in Japan for $2,200 a month -- an invention that may have far-reaching benefits for the disabled and elderly.
HAL -- short for "hybrid assistive limb" -- is a computerized suit with sensors that read brain signals directing limb movement through the skin.
The 22-pound battery-operated computer system is belted to the waist. It captures the brain signals and relays them to mechanical leg braces strapped to the thighs and knees, which then provide robotic assistance to people as they walk.
Cyberdyne, a new company in Tsukuba outside Tokyo, will mass-produce HAL. Two people demonstrated the suits at the company's headquarters on Tuesday.
A demonstration video also showed a partially paralyzed person getting up from a chair and walking slowly wearing the HAL suit.
"We are ready to present this to the world," said Yoshiyuki Sankai, a University of Tsukuba professor who designed HAL.
Sankai, who has worked on robot suits since 1992 and is also Cyberdyne's chief executive, said a full device that covers the entire body is also being designed, though it is unclear when it will be available commercially.
HAL comes in three sizes -- small, medium and large -- and also has a one-leg version for a 150,000 yen, or $1,500, monthly rental fee.
Noel Sharkey is a robotics expert not affiliated with the technology. The professor at the University of Sheffield in England said HAL will have wide-ranging benefits for the elderly others with movement disabilities.
"HAL can only lead to extending the abilities of the elderly and keep them out of care for longer," Sharkey said in an e-mail to The Associated Press..."
Read the full article @ its source:
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20081012/BIZ/710129940
"TSUKUBA, Japan -- A robotic suit that reads brain signals and helps people with mobility problems will be available to rent in Japan for $2,200 a month -- an invention that may have far-reaching benefits for the disabled and elderly.
HAL -- short for "hybrid assistive limb" -- is a computerized suit with sensors that read brain signals directing limb movement through the skin.
The 22-pound battery-operated computer system is belted to the waist. It captures the brain signals and relays them to mechanical leg braces strapped to the thighs and knees, which then provide robotic assistance to people as they walk.
Cyberdyne, a new company in Tsukuba outside Tokyo, will mass-produce HAL. Two people demonstrated the suits at the company's headquarters on Tuesday.
A demonstration video also showed a partially paralyzed person getting up from a chair and walking slowly wearing the HAL suit.
"We are ready to present this to the world," said Yoshiyuki Sankai, a University of Tsukuba professor who designed HAL.
Sankai, who has worked on robot suits since 1992 and is also Cyberdyne's chief executive, said a full device that covers the entire body is also being designed, though it is unclear when it will be available commercially.
HAL comes in three sizes -- small, medium and large -- and also has a one-leg version for a 150,000 yen, or $1,500, monthly rental fee.
Noel Sharkey is a robotics expert not affiliated with the technology. The professor at the University of Sheffield in England said HAL will have wide-ranging benefits for the elderly others with movement disabilities.
"HAL can only lead to extending the abilities of the elderly and keep them out of care for longer," Sharkey said in an e-mail to The Associated Press..."
Read the full article @ its source:
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20081012/BIZ/710129940
"Scientists think that, one day, robots could fool us into believing they were human"
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>From: BBC News/Science"Japanese develop 'female' android"
"Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet - a "female" android named Repliee Q1Expo.
"Japanese scientists have unveiled the most human-looking robot yet - a "female" android named Repliee Q1Expo.
She has flexible silicone for skin rather than hard plastic, and a number of sensors and motors to allow her to turn and react in a human-like manner. She can flutter her eyelids and move her hands like a human. She even appears to breathe.
Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University says one day robots could fool us into believing they are human.
Professor Hiroshi Ishiguro of Osaka University says one day robots could fool us into believing they are human.
Repliee Q1Expo is not like any robot you will have seen before, at least outside of science-fiction movies. She is designed to look human and although she can only sit at present, she has 42 actuators in her upper body, powered by a nearby air compressor, programmed to allow her to move like a human.
We have found that people forget she is an android while interacting with her
Prof Hiroshi Ishiguro"I have developed many robots before," Repliee Q1Expo's designer, Professor Ishiguro, told the BBC News website, "but I soon realised the importance of its appearance. A human-like appearance gives a robot a strong feeling of presence..."
Prof Hiroshi Ishiguro"I have developed many robots before," Repliee Q1Expo's designer, Professor Ishiguro, told the BBC News website, "but I soon realised the importance of its appearance. A human-like appearance gives a robot a strong feeling of presence..."
Read the full article @ its source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4714135.stm
Thursday, October 9, 2008
Hello Mr. Chips
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>From: Edutopia"Rise of the Robots: Human-Machine Interaction Enhances Tech Teaching"
"Simpler to build, less expensive to buy, self-activating machines will become indispensable teaching tools.
Robots have long been the stuff of sci-fi movies, from the rabble-rousing fembot in Fritz Lang's classic silent film Metropolis to the maniacal micromanager HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Teutonic Terminator (who came back from the future to become governor of California). Film robots have been fecklessly funny (C-3PO) and ferocious (those evil Star Trek Borgs), yet what they all had in common was that they were fictional.
That was then.
Now, bots are hot, they're real, and they're a growing part of secondary school curriculum. Sebastian Thrun, a professor of engineering at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, leads a team at the school that competes in the DARPA Urban Challenge, where highly sophisticated robot cars must handle simulated real-world traffic conditions. Thrun sees an increasing number of freshmen entering Stanford with head starts in robotics. "I find that there's an enormous awareness and fascination with regard to robotics in the incoming student population," he says.
This awareness may start early, as Web sites such as Instructables.com offer information on how parents (or teachers) and kids can build small robots. The rise of robotics now showing up in school science curricula, often starting at the elementary school level, can be credited to inventor Dean Kamen, who launched the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition in 1989, in which student-designed robots engage in a last-bot-standing battle royale. Now, more than 32,000 students on 1,500 high school teams from all over the world have competed, and the FIRST Lego League and Junior FIRST Lego League have brought robotics to kids ages 6-16..."
That was then.
Now, bots are hot, they're real, and they're a growing part of secondary school curriculum. Sebastian Thrun, a professor of engineering at Stanford University and director of the Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, leads a team at the school that competes in the DARPA Urban Challenge, where highly sophisticated robot cars must handle simulated real-world traffic conditions. Thrun sees an increasing number of freshmen entering Stanford with head starts in robotics. "I find that there's an enormous awareness and fascination with regard to robotics in the incoming student population," he says.
This awareness may start early, as Web sites such as Instructables.com offer information on how parents (or teachers) and kids can build small robots. The rise of robotics now showing up in school science curricula, often starting at the elementary school level, can be credited to inventor Dean Kamen, who launched the FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition in 1989, in which student-designed robots engage in a last-bot-standing battle royale. Now, more than 32,000 students on 1,500 high school teams from all over the world have competed, and the FIRST Lego League and Junior FIRST Lego League have brought robotics to kids ages 6-16..."
Read the full article at its source:
Monday, September 15, 2008
More News about BigDog
From ZEENEWS.com
"Now, robodog to be the latest weapon! "
"...Modern battlefields may soon resemble something out of a science fiction flick, thanks to advances in robotics. And, the latest weapon to be unveiled is the robodog -- four-legged, petrol-powered robots.
Scientists have developed the 'BigDog', billed as "the most advanced quadruped robot on Earth", which they claim is able to carry up to four packs of military equipment on awkward terrain unsuitable for vehicles.
Standing at over 2ft tall and more than 3ft long, BigDog comes equipped with all manner of high-tech gadgets, including laser gyroscopes, a video camera sensor system and a sophisticated on-board computer, the 'Daily Mail' reported.
"Some of the wars we're engaged in now happen to have that kind of terrain. The idea is to look at the way nature has solved different robotics problems," Robert Mandelbaum, the Project Manager at Boston Dynamics, was quoted as saying.
According to the scientists, who have developed the robodog for the US Army, the 11-stone machine can trot along at up to four mph and would even stay on its legs when it is kicked hard in the side -- but, sadly, no wagging tail.
In fact, its legs are designed to work in a similar way to a real dog's, even storing energy in shock absorbers when a foot touches the ground.
The 14-million-pound BigDog project is currently being tested across a five-mile trail used to train the US Marine Corps, carrying the soldiers' equipment to prove that it can cope with holes, steep slopes and water hazards.
However, the scientists are also planning to use the technology for non-military purposes..."
Read this article @ its source: http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=469087&sid=env&ssid=365
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