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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>From - NPR "First Eyes Inside Nuclear Plant May Be A Robot's
Workers in Japan want to look inside three troubled reactors at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. But intense radiation inside the buildings means that it is too dangerous for them to enter. One solution? Robots. They're good at going places where people just don't want to go.
"The purpose of robots is to do those dull, dirty and dangerous missions — so dangerous is certainly what we're talking about here," says Tim Trainer, a vice president at iRobot, an American firm that has sent four of its robots to the company that owns the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant
After a massive earthquake and tsunami struck the plant on March 11, operators lost power to the buildings that hold the reactors. In the ensuing days, three of them heated up and partially melted down. Explosions and fires that accompanied the accident have knocked out valuable equipment and left the area dangerously radioactive.
"A lot of the sensors and cameras are no longer operative in the facility, so the robot can provide your eyes and ears," Trainer says.
The robots Trainer has sent are designed to investigate bombs for the military, and some have been used in Iraq and Afghanistan. They look like little tanks and are about 3 feet long. On their front is an extra set of extendable treads, which they can use to get over things.
I would anticipate that we are going to see a phenomenal enterprise of remote work systems that are brought to bear over the weeks, months and years of recovering Fukushima.
That maneuverability could come in handy at Fukushima Dai-ichi — the area around the plant is cluttered with debris. The robots also come equipped with cameras and chemical and radiation sensors. One type has a robotic arm that can open doors — unless they're locked.
Once the robots get inside, they might use their cameras to inspect the condition of the containment vessels around the reactors or take samples to check the radiation levels.
But this is only the start of the role that the robots may play at Fukushima. Carnegie Mellon University robotics researcher Red Whittaker has assisted with robotic operations at nuclear accidents like Chernobyl. He says after that 1986 accident, at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine, radiation levels were too high for workers to conduct cleanup operations, so remote-controlled robots had to take over..."
Read the full article at its source - listen to the NPR episode - view video, etc.: http://www.npr.org/2011/03/23/134769065/first-eyes-inside-nuclear-plant-may-be-a-robots
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>FROM: www.voanews.com
"Many South Korean families spend thousands of dollars a year on English language education for their children. Students attend private academies often until late at night everyday. Most such schools hire teachers from abroad, but a team of engineers has created a robot that they hope will eventually replace foreign instructors.
Engkey wheels around the front of a classroom at the Hagjeong Primary School in Daegu.
The egg-shaped robot asks the class - six fourth-grade students - to repeat English phrases and teaches them children’s songs in English.
But Engkey’s voice is not its own. It is connected via teleconference to the Philippines, where a teacher conducts the class through a monitor. An image of a Caucasian woman appears on Engkey’s LCD panel head, although she is not the teacher in the Philippines.
But Engkey’s creators say this robot is much more than a video screen on wheels.
Kim Mun-sang is director of the Intelligent Robotics Program at the government-funded Korea Institute for Science and Technology in Seoul. He explains how the robot works.
"We have some perception technology,” Kim said. “We can detect the motion of the English teacher. As soon as the teacher moves his hand, the robot raises its hand, if the teacher for example laughs, we can detect his laughing expression. So the robot can do just like the English teacher does."
Kim say Engkey also has an autonomous mode in which it can recognize a student’s English speech and correct pronunciation.
Kim says because of South Korea’s strong emphasis on learning English, robots can make up for the shortfall in foreign teachers.
"In Korea there is a lot of demand for English learning, so, they need a very good English lessons from native speakers, but as you know it is not easy to have good quality of English native teachers in Korea at once, there are not so many," Kim added.
Kim adds that Engkey will save schools money. He says the cost to build a robot and hire a Filipino teacher to work with it is around $20,000 a year. That is roughly half the cost of supporting a foreign teacher in Korea.
He says if the Engkey pilot program here in Daegu proves a success, then more robots could be used in after-school tutoring.
So far, students at the Hagjeong School give Engkey high marks.
One 10-year-old boy, who says his English name is Tony, admits he was a little nervous about the robot at first, but likes its singing and dancing
And 10-year-old Charlotte says she likes the robot teacher better than human teachers.
But some teachers think a robot cannot replace the real thing.
Yu Do-hyun lectures in English and education at Seoul’s Kookmin University.
She says Engkey’s novelty will wear off quickly.
"At first children will like to see the Engkey and play with Engkey, learning from Engkey, but after several classes, they are not interested anymore," Yu said.
And Yu adds that learning from a robot deprives students of the main reason for studying a foreign language, human interaction.
"Communication is between humans, so they need practicing with native speakers, human teachers,” Yu added. “Even though they practice English a lot with the robots, when they meet human native speakers, they will be very nervous, because they haven’t conversed with real speakers."
Engkey’s creators say that students will determine how successful the robot is as a teacher. But they hope that someday all schools in South Korea will have a robot in the classroom..."
READ THE FULL STORY @ ITS SOURCE: http://www.voanews.com/english/news/asia/South-Korean-Students-Learn-English-from-Robot-Teacher-117640783.html
"Robots have barely learned how to walk, but Vstone is already pushing them to run. The Japanese robot research and manufacturing firm has announced it is putting together the world’s first marathon for our mechanical offspring. The Robot Challenge will have bipedal bots racing around a 100m track for 422 laps either remotely controlled or operating completely autonomously by following a painted line. As you can see in the video below, the contest is unlikely to feature sprinting or even jogging competitors. This race will go to the strong and steady robot that can survive the repeated wear and tear on its servos. Fast or slow, the Robot Challenge marathon marks a step in the evolution of amateur level contests – we know you can make fun or fierce artificial humanoids, now show us a bot that has the staying power to really serve the human race.
Along with their announcement for the Robot Challenge, Vstone released the following concept video. It’s very short, just enough footage to give developers an idea of what they’d need to work on. Note that this demo track is far from being 100 meters long.
The robot shown in the demo is Vstone’s own Robovie-PC, developed in cooperation with ATR. Robovie-PC is a robot that’s also a computer, hence the name. It features a 1.6 GHz processor, twenty degrees of freedom, and a 1.3 megapixel camera in its head. That latest sensor is likely how the bot is able to stay on track during its test run. Retailing for around $4500, Robovie-PC probably represents a typical investment expected for contestants in the Robot Challenge. You don’t have to be a major research institution to afford such a setup, but you can’t exactly be a first-time competitor either.
On the 42.2 km (26.2 mile) journey, it’s expected that many robots will have break downs. Vstone allows for you to replace damaged parts (though not the entire robot) and will use the total time (travel plus maintenance) as the competing score. Sort of like robot NASCAR.
In a world where the majority of amateur robot competitions involve bots pushing each other in ‘wrestling matches’ or kicking balls in soccer matches, Robot Challenge could be something pretty novel. You’re not trying to create a new fighting skill, or fancy new athletic maneuvers, you’re just trying to get your robot to walk for miles without breaking down. Maybe that’s more mundane than we’re used to, but if you think about it, it’s really more exciting than most of the other contests out there. After all, if we really want robots to come work in our homes and do our dirty work, it will be reliability that is the top concern. All major robot research firms perform these types of endurance trials, it’s high time they got the same attention in amateur-level robot competitions.
Robot Challenge is pretty awe-inspiring when you think that every stride the bipeds take could bring us one step closer to creating practical humanoid robots. I’m going to keep that in mind as I cue up the theme of Chariots of Fire and watch the Robovie-PC’s..."
Read the full article at its source:
http://singularityhub.com/2011/02/09/japanese-company-to-sponsor-first-robot-marathon-26-2-miles-to-glory/
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>FROM: Hacked Gadgets
"The $15,000 robot has now been available for sale for a few days but has been in beta testing for a long time. It serves an obvious need, just imagine having an Anybot at your remote locations that you need to travel too frequently. Instead of spending countless hours flying and expensive lodging expenses you could simply log into an Anybot that has been setup on site and conduct your business. You could visit a dozen branches on Monday morning and still make your 1:00 PM golf tee time..."
Read the full article at its source: http://hackedgadgets.com/2011/02/03/anybot-telepresence-robot/
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>SOURCE: CNET News online 2/1/11
"Children too sick to go to school are still getting an education--thanks to robots in the classroom that transmit lessons back to the student.
(Credit: Vgo Communications) Stepan Supin, 12, of Moscow has been battling leukemia for two years, and his immune system is so weak he can't leave home. However, telepresence technology allows him to go to school via remote-controlled robot.
The R.BOT 100 was developed by Moscow's 3Detection Labs several years ago, and it's been helping Stepan study history, geography, and languages since September.
Priced at roughly $3,000, the R.BOT 100 moves around on a wheeled base and has a display, Web cam, microphone, speakers, and an Internet link so Stepan can interact with his classmates and teacher.
"I can change the robot's speed, to go slower or faster. I can move his head to look left or right. I really feel as if I am in the classroom," Stepan told Australia's Herald Sun.
In Texas, Lyndon Baty also goes to school through a robot surrogate. He suffers from polycystic kidney disease and has a severely impaired immune system, which confines him to home.
Lyndon attends class with the Vgo telepresence robot, which was released last year by Vgo Communications. With two-way video, audio, and a 10-hour battery, Vgo lets Lyndon roam around the halls of Knox City High School and interact with other students (see the video below)..."
Read the full story at its source:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20030156-1.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20
_______________From:
Korea JoongAng Daily
Robot teachers with a human face
“Engkey” gives a lecture yesterday in Daegu. By Gong Jeong-sik
After years of hype, robot teachers have finally rolled into the classrooms.
The Daegu Office of Education introduced 29 robot teachers for English classes in 21 elementary schools - one of the largest rollouts in the world - and the bots strutted their stuff at a demonstration at Hakjung Elementary School yesterday, with about 150 government officials coming to get a look at the technology employed.
The 1-meter (3.28 feet) egg-shaped robot, named “Engkey” (an abbreviation of English key), spoke, asked questions and conversed in English with students, and even entertained the crowd by dancing to music.
“It is awesome and interesting,” marveled Sim Geun-hae, a third-grade student who participated in the demonstration class. “I felt I could learn English better [if it becomes my teacher].”
In fact, the robo-teachers aren’t mere chips, wheels and gears. Within each of them, in a sense, is a real human teacher controlling the machine by remote from the Philippines. The teachers in the Philippines have cameras to record their faces - which show up on a flat panel screen that forms the robo-teacher’s face - and they can also see the Korean students through a camera installed in the robot. Basically, the robot is a rolling Internet link between students and teacher, although the human teacher can also command the robot to make human gestures with its arms and wheels.
“The robots will teach students in after-school programs, not in regular classes,” Kim Mi-yong, an official at the education office, said. “The robot can handle only a small number of students per class, about eight students.”
The education office said Korean teachers can use the robots as assistant teachers for English classes, too.
The robots were invented by the Center for Intelligent Robotics under the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and the Daegu city government, the Daegu Office of Education and the Ministry of Knowledge and Economy spent roughly 1.6 billion won ($1.39 million) for the units.
The English-speaking robot has already made headlines in the foreign media. Time magazine dubbed it one of the 50 best inventions of 2010.
Read the full article at its source: http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/view.asp?aid=2930207
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>From - NPR 
