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Pentagon researchers
have taken robots for a
science fiction spin,
building a robotic
hummingbird that's ideal
for covert surveillance.
A year and a half ago,
we saw
our first look
at the hummingbird drone
from the Defense
Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA),
a teeny robotic spyplane
inspired by the mid-air
dexterity of the
hummingbird. But now
we've got a video of the
drone in action, much
more capable and with
the ability to do its
acrobatics for much
longer. The drone, built
by AeroVironment with
funding from DARPA, is
able to fly forwards,
backwards, and sideways,
as well as rotate
clockwise and
counterclockwise. Not
only does the 'bot
resemble its avian
inspiration in size
(it's only slightly
larger than a
hummingbird, with a
6.5-inch wingspan and a
weight of 19 grams), it
also looks impressively
like a hummingbird in
flight.
The Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
recently embarked on a new initiative to
develop robotic autonomous manipulators that
mimic human arms, wrists, hands and fingers.
The goal of the program is to surpass the
performance of tasks currently performed by
remote manipulation systems that are
controlled directly by a human operator.
“In the areas of manipulation, there is a
great need to advance the state of the art
in robots’ abilities to perceive their
environment, understand the objects that
they’re trying to manipulate, be able to
pick those objects up and manipulate them,”
says Dr. Robert Mandelbaum, program manager
for the Information Processing Technique
Office at DARPA, the group that focuses on
robotics and autonomous systems.
According to Mandelbaum, current technology
requires “burdensome human operation, and
high-precision arms and hands, yet a
two-year-old child manipulates better.” The
ARM program will enable military
applications that should revolutionize the
battlefield by making robots just as
dexterous, resilient and flexible as humans.
Mandelbaum envisions mobile manipulators
with a high degree of autonomy, requiring
only high-level supervision by an operator,
thus simplifying human control and improving
the execution of military tasks. Potential
applications include search and rescue;
weapons support; checkpoint and access
control; explosive ordnance disposal; and
casualty care, including battlefield
extraction and treatment.
To
develop autonomous capabilities for mobile
manipulators that “improve task performance
and remove direct human control,” Mandelbaum
and his colleagues have embarked on a
hardware track and a software track, each
with three development phases.
One of the key goals of the program is to
lower manufacturing costs by “at least one
order of magnitude less than multi-fingered
hands on the market today. Among other
methods, the low cost should be achieved by
dispensing with high-precision engineered
parts, and recovering precision by way of
perception-based feedback control; utilizing
techniques such as ‘minimalist’ design that
reduces complexity and part count; and use
of economies of scale or production volume.”
To help address that challenge, DARPA has
partnered with two leading-edge robotic
companies: Barrett Technology Inc. and RE2
Inc. They will provide the hardware,
software, integration services and
manipulation expertise for the multi-year
research program.
Barrett Technology will provide the ARM
effort's manipulation hardware, including
the Barrett WAM Arm and BarrettHand. RE2
will provide manipulator integration
services, applying its manipulation
expertise to integrate the Barrett
technology with various sensing technologies
and a mobile platform.
For the ARM program, DARPA will select a set
of teams that will be given identical
government-furnished hardware and will be
tasked to create algorithms to maximize the
manipulation capability. Engineers will
develop the best autonomous software for
performing complex manipulation tasks.
“DARPA’s overall technical objective for the
ARM program is to enable high-level control
of ‘hands on’ contact tasks, with the mobile
manipulation system following a high-level
script and performing low-level subtasks on
its own,” says William Townsend, CEO of
Barrett Technology. “Autonomously
controlled, high-degree-of-freedom robotic
arms, wrists and hands to grasp and
manipulate objects [will] perform tasks,
including mobile navigation, as necessary.”
The ARM program will consist of a series of
real-world tasks that become progressively
more difficult. It will involve grasping a
wide variety of different objects, some
known and some partially known.
Phase 1 of the grasping test will require
the manipulator to pick up objects such as
flashlights, pistols, knives, screwdrivers,
telephone handsets, mines, radio handsets,
circuit boards, grenades, rocks, pipes, fins
and branches.
Phase 1 of the manipulation test will
include performing tasks such as writing
with a pen; sorting objects by pushing them
on a tabletop; stapling together papers
already placed in a stapler; drilling a hole
using a power tool; throwing a ball; sliding
a sheet of paper along a tabletop; inserting
a key into a lock and turning the key to
unlock it; and turning wheels, knobs and
levers on an instrument panel.
Phase 2 of the grasping challenge will
require the manipulator to pick up a pair of
pliers; a key and lock set; a cell phone
that slides open; a cell phone that flips
open; a meal ready to eat; a boot; a utility
pouch with a belt loop; a shirt; a duffle
bag; a mortar round; a shovel; a brick; and
a log.
Phase 2 of the manipulation challenge will
involve performing actions such as holding
an inert grenade with one hand and pulling
the pin with the other hand; holding a jar
with one hand and unscrewing the lid with
the other hand; assembling an object from a
kit of parts; inserting a battery into an
electronic device; pouring a glass of water;
fitting a connector into a mating
receptacle; putting the cap on a pen;
applying duct tape; removing duct tape;
zipping open a duffle bag; cutting a wire;
tying a knot in rope; and removing a card
from a wallet.
Phase 3 of the grasping test will require
the manipulator to hold bolt cutters, a
mortar, a rifle, a backpack, a flexible
toolkit, a full trash bag, rope, an
ammunition box, rubble, a partially buried
mine and a cinder block.
Phase 3 of the manipulation test will
involve performing tasks such as loading a
mortar round into a mortar tube; opening a
gym bag; and picking up and removing rubble.
High Speed
Cheetah Robo-Cat
in Development
A
high
speed
military
robot
design
is being
developed
by
Boston
Dynamics,
with
funding
supplied
by DARPA
– the US
Defense
Advanced
Research
Projects
Agency.
Called
the
Cheetah,
the
robot
resembles
its
real-life
counterpart
and is
due to
be
unveiled
in late
2012.
The
Cheetah
robo-cat
will
reportedly
be
capable
of
travelling
at a
maximum
of 30
miles
per
hour, in
the
first
instance.
That’s
less
than
half the
speed of
an
actual
cheetah,
but
beyond
the
capabilities
of a
battlefield
troop
weighed
down
with
military
equipment,
if not
most
humans.
Cheetah
High
Speed
Robot
The
Cheetah
high
speed
robot
will
also
boast an
articulated
head, a
spine
that can
flex and
the
ability
to
rapidly
change
direction
and
manoeuvre
around
corners.
All of
this
gives it
significant
battlefield
potential
but it’s
envisaged
that the
design
won’t
enter
direct
US
military
service.
Rather,
according
to
Boston
Dynamics,
it will
likely
be used
as a
proof of
concept
platform
for
future
technologies.
While 30
miles
per hour
is the
short-term
speed
target,
the
firm’s
President
has
hinted
that the
Cheetah
could do
even
more.
“There’s
no
fundamental
reason
why it
can’t go
as fast
as the
animals
[i.e. 60
to 70
mph],
but it
will
take a
while to
get
there”,
Marc
Raibert
was
quoted
by the
Boston
Herald
as
having
said.
The
design
could
also
have
applications
beyond
pure
military
use -
fire-fighting,
hi-tech
agriculture
and
emergency
response
work
could
all be
within
its
capabilities.
Cheetah
Robo-Cat
The
DARPA
Cheetah
robo-cat
funding
represents
part of
the
organization’s
wider
Maximum
Mobility
and
Manipulation
Program.
This is
concerned
with
advancing
and
developing
new
robotic
technologies
and,
alongside
the
Cheetah,
the
agency
is also
financing
Boston
Dynamics’
Atlas
project.
Atlas is
a
human-like
robot
that
will
specialize
in
rugged
missions
that
involve
hostile
ground,
tight
spaces
and
crawling.
Boston
Dynamics
is well
known
for its
BigDog
design,
and its
other
robotic
products
and
collaborations
have
been
covered
in
previous
Armed
Forces
International
News
Items.
The
Big Dog
The Defense
Advanced
Research
Projects Agency
(DARPA)
has for years
explored the
possibility of
using legged
robots to
carry troop
supplies
where wheeled
robots dare not
tread
(particularly
through narrow
mountain passes
or up across
uneven terrain).
Turns out,
building a
legged robot
that’s more of a
benefit than
burden isn’t so
easy.
A robot
doggedly moves
forward
The 165-pound
(75-kilogram)
BigDog
represents a
major step
forward for
legged
locomotion, a
problem whose
complexity had
frustrated
engineers, even
prompting some
to believe it
was impossible
to solve. How,
for example,
could a robot
know where to
place each foot
when walking?
“The problem
seemed too hard;
it just didn’t
seem like it
could be done,”
says Sanjiv
Singh, a
research
professor with
Carnegie Mellon
University’s (C.M.U.)
Robotics
Institute in
Pittsburgh who
in 2005 and 2006
worked with
BigDog creator
Boston Dynamics
to develop its
computer
vision
system.
engineers logged
some successes
in the early
1990s with the
Dante 1
and Dante 2
units built to
gather gas
samples from the
Mount Erebus
volcano in
Antarctica. Both
robots were
“dynamically
stable” because
at least three
of their four
legs touched the
ground at all
times, reducing
the likelihood
that the robot
would fall, says
Singh, who
contributed to
the Dante 1
mission. Dante 2
operated like
two overlapping
coffee tables
(each with four
legs) sliding
over each other
to slink to its
destination—slow
and steady but
not very nimble.
founder Marc
Raibert pushed
the dynamic
stability
concept further
in subsequent
years as he
moved from the
Robotics
Institute to the
Massachusetts
Institute of
Technology
(M.I.T.) and
then formed
Boston Dynamics.
(The company
declined to be
interviewed for
this article.)
Improvements in
a legged robot’s
agility could
only come when
the robot could
operate each leg
independently
without
sacrificing the
machine’s
stability.
Raibert showed
this could be
done, Singh
says, by
creating a robot
that was able to
sense its
different body
parts, just like
an animal,
without the use
of
cameras
or laser
sensors.
“You know where
your body parts
are even when
you can’t see
them,” Singh
says. “When you
run, you don’t
watch your feet
the whole time,
but you can tell
when you’re
slipping, or
when the ground
is softer than
what you expect.
There is a way
to encode in
robots different
gaits that are
not based on
decision making,
you just sort of
step [and deal
with the
consequences].
This is
basically the
genius of what
they’ve done
with BigDog.”
The biggest
challenge in
making BigDog
work is “you
don’t have one
joint per
leg—you’ve got
four of them,”
says Robert
Mandelbaum, the
program manager
in DARPA’s
Information
Processing
Techniques (IPTO)
and Tactical
Technology
offices who is
in charge of the
agency’s
biorobotics
program, which
includes BigDog.
“You’ve got to
navigate a
16-dimensional
space and make
sure they’re all
working together
to keep its
center of
gravity.” (For
more on BigDog,
read “
What’s so
difficult about
creating
autonomous
legged robots?
In short,
“everything,”
says Tom Wagner,
program manager
in DARPA’s IPTO.
Robots such as
4.9-pound
(2.2-kilogram)
LittleDog
are designed to
sense the world
around them,
make decisions
based on the
information they
gather, and then
attempt to take
some
action
based on this
information.
“There are
fundamental
research
challenges that
lie in all of
these areas,
[such as]
whether the
system can
differentiate
tall grass from
a barbed wire
fence, plan its
path
accordingly, and
then follow
along that
planned path
even when the
terrain is
uneven and
difficult,” he
adds. For an
autonomous
system like
LittleDog, all
of the
difficulties
with perception,
cognition and
action
are combined
with the
engineering
challenges posed
by the
mechanical
system.
Put another way,
legged robots
must be taught
how to walk, and
different
surfaces require
different
adjustments. It
is a lesson that
animals pick up
at an early age
by using their
brains to
understand what
works and what
does not during
the learning
process.
(Walking on
carpet is a lot
different than
trying to
navigate a
slippery tile
floor.) “Look at
a gazelle—all of
its
software
is in its
brain,” says
James Kuffner,
an associate
professor at
C.M.U.’s
Robotics
Institute, one
of six teams of
robotics
researchers
(along with the
Florida
University
System’s
Institute for
Human and
Machine
Cognition, M.I.T.,
Stanford
University, the
University of
Southern
California and
the University
of Pennsylvania)
that DARPA asked
to improve on
the same basic
LittleDog
quadruped robot
platform, built
for them by
Boston Dynamics.
(For more on
LittleDog, read
“DARPA Pushes
Machine Learning
with Legged
LittleDog
Robot.”)
The
ultimate robot
A robot’s
surroundings can
prevent it from
doing exactly
what it is told
to do. When a
computer
uses artificial
intelligence to
play chess,
there is no
uncertainty
about where the
pieces are and
where they can
be placed. That
is not true in a
real-world
environment,
which has
endless
possibilities
that no amount
of programming
can ever
anticipate. To
get around this
problem, BigDog
does not use
cameras or laser
sensors to
determine its
location.
Instead, it
steps first and
then reacts to
the terrain.
This means it
must very
quickly
determine its
position at any
given time,
compare that
with its desired
position, and
immediately take
corrective
action based on
the difference
between these
two. “BigDog is
reacting at
1,000 times per
second as it
tries to keep
its center of
gravity,”
Mandelbaum says.
“It only finds
out about
terrain after
the fact.”
BigDog does this
by sensing the
positions of its
joints. As it
moves, the robot
will bend one of
its knee joints
and then
straighten it;
if the knee
joint fails to
straighten, the
robot determines
that it cannot
put weight on
that leg without
falling over.
Using onboard
sensors that
indicate whether
it is tilting
left or right or
is otherwise
unbalanced,
BigDog’s
software
checks its
weight
distribution and
relies on its
other legs to
regain its
balance. The
strategy seems
to have worked:
The robot is
able to avoid
falling when it
is on ice and
after being
kicked in the
side.
In addition to
controlling
BigDog’s joints,
other major
challenges are
making the robot
durable (so it
doesn’t break
down in the
field),
efficient (it
needs to be able
to carry its own
fuel and/or
batteries in
addition to
military
equipment), and
quiet (its
two-stroke
engine is
noticeably loud
and may require
mufflers).
Gait
control—determining
when to walk,
trot, run,
etcetera—will
play an
important part
in BigDog’s
success,
Mandelbaum says.
“When a kangaroo
achieves maximum
speed, it
recovers 93
percent of the
energy
expended,” he
adds. With that
sort of return
on energy
expenditure,
BigDog could get
away with having
a smaller and
possibly quieter
engine; its
current power
plant produces a
loud,
mind-numbing
drone when in
operation.
In the end,
having robots
that can walk
like animals
means building
ones that more
closely mimic
them, both in
the way they
move and the way
they think. A
handful of other
robotics
researchers—including
those at Japan’s
Kyoto Institute
of Technology—have
over the past
decade been
developing
quadruped
robots, but none
appear to have
BigDog’s high
levels of
adaptability,
balance and
perseverance nor
LittleDog’s
intelligence and
awareness. In
the end, the
U.S. military
wants robots
with all of
these traits to
accompany its
troops on the
ground.
Insect
Robots/Cyborgs
The Pentagon
is trying to develop "insect
cyborgs" able to sniff out
explosives, or "bug"
conversations by lurking unseen
in enemy hideouts with
micro-transmitters strapped to
their bodies. The U.S.
Department of Defense is
considering fielding an army of
remote-controlled insect spybots
as scouts. DARPA, says it is
seeking "innovative proposals to
develop technology to create
insect cyborgs," by implanting
tiny devices into insect bodies
while the animals are in their
larva or pupal stage.
The devices DARPA wants
to implant are micro-electro-mechanical
systems, or MEMS. MEMS technology uses tiny
silicon wafers like those used as the basis
for computer microchips. But instead of
merely laying circuits on them, MEMS
technology can actually cut and shape the
silicon, turning the chip into a microscopic
mechanical device. This transforms the
insects into "predictable devices that can
be used for various micro-UAV missions
requiring unobtrusive entry into areas
inaccessible or hostile to humans."
Cornell University has
implanted a silicon chips inside flying
insects to control their movement. The
results were published June 22 by
AZoNano . These “insect cyborg
sentinels” ranging from cicadas to
dragonflies are a new pass in cyborg
technology. The project intends to control
the insects' movement by motion trajectories
obtained from GPS coordinates or from using
an ultrasonic based remote control. Gaining
control of an insect's movement is necessary
because it enables scientists to position
the insect in an area where a toxic
substance is suspected to be present
Insect Cyborg Sentinels combine living
system technology with nanosystem
technology, taking the best that a living
system has with the best that engineers can
do in building nanosystem technologies.
Insects can fly up to two weeks without
stopping, possessing an aerodynamic ability
well developed over millions of years of evolution.
The future shows DARPA arming these cyborgs
with SWARM technology to be used as an
offensive asset as well. The project is
funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) which has a full
Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical
Systems (HI-MEMS) Program. ($2 million HI-MEMS
program).
Many of today's
military robots are still somewhat
limited in their autonomy and their range.
They are essentially tethered to human
controllers. The
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA), the Black Ops government think
tank researches develops future technologies
for the new military, recently held a widely
publicized robot race to see how far along
robot AI has come. Modern AI is still
somewhat limited but advancements are
accelerating exponentially at an alarming
rate. From massive troop transports to
micro-nano spybots it is expected that by
2025 the battlefield will be a hybrid blend
of soldier and cyborg robot.
Assault Talon
Packbots
are small ManPort
units controlled by
a Pentium processor
that has been
designed specially
to withstand rough
treatment, Packbot's
chassis has a
GPS system
, an electronic
compass and
temperature sensors
built in. Packbot
manufacturer
iRobot
says Packbot can
move more than 8 mph
(13 kph), can be
deployed in minutes
and can withstand a
6-foot (1.8-meter)
drop onto concrete
-- the equivalent of
400 g's of force.
U.S. soldiers
regularly take
advantage of this
ruggedness, tossing
Packbot through
windows of hostile
buildings and then
using it to search
and find out where
enemy combatants are
hiding. Even if
Packbot lands upside
down, it can right
itself using
powerful treaded
flippers, which also
help it climb
obstacles.
Military Robot
Packbot comes in several different versions
in addition to the basic Scout unit. Packbot
Explorer adds a square "head" that can raise
up on a metal arm, pan and tilt, provide
gun-sighting video and generally act as a
lookout for soldiers who need to peer over
obstacles or around corners. Packbot EOD is
used to disarm or safely detonate dangerous
explosives. It uses a mechanical arm with a
gripping hand plus a full range of audio and
visual sensors. With eight modular payload
ports, Packbot is built for further
customization. These robots have a top speed
of 3 feet (1 meter) per second and a
single-charge run time of four to six hours.
In the event of tread damage, the
quick-change tracks can be swapped
in about five minutes.
Robots could soon
have an equivalent of the internet
and Wikipedia.
European scientists have embarked on
a project to let robots share and
store what they discover about the
world.
Called RoboEarth it will be a place
that robots can upload data to when
they master a task, and ask for help
in carrying out new ones.
Researchers behind it hope it will
allow robots to come into service
more quickly, armed with a growing
library of knowledge about their
human masters.
Share plan
The idea behind RoboEarth is to
develop methods that help robots
encode, exchange and re-use
knowledge, said RoboEarth researcher
Dr Markus Waibel from the Swiss
Federal Institute of Technology in
Zurich.
"Most current robots see the world
their own way and there's very
little standardisation going on," he
said. Most researchers using robots
typically develop their own way for
that machine to build up a corpus of
data about the world.
“Start Quote
The key is
allowing robots to share
knowledge. That's really
new”
End Quote
Dr
Markus Waibel
This, said Dr Waibel,
made it very difficult for
roboticists to share knowledge or
for the field to advance rapidly
because everyone started off solving
the same problems.
By
contrast, RoboEarth hopes to start
showing how the information that
robots discover about the world can
be defined so any other robot can
find it and use it.
RoboEarth will be a communication
system and a database, he said.
In
the database will be maps of places
that robots work, descriptions of
objects they encounter and
instructions for how to complete
distinct actions.
The human equivalent would be
Wikipedia, said Dr Waibel.
"Wikipedia is something that humans
use to share knowledge, that
everyone can edit, contribute
knowledge to and access," he said.
"Something like that does not exist
for robots."
It
would be great, he said, if a robot
could enter a location that it had
never visited before, consult
RoboEarth to learn about that place
and the objects and tasks in it and
then quickly get to work.
While other projects are working on
standardising the way robots sense
the world and encode the information
they find, RoboEarth tries to go
further.
"The key is allowing robots to share
knowledge," said Dr Waibel. "That's
really new."
RoboEarth is likely to become a tool
for the growing number of service
and domestic robots that many expect
to become a feature in homes in
coming decades.
Dr
Waibel said it would be a place that
would teach robots about the objects
that fill the human world and their
relationships to each other.
For instance, he said, RoboEarth
could help a robot understand what
is meant when it is asked to set the
table and what objects are required
for that task to be completed.
The EU-funded project has about 35
researchers working on it and hopes
to demonstrate how the system might
work by the end of its four-year
duration.
Early work has resulted in a way to
download descriptions of tasks that
are then executed by a robot.
Improved maps of locations can also
be uploaded.
A
system such as RoboEarth was going
to be essential, said Dr Waibel, if
robots were going to become truly
useful to humans.
To
develop autonomous capabilities for mobile
manipulators that “improve task performance
and remove direct human control,” Mandelbaum
and his colleagues have embarked on a
hardware track and a software track, each
with three development phases.
evolution.
The future shows DARPA arming these cyborgs
with SWARM technology to be used as an
offensive asset as well. The project is
funded by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research
Projects Agency (DARPA) which has a full
Hybrid Insect Micro-Electro-Mechanical
Systems (HI-MEMS) Program. ($2 million HI-MEMS
program). 
Packbots
are small ManPort
units controlled by
a Pentium processor
that has been
designed specially
to withstand rough
treatment, Packbot's
chassis has a
