Walking robot tested in Finnish repository : Corporate

The ANYmal robot walks through Onkalo's underground tunnels (Image: Tapani Karjanlahti / Posiva)
A four-legged robot designed for autonomous operation in challenging environments has been put through its paces at a depth of more than 400 metres in the tunnels of the Onkalo underground used nuclear fuel repository near Olkiluoto, Finland.

A research team led by the Swiss robotics company ANYbotics visited Olkiluoto in June to test the functionality of its ANYmal robot in underground facilities. The test was organised by Euratom - the European Atomic Energy Community - together with Finnish radioactive waste management company Posiva Oy.

‍The ANYmal robot has been under development for many years. The roots of the ANYbotics company go back to the Swiss Institute of Technology, EHT. A group of researchers from the educational institution built the first four-legged robot back in 2009, and ANYbotics was founded for the commercialisation of this technology in 2016.

The ANYmal robot uses laser sensors and cameras to observe the environment and can locate its own position very precisely. By combining observation data with location data - such as a map or area scan data - it can plan its navigation route independently when necessary.

Posiva said Onkalo offered a unique framework for the robot to move, noting that there are tunnels in other parts of the world, but no other underground disposal facility has yet been built.

During the test, the robot - measuring 93cm in length, 53cm in width and 89cm in height and weighing about 50kg - travelled through the tunnels of Onkalo for about 1.5 hours. With a fully-charged battery, the robot can operate for up to 2 hours. The purpose was to test how far the robot can travel in Onkalo conditions with one charge, and whether there are any terrains in the tunnel where the robot would not be able to advance.

For the test, the robot first "walked" the planned route by remote control, and scanned the map into its internal system. In the test itself, the robot moved along the scanned route autonomously, although all the time in the line of sight with the research team. It was also available for remote control at any moment, for example in case of danger. Various safety functions were programmed into the robot. For example, it went around the obstacles on the route from a certain safety distance and stopped when something came into its safety area.

Authorities are interested in the use of robots for the reason that a robot can reach places that are inaccessible to humans, for example for nuclear material protection inspection work. Carrying out nuclear safeguards with the help of a robot is also of interest to Posiva, the company said. Robots can also be used in rescue operations and industry. They can be equipped with different devices for different tasks, such as optical and thermal cameras, microphones, gas or radiation detectors.

A video of the ANYmal robot in Onkalo can be found here.Researched and written by World Nuclear News  Source: - World Nuclear News
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Boston Dynamics robots dance to show off their agility

Boston Dynamics has released a new video of its entire range of robots, including Atlas, Spot, and Handle, dancing in unison to show off their versatility, and perhaps to celebrate Hyundai’s newfound interests in the MIT spinoff.
Massachusetts-based Boston Dynamics has thrown up an impressive and unnerving range of robots of varying shapes dancing to the tune of the Motown classic “Do You Love Me.”
The whole gang has hit the dance floor, including the humanoid Atlas first shaking its leg and then joined by Spot the quadruped mobile robot designed for sensing, inspection, and remote operation; Handle, the mobile manipulation robot for moving boxes in the warehouse; Pick, the vision processing solution that uses deep-learning to enable building and depalletising of mixed-SKU pallets, all dancing to the tune in an electrifying dance.
The world’s most dynamic humanoid robot, Atlas is a research platform designed to push the limits of whole-body mobility. Atlas’s advanced control system and state-of-the-art hardware give the robot the power and balance to demonstrate human-level agility.
Atlas has one of the world’s most compact mobile hydraulic systems. Custom motors, valves, and a compact hydraulic power unit enable Atlas to deliver high power to any of its 28 hydraulic joints for impressive feats of mobility.
Boston Dynamics dance video of the robots is meant to tell the world that the humanoids and the quadrupeds are as agile as living creatures and are capable of doing things that are now seen impossible.
Robots already operate in places where ordinary humans find it difficult to function. The bots are deployed to sniff out bombs, patrol oil rigs, monitor Covid-19 patients.
The moves are a bit janky at times, but the mobility and coordination of their routine is impressively fluid for lumps of metal and plastic.Boston Dynamics said it got the gang together to celebrate the start of what is a happier year, it has not disclosed the power behind the robotic dance show. Source:https://www.domain-b.com
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Realistic masks made in Japan

Super-realistic face masks made by a tiny company in rural Japan are in demand from the domestic tech and entertainment industries and from countries as far away as Saudi Arabia.

The 300,000-yen ($2,650) masks, made of resin and plastic by five employees at REAL-f Co., attempt to accurately duplicate an individual’s face down to fine wrinkles and skin texture.

Company founder Osamu Kitagawa came up with the idea while working at a printing machine manufacturer.

But it took him two years of experimentation before he found a way to use three-dimensional facial data from high quality photographs to make the masks, and started selling them in 2011.

The company, based in the western prefecture of Shiga, receives about 100 orders every year from entertainment, automobile, technology and security companies, mainly in Japan.

For example, a Japanese car company ordered a mask of a sleeping face to improve its facial recognition technology to detect if a driver had dozed off, Kitagawa said.

“I am proud that my product is helping further development of facial recognition technology,” he added.

“I hope that the developers would enhance face identification accuracy using these realistic masks.”

Kitagawa, 60, said he had also received orders from organizations linked to the Saudi government to create masks for the king and princes.

“I was told the masks were for portraits to be displayed in public areas,” he said.

Kitagawa said he works with clients carefully to ensure his products will not be used for illicit purposes and cause security risks, but added he could not rule out such threats.

He said his goal was to create 100 percent realistic masks, and he hoped to use softer materials, such as silicon, in future.

“I would like these masks to be used for medical purposes, which is possible once they can be made using soft materials,” he said.“And as humanoid robots are being developed, I hope this will help developers to create (more realistic robots) at a low cost.” Source: https://www.daily-bangladesh.com
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Warehouse robot kills 90% of viruses

Researchers at MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL), in collaboration with Ava Robotics and the Greater Boston Food Bank (GBFB), have designed a new robotic system that kills microorganisms in its proximity, using ultraviolet light.

During tests at GBFB, the robot drove by pallets and storage aisles at 0.22 miles per hour. At this speed, the robot could cover a 4,000-square-foot warehouse space in just half an hour. Ultraviolet C (UV-C) is a subtype of ultraviolet light that is short-wavelength (100–280 nm) and germicidal. Its light can kill or inactivate microorganisms by destroying nucleic acids and disrupting DNA or RNA. The dosage emitted by the robot seen here neutralised 90% of coronaviruses (and other organisms) on the warehouse surfaces. The results are encouraging enough that the approach could be useful for autonomous UV disinfection in other environments – such as airplanes, factories, restaurants, schools, and supermarkets, according to the researchers. Since UV-C is dangerous for all living organisms, however, it can only operate when nobody is around. MIT designed the UV-C light fixture, which then became integrated with Ava Robotics' mobile robot base. The complete system can map a space and navigate between waypoints and other pre-specified areas. While most effective in the direct "line of sight," the machine can get to nooks and crannies as the light bounces off surfaces. "Our 10-year-old warehouse is a relatively new food distribution facility with AIB-certified, state-of-the-art cleanliness and food safety standards," explained Catherine D'Amato, President of the Greater Boston Food Bank. "COVID-19 is a new pathogen that GBFB, and the rest of the world, was not designed to handle. We are pleased to have this opportunity to work with MIT CSAIL and Ava Robotics to innovate and advance our sanitation techniques to defeat this menace." Food banks are facing a particular demand due to the stress of COVID-19. The United Nations estimates that, because of the virus, the number of people facing severe food insecurity worldwide could double to 265 million. In the U.S. alone, the five-week total of job losses has risen to 26 million, potentially pushing millions more into food insecurity. "Food banks provide an essential service to our communities, so it is critical to help keep these operations running," said Alyssa Pierson, CSAIL research scientist and technical lead of the UV-C lamp assembly. "Here, there was a unique opportunity to provide additional disinfecting power to their current workflow and help reduce the risks of COVID-19
exposure."A shipping area can change overnight, so the team is now researching how to use onboard sensors to adapt to new environments – teaching the robot to differentiate between occupied and unoccupied aisles, for example, so it can switch its path accordingly; and altering its speed to ensure the optimal UV dosage is applied to different objects and surfaces. Comments »Source: https://www.futuretimeline.net
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Robots likely to be used in classrooms as learning tools, not teachers

 Smaller robots or modular kits are used to teach robotics in classrooms. from www.shutterstock.com 
Omar Mubin, Western Sydney University and Muneeb Imtiaz Ahmad, Western Sydney UniversityRobots are increasingly being used to teach students in the classroom for a number of subjects across science, maths and language. But our research shows that while students enjoy learning with robots, teachers are slightly reluctant to use them in the classroom. 

In our study, which saw staff and students interact with the Nao humanoid robot, teachers said they were more sceptical of robots being integrated into the classroom. 
 
In our study, students enjoyed the human-like interaction with the Nao humanoid robot. from www.shutterstock.com 

They preferred the robot to not have full autonomy and instead take on restricted roles in the classroom. The teachers also wanted full control over the robot. We observed that the teachers were in general unaware of robots and hence there was a technological bias associated with their opinions.

They said they did not trust the technical capabilities of the robot and wanted the robot to function and behave as a learning “buddy” of children and not as a teacher. We think this reluctance may have occurred primarily due to an uncertainty of how best to incorporate robots in the class, and a lingering concern that robots may eventually replace teachers.

This is despite research showing that robots are much more likely to be used as learning tools than as teachers in a classroom. 

The students, on the other hand, were much more enthusiastic about a robot in their classroom, enjoying the human-like interaction. 

However, they wanted the robot to adapt its behaviour to their feelings and display a wide range of emotions and expressions. Such fully autonomous behaviour will require further research and development in robotics.

For example, some of the children felt the robot’s voice was unnatural and did not adapt to situations by changing tone or pitch.

The children preferred as natural behaviour from the robot as possible, even to the extent that they were untroubled by the robot making mistakes, such as forgetting. It was clear the children were imagining the robot in the role of their teacher. 

How robots are currently used in the classroom:
Smaller robots or modular kits are used to teach robotics in classrooms. from www.shutterstock.com 

Numerous types of robots are being incorporated in education. They range from simple “microprocessor on wheels” robots (boebot), to advanced toolkits, (mindstorms) to humanoids (robots that resemble humans). 

The choice of the robot is usually dictated by the area of study and the age group of the student. 

Smaller robots or toolkits are particularly used to teach robotics or computer science. These toolkits can be physically manipulated allowing students to learn a variety of disciplines across engineering. However, the human-like shape of humanoids makes them easier to interact with, and for this reason are often used for language lessons.

 
IROBI robot complete with inbuilt tablet computer. Thomas Hawk/flickr, CC BY
Humanoids have the ability to provide real-time feedback, and their physical shape increases engagement. This often leads to a personal connection with the student, which research shows can help resolve issues related to shyness, reluctance, confidence and frustration that may arise in dealing with a human teacher. For example, a robot will not get tired no matter how many mistakes a child makes.

Humanoid robots are being widely utilised in classrooms in many countries including, Japan and South Korea. 

 
Pepper the robot from Softbank Robotics in Japan. Amber Case/flickr, CC BY

Nao, Pepper, Tiro, IROBI, and Robovie, for example, are primarily used to teach English. 

Telepresence – where a teacher can remotely connect to the classroom through the robot – is also being used as a way to teach students English. The teacher can participate in the classroom by being virtually present through a display mechanism. In some instances, the display is embedded in the robot’s torso.

Western countries have been much more hesitant in acknowledging the integration of robots in classrooms, with privacy, developmental hindrances, the rise in unemployment and technical deficiencies stated as the major drawbacks. 

Robots as learning tools, not teachers: 

Humanoid robots are still a fair way away from being autonomously situated in schools due mainly to technological limitations such as inaccurate speech or emotion recognition.

However, the intention of most researchers in robotics is not for robots to replace teachers. Rather, the design goals of most robots are to function as an aid in the classroom and to enhance the added value they can bring as a stimulating and engaging educational tool. 

In order to facilitate the integration of robots in the classroom, we need to be able to provide appropriate interfacing mechanisms (software, hardware or even mobile apps), allowing the human teacher to control the robot with minimal training.

Omar Mubin, Lecturer in human-centred computing & human-computer interaction, Western Sydney University and Muneeb Imtiaz Ahmad, PhD Candidate in Social Robotics, Western Sydney University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
The Conversation
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