::twitch::
The New York Daily News has an article on it too, so it must be true. . .
(We always suspected he was an Actroid anyway.)
[Thank qDOT!]
No it’s not the world’s tiniest assembler of tobiko nigiri (yum), it’s Microhand!
Microhand is being developed by the UCLA Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems program (oo talk dirty to me), part of the UCLA Engineering department. The leader of the project is Dr. Chang-Jin (CJ) Kim, who says: “It is the world’s smallest robotic hand, and [it] could be used to perform microsurgery.”.
From Technology Review:
The “microhand” measures one millimeter across when closed into a fist. It consists of four “fingers,” each of which is made from six silicon wafers, with polymer balloons doing the work of “muscles” at the wafers’ joints.
Each balloon is connected with narrow channels through which air is pumped in or out. When a balloon is inflated, the distance between two joints decreases, and the finger flexes inward. Upon deflation, the fingers relax. And with selective inflation and deflation, researchers are able to manipulate the fingers into clasping or releasing an object.
This mechanism is just perfectly elegant. The economy of motion, the gas-driven design, and doesn’t it just make you want to PINCH ITS LIL TENTACLES????
Okay maybe that’s just me, but for all those who like tentacle pinching AND hardcore micro electro-mechanical concept action, see the groovy delights at the MEMS Research page.
ROBOT OF THE WEEK
With all the dubious rights and privileges that entails.
[Via The Raw Feed]
No, it’s not a hamster, but it’s close. . .
Artistic Rendering of Future Yuki-Taro innovation
Those wacky kids down at the Niigata Industrial Creation Organization (NICO), Research and Development, Inc. (RDI), Niigata Institute of Technology, Yamagata University and the Industrial Research Institute of Niigata Prefecture (IRI) have created a nifty critter that addresses the problem of necessary heavy labor for the elderly.
Niigata gets a ton of snow during the winter, and we”ll bet that it’s not just the elderly that are getting a kick out of this thing.
It’s gone and won a spiffy design award, even!
The friendly-looking Yuki-taro measures 160 x 95 x 75 cm (63 x 37 x 30 in.) and weighs 400 kg (880 lbs). Armed with GPS and a pair of video cameras embedded in its eyes, the self-guided robot seeks out snow and gobbles it up into its large mouth.
Yuki-taro’s insides consist of a system that compresses the snow into hard blocks measuring 60 x 30 x 15 cm (24 x 12 x 6 in.), which Yuki-taro expels from its rear end.
The blocks can then be stacked and stored until summer, when they can be used as an alternative source of refrigeration or cooling.
So it’s not just a snow collector, it’s a fabulous way to make sure you can keep the sake cold during those blisteringly humid Japanese summers too!
GAWD that’s efficient.
Yuki-taro
in recognition of your unfailing dedication to human quality of life
(summer and winter)
Suicidebots declares you
COOL ROBOT OF THE WEEK
May rock salt never corrode your suspension.
[From Pink Tentacle. Thank you Alexander Rose and Amybean!]
Well, Okay, it’s open to the public, and the only secret it really divulges is that the government actually funds some cool projects.
The Unmanned Airborne Vehicle that CRASAR uses.
Dedicated Suicide Bot Regular #36 Kevin Pratt sends us this little tidbit:
For any SB readers in the DC area, NSF is having a research open house on the 5th. We (CRASAR) will be there with with several of our robots for people to look at and drive around. The other exhibitors will be different researchers from around the country that NSF funds. So come learn about some of the cooler science that your government funds.
Here is the press release from NSF
As far as I can tell there is an open exhibit portion (open to public) and a media-only/press conference bit. Both are listed on the press release.
So, Monday Feb. 5th 11-5, NSF headquarters, DC come learn about robots and science.
CRASAR is The Center For Robotic Search And Rescue, an outfit we have been meaning to do a post about for months now. They do crazy serious and wonderful research on disaster management and have helped people from the Gulf Coast to the WTC.
Their Rescue Robot Team page begins with the line “To deploy, contact. . . ”
Any one of us could call in a robot rescue team at any time during a disaster.
That is awesome.
And by awesome, I mean totally sweet.
Cooler than Ninjas, even, and I like me some ninjas.
Everybody love on CRASAR!
So, I was trolling the net looking for naked baby pictures of The Head Rotor um, porn and found this neat homemade video of The University of Essex’s Robofish.
The news is over a year old but it’s still cool enough to qualify for Cool Robot Of The Week! Anntennae bowed to Robofish!
Click for Jokeroo.com video
This fish was in the London Aquarium for a time in 2005, but does not seem to be there any longer, sad to say. The Essex kids seems to have also started a robofish blog, but that also hasn’t been kept up much.
There is a nifty article on Robots.net with lots of links to more robofish. It’s sad to see stuff that is so interesting lying dormant. Sigh.
I’m off to drink more coffee and mumble softly about this sad state of the world.
No, not a designer clock, it’s a mountain-climbing robot. Well, climbing-wall-climbing robot, anyway, and it’s the Cool Robot of the Week here at SB.
More pictures and videos at Tim Bretl’s page at Stanford. Cat must be a climber!
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