Experimental software developed by Harris Corporation, an international communication equipment company, could help make robots less clumsy and dangerous.

The software allows a factory robot to sense and avoid objects while still moving quickly.

Harris Corporation engineer Paul Bosscher described the technology at last month's 2009 IEEE's Technologies for Practical Robot Applications conference in Woburn, MA.

The software creates a virtual "shell" around the robot's arm, allowing it to avoid obstacles in combination with machine vision. Bosscher says the company has applied for a patent and may try to market the collision avoidance program to businesses.

The video below shows using the software to automatically avoid another robot:

In another clip, the robot avoids a red ball:

courtesy of ETH Zurich

Tiny "robots" that could perhaps someday help doctors examine organs, deliver drugs directly, or even perform microsurgery. But first researchers need to find reliable and accurate ways to control microscopic devices, which of course have little room for onboard power, sensors or propulsion.

Scientists have previously used methods including magnetic and electrostatic forces, and attaching live bacteria. In the latest issue of the International Journal of Robotics Research, researchers from ETH Zurich demonstrate particularly deft control of a microbot, dubbed MagMite.

MagMite, pictured above, is 300 micrometers by 300 micrometers (with a thickness of 70 micrometers). It consists of two magnetized components, connected by a tiny spring. In the presence of a magnetic field, the two pieces try to bend toward each other, storing that tension in the connecting spring. By turning the magnetic field on and off very quickly, the researchers can use the loaded spring to propel the microbot forward, and by changing the direction of the magnetic field the microbot will turn.

In the video below, MagMite wins the 2009 Nanogram RoboCup competition by autonomously pushing a tiny particle into a target while avoiding obstacles. Frutiger says the control method could also be useful in a lab setting for manipulating tiny biological matter. Currently, the MagMite only works in two dimensions.

Credit: Kaist

Today kicks off Robogames, in San Francisco, the world's largest open robot competition, which has been ranked by Wired magazine and ESPN as a "top ten" event. Some of the 70-odd robot sports include kung fu fighting, humanoid sumo wrestling, biped soccer, and firefighting. There is also a junior league for roboticists under 18 and a host of "art bots" (bartending, musical, and painting are some of the categories). One of the most popular events from last year was the combat robots. Aside from offering the appeal of robotic fights, the competition drives some very creative designs.

Credit: Beale

Credit: Magellan

Credit: Coniglio