(Page 2 of 2)
Calculated grabs: A sensor lets the system detect the direction of approach; the software then calculates the most effective grasping positions.
Matei Ciocarlie and Peter Allen, Dept. of Computer Science, Columbia University
"I believe it's the way forward for automated grasping," adds Eric Berger, the codirector of the personal robotics program at Willow Garage, a robotics research center in California. "From my perspective, the algorithmic work ... is novel and useful, but the most exciting thing about what they're doing is the different approaches they're taking to applying these new algorithms to the real world."
In their experiments, the Columbia team preprogrammed the system with a rough idea of the shape of the object it would grab. The next step is to couple the robotic grasper to a system that can evaluate completely unfamiliar objects in the real world.
Other research groups are making progress in this area. For example, Intel has created technology that uses electric fields to carefully sense delicate objects within reach, while Andrew Ng and colleagues at Stanford University have developed a robot that can calculate the best place to grab onto an object that it hasn't seen before.
Simple and versatile robotic hands can grip a football or pick up your keys.
A new artificial hand shows promise for home robots and prosthetics.
By shoving objects around on a table, UMan figures out how they work.
In my opinion this still represents an advance in prosthetic hands. Automatically adjusting itself to grip objects of many different shape is of course important.
The video is excellent, they should sell the software for people designing new prosthetic hands or robotic grippers, because you could test the design very quickly to see how effective it is!
Dr. Brian Glassman
I was impressed up to the point where the commentator said it needs to have a virtual model of the object fed into it before hand.
This makes it currently virtually useless for real World use. (punt intended..)
Oh well, keep up the work lads.
Right. Do this for me:
1) Stick your hands in a bucket of ice for 25 minutes.
2) Close your eyes.
3) Start guessing where things are and trying to pick them up.
Then tell me what the point was.
They are researching kinematics as they relate to grasping, not stereoscopic vision or touch-feedback mechanisms.
Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.
This document is part of the “How-To Guide for Most Common Measurements” centralized resource portal. This tutorial provides a detailed guide for measurement and device considerations to take temperature measurements using thermocouples. Get an introduction to thermocouples, which are inexpensive sensing devices widely used with PC-based data acquisition systems. Also review some specific thermocouple examples and learn how thermocouples work and ways to integrate them into a data acquisition measurement system.
View full PDF >
Listen to story > 
Our list of the 50 most innovative companies, including the following:
On Twitter
Become a Fan on Facebook
Subscribe to the Feed
Manuvidya
19 Comments
Wow..
..that was absolutely worthless. Even the way the bottle/flask was picked up wasn't like general human behaviour as a human would've picked it up from the side, grasping the neck and the part where the flask widens.
No wonder robotics are hard when the people developing basics like grasping stuff are bent on reinventing the wheel several times over.
The money that went into all this research could possibly have meant a break-through on a more humane project, like I don't know, cure cancer.
Ah well, with all these new insights into a robots hand, people that loose an arm or hand or leg from any of the still rampant diseases can at least count on a brand new artificial limb with new grasping capabilities. Way to go.
Reply
Monsterboy
92 Comments
Re: Wow..
That's... just weird. You seem to be suggesting that no other scientific research should be done until all disease is cured.
Actually, yes, people who've lost a limb to disease -- or, more likely, accidental injury -- could benefit from this. And that's pretending there are no other useful applications for grasping robotic hands.
How much do you think this cost? With the billions in public and private funds channeled annually into medical research, do you really believe the piddling amount this cost was going to push it over the edge to success?
That is madness.
Reply
briang1621
173 Comments
Re: Wow..
Hey if you do not like Robotics because it is slow to develop real world applications, then you will really hate astronomy, or particle physics!
Brian
Reply