It sounds funny to say it, but mind control is nothing new in the world of robotics. Researchers have been working on brain-controlled prosthetics for years, and lately we’ve been starting to see some impressive results. However, Dean Aslam, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan State University and IEEE Senior Member, has
The teams competing in the DARPA Robotics Challenge come from some of the most prestigious universities and technologically innovative organizations in the world — places like MIT, Carnegie Mellon and NASA. However, even for them, it represents uncharted territory. “It’s a huge learning experience,” admits Bill Borgia, director of the Intelligent Robotics Laboratory at Lockheed
A robotic utility vehicle wasn’t a thing until — well, until Clearpath Robotics decided to make it a thing by creating the Grizzly, its most recent robot and its largest yet. Like the previous products in Clearpath’s lineup, the Grizzly is an unmanned vehicle platform for research and development. However, designing an all-terrain vehicle that
When you picture a solar power plant, the most prominent feature in your mind’s eye is probably a massive array of solar panels glinting in the sun. As a result, you might assume that those glossy panels make up the largest share of the plant’s cost. You’d be wrong. Wasiq Bokhari, founder and CEO of
The fledgling “drone journalism” programs at the University of Missouri and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln recently received letters from the Federal Aviation Administration advising them that they lack proper authorization and could be subject to legal action. As a result, they will cease flying unmanned aerial vehicles outdoors for newsgathering and research purposes. The universities
Last week, the Congressional Robotics Caucus Advisory Committee hosted a briefing in Washington to discuss ways to harness robotic technology for job creation. The overall goal of the event was to make the case that robots are not a threat, according to Mitchell Weiss, COO of Seegrid and one of four robotics industry leaders who
In order to survive the Great Recession, manufacturers had to get lean. Real lean. And it was painful. But here’s the good news: when things turned around, they held on to those same lean principles as they expanded, creating more efficient businesses in the process. Today they are able to maintain consistently higher levels of
When Congress passed the FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012, it set the clock ticking toward the day when unmanned aircraft systems must be integrated into the national airspace. The target is Sept. 30, 2015, now just a little more than two years away. That fast-approaching deadline has created a new intensity in discussions
Unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as unmanned aircraft systems to the U.S. Department of Defense and drones to most of the general public, are perhaps the most visible example of how far robotics has come in a relatively short period. Although primitive examples of UAS were used by the military as early as World War
South Korea-based Yujin Robot popped onto the radars of many robot enthusiasts recently thanks to its contribution to the TurtleBot 2: a new mobile base called Kobuki that replaces the iRobot Create used in the original TurtleBot. For those who aren’t familiar with the TurtleBot, it looks like a dorm-room TV stand on wheels, but
