Japanese Researchers Build Crawling and Toddling 'Infant' Robots - TMCnet's Robotics eNews

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ITEXPO West begins in: 118 Days. REGISTER NOW!   Featured Articles » ReconRobotics and SSC Pacific Sign Development Agreement for New Micro-Robot Platform » Is This the Kit to Break Robotics out Big? » Robotics Makes Dent in Education Space   Sponsor: 4GWE Conference 4GWE will explore the critical issues of how best to enable and exploit the mobile Internet. 4GWE will explore the trends driving a shift towards an anywhere, anytime, broadband mobile network. As part of ITEXPO, 4GWE has become the industry's premier gathering place for Mobile Network Operators, fixed carriers, handset manufacturers, mobile internet device manufacturers, application providers, and venture capitalists   Top Stories » iRobot CEO to Participate in J.P. Morgan's 39th Annual TMT Conference » Honda Debuts ASIMO Humanoid Robot at FIRST Championship » RobotWorx Honored - Receives Vote of Confidence from FANUC Robotics » SpeciMinder Medical Robot Eases Workload for Florida Hospital   From The Expert Corner May 10, 2011 Japanese Researchers Build Crawling and Toddling 'Infant' Robots By Tracey E. Schelmetic TMCnet Contributor As if the recent life-like robot prototypes weren't enough to creep us out, Japanese innovators have again decided to make our skin crawl. Speaking of crawling, this time, the robot is a baby. Two, actually. Osaka University's Hosoda Lab has introduced the world to two prototypes: “baby” robots called Pneuborn-7II, the newest model, and its slightly older “sibling,” called Pneuborn-13II. Researchers are using the crawling and toddling robots, in conjunction with computer simulations, to learn out how humans develop in the early stages of infancy and later in toddlerhood, and investigate the ways human motions and motor skills evolve into adolescence. Researchers at Hosoda Labs will also study the relationship between motor development and embodiment, reports Wired UK... Read More   From The Blogs $25 Computer Runs Linux on USB stick - Asterisk on a Stick? May 6, 2011 2:45 PM By: Tom Keating Imagine being able to carry a PC on your keychain, well imagine no more! David Braben a game developer invented a skeletal computer on a USB stick that runs Linux (Ubuntu), and gets you connected to the Internet. This tiny USB stick PC sports a HDMI port on one end and a USB port on the other... Read More   Advertise With Us   General advertising Info: Click here      Contact Us   Company Directory    |    All Editors' Info   Become a TMCnet columnist! Become a TMCnet columnist! Want to contribute your expertise to a growing audience of IP Communications professionals? Become a writer, blogger or columnist for the TMCnet Web site and this newsletter. Contact TMCnet Group Editorial Director, Erik Linask, at elinask@tmcnet.com for details.

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From: Tim Goins Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 3:37 PM To: Sarah Hayes Subject: FW: [THIS IS A TEST EMAIL]: Japanese Researchers Build Crawling and Toddling 'Infant' Robots - TMCnet's Robotics eNews 4GWE From: Chris Dimarco Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 11:40 AM To: Tim Goins Subject: FW: [THIS IS A TEST EMAIL]: Japanese Researchers Build Crawling and Toddling 'Infant' Robots - TMCnet's Robotics eNews

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» Robotics Home » Free Premium Content 5/17/2011

Featured Articles » ReconRobotics and SSC Pacific Sign Development Agreement for New Micro-Robot Platform » Is This the Kit to Break Robotics out Big? » Robotics Makes Dent in Education Space Space for Sponsor discriptions..... insert your text here >>>>   Top Stories » iRobot CEO to Participate in J.P. Morgan's 39th Annual TMT Conference » Honda Debuts ASIMO Humanoid Robot at FIRST Championship » RobotWorx Honored - Receives Vote of Confidence from FANUC Robotics » SpeciMinder Medical Robot Eases Workload for Florida Hospital   From The Expert Corner May 10, 2011 Japanese Researchers Build Crawling and Toddling 'Infant' Robots By Tracey E. Schelmetic TMCnet Contributor Share As if the recent life-like robot prototypes weren't enough to creep us out, Japanese innovators have again decided to make our skin crawl. Speaking of crawling, this time, the robot is a baby. Two, actually. Osaka University's Hosoda Lab has introduced the world to two prototypes: “baby” robots called Pneuborn-7II, the newest model, and its slightly older “sibling,” called Pneuborn-13II. Researchers are using the crawling and toddling robots, in conjunction with computer simulations, to learn out how humans develop in the early stages of infancy and later in toddlerhood, and investigate the ways human motions and motor skills evolve into adolescence. Researchers at Hosoda Labs will also study the relationship between motor development and embodiment, reports Wired UK. 7II crawls...it was built to emulate a seven-month-old child. (Imagine a tiny, robotic “child” mechanically crawling after you in the dark...paging Stephen King!). Pneuborn-13II was built to emulate a 13-month-old child, walks on toddling, unsteady steps. The crawling baby bot measures 80 cm (31.5 inches) tall and weighs 5.4 kg (11.8 lbs). Its autonomous, pneumatic-actuator-driven motions are based on functional anatomy, biomechanics and observations of real babies. It's got 19 muscles and 26 degrees of freedom, with joints and solenoid valves on its arms, legs, neck and trunk, reports Wired UK. 13II is a little smaller (real babies don't grow in height much from seven to 13 months) at 75 cm (29.5 inches), and weighs just 3.9 kg (8.5 lb). It also has less “muscle” and degrees of freedom than 7II, but the joints are concentrated in its ankles, legs and knees for walking, and there is no spinal joint. Hosoda Lab personnel are presenting the infant robots at this year's ICRA robotics conference, which is taking place this week in Shanghai. You can see photos of the metal children here. Of course, if you're frequently plagued by nightmares, you may want to skip it. Sweet dreams! Tracey Schelmetic is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Tracey's articles, please visit her columnist page. Edited by Juliana Kenny   From The Blogs $25 Computer Runs Linux on USB stick - Asterisk on a Stick? May 6, 2011 2:45 PM By: Tom Keating Imagine being able to carry a PC on your keychain, well imagine no more! David Braben a game developer invented a skeletal computer on a USB stick that runs Linux (Ubuntu), and gets you connected to the Internet. This tiny USB stick PC sports a HDMI port on one end and a USB port on the other.  It comes equipped with a decent 700 MHz ARM 11 processor, 128 MB of RAM, a USB port, support 1080p video and the ability to add a webcam or WiFi module. All this for $25. Definitely could be a game-changer, especially in the developing world, i.e. One Laptop Per Child. Now if you think car…    Featured Videos [ZZZHighlightedVideoTitleZZZ]    Featured Resources   TMCnet's Blogs   Featured Channels   Advertise With Us   General advertising Info: Click here      Contact Us   Company Directory    |    All Editors' Info   Become a TMCnet columnist! Become a TMCnet columnist! Want to contribute your expertise to a growing audience of IP Communications professionals? Become a writer, blogger or columnist for the TMCnet Web site and this newsletter. Contact TMCnet Group Editorial Director, Erik Linask, at elinask@tmcnet.com for details.

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