Cool Robot Of The Week

Previous Cool From 2000

Dec 25 Blimp - GRASP lab project to control a free-flying mechanical system using image based control (visual servo control).
Dec 18 R-100 - prototype research robot being developed by NEC to live with you at home as a useful companion.
Dec 11 Rossum Project - The Project is an attempt to collect, develop, and distribute open-source and free software for robotics applications.
Dec 04 Robin - a multi-purpose, robotic inspection vehicle and research platform for inspection many types of man-made structures.
Nov 27 Monkey-Bot? - BBC story about the Duke University efforts to drive robotic manipulators via direct neural input. The reseach group's home page is here.
Nov 20 Asimo - an update on the Honda Humanoid Project, with the public unveiling of their new machine.
Nov 13 Role of Skin Biomechanics in Mechanoreceptor Response - from the MIT Touch Lab.
Nov 06 Hopping Robot - unique "one-legged" robot uses a combustion-driven piston to make leaps as high as 20 feet. See the Sandia press release here.
Oct 30 Phonotaxis in crickets and robots - using cricket-inspired technologies for autonomous robot navigation.
Oct 23 Robolobster - an underwater mobile sensor platform, which tracks chemical plumes utilizing lobster-based technology.
Oct 16 Robot Games 2000 - from the San Francisco Robotics Society of America (see the CNN news story here).
Oct 09 V-Car - remotely operate R/C cars under a desk at MP3.com, with a nice interface (that is not all cluttered up with useless information like what it is, or how to use it).
Oct 02 PPRK - the Palm Pilot Robot Kit, when you need something to do with that spare PP after you upgrade...
Sep 25 FIRA 2000 - Federation of international robot-soccer associations, with the FIRA robot world cup 2000 being held this week in Australia.
Sept 18 Luna 16 - 30 years ago this week, Russia sent the first of three robotic probes to the Moon which remotely collected samples and returned them to Earth. Take a walk through history with this report (and see a VRML model here).
Sept 11 Projekt Makro - prototype unleashed, multi-segment robot platform for autonomous inspection of sewer pipes that are inaccessible to humans, from the GMD Institute for Autonomous intelligent Systems.
Sept 04 Golem Project - an "artifical life" project from Brandeis University DEMO lab studying the automatic design and manufacture of robotic lifeforms (see the Washington Post article here).
Aug 28 RoboCup 2000 - Fourth Robot World Cup Soccer Games and Conferences, taking place this week in Melbourne (see the current scores here).
Aug 21 Autosub - a UK project to develop unmanned autonomous underwater vehicles technology for advanced marine science.
Aug 14 M2000 - paint-stripping robot for cleaning super tankers, a development of the National Robotics Engineering Consortium.
Aug 07 Many-Robot Systems - description of an ONR Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center project conducted between 1992 and 1995 to investigate some of the system-level issues associated with multi-agent systems.
Jul 31 Jijo-II - office conversant mobile robot.
Jul 24 Gastronome - a prototype meat-eating robot, part of the University of South Florida Gastrobotics Project. And you thought the Slugbot was bad!
Jul 17 Lorpex - prototype planetary exploration robot that combines robotics technology with In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), from the University of Arizona Space Engineering Research Center.
Jul 10 NavChair - an assistive navigation system for wheelchairs based upon mobile robot obstacle avoidance, developed at the University of Michigan Mobile Robotics Lab (also check out the follow-on work known as GuideCane).
Jul 03 K-9 - Mars rover prototype and field test program to integrate and demonstrate robotic technologies for future Mars missions.
Jun 26 Robonaut - robotic astronaut surrogate for space operations, under development by the NASA Johnson Space Center (see the Robonaut stories on Yahoo! and CNN).
Jun 19 Half Fish, Half Robot - story from New Scientist Magazine, reporting on the first animal-robot hybrid.
Jun 12 Miller's SnakeBots - describes several generations of snakebot reserach by Dr. Gavin Miller, who is collaborating with the NASA Ames Serpentine Robotics Project.
Jun 05 BEAM Millenium Robot Games 2000 - This year, WCRG joins forces with the world-established BEAM International Robot Games, to make this year's event truly world-class
May 29 RoboCup-Euro 2000 - First RoboCup European Championship and Conference, RoboCup-Euro 2000 Amsterdam (see an overview of the rules and set-up here).
May 22 Snakebot - hyper-redundant, serpentine robots composed of simple low degree of freedom modules , under evaluation for possible space applications.
May 15 Evolution of Machines - polymorphic robot concepts have been around for a while, but this project at Brandeis University is one of the first efforts to progrees from pure simulation to physical implementation (check out the related article from New Scientist).
May 08 LePot - a giant robotic flower pot that autonomously drives around on a Swiss administration building roof top (check out the 24-hour time lapse video).
May 01 SpaceCat - a stepping triple-wheel robot for potential planetary exploration, part of the ROSA Project at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne Autonomous Systems Lab.
Apr 24 RoboRama 2000 - description of the annual robotics competition hosted by the Dallas Personal Robotics Group, along with the results page
Apr 17 SUBMAR - societies of underwater robots for internal monitoring and control, from the Helsinki University of Technology Automation Technology Laboratory.
Apr 10 Foothill High School and NASA Ames Research Center & Vintage High School and NASA Ames Research Center and NAPA Pipe & Briston Meyers Squibb North Brunswick Township High School - winners of the National Championships, and Mountain Home High School and Baxter Healthcare Corporation - winners of the Chairman's Award, at the 2000 FIRST Robotics Competition held last weekend in Orlando.
Apr 03 Salamander - "the robotic sludge crawler project" - with a name like that, we just couldn't resist!
Mar 27 SNUF - simple autonomous mobile robot constructed of second-hand components - includes a complete description of the utilized architecture and downloadable code.
Mar 20 Robotics Webring - A web ring established as a simple way to find robotics and electrical engineering content on the web.
Mar 13 RobOnWeb - A project at the Autonomous Systems Lab of the Swiss Federal Institut of Technology in Lausanne (Switzerland) which aims to develop new concepts for teleoperation of mobile robots through the World Wide Web.
Mar 06 Robotics Education Project - NASA-sponsored efforts to develop K-12 curricula in robotics education.
Feb 28 Robot Pike - An MIT project to build a robotic fish, to understand the complex fluid mechanics that fish use to propel themselves.
Feb 21 PETS - from the Univeristy of Maryland Autonomous Mobile Robotics Lab, the Personal Electronic Teller of Stories may be the future of household robotics - where the user builds the robot to suit their mood (or task), rather than selecting a pre-defined robotic solution for the task at hand.
Feb 14 Thing - from the Univeristy of Massachusetts Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics, it's a four-legged walker, it's a robotic hand, it's a globe-twirler... (it's a floor polish, it's a desert topping.... [SNL fans will get that one])
Feb 07 RCX Internals - a very detailed description of the Lego Mindstorms RCX controller, which provides a great start for experiemnting with modifications/extensions to the RCX hardware and software.
Jan 31 MVACS RA - the Mars Polar Lander (MPL) may have disappeared when it reached Mars, but the flight spare robotic arm developed for MPL is still being run through it's paces in tests recently conducted in Death Valley.
Jan 24 Troody - a fully contained 3D bipedal walking dinosaur robot, from the MIT Leg Lab.
Jan 17 CRIP - collective robotics intelligence project from the University of Alberta Computer Vision and Robotics Research Group.
Jan 10 Nomad - robotic search for Antarctic meteorites, deployed this week to Elephant Moraine for the 2000 field test - see additional info and daily reports here along with the New York Times story. ** 01/23/2000 Update ** Nomad found a meteorite!
Jan 03 Mind control of robots - a demonstration of direct control of a robot manipulator from a rat's brain (draw your own analogies regarding robot control from a grad students' brain).
Note: indicates the organization is developing technologies for space applications of robotics

Back to Current Cool...

Telerobotics Program page

Please email the site webmaster with any comments, criticisms or corrections for this page.
Maintained by: Dave Lavery
Last updated: September 04, 2000

	Dec 25		Blimp - GRASP lab project to control a free-flying mechanical system using image based control (visual servo control).
	Dec 18		R-100 - prototype research robot being developed by NEC to live with you at home as a useful companion.
	Dec 11		Rossum Project - The Project is an attempt to collect, develop, and distribute open-source and free software for robotics applications.
	Dec 04		Robin - a multi-purpose, robotic inspection vehicle and research platform for inspection many types of man-made structures.
	Nov 27		Monkey-Bot? - BBC story about the Duke University efforts to drive robotic manipulators via direct neural input. The reseach group's home page is here.
	Nov 20		Asimo - an update on the Honda Humanoid Project, with the public unveiling of their new machine.
	Nov 13		Role of Skin Biomechanics in Mechanoreceptor Response - from the MIT Touch Lab.
	Nov 06		Hopping Robot - unique "one-legged" robot uses a combustion-driven piston to make leaps as high as 20 feet. See the Sandia press release here.
	Oct 30		Phonotaxis in crickets and robots - using cricket-inspired technologies for autonomous robot navigation.
	Oct 23		Robolobster - an underwater mobile sensor platform, which tracks chemical plumes utilizing lobster-based technology.
	Oct 16		Robot Games 2000 - from the San Francisco Robotics Society of America (see the CNN news story here).
	Oct 09		V-Car - remotely operate R/C cars under a desk at MP3.com, with a nice interface (that is not all cluttered up with useless information like what it is, or how to use it).
	Oct 02		PPRK - the Palm Pilot Robot Kit, when you need something to do with that spare PP after you upgrade...
	Sep 25		FIRA 2000 - Federation of international robot-soccer associations, with the FIRA robot world cup 2000 being held this week in Australia.
	Sept 18		Luna 16 - 30 years ago this week, Russia sent the first of three robotic probes to the Moon which remotely collected samples and returned them to Earth. Take a walk through history with this report (and see a VRML model here).
	Sept 11		Projekt Makro - prototype unleashed, multi-segment robot platform for autonomous inspection of sewer pipes that are inaccessible to humans, from the GMD Institute for Autonomous intelligent Systems.
	Sept 04		Golem Project - an "artifical life" project from Brandeis University DEMO lab studying the automatic design and manufacture of robotic lifeforms (see the Washington Post article here).
	Aug 28		RoboCup 2000 - Fourth Robot World Cup Soccer Games and Conferences, taking place this week in Melbourne (see the current scores here).
	Aug 21		Autosub - a UK project to develop unmanned autonomous underwater vehicles technology for advanced marine science.
	Aug 14		M2000 - paint-stripping robot for cleaning super tankers, a development of the National Robotics Engineering Consortium.
	Aug 07		Many-Robot Systems - description of an ONR Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center project conducted between 1992 and 1995 to investigate some of the system-level issues associated with multi-agent systems.
	Jul 31		Jijo-II - office conversant mobile robot.
	Jul 24		Gastronome - a prototype meat-eating robot, part of the University of South Florida Gastrobotics Project. And you thought the Slugbot was bad!
	Jul 17		Lorpex - prototype planetary exploration robot that combines robotics technology with In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU), from the University of Arizona Space Engineering Research Center.
	Jul 10		NavChair - an assistive navigation system for wheelchairs based upon mobile robot obstacle avoidance, developed at the University of Michigan Mobile Robotics Lab (also check out the follow-on work known as GuideCane).
	Jul 03		K-9 - Mars rover prototype and field test program to integrate and demonstrate robotic technologies for future Mars missions.
	Jun 26		Robonaut - robotic astronaut surrogate for space operations, under development by the NASA Johnson Space Center (see the Robonaut stories on Yahoo! and CNN).
	Jun 19		Half Fish, Half Robot - story from New Scientist Magazine, reporting on the first animal-robot hybrid.
	Jun 12		Miller's SnakeBots - describes several generations of snakebot reserach by Dr. Gavin Miller, who is collaborating with the NASA Ames Serpentine Robotics Project.
	Jun 05		BEAM Millenium Robot Games 2000 - This year, WCRG joins forces with the world-established BEAM International Robot Games, to make this year's event truly world-class
	May 29		RoboCup-Euro 2000 - First RoboCup European Championship and Conference, RoboCup-Euro 2000 Amsterdam (see an overview of the rules and set-up here).
	May 22		Snakebot - hyper-redundant, serpentine robots composed of simple low degree of freedom modules , under evaluation for possible space applications.
	May 15		Evolution of Machines - polymorphic robot concepts have been around for a while, but this project at Brandeis University is one of the first efforts to progrees from pure simulation to physical implementation (check out the related article from New Scientist).
	May 08		LePot - a giant robotic flower pot that autonomously drives around on a Swiss administration building roof top (check out the 24-hour time lapse video).
	May 01		SpaceCat - a stepping triple-wheel robot for potential planetary exploration, part of the ROSA Project at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne Autonomous Systems Lab.
	Apr 24		RoboRama 2000 - description of the annual robotics competition hosted by the Dallas Personal Robotics Group, along with the results page
	Apr 17		SUBMAR - societies of underwater robots for internal monitoring and control, from the Helsinki University of Technology Automation Technology Laboratory.
	Apr 10		Foothill High School and NASA Ames Research Center & Vintage High School and NASA Ames Research Center and NAPA Pipe & Briston Meyers Squibb North Brunswick Township High School - winners of the National Championships, and Mountain Home High School and Baxter Healthcare Corporation - winners of the Chairman's Award, at the 2000 FIRST Robotics Competition held last weekend in Orlando.
	Apr 03		Salamander - "the robotic sludge crawler project" - with a name like that, we just couldn't resist!
	Mar 27		SNUF - simple autonomous mobile robot constructed of second-hand components - includes a complete description of the utilized architecture and downloadable code.
	Mar 20		Robotics Webring - A web ring established as a simple way to find robotics and electrical engineering content on the web.
	Mar 13		RobOnWeb - A project at the Autonomous Systems Lab of the Swiss Federal Institut of Technology in Lausanne (Switzerland) which aims to develop new concepts for teleoperation of mobile robots through the World Wide Web.
	Mar 06		Robotics Education Project - NASA-sponsored efforts to develop K-12 curricula in robotics education.
	Feb 28		Robot Pike - An MIT project to build a robotic fish, to understand the complex fluid mechanics that fish use to propel themselves.
	Feb 21		PETS - from the Univeristy of Maryland Autonomous Mobile Robotics Lab, the Personal Electronic Teller of Stories may be the future of household robotics - where the user builds the robot to suit their mood (or task), rather than selecting a pre-defined robotic solution for the task at hand.
	Feb 14		Thing - from the Univeristy of Massachusetts Laboratory for Perceptual Robotics, it's a four-legged walker, it's a robotic hand, it's a globe-twirler... (it's a floor polish, it's a desert topping.... [SNL fans will get that one])
	Feb 07		RCX Internals - a very detailed description of the Lego Mindstorms RCX controller, which provides a great start for experiemnting with modifications/extensions to the RCX hardware and software.
	Jan 31		MVACS RA - the Mars Polar Lander (MPL) may have disappeared when it reached Mars, but the flight spare robotic arm developed for MPL is still being run through it's paces in tests recently conducted in Death Valley.
	Jan 24		Troody - a fully contained 3D bipedal walking dinosaur robot, from the MIT Leg Lab.
	Jan 17		CRIP - collective robotics intelligence project from the University of Alberta Computer Vision and Robotics Research Group.
	Jan 10		Nomad - robotic search for Antarctic meteorites, deployed this week to Elephant Moraine for the 2000 field test - see additional info and daily reports here along with the New York Times story. 01/23/2000 Update Nomad found a meteorite!
	Jan 03		Mind control of robots - a demonstration of direct control of a robot manipulator from a rat's brain (draw your own analogies regarding robot control from a grad students' brain).