Cool Robot Of The Week

Cool Robots Of The Week From 1998

This archive lists the sites selected during 1998 to win the honor of being listed as "Cool Robot Of The Week" - thanks to them all for being sources of inspiration and innovation for the robotics community!

Previous Cool From 1998

Dec 28 VRML Robot- robot simulation system that enables the telemanipulation of real robots via the web - developed by the DLR Institute of Robotics and System Dynamics.
Dec 21 Neptune- a tank inspection robot from the CMU Field Robotics Center.
Dec 14 RoboCrane- a remote robotic construction crane under development by the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory at NIST - see a full narrative description here or the related CNN story here.
Dec 07 ROBIN- a self-mobile robot inspection system from the Intelligent Robotics La at Vanderbilt University.
Nov 30 ARH- report on the flight test of the Advanced Robotic Hand for the Japanese ETS-VII space robot flight experiment.
Nov 23 NOMAD- a robot for autonomous search of Antarctic meteorites, currently deployed to the Patriot Hills region of the Antarctic for the 1998 field test.
Nov 16 KISMET- an autonomous robot designed for social interactions with humans, part of the MIT COG Project.
Nov 09 SKIT- Sub-Kilogram Intelligent TeleRobot prototypes for asteroid exploration.
Nov 02 Lunakhod 1- a look back into history, and the first lunar rover flown by Russia in 1970 (and similar information on Lunakhod 2 flown in 1973), along with an excellent reference (in French) here.
Oct 26 BOA- an asbestos-pipe-insulation-removal robot built for Dept. of Energy by the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute.
Oct 19 DART- humaniform telepresence testbed at the NASA Johnson Space Center (also see a - slightly dated - CNN story about DART here).
Oct 12 My Toy Robot- an on-line mobile robot with streaming video from Mississippi State University, along with instructions for making your own version.
Oct 05 Harmonic Potential Path Planner- a Java-based demonstration of a harmonic potential path planner, which is an extension of the SRI Java-based PD controller, including a dynamic simulation of a two-link arm.
Sep 28 PennEyes- a binocular camera platform for active vision, developed at the U. Penn GRASP lab.
Sep 21 Remote Surface Inspection- JPL technology development task for robotic inspection of the exterior of the International Space Station.
Sep 14 MUSES Nano-rover- a miniature rover from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for planetary and asteroid exploration, planned to be flown as part of the MUSES-CN mission to asteroid 1989-ML.
Sep 07 Puma Paint- use a robot to create your own real works of art (you can even see the self portrait that we did!)!
Aug 31 Minerva- Automated museum tourguide robot, on-line this week at the National Museum of American History
Aug 24 Woman attacked by robot!- Zippy the mail robot gets his revenge!
Aug 17 Boadicea- small, pneumatic walking robot from the MIT AI lab
Aug 10 Tracking and Grasping Moving Objects- watch a robot capture a train in this demonstration of parallel real-time computer vision research by the Columbia University Robotics Group
Aug 03 JET Remote Handling Shutdown- a huge application of robotics to remotely dissassemble and replace major elements of the Joint European Torus (JET) Fusion Tokamak reactor - be sure to read the background page to see the full scope of the project.
Jul 27 Hexplorer- a small, six-legged walking robot from the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo.
Jul 20 Medical Robotics- medical robotics applications research being conducting at the UC-Berkeley Robotics and Intelligent Machines Laboratory.
Jul 13 ETS-VII- Japanese Engineering Test Satellite program, which reports on recent results of the space manipulator experiments and a set of video clips from the manipulator deployment
Jul 06 Mars Pathfinder- remembering the Sojourner mission, one year later - the updated archive site includes recent science results along with images of Mars as seen from the rover
Jun 29 Telerobot Precision Pointing- development of a air-bearing flat-floor testbed at Texas A&M University, where they are conducting research on modelling and controlling dynamics of multi-body space structures undergoing large motions with substructure fine pointing.

Jun 22 Chopper- this week, NASA will use a robotic helicopter developed at CMU to explore a remote Arctic meteorite crater and learn more about the early history of Mars. Also, see the news story and get the field reports from the team in Alaska.

Jun 15 HipNav- Surgical system under development by the CMU Center for Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery to permit accurate placement of the acetabular component during total hip replacement (THR) surgery.
Jun 08 Vision and Robotics Research- University of Rochester research into robotic manipulation and synthetic vision
Jun 01 Virtual Force Interactions- research into robotic and magnetic interfaces and haptic feedback for virtual reality systems, conducted at the Iowa Center for Emerging Manufacturing Technology
May 25 Mining The Stars- research into robotic mining of space resources, part of the Colorado Space Grant Consortium
May 18 LawnNibbler- the suburbanites dream - the robot lawnmower - may finally become a reality through the efforts of the Machine Intelligence Laboratory at the University of Florida
May 11 MARC- The Medical Automation Research Center of the University of Virginia, which is developing several projects for advanced applications for medical lab automation and operations (see a related story here)
May 04 Planetary Aerobots- The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's proposed program to use free-flying robotic balloons to explore the outer planets - including discussions of terrestrial demonstrations of robotic ballon technology
Apr 27 Surfalot's Picks- this week's Microsoft Internet Explorer Home User "Surfalot's Picks" web site features robots in all their glory (and, displaying increadible good taste, they include us!)!
Apr 20 Dragline Automation- automation of a huge dragline system for overburden removal in an Australian coal mine (possibly the world's largest robot?)
Apr 13 Ventana- Undersea ROV used by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) to explore the benthic ecology in Monterey Bay.
Apr 06 Technokats- Check out the Delphi/Delco/Kokomo HS robotics team, the winners of the 1998 FIRST robotics competition (and also take a look at the Plymoth HS/Boston Edison team, winners of the FIRST Chairmans's Award)
Mar 30 Pioneer- a robot from the National Robotics Engineering Consortium to help in the clean-up and reclamation of the Chornobyl nuclear accident - also see the article in this week's Business Week about Pioneer
Mar 23 Timmy- bipedal walking robot from Harvard Robotics Lab
Mar 16 A Robot In Your Future- a companion story to go along with last and next weekend's broadcast of "Robots Rising" on The Discovery Channel
Mar 09 Hum-D- robotic mine hunter for battlefield cleaning operations
Mar 02 Ullanta- a theater troupe in which the actors are autonomous robots
Feb 23 Armageddon- Swiss scientists warn of robot Armageddon (we just couldn't resist this one)
Feb 16 Black Falcon- MIT student Akhil Madhani's prize-winning medical robot, along with a story about it from ABC News
Feb 09 TAMER- a remotely operated Case Model 621 front-end loader for automated highway repairs, part of the Advanced Highway Maintenance and Construction Technology (AHMCT) project at UC-Davis
Feb 02 Demo II- a historical account of the recent Unmanned Ground Vehicle UGV/Demo II program sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
Jan 26 Coyote- the Naval Research Lab's Machine Learning Section winning entry into the AAAI-97 Robot Competition Hors d'Oeuvres Event
Jan 19 Sandia MEMS- Sandia National Lab Intelligent Micromachines Initiative - the next step for robotics?!?
Jan 12 Cobots- Northwestern University development of passive robots for direct physical interaction with human operators - also see the Mechanical Engineering article about cobots
Jan 05 DreamTeam- RoboCup soccer team from USC, which ranked #1 in middle-sized robot league
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: July 13, 1998

	Dec 28		VRML Robot- robot simulation system that enables the telemanipulation of real robots via the web - developed by the DLR Institute of Robotics and System Dynamics.
	Dec 21		Neptune- a tank inspection robot from the CMU Field Robotics Center.
	Dec 14		RoboCrane- a remote robotic construction crane under development by the Manufacturing Engineering Laboratory at NIST - see a full narrative description here or the related CNN story here.
	Dec 07		ROBIN- a self-mobile robot inspection system from the Intelligent Robotics La at Vanderbilt University.
	Nov 30		ARH- report on the flight test of the Advanced Robotic Hand for the Japanese ETS-VII space robot flight experiment.
	Nov 23		NOMAD- a robot for autonomous search of Antarctic meteorites, currently deployed to the Patriot Hills region of the Antarctic for the 1998 field test.
	Nov 16		KISMET- an autonomous robot designed for social interactions with humans, part of the MIT COG Project.
	Nov 09		SKIT- Sub-Kilogram Intelligent TeleRobot prototypes for asteroid exploration.
	Nov 02		Lunakhod 1- a look back into history, and the first lunar rover flown by Russia in 1970 (and similar information on Lunakhod 2 flown in 1973), along with an excellent reference (in French) here.
	Oct 26		BOA- an asbestos-pipe-insulation-removal robot built for Dept. of Energy by the Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute.
	Oct 19		DART- humaniform telepresence testbed at the NASA Johnson Space Center (also see a - slightly dated - CNN story about DART here).
	Oct 12		My Toy Robot- an on-line mobile robot with streaming video from Mississippi State University, along with instructions for making your own version.
	Oct 05		Harmonic Potential Path Planner- a Java-based demonstration of a harmonic potential path planner, which is an extension of the SRI Java-based PD controller, including a dynamic simulation of a two-link arm.
	Sep 28		PennEyes- a binocular camera platform for active vision, developed at the U. Penn GRASP lab.
	Sep 21		Remote Surface Inspection- JPL technology development task for robotic inspection of the exterior of the International Space Station.
	Sep 14		MUSES Nano-rover- a miniature rover from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory for planetary and asteroid exploration, planned to be flown as part of the MUSES-CN mission to asteroid 1989-ML.
	Sep 07		Puma Paint- use a robot to create your own real works of art (you can even see the self portrait that we did!)!
	Aug 31		Minerva- Automated museum tourguide robot, on-line this week at the National Museum of American History
	Aug 24		Woman attacked by robot!- Zippy the mail robot gets his revenge!
	Aug 17		Boadicea- small, pneumatic walking robot from the MIT AI lab
	Aug 10		Tracking and Grasping Moving Objects- watch a robot capture a train in this demonstration of parallel real-time computer vision research by the Columbia University Robotics Group
	Aug 03		JET Remote Handling Shutdown- a huge application of robotics to remotely dissassemble and replace major elements of the Joint European Torus (JET) Fusion Tokamak reactor - be sure to read the background page to see the full scope of the project.
	Jul 27		Hexplorer- a small, six-legged walking robot from the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo.
	Jul 20		Medical Robotics- medical robotics applications research being conducting at the UC-Berkeley Robotics and Intelligent Machines Laboratory.
	Jul 13		ETS-VII- Japanese Engineering Test Satellite program, which reports on recent results of the space manipulator experiments and a set of video clips from the manipulator deployment
	Jul 06		Mars Pathfinder- remembering the Sojourner mission, one year later - the updated archive site includes recent science results along with images of Mars as seen from the rover
	Jun 29		Telerobot Precision Pointing- development of a air-bearing flat-floor testbed at Texas A&M University, where they are conducting research on modelling and controlling dynamics of multi-body space structures undergoing large motions with substructure fine pointing.
	Jun 22		Chopper- this week, NASA will use a robotic helicopter developed at CMU to explore a remote Arctic meteorite crater and learn more about the early history of Mars. Also, see the news story and get the field reports from the team in Alaska.
	Jun 15		HipNav- Surgical system under development by the CMU Center for Medical Robotics and Computer Assisted Surgery to permit accurate placement of the acetabular component during total hip replacement (THR) surgery.
	Jun 08		Vision and Robotics Research- University of Rochester research into robotic manipulation and synthetic vision
	Jun 01		Virtual Force Interactions- research into robotic and magnetic interfaces and haptic feedback for virtual reality systems, conducted at the Iowa Center for Emerging Manufacturing Technology
	May 25		Mining The Stars- research into robotic mining of space resources, part of the Colorado Space Grant Consortium
	May 18		LawnNibbler- the suburbanites dream - the robot lawnmower - may finally become a reality through the efforts of the Machine Intelligence Laboratory at the University of Florida
	May 11		MARC- The Medical Automation Research Center of the University of Virginia, which is developing several projects for advanced applications for medical lab automation and operations (see a related story here)
	May 04		Planetary Aerobots- The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's proposed program to use free-flying robotic balloons to explore the outer planets - including discussions of terrestrial demonstrations of robotic ballon technology
	Apr 27		Surfalot's Picks- this week's Microsoft Internet Explorer Home User "Surfalot's Picks" web site features robots in all their glory (and, displaying increadible good taste, they include us!)!
	Apr 20		Dragline Automation- automation of a huge dragline system for overburden removal in an Australian coal mine (possibly the world's largest robot?)
	Apr 13		Ventana- Undersea ROV used by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) to explore the benthic ecology in Monterey Bay.
	Apr 06		Technokats- Check out the Delphi/Delco/Kokomo HS robotics team, the winners of the 1998 FIRST robotics competition (and also take a look at the Plymoth HS/Boston Edison team, winners of the FIRST Chairmans's Award)
	Mar 30		Pioneer- a robot from the National Robotics Engineering Consortium to help in the clean-up and reclamation of the Chornobyl nuclear accident - also see the article in this week's Business Week about Pioneer
	Mar 23		Timmy- bipedal walking robot from Harvard Robotics Lab
	Mar 16		A Robot In Your Future- a companion story to go along with last and next weekend's broadcast of "Robots Rising" on The Discovery Channel
	Mar 09		Hum-D- robotic mine hunter for battlefield cleaning operations
	Mar 02		Ullanta- a theater troupe in which the actors are autonomous robots
	Feb 23		Armageddon- Swiss scientists warn of robot Armageddon (we just couldn't resist this one)
	Feb 16		Black Falcon- MIT student Akhil Madhani's prize-winning medical robot, along with a story about it from ABC News
	Feb 09		TAMER- a remotely operated Case Model 621 front-end loader for automated highway repairs, part of the Advanced Highway Maintenance and Construction Technology (AHMCT) project at UC-Davis
	Feb 02		Demo II- a historical account of the recent Unmanned Ground Vehicle UGV/Demo II program sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
	Jan 26		Coyote- the Naval Research Lab's Machine Learning Section winning entry into the AAAI-97 Robot Competition Hors d'Oeuvres Event
	Jan 19		Sandia MEMS- Sandia National Lab Intelligent Micromachines Initiative - the next step for robotics?!?
	Jan 12		Cobots- Northwestern University development of passive robots for direct physical interaction with human operators - also see the Mechanical Engineering article about cobots
	Jan 05		DreamTeam- RoboCup soccer team from USC, which ranked #1 in middle-sized robot league