AI Links - Robotics Links

Domestic robots Space robots Military robots Autonomous cars

Robotics Links

• Robotics
• FAQ of comp.robotics..
• Behavior based AI

• MIT
  • Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
  • iRobot Corporation
  • Leg lab (see videos)
  • Media lab

• CMU Robotics Institute

• Webots (mobile robot simulators)
• The Khepera robot
• Robix construction kits
• LEGO Mindstorms

Kiva robots used in Amazon warehouses. They bring mobile shelves to the humans.

Sensor Fusion (high-speed robotic dexterity).
At Ishikawa Komuro Laboratory, University of Tokyo.

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Humanoid robots

• MIT
  • Humanoid Robotics Group
  • Cog (and here)

• Mark Tilden
  • RoboSapien
  • Roboraptor

• Sony Qrio humanoid robot
• Honda Asimo humanoid robot

• HUBO
• Actroid

Humanoid robots from the Atlas team at Boston Dynamics, 2021.

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Robots online

• Telerobotics online (and here)
• Remote shooting and hunting (illegal in many US states now)

• Ken Goldberg
  • The Robot in the Garden
• Eric Paulos

• AI programs online
• ALife online

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Robot competitions

• robot competitions

• Robot soccer
• RoboCup
• humanoid robot soccer

• Robot soccer videos

• International Robot Racing Federation (or via here)
• European Land-Robot Trial

Robots falling down at the DARPA Robotics Challenge 2015.

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Domestic robots

• House robot discussion
• Domestic robots (and here)
• IEEE Technical Committee for Service Robots

• Roomba (vacuum cleaner)
• Scooba (washes floors)
• PatrolBot - security / smoke alarm
• RoboMower - lawnmower
• ROBART - security / military

• Sony Aibo robot dog

The Roomba vacuum cleaner.

Weeding robot from Ecorobotix.

Remote controlled grocery store robot.
If you can't get reliable staff locally, you can get staff in another country. Even stacking shelves could be done in other countries!
From Japanese robotics firm Telexistence.

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Space robots

Unlike military robots, space robots can't be remote controlled.
They need to be mainly autonomous (need AI).

• Space robots

• Mars rovers
  • Earth is 8 light-minutes from the Sun. Mars is 12 light-minutes from the Sun.
  • So Mars rovers are (depending on time of year) between 4 and 20 light minutes away from Earth, which has implications for remote control.

The rover Curiosity on Mars, Sept 2012.
From here.

Curiosity's first year on Mars.

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Military robots

Some remote controlled by human. Some controlled by AI.

• Military robots (and here)
  • Dragon Runner

• Foster-Miller TALON / SWORDS robots (remote controlled)
  • These are now the first armed robots on the ground in a war zone (in Iraq).
  • Remote controlled armed robots in the air (drones) have already been used in combat.
  • Foster-Miller MAARS robots

• Boston Dynamics
  • LittleDog (see article)
  • BigDog
  • LS3
  • Spot

• Robotic exoskeletons.
• Exoskeletons have non-military uses: in medicine, in construction, etc.

• Bomb disposal robots
  • REAMDA robotics (Irish company)

LittleDog walks over rough terrain.

The LS3 "pack animal" military robot.

Door opening. 2018 video from Boston Dynamics.

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Military drones

Remote-controlled drones (not controlled by AI) play a major role in current precision warfare against individuals. (Contrast with the simple carpet bombing of previous warfare.)

• The remote-controlled Predator is in widespread use in combat, for reconnaissance and attacks on small targets (individuals, vehicles, etc.)
• The remote-controlled Switchblade drone by AeroVironment is a tiny "suicide" drone that can be carried in a backpack. It is launched from a tube, and can be steered onto a target, where it explodes. It is already in use in combat.

• Parrot AR.Drone. Affordable quadrotor "drone" that can be remote-controlled with iOS and Android devices. Some people have programmed it to make it autonomous.

The Predator drone.

The X-47B is a larger unmanned bomber with extra capabilities (stealth capability, invisible to radar, faster, aircraft carrier launch and landing, midair refuelling).

Swarm of nano quadrotors.
Autonomous (not remote controlled).
From GRASP Lab, University of Pennsylvania.

Intel light show with 1,500 drones.
Like fireworks, but flexible and intelligent.

Plans to use drones for general home delivery. (Replacing FedEx, Amazon, pizza delivery, etc.)
Safety obviously a top concern.
(Though home delivery trucks and vans crash too.)

The film Slaughterbots (2017).
A drama about how swarms of miniature killer drones could change warfare, or even lead to a breakdown of society.

LANIUS drones from Elbit Systems.
Autonomous recon in buildings and urban areas.
Human remote operator tracks camera and makes decision to explode.

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Autonomous cars

• Epidemiology of motor vehicle collisions. 60 million dead worldwide in 20th century.
• List of countries by traffic-related death rate. Over 1 million dead a year worldwide.
• If we could stop this, AI could save millions of lives in the next century.

• Autonomous cars
• Adaptive cruise control - keep distance.
• Honda ADAS auto-pilot driver assist. Can steer for you, and keep distance, in controlled environment such as motorways.
• Advanced Cruise-Assist Highway Systems
• Tesla Autopilot (see impressive videos)

• CMU Navigation Laboratory (and here)
  • ALVINN (autonomous car drove across America)

• The "trolley problem" in ethics. Autonomous car software may actually have to make such decisions.

Traffic flow could be much faster with software-controlled cars.
The above could be done - but would probably be too terrifying a ride for the humans!
A more synchronised (but still software-controlled) flow would be easier on the humans' nerves.
From Peter Stone.

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DARPA Grand Challenge

• DARPA Grand Challenge robot race (and here and here)
• 2004 race
  • Summary - No one got more than 7 miles.

• 2005 race
  • Success! 132 miles! Won by Stanford University under Sebastian Thrun.
  • 2nd place Carnegie Mellon University under William "Red" Whittaker.

• 2007 Urban Challenge - through (mock-up of) crowded city streets.
  • Winner - Carnegie Mellon University and General Motors Corporation

Stanford University entry in 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge.

2007 footage.

2007 winner.

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Google autonomous cars

Sebastian Thrun, the Stanford scientist who won the DARPA Grand Challenge (above), is now at Google working on autonomous cars.

• Sebastian Thrun is the co-inventor of Google Street View.
• Waymo (Google driverless car project)

Sebastian Thrun, TED talk in 2011 on Google autonomous cars.

Google Self-Driving Car Project.
2014 test drives with civilians.

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More autonomous cars

Audi driverless car does 150 mph, 2014.
Other driverless cars have done high speeds.

Tesla Full Self-Driving as at 2024.

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Note: Links on this site to user-generated content like Wikipedia are highlighted in red as possibly unreliable. My view is that such links are highly useful but flawed.