MobileRobot

Mobile robots have the capability to move around in their environment and are not fixed to one physical location. In contrast, industrial robot usually consist of a jointed arm (multi-linked manipulator) and gripper assembly (or end effector) that is attached to a fixed surface.
Mobile robots are the focus of a great deal of current research and almost every major university has one or more labs that focus on mobile robot research. Mobile robots are also found in industry, military and security environments. They also appear as consumer products, for entertainment or to perform certain tasks like vacuum cleaning or mowing.
[edit] Classification
Mobile robots may be classified by:
• The environment in which they travel:
o Land or home robots. They are most commonly wheeled, but also include legged robots with two or more legs (humanoid, or resembling animals or insects).
o Aerial robots are usually referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
o Underwater robots are usually called autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs)
• The device they use to move, mainly:
o Legged robot : human-like legs (i.e. an android) or animal-like legs.
o Wheeled robot.
o Tracks.
[edit] Mobile robot navigation
There are many types of mobile robot navigation:
[edit] Manual remote or tele-op
A manually tele-op'd robot is totally under control of a driver with a joystick or other control device. The device may be plugged directly into the robot, may be a wireless joystick, or may be an accessory to a wireless computer or other controller. A tele-op'd robot is typically used to keep the operator out of harm's way. Examples of manual remote robots include Foster-Miller's Talon and iRobot's PackBot.
[edit] Guarded tele-op
A guarded tele-op robot has the ability to sense and avoid obstacles but will otherwise navigate as driven, like a robot under manual tele-op. Few if any mobile robots offer only guarded tele-op. {See Sliding Autonomy below.)
[edit] Line-following robot
Some of the earliest Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) were line following mobile robots. They might follow a visual line painted or embedded in the floor or ceiling or an electrical wire in the floor. Most of these robots operated a simple "keep the line in the center sensor" algorithm. They could not circumnavigate obstacles; they just stopped and waited when something blocked their path. Many examples of such vehicles are still sold, by FMC, Egemin, HK Systems and many other companies.
[edit] Autonomously randomized robot
Autonomous robots with random motion basically bounce off walls, whether those walls are sensed with physical bumpers like the Roomba cleaners or with electronic sensors like the Friendly Robotics lawn mower. The simple algorithm of bump and turn 30 degrees leads eventually to coverage of most or all of a floor or yard surface.
[edit] Autonomously guided robot
An autonomously guided robot knows at least some information about where it is and plans its path to various goals and or waypoints along the way. It can gather sensor readings that are time- and location-stamped, so that a hospital, for instance, can know exactly when and where radiation levels exceeded permissible levels. Such robots are often part of the wireless enterprise network, interfaced with other sensing and control systems in the building. For instance, the PatrolBot security robot responds to alarms, operates elevators and notifies the command center an incident arises. Other autonomously guided robots include the SpeciMinder and the Tug delivery robots for hospital labs.
[edit] Sliding autonomy
More capable robots combine multiple levels of navigation under a system called sliding autonomy. Most autonomously guided robots, such as the HelpMate hospital robot, also offer a manual mode. The ARCSinside control system, which is used in the ADAM, PatrolBot, Speci-Minder, MapperBot and a number of other robots, offers full sliding autonomy, from manual to guarded to autonomous modes.
[edit] History
Date Developments
1939-1945 During World War II the first mobile robots emerged as a result of technical advances on a number of relatively new research fields like computer science and cybernetics. They were mostly flying bombs. Examples are smart bombs that only detonate within a certain range of the target, the use of guiding systems and radar control. The V1 and V2 rockets had a crude 'autopilot' and automatic detonation systems. They were the predecessors of modern cruise missiles.
1948-1949 W. Grey Walter builds Elmer and Elsie, two autonomous robots that looked like turtles. Officially they were called Machina Speculatrix because these robots liked to explore their environment. Elmer and Elsie were equipped with a light sensor, if they found a light source they would move towards it, avoiding or moving obstacles on their way. These robots demonstrated that complex behaviour could arise from a simple design, Elmer and Elsie only had the equivalent of two nerve cells.
1961-1963 The Johns Hopkins University develops 'Beast'. Beast used a sonar to move around. When its batteries ran low it would find a power socket and plug itself in.
1969 Mowbot was the very first robot that would automatically mow the lawn. [2]
1970 The Stanford Cart line follower was a mobile robot that was able to follow a white line, using a camera to see. It was radio linked to a large mainframe that made the calculations. [3]
At about the same time (1966-1972) the Stanford Research Institute is building and doing research on Shakey, a robot named after its jerky motion. Shakey had a camera, a range finder, bump sensors and a radio link. Shakey was the first robot that could reason about its actions. This means that Shakey could be given very general commands, and that the robot would figure out the necessary steps to accomplish the given task.
The Soviet Union explores the surface of the Moon with Lunokhod 1, a lunar rover.
1976 In its Viking program the NASA sends two unmanned spacecrafts to Mars.
1977 The first Star Wars movie A New Hope features R2D2, an autonomous mobile robot and C3PO, a humanoid. They make robots known to the general public.
1980 The interest of the public in robots rises, resulting in robots that could be purchased for home use. These robots served entertainment or educational purposes. Examples include the RB5X , which still exists today and the HERO series.
The Stanford Cart is now able to navigate its way through obstacle courses and make maps of its environment.
Early 1980s The team of Ernst Dickmanns at Bundeswehr University Munich builds the first robot cars, driving up to 55 mph on empty streets.
1989 Mark Tilden invents BEAM robotics.
1990s Joseph Engelbergr, father of the industrial robotic arm, works with colleagues to design the first commercially available autonomous mobile hospital robots, sold by Helpmate. The US Department of Defense funds the MDARS-I project, based on the Cybermotion indoor security robot.
1991 Edo. Franzi, André Guignard and Francesco Mondada developed Khepera, an autonomous small mobile robot intended for research activities. The project was supported by the LAMI-EPFL lab.
1993-1994 Dante I and Dante II were developed by Carnegie Mellon University. Both were walking robots used to explore live volcanoes.
1994 With guests onboard, the twin robot vehicles VaMP and VITA-2 of Daimler-Benz and Ernst Dickmanns of UniBwM drive more than one thousand kilometers on a Paris three-lane highway in standard heavy traffic at speeds up to 130 km/h. They demonstrate autonomous driving in free lanes, convoy driving, and lane changes left and right with autonomous passing of other cars.
1995 Semi-autonomous ALVINN steered a car coast-to-coast under computer control for all but about 50 of the 2850 miles. Throttle and brakes, however, were controlled by a human driver.
1995 In the same year, one of Ernst Dickmanns' robot cars (with robot-controlled throttle and brakes) drove more than 1000 miles from Munich to Copenhagen and back, in traffic, at up to 120 mph, occasionally executing maneuvers to pass other cars (only in a few critical situations a safety driver took over). Active vision was used to deal with rapidly changing street scenes.
1995 The Pioneer programmable mobile robot becomes commercially available at an affordable price, enabling a widespread increase in robotics research and university study over the next decade as mobile robotics becomes a standard part of the university curriculum.
1996-1997 NASA sends the Mars Pathfinder with its rover Sojourner to Mars. The rover explores the surface, commanded from earth. Sojourner was equipped with a hazard avoidance system. This enabled Sojourner to autonomously find it s way through unknown martian terrain.
1999 Sony introduces Aibo, a robotic dog capable of seeing, walking and interacting with its environment. The PackBot remote-controlled military mobile robot is introduced.
2001 Start of the Swarm-bots project. Swarm bots resemble insect colonies. Typically they consist of a large number of individual simple robots, that can interact with each other and together perform complex tasks.
2002 Appears Roomba, a domestic autonomous mobile robot that cleans the floor.
2004 Robosapien, a biomorphic toy robot designed by Mark Tilden is commercially available.
In 'The Centibots Project' 100 autonomous robots work together to make a map of an unknown environment and search for objects within the environment. ]
In the first DARPA Grand Challenge competition, fully autonomous vehicles compete against each other on a desert course.
2006 Sony stops making Aibo and HelpMate halts production, but a lower-cost PatrolBot customizable autonomous service robot system becomes available as mobile robots continue the struggle to become commercially viable. The US Department of Defense drops the MDARS-I project, but funds MDARS-E, an autonomous field robot. TALON-Sword, the first commercially available robot with grenade launcher and other integrated weapons options, is released. . Honda's Asimo learns to run and climb stairs.
A Mobile Robot

DinosaursRobot

Dinosaurs used to rule the world. Robots will someday rule the universe. With these two incontrovertible facts in mind, Mark Tilden the former NASA scientist behind Robosapien, has created Roboraptor, a programmable robotic dinosaur that's so intelligent we're beginning to think it might well be the result of some strange, Land That Time Forgot/Terminator-style temporal anomaly. Then again, it might not.
But let's forget about conjecture, because the fact is Roboraptor is one astonishing, programmable RC dinosaur. Indeed he's truly (r)evolutionary and set to become as insanely popular as Robosapien. He is fully controllable and programmable by radio control but also fully autonomous in free-roam mode.
Unlike a real dinosaur Roboraptor is no bird brain: multi-sensors allow this 32" bipedal beast to see, hear and feel the environment around him. He has multiple touch sensors in his head and tail, while sonic sensors detect sound and direction. He even has three distinct moods: hunter, cautious and playful. Go near his face when he's hunting and he'll behave aggressively; touch him when he's playful and he'll nuzzle your hand. A bit like Rod Hull's Emu but without the plastic arm and blue tinsel. Possibly the most impressive thing about Roboraptor is the way he walks in an incredibly lifelike predatory manner. We've heard of walking the dinosaur but this is ridiculous! In fact the first time we witnessed Roboraptor's fluid biomechanical motion we half expected Raquel Welch to run out in her fuzzy britches and chuck a spear at him. It really is that realistic. Roboraptor can even hold objects in his incredibly powerful jaws.
Roboraptor is programmed and controlled via a sleek PlayStation-style joypad. Just like Robosapien the permutations of movement are endless and you'll be creating new sequences for Roboraptor until the cows (or should that be mammoths) come home. Or until a huge radioactive asteroid smashes into our planet with catastrophic consequences.
As you can tell, Roboraptor has got us in a right prehistoric tizzy because we think this state-of-the-art robo-reptile is set to rule the R/C world. So hurry up and get ordering before our stock faces total extinction.

Features:
- Fluid bi-pedal motion: walking, running and predatory gaits
- Realistic body movements: turning head and neck; whipping tail actions
- Three distinct moods: hunter, cautious and playful
- Autonomous environmental interaction: responds with mood specific behaviors and sounds
- Mood dependent behavior: aggressive/hunting mood; nervous/cautious mood; friendly/playful mood
- Multi-sensory: touch sensors in his tail, chin and mouth; sonic sensors
- Infra-red vision system detects objects in his path, or approaching him
- Powerful jaws that play tug-of war games, “bite” and pull
- “Laser” tracking technology: trace a path on the ground and he’ll follow it
- Visual and sonic guard mode
- Responds to commands from Robosapien V2
- Auto shut-off function
- Video game style controller
- Demonstration mode
- 40+ pre-programmed functions
- To download a copy of the Roboraptorâ„¢ manua

Lego

Early history
The Lego Group had a very humble beginning in the workshop of Ole kirk Christiansen, a carpenter from Billund, Denmark. Christiansen began creating wooden toys in 1932; the company began calling itself "Lego" two years later in 1934. The company expanded to producing plastic toys in 1940. In 1949, Lego began producing the now-famous interlocking bricks, calling them "Automatic Binding Bricks". These bricks were based largely on the design of Kiddicraft Self-Locking Bricks, which were released in the UK in 1947. The first Lego bricks, manufactured from cellulose acetate, were developed in the spirit of traditional wooden blocks that could be stacked upon one another; however, these plastic bricks could be "locked" together. They had several round "studs" on top, and a hollow rectangular bottom. The blocks snapped together, but not so tightly that they could not be pulled apart.
The company name Lego was coined by Christiansen from the Danish phrase leg godt, which means "play well". The name could also be interpreted as "I put together" or "I assemble" in Latin, though this would be a somewhat forced application of the general sense "I collect; I gather; I learn"; the word is most used in the derived sense, "I read". The cognate Greek verb "λέγω" or "lego" also means "gather, pick up", but this can include constructing a stone wall.[1]
The Lego Group's motto is "Only the best is good enough", translated from the Danish phrase, Det bedste er ikke for godt. This motto was created by Ole Kirk to encourage his employees never to skimp on quality, a value he believed in strongly. The motto is still used within the company today.
The use of plastic for toy manufacture was not highly regarded by retailers and consumers of the time. Many of the Lego Group's shipments were returned, following poor sales; it was thought that plastic toys could never replace wooden ones.
By 1954, Christiansen's son, Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, had become the junior managing director of the Lego Group. It was his conversation with an overseas buyer that struck the idea of a toy system. Godtfred saw the immense potential in Lego bricks to become a system for creative play, but the bricks still had some problems from a technical standpoint: their "locking" ability was limited, and they were not very versatile. It was not until 1958 that the modern-day brick design was developed, and it took another five years to find exactly the right material for it. The modern Lego brick was patented on January 28, 1958, and bricks from that year are still compatible with current bricks