Archive for sensors – Page 2

Sony SDR-4XII

 

Sony has presented a prototype for a humanoid robot in their entertainment line. The SDR-4XII stands under two feet and weighs about 14 lbs. It has fluid like movements and an obstacle avoidance system. The 38 individual joints respond to data from stereo digital cameras and other sensors that make it all about adaptability. It can stand on one leg, navigate around obstacles, stand up after falling, and climb stairs. It can even synchronize dance moves with other SDR-4XII’s.

The movement is controlled by a pair of 64-bit RISC processors with 64MB of RAM and an optional Sony Memory Stick slot. This technology also performs speech recognition and speech synthesis for voice control activation. As the SDR-4XII learns it will be able to recognize frequently-seen faces and commonly heard names. The SDR-4XII will be the perfect entertainment robot gift for all ages.

Sony has included “entertainment content”, the SDR-4XII comes pre-loaded with 10 songs with over 1000 dance motions. The spoken dialogue has of 200 scenarios, allowing for more natural and better autonomy.

Main Specifications of SDR-4X II

CPU

64 bit RISC processor (3)

Main Memory

64MB DRAM (3)

Operating System

Aperios (Sony’s original real time OS)

Robot Control Architecture

OPEN-R

Control Program Supplying Media

Memory Stick

Joint Degree of Freedom (Total:38 DOF)

Neck:4 DOF, Body:2 DOF, Arms:5 DOF (x2), Legs:6 DOF (x2), independent hands (5 fingers on each hand)

Sensors & Switch

Distance Sensor

Infrared system distance sensor:Head 1,Hand 1 (x2)

Acceleration Sensor

Trunk:X,Y,Z/3 axes, Foot:X,Y/2 axes (x2)

Angular Rate Sensor

Trunk:X,Y,Z/3 axes

Foot Sensor

Foot 4 (x2)

Thermo Sensor

Hand 1 (x2),Foot 1 (x2),Head 1,Body1,Actuator 22

Touch Sensor

Head:4,Hand:1 (x2),Shoulder:1 (x2)

Pinch Detection Sensor

Overall:18

Grip switch

Back:1

Image Input

110,000 color pixels CCD camera (x2)

Audio IN/OUT

Microphone (x7) / Speaker (x1)

Input/Output

PC card slot (TypeII) (x1),
Memory Stick slot (x1)

LED display

Eye (4096 colors each), Ears (1 color, 16 gradation), Power (2 colors)

Weight

Approximately 7kg (with battery and memory)

Dimension (height x width x depth)

Approximately 580 x 270 x 190mm

Sony hasn’t promised when the SDR-4XII will be released commercially but they did state that the prototype has been a complete success.

I “Heart” you

Now this one is just so freakin’ adorable!! He may look a little bit weird at first but you’ll easily fall for his puppy dog eyes that flutters when Heart, that’s the robot’s name, is touched.

Puppeteer turned robotics engineer David McGoran from The University of the West of England is the esteemed maker of Heart Robot. Heart is a robot that can feel human emotion or rather feel humans’ emotion. He, I tagged him as a he first time I saw him on TV, looks fragile as he is quite small and “bandaged”. He has bony, plastic-like fingers that has the capability to grip your hand. He looks like a small cute hobbit who has eyes that can melt anyone’s ice-cold heart. Of course, he has his very own red light “heart” hidden underneath a see-through plastic cover that “beats” when he is touched.

Heart is covered in sensors that has the ability to respond when touched and when a human moves. If treated badly or roughly, Heart will tense and his cute little eyes will blink rapidly in alarm and his grip tightens. He also recognizes when you raise your voice at him. Once he eases up on you, you’ll feel his body relax and the beating of his heart will slow down.

Heart may just be one robot but hopefully we’ll all have a Heart that we can cuddle up with and who’ll help us feel more human when we sometimes forget that we are one.