Imagine millions of robots that were at largest only a millimeter in diameter. These robots would be incredibly versatile. They could be used in operations to reduce the amount of cutting during surgery. For recycling purposes they could be designed to break apart and break down hazardous material. They could also link together to form new structures or repair existing ones. Of course there is the uses as weaponry but I will let you use your imagination on that topic. One of the major size limitations for these devices is motors for locomotive purposes. The robots have to be able to get around somehow and motors to move the joints are to large to allow the robot to be built small enough. There is also the problem with the electronics and energy source. The robot needs some sort of control system to give it instructions on what to do and it needs a source of energy. I have recently developed an idea for a simple but affective design for the development of nanorobots. Muscle wire is a is a type of metal designed to react to changes in  temperature. This wire will bend when electricity is applied to it and would make excellent legs for a tiny robot because the wire could be cut to very short thin lengths and no motors would need to be used. You can watch a video of a muscle wire tentacle at the following URL or click on the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjfqfSynQGI. The power source is really the only limiting factor. My design has a built in lithium -ion battery that charges on its own by electricity that is conducted through the swarm of tiny robots from a power supply. The robots themselves are controlled bu a radio frequency remote and have no other built in electronics other than a relay that will short circuit the radio coil causing the robot to heat up and melt the coating of antimony on the surface. This allows the robots to strongly fuse together to form permanent structures.

Singularity Hub’s A Review Of The Best Robots of 2009 reaffirms my belief that all high school students should be required to read, ponder and discuss Bill Joy’s essay Why the future doesn’t need us.

It might be a serious error to ignore Bill Joy’s opinion.

Our most powerful 21st-century technologies – robotics, genetic engineering, and nanotech – are threatening to make humans an endangered species.

As 02009 nears an end, I continue to claim that we have not yet entered the Age of Robotics, but Singuarlity Hub’s robot review provides evidence that the Robotics Age is rapidly approaching.

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• Make: Electronics (oreilly.com)
• Simavr, an AVR microcontroller simulator (makezine.com)

I’ve created a site similar to this for our Robotics class in the Spring…

Starting this Spring, we’ll be using this space to share our discoveries and creations in the Robotics and Design Tech classes at Spartanburg Day School.

via GriffinRobotics.

Should be fun, so follow along!

Here is a tremendous set of lessons for teach computer science to high schoolers.

http://www.csta.acm.org/Curriculum/sub/CurrFiles/ExploringCSv2.pdf

The goals of Exploring Computer Science are to develop the computer science skills of algorithm development, problem solving and programming. Students will also be introduced to topics such as interface design, limits of computers and societal and ethical issues of software engineering.
This curriculum has been developed for a culturally, linguistically, and socially diverse group of students in Los Angeles Unified School District.

There’s 292 pages of lessons on:

Computers

Human Computer Interaction

Web Design

Problems Solving

Scratch

Robotics

Python

The ScienceHack site has a collection of videos on robotics and computer science:

http://sciencehack.com/videos/category/5

http://sciencehack.com/videos/category/12

A robotic fish developed by scientists from Essex University is put through its paces in a special tank at the London Aquarium. It works via sensors and has autonomous navigational control.

Here are a couple of aluminum plates, some of the very first milled by my CNC-converted MF70. These are intended for the Y axis of the new, improved version of my MF70 CNC. A standard type 606 ball bearing fits in the circular recess in the middle, just like the bottom one in the photo. The outer holes are for mounting the axis stepper motor, and the inner holes are for attachment to the table. At the moment I am about to start the process of milling a couple of standoffs that will go in between the table and these plates. This will hopefully extend the woefully limited Y axis travel of the MF70.

Milling new parts is going rather slowly at the moment. The current mechanics of the machine are not very precise and rather inefficient. To ensure that the motors do not miss any steps, they need to be driven at a rather low speed. This is in contrast to the built-in spindle of the MF70, which seems to do best with relatively light cuts with a high feed rate, due to the rather high RPM (5k to 20k). The new parts should help alleviate this problem.

One other thing that does not help the situation is that the torque obtainable with the current stepper drivers is quite beneath the potential of the motors I use. To overcome this, I’ve started to work on a new controller board that implements bipolar chopper drive instead of the unipolar L/R drive of the current board. In addition, the new board will increase max current per coil from 0.5A to 0.6A. For the new board, I am also seriously considering to switch to the LPT port instead of USB, as this will enable me to use readily existing software such as EMC2 without a lot of work.

Well firstly this is not to do with Terminator! There are two parts to this, the first being a set of legs, these can help people with disabilities to walk, and also to help in rehabilitation.

Then there is the suit, again this can be used for the above, but also in factories, disaster response.  This is due to the fact the suit can enable you to carry more weight that physically possible.  The suit work by having electrical sensors on your body, these then pick up the electrical signals sent through your nervous system.  These signals are then transformed into the correct movement by the suit.

These are meant to be in production, and come with a $4,200 price tag.

Here is Cyberdine’s web site: http://www.cyberdyne.jp/English/

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR, Robotic Industries Association

U.S. President Barack Obama seems to be in favor of a manufacturing policy that is more than lip service. It would be difficult to argue that the U.S. government is known for promoting industry like its counterparts in China, Japan, Korea and even Germany, France or elsewhere in the world. So it merits consideration when Obama’s Administration expresses an opinion about American manufacturing – the topic of a meeting hosted today (December 22, 2009) by Vice President Joe Biden.

As the nation sends smaller hoards of its downsized working class citizens to toy stores and shopping malls, it still doesn’t seem to register that all those toys made in China (let alone machine tools) pump money to state subsidized factories where workers are lucky to have indoor plumbing at home. Of course, workers in the U.S. are lucky to have a home these days so maybe we can start to relate.

When any economic disruption seems to send trembles through the grid, talk of support for U.S. manufacturing is often met with political heat. It has been too hot for most administrations to touch issues like trade deficits or undervalued currency.

Who will Biden see at his meeting? Small business owners get credit for making most of the U.S. job openings but will they get proper representation? Perhaps green energy will dominate the stage. (Isn’t it interesting to learn that $425 million in stimulus money to one Texas wind farm will purportedly create 2,000 manufacturing jobs overseas, so says Senator Sherrod Brown, D-OH.)

Technology leadership seems to be theme for this administration, and perhaps that bodes well for the robotics industry. Robots are multifunctional devices that help even the playing field with low-wage countries. Some worry robots take jobs away, but when you have 50-cent-per-hour workers who needs robots? (Answer: any maker of automotive, electronic or household goods that requires world-class quality.)

The myth about robots is it will replace man. It is just a tool, though, and lucky for man we have it. Many lucky people sell and use robots. Readers in the business may cringe when looking back at 2009, what with sales slumping in 2009, but selling and using robots can make for a very rewarding job. Robotics industry people are some of the most amazing, smart and innovative people in business, most of whom all get their hands dirty when it comes to making stuff.

Manufacturing policy must be strong in the U.S. Lives depend on it. A nation depends on it. We can have a great service economy, and we will, but our roots are in manufacturing and we must tend to the basics like equally valued goods and services. Robots won’t solve all our problems but little else has been proven to work so well as an equalizer in the international (and vastly low-wage) marketplace.

RIA will continue to support efforts to strengthen the manufacturing policy with a goal to help its members – including robot users – compete and do business. Please give us your best, President Obama, because the U.S. gives its best when people are working and that is what we need now.

Massive and massively interesting article on Robotician and mathematical genius-type Rodney Brooks, the inventor of the Roomba.

FOR RODNEY BROOKS, the path to becoming one of the world’s foremost roboticists began in the backyard shed of his childhood home. It was Glenelg, Adelaide, in the 1960s, the space race was in full swing and Brooks and Scott Johnston, his mate from around the corner, spent endless hours in that shed trying to blow things up.

Brooks’ father, a former telephone technician who worked at Woomera, Australia’s long-range missile testing facility in the desert 500 km north of Adelaide, brought home leftover rocket equipment to aid their childhood fantasies.

Their aim was to make solid fuel rockets, but mostly they made smoke bombs. Using their own recipe, they produced vast quantities of hydrogen and learnt that a garbage bag full would rattle the windows of the neighbours’ house when exploded.

They spent all their pocket money buying junk from a local equipment recycler, built a hovercraft that didn’t hover and an oscilloscope – a shock from which once caused Brooks to pass out, requiring his brother to revive him.

I, Rodney | COSMOS magazine.

Overall, respondents to the Packaging in Automation survey say they are pleased with their system integrators.  A whopping 90% said that, in general, system integrators do meet their needs.  And 80% say they would continue working with the integrators they’ve worked with before.  Understanding their customers’ needs and being able to satisfy them with well-implemented, well-supported technical solutions are the very reason for automation system integrators in any industry.

Here are the satisfaction results in the 11 categories packagers were asked:

• 75%    Understands automation needs
• 75%    Able to implement recommendations
• 74%    Quality of technical support
• 72%    Has offerings comparable with existing systems
• 72%    Can collaborate in system design
• 69%    Types of automation options available
• 69%    Availability of system integration services
• 67%    Familiarity with various vendors
• 66%    Training/education support
• 62%    Identification of opportunities
• 54%    Uses consultative sales techniques

— Excerpted from “Packaging Integrators Make the Grade,” by Vance J. VanDoren, Ph.D., P.E., in Packaging Digest, December 2009

Flexicell, Inc.
Flexicell, Inc. is a leading robot integrator and automation equipment manufacturer in the packaging industry.  The company provides a variety of innovative packaging machines and equipment, integrating robots with its own equipment to provide palletizing, case packing, carton loading and custom material handling systems.

Since its founding in 1992, Flexicell has established itself as a major supplier of robotic automation to many companies in food & beverage, personal care products, confectionery, frozen foods, dairy, bakery, automotive, medical, electronics, and household industries, among others.  Flexicell is headquartered in Ashland, Virginia.

To learn more about Flexicell, visit www.flexicell.com.

Found a few good sites with information on old robots, many of which you can still find on eBay. Great info for collectors and those who just want to hack some old robots.

Jeffbots
The Old Robots
Robots and Computers

These sites also have additional links for your surfing pleasure, enjoy!

by Neil S. Siskind, Esq.
www.Siskindlawfirm.com
Personal Injury, Medical Malpractice, Bankruptcy, Debt Negotiation, Commercial Collections

There is a genre of video games known as virtual reality. This means that it’s not quite reality, but has similar aspects.

There is a class of communications known as text messages, where we don’t actually hear a human voice, but receive texts that convey thoughts and emotions.

An undertaking in private industry is under way to build robots to do our work and handle our tasks so that humans ultimately don’t have to do them ourselves.

Communication technologies allow us to be-or force us to be- served in our basic and immediate needs by people in distant lands.

If this is progress, is progress regressive?

Let’s begin with a virtual reality. By using a virtual reality system we can feel like we are playing baseball, sitting on a mountaintop or waterskiing from a boat. But virtual reality is just that- not quite reality. Wouldn’t you prefer to actually be on a field playing baseball, actually on a mountaintop or actually water skiing? Why participate in virtual games in the name of progress when you can do the real thing? Sure, now and then when we are in the mood to do things that we are otherwise unable to do virtual reality gives us an alternative. But in most cases these days, kids are playing video games in lieu of participating in the actual activities, and not as the last option.

Let’s look at it another way. What if we “only” had a virtual way of doing activities we enjoy? Only through a computer screen could we play football or go fishing or go running through a field. What if we really could not actually do these things? What if we were physically handicapped and could only engage in sports from a remote control? When we call virtual reality “progress” I wonder what that really means. Seems more like the minimum involvement level you can have in an activity. Not quite reality-but virtually reality.

Let’s use text messaging as another example. Imagine a world where we can’t hear anyone’s voices whom we communicate with. We could only discuss things in writing. Sounds like the days of the Pony Express in early America, huh? In that scenario, we would be ecstatic about a voice machine where we could actually hear the voice of the person with whom we are communicating. We could experience their tone and tenor and convey thoughts so much more easily and accurately- like we were standing there next to the person we are talking to. A neat idea. Looking at it that way, being limited to the text of words on a page or screen seems regressive rather than progressive.

The next dimension in progress is robots. We want to program robots to do things for us from work to play. So this means what? We will no longer work or play? Is that the ultimate goal- to have and do nothing real? To not really interact with others? To not really work? To not really play? To do so only through a machine and via a robot proxy?

As for customer service, we use modern technologies to allow people in far away places who speak foreign languages to serve our needs. These people neither share our manner of speech or ideals but also have no idea or interest in knowing who we are. This sounds more similar to world history than world present. Makes me think of a time when we were less connected, rather than more. As service is less customized and less personal and harder to achieve- as it has become, it seems that all our progress toward human societies, where we act as one community for the greater good, is diminished. If one’s jokes or manners of speech are largely misunderstood by the people we work with, that can hardly be seen as human progress.

Virtual reality, text messages and robots are not driving us forward as a people, they are actually bringing back major themes of the past. There was a time just hundreds of years ago when people could not directly communicate easily, when experiences were limited by time and space and where people were isolated from other people. We, as a species, worked hard over the years to open up new lines of actual and direct communication, to bring people closer to each other and build communities, and provide access to all kinds of real experiences to people. When we develop and use technologies to limit direct communications, limit actual experiences, separate people from those serving their communities and limit human ability to experience things for themselves rather than through others (or through robots) it seems like we are using technology to return to a time when we had no technology at all.

Neil S. Siskind, Esq.
www.Siskindlawfirm.com
Personal Injury, Medical Malpractice, Bankruptcy, Debt Negotiation, Commercial Collections

Japanese department store operator Sogo & Seibu have just the thing for you. As part of a New Year’s promotional sale Sogo, Seibu, and Robinson’s department stores will offer people the chance to buy a humanoid robot custom-built to look, move and sound just like themselves.  The high-tech doppelgangers will be built by Kokoro, the Japanese robotics firm responsible for a line of Actroid human-like robotic receptionists.  Seibu, or Robinson’s department stores from January 1 to 3, 2010. But be warned; only two robots will be available. If more than two orders are received the lucky buyers will be selected by a random lottery. However, with a price tag of 20.1 million yen (US$223,000).  Make that an army of me…

By Brian Huse, Director, Marketing & PR, Robotic Industries Association

I was talking to Stephanie Sartwell at Fronius today and so glad to hear some genuine good holiday news. In a time when most companies are pulling back, many are cutting back and some hurting a lot … this one is prospering and hiring.

Blue skies at RIA member Fronius in Brighton, Michigan

Their office in Brighton, Michigan is nestled in a vibrant pocket of scenic Michigan. Inside are really enthusiastic people who work for a company that has long been a leader in digital welding technology. There have been no layoffs this year; no cutbacks, according to Ms. Sartwell. Business has been good.

Looking back at where they started, as a maker of battery chargers and welding transformers, one can trace the roots of their success today based on a core value “… to continue to foster employees’ enthusiasm for customer-oriented activities and innovations in battery charging systems, welding technology and solar electronics, and to secure financial independence.”

Talking with Ms. Sartwell is a good way to catch a dose of what drives the success of Fronius – she is enthusiastic and passionate.

“Fronius avoids debt and uses cash which works well in these economic down times,” said Ms. Sartwell. She has happy news to share that they are growing and hiring (executive sales assistant for the Brighton location and area sales manager to work in the Chattanooga, Tennessee area).

“Not everyone’s hurting,” she said, “and it is nice to be able to talk about ones that are prospering.”

We had a good chat that seemed worth sharing. Fronius is a newer member of Robotic Industries Association, and one we are glad to have. Get to know them and all of RIA’s members in the New Year, won’t you? It is a good way to learn about the best new products for users of robotics and automation.

Happy Holidays!

Robotic devices or automatons have been around a long time. Intelligent human-like  robots, however, have not. We can find historical references to mechanical devices in Classical Greece, Ancient Egypt, early dynastic China, the early Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad  and in the kingdoms of the Indian subcontinent. These early automatons were created to entertain and amuse.

When Mary Shelley wrote Frankenstein in the early 19th century, she described an artificial life form that was made up of human parts. It wasn’t however until the early 20th century that the term robot became part of our language. R.U.R. or Rossum’s Universal Robots was a story written by the Czech playwright Karel Capek. As in Mary Shelley’s story, humans invent the robots  with the robots becoming a threat to the inventors.

No individual popularized the term robot more than Isaac Asimov who in 1942 defined laws for robot behaviour.  The three laws countered both Shelley’s and Capek’s dark predictions of  destruction. Asimov’s laws of robotics stated that no robot could injure a human or allow a human to come to harm. No robot could disobey a human unless in following an order by a human, that or another human would be harmed. And finally, Asimov’s third law stated that a robot must protect itself from harm as long as in following this rule it didn’t injure a human or allow a human to come to harm.

In Stanley Kubrick’s 2001:A Space Odyssey, the movie portrays the ultimate fear in humanity’s pursuit of intelligent machines. Only the HAL 9000, the computer that oversees the Discovery spacecraft is aware of the mission’s objective and in keeping that information secure decides that the human crew accompanying it is a threat. The dramatic confrontation between man and machine is played out in the vacuum of space.

We have had robotic arms with us for more than half a century. These devices, designed to emulate and surpass the capability of the human  arm have been used for a wide range of applications, from industrial assembly to the International Space Station. A robotic arm features multiple joints with rotational capability and a grasping or mutli-purpose end tool at the tip. End tools can mimic a human hand or serve a specific purpose such as welding.

Today most automotive assembly lines use robotic arms extensively for the latter task. The first one of these, the Unimate robotic arm was installed at a General Motors facility in 1961. By 1973, Cincinnati-Milacron, a U.S. manufacturer, had developed commercial computer-controlled robotic arms that soon found themselves installed in hundreds of factories to provide precision welding and precise machining of parts. Seiko is just one of many Japanese manufacturers who have taken Cincinnati-Milacron’s invention and created smaller, single and multi-function robotic arms for the automotive, biotechnology, electronics, pharmaceutical and telecommunications industries. The CanadARM, CanadARM 2, and its successor, the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS), successfully launched in 2002, are products of MD Robotics, a Canadian company. These devices have the ability to operate autonomously or be controlled manually from the Space Shuttle or the International Space Station where they are deployed.

But our ultimate goal is Data, the android of Star Trek, the creation of a machine that exhibits human traits, that appears human-like, and that develops a relationship with us.  The Massachusetts Institute of Technology Artificial Intelligence Laboratory is pursuing the creation of Data-like robots. COG is a creation of Professor Rodney Brooks, Director of the Lab. Along with a talented team of graduate students they have been building a humanoid robot. COG has been designed with many human-like traits from eye movement, head and neck orientation, facial recognition, and arm movement.  COG can even play the drums.

Another MIT robot is Kismet, a creation of a team led by Dr. Cynthia Breazeal. Kismet is an expressive robot that interacts with humans on so many levels. Although a disembodied head the robot expresses interest, sadness, calmness, surprise, happiness, anger and even disgust. If a person is out of range of Kismet’s immediate view but visible the robot engages in calling behaviour.  If someone gets too close, Kismet leans away.  Kismet both listens and talks to humans. Multiple computers are needed to create the combination of behaviour and attributes that are displayed by this very human-like robot.

The idea of building an intelligent robot in humanoid form is considered important because many scientists believe our body shape and structure govern to a large degree many aspects of our ability to express ourselves.  A humanoid robot, therefore, would interact with people like a human. MIT research shows that humans exposed to human-like robots interact with them as if they were human.

Japanese technology companies have been in forefront of creating humanoid robots.  Unlike the MIT robots, Japan’s research has focused on creating task-specific skills for a generation of automatons performing such functions as nursing, shopping, housekeeping and home care. Here are just a few examples;

HRP-4C is a female-shaped robot that walks, talks, and expresses emotions. A engineering project developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, HRP-4C contains 30 motors to operate body movement and 8 to create its facial expressions. The robot has even been programmed to sing.

Saya is a work robot. Developed at the Tokyo University of Science, Saya has facial muscles that are pneumatically controlled allowing the robot to lift its eyebrows, crinkle its nose and smile.  Saya has been programmed to teach elementary shool children, act as a receptionist and do other general purpose activities.

Asimo is Honda’s humanoid robot. The first model appeared in 1986 and is probably the robot most of us know from video and film on Youtube. Asimo is marketed as a general purpose home ‘bot. It responds to voice, and human gestures. Looking very much like a space-suited tiny human, it can vacuum, shovel snow, play with children, serve food and refreshments and negotiate maneuvering through crowds. Asimo can recognize individual faces and greet people by name. The Asimo design has even developed technology to allow a human to control the robot through thoughts by the wearing of a helmet with sensors that detect the brain’s electrical impulses.

Twenty-One is a robot creation of Waseda University. It displays dexterity capable of picking up a straw, putting it into a glass and handing to a human.

AR, a Home Assistant Robot is a product of a joint venture among the University of Tokyo, Toyota, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Sega and Olympus. Standing 61-inches in height by 25.6-inches wide with a depth of 31.31-inches, and equipped with a wide-angle stereo camera, a telephoto stereo camera and ultra-sensitive sensors. AR operates on two drive wheels with balancing wheels. It can run on its battery for up to an hour and does such tasks as sweeping the floor, clearing and cleaning dishes, picking up clothes and putting them in the washer and moving chairs.

These anthropomorphic robots represent our first steps in creating the future Data. As we introduce new computing technologies such as biological-silicon hybrid chips, neurogrid  and quantum computing, and nano-circuits, our robotic devices will become more autonomous, more intelligent, and more capable. Machines that resemble us will become part of our daily existence here in the 21st century. Ray Kurzweil, the futurist who sees exponential growth in both the software and hardware capacity for us to create artificial intelligence, predicts that by 2029 robotic intelligence will be equal to human intelligence.

In our final blog installment on this topic I will discuss the blurring of machine and human intelligence as we and our machines develop a symbiotic relationship.

How far is it from Prozac to cyborgs?

Daniela Cerqui is a social and cultural anthropologist at the University of Lausanne and explores the edges of “posthuman” society, a society marked by human and computer hybridisation. We talk to her about the definition of “normality” in a technology-centred world, chip implants and the future of human evolution. Daniela Cerqui is also know for following and studying Kevin Warwick’s life as a cyborg from an anthropological point of view.

Following the recent discovery of proof of a large lake in Titan’s northern hemisphere, there is a gathering momentum behind the plan to send a ‘boat style’ robotic explorer to float around in it.

From the BBC news site :

The Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) has already been under study for about two years. It is envisaged as a relatively low-cost endeavour – in the low $400m range.

It could launch in January 2016, and make some flybys of Earth and Jupiter to pick up the gravitational energy it would need to head straight at the Saturnian moon for a splash down in June 2023.

The scientists have a couple of seas in mind for their off-world maritime research vessel. Ligeia Mare and Kraken Mare are both about 500km across.

The Earth significance of this mission is to see if fundamental laws exist as regards the formation and characteristics of lakes and related geography and geology. If the same mechanisms and characteristics are found to exist on Earth and on Titan, then it gets easier to propose that these characteristics are universal. Therefore we can begin to formulate better ideas about other planetary bodies in the Universe and extrapolate that out to the possible characteristics of possible life.

The fact that the lakes on Titan are liquid methane at very low temperatures with very little energy flow means that any life there would be way outside of the boundaries we are currently aware of.

The development of non-terrestrial robotic probes, and the ongoing implications for the Deep Data and Proxy projects make it well worth keeping an eye on.

Apparently viruses play an important role in evolution. They often mix genes around between separate species as they spawn and spread from host to host. We have already begun to engineer viruses for our own purposes. Will we use viruses as nanobots in order to reprogram our own genes? Perhaps if we are to continue any sort of biological evolution this will be the only way. Otherwise it seems that our only alternative for further evolutionary development would be synthetic in nature, the development of artificial intelligence.

Since 2 years, i’m playing around with natural permanent magnet. I’m really surprise that nobody is using this natural force as it should. There is a lot of new way to explore.

Here is a little concept of of magnetic articulation driven by 3 or 4 little electric engines.  The main goal is to let natural magnets hold the biggest part of the weight and use a very little energy to drive it.  It could be use as a stepper engine except that the angle could be setup very precisely. The strength of the joint could be modify without adding extra electric energy. Also the velocity factor could be very interesting. There is no mechanical contact between the 2 heaviest parts so no sound, no heat and no usury. Only the driven part: the electric motors, the driving screws and the spherical bearing will!

As i saw in many industrial manufacturer since few years, the electromagnetic bearing are now very in use. (ex: SKF)

Here is a very simple concept of natural magnet bearing:

This is an aluminium shaft with box magnet all around at 45 degrees. On each sides, i put a ring magnet in the repulsive side.  Of course, it’s a schema, so i let the rings floating in space to keep the pictures readable. So more the ring are closer from each other, more there is pressure over the whole shaft.

After that, my question was how to made this turn.  As i was studying chopper’s swashplate few years ago, i fund a way to adapt this mechanical method to my concept. Simply by creating a disharmony between the rotor’s box magnets strength like this:

So by tilting a little the rings in symmetry over it, this will give a direction to the shaft. Now the question is how to make the rings turn in symmetry without using a lot of energy? For this i setup a set of 3 driving screws to hold the rings magnet with spherical bearing. The 2 shaft’s strokes are set in an opposite stepping, that way, when i turn the shaft there are getting closer each other, or farest in opposite rotation.

Magnetic Clevis from Lempereur Bertrand on Vimeo.

Here a little schema of the Final concept:

This is with 3 shaft but it could work also with 4.

If you want to experiment some stuff with magnets:

http://www.supermagnete.fr/eng/

http://www.hkcm.de/

For industrial stuff:

http://shop.hpceurope.com/an/home_catalogue.asp

Constant Velocity Joint

Article: Sexbots Will Give Us Longevity Orgasm

What a hoot. Well, I guess all those tired women out there can relax pretty soon… no worries about having to ‘perform’ after a long hard day at the office or at home. Yikes.

Or, as I first said on watching this, “Holy *****….”

I mean, myself and Ian Dowse built a micromouse robot once, way back in the mists of prehistoric time, but, well…

It wasn’t exactly going to finish in 4.766 seconds, you know?

And it certainly didn’t look as slick as Tetra did:

Makes you wish there was money and facilities for doing robotics hardware in an Irish college, doesn’t it? I mean, look at it, the sheer elegant efficiency of the design, the purpose to it – the PCB extends out in front to put the weight on the front drive wheels so that it’s fast when turning, and the rear wheels come into play when it’s accelerating forward – it’s very elegant minimalist design, mechanically. We just never had the money, facilities, tools or other necessary things to do that sort of work

The Pittsburgh Technology Council’s Art + Technology Initiative is proud to present the first SCRAP (Steel City Robotic Art Project) exhibition at Pittsburgh’s First Night celebration.

Located on the second floor of the 937 Gallery on Penn Avenue, “Robot Resolution” features robotic and mechatronic sculptures and installations from the Pittsburgh-based robotic art group Rossum’s. Rossum’s was founded by Ian Ingram and Garth Zeglin in the Fall of 2006 in order to bring together artists and engineers interested in robotic and mechatronic art. The name is a reference to the 1921 play by Karel Čapek titled R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots).

So, ring in the New Year at First Night Pittsburgh 2010!

Explore more than 100 programs at nearly 50 locations across the Cultural District, 90% of which take place indoors. There’s dance, music, comedy, hands-on activities, theater, visual arts, a gallery crawl, a parade and of course, fireworks! First Night is the perfect place for an art-filled start to the New Year.

A First Night Button is your passport to all of the wonderful things this night has to offer. Buttons are available for $8 at the Box Office at Theater Square (655 Penn Avenue), online atpgharts.org, and at participating Giant Eagle stores. Kids 5 and under are admitted free.