Robots Will Quickly Recognize and Respond to Human Gestures, With New Algorithms

New intelligent algorithms could help robots to quickly recognize and respond to human gestures. Researchers at A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research in Singapore have created a computer program which recognizes human gestures quickly and accurately, and requires very little training.

Many works of science fiction have imagined robots that could interact directly with people to provide entertainment, services or even health care. Robotics is now at a stage where some of these ideas can be realized, but it remains difficult to make robots easy to operate.

One option is to train robots to recognize and respond to human gestures. In practice, however, this is difficult because a simple gesture such as waving a hand may appear very different between different people. Designers must develop intelligent computer algorithms that can be 'trained' to identify general patterns of motion and relate them correctly to individual commands.

Now, Rui Yan and co-workers at the A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research in Singapore have adapted a cognitive memory model called a localist attractor network (LAN) to develop a new system that recognize gestures quickly and accurately, and requires very little training.

"Since many social robots will be operated by non-expert users, it is essential for them to be equipped with natural interfaces for interaction with humans," says Yan. "Gestures are an obvious, natural means of human communication. Our LAN gesture recognition system only requires a small amount of training data, and avoids tedious training processes."

Yan and co-workers tested their software by integrating it with ShapeTape, a special jacket that uses fibre optics and inertial sensors to monitor the bending and twisting of hands and arms. They programmed the ShapeTape to provide data 80 times per second on the three-dimensional orientation of shoulders, elbows and wrists, and applied velocity thresholds to detect when gestures were starting.

In tests, five different users wore the ShapeTape jacket and used it to control a virtual robot through simple arm motions that represented commands such as forward, backwards, faster or slower. The researchers found that 99.15% of gestures were correctly translated by their system. It is also easy to add new commands, by demonstrating a new control gesture just a few times.

The next step in improving the gesture recognition system is to allow humans to control robots without the need to wear any special devices. Yan and co-workers are tackling this problem by replacing the ShapeTape jacket with motion-sensitive cameras.

"Currently we are building a new gesture recognition system by incorporating our method with a Microsoft Kinect camera," says Yan. "We will implement the proposed system on an autonomous robot to test its usability in the context of a realistic service task, such as cleaning!"

Source : ScienceDaily

Russian Robotic Supply Ship Docks at Space Station

An unmanned Russian supply ship arrived at the International Space Station Sunday (April 22) carrying tons of fresh supplies in an Earth Day delivery for the orbiting lab's crew.

The robotic Progress 47 cargo ship docked with the space station at 10:39 a.m. EDT (1439 GMT), ending a two-day flight that began with an eye-catching launch. The two spacecraft were sailing 249 miles (400 kilometers) over northern China, just south of the Mongolia border, when Progress 47 parked itself at the orbiting lab.

"Congratulations on a successful automatic docking," flight controllers in Russia's Mission Control Center in Moscow radioed the station crew in Russian.

The Progress supply ship is filled with more than 2.8 tons of food, equipment and other gear for the six-man crew living aboard the space station. Its arrival, which occurred on Earth Day by coincidence, comes just days after the departure of its predecessor Progress 46 from the station, and a week before the much-anticipated launch the first private U.S. cargo ship to the orbiting lab — the robotic Dragon capsule built by California-based SpaceX. Dragon is slated to launch on April 30.

With the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet last year, the space agency is dependent on Russia's Progress vehicles and similar robotic space trucks launched by Japan and Europe to ferry its supplies to the station. The Dragon capsule will be the first of two private U.S. spacecraft to take on the job with it begins operational flights.

Russia's Progress space cargo trucks are similar in appearance to the three-module Soyuz vehicles used to ferry crews to and from the International Space Station. Both vehicles have a propulsion module and orbital module, but the progress carries a fuel-laden module for the station's thrusters in place of the central crew capsule used on Soyuz flights. [ How Russia's Progress Spaceships Work (Infographic) ]

Progress 47 is filled with vital supplies for the space station's Expedition 30 crew, which includes three Russians, two Americans and one Dutch astronaut. The supply ship is carrying about 110 pounds (50 kilograms) of oxygen and air, 926 (420 kg) pounds of water, 1,988 (901 kg) pounds of propellant and 2703 pounds (1,226 kg) of dry supplies such as food, spare parts and experiment gear.

The arrival of Progress 47 comes at a busy time for the International Space Station. On Friday (April 27), three station crewmembers will return to Earth to wrap up their months-long mission. NASA astronaut Daniel Burbank, the station's Expedition 30 commander, and cosmonauts Anton Shkaplerov and Anatoly Ivanishin are expected to return home aboard a Soyuz space capsule and land on the steppes of Kazakhstan in Central Asia.

Then comes the anticipated Dragon launch, which if all goes well, will occur on April 30 and be followed by a rendezvous at the space station a few days later. Astronauts aboard the station will use the outpost's robotic arm to grapple the Dragon capsule and attach to an empty port.

Three new space station crewmembers are slated to launch aboard a Soyuz spacecraft on May 17.


By : msnbc

Robots may be the first responders in case of another nuclear disaster

In the event of another disaster at a nuclear power plant, the first responders may not be humans but robots. They may not even look humanoid.

The Pentagon's research and development agency is to announce a competition Tuesday to design specialized robots that can work in disaster zones while operating common tools and vehicles.

And while such tasks may well inspire humanoid designs, roboticists say they may also lead to the robotic equivalent of the Minotaur - a hybrid creature that might have multiple arms and not just legs but treads.

Rumors of the challenge have already set professional and amateur robot builders buzzing about possible designs and alliances. Aaron Edsinger, a founder of Meka Robotics in San Francisco, said he was speaking with fellow roboticists around the country and was considering a wide array of possible inspirations.

Robotic Surgery Oversold on Hospital Websites, Study Contends

Many hospitals tout the benefits of robotic surgery on their websites without solid scientific evidence to back up those claims, Johns Hopkins researchers report.
In fact, four out of 10 hospitals in the study only used manufacturers' claims that robotic surgery is better than conventional surgery, an assertion that the researchers said is unproven and misleading.
The findings are especially troubling since consumers depend on hospital websites for reliable, trustworthy information, the study authors said.

"Hospital websites are a trusted source of medical information for the public," said lead researcher Dr. Marty Makary, an associate professor of surgery at Hopkins.
"This is the first time we've seen industry create content, with disclosures, and put it on the official hospital website to educate patients about treatment options," he said. "To me, that's a very scary trend."
Robotic surgery has grown more than 400 percent over the past four years, Makary pointed out. "It's one of the great modern crazes," he said. "And the public is driven by the idea that more technology means better care."

Robotic Truck Keeps Bin Cleaning a Safe Operation

FRESHBINS won a 2010 WorkSafe Award for its robotic bin cleaning trucks.

The company won the category for Best OHS Solution in Manufacturing, Logistics and Agriculture for its use of robotics to increase the safety of its workers who operate bin cleaning services.

The bin cleaning industry is relatively new and largely unregulated. Currently, many operations involve high-pressure washing, manual lifting, potential ingestion of vapours and liquids, traffic hazards, and exposure to UV.

Testing has found domestic bins are covered with high levels of disease-carrying bacteria, and garbage industry operators, landfill operators, councils and their workers risk breathing in these toxic vapors.