Robots may not be killers, but they sure have killer dance moves. Or at least killer dance parties.
The
Robot Block Party is on at the Museum of Science and Industry (MSI) in
Chicago this weekend, giving visitors a chance to “do the robot” at the
dance party both Saturday and Sunday, not to mention interacting with
Murata Boy and a snake robot, and designing their own robots. It’s all
part of the Robot Revolution exhibit that’s on temporary display at the
museum.
I took my kids to see the special exhibit recently—not
only to see the robots doing fun things like playing soccer, dealing
cards or climbing walls, but to get a better understanding of where and
how robots fit into our lives and industries.
Humans always seem
to have a fascination with robots, imagining them created in our
likeness, available to answer our every beck and call—that is, until
they turn evil and take over the world, killing us all or making us
their slaves. Just kidding…maybe…of course I’m kidding!
Frankly, I
never get tired of seeing what robots can do. Like the huge robotic
arms that lift train axle and wheel assemblies like they’re dumbbells.
Or the little delta robots that sort pills at lightning speeds. Some of
what MSI has on exhibit are no different than those robots we all see at
industrial tradeshows. But there are also a lot of forward-thinking
technologies that can really make you think about the possibilities that
lie ahead.
MSI developed the Robot Revolution exhibit with a team
of expert advisors, including Henrik I. Christensen, KUKA chair of
robotics at the Georgia Institute of Technology’s College of Computing
and executive director of the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent
Machines; and Dennis Hong, professor and founding director of the
Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) in UCLA’s Mechanical and
Aerospace Engineering Department.
The exhibit, which will tour
nationally after it completes its run in Chicago Jan. 3, is divided into
four areas to showcase various aspects of robotics: cooperation,
smarts, skills and locomotion.
The cooperation area showcases
traits that make robots better able to work effectively with
humans—mimicking facial expressions with facial-coding technology,
providing therapy with sensors that respond to touch, or cooperating
with each other to play soccer. Some work needs to be done on that last
point, though. Although they pass the ball effectively to compete in the
Robo World Cup, they have yet to master the tortured flop and pained
grimace that is essential in professional soccer.
The skills area
contains the robots that are most familiar to those in industry—for
example, a Fanuc delta robot that shows off advances in machine vision
and robotic precision for high-speed picking and assembly, and small
part handling. In this case, it’s sorting pills into three different
bottles with speeds impressing even my jaded teens. A Yaskawa/Motoman
two-armed robot takes a break from the assembly line to deal out cards
for Blackjack.
As we know in industry, humans are becoming more
comfortable with the idea of working side by side with robots like
Baxter, which is also on display in the skills area. Rather than helping
to assemble parts, though, he’s playing Tic-Tac-Toe, teaching people
the sorts of intelligence and dexterity he has, but also showing them
that it’s safe to be right up close to him while he works.
While
we were there, though, Baxter was feeling a little under the weather.
Not great for kids wanting to take him on in a game of X’s and O’s, but
still not a bad chance to watch a technician dig into the underlying
circuitry and explain ladder logic to an interested bystander. It was
also a chance to direct visitors to the RoboGarage, where they could see
employees tinkering with broken down robots.
The locomotion area
lets visitors explore the different ways that robots can move, in many
cases giving them access to places we can’t get (or shouldn’t get). The
Japanese Topy OSCAR (Optical Stair Climbing Advanced Robot), built like a
miniature tractor, can go into unstable buildings or other hazardous
locations. Robots similar to this one investigated radiation leaks after
the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011.
People often envision
robots walking like humans, like C3PO in Star Wars, but that’s easier
said than done—standing, balancing and working with two legs being
complex for a machine. CHARLI (Cognitive Humanoid Autonomous Robot with
Learning Intelligence), developed at Virginia Tech’s College of
Engineering, is an attempt to achieve that and to create a robot that
humans feel comfortable with.
DROP (Durable Reconnaissance and
Observation Platform), developed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL), uses its “microspines” to scale concrete walls. It can be dropped
from a drone or helicopter into dangerous locations to get a better
look. The tiny hooks can grip wood, concrete or stucco.
There are
all kinds of robotic grippers on display, with some impressive advances
shown to mimic the capabilities of human hands.
Schunk’s LWA
Powerball arm includes a three-finger hand with advanced gripping
systems with seven degrees of freedom. The Schunk five-finger hand
mimics a human hand with nine motors, 20 joints and elastic fingertips.
Festo’s
demonstration looks beyond humans, showing off its work in
biomimicry—using the structure and skills evolved over millions of years
in animals and plants to find creative ways to design robots. I’ve seen
their work before, birds flying or jellyfish undulating around
tradeshows. This time, they’re showing the LearningGripper, inspired by
the strength and flexibility of an elephant’s trunk.
Its 11
degrees of freedom let it move in a non-linear fashion. The flexible
polyamide structure makes it hazard-free; in the event of a collision
with a human, the system immediately yields. The polymer-based bellows
gripper also lets it handle fragile objects.
There’s a whole lot
more to see at the exhibit. In some cases, it was fun to explain to my
kids some of the robotic uses that are already going on in industry
(whether they care or not). In other cases, it’s fascinating to think
about how some of the new advances might be applied in the future.
If you’re in the Chicago area, I encourage you to go check out Robot Revolution. If you’re not in Chicago…well…why not?
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