Over the past six months, I had been tinkering with the Robosapien V2 to explore its inner workings. I wanted to learn how its master designer, Mark Tilden, was able to cast a life-like behavior over this hunk of black and white plastic figurine that vaguely resembles a Stormtrooper. My initial experience was not pleasant. [...]
I came across this inspiring article on using robots to help kids with autism. Two researchers with the Center for Health, Intervention, and Prevention (CHIP) at the University of Connecticut are exploring how to use robots to enhance the motor and social communication skills of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). By programming the robot [...]
It’s been 3 months since I last posted. Life has conspired to keep be busy with other things including a job change (I now work at 510 Systems, a real-time 3D mobile mapping technology company in Berkeley, CA) and an awesome 3-week vacation trip to the Philippines. Now that things have settled down a bit, [...]
I finished repairing all broken wires on my Robosapien V2. First I considered completely replacing the two cable assemblies (ie, the wires with the plastic mating connectors) that snaked through each leg. However my email query to Wowwee tech support revealed that: (1) they don’t have replacement cables, and (2) they don’t know of other [...]
I’ve been busy the past three weeks with personal affairs but managed to tinker a bit with the Robosapien V2. Although he is a new addition (thanks, eBay!) to my small collection of hobby robots, the RS V2 is actually a relic from 2005, a discontinued 22-inch tall, walking robotic wonder that has been superceded [...]
OK, time for something fun and inspiring at the same time. I just found out about Peter Oravetz’s gallery of robot cartoons. Peter comments: It’s always been entertaining for me to watch someone verbally and physically abuse a copy machine, a T.V., or any other electronic device. Obviously they don’t have feelings so there is [...]
Microsoft announced that it will use the PrimeSense 3D sensor for its Project Natal virtual gaming platform. According to Ilan Spillinger, vice president of Xbox 360 hardware at Microsoft, the PrimeSense sensor will be used to create an accessory for the XBox 360 that will allow users to interact with the gaming console using hand [...]
I love it when toys of the big boys finally become everyone’s. According to Hizook’s blog, mass-affordable cameras that offer depth perception (aka RGB-D or “ranging” cameras) may finally hit the store shelves this year. This statement echoes what Dr. Deiter Fox of Intel Research Labs has proclaimed during his presentation last January at the [...]
Recently, I have been experimenting with Numenta’s Vision Toolkit and NuPIC software. These two noteworthy products let developers, researchers and individuals alike create intelligent apps that can recognize objects or perform other complex tasks that involve learning, inference and prediction. Both tools are available from the Numenta website, albeit under a “play but don’t deploy” [...]
My game plan for building a vision system for my robot project has taken a sharp turn. Initially I had intended to use OpenCV’s object detection modules to build a classifier that can tell apart different kinds of common household objects: ball, doll, shoe, etc.– you know, things that a roaming bot would likely encounter. [...]