Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
The STAR Robot - From Minority Report?
The STAR (Sprawl Tuned Autonomous Robot) is a 3D-printed robot modeled after an insect's ability to squeeze into even the tiniest spaces. It was developed by students at UC Berkeley's Biomimetic Millisystems Lab. the STAR is able to flatten its legs down to slip under a small gap and then raise them up again to climb over larger obstacles.
(STAR (Sprawl Tuned Autonomous Robot))
With the exception of the electronics, each component of the STAR was built using a ProJet 3000 3D printer, meaning a full robot can be manufactured quickly and cheaply. The main core of the bot holds its control board and battery, which are connected to the six individual legs that propel it forward. Each of the legs has three spokes measuring 2.8 cm (1.1 in) with a 90-degree gap between them, which allow it to crawl over obstacles 4 cm (1.6 in) higher than if it just had wheels.A brushed DC motor provides motion to each set of legs, while a 300 mA/hr LiPo 4V battery gives it enough power to run at full speed for 30 minutes on a single charge. Altogether, the tiny robot weighs just 73 g (2.6 oz).
What really sets the STAR apart from other robots, though, is its ability to adjust its sprawl angle (i.e. the angle between its body and legs) over a range of 150 degrees to adapt to different situations. Depending on the angle, the robot can move faster over different surfaces, climb over taller objects, or slip into narrow passageways, among other tasks.
At a sprawl angle of zero degrees, the robot lays flat on the ground and has a height of just 2.5 cm (1 in), a length of only 12 cm (4.7 in) and a width of 11 cm (4.3 in). It can't actually move in this position, but by changing its sprawl just a few degrees, the robot's legs can touch the ground to move underneath an obstacle, such as a door, without gaining much height. At a 90-degree sprawl, the robot can fit through smaller vertical spaces and travel over rough terrain more easily.
Fans of Steven Spielberg's film Minority Report recall the spider robots, which were able slip easily under doors. Start the video below at about 1 minutes.
Via Gizmag; thanks to an anonymous reader for contributing the tip on this story. I'm traveling this week, and it's much harder for me to look for stories.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 8/1/2013)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Blue Collar AI Goes To Work To Mine Its Own Crypto
Blue collar bot.
HandelBot Helps Two-Handed Robots Learn Piano
'I request that you feed the correlation between those dots and the levers of the panel into my memory banks.'
Woven Fiber Electronic Skin For Robots
'... all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.' - Harl Vincent, 1934.
Robots For Hire En Masse
'...small investors profited, too.' - Raymond E. Banks, 1956.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Amazing Photonic Crystal Light Sail
'That sail will be twenty thousand miles at the wide part.'
Blue Collar AI Goes To Work To Mine Its Own Crypto
Blue collar bot.
Rogue AI Replicated Itself
'Sapiro’s computer just kept dialing at random, hanging up on humans, until it got a fellow computer of the same type as itself.'
HandelBot Helps Two-Handed Robots Learn Piano
'I request that you feed the correlation between those dots and the levers of the panel into my memory banks.'
Woven Fiber Electronic Skin For Robots
'... all the feel and appearance of human flesh and epidermis.'
When AI Takes Its First Breath
Any suggestions?
Chinese Aircar Light And Airy, Not For Blade Runners
Daytime version.
The Morphing Wheel And The Smartwheel
'If you surf over a bump, the spokes contract to roll over it.'
Transporting Antimatter
'...drawing plans for the magnetic tongs and bed plates and relays.'
Polish Turns Your Nail Into A Stylus
'He wrote on it, using the pointed fingernail of his right forefinger...'
I Wish This Plaudit Pin Was More Like A Wristpad
'Frank was cursing into his wristpad, switching between Arabic and English.'
World's Largest Teleoperated Arm
'...a pair so huge that Stevens could not conceive a use for it..'
Japan's AI Buddharoid Automonks
'...each of them is a neural mapping of the mind of a Tibetan monk who actually lived.'
MIT Computerized Bionic Leg Is Part Of The User
'The leg was to function, in a way, as a servo-mechanism operated by Larry’s brain, through the mediation of the electronic brain in the leg.'
The New Habitable Zones Include Asimov's Ribbon Worlds
'...there's a narrow belt where the climate is moderate.'
California Governor Candidate Calls For Voting By Phone
'... every veephone on the continent would display, over and over, two propositions.'
