Thumb-steered drone leaves you with a free hand

The shapes and sizes of drones have changed a lot in recent times, but most serious quadcopters are still controlled by way of a dual-joystick controller (autonomous flyers notwithstanding). A new crowdfunding campaign is coming at it from a different angle, by developing a drone that can be flown with a single hand using a stick and thumb ring.

It is true that getting up to speed as a drone pilot using joystick controllers can take some time. The team behind Shift is aiming to give novices an easier way to earn their wings through what it claims is a more intuitive way to fly.

The drone itself has a pretty standard and respectable enough list of specs. It carries a 4K camera that shoots 13-megapixel stills, 8 GB of onboard memory and even a claimed 30 minutes of flight time.

But the controller is something we haven't seen before. It is basically a short fat stick that you hold in one hand and slide your thumb through a ring on top. By moving your thumb around you can then guide the drone through the air: push left and the drone flies left, push forward and the drone flies forward and move up to have the drone increase its altitude. There is also separate toggle on the front that can be used to change the drone's orientation with your index finger.

This does sound like a simpler way to control a drone, but we'd be interested to see how well it works in practice. Our encounters with drones controlled via smartphones and watches quickly reminded us how reliable joysticks are once you get a handle on them, and perhaps there is a reason they have remained the controllers of choice for so long.

We'd also question the value of being able to fly one-handed, which is billed as Shift's big advantage. Piloting a drone can take some concentration, so trying to multitask and make phone calls or take a sip of coffee at the same time might just be a recipe for a busted aircraft.

The team behind Shift is aiming to give novices an easier way to earn their wings

The Shift controller is said to be compatible with some already existing drones including models from Syma and WLtoys, and can be pre-ordered with a camera-less mini-drone. The company hopes to ship in May 2017 if all goes to plan.

Source: New Atlas, Shift

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Wiring the brain with artificial senses and limb control

There have been significant advances in developing new prostheses with a simple sense of touch, but researchers are looking to go further. Scientists and engineers are working on a way to provide prosthetic users and those suffering from spinal cord injuries with the ability to both feel and control their limbs or robotic replacements by means of directly stimulating the cortex of the brain.

For decades, a major goal of neuroscientists has been to develop new technologies to create more advanced prostheses or ways to help people who have suffered spinal cord injuries to regain the use of their limbs. Part of this has involved creating a means of sending brain signals to disconnected nerves in damaged limbs or to robotic prostheses, so they can be moved by thought, so control is simple and natural.

However, all this had only limited application because as well as being able to tell a robotic or natural limb to move, a sense of touch was also required, so the patient would know if something has been grasped properly or if the hand or arm is in the right position. Without this feedback, it's very difficult to control an artificial limb properly even with constant concentration or computer assistance.

Bioengineers, computer scientists, and medical researchers from the University of Washington's (UW) GRIDLab and the National Science Foundation Center for Sensorimotor Neural Engineering (CSNE) are looking to develop electronics that allow for two-way communication between parts of the nervous system.

The bi-directional brain-computer interface system sends motor signals to the limb or prosthesis and returns sensory feedback through direct stimulation of the cerebral cortex – something that the researchers say they've done for the first time with a conscious patient carrying out a task.

In developing the new system, volunteer patients were recruited, who were being treated for a severe form of epilepsy through brain surgery. As a precursor to this surgery, the patients were fitted with a set of ElectroCorticoGraphic (ECoG) electrodes. These were implanted on the surface of the brain to provide a pre-operational evaluation of the patient's condition and stimulate areas of the brain to speed rehabilitation afterwards.

According to the UW, this allowed for stronger signals to be received than if the electrodes were placed on the scalp, but wasn't as invasive as when the electrodes are put into the brain tissue itself.

While the electrode grid was still installed, the patients were fitted with a glove equipped with sensors that could track the position of their hand, use different electrical current strength to indicate that position and stimulate their brain through the ECoG electrodes.

The patients then used those artificial signals delivered to the brain to "sense" how to move their hand under direction from the researchers. However, this isn't a plug-and-play situation. The sensation is very unnatural and is a bit like artificial vision experiments of the 1970s where blind patients were given "sight" by means of a device that covered their back and formed geometric patterns. It worked in a simple way, but it was like learning another language.

"The question is: Can humans use novel electrical sensations that they've never felt before, perceive them at different levels and use this to do a task?," says UW bioengineering doctoral student James Wu. "And the answer seems to be yes. Whether this type of sensation can be as diverse as the textures and feelings that we can sense tactilely is an open question."

For the test, three patients were asked to move their hand into a target position using only the sensory feedback from the glove. If they opened their fingers too far off the mark, no stimulation would occur, but as they closed their hand, the stimulus would begin and increase in intensity. As a control, these feedback sessions would be interspersed with others were random signals were sent.

According to the team, the hope is that one day such artificial feedback devices could lead to improved prostheses, neural implants, and other techniques to provide sensation and movement to artificial or damaged limbs.

"Right now we're using very primitive kinds of codes where we're changing only frequency or intensity of the stimulation, but eventually it might be more like a symphony," says Rajesh Rao, CSNE director. "That's what you'd need to do to have a very natural grip for tasks such as preparing a dish in the kitchen. When you want to pick up the salt shaker and all your ingredients, you need to exert just the right amount of pressure. Any day-to-day task like opening a cupboard or lifting a plate or breaking an egg requires this complex sensory feedback."

The research will be published in IEEE Transactions on Haptics.

Source: New Atlas, University of Washington

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Drone receives wireless power, on the fly

Given that the battery life of most multicopter drones typically doesn't exceed 30 minutes of flight time per charge, there are many tasks that they simply can't perform. Feeding them power through a hard-wired tether is one option, although that only works for applications where they're hovering in place. Scientists at Imperial College London, however, are developing an alternative – they're wirelessly transferring power to a drone as it's flying.

For their study, the scientists started with an off-the-shelf mini quadcopter. They proceeded to remove its battery, add a copper coil to its body, and alter its electronics.

The researchers also built a separate transmitting platform that uses a circuit board, power source and copper coil of its own to produce a magnetic field. When placed near that platform, the drone's coil acts as a receiving antenna for that magnetic field, inducing an alternating electrical current. The quadcopter's rejigged electronics then convert that alternating current to direct current, which is used to power its flight.

Known as inductive coupling, the technique has been around since the time of Nikola Tesla. According to Imperial College, however, this is the first time that it has been used to power a flying vehicle. While it currently only works if the drone is within 10 cm (3.9 in) of the transmitter, it is hoped that the range can be greatly increased.

Additionally, instead of continuously powering battery-less copters, it is envisioned that the technology could be used to recharge drones' onboard batteries as they hover over ground support vehicles equipped with the transmitters – this would allow them to remain airborne while recharging, instead of having to land.

It's also possible that the drones could be wired to serve as flying transmitters themselves, "beaming" power from their battery to recipient devices such as hard-to-reach environmental or structural stress sensors, or even to other drones that need a mid-air recharge. A team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, in fact, has already used a quadcopter as a flying wireless charger.

Video:

Source: New Atlas, Imperial College London

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Roving robots roam your clothes

If you don't like the thought of bugs crawling all over you, then you might not like one possible direction in which the field of wearable electronics is heading. Researchers from MIT and Stanford University recently showcased their new Rovables robots, which are tiny devices that roam up and down a person's clothing – and yes, that's as the clothing is being worn.

The centimeter-sized robots hang on by pinching the fabric between their wheels, with the physically-unconnected wheel on the underside of the material held against the others simply by magnetic attraction.

Each Rovable contains a battery, microcontroller, and a wireless communications module that lets it track the movements and locations of its fellow little robots. It also has an inertial measurement unit (IMU), which includes a gyroscope and accelerometer. By using that IMU and by counting its wheel revolutions, the robot is able to keep track of its own location, allowing for limited autonomous navigation on the wearer's body.

In lab tests, one battery was sufficient for up to 45 minutes of continuous clothes-roaming.

Once the technology is developed further, suggested applications for it include interactive clothing/jewellery, tactile feedback systems, and changeable modular displays such as name tags.

The Rovables were recently described at the User Interface Software and Technology Symposium, and can be seen in action in the video below.

Source: New Atlas, Proceedings of the 29th Annual Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology

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Kit Creatives: Living room gadgets

We’ve seen a variety of car related themes on Kit Creatives over the last two weeks. How about taking the fun indoors and making some interesting themes that can make your living room tech savvy?

It certainly would be cool if we could make some projects that were to help us some of the activities we do on a daily basis. Not just that, you could also win a few words of appreciation from guests who come calling.

Following are three fun “Kit-creatives” that you can make using your foundation and beginner level kits. 

1) Post Box Indicator-F

 

In the age of the email and whatsapp, the mail is not exactly glamorous. Also, we tend to not check the post box on a regular basis for mails. Let's make a circuit to detect the presence of letter inside the box and indicate the same with the help of a LED. 

Find out how to do it over here

2) Night Crawler Robot

Tired of searching for your lost items under the dark corners of the bed? Well, you could use a torch light, but why get your arms into darkness when you can actually send a robot to search for it? Part utilitarian part pranky, this will be a fun project to try out. 

Find out how to do it over here 

3)Little Robotic Cleaner - F+B

You probably have a vacuum cleaner back home, but this cute little innovation could still come handy in case you don’t have one back home. Build a cute little robotic cleaner using the stock robot.

Find out how to do it over here 

Happy Roboting !

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CubeSats could soon be zooming around space under their own power

Rubik's-cube-sized CubeSats are a nifty, cheap way for scientists to put a research vessel into space, but they're limited to orbiting where they're launched – until now. Los Alamos researchers have created and tested a safe and innovative rocket motor concept that could soon see CubeSats zooming around space and even steering themselves back to Earth when they're finished their mission.

Consisting of modules measuring 10 x 10 x 11.35 cm (3.9 x 3.9 x 4.5 in), these mini-satellites first launched in 2003, but are currently lacking in propulsion because they're designed to hitch a ride into space with larger, more expensive space missions. They're usually deployed along with routine pressurized cargo launches, usually into low orbits that limit the kinds of studies that CubeSats can perform.

This limitation is, of course, frustrating for space researchers. In fact, the National Academy of Science recently identified propulsion as one of the main areas of technology that needs to be developed for CubeSats.

Bryce Tappan, lead researcher on the Los Alamos National Laboratory Cube Sat Propulsion Concept team says propulsion would greatly expand the mission-space that these small, low-cost satellites can cover. "It would allow CubeSats to enter higher orbits or achieve multiple orbital planes in a single mission, and extend mission lifetimes," he says.

The roadblock to building a self-propelling CubeSat is the inherent risk in the way conventional spacecraft propel themselves through space. Usually, spacecraft use mixed liquid fuel and oxidizer systems to achieve propulsion – methods that are somewhat unstable. This poses a level of risk that would make self-propelling CubeSats unacceptable aboard another organization's space mission.

"Obviously, someone who's paying half a billion dollars to do a satellite launch is not going to accept the risk," says Tappan. "So, anything that is taken on that rideshare would have to be inherently safe; no hazardous liquids."

The rocket propulsion concept that the researchers have developed is a solid-based chemical fuel technology that is completely non-detonable. They're calling the new concept a "segregated fuel oxidizer system," with solid fuel and a solid oxidizer kept completely separate inside the rocket assembly.

The researchers recently tested a six-motor CubeSat-compatible propulsion array with great success.

"I think we're very close to being able to put this propulsion system onto a satellite for a simple demonstration propulsion capability in space," says Tappan.

The system works in many of the same ways as a conventional chemical rocket motor works, with a pyrotechnic igniter initiating burn in a high nitrogen, high hydrogen fuel section, releasing hydrogen rich gases that flow into the oxidizer section. The chemical reaction there creates tremendous heat and expanding gases that flow through a nozzle to provide thrust.

"Because the fuel and oxidizer are separate," said Tappan, "it enables you to use higher-energy ingredients than you could use in a classic propellant architecture. This chemical propulsion mechanism produces very fast, high-velocity thrust, something not available with most electrical or compressed gas concepts."

As well as expanding research capabilities, Tappan says that another desirable application for a self-propelling CubeSat would be a de-orbit capability.

With more than half a million individual pieces of "space junk" now in various orbits around the Earth, small satellites may eventually have to demonstrate a compelling mission before they can be launched, or have a de-orbit capability so they can burn up in the atmosphere without adding to the space junk problem.

If CubeSats were self-propelling, they could send themselves back towards Earth after their mission is complete and burn up in the atmosphere, so they don't add to the space junk issue.

Tappan would eventually like to see their new rocket motor concept used in more ambitious space missions. "Not only simple things like de-orbiting, but in groundbreaking missions like taking a small spacecraft to the moon, or even to somewhere as far away as Mars," he says.

To learn more about the new propulsion system, watch the video below:

Source: New Atlas, Los Alamos National Laboratory

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Harvard researchers 3D print a heart-on-a-chip

Microphysiological systems, or organs-on-chips, are emerging as a way for scientists to study the effect that drugs, cosmetics and diseases may have on the human body, without needing to test on animals. The problem is, manufacturing and retrieving data from them can be a costly and time-consuming process. Now researchers at Harvard have developed new materials to enable them to 3D print the devices, including the integrated sensors to easily gather data from them over time.

At around the size of a USB stick, organs-on-chips use living human cells to mimic the functions of organs like the lungs, intestines, placenta and heart, as well as emulate and study afflictions like heart disease. But as promising as the technology is, making the chips is a delicate, complicated process, and microscopes and high-speed cameras are needed to collect data from them.

"Our approach was to address these two challenges simultaneously via digital manufacturing," says Travis Busbee, co-author of the paper. "By developing new printable inks for multi-material 3D printing, we were able to automate the fabrication process while increasing the complexity of the devices."

In all, the Harvard team developed six custom 3D-printable materials that could replicate the structure of human heart tissue, with soft strain sensors embedded inside. These are printable in one continuous and automated process and separate wells in the chip host different tissues.

"We are pushing the boundaries of three-dimensional printing by developing and integrating multiple functional materials within printed devices," says Jennifer Lewis, another of the paper's co-authors. "This study is a powerful demonstration of how our platform can be used to create fully functional, instrumented chips for drug screening and disease modeling."

The incorporated sensors allow the researchers to study the tissue over time, particularly how their contractile stress changes, and how long-term exposure to toxins may affect the organs.

"Researchers are often left working in the dark when it comes to gradual changes that occur during cardiac tissue development and maturation because there has been a lack of easy, non-invasive ways to measure the tissue functional performance," says Johan Ulrik Lind, first author of the study and postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS). "These integrated sensors allow researchers to continuously collect data while tissues mature and improve their contractility. Similarly, they will enable studies of gradual effects of chronic exposure to toxins."

The research was published in the journal, Nature Materials, and a time-lapse of the 3D printing process can be seen in the video below.

Source: New Atlas, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences

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The Calicut Diaries: Fond memoirs . . . .

It’s a warm tuesday morning and an evening has elapsed since the victorious contingent returned back to Chennai after a memorable journey! Their bags probably still remain unpacked, but so should be their spirits for it was an event that will talked about for a long time at Kidobotikz. While it would only be befitting if we write minstrels about such a performance, we are just sticking to writing a blog about it.

After a three day campaign at NIT-Calicut’s Tathva ‘16, the students belonging to the Kidobotikz community returned home with a string of victories. When the event draw to a close, Kidobotikzians had left a profound impact on everyone from the organizers to the students and the audience. 

The techfest was in very measure of the word, an extravaganza. Hosting 7 events related to electronics and electrical and about 7 events related to robotics alone, Tathva ‘16 was a cracker of an event with participants from across the country. These participants, most of whom were from esteemed institutions such as IITs, NITs and BITs faced fierce competition from a bunch of school students, our own Kidobotikzians. It is nothing less than a wonder that a bunch of school kids participated in a competed in an event hosted for college students and ran them all rout.

The event had a maze of events that were meant to test the knowledge and skills of students. Events such as Amazed, Collision Course, Death Race, Dirt Race, Accelero-Bot X, Circuit Race, Coil Gun, E-Racer were spaced over a span of two days. 

Some of these events had truly interesting themes. The ‘Amazed’ event which had Kidobotikzians grabbing all the three places was a truly challenging event to take part in. It required the participants to develop an autonomous line-maze solving robot which had to find its way out through mazes even as it followed the black lines. Another interesting event was the ‘League of Machines’ where six Kidobotikzians split the prizes for all the 3 places. Each of these events had quite an active participation and had several elimination rounds. Despite all this, Kidobotikzians dominated the leaderboards at all these events. This reiterated the deftness and planning in their preparation for the event. 

With the final tally standing at 15 prizes, one can truly surmise the fact that it was an out and out Kidobotikz show! 

The next stop for these marauding band of roboticists would be FTC for which preparation is underway. Along with the next KRG, which is tentatively expected to be held early next year, the academic year of these geeks is packed with action.

Happy Roboting!

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Unmanned Warrior puts the future of marine warfare to the test

What will the Royal Navy look like in 2036? This month's Unmanned Warrior 2016 exercise taking place off the West Coast of Scotland might provide some of the answers. The Navy's first ever large scale demonstration of marine robotic systems not only showcases new technology, but tests the ability of unmanned vehicles to work with one another as well as with conventional naval ships.

The brainchild of then First Sea Lord Admiral Zambellas in 2014, Unmanned Warrior is part of Joint Warrior – a tri-service exercise involving forces from Britain, NATO and allied nations. Including 5,700 personnel, 31 warships, and almost 70 aircraft, it's a major international effort to develop tactics and skills to deal with conflicts in the air, on the surface, underwater, and in amphibious operations.

Unmanned Warrior assesses the rapidly emerging autonomous and remote controlled technologies that could play a major part in wars of the future. With operations spread over the West Coast of Scotland and West Wales, Unmanned Warrior is playing host to over 50 aerial, surface and underwater Maritime Autonomous Systems (MAS) as they explore the areas of surveillance, intelligence-gathering, and mine countermeasures.

Unmanned Warrior is operating in four ranges: The Hebrides around Benbecula in the Western Isles and Stoneway to the north, the British Underwater Test and Evaluation Centre (BUTEC) at the Kyle of Lochalsh by Skye, and Applecross, where dummy minefields have been laid down.

The machines used in the exercise are a remarkable spectrum of aircraft, surface vessels, and underwater craft. The star of the show is the British Army's Watchkeeper Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) operated by the Royal Artillery 47th Regiment, which is not only part of the tests, but also provides support for ships heading for Joint Warrior.

Other aircraft include the hand-launchable Black Star winged drone, the Schiebel Camcopter S100 mini helicopter, the US Navy's NRQ 21 fixed wing UAV, the twin engined Sea Hunter, self-landing unmanned aerial vehicles, the Boeing ScanEagle with a new visual detection and ranging system, and the pilot-optional Leonardo Solo helicopter.

One craft of particular interest is the Blue Bear Blackstart fixed wing UAV, which is being used as a communications link to mission control in the Command and Control centers. The latter are mostly a collection of undistinguished white ISO containers built for portability, but they can handle data feeds from 40 different systems at once.

One of these centers is aboard the support ship MV Northern River, which did double duty as the target of a "pirate attack." Watchkeeper helped foil this mock attack before going on to catch a "smuggler" by following him as he drove off after collecting stolen goods from an accomplice on the beach.

In addition to the flying drones, Unmanned Warrior also hosts a fleet of robotic surface boats and submersibles. There's the Pacific 950, a Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) equipped with a remote control kit, thermal imaging and all-around vision, so it can act as a watchdog for ships at anchor or making slow passages through harbors. Then there's the Maritime Autonomy Surface Testbed (MAST) for evaluating new robotic technologies, and the Hydrographic Survey, which is using Sea Gliders and Wave Gliders to study the sea bottom and monitor salinity, temperature, and how these change with depth.

For the minehunting challenge, actual Royal Navy minehunter ships were used as they tested the Remus 100 and Remus 600 robotic submersibles with advanced sonar for seeking out dummy mines. In addition, the Remus are designed to be lightweight and easily customizable, so they can be quickly adapted to different tasks. In addition, the challenge tested unmanned surface minesweepers, such as the Atlas ARCIMIS.

"The technologies demonstrated in Unmanned Warrior have the potential to fundamentally change the future of Royal Navy operations just as the advent of steam propulsion or submarines did," says Royal Navy Fleet Robotics Officer Commander Peter Pipkin. "This is a chance to take a great leap forward in Maritime Systems – not to take people out of the loop, but to enhance everything they do, extending our reach and efficiency using intelligent robotics at sea."

The Royal Navy video below discusses the importance of the event.

Source: New Atlas, Royal Navy

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Autonomous tricycles could form the basis of urban taxi systems

Self-driving cars, trucks and buses might get the bulk of the headlines, but a team at the University of Washington Bothell (UWB) is developing a smaller kind of autonomous vehicle. With the aim of providing a relatively inexpensive alternative to owning an autonomous car, the team is creating a self-driving trike that may even open up the possibility of an automated ride-sharing network, like a bike version of Uber's or NuTonomy's proposed services.

The team, headed up by Tyler Folsom, has been experimenting with fitting autonomous systems into tricycle frames and this work culminated in August with a test that saw a bright orange recumbent trike drive itself in a circle. That modest command, entered via remote control, demonstrated the vehicle's ability to stop, start and turn itself to reach a destination, but Folsom says it's just a "baby step" on the way to deeper autonomy.

"I'm trying to shift the talk about self-driving cars to self-driving bicycles and making sure bicycles are part of the automation equation," says Folsom.

The outcome of that equation, the team hopes, is to eventually produce autonomous vehicles that are much lighter and more environmentally friendly than self-driving cars. With a targeted price tag of around US$10,000, ideally they'd be cheap enough to replace the family car or current public transport options. To keep that price down, the team is trying to maximize the efficiency of the electronics driving the trikes.

"We're using things much less powerful than a smartphone," says Folsom. "Part of the concept is that you don't have to spend as much money as the big car companies are spending. My contention is you don't need all that much processing power to make autonomy happen."

Reducing the required computational power may be easier to achieve if human error is removed from the picture by setting up a better autonomous infrastructure, which is a goal Folsom has been vocal about for years with his Elcano Project. Along with dedicated lanes for autonomous vehicles, he puts forward the idea of renewable energy-powered self-driving taxi systems, possibly with a fleet of velomobiles like Organic Transit's ELF, which could ferry people around cities without impacting too heavily on the environment.

"The big thing for me is the effect this could have on global warming," says Folsom. "If we can push transportation in this direction – very light vehicles – it's a major win for the environment. I want to have the technology that lets people make that choice if we decide, yes, by the way, survival would be a nice thing."

The project, which involves over 20 people, has received a $75,000 grant from Amazon Catalyst.

The team describes their work in the video below.

Source: New Atlas, University of Washington Bothell

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The Calicut diaries: Kidobotikzians@Tathva '16 (Contd....)

What word has two ‘O’s and an ‘R’ in it? You are thinking of the word “Robot”. Nope, we are talking of the other word- “Hooray”!

Yes, “Hooray” it was!

The bandwagon of roboticists at NIT-C have finished their campaign and are now retiring to the stables!

Yep. It was the third and final day of the tour of Kidobotikzians to Tathva ‘16. The event, which was conducted ever so wonderfully by the college, was a wonderful experience for the students, their accompanying faculty and the visitors too. Especially considering the fact Kidobotikzians revelled in an event that was for the standard of Graduates! 

All efforts put by Kidobotikzians up until the event paid off in full measure as they are returning home tonight with a string of trophies- each a hard earned, hard fought and wonderfully cherished victory!

The third day began with a great deal of promise with a string of interesting events lined up. Today being the third and final day, many of the events of the previous days had their final rounds that were held today. And Kidobotikzians, on their virtue of being seasoned roboticists dominated most of these events. The final results tally did no justice to the average of these young roboticists. To think of it that school going young students travelled to a college fest and participated in it with much success against the best of college students from across the nation is quite an accomplishment. A major credit to all this goes to the students and their faculty who spent many an hours helping students understand the concepts of robotics to a degree of professionalism that these kids know the concepts at the back of their hands. A lot of credit is also owed to the parents who have been a constant support to the wishes of these young students and who help them try such interesting activities as a part of their personal development.

As we sign off, our bunch of roboteers are already gearing up for the next big event- FTC. With detailed planning and preparation underway, Kidobotikzians are expected to work wonders at every major event henceforth! 

Click here for the photos of the event: Facebook Album

Happy Roboting!

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Robotic arm gives quadriplegic man a new sense of touch

In 2012, quadriplegic Jan Scheuermann used her own thoughts to control a robotic arm and feed herself a chocolate bar thanks to a system developed by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). Now, the same team has recreated the physical feeling of touch through a robotic hand, allowing a quadriplegic man to feel "his" fingers and hand for the first time in 10 years.

After first demonstrating their robotic arm in 2012, the team continued to improve the technology to extend the functional utility of the hand so that it approached the agility of a natural human limb. But although regaining movement is important, how objects feel in our hands also plays a crucial role, creating a feedback loop that allows us to adjust our grip and motion as required. Through further development of the robotic arm and brain computer interface (BCI), the Pitt-UPMC team was able to give 28-year-old Nathan Copeland, who was paralyzed in a car accident in 2004, the sensation of touch again.

Like Scheuermann's procedure, the arm was wired directly into Copeland's brain, allowing him to control it with the same kind of thought commands anyone would normally use. The difference in this case was that the electrical signals from the arm were transmitted through four tiny microelectric arrays implanted into the regions of the brain associated with feeling in individual fingers and the palm. The end result was the ability to feel pressure and how strong it was, although so far he hasn't been able to distinguish between different temperatures.

"I can feel just about every finger — it's a really weird sensation," explains Copeland, about a month after surgery. "Sometimes it feels electrical and sometimes it's pressure, but for the most part, I can tell most of the fingers with definite precision. It feels like my fingers are getting touched or pushed."

As far as the research and technology has come, the Pitt-UPMC team acknowledges that there's still a long way to go on the road to eventually developing a system that moves and feels like the real thing. It's possible because the brain still remembers how to control the limbs – the injury just disrupts the connection between them.

"The most important result in this study is that microstimulation of sensory cortex can elicit natural sensation instead of tingling," says Andrew B. Schwartz, co-author of the study. "This stimulation is safe, and the evoked sensations are stable over months. There is still a lot of research that needs to be carried out to better understand the stimulation patterns needed to help patients make better movements."

The research was published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Source: New Atlas, UPMC

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The Calicut diaries: Kidobotikzians@Tatva '16

A trip to the “God’s Own Country” is usually one that nobody affords to miss. All of us who’ve been there can relate to the beautiful beaches, the lovely shorelines and the wonderful weather. But when you also roboting into this mix, it becomes an experience for a lifetime . Thanks to NIT-Calicut’s Tatva ’16, Kidobotikzians are enjoying the very same thing at the moment!

A strong contingent of students belonging to the Kidobotikz student community are currently here at NIT Calicut taking part in what can be named a full on tech-extravaganza! Called Tatva ‘16, it is an annual tech festival. Featuring students from across the country, the two day event can be considered a tough event. As we come close to the end of the first of the two day event, we wanted to take a break from all the roboting action and tell you how our experience was. 

Being a tech fest, Tatva has an elaborate set of events for the best of geeks amongst us. To test their roboting skills and prove their mettle, Kidobotikzians had decided to take part in an event that is meant for college students. Yes, you read it right! Kidobotikzians are the only school students who are taking part in the event meant for colleges. And the story doesn’t end their. A few of them have actually bested their performance to take home a few prizes.

The first day of Tatva ‘16 began with some exceptional brouhaha thanks to the tough competition among the participating teams. As a matter of fact, the campaign was kickstarted on a winning note when Vishal Desh, who is a strong favourite at the event, took the honours for winning Accelero Botx. The contest which happened yesterday saw Vishal contest against some fierce opposition and emerge victorious.

Meanwhile, the itinerary for the second day, today, was jam packed with truly amazing events such as Dirt Race, Schwimmwagen, Collision Course and Death Race League of Machines. While the first two were events which involved the usage ATV robots, the latter two were events which were robotic battles. The star event for Kidobotikzians was Amazed where four students belonging to the community- Vishal Desh, Abhishek Shankar, Chitresh, S.Charan- won prizes. 

As we go into the third day, there are several more events in the fray and the Kidobotikzians are fresh from their exploits and the first two days. With still a lot of exciting events to be played out, one can expect the Kidobotikzians to bring back a lot of trophies.

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Robotic ALIAS puts Cessna Caravan through basic maneuvers

The ALIAS system, developed by DARPA, could cut down on crew requirements in military and civilian small aircraft by taking control with a robotic arm. Although it's still a ways off production, the system has been successfully demonstrated on a Cessna Caravan aircraft.

As aircraft have become more advanced, they've also become more difficult to understand. Pilots and crew need to undergo intensive training before being let loose in the latest aircraft, and even then they can be overwhelmed by the complexity of flight systems in an emergency.

According to DARPA, the Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System (ALIAS) could provide a solution. Rather than retrofitting old airplane fleets with complex, expensive automated flight systems, ALIAS has been designed as an adaptable drop-in solution to lighten the load on crews. Although it's all-new, the system has its roots in DARPA's previous work in automated systems and unmanned autonomous vehicles.

When it's completely up and running, ALIAS should be able to handle a complex military mission from takeoff to landing. It should also be able to deal with emergency situations in the air, essentially reducing the human pilot to a mission supervisor by letting the computer deal with minute-to-minute flying.

Having successfully tested the system on a Diamond DA-42 earlier this year, it was recently installed in a Cessna Caravan in an attempt to prove its versatility. It pulled off a set of basic in-flight maneuvers, with a human pilot sitting alongside. The team at Aurora is now working to install it into a Bell UH-1 helicopter.

"Demonstrating our automation system on the UH-1 and the Caravan will prove the viability of our system for both military and commercial applications," says John Wissler, Vice President of Research & Development at Aurora, which has been working on the project. "ALIAS enables the pilot to turn over core flight functions and direct their attention to non-flight related issues such as adverse weather, potential threats or even updating logistical plans."

Watch ALIAS flying the Cessna in the video below.

Source: New Atlas, Aurora

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Autonomous robot takes the hard work out of yard work

Gardens can be a double-edged sword: when they're thriving, so is the work required to keep them in shape. A new autonomous robot helper by the name of Kobi, however, can take the edge off by mowing the lawn, collecting leaves and clearing snow for you.

Of course, robotic lawnmowers have been earning their crust for some time now, and adding snow-clearing functionality isn't a new concept either. The beauty of Kobi, though, is that it has three strings to its bow and is designed for use in all seasons.

Kobi comprises a rear base unit and three accompanying modules. These are connected to the base depending on what type of garden work is required. There's a snow blower module with which Kobi will remove snow by sucking it up and shooting it to a dumping spot, a lawn module for cutting grass, and a leaf module for collecting leaves and depositing them in a set location.

The robot reportedly achieves all of this autonomously, and is able to get around a user's yard at speeds of up to 2 mph (3 km/h). To navigate, it uses a combination of GPS positioning, cameras and ultrasonic sensors. This, says its designers, affords it "inch-level positioning accuracy," but also allows it to detect objects and stop if need be. What's more, it can even plan when to do work itself based on the weather forecast, to which it connects via the user's home Wi-Fi network or a local mobile data network, depending on which network is strongest.

A lithium-ion battery powers Kobi, with ranges of up to 7 ac (2 ha) when using the lawn module, up to 3 ac (1 ha) when using the leaf module and up to 0.37 ac (0.15 ha) when using the snow module. When the battery is running low, Kobi will make its way back to its docking station for recharging, before continuing with the work at hand. A full charge is said to take between two and four hours.

In order to navigate a user's garden, Kobi must first be shown its perimeter and where there are any obstacles. It must also be shown where to dump snow and leaves. This is done using an accompanying mobile app, which will be available for iOS and Android when it launches and via which Kobi can be "taught" these things. In the event that a user moves house, the app can be used to reconfigure Kobi.

The app is also used to control Kobi and allows users to set the robot going or to stop it, as well as to schedule times for it to get to work. For security, Kobi is protected by anti-theft mechanisms, which include an alarm that sounds in the event that someone tries to steal it and an auto-disable mode that can only be circumvented using a pin-code set by the owner. It is expected to be made available to the general public in the north-east of the US from early 2017.

The video below provides an introduction to the Kobi robot.

Source: New Atlas, Kobi

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Geek Speak: Jogith Chandran

With the season of Navratri long gone and the season of Diwali fast approaching, these are quite some festive times for us all. However, back at Kidobotikz, an exciting event is already underway. A contingent of Kidobotikzians departed last evening to the city of Calicut. They are taking part in the annual Tech Festival Tatva hosted by NIT Calicut. What’s so special about this event one might wonder?

Well, it is a college festival and the teams from Kidobotikz are usually the only all-school teams that participate in this event. 

Meanwhile, we pick up from where we left last week. Last sunday we spoke with Jyotsna who was there as a part of the team preparations for FTC. This week, the entire team including Jyotsna are actually at Calicut for Tatva, except for one. He’s here taking care of the FTC-related activities in the absence of the other members. A rather tall and well mannered chap, who impresses one and all with his knowledge of roboting. Meet Jogith Chandran, who defines the word Smart with his techy accent and hipster glasses. He is our geek for the day. 

Hey Jogith! Do you mind introducing yourself to our readers?

Hi everyone! I am Jogith S Chandran. I study in the 9th grade at Smart Minds Academy, and since last sunday, a graduate of Kidobotikz.

Congratulations on your graduation. Must’ve been a very exciting experience. 

Can you tell us how you became associated with Kidobotikz?

It’s one of things that just happen and you look back at it with happiness. I’ve always been a robotics aficionado. However, wasn’t sure where to learn the coveted subject from. One fine day, I happened to chance upon the poster of Kidobotikz in the vicinity of my abacus class. As soon as I got home I told mom about it and convinced her to get me enrolled here. There’s been no looking back ever since. 

When I actually came here, it was during the summer. Interestingly, they had a summer camp here. And I managed to complete 4 month’s worth of course in less than 10 days. It really impressed me that I was able to learn all this. 

That’s interesting. What was your outlook towards robotics before you joined Kidobotikz and how has it changed now? 

Before joining Kidobotikz, my assumption was that robotics was a highly complicated and sophisticated subject that could be learnt only by the select few. But after joining, that perspective of mine changed completely. Much to my surprise, I realized that robotics was as basic a subject as anything and anybody with the right teacher and right learning material could master the concepts of robotics. The credit goes to the way to Kidobotikz and their faculty for making robotics such an interesting subject for me.

That’s an interesting perspective. How goes your preparation for FTC?

Well, we are currently looking into how we can brand ourselves and get a few sponsors onboard. That way we can connect with some established brands in the industry when we represent that nation at FTC. We all meet on a weekly basis to discuss about our individual roles and responsibilities.

So, what are your plans for the future? Any field of interest that you are looking forward to work in?

My dream would be to pursue higher studies in Robotics at MIT. Beyond that, I intend to find a niche R&D role for myself in the consumer electronics or robotics industries. This is my long term vision and I intend to work upon it with vigour.

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