Grasping drone brings new meaning to "armed aircraft"

It's no secret that flying drones are becoming increasingly useful, with most of their applications tending to involve either obtaining aerial video footage, or being loaded up with cargo by human ground crews. Imagine, however, if they could grab things. While we've already seen experimental "armed" drones, Japan's Prodrone has just unveiled a model that's actually in production.

On display this week at the InterDrone show in Las Vegas, the PD6B-AW-ARM is described by Prodrone as "the world's first dual robot arm large-format drone." Built around the airframe of the company's existing PD6B-AW model, it features two remotely-operated 5-axis robotic arms that can grasp, carry and release a payload of up to 10 kg (22 lb). Algorithms in its onboard software allow it retain stability as its center of gravity shifts while lifting objects.

Powered by two 22.2v/16,000mAh batteries, the weatherproof drone itself has a flight time of up to 30 minutes per charge, a maximum forward speed of 60 km/h (37 mph), and a maximum operating altitude of 5,000 m (16,404 ft).

Along with the obvious grasping and carrying of cargo, the company's suggested uses for the PD6B-AW-ARM also include attaching or joining items, cutting cables, flicking switches, delivering lifesaving buoys, or retrieving hazardous materials. As can be seen in the video below, the arms additionally allow the aircraft to perch on precarious surfaces such as railings.

Source: New Atlas,  Prodrone

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Formal Vs. Informal learning: Which side should one lean upon?

What is the best way of undergoing Education? This is a question that is as old as mankind itself.

Well, if one has to think there are two major ways of educating one’s self.

The first would be the ubiquitous formal education. This would be enrolling oneself to the various existing institutions of learning. Formal education is classroom-based where the instruction would be through teachers, faculty what have you. 

Informal education, on the other hand, would encompass every learning activity that happens outside the classroom. These could be after-school programs, community-based organizations, museums, libraries, or at home. Perhaps an even more pronounced example of this form of learning would be learning through the internet. 

With the advent of internet based learning opportunities, there’s been a constant upheaval among the defenders of the two camps. 

On one side, we have educators who say yay for formal education and nay for informal education, while on the other side we have people who feel that formal education has outlived its utility in the information age where every bit of learning as important as the ones that are a part of the regular curriculum.

The debate over these two forms of education has always remained high pitched. So, where is the middle ground?

Well if there is a middle ground, it lies where the best attributes of these two forms of education are taken into consideration.

Formal education while having the disciplined structure that is required for sustained learning tends to miss out on the variety that informal learning can offer. Teachers need to meet educational standards and stick to a specified curriculum, which can make it difficult for them to incorporate nontraditional content. 

Informal education on the other hand incentivizes learning with the pleasure of satisfaction. It gives the freedom to learner and he or she is free to learn it the way they see it. But, more often than not a student or candidate who wishes to learn online tends to get disoriented on what he/she should actually be learning; a learning experience that is just fun but not of relevance.

How can this be overcome? 

Well, the most logical way to do the same would be to bring together elements of fun from informal learning to the disciplined aspects of formal education.

Does such a system exist? Can it be practical? Will it be of relevance to the current scenario of high intense STEM learning?

Yes, it will be. We at Kidobotikz have been promoting a confluence between the facets of formal and informal learning through our online platform. We’ve incorporated the elements of gamification into some serious concepts of robotics to bring about a curriculum that makes STEM learning a fun activity

Happy Roboting!

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Atlas robot pulls off a delicate balancing act

Having previously shown off impressive capabilities dealing with uneven ground and being pushed around, the humanoid Atlas robot built by Boston Dynamics has now demonstrated the ability to balance unaided on the edge of a plywood board less than an inch thick.

Relying on a control algorithm developed by the Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition (IHMC), the Atlas robot looks shaky in parts but manages to balance on the edge for about 22 seconds before falling off. IMHC admits this was a lucky run and that the robot isn't usually able to maintain its balance for that long.

IMHC also points out that the robot only uses onboard sensors and its shakiness is due to "poor state estimation", which is essentially the robot's ability to estimate its position, orientation and velocity so it knows where its various bits and pieces are and where they're going.

IMHC has previously put the 6.1-ft (1.9-m) tall Atlas robot to work vacuuming and doing some light housework around the lab after it finished competing in the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge (DRC) finals. Maybe a turn at tightrope walking is in its future.

The video below shows the robot's balancing act.

Source: New Atlas, IMHC

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Move along chaffeurs, the robots are here!

In the area of Retail chain, especially the food and household supplies market, robotics as a concept has made massive strides. The industry has reached a point of progress where it is prudent to look at not how robots will drive business transformation, but at how they are already doing so.

Most jobs in the retail industry which involved dexterity and careful human handling are now being taken over by robots; robots that can be described as sophisticated, smart and functional. But what they miss out in anthropomorphic appeal, they more than make up for it in their capabilities. 

In the past few years robots have become adept in adapting themselves to the retail environments and lend a helping hand to the workforce that works in tandem with them. 

When we say robots are helping out, we do not talk of robots that look like ancestors of C3-PO and walk around and talking part in errands. No, we are talking of the kind that is more like an R2; functional and built with purpose.

Following are some examples where robots have already begun to make their presence felt:

Fulfillment of deliveries in restaurants:

Robots like Pepper the robot have started appearing at restaurants all across the globe. These are now replacing manual labour in mundane tasks such as delivery of food entree’ to customers. This has helped the restaurant chains cut back on inefficiencies and help them enhance their customer service

Helping consumers in industrial scale super markets 

As recently as December, Lowe’s introduced a robotic assistant in its stores. Called the LoweBot, will be deployed to 11 stores to help guide home improvers to find items in store. This robot can speak multiple languages and help consumers their way around these stores.

Making sky the limit to cut back on delivery timelines.

When we talk about robots, we should also factor in the thousands of drones that buzz around the airspaces of major city. When industry majors like Domino’s collaborate with relatively unknowns to airdrop pizza boxes out of the sky, it only reiterates the role robotics have played in easing the lives of consumers and industry planners around the world.

All these drive home the fact that robots are becoming a ubiquitous component of our consumerism driven lives.

Happy Roboting!

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In an audacious attempt, PSLV parks 8 satellites in two different orbits.

In a first, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)'s PSLV C-35 rocket launched a total of eight satellites, into two different orbits.

ScatSAT-1 onboard PSLV C-35

The 371 kg SCATSAT-1, a satellite for weather-related studies, was placed in the polar sun synchronous orbit at an altitude of 730 km some 17 minutes after the rocket took off from Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota at 9.12 a.m.

About two hours later, the rocket placed two satellites from two educational institutions (PISAT and PRATHAM), three commercial payloads from Algeria (ALSAT-1B, 2B and 1N) and one each for Canada (NLS-19) and the United States (Pathfinder-1).

Announcing the successful launch of all the satellites from the Mission Control Centre, ISRO chairman A.S. Kiran Kumar said the Monday launch marked a "landmark day" in the history of ISRO.

The rocket was re-ignited twice during its flight to place the set of satellites in different orbits. Due to the re-ignition, the Monday's launch is by far the longest PSLV launch by ISRO.

ISRO said though it had launched several PSLV rockets in the past, this launch is "the first mission of PSLV in which it had launched its payloads into two different orbits," ISRO said.

The satellites include SCATSAT-1, a satellite for weather studies, IIT-Bombay’s PRATHAM and PISAT from PES University in Bengaluru.

SCATSAT-1, with a life of five years, would provide weather forecasting services through the generation of wind vector products, it said.

PRATHAM 

The 10 kg PRATHAM by IIT Bombay intends to estimate the total electron count with a resolution of 1km x 1km location grid and PISAT (5.25 kg) from PES University in Bengaluru intends to explore remote sensing applications.

Algeria's ALSAT-1B is an earth observation satellite (103 kg), ALSAT-2B a remote sensing satellite (117 kg) and ALSAT-1N (7 kg) a technology demonstrator. Canada's NLS-19 is a technology demonstration micro satellite (8 kg) and Pathfinder-1 is a commercial high resolution imaging micro satellite (44 kg).

Source: The Hindu

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Geek Speak: Ishwarya

When we imagine the terms “Robotics engineer” or “Robotics Hobbyists”, our minds immediately race to a picturesque image of a young boy or gentleman who is meddling with gadgets and wires to develop a truly remarkable piece of machinery. One can almost feel sorry for having been a borderline chauvinist, for the world of robotics and computers is no longer limited to the dorms of young boys and cubicles of professional men. Women are increasingly obsessed in getting their palms greasy with solder, glue and what have you. Nowhere is this change more pronounced than at Kidobotikz where geek-princesses are a familiar sight. They’ve dropped their barbies and picked up their arduinos. This is the true empowerment that we talk about so often. Meanwhile back at Kidobotikz, I strike up a conversation with a young girl who has been quite engrossed in reading a book that has a title “Tatva” and is filled with rules. Upon inquiry she reveals that her classes for the day are over and she is awaiting her mother and reading about upcoming contests in the meantime. Meet Aishwarya, the reigning princess of robotics and our geek for the day.

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

Hello everyone! I am Ishwarya, and my name starts with an ‘I’ not an ‘A’ (laughs). I study in class 8 of Jawahar Vidyalaya Senior Secondary School. At Kidobotikz, I am now in the expert level.

Can you tell us what led you to join Kidobotikz?

Nothing actually led me to join to kidobotikz. It just happened. On one of their enrollment drives they had distributed pamphlets outside our school. I received one of those pamphlets. It kinda piqued my curiosity. So, took it to my parents who were also interested in the idea of me learning robotics. That’s how I joined here.

That’s as simple as anyone would’ve put it. So, how has been Kidobotikz your experience?

To be honest, I’ve always been interested in science, in particular physics. I’ve always been curious to know more about the world we live in and the way things work. So, youtube used to a big hangout place for me. Joining Kidobotikz helped in a unique way. I was able to channel all of these curiousity into the Kidobotikz courseware and learn a great deal about technology. In particular, I got very interested in humanoid robots after joining Kidobotikz.

That’s interesting. So, what change in your attitude do you feel after joining Kidobotikz?

The day I joined Kidobotikz, I was under the assumption that I would be starting to work on humanoid robots. I assumed that robotics was some high tech activity which starts at a highly complex courseware that would only be getting tougher and tougher. Much to my surprise, here at Kidobotikz, the course started with the most fundamental of concepts such as basic electronics and mechanical. Only then did I realise that the knowledge required for building robots did not start at graduation level but in school. Kidobotikz helped me achieve that holistic perspective of the tech world.

I’m sure Team Kidobotikz feels elated by your compliments. Meanwhile, how was your KRG experience this time? 

I participated in 4 events this time- Line Tracer, Manual Race, Robo Sumo, Balloon Bursters. While, I couldn’t win the events, I managed to give a tough opposition to all participants. I’m working on the positives and I hope to bag a win in the next edition. Amidst all this, I am also gearing up to participate in FTC.

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

I’ve always loved physics, astronomy in particular. I’m very passionate about concepts like black holes, quantum physics. So, I wish to be a physicist. Hopefully, i will implement my knowledge of robotics in these fields as well.

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4K capable aquatic drone ready to dive deep

A new "underwater drone" has taken to the crowdfunding circuit, this time in the form of the CCROV. While it offers the same basic functionality other existing models, it does have at least one distinguishing feature – an integrated 4K camera that sends real-time video to its operator.

By contrast, in the case of he Trident, Fathom One and BlueROV2 which are the competitors, cameras all top out at a resolution of 1080p. The iBubble utilizes an added GoPro Hero4 camera, which can shoot at 4K. Like all four of the other "unmanned-mini-subs-on-a-budget," though, the CCROV is linked to its land-based operator by a control cable – unfortunately, radio waves don't travel well through the water.

Buyers can choose between cable lengths ranging from 20 to 100 meters (66 to 328 ft), all of which are reeled onto a shoreside "tether deployment system." That system communicates via Wi-Fi with the user's iOS/Android mobile device (or an optional joystick control unit) on which they use an app to both view output from the onboard camera, and control the drone down to its maximum dive depth of 100 m.

It should be noted that the Trident and Fathom One do things a little differently in the tether department. They can both be outfitted with a shorter cable that runs up to a Wi-Fi-equipped buoy that's towed along on the surface. That buoy in turn communicates wirelessly with the user, meaning that one long, heavy "sea-to-shore" cable is unnecessary.

Along with its 4K/25fps camera, the CCROV itself also features four 250-lumen LED spotlights and six thrusters – four for horizontal movement, and two for moving vertically. According to its designers, that latter feature allows it to have a much smaller turning radius than drones equipped with just three or four thrusters … which describes the Trident and Fathom One.

One 90-minute charge of its battery, which is located in the tether deployment system as opposed to the drone, should be good for about one hour of use.

If you're interested in getting a CCROV for yourself, it's currently the subject of an Indiegogo campaign. A pledge of US$1,599 will get you one with a 25-m cable, when and if they reach production. The planned retail price is $2,699 – for comparison, prices for the other models we mentioned range from $600 for the Fathom One up to $3,000 for the BlueROV2.

You can see the CCROV in underwater action, in the following video.

Source: Indiegogo, New Atlas

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