Komatsu's robotic mining truck completely dumps the driver

Komatsu's latest autonomous truck fully embraces the notion of unmanned operation by ditching the cabin and adopting a design that optimizes load distribution and doesn't distinguish between forwards and backwards.

Komatsu began trials of its Autonomous Haulage Systems (AHS) in a partnership with mining company Rio Tinto in 2008, and since then the technology has hauled hundreds of millions of tonnes of material in Chile and Australia's Pilbara region.

The autonomous haul trucks like the 930E model used by Rio Tinto incorporate controls, wireless networking and obstacle detection to enable unmanned operation, but they still look like conventional mining trucks complete with driver cabins.

The new 2,014-kW (2,700-hp), 15-m (49-ft) long and 8.5-meter (27-ft) wide "Innovative Autonomous Haulage Vehicle" takes things up a notch. The cabin is completely gone, allowing for a design that better distributes weight to all four wheels, and it uses four wheel drive and four wheel steering for better grip and maneuverability.

Without the need for a driver squinting in the rear view mirror, the truck is also designed to move as efficiently backwards as it does forwards, meaning no three point turns and therefore increased productivity and less wear and tear on the 59/80R63 tires. It can handle a payload of 230 metric tons and reaches a maximum speed of 64 km/h (40 mph).

The robot monster truck is being unveiled at Minexpo International in Las Vegas this week and Komatsu says it "plans a market introduction in the near future."

The video below is Komatsu's animation of the Innovative Autonomous Haulage Vehicle at work.

Source: New Atlas, Komatsu

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SenseFly gives its eBee agriculture drone bigger wings

A few years back, drone-maker senseFly launched its eBee fixed-wing drone with a firm eye on agricultural applications, though the drone's mapping capabilities drew the attention of those working on search and rescue applications, too. Now the company has announced an upgrade, the eBee Plus, which along with longer flight times, packs a new sensor promised to provide more precise mapping.

 The eBee Plus looks much like the original drone on the outside, but it packs a little more functionality inside that senseFly and parent company Parrot will hope can expand its appeal. This includes a new propriety sensor dubbed S.O.D.A (Sensor Optimized for Drone Applications), an RGB camera with a 1-inch sensor, and global shutter that is capable of snapping images with a spatial resolution of 2.9 cm (1.1 in) while flying at an altitude of 122 m (400 ft).

The wingspan has grown from 96 cm (37.8 in) to 110 cm (43.3 in) and flight time is boosted from 45 minutes to 59 minutes, allowing the drone to map 220 ha (540 ac) on a single flight. The company claims this is more area than any drone in its weight class. Routes are planned through the senseFly's accompanying flight-control software, eMotion 3, which allows for multi-drone missions and also handles the data management.

While the drone comes loaded with the S.O.D.A sensor, this can be swapped out for any of the company's fixed-wing RGB, thermal or multispectral sensors, such as the Sequoia released earlier this year. There is also the addition of RTK/PPK functionality which is available as an optional extra and draws on satellite data for more precise positioning information about objects on the ground.

The company will be showing off the new drone at mapping conference Intergeo in Hamburg next week. Though there is no information on the pricing for the eBee Plus available at this stage, we have enquired with senseFly and will update the story when we hear back.

Source: New Atlas, senseFly

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Geek Speak: Mrithun Chockalingam

It’s Saraswati pooja day and most of them young students must be happy! It’s the only mandated day of the year when students are requested to NOT touch their books! And it is something of a calm before the storm because most of these students will be burning their midnight oil the very next day, Vijayadasami, in time for schools that reopen. 

But, roboting requires no books. So, there’s no embargo for robotics on Saraswathi Pooja day. This means most of the Kidobotikzians are here doing the same regular roboting stuff that they are used to doing. Meanwhile, we pick up from from where we left yesterday and cover students who have presented their Kolu-themed projects here at Kidobotikz. With us today is someone who has truly taken the art of Athithi Satkar, or Guest Hospitality, to a new level. He’s come up with an innovative way of serving Kumkum and Turmeric to the guests who visit his home for Navaratri. Meet Mrithun Chockalingam our Geek for the day. 

Hi Mrithun! Can you tell us the inspiration behind your project?

For every kolu, neighbours and relatives visit our home. When they leave, it is customary for my mother to give them Kumkum and turmeric placed near the deity. I wanted to make it easy so that as and when the guests offered their prayers to the Idols they got offered the holy powders automatically. That was the inspiration behind this project.

To make it work, I placed the idol of Lord Ganesh in the middle and erected a small motor mounted umbrella behind him. If you notice the front, the two small cups of kumkum and turmeric are placed on small plates. These are actually connected to two BO motors that are concealed below the boxes. The motors are connected to IR sensors. So, when someone brings their palms near to Lord ganesha to touch his feet, the sensors detect the palms and the small motors rotate the containers above.

 Inspiring! Must be interesting learning to know how to do all these! 

Yes, all of these are quite interesting to make work. Thanks to my curiosity and basic knowledge of robotics, I was able to do this. Not just my parents, all the guests who visited my home were also equally impressed. 

So, how’s your roboting experience at Kidobotikz and How did you actually join Kidobotikz 

Thanks to Kidobotikz, I now know that Robotics is not as complex as portrayed. I am now in the Foundation level and it is exciting to know that from here onwards, I get to build cool robots like Sumo Robots and Hexapods.

What is your favourite Robot?

My favourite robots are Humanoids. In particular, I have a fascination for the ASIMO series of robots built by Honda.

What are your future ambitions? Where do you see yourself in the future now that you are a budding roboticist?

I wanna be an Automobile designer when I grow up. I have a fascination for Cars and their designs. So, when I grow up that’s where I see myself. Also, now that I am into the field of robotics, I wanna explore the possibilities of Autonomous cars and cars that can be controlled with mobile phones. 

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Panasonic uses human touch to transfer data

Panasonic suggests that because the data is traveling through the body and not through the air, secure transmission is assured

In an age when digital information can fly around the connected networks of the world in the blink of an eye, it may seem a little old timey to consider delivering messages by hand. But that's precisely what Panasonic is doing at CEATEC this week. The company is demonstrating a prototype communication system where data is transmitted from one person to another through touch.

There's very little information on the system available, but Panasonic says that the prototype uses electric field communication technology to move data from "thing-to-thing, human-to-human and human-to-thing." Data transfer and authentication occurs when the objects or people touch, with digital information stored in a source tag instantaneously moving to a receiver module – kind of like NFC tap to connect technology, but with people in the equation as well as devices.

The LEDs under one staff member's skirt change to match the color of a bracelet worn by another when they shake hands

It has the potential to allow business types to exchange contact information with a handshake, mood lighting in a room to be changed to match or contrast with clothing when a lamp is touched or access to a building granted by placing a hand or object on a lock interface or door handle. And Panasonic suggests that because the data is traveling through the body and not over the air, secure transmission is assured.

The CEATEC demos are quite basic, but serve to show that the system works. There's no word at the moment on whether it will make it to enterprise or commercial availability, but the video below shows the Human Body Communication Device in action.

Source: Panasonic, New Atlas

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Geek Speak: Balaji

Ah, finally the weekend of Navaratri is here! It’s been a week full of roboting for most of these students! With the schools drawn to a close for the pooja holidays, students have been caught up in making robots in line with the festival season. With Kidobotikz also setting up a robotics Kolu on the premises, quite a lot of them pitched in and decided to display their Kolu-themed projects on the Kolu pedestal. Apart from this, an enthusiastic few have also taken to adorning the Kolu steps at their own homes with robots. A bunch of these young roboticists have taken videos of their Kolu-bots in action and uploaded them onto YouTube.

With us today is one of these fellas who has put his project on the Kolu stands at Kidobotikz. We enquire more about his project and his unique way of celebrating navaratri. Meet Balaji S. Rao, 3rd Grader at PSBB KK Nagar and a Kidobotikzian in the Foundation level. His project is a impressive looking figurine of Shri Ranganatha Swamy that is being fanned by a robot. Let’s learn more about him and his project . . . .

Hi Balaji! Can you tell us the reason behind your project?

Well, the tradition of Kolu is usually depicting scenes from mythology in the form of small dolls and figurines that can explain the story to guests and visitors during the Navaratri festival. I wanted to come up with something like that and some robotic effects to it. So, I made a slowly rotating fan that will look like someone is fanning the god. That is my project. For that I used a custom made fan blade and connected it to a BO motor via a long stick. 

Very good! Can you tell me how you made this project?

It was my own idea. But then, i wanted some help with motor and mounting the fan. So, I took some guidance from my brother who is also a student here at Kidobotikz and some assistance from my faculty. 

Can you tell us how goes your journey at Kidobotikz?

I am in the final stages of my Foundation level. I am hoping to finish the foundation level soon and commence the beginner level. Beginner level is where I get to work on robots with wheels and I am quite excited about the same. 

What are your favourite robots?

My favourite robots are Bipeds, the ones that are capable of walking on two legs. ASIMO is the best robot according to me. Another favourite would be amazon’s Kiva.

What’re your future plans? Where do you want to study? 

I want to become a robotics engineer. But I have not planned where I will study. I will probably ask my brother’s suggestion before doing that. 

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Meet NASA's robot destined to mine Martian soil

After all, Curiosity could get some much needed company!

Elon Musk and his private spaceflight company SpaceX recently outlined their plan to make space travel to Mars an affordable reality—just $500,000 for a one-way ticket to the Red Planet. To shuttle people to Mars (within the next decade if ambitious goals can be met) SpaceX is working on a carbon fiber fuel tank for a massive 400-foot-tall reusable rocket that only exists on the drawing board at this point.

But getting people to Mars is only half the battle. Making sure that they can survive, possibly for decades, is a whole different challenge. SpaceX might be the perfect organization to launch people to the Red Planet on massive rockets, but they are going to need some help from NASA to build a sustainable colony, which is its proposed goal.

Fortunately, NASA has been quietly working on ways to harvest Martian resources for some years—a necessary step to ultimately realize a self-sustained Martian colony. In April 2016, NASA published a scientific and technical information (STI) paper titled "Frontier In-Situ Resource Utilization for Enabling Sustained Human Presence on Mars." The paper outlines various ways that minerals, water, and atmospheric gasses could be harvested and used to manufacture plastics, rocket propellants, habitat-heating fuels, and even more complicated materials like fiberglass—all with materials that are already on Mars.

Which is where the Regolith Advanced Surface Systems Operations Robot (RASSOR) comes in (see video above). The robot, which could be affixed to a rover or made into a rover itself, uses a rotating digging device to scoop up soils that could then be used for resource extraction. As NASA writes on its website, the RASSOR's "design incorporates net-zero reaction force, thus allowing it to load, haul, and dump space regolith under extremely low gravity conditions with high reliability."

The bot in the video above is actually the RASSOR 2.0, a scaled-up prototype of the original 2013 design. If we are going to build a self-sustained colony on Mars in the foreseeable future, the first step will be sending a host of robots like RASSOR to the Red Planet to get to work building our Martian home for us. As the NASA STI paper states regarding a Martian colony: "The crew is there to explore, and to colonize, not maintain and repair. Any time spent on 'living there' and 'housekeeping' should be minimized to an oversight role of robotic automated tasks."

Source: Popular Mechanics, Engadget

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Kidobotikz @ DIDAC INDIA 2016

   “You’ve got to start with the customer experience and work backwards towards the technology” ~ Steve Jobs

Going by the words of this tech-visionary, it makes sense that when you’ve got a wonderful product on hand, it is always wise to take it out there and get as many people to place their opinion on it. That is how you figure out whether the entire world shares the opinion of your product the same way your core followers do.

That being said, we at Kidobotikz took the step of showcasing our wares at DIDAC INDIA- 2016, held in Bengaluru between 28th-30th September, 2016, to explore more possible applications for our model of education.

About the event, DIDAC INDIA is the most influential trade event in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region for Educational Industry. Featuring players in the fields of Educational Material, Training & Technology based solutions for all levels and sectors of the Indian Education & Training Industry, it is a platform to reach out to thousands of leaders and professionals from across the globe and gain visibility in the fastest progressing industry.

The Exhibition cum Conference is a meeting point of the international Education and Training industry. Exhibitors from various countries around the globe attend this annual event to present several latest and innovative technologies, modern instruments, solutions, inventive materials, latest methodology for all levels and sectors of education and training. That being said, participating in Didac helps players know more about the existing solutions available across the educational sector and figure out how the right application of technology can enhance the existing educational practices in the system. 

Unsurprisingly, a large number of visitors to DIDAC were Educators, Schools and other industry professionals who explored the annual event to identify the right solution for the challenges they may be facing in imparting knowledge.

Kidobotikz being an EdTech company was benefited as DIDAC offered the best platform to know more about the kind of challenges faced by the burgeoning educational industry and its core players, the students themselves. Being a first time participant, Kidobotikz was represented by a strong contingent to position ourselves in the right manner to capture as many benefits as we could from the 3 day event. A major focus was on apprising the visitors of the core philosophy of Kidobotikz and its journey from a classroom based interactive model to an Interactive and Gamified Online model. Visitors were impressed to find out about the various student-driven projects such as SwachhBot and AgriBot being undertaken at Kidobotikz. 

Says Sanjana, a member of the team that represented Kidobotikz at Didac, ”While in name it was a B2B trade event, DIDAC actually was a conclave of like-minded firms across the EdTech industry. With hundreds of participating firms, one really could not help but wonder the innovativeness of different solutions that are available in the education market. With all teams sharing their unique experience about being a player in the EdTech industry, it was a truly enriching experience. Being able to represent Kidobotikz and convey our vision for disrupting the education system at this platform was a personal best.”

With footfalls ranging between 200-300 over the course of the three days, and several interested educators enquiring about the Kidobotikz model of immersive online education and robotics kits, we would like to say “Mission Accomplished!”.

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