Peak Robotics
The KiNEDx Series cylindrical robot is a four-axis machine offering high payload and excellent repeatability, all in a very compact and industrialized package. The innovative Tri-Link arm provides a superior extended reach to access liquid handler decks and can retract in on itself to clear peripheral equipment. Programming is very flexible thanks to the open-architecture software. A generic DLL is provided with several options for integration and scheduling. There is no separate controller and all joints are servo’d with controllers and amplifiers integral to each motor. A single RS-232 serial cable connects between the robot and the user PC. Designed for demanding applications, these robots are perfect for many laboratory and high-tech applications such as drug discovery, genomics, and high throughput screening. Read more...

MIT's 'robocar' named a finalist in DARPA Urban Challenge

Team MIT has made it to the finals of the DARPA Urban Challenge, a competition for cars and trucks that run without human help. The qualification was announced Thursday, Nov. 1, by DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, who is sponsoring the competition with the goal of developing vehicles that can operate on their own in battle and keep humans out of harm's way. The announcement means the MIT vehicle--a self-piloted Land Rover LR3 dubbed "robocar"--and its team of student and faculty developers will compete in the finals Saturday in Victorville, Calif. DARPA plans to recognize the top three finishers Sunday with awards of $2 million, $1 million, and $500,000. Read more...

Software helps students design robot
Engineering students from the Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa) at Virginia Tech have developed a bipedal humanoid robot using the National Instruments LabView graphical system design platform. The Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence (DARwIn) was originally developed to study human locomotion for the research and development of prosthetic limbs. Read more...

Algorithm Plans Collision-Free Path for Robotic Manipulator
An algorithm has been developed to enable a computer aboard a robot to autonomously plan the path of the manipulator arm of the robot to avoid collisions between the arm and any obstacle, which could be another part of the robot or an external object in the vicinity of the robot. In simplified terms, the algorithm generates trial path segments and tests each segment for potential collisions in an iterative process that ends when a sequence of collision-free segments reaches from the starting point to the destination. The main advantage of this algorithm, relative to prior such algorithms, is computational efficiency: the algorithm is designed to make minimal demands upon the limited computational resources available aboard a robot. Read more...

Robots and Beyond:
Exploring Artificial Intelligence @ MIT
A multimedia excursion into the world of artificial intelligence, Robots and Beyond throws open the doors of MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, where scientists have been probing the mysteries of A.I. for five decades.The exhibition is distinguished by its focus on the research and experimentation of artificial intelligence as much as the excitement of the final product. The moment visitors enter the exhibition, they are participating in research at MIT. Many of the exhibits are both experimental and experiential, with the visitor getting a behind-the-scenes look at the process of evolution that precedes a successful invention. On the introductory panel to Robots and Beyond, Professor Rodney A. Brooks, director of the Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, notes, “Artificial intelligence at MIT has always been about thinking large and implementing daring ideas. At the core, we want to understand how to make intelligent machines and how it is that humans operate. We build machines that perceive, understand language, have common sense, learn, and act in the world.” Read more...

A Robot Laboratory for Teaching Artificial Intelligence Resource Kit
This packet contains a description of resources and materials required to augment an existing computer laboratory with robot building facilities. The augmented laboratory can be used in an undergraduate Artificial Intelligence (AI) course. This resource kit includes a paper describing our experiences, specific details on equipment and materials required, as well as sample laboratory exercises from our first offering of the AI course. Read more...

MIT Leg Laboratory
The Leg Lab at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab is dedicated to studying legged locomotion and building dynamic legged robots. We are specialists in exploring the roles of balance and dynamic control. We are interested in simulating and building creatures which walk, run, and hop like their biological counterparts. We have three reasons for pursuing this research:

Very little of the world is accessible by wheels. Legged robots may be useful for everything from exploring inaccessible or hazardous locations to providing service or entertainment in the places we live and work.
Understanding how humans and other animals walk and run is interesting scientifically and important medically. We do research in natural legged creatures and then model them both in simulation and in real robots.
It's lots of fun! Not only are our robots fun to work with, but they're pretty entertaining to watch (we think!) Be sure to check out the videos on the real and simulated robot's web pages.