EP.35 ROBOTS WITH HUMAN SKIN

Strawberry inspector, a railway maintenance robot & much more ...

Humanoid from Japan for railway maintenance 👨🏻‍🔧

West Japan Railway has introduced a massive humanoid robot to assist with maintenance work on its network. The 12-meter tall machine is equipped with large arms that can be fitted with various attachments, including blades and paint brushes, and is designed to reduce worker shortages and accidents.

The robot's operator sits in a cockpit on the truck and controls the machine's movements remotely, using cameras to "see" through the robot's coke-bottle eyes. With a vertical reach of 12 meters, the robot can carry objects weighing up to 40kg and perform tasks such as trimming tree branches and painting metal frames.

The company plans to use the robot for a variety of maintenance operations, including fixing railway wires and power lines. The technology is expected to help address Japan's labor shortage, particularly in the aging population, and reduce accidents such as falls from heights and electric shocks.

According to West Japan Railway's president, Kazuaki Hasegawa, the robot will provide a case study for how to deal with labor shortages and the company hopes to use machines for all kinds of maintenance operations in the future.

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A robot that inspects the strawberries! 🍓

Thorvald, an autonomous farming solution developed by Saga Robotics, is partnering with growers to transform the strawberry farming industry. By leveraging UV-C light treatment, predatory mite dispensing, and runner cutting, Thorvald is reducing chemical pesticides and waste, improving crop health and yields, and providing valuable data and insights for informed pest management decisions.

While farmers sleep, Thorvald is hard at work, operating weekly throughout the entire season to gather data for functions such as yield forecasting and disease detection. This automated holistic approach enhances farm productivity, delivering increased yields and sustainable strawberry production while minimizing environmental impact.

By combining these services in ways that meet growers' specific needs and circumstances, Thorvald is poised to revolutionize the strawberry farming industry. With its innovative technology, Thorvald is helping farmers produce high-quality strawberries while promoting a more sustainable and environmentally friendly approach to farming.

Thanks for making my cocktails equipped with fresh strawberries! 🤘🏼

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Robots could have human skin 🧬

Researchers from the University of Tokyo have made a breakthrough in creating a humanoid robot face using lab-grown, self-healing human skin. The artificial skin was created using living cells in a lab, resulting in a 3D facial mold and 2D skin robot that can mimic human-like facial expressions.

The team used a unique approach to attach the skin to the robot face, mimicking human skin ligaments and using V-shaped perforations in solid materials to bind the skin to the underlying structure. This allowed for fluid facial expressions and prevented the skin from tearing or peeling away.

Other potential uses of this technology include creating skins or natural augmentations for individuals with certain medical conditions, such as stroke patients, burn victims, or those with paralysis. It could also be used in soft robotics, animatronics, and movies to achieve more lifelike movement.

While there are still challenges to overcome, such as keeping the skin alive for a long time and creating human-like expressions, the researchers are optimistic about the potential of this technology to revolutionize various fields.

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Meme of the week 🤖

So called - robot dillema.

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LEGO, robots, and MATLAB! 🧱

Get to know the LEGO® Mobile Robotics Workshop, inviting enthusiasts to delve into the fascinating world of robotics.

Key insights gleaned from Mathworks’ tutorial illuminate the path forward:

Simulating Mobile Robot Kinematics: Dive deep into the intricacies of mobile robot motion, harnessing the simulation capabilities to unravel the complexities of kinematic behavior.

Sensor Simulation in 2D Environment: Immerse yourself in the realm of sensor simulation, exploring the nuances of perception and environmental interaction within a simulated 2D landscape.

Furthermore, gain invaluable insights into Simulink® support for LEGO MINDSTORMS® hardware, opening doors to a realm of possibilities in robotic experimentation.

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New teleoperation approach for robots 🥽

A team of researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of California, San Diego, has developed an immersive teleoperation system called Open-TeleVision. The system allows operators to perceive the robot's surroundings in a stereoscopic manner, creating an immersive experience as if the operator's mind is transmitted to a robot embodiment.

Open-TeleVision mirrors the operator's arm and hand movements on the robot, allowing for high-precision control and a more intuitive user experience. The system is open-source and can be applied to different VR devices on different robots and manipulators.

The researchers tested the system with two humanoid robots, the Unitree H1 and the Fourier GR1, and validated its effectiveness by collecting data and training imitation-learning policies on four long-horizon precise tasks, including can sorting, can insertion, folding, and unloading.

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