/ News
CMU's CHIMP Humanoid Robot Moves Like a Tank
It has only been a few months since DARPA announced the teams competing in its upcoming Robotics Challenge, but already some of the robots are beginning to shape up. Take, for example, the exotic looking CHIMP robot built by a team at Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Center. CHIMP (CMU Highly Intelligent Mobile Platform) features tank-like treads on its arms and legs for tackling the bumpy terrain it will encounter as part of the challenge. The idea is to take advantage of both legged and wheeled locomotion, allowing the robot to scoot around low to the ground but stand up when necessary.
"When we walk or stand, our brains are actively controlling our balance all of the time," Tony Stentz, NREC director and the Tartan Rescue Team Leader, said in a statement. While famous bipedal robots like Honda's Asimo do a good job of replicating this behavior in structured environments like office buildings, it's a different story when they're faced with a steep, rocky hill. The CHIMP's unusual approach to locomotion should allow it to rapidly overcome these obstacles, even if it is only stable in a static way.
NREC's Tartan Rescue team is one of seven teams developing their own hardware and software from the ground up specifically for the DARPA Robotics Challenge. Each of those seven teams is taking a different approach to the design and functionality of their robots. A second group of teams will use a version of Boston Dynamics' humanoid robot Atlas. One thing that all of the robots participating in the competition will share in common is that they're remote-controlled by people. "Humans provide high-level control, while the robot provides low-level reflexes and self-protective behaviors," said Stentz. "This enables CHIMP to be highly capable without the complexity associated with a fully autonomous robot. In a pinch, it can do anything."
The harsh reality for sci-fi fans is that today's artificial intelligence hasn't come far enough for robots to carry out chains of highly complex tasks without human assistance. An operator will control CHIMP using a keyboard and mouse at a workstation consisting of a large monitor displaying multiple video feeds from the robot's cameras, and software with shortcuts to easily shift from manual to autonomous control. The robot's sensors will generate a texture-mapped 3D model of its environment, enabling the operator to visualize the robot's position relative to its surroundings.
A nice side-effect of building the robot is the development of new technologies, such as the proprietary drive joints [pictured below] seen in its arms and legs that possess near-human strength and dexterity, can be implemented in a diverse range of robots such as those intended for manufacturing. That way, even if CHIMP doesn't take home the challenge's $2 million dollar top prize the extensive R&D undertaken to build it should prove worthwhile. In the coming weeks and months we're expecting to learn more about the other teams' robots. If all goes well, robots like those developed for the challenge will one day take the place of people in life-threatening circumstances.
[ CMU ] and [ Tartan Rescue ]
Source: http://spectrum.ieee.org/automaton/robotics/humanoids/cmu-chimp-humanoid-robot-moves-like-a-tank
/ About us
Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
/ Follow us at:
/ Contact:
For additional information, partnerships and sponsorship, contact:
info@2045.com
Media requesting information and interviews, contact PR@2045.com
LinkedIn
LiveJournal
Google
Twitter
Facebook
Я.ру
ВКонтакте
Mail.ru