/ News
Giant Crabster robot to explore shipwrecks and shallow seas
Тhe Japanese spider crab is about to lose its title as the world's largest crustacean thanks to a new robot, the Crabster, developed in South Korea. For the past 2 years, researchers at the Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST) have been working on a giant robot crab that is about the size and weight of a Smart car. This summer it will help scientists explore wrecks below the sea, weathering harsh tidal currents rushing over it at 1.5 m/s.
One of the key problems associated with traditional propeller-driven underwater remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) is they don't perform well in strong currents. Another problem is their propellers tend to kick up a lot of detritus, lowering operator visibility. To overcome these problems a team led by Principal Research Scientist Bong-huan Jun of KIOST designed a six-legged robot based on the characteristics of crabs and lobsters (hence the name).
The robot's six legs contain a total of 30 powerful joints. Like its biological cousins, the robot's two front legs are more articulated than the rest so they can be used as arms. Objects can be picked up and stored inside a frontal compartment to be brought to the surface. Even in shallow seas it can get pretty dark down there, so the Crabster is equipped with 10 optical cameras and a long-range scanning sonar which scans up to 200 m (650 ft) away.
The team used computer simulations to streamline the robot's main shell so that it would actually stabilize the robot under the force of the currents. By shifting its posture with its six legs, the body shell effectively reduces drag and increases lifting force. It's a bit like how real crabs stick out their arms to help steady themselves in fast-moving currents.
The Crabster has a frontal compartment for bringing objects to the surface
In about a month the Crabster and its control station will be transported by shipping container to waters off the coast of South Korea. There it will be lowered 200 meters by crane to the sea floor where it will undergo its first real world trials. The goal is to eventually explore historical wrecks and other sites.
It can remain on the sea floor as long as it has power, operating for more than 24 hours at a time through an external power cable. In the future, the researchers would like to cut the cord, and maybe even have the robot swim. They're studying how frogs, turtles, and water beetles propel themselves with their hind legs in the hopes the Crabster can mimic the ability. In the meantime it will simply crawl to get around.
The team started with a much smaller prototype called the Little Crabster, which performed walking tests on treadmills and uneven ground, before building the bigger version. You can see the robots, including a computer animation showing how it is intended to work, in the following videos.
Source: http://www.gizmag.com/crabster-robot-kiost-korea/28165/
/ 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