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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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CALENDAR
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| 2002.08.04-11 |
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7th Conference on Simulation of Adaptative Behavior, Ediburgh, UK
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| 2002.08.18 |
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Albany Robot Conflict, Albany, NY
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| 2002.08.24-25 |
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Steel Conflict, Pomona, CA
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| 2002.08.31 |
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ABU Robocon, Fukushima, Japan
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| 2002.09.02 |
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DragonCon Robot Battles, Atlanta, GA
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| 2002.09.13-15 |
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BotBash, Tempe, AZ
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| 2002.09.14 |
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DPRG RoboRama, Dallas, TX
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| 2002.09.22 |
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Bay Area Robotics Society Robot Races, San Francisco, CA
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| 2002.09.30-10.04 |
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IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Lausanne, Switzerland |
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| 2002.10.01-03 |
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Cleaning Robot Contest, Lausanne, Switzerland
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| 2002.10.10-13 |
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Central Jersey Robot Conflict, Cherry Hill, NJ
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| 2002.10.12-13 |
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RoboMaxx, OR
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| 2002.10.18-20 |
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Critter Crunch, Denver, CO
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| 2002.10 |
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METU Robot Games, Ankara, Turkey
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ABOUT NETSURFER
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COOL TOYS
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What's Up
Gone Swimming
In the record-breaking heatwave oppressing Silicon
Valley in August, researching
robots that skim the wide blue oceans and
plumb their mysterious depths just got too
much for us. This is a slightly svelte issue so
the Netsurfer Robotics folks can take a breather
and go swimming.
We'll be back in full force in September.
IN THE NEWS
Ladies and Gentlemen, Start Your Robots
"Cannonball Run", the kitschy cult movie of the early 80's met "The Survivor"
in USA Networks' 2001 reality TV version. But there really was a Cannonball
Run race in the 70s, where "competitors will drive any vehicle of
their choosing, over any route, at any speed they judge practical". Now
DARPA is taking the same road with its Grand Challenge autonomous
ground vehicle race. To be held in 2004 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas,
the competition is intended to encourage accelerated development of
key technolgies - particularly those that match certain military
requirements. The details are still sketchy except for the prize money -
a purse of "up to $1M".
The possibilities, technologic and cinematic, are mind boggling.
Graceful Cooperation
With the usual taste for the witty and recursive, the
challenge for mobile robots at the 2002 AAAI conference was to
have the robot attend the conference and give a talk.
Still, attendees were astonished and delighted by GRACE, a six foot
drum built by a consortium of four universities including the inevitable CMU.
GRACE started in the lobby, registered, and proceeded
to a conference area where it gave
a talk about itself and graciously received a standing ovation.
Programmed to be polite and communicative, GRACE's one faux pas occurred
when it tried to get in line to register but cut in instead,
bumping a person out of the way.
Was this most human action
a miscalculation of distance, or is there more to it?
Converging on Improving Human Performance
The National Science Foundation and the US Commerce Department recently sponsored a conference to look at how nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive sciences impact human performance. The result is this extensive report that explores how those technologies can be used to improve human cognition and health, enhance education, improve societal interactions, and - not surprisingly - enhance national security. It's a heady brew of high concepts, with the de-rigueur
vague goals nobody could really argue against. Still, the new grand convergence present some intriguing possibilities for robotics and perhaps civilization in general.
UNDERWATER ROBOTS
What's Underwater?
Besides industrial automation, land-based robotics is a
multitude of intriguing R&D areas such as
navigation, terrain, teamwork, self-(re)configuration. etc.
Underwater robots, on the other hand,
have a distinct tendency to focus on getting the job done in
a rather hostile environment.
The industry is well represented by a
diverse array of companies, products and services, trade
organizations and shows.
The typcial robot is a remotely operated
vehicles (ROVs), usually tethered, focusing on
looking and sensing, and picking things up.
Autonomous underwater vehicles
(AUVs) are on the increase.
A quick intro to the industry, players, and resources
can be had through ROV News,
the publication of the Marine Technology
Society's ROV Committee.
The site's introduction to ROVs and AUVs is also
concise, well-illustrated, and worth a perusal.
Uncle Sam Started This
Although there were earlier ROVs, the US Navy is generally credited
with getting the technology to be useful - in retrieving lost
bits like atomic bombs (1966) and trapped sailors (1973).
Since then, efforts have focused on finding mines
and surveillance in general, although mundane
tasks such as search and rescue and underwater
ship repair are also on the agenda. Defense industry stalwart
Boeing offers a pictorial history of unmanned
underwater vehicles with an impressive acronyms/English ratio,
and a 30,000 ft overview of mine reconnaissance
systems in general. Presentations on the Navy's UUV vision and
Master Plan make up for this lack of words and more.
More interesting is the Robo Lobster, a biomimetic robot to study
the detection of chemical plumes - and sniff out mines.
Big Iron
Making money is the mother of invention, and there is a lot of money
to be made in the ocean.
Building and supporting the monstrous oil and gas drilling platforms,
surveying and mapping, laying pipeline, the list goes on.
The need to bury underwater cables
up to 3 meters deep to avoid "external aggression" - a hungry giant
squid or just the telecomm meltdown? -
drove innovations in deep water trenching.
And then there are minor operational problems
like how to get the ROV from a platform into the water without damage
or tangling up the umbilical cord - high-end tethered
ROVs can descend to 3,000 meters. These are systems with
the mechanical, electrical, sensory and control problems
of the LEGO linefollower robot writ very large.
Cadillac ROVs
The quest for knowledge equally fosters innvoations in ROVs. The
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), founded by the
Packard family of Hewlett-Packard, put together it's first ROV
in 1987. Tiburon, it's newest, is armed to the teeth with
sophisticated camera equipment and lighting, a long list of
sensors, an arm to pick up delicate marine life, and high precision
electric thrusters to travel through the Monterey Canyon
and other marine environments without
disturbance. On the other coast, Woods Hole's Deep Submergence
Lab boast similar capabilities with Jason and Medea, a dual vehicle
ROV system that can operate down to 6,000 meters.
Smaller Fry
When the application is not a North Sea oil platform or exploring the
Monterey Canyon, a variety of smaller monitoring ROVs and
AUVs are now available. A recent introduction, Gavia,
Iceland's highly modular AUV, sounds suspiciously like a mutant PC:
a battery-powered, anodized aluminium and plastic device
running CORBA software on a Pentium CPU. Or if your water is
actually ice, the Cryobot conveniently melts the ice,
sinks through, and seals its path back up with more ice.
Tested successfully to depths of 75 feet in the arctic, Cryobot
is also targeted for unearthly ventures such as searching for life in the polar icecaps of Mars.
Of Sunken Treasures and History
Marine archaeologist and
National Geographic explorer-in-residence
Robert Ballard is associated with
recovery of sunken Phoenician treasures, the discovery of the Titanic,
and now the location of President Kennedy's PT-109.
Slightly less well know is his crew of ROVs. Ballard has frequently
worked with the Jason-Medea duo of Woods Hole, and also with
a camera and light pair, little Hercules and Argus.
However, these vehicles can
at best pick but not excavate. Ballard has since built Hercules, an
ROV that can carry out excavations "to archaeological standards".
Hercules is
expected to be in full operations in the Mediterranean next year.
Atlantis, here we come.
Nanobots in the Ocean
The health of the ocean and of
the fisheries industry is of critical importance to wide and
differing constituencies.
The folks at NSF and USC envision deploying armies of nanorobots to
monitor oceanic wellbeing through indicator or
harmful microorganisms like those in red tide or brown tide.
USC researchers are
working on nanoscale structures bearing anitbodies to detect
organisms and emit faint radio signals.
An array of different detectors
could give a complete picture of marine conditions - and pass the information
along, pehaps to dedicated communications bots. While attaining the end
goal is many years away, the research will help build
the foundation of whole areas of robotics, underwater and otherwise.
Robo-Tuna
Fish such as tuna can swim at over 40 mph and turn on a dime without slowing down, a feat not matched by the most sophisticated boats of any sort.
Why? MIT scientists have built a series of robotic tunas to study
the mechanics of efficient swimming. Charlie, 44 inches long
and modeled after the Atlantic bluefin with 2843 parts and a lycra skin,
revealed the secret: control of the vortices it creates and recapture
of the energy. Shades of Robo Fly's "wake capture" dynamics.
Of no idle academic interest, even the Recreational Boat Building Industry (RBBI)
has noticed the Robo Tuna patent. Jet-ski Tuna anyone?
Public Anemone
And of course, the underwater milieu is fair game to the artistic
robotics types as well. What makes people perceive of a robot
as being "alive"? The MIT team decided on organic, full body
motion and responses to cues such as light and nearby motion.
Built on a cable-driven spine with 13 vertebrae and a mass of
tentacles all covered with a realistic green silicone skin,
the anemone stands about 20 inches high in its own aquarium.
Small cameras are mounted on the aquarium walls
for sophisticated visual processing such as skin tone detection,
motion tracking, and target selection. The result is
eerily lifelike responses, albeit a bit weak on the biology
of the real McCoy.
TECHNOTOYS
Sunday in the Park
From the deep blue seas to the wild blue yonder, flight has
always intrigued us. Leonardo da Vinci dreamed of flying
bird machines and UC Berkeley has dissected the fine points of
flight dynamics. But if you want something of your own
for Sunday mornings in the park, check out the ParkHawk,
a battery-powered, radio-controlled ornithopter with a four
foot wingspan and clocking in at 20 mph. On the other hand, if
a couple of hundred bucks is a bit stiff in for your
stock market-battered piggy bank, Ornithopter Technologies'
graceful, rubberband-powered Swallow of balsa and tissue
paper is light and easy on the budget at under US$20.
BITS & PIECES
Rats Redux
With the recent tide of corporate scandals, you would be
forgiven for associating business with rats. So what is the
rat research at University of Baltimore's Merrick School of
Business about? It turns out that James Otto, a professor in
the school's Information Systems department,
is trying to build electronic
chemical sensors. And as the scientists at the State
University of New Yok have discovered,
mother nature has already built lots of darn good systems.
Training
rats to stand up in response to specific chemicals is easy,
and rats are much cheaper than dogs and robots. So if one
comes nosing around your luggage at the airport, don't call
for the health inspector.
PROOF OF THE PUDDING
Spreading the Word on AUVs
While UAVs and UCAVs caught our attention in the aftermath of 9/11,
the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International
(AUVSI) has been around for 30 years.
Jane's, the doyenne of military technology, reports on this year's
meeting where military UAVs took center stage. In addition to
Predators, a panoply of air vehicles descended upon Orlando, FL.
Some had recoverability from sea landings, and other
launch from gun barrels, but the most intriguing was the Snow
Goose. A leaflet dispensing air vehicle, it can be deployed from
a mother ship such as the C-130 airlifter.
Intended for use in the propaganda
war, it's commercial possibilities in trade shows and other
events are outstanding.
MACHINE vs MACHINE
Something About that Pond
From the first Vimy in 1919 to the legendary
Lindbergh expedition,
flying across the Atlantic has always had that special mystique.
In 1998, Laima, a 30 pound UAV from Washington State, made the
first unmanned crossing from Newfoundland to Scotland.
Now, after 4 years of work, the Radio Control Club in DC
is launching their Trans Atlantic Model (TAM)
across the pond. Named "The Spirit of Butts Farm", the vehicle
is limited by the "model" definition to only 11 pounds
of balsa wood, engine,
fuel, and custom computer and navigation systems. Being the
hazardous undertaking that it is, there are actually four copies,
and the TAM site provides details of launch and progress.
"Happy Landings!"
MAN vs MACHINE
Deeper Blue(s)
5 years after losing to Deep Blue, Garry
Kasparov is back to play against Deep Junior, an Israeli
computer chess package selling for less than $100.
Junior hasn't lost to a human in 2 years, but
Kasparov is guaranteed a cool half million dollars as an "appearance fee".
The match is in October in Jerusalem,
about the same time Vladminir Kramnik takes
on Deep Fritz - a Dutch/German program
which has beaten Deep Junior - in Bahrain.
Just to continue the intrigue, Kasparov and Kramnik will meet up in 2003
to decide the disputed human crown. On the Man/Machine front,
pundits are still favoring the carbon units for the million dollar purse.
Pride or prize, a little advantage called motivation?
IN THE ARTS
SIGGRAPH 2002
SIGGRAPH's annual confab of computer graphics professionals
in Texas last month showed that its members weren't just limited to
beautiful pixels moving on a screen. The SIGGRAPH Art Gallery
featured a series of interactive projects that range from
virtual NewYork to a machine that captures visitors' images
- made of parts scavenged from the neighbourhood. Performance
artists strolled around wearing "Ceremonial
Conflict Suits". These Michelin-man contraptions
inflate and deflate specific regions in response
to yelling and being yelled at, creating
a machine mimicry of wild animals.
And all this before you even got to the Emerging Technologies
Exhibition where the hardware gets a lot more sophisticated.
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THE AQUARIUM TOUR
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Ariel, the robot crab,
scuttles sideways in a Boston-area reservoir.
Unlike crabs though, it can walk with
its belly up or down.
The exotic coelacanth, long believed extinct, finds
a new life as a fish robot to study "propulsion control"
and amuse visitors at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
Wanda, the Robo Pike, continues the legacy
of Charlie the Robo Tuna in the study of
acceleration and turning in fish.
Robo Lobster, and its buddy, the undulating
Robo Lamprey, are efforts to mechanically duplicate,
not abstract,
the locomotion of living creatures
The other Robo Lobster is really a robo lobster antennule
which flicks through the water in milliseconds, filtering
the water and capturing odour molecules, such as traces
of TNT from leaky mines.
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BOOKS 'N' STUFF
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Blue Gold: The Fight to Stop the Corporate Theft of the World's Water
by Maude Barlow, Tony Clarke
New Press
ISBN: 1565847318
04/2002
Tales of corporate greed seem to dog us
even as we head towards the cool waters of pool and beach.
"Blue Gold" is one of the latest tales of our wreckless consumption
and despoiling of the world's water resources. A passionate
account filled with statistics and portents of doom - pollution,
drought, rising sea levels, you name it, the authors add a new
villain, the Corporation, to the stage.
Companies as diverse as Coca-Cola and
Vivendi are getting into the business and acquiring control of
public water sources. Global trends are increasingly moving
towards treating water as a for-profit commodity and not a human
right. Worth thinking about.
The Bombs of Palomares
by Tad Szulc
Viking Press
ISBN: 067017792X
05/1967
Yes, this really did happen.
On January 16, 1966, a B-52G bomber, collided with the air tanker's boom in
a refueling attempt over Spain.
Amidst the carnage and exploding jet fuel, four
unarmed hydrogen bombs fell. Three landed on the ground
near the village of Palomares. The fourth fell
into the ocean where it lay missing
for three months before being retrieved by the submersible Alvin.
FLora Lewis's
"One of Our H-Bombs Is Missing"
also shed light on the tragi-comic events such as the
general searching for the third bomb in the bush with a pocket flashlight.
Yes, it really did happen.
An Introduction to ROV Operations
by George Last, Paul Williams
Oilfield Publications Inc
ISBN: 1870945239
07/1992
This is one of three expensive (>$100) books discussing
some of the varied aspects of marine ROV operations.
The others are Chris Bell's
"Handbook for ROV Pilot Technicians"
and
"Handbook for ROV Supervisors"
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As you might expect from the publisher's name, the focus
is on the oilfield and drilling.
While physically less weighty than
many of the software books we see on the shelves today,
they are chock full of technical detail and useful on-the-job
information.
Designing Sociable Robots
by Cynthia Breazeal
MIT Press
ISBN: 0262025108
05/2002
As GRACE demonstrates its social graces, the interaction of man
and robot continues to hold a significant place in robotics research.
Author Cynthia Breazeal, also the leader of the
Public Anemone team at MIT, built Kismet, one
of the first sociable robots, as a graduate student.
In this book she presents the development of Kismet, and its roots
in animal and human behaviour and animation as well
as basic engineering. Breazeal's vision is of robots as an entity beyond
a sophisticated machine, where sociable robots will be able to learn and
grow along with humans. A CD of Kismet in action is included.
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
ISBN: 6304291698
1954
This movie interpretation of the classic
Jules Verne underwater adventure - a legendary sea monster
that turns out to be Captain Nemo's iron submarine - is now a
classic in its own right. Lavishly produced in an era of lavish
sets and special effects, it gives
full rein to Verne's inventions and
Industrial Light and Magic a run for its money.
"20,000 Leagues" also shine from stellar
performances from its human cast.
On the other hand, if you're into a darker style,
fast-forward almost 50 years, to Disney's anime-derivative
underwater adventure,
Atlantis - The Lost Empire.
For more selections, check out the Netsurfer Library at
http://www.netsurf.com/nsl.
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