DailyDirt: Open Source Robots
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Robots are getting better and better at performing simple repetitive tasks that most people think are fairly easy to perform. But if you're not paying attention to robot developments, you might have missed some robots that have been taught to do a few more impressive feats. Here are some examples of open source robots that we might want to keep an eye on.- An open source robot surgeon called Raven is making some impressive progress in the field of medicine. However, its advancements could be threatened by the makers of the da Vinci Surgical System -- and various patents on robot surgery procedures. [url]
- PhillieBot is a one-armed robo-pitcher designed by engineers at Penn that threw a ceremonial opening pitch for an MLB game. The creators credit the open source robot operating system (ROS), but also admit that their robot won't be competing with human pitchers any time soon. [url]
- In 2010, Willow Garage modified its open source PR2 robot to do a laundry task -- successfully folding towels neatly. The towels don't have to be a specific size or color, but it does take some patience to wait for a pile of towels to be completed. [url]
- To discover more interesting robotics-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]
Filed Under: baseball, laundry, medicine, open source, philliebot, pitcher, pr2, raven, robots, ros, surgeon
Companies: willow garage