Tag Archives: robot design

Pangolin-inspired robot can dig and “poop” out seeds to plant trees

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Not all robots have to look, well, robotic. There is a growing number of robots that are inspired by real life creatures (sometimes, even humans, but that’s a whole other discussion) or so called bio-inspired bots. The latest winner of the Natural Robotics Contest is inspired by a pretty unlikely animal: the insect-eating mammal called the Pangolin.

Designer: Dorothy and Dr. Robert Siddall

A high school student from California named Dorothy designed a robot whose main goal is to dig and plant seeds. Since pangolins are naturally digging animals, why not use it to create a robot that can help populate areas with more trees? The winning concept was turned into an actual prototype called the Plantolin by the partner research institute. More than just looking like a pangolin, it uses features from the mammal and incorporate it into the functions of the robot.

The Plantolin roves around on two wheels and just like the pangolin, it balances on its long, movable tail. Each of the wheels has an electric quadcopter drone motor. The digging is done by these two front legs with the tail tilting down once it starts to provide leverage. Once there’s a hole already, the robot drives over it and poops out a yew tree seed bomb nugget (containing both seeds and soil).

It’s a pretty interesting way to re-populate a space with more trees. It will probably be faster and will need minimal human intervention when it’s programmed right, so no need to train actual pangolins to do the job.

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Narc robot concept helps detect contraband in public spaces

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One of my family’s favorite things to see at places like malls and airports are the drug sniffing dogs. We always joke about wanting to pet them, although of course we’re not supposed to. But there are times when I pity them since they have to work hard and it can even be dangerous for them. There are of course other technologies and devices that can be developed so the load of detecting contraband does not fall solely on them or on the staff that are monitoring the security check machines in the terminals.

Designer: Junwoo Lim

This concept for a robot that can serve as a contraband detection tool can serve both cargo terminals and passenger terminals. Narc will be able to help machines, dogs, and humans detect contraband like explosives, drugs, and other dangerous materials that are not supposed to be in public places like airports and terminals. You probably didn’t like being called a narc (if ever you were called one) during your school days but this device, which looks like a robot with four legs, gets the job done.

For the cargo terminals, Narc can serve as the detector for small packages in the conveyer belt so the first pass will not need human intervention. It has a small x-ray button at the bottom and 90 degree rotatable legs and a movable body that can go up to 500m up and down. It can scan the small cargo by moving around the cargo rails so humans can just focus on monitoring larger cargo. For passenger terminals, the Narc can move around, like those robots going around malls asking if you need help. But this time, they really act as a “narc”, scanning random people and if they detect contraband, they will alert security staff.

Once they spot someone “suspicious”, the staff can use the portable ion scanner to detect if the person really is carrying contraband. A sample can even be placed in the middle of the suction port if it needs further checking. There may be some privacy issues involved here but that’s probably a problem that can be resolved or fixed by the airport or terminal if ever this concept gets made into an actual product.

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Interactive jellyfish robot responds to hand gestures

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When I visited Kelly Tarlton’s Aquarium in Auckland last year, one of the most fascinating things I saw are the jellyfish. They were very pretty and captivating and looking at them gave me a certain sense of calm. I still don’t know much about them except for the fact that they don’t have the usual organs we see in animals like hearts, brains, and even eyes. It would be interesting to know more about these creatures and this project may just be something that can connect humans more to these “free-swimming marine coelentrata”.

Designer: Adonis Christodoulou

The aim of the project is to establish a sort of communication between humans and jellyfish, even if it’s not the actual animal but an interactive robot driven by machine learning. After going through several prototypes, they came up with something that has actuators with reels that are able to wrap around the “tentacles”. The sides also have holes that will keep the threads perpendicular to each of the reels. There are fours strings attached to a single level of the reels and the next tentacle is located above the previous one.

The software design is where things get really interesting. There are connected through communication channels among Wekinator, Processing, and Arduino. They teach the machine hand gestures that are then translated into “emotions” for the jellyfish robot. Raising the hand will induce a calm attitude while doing the finger heart will make the jellyfish happy. If you want to make it mad, do a fist and if you want to make it sad, do a thumbs down. Once the robot processes this emotion it triggers movements in the robot.

It’s a bit unclear how this will actually translate to understanding jellyfish more. But by the anthromorphization of the jellyfish through servos, LED, and robotic articulation, they are able to “give life” to this mysterious but interesting specie. It’s also cool to see different robotic transmutations, as long as they don’t someday overthrow humans.

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Tesla brings (scary) improvements to Gen 2 of Optimus humanoid robot

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It’s frightening to think that it will not be a surprise to all of us if one of these days, we’ll wake up to the fact that our new robot overlords have taken over the planet. We’re seeing advances in robotics that will not make that an impossibility. We’re still far away from robots becoming sentient beings that will enslave us though so for now we can enjoy how these humanoid devices are still being created to help us rather than replace us.

Designer: Tesla

It’s also not a surprise that Elon Musk and Tesla are at the forefront of trying to make these robots better. The latest version of their humanoid robot, the Optimus Gen 2, brings many improvements from their first one, the Bumblebee back in 2022, and the Optimus Gen 1 from just earlier this year. It received a lot of hardware upgrades for this version, specifically the Tesla-designed actuators and sensors that are now more precise and accurate and now has integrated electronics into it. You get articulated toe sections based on human foot geometry so it can walk a bit more naturally.

It now also has a 2-DoF actuated neck so it’s able to move its head in a more human way, which can be amazing or terrifying. Its hands now has 11-DoF and tactile sensing in all of its digits so it will be able to handle eggs and other delicate things without dropping them. It is also now lighter by 10kg and gets a 30% walk speed boost so it can easily move around better than its predecessors, although you can still outrun it if needed. Because of these improvements, it has improved balance and full body control that it can do things like squats.

The Optimus humanoid robot is envisioned to be a helper for humans, taking over some of the monotonous tasks that we would like to escape from. The Gen 2 is still in the prototype phase though and there is no news yet if they will eventually manufacture and sell it. It gives us time to think about whether we will risk an eventual robot uprising just to take away tedious tasks from our every day life.

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