A research team from a reputed university in the robotics technology department is developing a robot that can get around by itself. Named Tartalo for the mythical one-eyed giant, it is intelligent enough identify different places and ask for consent prior to passing through a doorway.
We are familiar with robotics technology for mundane tasks and even programmed to perform solid tasks, such as the robotic arms well known in industry. What is astonishing is to see a robot moving about by itself and making its own decisions. This is specifically the kind of robotics technology that the research team is working on: developing the self-sufficiency of robots so that they are ever more skilled at carrying out more tasks on their own. Some years ago, before Tartalo, they developed a robot called ‘Marisorgin’ for mail distribution.
‘Tartalo’ is this 1.5-metre tall, intelligent machine side-steps any hindrance in its path, thanks to sensors that have been installed around its “body”: sonar that emit and detect ultrasounds, infrared sensors and laser rays. The laser, for instance, measures the space of the robot from any object within a radius of a hundred and eighty degrees. Although the team did not build the robot it is developing and improving its abilities, applying cutting edge robotics technology to it.
With these sensors and the computer that makes up Tartalo’s ‘brain’, the robot will have the means to move from place to place with no trouble; as a matter of fact, to wander about. What the research team wants to accomplish, nonetheless, is a robot that is able to go anywhere it is told to.
Robotics Technology : GPS for Traversing Building Interiors
The gadget that is most famous for guiding a person from one predetermined point to a to another are GPS navigation systems. Nonetheless, the GPS does not function inside a building and nor would it be practical to create a database with the plans for every building in the world. For this reason the robotics technology developers are developing devices that use biomimetic systems as a basis for developing the robot, signifying that Tartalo does the same as a person or animal on entering a new place: explore the terrain and take in points of reference. But, for a machine to carry out what living beings do by, as it were, intuition, the computer programmers have to however put in massive quantities of data etc.
A building is a semi structured environment where determined common spaces are always found. Tartalo has been designed and programmed to recognize four of these: room, corridor, front hall and “junction”. Consequently, if we were to take the robot to our own house, it would carry out a process of auto-location, going around the apartment in order to memorize the location of these four types of places. By this process the machine creates a species of topological map and the owner of the house teach it what each space is called. For this to be possible, the researchers are developing systems of communication between machine and people. In order for the robot to comprehend commands, they are working on robotics technology to create a perfect a voice recognition system. Keep watching this space for more on robotics technology and the latest robot world news.
