http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28564349 Robot 'learns to keep going with broken leg' The robot had to learn to adjust to having one of its six legs broken Engineers have taken a step towards having machines that can operate when damaged by developing a robot that can teach itself to walk, even with a broken leg. Using "intelligent trial and error", their six-legged robot learned how to walk again in less than 2 minutes. The trial-and-error methodology could have ramifications for robots used in the workplace and for military purposes. A robot that can keep attacking - no matter how damaged The scientists' robot has solved this by trying to mimic animals - by discovering which leg is broken and then then using trial and error to figure out the best way to continue walking. "There are lots of applications beyond the military," he said. "You can think of robots in extreme environments, so not only in warfare, but in space such as robots on the Moon and Mars, and in nuclear power plants. Think of Fukushima, for example, where humans can't go." While these engineers are focused on self-learning robots, others are developing robots and materials that can "heal themselves" when they are damaged **************************************** Check the link for a video or the experiment, pretty crafty bot Its amazing how far robotics have come with continued advancements in processing power and human ingenuity. Even though everyone doubts the future when seeing these small steps and simple designs, they will improve and get better faster than most people imagine. And as I bolded above, for some of the major steps to occur in robotics and AI it will take several fields, possibly not even working together to make it happen. Its not going to be a fields one step or an individual design eureka that brings us what was prophesied in Science Fiction in the past, its going to be someone who puts together a conglomeration of different sciences and technologies that will slowly make it happen.
Robots inspired by origami fold themselves into motion http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-28660904 Researchers in the US have developed self-folding robots that are able to take shape and crawl without human intervention. The robots are inspired by the ancient Japanese art of origami. The Harvard team say this origami-inspired engineering could allow people to make complex objects and devices much more cheaply and easily. "Imagine self-deploying structures - maybe shelters or structures for space exploration or for satellites," he told BBC News. "The principle of folding self-assembly is a step changing approach to robot design," he told BBC News. "It allows non-experts to build mobile robots quickly and at very low cost. ******************************** As bolded above, this is just a step in the right direction and I would expect that some of these new technologies and robots will start to develop faster and at a pace that starts to make an impact soon. These dont seem much of a step above some of the robots Ive seen two decades ago, but the self learning and possible applications are much more a step in the right direction with real life applications, such as disaster response, and possible simple and quickly deploy-able structures for emergency use.
