‘Guessing’ robots navigate faster

Robots that use educated guesswork to build maps of their surroundings are being tested by US researchers. The approach could let them navigate more easily through complex environments such as unfamiliar buildings, the researchers claim.

Navigation is one of the biggest challenges faced by mobile robots. One popular technique, dubbed SLAM (simultaneous localisation and mapping), involves having a robot build a map of the local area, whilst also tracking its position.

Now, George Lee and colleagues at Purdue University, US, have come up with an altogether different approach. They have developed an algorithm that uses information already collected to “guess” what comes next.

Read the article at NewScientistTech.

Sizing up the coming robotics revolution

When it comes to robots, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab is one of the places in the world where the magic happens.

Rodney Brooks is the Panasonic professor of robotics at MIT and the director of CSAIL. He is also the co-founder and chief technology officer of iRobot and one of the principal architects of iRobot’s Roomba vacuum.

From his office at CSAIL, Brooks shared his thoughts on the best AI readily available today and the four things it will take for the magicians of science to match science fiction fantasies.

Read the interview with Brooks at News.com 

Researchers Dream of Humanizing Android

Household androids, like flying cars and Martian colonies, have disappointed generations of science-fiction enthusiasts by failing to materialize. Most research in robotics has drifted toward robots that, like Mars rovers and Roombas, have no resemblance to anything living, let alone human. And while it may be cute, let’s face it: Asimo can’t dance.

Bucking the trend, a small coterie of devoted professionals and amateurs are working to make fully articulated, humanoid and even sinuously dancing robots a reality.

Read the article at Wired. 

 

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