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Technology

Projectile ReconBots 29

Posted by michael from the more-robots-than-you-can-shake-a-stick-at dept.
mtDNA writes " Dr. Dobb's TechNetCast has a feature on ReconBots designed by Nikos Papanikolopoulos's lab. The bots are organized into teams. Each team is led by a large, controlling "Ranger" bot (running Linux) and supported by several tin-can-sized, cylindrical "Scout" bots. The Ranger disperses the scouts with a launcher that can shoot them up to seventy feet. After that, the scouts roam around sending back video, sound and other data. The scouts are 40mm cylinders specifically so they can be launched from a 40mm grenade launcher! The full story, including video of the scouts getting launched, is here." The story is from April 2000 but it doesn't seem that we ran it at the time.
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Projectile ReconBots

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  • I like him a lot -- I'm taking Algorithms and Data Structures (CSci 4041) with him right now. He's a great professor. Funny thing is I didn't know he was involved in this until I read it on Slashdot.
  • Actually, Nikos is just his nickname. His full first name is Nikolaos -- Nikolaus Papanikolopoulos. It goes on every assignment I do for his class -- just so I can remember how to spell it. :)
  • Nikos (everyone calls him Nikos because his name is impossible to pronounce) is an awesome guy. I've had him for algorithms and data structures, and more interestingly, computer vision. The computer vision class really made me appreciate how hard this field is!

    Here at the University of Minnesota, this was a pretty big deal last year. The ranger/scout robots are probably the most advanced ones we have.

    Congrads to one of my favorite professors getting slashdotted!

  • Who's the brainchild that decided to make JavaScript a requirement for entering their site? They'll have to demonstrate some real intelligence before I'll be in interested in their articifical offerings.
  • Every time I see robots I want to build them, then I remember I'm poor and I can't build ones that fly... darn you slashdot, darn you and your teasing of my robot loving mind!

    just imagine if the rangers had blimps on top, so they dropped the scouts down upon unsuspecting cats... Mwaaahahahahaa

    Klowner
  • I live in St Paul and saw footage of these 'bots last year.
    They showed one being shot through a window and the showed it roaming remotely through the room. Properly "armed", these can provide a significant aid in fires. Equipped with sub 300 degree IRs, they can locate trapped victims in a variety of disaster scenarios.
  • .. Can they help me find my keys?

  • Crap, I thought this can of beans tasted funny...
  • Listen. In order to maintain air-speed velocity, a dragonfly needs to beat its wings forty-three times every second, right?

    No, wait, wrong species. Wrong phylum, even. Sorry.

  • But not much useful in a real war. I remember hearing about similar spies, but they were flying microbots modelled after dragonflies. Now those were really cool. About 1/10th of the size of these, much faster and more mobile. Much harder to damage too I assume, how can you shoot a dragonfly out of the sky?

    on another note, it's nice to see linux being made use of. That's what it's here for. Also, watch the realvideo hehe, it's funny when you hear the scientists name.

    "just connect this to..."
    BZZT.

  • Go post somewhere else looser. I dont (and many other readers here also) do NOT appreciate PORN and useless comments being posted to this list. Slashdot is a site where I go to read interesting articles about science computers and whatever. NOT to be bombarded by useless offensive tripe. If there is an admin around could you please remove this message, I find the link most offensive.
  • Does someone know of a project or a kit to create a stationary robot, by using your pc connected to a webcam and/or microphone?

    I am extremely interested in finding an AI kit in java or similar, that is free to download and build on...

    Some crude form of image interpretation is essentially all I need. Webcam2XML anyone? :-)
  • the dog market:
    border Collies have the skills for herding, and you have to interact with you border collie all the time to keep his mind up to shape ( this dog is not for everyone ). This would be the perfect toy for them, 10 projectiles shoot out and they form a tiny herd afterward the dog will guild them into the "ranger" for another round of herding.

    Put me on the list when it's completed

    ONEPONY

    spambait e-mail
    my web site artistcorner.tv hip-hop news
    please help me make it better
  • How do they get past the problem of providing enouch FPS (Flaps per Second, not Frames per Second) of the wings to lift up the dragonfly? I thought it was somewhere around 100?

    Also, I don't know how they could get motors that small and that powerful and quick on a body that's about 1-3cm (about 1/2 inch to 1 inch) thick. If they do, there must not be enough room for other stuff.

    But anyways, I didn't hear that article, so how should I know. Sounds pretty cool anyways.

  • Well, If you feel like spending a few bucks (about $100)on a LEGO Mindstorms kit, you could use the RCX in there for the robot scripting and the robot building. I find the scripting in the LEGO Robotics sets are very easy to use.

    For the webcam and/or microphone, just use a little ingenuity to attach. (i.e: masking tape) Follow this and, voila! I know this isn't JAVA, but it's close, and rather simple.

  • Now just think. Each one of these "scouts" can be a controler for hundreds or thousands of nanobots, and can release them as like spores whenever it hits it's target
  • The post itself made vauge appologies to us for not posting this bit of news when it was new (in april). Everyone can make a mistake, but the wonderful part about slashdot is the massive base of users willing to contribute to it's forums, and towards "geek" subjects.
  • But the idea of a series of bots in communication to get a feeling of omnipotency is the way to go... I was gonna dig into my pockets and make a team of paint ball opponents this summer... But to think of making reconnasance bots that you fire... Now thats cool... if it stays intact, lands and looks, then maybe it could attack itself.
  • Nikos "Just Call Me Nikos" Papanikolopoulos is an awesome professor. He taught Advanced Algorithms and Data Structures II at the U of MN, and to this day it has been the best CS class I have taken at the U.

    He really had a way of coming up with projects to make those boring dyktra's searches seem more interesting...

    Anybody else on here have him?

    -AP
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Things like door would stop them.

    That's why they have a cool little "foot" they can use to jump. If they get stuck, they can try to free them selves by jumping away. Of course there isn't much control over the direction and distance they jump, but that's not the point. If they miss, they just try again. And if some of them *still* get stuck, oh well. They are small and cheap, so you send a bunch in and at least a few of them end up being useful.

    This would make an interesting Mars exploration tool. And with reduced gravity, the Ranger could shoot the Scouts *really* far!
  • This project has been discussed on /. before, but it deserves to stay on the radar because it is interesting (not just because they use linux, but also because of the distributed computing aspects). Here's the research group's website [umn.edu], and here is an article in the U of MN's CS dept newsletter [umn.edu] about the project. I graduated in CS from the U, and I used to give departmental tours of various projects, including this one. Nikos & company are doing some good work here.
  • I think the best open source AI out there is ALICE:

    http://www.alicebot.org/ [alicebot.org]

    Have fun
  • The quality of AI you can get (for non-trivial tasks) is proportional to the processing power available. So running it in Java is like attaching a trailer to an F1 car...

    Grab.
  • Well the rangers look like they might be able to handle working on many different terrain types, but those scounts are gonn have a tough time on anything other than a smoothe man made surface. I don't think these bots are very practical in anything but a very urban setting.
  • this sounds really good, but with one problem. The progectile is shaped like a can which rolls around. I couldn't get the videos to work, but that sounds like the "scouts" would not be very good for rough terrain, even if the "ranger" is. Also, if they were used indoors, where they could roll much better (i think). Things like door would stop them. It seems to me the best way to use this would be so that after landing, the can unrolls to a (near) flat surface with they monitering and transmission on top (what was the inside when in flight) This way, it would be low enough to slip through door jams, (some of them anyways), and would be able go across country a little easier. I'll try to get the videos again later.

  • so i'm lazy (Score:3)

    by Master of Oblivion ( 322036 ) on Saturday March 10, 2001 @05:01PM (#371682)
    It seems that I was to lazy to elaborate on my previous comment, so here. Imagine these "scouts" as controlers for a certain number of nanobots. each of these controlers has a specific purpose, set to it by the ranger. The ranger is contoled by an adaptive neural net (it can recompile itself)and is given the purpose "better yourself". The scouts, in addition to their minions of nanobots, each have certain sensors or data manipultion/access tools and a means of returning to the ranger, and use the nanobots to aid them in collecting information or resources that the scout, and ultimantly, the ranger, require. Put the whole system into a controled environment, and then see what happens.

  • Another video link. (Score:4)

    by mtDNA ( 123855 ) on Saturday March 10, 2001 @04:09PM (#371683) Homepage


    It looks like Dr. Dobb's is slashdotted already.

    There's another movie on Papanikolopoulos's homepage: http://www-users.cs.umn.edu/~npapas [umn.edu]

  • I'm working with these things (Score:5)

    by Calcbert ( 40347 ) on Saturday March 10, 2001 @04:27PM (#371684)

    I've just recently started helping with this research project at the U of MN, and I must say that the little scout robots are pretty damn sweet.

    Some other cool things (that you may have read on the various sites, but I thought I'd say them anyway) and notes about them:

    • They can jump with the help of a spring 'foot.'
    • They each carry a black and white camera to send video to the controlling ranger.
    • There's also a scout that has a camera that pops out of the tube and can pan and tilt. Check the Demos Page [umn.edu] for videos showing this and other features.
    • For testing and demonstration, the scouts can be driven around with a Palm Pilot hooked up to a transmitter.
    • A PIC chip [microchip.com] is used as the processor for the scout.
    • Need to get a scout through a window? No problem. The ranger can shoot scouts through glass (see the end of the first video from the Demos Page [umn.edu].

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