Saturday, September 29, 2012

Robot Carries Objects on Serving Trays: Robo-Butlers Around the Corner

After watching the Woody Allen classic, Sleeper for the 1000th time, I assumed that we’d all have cold, impersonal robot butlers in our homes by now. Well, it turns out that one of the main challenges for robo-butlers is their lack of ability to carry items on a tray without spilling them.

The issue is that keeping a tray horizontal during movement will result in easy spills when moving quickly. Thankfully, the guys at Willow Garage are working on a solution.

By developing a set of balancing motions that minimize lateral force on the object, PhD student Tobias Kunz of Georgia Tech was able to get a PR2 robot to handle delicate objects on a tray, and glasses full of liquid without so much as a spill.

Keep reading…

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