Deep sea exploration has just received a big boost. MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) engineers have developed a robot AUV (Autonomous Undersea Vehicle) that can remain submerged deep under the sea for about six months. It can even be charged under water.
The project to build the robot AUV named Odyssey IV began sometime in 1988. The main feature of the robot underwater vehicle is that it works entirely without any support from anybody. The innovation can come in useful to study the life of deep sea fish as also the ocean floor. It can also come in handy in the search for offshore oil sites.
MIT has even developed a robot named Nexi that can mimic an individual's facial expressions with great dexterity. The expressions of anger or surprise that it portrays has people in absolute awe, they are so life-like. A video of Nexi on YouTube has become a rage among people with huge number of its admirers having watched it.
Looks like MIT clearly wants to be in the forefront of robotic research. Two of its engineer scientists have just developed a robot wheelchair that you can command by voice. An important point where this robot digresses from previous attempts is that it adaptively learns about its environment just as a person would. Therefore, there is no need to have a pre-programmed database of the entire map of the building in which it is commanded to move about. It sort of has situational awareness.
Today with the recession in the US making you hold the reins as far as money spending goes, a timely robot money box has been developed as a money bank. It helps you save money by talking you into it.
It can count the money you put into it but daft if I know how it does that because seemingly there are no advanced sensors built-in. It even praises your money saving efforts. The most important aspect of the device is that it will dissuade you from withdrawing any money you have put into it by scolding you for doing that. It runs on battery power.
Did you hear about a robot that can shovel snow? The i-Shovel is one such automated snow shoveling device. It is equipped with special sensors that can detect the amount of snow that has fallen in a given tract of land. After deducting that the amount is more than enough, it goes about the task of shoveling away snow from the area. It can shovel snow in an area measuring 4,000 square feet on one charge of the batteries that power it. That is surely adequate for an average driveway.
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