In a move that surely signifies the rising status and complexity of modern autonomous robotics, iRobot and John Deere & Co. have teamed up to build a 6-wheeled vehicle for the US Military that is capable of fully autonomous, semi-autonomous, and manual control. The 2-seat vehicle called the R-Gator(TM), similar to a John Deere vehicle that the US Military currently uses [M-Gator(tm)], will begin production in 2005.

Thousands of John Deere M-Gator vehicles and iRobot PackBots have been deployed with military units, many of them in the mid-east region, where they have proven themselves in the field and combat situations.

Adding the rugged reliability and performance of the M-Gator platform and the proven robotics navigation technology from iRobot will create a nine foot long, five foot wide, 2-seat vehicle that is sure to help keep soldiers out of harms way.

Tasks that are slated for the $250,000 USD vehicle include unmanned scout, perimeter guard, supplies carrier, and many other important roles.

In autonomous and tele-operation modes, navigation controls are provided by video cameras, scanning laser sensors, GPS, and others. A human driver can assume manual control at any time with the flip of a switch.

One of the most limiting features of modern autonomous mobile robots is the lack of a long lasting power source that can be easily carried by a robot.
Alan Epstein, the director of MIT’s Gas Turbine Laboratory, believes that a micro sized gas turbine engine, with blades spanning an area smaller than a dime and spinning more than a million RPMs can be built to power handheld and other portable electronics.

At about 1/4 the size of a typical cell phone battery, and with a sealed fuel tank just a bit larger than a flashlight battery, the tiny turbine engine could power a handheld computer for over 10 hours. When one fuel tank is empty, another can quickly be put in its place, allowing days of heavy use rather than just hours.

This technology would have military applications before commercial versions would be available. Epstein envisions groups of turbines working as a power plant to provide enough power for mobile robotics and other applications that require more power than is available even with Lithium-Polymer batteries.
Despite the hot exhaust jet the turbines produce, there are many applications that would benefit from such mobile power; as much as 20 watts per turbine engine.

Epstein and his coworkers have built and tested all of the 'jet on a chip' functions earlier this year. Currently they are having difficulty balancing the blades, and though the manufacturing process is slow, they are confident they will be able to perfect the manufacturing process, and in four or five years they will have a version of the 'jet chip' ready for commercial use.

A 414 page report issued by the U.N. Economic Commission for Europe and the International Federation of Robotics shows that robotic workers, both domestic and industrial, are growing in numbers at an ever increasing rate. It predicts a 700% increase by 2007.

While Japan remains the country with the most robots, holding just under half of the world's 800,000 industrial robots, Asia and North America are quickly catching up. In 2004, orders for industrial robots were up 18%, mostly due to rising labor costs, falling robot costs, and increasing sophistication of robotic technologies. Todays industrial robot costs about one fourth of its equal sold in 1990.

About 405,000 domestic robots were purchased in 2003, accounting for 66% of the worlds automated domestic robots, most of them being robotic lawn mowers or robotic vacuum cleaners, 570,000 and 37,000 respectively. The report also states that there are about 692,000 entertainment robots worldwide, including robots like the Sony AIBO robot dog.

There are about 21,000 service robots that handle tasks like working in toxic environments, medical robots, and farming. This number is expected to grow to 75,000 by 2007.

This is the first year that the annual U.N. report covered more than static industrial robots, and it's special report on mobile robotics shows a road map for development and barriers to be overcome in technology for mobile robotics. It seems that robots are to be as common as television sets in the years ahead.

After years of development, the 'ifbot' is the latest robotic companion in Japan. It is already a big hit with kids and their parents. Shown at Robodex, the 'ifbot' has 40 facial expressions and a vocabulary of more than 1000 words. With sophisticated technology like the VORERO voice recognition engine, the small robot can tell when you are happy or sad, loves to get hugs, and can teach you to speak Japanese. It is said to be the first commercially available sensitive communications robot. Developed by Business Design Laboratory in cooperation with academia, "ifbot" is manufactured by Futaba Industrial and began shipping Last April.

Some doctors are now using robots to treat Fibroid tumors that are the leading cause of hysterectomies in women. Until now, the hysterectomy surgery to remove the tumor also removed the woman's fertility.

The robotic surgery, called robotic myomectomy, is a minimally invasive procedure that uses a 3-D image to provide visualization of the tumor which is superior to standard laparoscopy.

The robotic surgery can remove all sizes of fibroid tumors. The increased precision causes less damage when removing the tumor, keeping the uterus intact and reducing recovery times.

The country of Qatar will be using robots in their favorite sport of camel racing. Amid criticism of human rights violations against child camel jockeys, the camel racing organizing committee intends to put robot jockeys in use in 2005.

The robots, made by an Swiss company, are said to be human shaped and remotely operated. About $1.37 million has been invested to produce the robots, that should cost around $5,500 each.

Earlier this year, the robot jockeys were tested in a race, and further testing is planned. The first three phases of development are complete, and a fourth phase of development is imminent and might be the final stage.

P.E.A.R.T, a Pneumatic and Electronic Actuated RoboT made by senior design students at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in the USA, is a drum playing robot based on custom software and hardware that interfaces pneumatic drumstick controllers to the computer. P.E.A.R.T is quite versatile and can be connected up to any drum set, and drum set configuration.

Using MIDI files as input, it supports up to 16 drum channels, and can hit each of the 16 drums or symbols up to 19 times per second. P.E.A.R.T was designed not only to be easily programmable and versatile, but to give realistic drum sounds rather than the electronic sounds achieved with drum machines.

Though its not likely to be seen in an orchestra soon, the video on the website proves that this robot is up to its designed task.

Sony Electronics just announced that it's AIBO® Entertainment Robot (ERS-7M2/W and ERS-7M2/B) will be available in mid-November 2004, including the AIBO Entertainment Player (AEP) and AIBO MIND 2 Software. The new model will cost about $1900 USD, a bit more than last year's model, but this old dog knows some new tricks. The robot's advanced technology improves on navigation, voice recognition, and many of the other features in previous models.

Among its features, the model ERS-7M2 has better reaction time, advanced technologies, and a new pearl black color. The new AIBO's digital camera can record video in several modes, including sound and motion activated modes.

Owners of the new AIBO robot can listen to digital music while the robot dances, have the robot remind them of important dates, as well as receive e-mail directly from the robot. The robot's applications are compatible with Microsoft® Outlook®.