by Ada Brunstein, Technology Review
The exhibit hall at this year’s IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) was chock full of disembodied robotic arms, humanoid robots that bumped into things they were supposed to avoid, and Lego-like parts for assembly into everything from robotic dogs to calligraphy machines. If the gathering in Shanghai was any indication of our technological future, robotic arms are the next big thing. Some, like Yaskawa’s arc welding Motoman, will be used in factories (though at the exhibit two arms on display were carrying out a carefully choreographed light saber duel; video at the bottom of this post). Other companies, like Barret Technologies, build “assistive robotic arms”, one of which, the rep tells me, is currently being used as a surgeon’s aid in knee surgery. The idea is that the surgery is pre-programmed and since the robot’s movements are more precise than the fallible human hand, the robot guides the surgeon’s hands through the surgery. That’s right, the robot guides the surgeon. The arm has 7 degrees of freedom and runs about $150k.
http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/guest/26767/?p1=A3
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