Robots - The Podcast for News and Views on Robotics

Robots: The OpenROV Project

Robots Podcast — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 07:00:00 GMT

In the episode, we speak with Eric Stackpole and David Lang from the OpenROV project about their telerobotic submarine built to make underwater exploration and education affordable.

Robots: Curved Artificial Compound Eye

Robots Podcast — Fri, 31 May 2013 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode, we speak with Ramon Pericet and Michal Dobrzynski from EPFL about their Curved Artificial Compound Eye (CurvACE) published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences last week. Inspired by the fly’s vision system, their sensor can enable a large range of applications that require motion detection using a small plug-and-play device. As shown in the video below, you could use these sensors to control small robots navigating an environment, even in the dark, or equip a small autonomous flying robot with limited payload.

Robots: Autonomous Lethal Weapons

Robots Podcast — Fri, 17 May 2013 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we hear from Peter Asaro, an expert on lethal robotic weapons, about an international campaign to ban autonomous killer robots.

Robots: Controlled Flight of Insect-sized Robots

Robots Podcast — Fri, 03 May 2013 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we hear from researchers at the Harvard Microrobotics Lab about the Science paper published today reporting on the first controlled flight of an insect-sized robot.

Robots: Ethical, Social and Legal Issues

Robots Podcast — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode Per talks to Pericle Salvini from Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna about his work with social, ethical and legal issues in robotics today. We also hear about the Robolaw project that will provide advice to the European Union when it creates laws concerning robotics.

Robots: Software Marketplace

Robots Podcast — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we hear how the Spanish robotic startup Adele is creating a marketplace for robotics software. Through their platform, robot developers can buy software components for their robots, and software developers can sell their code, in a practical way. Examples of the software components, Adele calls them sparks, are speech recognition, synthetic speech, vision systems and user interface components. Their flagship project FIONA allows users to create intelligent and interactive virtual avatars.

Robots: International Standards

Robots Podcast — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we hear from Professor Gurvinder Virk from the University of Gävl about how international standards are created in the ISO. He also tells us why he thinks they are essential for robotics and how you can participate and contribute.

Robots: Giving Rights to Robots

Robots Podcast — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode, we talk with Kate Darling from the MIT Media Lab, about giving rights to social robots. She tells us about a recent Pleo torture session she organized at the LIFT conference and the class she taught at Harvard Law School on "Robot Rights".

Robots: Insect-inspired Navigation

Robots Podcast — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode Per talks to Michael Mangan from the University of Edinburgh about using robotics to study and replicate insect behaviour. Mangan describes his studies of desert ants, that are able to accurately navigate arduous environments despite having a very small brain (less than 400 000 neurons). This is an interesting problem as the desert environment is very challenging, it is too hot for pheromone navigation and nearly featureless, making visual navigation difficult.

Robots: EU Robotics Week

Robots Podcast — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we cover the EU Robotics Week that took place during the last week of November and featured robotics related activities across Europe for the general public, highlighting growing importance of robotics in a wide variety of application areas. More than 130 organizations (companies, universities, research institutes) in 19 European countries organized over 360 robotics related activities. About 80,000 people have been reached across Europe, many of them high school students and elementary school pupils. We talk with Thilo Brodtmann, Director of EUnited Robotics, and Organizer of the event, about his first impressions following the EU Robotics week. Asim Ikram from the Danish Technological Institute tells us about logistic robots in the healthcare sector. Finally, we talk with Barbara Klein, Professor at the Fachhochschule Frankfurt, about emotional robots such as Paro and their therapeutic use for kids or the elderly.

Robots: Robolution Capital

Robots Podcast — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode Per talks to robotics enthusiast and investment fund manager Renaud Champion. Champion is co-founder of the professional investment fund Robolution Capital, that focuses on investing in service robotics in the European market. Champion believes that service robotics has great growth potential, both in the professional and the domestic market. With a target of 60 million euros in funding, he is actively trying to promote development by building an effective ecosystem for robotics, including entrepreneurs, investors, advisers and users. In the interview he also shares some thoughts on what he looks for in a potential investment, as well as his views on the European robotics market, vs. that in the US and Asia.

Robots: Curious & Creative

Robots Podcast — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we speak with Rob Saunders, lecturer in Design Computing, about work done at the University of Sydney in computational creativity and curiosity.

Robots: Autonomous Solutions

Robots Podcast — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we speak with Mel Torrie, CEO and President of Autonomous Solutions Inc., about their work to make a large range of vehicles autonomous.

Robots: Sphero

Robots Podcast — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we speak with Ian Bernstein about the hugely successful Sphero robot and the company he co-founded, Orbotix.

Robots: The Wambots Team

Robots Podcast — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In today’s episode, we speak with Thomas Bräunl and Calum Meiklejohn from the University of Western Australia about the MAGIC 2010 Challenge and the Wambot team.

Robots: Digital Cultures

Robots Podcast — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we speak with Chris Chesher about how he views the emergence of robotics in every-day life.

Robots: Grishin Robotics

Robots Podcast — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we speak with Dmitry Grishin about Grishin Robotics, his global investment company dedicated to helping robotics startups distribute new products to the mass market.

Robots: Space Business

Robots Podcast — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In today’s episode we speak with Stephen Gorevan from Honeybee Robotics about how he and Chris Chapman started the company and how his childhood dream of working for NASA got them into space robotics. The interview, which was recorded before the landing of Curiosity on Mars, gives us all the details about the equipment they built for the Mars Science Laboratory, including the Sample Manipulation System (SMS) and the Dust Removal Tool (DRT) which will enable the mission to explore and analyze the Martian environment. We also hear about their latest developments in small scale satellites called Cubesats.

Robots: Rethink Robotics

Robots Podcast — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we speak with Rodney Brooks at the offices of Rethink Robotics about their first product Baxter, his ambition to revolutionize manufacturing and latest tips for young entrepreneurs.

Robots: BEAM Robotics

Robots Podcast — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we speak with Mark Tilden, about the history before WowWee's RoboSapien and FemiSapien and about his belief that bottom up BEAM robotics (which stands for Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics, and Mechanics) is essential in creating low cost, competent, robust and flexible robots.

Robots: Future Cities

Robots Podcast — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In today’s episode we speak with Matthias Kohler, faculty at ETHZ and renowned architect, about his work in robotic architecture at the Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) which is part of the Singapore-ETH Centre for Global Environmental Sustainability (SEC) in Singapore.

Robots: Robotics Festival

Robots Podcast — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we speak with Francesco Mondada, organizer of the Robotics Festival at EPFL that gathers over 15'000 visitors for hands-on workshops and demonstrations. We also walk you through the many exhibits showcasing multi-robot systems, flying robots, rehabilitation robots and robotic salamanders.

Robots: Field Robotics

Robots Podcast — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode, we talk to Salah Sukkarieh, Director of Research and Innovation at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics (ACFR). He gives us an overview of the centre's past and present projects, many addressing the special conditions robotics faces in Australia.

Robots: JPL Open House 2012

Robots Podcast — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In today's show we bring you to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Open House, just in time to prepare for the landing of the Curiosity Mars Rover in less than 10 days.

Robots: Launching Startups

Robots Podcast — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 07:00:00 GMT

Today we talk with Andra Keay, founder of Robot Launch Pad which is a robotics startup accelerator based in Silicon Valley, about latest events, lean startup methodology, funding, and gender.

Robots: Knowledge Engineering

Robots Podcast — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we talk to Mary-Anne Williams, knowledge engineer and roboticist from the University of Technology-Sydney about robot soccer, the PR2 and robotic social networks.

Robots: Swiss Robotics

Robots Podcast — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we talk to Dario Floreano, director of the Swiss National Center of Competence for Research (NCCR) in robotics that gathers leading experts in the field working at Swiss institutions. The center aims to develop human-oriented robots that assist people in their daily lives and improve their quality of life. He tells us about the role of Swiss Robotics in the world, how to manage a large research center, the importance of education and their cross-disciplinary and translational work. Finally, he tells us about the latest developments in aerial robotics from the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems that he directs.

Robots: Robotic Fish and Mannequins

Robots Podcast — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we talk to Maarja Kruusmaa about robotic fish and the robotic mannequin they are developing at Fits.me, alongside with Diana Saarva, the COO of Fits.me.

Robots: The Future of Robot Companions

Robots Podcast — Fri, 18 May 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode, Paolo Dario talks about the future of robotic companions, where convergence between different fields of science and interdisciplinary teams become increasingly important.

Robots: Robopocalypse

Robots Podcast — Fri, 04 May 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we talk to New York Times best selling author Daniel H. Wilson about one of his latest books, Robopocalypse.

Robots: Bringing them to Market

Robots Podcast — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:00:00 GMT

Following up on Episode 99, this episode features Steven Cousins and Roland Siegwart, whom we had the pleasure to meet at the SCHUNK Expert Days, organized by SCHUNK GmbH this spring. Our interviews bring to surface the dynamic interplay of academia and industry - we talk about the transition from the research lab to the market. Listen in and find out which robotic applications are bound to make great breakthroughs soon!

Robots: History and Outlook

Robots Podcast — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we speak with two of the founding fathers of robotics, George Bekey and Rodney Brooks about the last 50 years of robotics, the ongoing robot revolution and future prospects.

Robots: Dynamic Systems

Robots Podcast — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 07:00:00 GMT

To celebrate our 100th episode, we welcome Raffaello D'Andrea, Professor at ETHZ and co-founder of Kiva Systems. He gives us his first impressions after the acquisition of Kiva by Amazon and presents his work in dynamic systems.

Robots: Dexterous Manipulation and Morphogenesis

Robots Podcast — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 07:00:00 GMT

This episode features two of the key speakers from this year's SCHUNK Expert Days, Bruno Siciliano and Rolf Pfeifer. We took advantage of the stimulating conference atmosphere to ask them more about dexterous manipulators and morphogenesis.

Robots: Self-Organizing Systems

Robots Podcast — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we focus on self-organizing systems in modular and swarm robotics with Radhika Nagpal, director of the Self-Organized Systems Research Group at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard.

Robots: Senseable Robots

Robots Podcast — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we look at some of the work done by the Senseable City Lab. We'll be talking to Carlo Ratti, the director of the lab, about two of their many projects - namely Flyfire and Seaswarm.

Robots: Advances in Bipedal Locomotion

Robots Podcast — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we talk to Subramanian Ramamoorthy from the University of Edinburgh about the recent progress in walking robotics. We then speak with Felipe Brandão Cavalcanti who is an Electrical Engineering student working on stability and gait generation for humanoids at the University of Brasilia.

Robots: From Reasearch to Industry in the AUV Market

Robots Podcast — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 07:00:00 GMT

Today David Lane from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh talks about his journey from research to business and back. He talks about how he got started in offshore work and robotics research and how that led him to develop new smarts for existing hardware. David shares his personal view on how the Thunderbirds, diving and the [...]

Robots: Best of 2011

Robots Podcast — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode, the Robots Podcast team looks at the robots and technologies that marked 2011. We'll be discussing industrial robots, cloud robotics, soft robots, service robots, aerial robots, autonomous cars, agriculture robots, bio-inspired robots, human-like walkers and swarm robotics.

Robots: Turning Robots into Products

Robots Podcast — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In todays episode we look at robots made by Adept Technology with Product Marketing Manager, Erin Rapacki. She talks about the robots developed at Adept, her hopes for mobile robots, the media hype that surrounds robotics, the need for researchers to think of real-world problems and cloud robotics.

Robots: Robotics Roadmaps – USA

Robots Podcast — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In today’s episode we discuss the national funding strategies of the USA, as a part of our special series on funding strategies worldwide. Our first episode on the subject looked at funding in Japan with Tomomasa Sato. Today we'll be focussing on the Robotics Roadmap in the USA with one of its main creators, Henrik Christensen.

Robots: Connectors & Modular Robots

Robots Podcast — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In today's show we hear from our new collaborator, Per Sjoborg who is the founder of Flexibility Envelope, a blog on self-reconfiguring modular robotics. He speaks to Martin Nilsson from the Swedish Institute of Computer Science about his experience in making snake robots and connectors for modular robotics.

Robots: Made in Brazil

Robots Podcast — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In today's show, we take you all the way to Brazil. Marcelo Becker from the University of São Paulo (USP) talks to us about how mobile robots are going to help change agriculture, manufacturing and driving in his country. We then speak with Marcel de Sena Dall'Agnol a student at USP about the excellent robotics competition they organized at SEMATRON, a mechatronics conference organized by USP undergraduates.

Robots: Demonstrations at IROS

Robots Podcast — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In today's show, we hear about two demonstrations that caught our attention at IROS. Péter Fankhauser from the ETH in Zürich tells us about the Rezero ballbot, a balancing robot that speeds around on a sphere. Mike Rubenstein from the Self-organizing Systems Research Group at Harvard then tells us about their efforts to make swarms of 1024 robots a reality with the kilobot project.

Robots: IROS Exhibit Hall

Robots Podcast — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In today's show we take you around the Exhibit hall of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) that took place in San Francisco last week. IROS is one of the main conferences in robotics, attracting thousands of roboticists from around the world. By bringing you around the permanent exhibit hall, we hope to give you a feel for what it was like to be there. We'll be stopping at nearly every booth, talking to leaders in the field, asking about the robots we see, listening to robots, and even doing some demos along the way.

Robots: Educational Robotics

Robots Podcast — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In today's show, we look at the playful field of educational robotics with expert Dr. Francesco Mondada, director of the MOBOTS group. We then dive into the details with Stéphane Magnenat (ETHZ), creator of the easy to use ASEBA software and Fanny Riedo (EPFL), builder of the low-cost educational Thymio II robot.

Robots: Robot Art III

Robots Podcast — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 07:00:00 GMT

This episode is the last of this three part special series about robot art with guest interviewer David St-Onge, an engineer working at the interface of visionary arts and creative science. He brings us into his world through in-depth conversations with 6 world renowned experts in the field. In today's show, we talk to Leonel Moura, a European artist born in Lisbon and robotics and Ken Rinaldo, Director of the Art and Technology program in the Department of Art at The Ohio State University. Both artists are well known for their dual talent as artist and robot engineer, having built many of their systems themselves.

Robots: Robot Art II

Robots Podcast — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 07:00:00 GMT

This episode is the second of a three part special series about robot art with guest interviewer David St-Onge, an engineer working at the interface of visionary arts and creative science. David was our guest in previous episode with the Robots Podcast about robot art. He now brings us into his world through in-depth conversations [...]

Robots: Robot Art I

Robots Podcast — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 07:00:00 GMT

This episode is the first of a three part special series about robot art with guest interviewer David St-Onge, an engineer working at the interface of visionary arts and creative science. You might remember David from a previous interview with the Robots Podcast. He now brings us into his world of robot art through in-depth conversations with 6 world renowned experts in the field. In today's show, we talk to Nicolas Reeves from the University of Quebec in Montreal, Canada and Stelarc from Brunel University in the UK. Both have worked together in the past on the floating head experiment.

Robots: Our favorite Robots

Robots Podcast — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 07:00:00 GMT

The ROBOTS team has grown steadily over the years, filling its ranks with robot enthusiasts from the Switzerland, USA, Greece, UK, Brazil and Japan. We take care of everything, from digging out the latest news, to interviewing main actors in robotics, animating the episodes, maintaining the website, and mixing the podcasts. We're students, senior roboticists, hobbyists and journalists. In today's summer episode we decided it was time to share our two cents about 1) why we love robotics and 2) what robots spark our enthusiasm.

Robots: Demining and Defusing

Robots Podcast — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we speak with Frederic Guerne of Digger DTR and Paul Bosscher of Harris Corp.

Robots: The Mind Machine Project

Robots Podcast — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we speak with Newton Howard, director of the Mind Machine Project and research scientist at MIT.

Robots: Schunk Manipulators

Robots Podcast — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we speak with Henrik Schunk, Managing Partner of SCHUNK GmbH & Co. KG and Chairman of EUnited Robotics about high-end grippers, service robotics and European endeavors.

Robots: The Bilibot Project

Robots Podcast — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we talk about a new generation of affordable robots with the Bilibot project and its leader Garratt Gallagher.

Robots: Blended Reality

Robots Podcast — Fri, 20 May 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we meet with Natalie Freed, David Robert and Adam Setapen from Cynthia Breazeal's Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab. They'll be telling us about the Playtime Computing System, a playground where kids can interact with the physical world and its virtual extension.

Robots: European Robotics (Part 2)

Robots Podcast — Fri, 06 May 2011 07:00:00 GMT

Second of a two-part feature on the European Robotics Forum, an event jointly organized by EUROP and EURON and hosted this year in Sweden by Robotdalen. Thanks to an invitation by EUnited Robotics, we got a chance to be there and talk to some of Europe's major players in the field, from both industry and research. In today's show we speak with Bernd Liepert CTO of KUKA AG and president of EUROP and Rich Walker from Shadow Robot.

Robots: European Robotics (Part 1)

Robots Podcast — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 07:00:00 GMT

First of a two-part feature on the European Robotics Forum, an event jointly organized by EUROP and EURON and hosted this year in Sweden by Robotdalen. Thanks to an invitation by EUnited Robotics, we got a chance to be there and talk to some of Europe's major players in the field, from both industry and research.

Robots: Robotic Arts

Robots Podcast — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 07:00:00 GMT

Our episode today features David St-Onge, an engineer working at the interface of visionary arts and creative science. Having participated in numerous robotic-art projects (including the Cloudharp, SAILS, the Mascarillon) he talks about the opportunities and challenges of undertaking projects combining the contrasting domains of arts and science/engineering.

Robots: Mind Control

Robots Podcast — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In today's episode we look at a novel way to interact with your robot: through mind control. Raul Rojas returns to our show to talk about how his AutoNOMOS team used brain waves to give commands to their autonomous vehicle, MadeInGermany. We then talk to Geoffrey Mackeller, CTO of Emotiv Systems, the producer of the EEG headset used as an interface for this project.

Robots: Future Manipulators

Robots Podcast — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 07:00:00 GMT

n today's show we'll be talking about futuristic manipulators that look nothing like the typical industrial robot arms you've seen in factories. Our first guest, Heinrich Jaeger from the University of Chicago tells us about the soft universal gripper that was published in PNAS this year. Our second guest, Andrzej Grzesiak, presents the bio-inspired manipulator he created with Festo and that won the German Future Prize last year.

Robots: Telepresence

Robots Podcast — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In today's show we'll have a look the next killer application in robotics, telepresence. Our first guest, Jean-Christophe Baillie, is the CEO of Gostai which just commercialized the Jazz series this year. Our second guest, Trevor Blackwell, presents his company's Anybots.

Robots: Robotics Roadmaps – Japan

Robots Podcast — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 07:00:00 GMT

This episode is a first in a series about robotics funding and priorities worldwide. To start out, we'll be talking with an expert and leading figure in Japanese Robotics, Tomomasa Sato, who will give us insights into the Japanese robotics roadmap.

Robots: Odor Source Localization

Robots Podcast — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we revisit robot olfaction and take a closer look at the problem of odor source localization. Our first guest, Hiroshi Ishida from the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology is an expert in the field, whose sniffing robots range from blimps to ground and underwater robots. Our second guest, Thomas Lochmatter from EPFL talks about tradeoffs between biologically inspired and probabilistic approaches to navigate a gas plume.

Robots: Harvest Automation

Robots Podcast — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 07:00:00 GMT

Joe Jones, co-founder of Harvest Automation, presents the future of agriculture and speaks of lessons learnt from Roomba. Don't miss our new NEWS feature in partnership with robots.net.

Robots: Multi-Robot Teams

Robots Podcast — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Vijay Kumar and Daniel Mellinger from the GRASP Lab at UPenn present their work on developing multi-robot teams for real-world applications. Some of their most recent work includes aggressive maneuvers, SLAM and cooperative transport with quadrotor platforms.

Robots: Science Fiction II

Robots Podcast — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we dive into the world of famous science fiction writer Greg Bear. We then take you on an audio journey through one of his books, Mariposa. Finally don't forget to send us your YouTube holiday videos featuring robots.

Robots: Personal Helpers

Robots Podcast — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode, Steve Cousins, CEO of Willow Garage talks about the advent of Personal Robots, their PR2 robot and the Robot Operating System ROS. Our second guest, Moritz Tenorth, tells us about his experience working with these tools and his PhD on helping robots understand and reason about their world.

Robots: Dependable Swarms

Robots Podcast — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Alan Winfield from the Bristol Robotics Lab discusses the potential and pitfalls of swarm robotics and their use in real-world applications. He also talks about transparent science, blogging and robot ethics.

Robots: Autonomous Vehicles

Robots Podcast — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 07:00:00 GMT

In today’s episode we take a deeper look at what’s behind the hype over autonomous vehicles, and talk to two experts in the field, Alberto Broggi, leader of the Vislab Intercontinental Vehicle Challenge, and Raul Rojas, leader of the Made in Germany autonomous vehicle project. Alberto Broggi Alberto Broggi is the Director of the Artificial [...]

Robots: Amateur UAVs

Robots Podcast — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Chris Anderson, Editor-in-chief of WIRED and founder of DIY Drones presents his community of UAV enthusiasts and all the open source software and hardware developed to make your robots take-off.

Robots: Futurama

Robots Podcast — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 07:00:00 GMT

David X. Cohen describes the robots in Futurama and his vision on the future.

Robots: Olfaction

Robots Podcast — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Achim Lilienthal from Örebro University in Sweden and Lino Forte Marques from the University of Coimbra in Portugal discuss smell as a sensor modality for mobile robots.

Robots: The Law

Robots Podcast — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Ryan Calo, Senior Research Fellow at Stanford Law-School, discusses liability & privacy issues when considering robots and the law.

Robots: Programmable Matter

Robots Podcast — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Michael Tolley and Jonas Neubert from the Computational Synthesis Laboratory run by Hod Lipson at Cornell University present their approach at making programmable matter.

Robots: Distributed Flight Array

Robots Podcast — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Raymond Oung from the Swiss Technical Institute of Technology in Zürich discusses the Distributed Flight Array, which is a new type of modular aerial robot. We then celebrate aerial robotics with a contest on flying robot noises for a chance to win a WowWee Bladestar.

Robots: Science Fiction

Robots Podcast — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Patrick Gyger from the Maison d'Ailleurs, one of the major Science Fiction museums in the world, presents the history of robotics in the genre and discusses interactions between science and writing. We the bring you a re-edition of the Selkies stories written by Science Fiction writer Jack Graham in Boston. You can find more of his stories at lonesomerobot.com.

Robots: Nanosystems

Robots Podcast — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Ari Requicha from the University of Southern California and Grégory Mermoud from EPFL describe the soft- and hardware aspects of designing systems of nanorobots.

Robots: R&D at iRobot

Robots Podcast — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Brian Yamauchi presents the research & development done at iRobot. As lead roboticist, he tells us about a large range of government projects from making the PackBot platforms more autonomous, work in teams of even fly to more futuristic projects that involve making soft and deformable robots. He also discusses the business of iRobot and the ethics of military robotics.

Robots: Modeling Biology

Robots Podcast — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Barbara Webb from the University of Edinburgh discusses insect inspired robotics as a control system design approach. Steffen Wischman from the EPFL/UNIL then gives his view on when robots should be used to model biology and his interest in using artificial evolution.

Robots: Online Human-Robot Interactions

Robots Podcast — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Sonia Chernova speaks about the new online game Mars Escape developed to study human-robot interactions. Lessons learnt will be demonstrated in a real-life replica of the game environment at the Boston Museum of Science, where visitors will have a chance to interact with the robot Nexi. Kenton Williams gives us more details on this very expressive robot.

Robots: The Nao Humanoid

Robots Podcast — Fri, 21 May 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Luc Degaudenzi and Cédric Vaudel from Aldebaran speak about the Nao platform and the future of the humanoid market. Don't miss Nao presenting himself and check out his story telling skills.

Robots: 50 Years of Robotics (Part 2)

Robots Podcast — Fri, 07 May 2010 07:00:00 GMT

In this 51st episode we conclude our 2-part special on 50 years of robotics. For the occasion we speak with 12 scientists about the most remarkable developments in their field of robotics over the last 50 years and their prediction for next half-century. Today’s episode features Jean-Christophe Zufferey on flying robots, Dan Kara on the robotics market, Kristinn Thórisson on AI, Andrea Thomaz on human robot interactions, Terry Fong on space robotics and Richard Jones on nano robots.

Robots: 50 Years of Robotics (Part 1)

Robots Podcast — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Today we celebrate the 50th episode of ROBOTS! For the occasion we speak with 12 scientists about the most remarkable developments in their field of robotics over the last 50 years and their prediction for next half-century. This 50th special is split into two episodes with the second half airing in two weeks. Today we speak with Rolf Pfeifer on robotics in general, Mark Tilden on robot toys, Hiroshi Ishiguro on androids, Oscar Schofield on underwater robots, Steve Potter on brain machine interfaces and Chris Rogers on eduction robots.

Robots: URBI Software Platform

Fri, 9 Apr 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Jean-Christophe Baillie introduces us to URBI, the universal robotics software platform that's already been implemented on several different robots and is going open source in May 2010.

Robots: Chaos Control

Fri, 26 Mar 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Poramate Manoonpong speaks about using chaotic input to central pattern generators. Alex Pitti describes way to synchronise a non-linear controller to the dynamics of the body it is controlling.

Robots: The Future of Artificial Intelligence

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Kristinn R. Thórisson on the past, present and future of Artificial Intelligence.

Robots: Satellite Swarms

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Alvar Saenz-Otero from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology talks about miniature satellites that create swarms in space.

Robots: AUV Missions

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Oscar Schofield from the Rutgers Coastal Ocean Observation Lab talks about autonomous ocean gliders and the Scarlet Knight that crossed the Atlantic. Mark Moline from the Center for Coastal Marine Sciences at California Poly State University speaks about his expedition to the Arctic with AUVs in freezing conditions.

Robots: Quadrotors

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Joshua Portlock from Cyber Technology in Perth Australia tells us about Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, and in particular the CyberQuad, a 4-rotor autonomous helicopter that can be used for surveillance and inspection of hard-to-reach places from the air.

Robots: Deep-Sea Exploration

Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Alberto Collasius Jr. from the Applied Ocean Physics and Engineering Department at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in the US talks about his time at sea as expedition leader with the JASON remotely operated vehicle.

Robots: New Year's Special

Fri, 1 Jan 2010 07:00:00 GMT

Cecilia Lashi, co-coordinator of the Octopus European project, talks about a soft bio-mimetic robotic octopus arm; Hobbyist Carl Morgan, presents his sleek silver humanoid that rides behind your tandem bike and does all the pedaling; and Carson Reynolds, professor at the University of Tokyo, tells us about his high-speed robotic hand.

Robots: Weight-Loss Coach

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Cory Kidd is the founder of Intuitive Automata Inc. which commercializes a robotic weight-loss coach born during his PhD at the MIT Media Lab. He tells us about how good human-robot interaction can keep people motivated to eat well and exercise. We'll also be holding a Christmas contest for a chance to win two robot kits for beginners.

Robots: Planetary Exploration

Fri, 4 Dec 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Julie Townsend from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California talks about her work with NASA's Mars rovers and the lunar ATHLETE robot. Sebastian Gautsch from the the SAMLAB in Neuchatel, Switzerland, tells us about the Atomic Force Microscope that was sent to Mars aboard the Phoenix lander in the Spring of 2008.

Robots: Learning

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Andrea Thomaz from Georgia Tech looks at how humans can teach and humanoids learn with the hope to create good human-robot interactions. We then speak with Sethu Vijayakumar from the University of Edinburgh about machine learning and how it can be used to teach a robot hand to balance a pole.

Robots: Stroke Rehabilitation

Fri, 6 Nov 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Ludovic Dovat from the Singapore National University tells us about stroke victims' trouble re-learning to use their hands, and the robotic systems he designed to help with the rehabilitation process. David Brown tells us about the effects of stroke and his company Kinea Design that produces robots that help people learn to walk in unstructured terrain.

Robots: Slithering Creatures

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Howie Choset from Carnegie Mellon University explains the basics of snake robots, and how he hopes to see them used anywhere from disaster areas to industrial inspection or even surgery. Erik Kyrkjebø from SINTEF Applied Cybernetics in Norway speaks about their own pipe inspection robots as well as a snake robot designed for fighting fires.

Robots: Active Touch

Fri, 9 Oct 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Tony Prescott from the University of Sheffield speaks about active perception in rats, and presents his SCRATCHbot robot that features artificial whiskers. Elio Tuci from the Italian National Research Council speaks of a robot arm that can distinguish between different objects using active perception.

Robots: Emergent Communication

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Sara Mitri, researcher at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne speaks about her bio-inspired experiments on the evolution of communication. Jürgen Jost, director at Leipzig's Max Planck Institute, discusses intentionality in robot communication.

Robots: Celebrating Invention

Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Dean Kaman from DEKA research speaks about the spirit of invention that drives him to create products that improve lives, and of the FIRST initiative that encourages young children to get engaged in engineering and science.

Robots: Robot-Assisted Surgery

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Rainer Konietschke at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics of the German Aerospace Centre explains the MiroSurge project for robotic endoscopic surgery. Woung Youn Chung at the Yonsei University College of Medicine in Seoul, Korea explains using the Da Vinci surgical robot to treat thyroid cancer.

Robots: Brain-Machine Interfaces

Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Charles Higgins from the University of Arizona tells us how he uses insects to control robot motion. Steve Potter from the Georgia Institute of Technololgy explains how he grows neural circuitry in a Petri-dish and interfaces it with robots.

Robots: Smart Homes

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Roger Orpwood, director of the Bath Institute of Medical Engineering in the UK explains how smart homes can be used to help dementia patients stay independent and receive better care. Andrew Sixsmith, Professor at Simon Fraser University in Canada then shares his experience from a medical perspective.

Robots: Soft Machines

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Richard Jones, Professor of Physics at the University of Sheffield in the UK talks about Soft Machines, the future nanorobots inspired from biology.

Robots: From Animals to Automation

Fri, 03 Jul 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Markus Fischer, head of the Bionic Learning Network project and head of Corporate Design talks transferring technology from biomimetic research to actual products and their work on the AquaPenguin, AquaRay and AirJelly. Victor Zykov, PhD and PostDoc from Cornell University talks about modular robotics and introduces his bio-inspired Molecubes.

Robots: Celebrity Robots Brought to Life

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Fred Barton, also known as "Robotman", introduces Robby the Robot and talks about building robot collectibles for museums and fellow enthusiasts.

Robots: Autonomous City Explorer

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Dirk Wollherr, senior researcher at the Technical University of Munich, and Astrid Weiss from the University of Salzburg on the design and the goals of the Autonomous City Explorer (ACE) robot.

Robots: Robot actors at the theater

Fri, 22 May 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Swiss theater director Christian Denisart talks about his latest play where 3 of the 5 main characters are mobile robots. Nicolas Tomatis, CEO of Bluebotics Ltd., describes the three robotic actors, an obedient robot dog, a distinguished robot butler and a sensual female, in more detail.

Robots: Collective Coverage and Self-Assembly

Fri, 8 May 2009 07:00:00 GMT

MIT's Nikolaus Correll on his robot swarms for turbine inspection and his latest research on cooperating networks. In part two Roderich Gross introduces the swarm-bots and his work on robot cooperation, self-assembly and division of labour.

Robots: Giant Roaming Creatures

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Theo Jansen describes his Strandbeest, giant walking creatures that can walk and sense their environments. We then talk to Jaimie Mantzel who is building a giant 6-legged robot on his mountain in Vermont.

Robots: The Race to the Moon

Fri, 10 Apr 2009 07:00:00 GMT

William "Red" Whittaker, director of the Field Robotics Center at Carnegie Mellon University, talks about his team's bid for the Google Lunar X Prize.

Robots: Learning with LEGO

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we speak with Chris Rogers about the use of LEGO in educating young children in engineering, math and science. We then speak with Liz Herron on her experiences with children using LEGO MINDSTORMS robotic kits at the LEGO Education Centre.

Robots: The REEM-B and HUBO Humanoids

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we speak with Davide Faconti, leader of the REEM project, one of the few European contenders in humanoid robotics. We then speak with Jun Ho Oh from South Korea who was the general chair of the last International Conference on Humanoid Robots for his snapshot view of the field as well as the HUBO humanoids developed in his lab.

Robots: Robot Ethics (Part 2)

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 07:00:00 GMT

This second episode in a two-part series on Robot Ethics interviews Ronald Arkin, Regents' Professor and Associate Dean for Research at Georgia Tech University in the US. Topics include military robots, robots in the society, medical robots and legal responsibilities.

Robots: Robot Ethics (Part 1)

Fri, 13 Feb 2009 07:00:00 GMT

This first episode in a two part series on Robot Ethics interviews Noel Sharkey, Professor of Public Engagement, Artificial Intelligence and Robotics at the University of Sheffield in the UK. Topics include military robots, robots in the society, medical robots and legal responsibilities.

Robots: Human-Robot Love

Fri, 30 Jan 2009 07:00:00 GMT

David Levy, author of the book "Love + Sex with Robots" and Kathleen Richardson who is a doctor of Robot Anthropology at Cambridge University discuss the future of human-robot relationships, both physical and emotional.

Robots: Industrial Robots in Research

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 07:00:00 GMT

Raúl Ordóñez from the Motoman Robotics Lab talks about research in industrial robotics and how he hopes to use visual servoing as a feedback mechanism allowing robot arms to accomplish complex tasks such as juggling.

Robots: 2008 New Year's Special

Fri, 2 Jan 2009 07:00:00 GMT

We review the biggest events in robotics in 2008 and look to what 2009 has to offer with our panel of experts: Dan Kara from Robotics Trends, Terry Fong from the NASA Ames Research Center, Dario Floreano from the EPFL, Steve Rainwater from robots.net, and Minoru Asada from Osaka University.

Robots: Robot Toys

Fri, 19 Dec 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Mark Tilden, passionate robot builder with WowWee Robotics, talks about designing robots for children, and what he thinks that scientists and researchers can learn from the toy industry.

Robots: Robot Musicians

Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Gil Weinberg who is the Director of Music Technology at Georgia Tech, presents his wooden robot drummer Haile that is capable of playing with human teachers and even evolving its own beats to reach robotic improvisation. He also introduces his latest robot, Shimon the Marimba player. Our second guest, Atsuo Takanishi describes the Waseda Flutist, a robot that mimics human lungs, vocal chords, and lips to accurately play the flute.

Robots: Bio-inspired locomotion

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Robert Full from UC Berkley presents his research on animal locomotion and how his insights have been inspiring engineers to create robots. Auke Ijspeert from the EPFL then shares some thoughts on bio-inspired locomotion.

Robots: Androids, Human Presence and the Uncanny Valley

Fri, 7 Nov 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Hiroshi Ishiguro from Osaka University introduces his androids, including the robotic replicate of his then 5 year old daughter, a female android modeled after the NHK news announcer Ayako Fujii and a copy of himself, the Geminoid. He explains Android Science and how his explorations of the uncanny valley may help to understand human presence. This episode then features the last quarter of Science Fiction author Jack Graham's "Selkies".

Robots: Jumping and Crawling in Millirobots

Fri, 24 Oct 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Sarah Bergbreiter from the University of Maryland gives us an overview of her work with robotic mobile sensor networks, walking and jumping micro-robots as well as fast prototyping of novel robots. Aaron Hoover at Berkeley talks about novel manufacturing techniques with smart composites. This episode then features the third part of Science Fiction author Jack Graham's "Selkies".

Robots: Warehouse Robots

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode Raffaello D'Andrea of KIVA Systems describes how hundreds of autonomous robots can be used to automate warehouses. This episode then features the second part of Science Fiction author Jack Graham's "Selkies".

Robots: Swarming Autonomous Underwater Vehicles

Fri, 26 Sep 2008 07:00:00 GMT

In this show we dive into the world of autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) with Navinda Kottege from the Australian National University. In the second part Marc Sherman from Teledyne RD Instruments tells us more about AUV technology and the importance of Doppler Velocity Logs (DVLs) for underwater navigation. Finally we are treated to the first part of Science Fiction author Jack Graham's story "Selkies".

Robots: An Uncertain Revolution

Fri, 12 Sep 2008 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we dive into the revolution brought on by the field of probabilistic robotics with Claudio Mattiussi. We then launch a most "uncertain" competition to see how good our listeners are at making probabilistic predictions to estimate the cleaning capabilities of a Roomba robot.

Robots: Bacteria-propelled microrobots

Fri, 29 Aug 2008 07:00:00 GMT

This episode discusses bacteria-propelled micro robots and their potential for medical applications inside the human body. In the first part Metin Sitti explains how his robots can join forces with bacteria. In the second part gastroenterologist Mark Schattner discusses current uses and future potential from a medical perspective.

Robots: DelFly and Europe's Micro Air Vehicle Competition

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 07:00:00 GMT

In this episode we cover two major events in aerial robotics: the announcement of the DelFly Micro and the 2008 European Micro Air Vehicle (EMAV) Competition. We first speak with Christophe de Wagter, a member of the Dutch team that's been churning out amazing flapping-wing robots in the last few years. Our second interview features Peter Vörsmann, chair of this year's EMAV competition, to explain the latest advances in autonomous flying vehicles.

Robots: The Robot Blogosphere

Fri, 1 Aug 2008 07:00:00 GMT

This episode gives an insight into part of the online robotics community. We interview Steve Rainwater on his experience with robots.net, the first and probably largest robot community site online. Mikell Taylor shares her experience with the IEEE Spectrum Automaton blog and also gives us a quick insight into her current job at Bluefin Robotics.

Robots: Modular and Reconfigurable Robotics

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 07:00:00 GMT

This episode centers on modular robots. We interview Kasper Stoy on research in Modular Robotics. Robert Fitch gives an insight into Self-Reconfigurable Modular Robots.

Robots: Robot Soccer

Fri, 4 Jul 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Manuela Veloso, President-Elect of the International RoboCup Federation, gives a look behind the scenes of robot soccer.

Robots: A Robot Fly at Harvard and at the MoMA

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 07:00:00 GMT

This episode centers on the robotic fly, featuring interviews with professor Robert Wood at Harvard university and with Paola Antonelli, the curator of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Robots: Cornell Racing Team and Velodyne's LIDAR Sensor

Fri, 6 Jun 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Our inaugural episode centers on the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, featuring interviews with professor Daniel Huttenlocher from Team Cornell and Rick Yoder from Velodyne, a producer of LIDAR sensors used by several teams in the challenge.

Robots: 23 May 2008, Trailer 1

Thu, 22 May 2008 07:00:00 GMT

Robots: Coming Soon! This is the trailer for the new Robots podcast, your source for news and views on robotics. Our inaugural episode will be released on 6 June 2008.