Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
RI-MAN Face Tracking, Electronic Nose Robot Update
RI-MAN, the healthcare robot, was featured in an earlier article (see RI-MAN And Roujin-Z Robots: Elder Care Fact And Fiction). Since that time, the RIKEN Bio-Mimetic Control Research Center team has updated and expanded the RI-MAN site, giving us more information on this great 'bot.
(RI-MAN feedback using tactile information)
The upper and left forearms of the RI-MAN robot have soft area tactile sensors that measure the magnitude and position of contact force when the 'bot picks up a patient.
(RI-MAN controllers distribute the computational load, reduce size)
RI-MAN robot also uses fifteen small controllers that operate the joints of the robot. These controllers perform dedicated motor and sensor control tasks. This distributed controller network avoids the concentration of computational loads on the main computer and also dramatically reduces the wiring complexity. Besides improving speed, it also helps make RI-MAN small and compact.
(RI-MAN has sound localization)
Using simple, cup-shaped "ears", RI-MAN can determine the horizontal direction of sound; changes in the sound spectrum enable judgement of front or rear direction for sounds.
(RI-MAN uses face recognition)
The RI-MAN robot can track human faces by integrating auditory and visual information. Stereo cameras record the scene; the position of human faces can be extracted. The robot also determines the position of a sound source (like the voice of a human being) using its "ears" as described above.
(RI-MAN robot has smell discernment [an electronic nose])
The RI-MAN robot has a gas sensor module that can identify smells that provide important information to caregivers, like the smell of urine from an incontinent patient. The sensing method is based on the nonlinear dynamic output of a gas sensor in response to periodic heating. Differences in dynamic response are used to determine the gas type and concentration. The two sensors installed on the right and left sides of RI-MAN's torso provide the information.
Finally, take a look at the video below which provides a good overview of the RI-MAN robot in operation.
(RI-MAN Healthcare robot)
If you are interested in other healthcare and homecare robots, take a look at these 'bots:
- InTouch Companion: Medical Rounding Robot
InTouch Health is now leasing a remote-controlled telepresence robot called The Companion to hospitals and nursing homes nationwide. - RI-MAN And Roujin-Z Robots: Elder Care Fact And Fiction
Hospital robots can go either way, according to sf writers and anime creators. Will we see both? - Smart Home Provides Elder Care
The University of Florida has created what they call "an assistive environment" which goes far beyond the assistive devices that we are used to hearing about.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 11/7/2006)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Epirus High-Power Microwave Defeats Drones
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.' - Ray Cummings, 1931.
It's A Giant Robot! You Reporters Have Been Warned!
'... completely forgetting the ship at sight of the awesome figure and great head of the giant Gaut...'
Tactile Skin Supplier Map
'What strange sensitivity! What an amazing development of science was manifested in every move and act and word of this Robot!' - Ray Cummings, 1931.
Robot Bees 3D Printed By Festo
'At first I was struck by the large size of these bees..' - Ernst Junger, 1957.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Prairie Madness - And Space Sickness
'Space-sickness is one of the most unpleasant sensations that a human being can experience. Not all are subject to it...'
Can Stratospheric Aerosol Injection Control The Weather?
'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
SETI Suggests Prospecting The Solar System Without Landing
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
Wolfram Alpha Mathematica Predicted by Science Fiction in 1948!
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
Cislunar Space And The Space Lanes of Golden Age Science Fiction
'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
NASA Moonbase Update
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
Neuralink Will Allow Humans To Communicate With ... Animals?
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
Special Lights For Driverless Cars!
'That light is actually the Anamorphic Equalizer...'
'Old People Began to Cross The Continent In Their Own Cars'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
Harrison Bergeron, Illustrated And Practiced
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
Starfall Manufacturing Drugs In Space
'The vast spinning sphere of Factory in the Sky loomed above and ahead of us, gleaming white against the unfathomable jet depths of surrounding space.'
The Solar Oberth Slingshot
'And if it doesn’t work,' inquired Lazarus, 'what does that make us? Sunspots?'
'Maybe The Woman Of Your Life Is Still Under Production'
'The Dillard people had performed a miracle and put all the works in a girl-modeled case.'
'If Anyone Is Watching Earth...'
'Our study of your race has convinced us that you are not fitted to leave your planet in the present state of your civilization.'
Epirus High-Power Microwave Defeats Drones
'...the spreading beam of the deranging ray struck them, and Then one toppled and fell. Then another.'
Cloud Of Space Rubbish From China's Long March Rocket
'Within seconds the material was spread out over fifty yards, in a matter of hours it might occupy several cubic miles of space...'
