Number 5…Is Alive

Posted on April 7, 2011 by c3po

It is easy to understand my progression from boy to mechanical engineering student, one major factor had to be the film Short Circuit and the legend that is Johnny 5.

Johnny 5

Short Circuit's Johnny 5

I seriously loved this movie. Okay i’ll admit looking back Short Circuit 2 wasn’t the best but I was only 6.

Whether we realise it or not, robots and artificial intelligence has been a fantasy of the western worlds for some time. Think of all the movies and TV shows specifically made about the subject:

  • The Termitor
  • Robocop
  • Kitt from Knight Rider
  • Star Wars
  • I Robot
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Transformers (oh this is so going to be my next post)
  • Wall-E
  • Even Bill and Ted!

So robots and AI is not new to the world. Definately not to me. It is great that I have had such an acute interest that has developed into a love for my studies.

Okay, so I am so going to start thinking about my next post that is going to be solely about Transformers The Movie circa 1986.

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Top Ten Screen Robots Of All Time

Posted on April 3, 2011 by c3po

R2 D2 (Star Wars)

Featuring gadgets like a computer interface, a Taser, a gripping tool, and a periscope, to name but a few, R2 is a friendly little box of handy, handy tricks. He was parodied by Star Wars Spoofs showing him featuring things like a popcorn machine and a bottle opener, but wouldn’t that have just made him even cooler?

Johnny 5 (Short Circuit)

Clever, funny, cute – Johnny 5 had it all. Plus, he’s in a stupendously 80’s film with a stupendously 80’s soundtrack. I had several tears in my eye when the bad man bashed him about.

Robocop (Robocop)

He stars in a plot that revolves around one robo-carnated dead city cop and his fight against crime that goes right to the top. It’s Detroit in the future. Crime levels are high, and the police are run by a dodgy corporate company. Robocop is a corporate-crime-fighting machine and the fact that he stars in a film full of eccentric baddies, dark comedy, uber action scenes and ultra-violent action (remember ED209′s glitch-driven gun rampage and bad guy Emil driving into a pool of toxic waste, melting, and then getting split in half after being hit by a car? Course you do…) makes Robocop one of my favourite robots (well, technically cyborg) EVER.

ED-209 (Robocop)

Yeah, sure he’s a big hulking piece of glitchy robot mess, and he’s not really the star of the show, but he holds a special place (like the rest of these robots) in my heart. His “You have 10 seconds to comply” countdown to death scared me out of my tiny little wits.

Terminator Series 800/Model 101 (The Terminator)

Yeah, he’s inherently evil, and sure, he repeatedly attempted to terminate John Connor (eventually succeeding), but it’s not his fault, is it? He’s a programmable military assassination cyborg that just got taken advantage of – and he’s absolutely nails.

K.I.T.T (Knight Rider TV series)

Apart from K.I.T.T.’s voice (William Daniels), there were many things I loved about this robo-car. The Hoff’s artificially intelligent computer-brained robotic ride is the 1980’s what today’s so-called ‘smart car’ should be. The original K.I.T.T. (which stands for Knight Industries Two Thousand) was a sexy 1982 Pontiac Trans Am. Oh yeah.

Robby the Robot (Forbidden Planet)

On first impressions, Robby was a bit slow, a bit chubby and rather awkward. But look past the exterior and you’ll find a very loveable personality and that incredible trademark dry wit. People also tend to forget that he was something of a screen icon and that, after his 1956 debut, he starred in things like US TV series such as The Thin Man, Lost in Space, The Addams Family, The Twilight Zone, Columbo, The Love Boat, Mork and Mindy and Clueless. Amazing!

False Maria (The Metropolis)

A little bit more serious this time, I’ve gone with Maria, the Maschinenmensch (German for ‘machine-human’, just in case you didn’t already know) – one of cinema’s most famous robo-icons. Her discomforting blank face and rather sassy lady-curves have been the subject of revulsion and fascination alike. I know which side of the fence I’m on.

Kryten (Red Dwarf)

Probably one of the funniest and most loveable robots – sorry, slavenoids – in the history of screen robots.

Sir Killalot (Robot Wars UK TV Series)

The head honcho of the Robot Wars house robots, Sir K, as he was more affectionately known, was absolutely as hard as nails. Designed to look like a medieval knight, he came armed with a rotating drill and a hydraulic cutting claw (adapted from the ones firemen use to cut people out of car wrecks. When Sir Killalot cut right through a metal bar Craig Charles was holding on one particular episode, the scouse presenter said: “Imagine finding him in your laundry basket.” Nah, I probably won’t, thanks.

 

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An Introduction Into Robot Kinematics

Posted on March 28, 2011 by c3po

Growing up, I used movies as a barometer for the state of robot technology on earth. Upon seeing films like Robocop, Star Wars and Short Circuit, I felt reassured that my life would be one lived alongside walking, talking robots that would have a significant role to play in society.

As I hit my teenage years, I realised that I was unlikely to meet a Terminator or have my own personal droid in this lifetime. However, I also began to realise that a real robotics industry existed and was advancing at a wonderfully fast pace, having a direct impact on my life as it did so. I also began to develop and nurture my own interest in robot kinematics.

In short, kinematics is the study of the motion of bodies. Robot kinematics is the study of the motion of robot bodies. From a young age, I have been fascinated by the way real robots move and robot kinematics is the area of study that has taught me the most about robot technology, its limitations and its potential.

For anyone who has never heard of kinematics before, the subject of robot kinematics can seem somewhat daunting. But once you get your head around three things – position, velocity and acceleration – you can start to understand kinematics quite easily. Once you know the position, velocity and acceleration of a robotic movement, you can describe its kinematics.

Robot kinematics deals with the way in which robots move, as opposed to the forces that drive their movement. When looking at the kinematics used in a robotic movement, everything is relative to another object. For example, the movement of a robotic foot cannot be measured or calculated without a kinematic model of the leg to which it is attached.

The study of robot kinematics centres around two major fields – forward kinematics and inverse kinematics.

Forward kinematics is what we use to establish the position of a robotic limb when all variables of the robot joint are known. For example, if we know all the joint variables of a robotic ankle, we can use forward kinematics to determine the position of the robot’s foot.

Inverse kinematics works to establish the joint variables required to give a robotic limb a particular position and orientation.

If all of this sounds a bit confusing, don’t worry! There will be plenty more discussion, study and insight posted on this blog over the coming weeks to help clarify the basics on robot kinematics.

 

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