|
Crawler (BEAM)
In BEAM robotics, a crawler is a robot that has a mode of locomotion by tracks or by transferring the robot's body on limbs or appendages. These do not drag parts of their body on the ground. In the original paper "living machines" from 1995, two types of robots were introduced which was the Walkman (a simple crawler) and Spyder, which is a more elaborated legged robot. The difference between a walker and a crawler is, that the crawler is more primitive. It has robot legs and can move forward on the carpet but the legs don't have dedicated joints for articulated movements. Instead they are mounted directly on the robot's base. The design of a crawler robot isn't specified in detail and each robot engineer is allowed to build their own version. Sometimes, crawling robots are equipped with dedicated microcontrollers plus a radio controlled chipset while in other implementations a minimalist approach is used. What all these robots have in common is, that they are following the philo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BEAM Robotics
BEAM robotics (from biology, electronics, aesthetics and mechanics) is a style of robotics that primarily uses simple analogue circuits, such as comparators, instead of a microprocessor in order to produce an unusually simple design. While not as flexible as microprocessor based robotics, BEAM robotics can be robust and efficient in performing the task for which it was designed. BEAM robots may use a set of the analog circuits, mimicking biological neurons, to facilitate the robot's response to its working environment. Mechanisms and principles The basic BEAM principles focus on a stimulus-response based ability within a machine. The underlying mechanism was invented by Mark W. Tilden where the circuit (or a Nv net of Nv neurons) is used to simulate biological neuron behaviours. Some similar research was previously done by Ed Rietman in 'Experiments In Artificial Neural Networks'. Tilden's circuit is often compared to a shift register, but with several important features makin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robot
A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be constructed to evoke human form, but most robots are task-performing machines, designed with an emphasis on stark functionality, rather than expressive aesthetics. Robots can be autonomous or semi-autonomous and range from humanoids such as Honda's ''Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility'' ( ASIMO) and TOSY's ''TOSY Ping Pong Playing Robot'' ( TOPIO) to industrial robots, medical operating robots, patient assist robots, dog therapy robots, collectively programmed ''swarm'' robots, UAV drones such as General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, and even microscopic nano robots. By mimicking a lifelike appearance or automating movements, a robot may convey a sense of intelligence or thought of its own. Autonomous things are expected to proliferat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Legged Robot
Legged robots are a type of mobile robot which use articulated limbs, such as leg mechanisms, to provide locomotion. They are more versatile than wheeled robots and can traverse many different terrains, though these advantages require increased complexity and power consumption. Legged robots often imitate legged animals, such as humans or insects, in an example of biomimicry. Gait and support pattern Legged robots, or walking machines, are designed for locomotion on rough terrain and require control of leg actuators to maintain balance, sensors to determine foot placement and planning algorithms to determine the direction and speed of movement. The periodic contact of the legs of the robot with the ground is called the gait of the walker. In order to maintain locomotion the center of gravity of the walker must be supported either statically or dynamically. Static support is provided by ensuring the center of gravity is within the support pattern formed by legs in contact ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robot Leg
A robot leg (or robotic leg) is a mechanical leg that performs the same functions that a human leg can. The robotic leg is typically programmed to execute similar functions as a human leg. A robotic leg is similar to a prosthetic leg. However, a robotic leg can be controlled electrically or mechanically. To have the robotic leg emulate human leg behaviors, surgeons must redirect the nerves that previously controlled some of the person’s lower-leg muscles to cause the thigh muscles to contract. Sensors embedded in the robotic leg measure the electrical pulses created by both a re-innervated muscle contraction, and the existing thigh muscle. Mechanism A robotic Leg attaches to an individual who has had a lower extremity amputation—of a portion of a leg or foot. Doctors and technicians measure the remaining limb structure and of the person’s prosthesis to ideally fit the robotic leg. After they attach the robotic leg, they embed the sensors in the robotic leg that measure the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Microcontrollers
A microcontroller (MCU for ''microcontroller unit'', often also MC, UC, or μC) is a small computer on a single VLSI integrated circuit (IC) chip. A microcontroller contains one or more CPUs ( processor cores) along with memory and programmable input/output peripherals. Program memory in the form of ferroelectric RAM, NOR flash or OTP ROM is also often included on chip, as well as a small amount of RAM. Microcontrollers are designed for embedded applications, in contrast to the microprocessors used in personal computers or other general purpose applications consisting of various discrete chips. In modern terminology, a microcontroller is similar to, but less sophisticated than, a system on a chip (SoC). An SoC may connect the external microcontroller chips as the motherboard components, but an SoC usually integrates the advanced peripherals like graphics processing unit (GPU) and Wi-Fi interface controller as its internal microcontroller unit circuits. Microcontrollers a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Radio Control
Radio control (often abbreviated to RC) is the use of control signals transmitted by radio to remotely control a device. Examples of simple radio control systems are garage door openers and keyless entry systems for vehicles, in which a small handheld radio transmitter unlocks or opens doors. Radio control is also used for control of model vehicles from a hand-held radio transmitter. Industrial, military, and scientific research organizations make use of radio-controlled vehicles as well. A rapidly growing application is control of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) for both civilian and military uses, although these have more sophisticated control systems than traditional applications. History The idea of controlling unmanned vehicles (for the most part in an attempt to improve the accuracy of torpedoes for military purposes) predates the invention of radio. The latter half of the 1800s saw development of many such devices, connected to an operator by wires, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Biology, Electronics, Aesthetics And Mechanics
BEAM robotics (from biology, electronics, aesthetics and mechanics) is a style of robotics that primarily uses simple analogue circuits, such as comparators, instead of a microprocessor in order to produce an unusually simple design. While not as flexible as microprocessor based robotics, BEAM robotics can be robust and efficient in performing the task for which it was designed. BEAM robots may use a set of the analog circuits, mimicking biological neurons, to facilitate the robot's response to its working environment. Mechanisms and principles The basic BEAM principles focus on a stimulus-response based ability within a machine. The underlying mechanism was invented by Mark W. Tilden where the circuit (or a Nv net of Nv neurons) is used to simulate biological neuron behaviours. Some similar research was previously done by Ed Rietman in 'Experiments In Artificial Neural Networks'. Tilden's circuit is often compared to a shift register, but with several important features makin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heteroptera
The Heteroptera are a group of about 40,000 species of insects in the order Hemiptera. They are sometimes called "true bugs", though that name more commonly refers to the Hemiptera as a whole. "Typical bugs" might be used as a more unequivocal alternative, since the heteropterans are most consistently and universally termed "bugs" among the Hemiptera. "Heteroptera" is Greek for "different wings": most species have forewings with both membranous and hardened portions (called hemelytra); members of the primitive sub-group Enicocephalomorpha have completely membranous wings. The name "Heteroptera" is used in two very different ways in modern classifications. In Linnean nomenclature, it commonly appears as a suborder within the order Hemiptera, where it can be paraphyletic or monophyletic depending on its delimitation. In phylogenetic nomenclature, it is used as an unranked clade within the Prosorrhyncha clade, which in turn is in the Hemiptera clade. This results from the realiza ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nv Network
A Nv network is a term used in BEAM robotics referring to the small electrical Neural Networks that make up the bulk of BEAM-based robot control mechanisms. Building blocks The most basic component included in Nv Networks is the Nv neuron. The purpose of a Nv neuron is simply to take an input, do something with it, and give an output. The most common action of Nv neurons is to give a delay. BEAM Nv Neurons The standard for BEAM-based neurons is a capacitor that has one lead as an input, and the other going into the input line of an inverter. That inverter's output is the output of the neuron. The capacitor lead that is inputting into the inverter is pulled to ground with a resistor. The neuron functions because when an input is received (positive power on the input line), it charges the capacitor. Once the input is lost (negative power on the input line), the capacitor discharges into the inverter, causing the inverter to produce an output that is passed to the next neuron. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Pattern Generator
Central pattern generators (CPGs) are self-organizing biological neural circuits that produce rhythmic outputs in the absence of rhythmic input. They are the source of the tightly-coupled patterns of neural activity that drive rhythmic and stereotyped motor behaviors like walking, swimming, breathing, or chewing. The ability to function without input from higher brain areas still requires modulatory inputs, and their outputs are not fixed. Flexibility in response to sensory input is a fundamental quality of CPG-driven behavior. To be classified as a rhythmic generator, a CPG requires: # "two or more processes that interact such that each process sequentially increases and decreases, and # that, as a result of this interaction, the system repeatedly returns to its starting condition." CPGs have been found in invertebrates, and practically all vertebrate species investigated, including humans. General anatomy and physiology Intrinsic properties of CPG neurons CPG neurons can h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pseudorandom Number Generator
A pseudorandom number generator (PRNG), also known as a deterministic random bit generator (DRBG), is an algorithm for generating a sequence of numbers whose properties approximate the properties of sequences of random numbers. The PRNG-generated sequence is not truly random, because it is completely determined by an initial value, called the PRNG's ''seed'' (which may include truly random values). Although sequences that are closer to truly random can be generated using hardware random number generators, ''pseudorandom number generators'' are important in practice for their speed in number generation and their reproducibility. PRNGs are central in applications such as simulations (e.g. for the Monte Carlo method), electronic games (e.g. for procedural generation), and cryptography. Cryptographic applications require the output not to be predictable from earlier outputs, and more elaborate algorithms, which do not inherit the linearity of simpler PRNGs, are needed. Good statis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
