Original Legacy Web site
(2003-on... > For the new RSA Web site
click here)
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EXPO 2005
The 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan, 3/25-9/25
Robot
Project: We Live in the Robot Age
An Opportunity to Encounter Diverse Robots...The Japan Association for the 2005 World Exposition will conduct a Robot Project at EXPO 2005. The project will feature working robots that clean, patrol, guide visitors, and perform other tasks, as well as prototype robots...Japanese people have had an affinity to robots for decades, largely due to their depiction in animation and other fiction...[Program tracks
include]...Working Robots...Five
types...Prototype Robot Exhibition...63 prototypes...held for 11 days from Thursday, June 9, to Sunday, June 19, at the Morizo and Kiccoro Exhibition Center...Robot Station...the hub of the Robot Project. The pavilion will include a stage on which working robots will give demonstrations...visitors will be able to interact with robots at any time..."
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Saturn
moon
Titan's
Cassini-Huygens
Space-Faring Robot Probe/Lander
Webcast
Report
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RoboNexus
International Conference & Exposition
Oct 21-23, 2004, Santa Clara Convention Center,
5001 Great America Parkway, Santa Clara, CA
"RoboNexus is a multifaceted international forum bringing together all of the major players driving the burgeoning personal, service and mobile robotics markets. RoboNexus includes over 50,000 square feet of expo and will feature the latest robotics products, technologies and applications."
A
popular economically priced mobile robot was the line of "R2D2
like" PC-based machines from "White Box Robotics". The star
of the Expo was the next generation Humanoid Robot Kawada Industries HRP-2
"Promet", the final robotic platform for the Humanoid Robotics
Project in Japan, whose 1st generation products included the Honda Humanoid Asimo.
Enjoy video clips of the event & of "Promet" in action on
the Kawada & Yahoo video search sites.
RoboNexus:
Website,
videos
HRP-2 "Promet":
Kawada,
Yahoo
(translate Japanese site to English with Babelfish)
White Box: 912
PC-Bots
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ROBODEX2003
and
Astro Boy/Tetsuwan Atomu
Birthday Celebration
April 7, 2003
Report
Astro
Boy/Tetsuwan
Atomu,
Sony Pictures Atom Dream Project
Movie clips
100 300
500 K
Japanese
100
300 500
K English
AP
Story
ROBODEX2003
pictures and movies
from Fumihiko Abe ("Gromit") !
Pictures
Astro Boy Birth Exhibit (1,
2, 3)
Atom Dream Project (1,
2)
Movies 1
(Note: some SDR-4X II)
Movies 2
(Note: the 2 big hi-res avi movies (ROBOT_Parade.avi (20 minutes long)
\ SDR4X2_BackStage.avi (10 minutes long)), need the DivX Video 5.0.5 for
Windows codec at http://www.divx.com/divx/;
download/install DivX (NOT DivX Pro), it will automatically add itself as a
"plug-in" to your Windows Media Player; then download the 2 avi
movies to your hard drive; when done downloading, click on the filename
& Window Media Player will launch and play the movies using the DivX
codec)
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HOAP-1 (Humanoid for Open
Architecture Platform)
"Fujitsu
Introduces Miniature Humanoid Robot, HOAP-1...Weighing 6kg and standing 48cm
tall...The robot also comes with basic simulation
software that enables users to confirm operability of their control programs
in advance...
...The basic simulation software and user-developed programs are designed to
run on RT-Linux on an operating command PC, which communicates with the the
robot through a USB interface...
...The included PC uses C/ C++ language with VRML model
data to allow 3D simulation of actual robot actions before attempting action
with the robot...
...Fujitsu Automation will start accepting orders starting September
10...Forestville Technology announces distribution, in North America, of the
HOAP-1 Humanoid Robot
Phone (215) 740-7397 Fax (215) 619-2766 email: sales@forestec.com"
Press Release:
Current
Original
ZD
Net UK News
Original
RSA ROBODEX2002 HOAP coverage (Japanese translation)
ROBODEX2002
HOAP-1 video clip
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DR. ROBOT

"The voice-commanded Dr. Robot, available next year... This is a toy. But it walks, talks, dances, evades obstacles and can even tell jokes or give investment advice. Its secret is your PC, which it uses as a gateway to the Internet via a Bluetooth link. This Web connection, along with an onboard camera, enables you
to, say, check in on your kids from the road. The downside: It moves like a wobbly tot, shaky and unable to handle stairs...If it falls, Dr. Robot can get back up. After an hour, it automatically plugs itself into a power outlet for recharging. Interfacing in real-time with a PC, its intelligence has no
limit". (Popular Science, 2/03)
FUNCTION
Assistant
SIZE
24"., 8 lbs.
COMMAND INPUT
Voice/PC
SENSORS
11
VISION SYSTEM
Mono
DEGREES OF FREEDOM 27
WALKING SPEED
1.2kph
ESTIMATED COST $1,500
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Mars Exploration Rovers 2004
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"Maestro"
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has released Maestro, a public version of the primary software tool used by NASA scientists to design goals for the Mars Exploration Rovers and analyze the images received from Mars. Anyone can download Maestro for free from
http://mars.telascience.org/ and use it to follow along with the rovers’ progress during the mission. You can use Maestro to view pictures from Mars in 2D and 3D and create simplified rover activity plans. During the mission, updates will be released for Maestro containing the latest images from Mars.
On the Maestro website, you can download a scaled-down version of the program that NASA scientists use to operate Spirit and Opportunity.
Data Updates are also available for Maestro that contain real data from Mars that you can add to your copy of Maestro.
Go to the Updates section to download all of the latest data from Mars for Maestro!

Maestro Downloads &
Links:
Maestro
Data Updates
Online Manual
PDF Manual
(6MB) Help Desk
"DriveOnMars"
NASA Mars Exploration Rovers
(MER)
Virtual Worlds Simulator
For NASA Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) January 2004 MER landings on Mar next
year, an Adobe Atmosphere Virtual Worlds Builder with Physics simulator & Avatars... DigitalSpace Founder Bruce Damer has setup the "Drive on Mars"
website..."Drive on Mars" can model mars surface
that MER sees and allow people to drive on Mars virtually...Bruce has done considerable earlier pioneering Atmosphere work for NASA
Ames, including a virtual habitat on Mars & a Simulation of the
International Space Station with the Personal Satellite Assistant (PSA)
robot.
Martian Mediameister Cliff's
Avatar "DriveOnMars" test drive screenshot Original
SFRSA Coverage:
Bruce's work
Personal Satellite
Assistant (PSA) robot NASA Ames Talk
Bruces'
Simulation of the International Space Station
with the Personal Satellite Assistant (PSA) robot:
Screenshot
Website
(requires Adobe
Atmosphere plug-in;
may require a screen Refresh to kick-in;
offers Quick Time/AVI movie alternatives)
Digital
Space Corporation Digital Space Commons
Adobe
Atmosphere
Mars 2004 Mars Exploration Rovers Mission to Mars
Animation
Some interesting places to "Drive On Mars":
NASA Mars
2004 Missions and beyond...Mars 2004 Twin
Mars Exploration
Rovers...two landing sites
include Melas Chasma
in Valles Marineris,
Terra Meridiani
(in R/B glasses 3-D
) & Gusev Crater
(3-D
rendering)
"NASA picks Mars landing sites" (4/11/03)
(Terra Meridiani (now called Meridiani Planum) and Gusev
Crater)
NASA Ames Center for Mars Exploration
(CMEX)
Gallery
The Mars Project
Mars landscapes & animations
The Netherlands' Kees Veenenbos, on his "space4case" site, has rendered landscapes and 3-D animations and fly-bys of Mars, made with the NASA Mars Global Surveyor
(MGS) Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data and NASA
PDS files. The scenes are rendered as they look today, including winter iced areas, & through simulation, may have looked 3 to 4 billion years ago, with water. The NASA data is converted to Digital Elevation Map (DEM) files, enabling generation of accurate 3-D landscape, over which the camera view data is essentially "texture-mapped", producing a view of
Mars as it actually appears, in 3-D with natural colors & textures as photographed by the MGS cameras -
during a virtual fly-by, just like being there.
(Note: (1) the animations require the Divx Codec (for Windows, choose/download/install
"DivX502Bundle.exe DivX 5.0.2
Bundle", it will automatically add the codec to your Windows Media Player);
(2) it's recommended to 1st download to your hard drive, then play locally, the main animations, part 1 & 2, each
27Mb)
space4case
landscape
renderings 3-D
animation/fly-by
Related
Mars MOLA movie
For the current Mother of All
Mars MOLA Movies, "Mojo Mars", depicting NASA Mars 2003 Exploration
Rover (MER) at Gusev Crater candidate landing site, visit Adobe Atmosphere
Virtual Worlds Developer Bruce Damer's Digital Space Commons "Drive On Mars"
site "Mojo Mars" page, and download the file where it reads
"...Quicktime movie...".
(Note: (1) it's required to 1st download to your hard drive, then play
locally, because the animation "will not stream"...though the Mojo Mars
movie is 255Mb, the file's long download is well worth the viewing)
"Mojo Mars" movie
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NASA Ames Research Park
Carnegie Mellon West
Robotic Autonomy Course
Graduation Day Contest & Exhibition
Report
"Carnegie Mellon University presents a course in Robotic Autonomy in collaboration with NASA Ames as part of its West Coast Initiative"
"A seven-week robotics summer program for high school juniors and seniors to be held at
Carnegie Mellon West, Moffett Field, California, July 1 - August 16, 2002"
"Robotic
Autonomy, a new summer robotics camp offered by Carnegie Mellon University in collaboration with NASA/Ames Research Center. This course will introduce students to the electronics, mechanics and computer science of robotics, culminating in a series of
autonomous robot challenges. Students will build, program and operate vision-based mobile robots capable of sophisticated sensing and intelligent decision-making. At the conclusion of the course, each student will take a complete, vision-based robot home so that they may continue to explore robotics on their
own".

NASA Ames
Tech Space Pavilion
Mars Rover prototype "K-9" demo report
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Mar 28-30, 2002
Place Pacifico Yokohama Exhibition Hall
1-1-1, Minatomorai, Nishi-ku, Yokohama-city, Kanagawa, Japan
"ROBODEX started in 2000 as the first
large-scale exhibition in the world to gather
human symbiotic robots. In ... Expo ROBODEX
2002...The goal of ROBODEX is to provide people with "love" and "dream" through robots and to realize a society where humans and
robots cohabit with each other".
(Note: the above Dates/Times in Japan convert to Mar 27-29 in California)
Live/Archive Webcast
Print Screens
Event
Notes
ROBODEX2002 movies!
from Fumihiko Abe ("Gromit")
Japan's "PC Watch"
ROBODEX2002 reports
include many video clips & other exhibitor booths 'bots (0,
1,
2,
3)
(Site in Japanese. For Japanese-to-English Web page translator
use Babelfish on URL's)
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Spider-bot prototype
"Researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., have created a micro robot...Dubbed "spider-bot" for its spider-like appearance, this itsy-bitsy, high-tech critter may one day chart the terrain on other planets and explore smaller bodies, such as comets, asteroids or the Moon" (JPL 2002 News Releases)
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Honda Humanoid Advertisement
Discover Magazine Apr. 02 Inside Cover for Asimo

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"New Sony Robot Has Steep Price Tag"
"It Sings and Dances...and will go on sale later this year".
The Associated Press story on
ABC News.com
Japan's PC Watch
SDR-4X
tech diagrams/close-ups
(In Japanese -
use Alta Vista Babelfish (above)
Japanese-to-English webpage translator on URL's)
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FLESH AND MACHINES
How Robots Will Change Us.
By Rodney A. Brooks
BOOK REVIEW DESK
Even Tin Men Get the Blues by Dick Teresi
(Book Review submitted by
Steven MacIntyre, Alumnae '68,
Villa St. Jean École Internationale)
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Discovery Science Channel
"Robots" series on AT&T Digital Cable
Thursdays at 6pm PST & other times
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NASA Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) Mars
Yard "...simulated Mars landscape for testing and evaluation
of
rovers and robotics technology for future Mars surface exploration", some of which
genealogy,
(starting with "Tooth"),
may be seen during the day by the JPL
Mars Yard Cam.
After initial checkout at the Yard, Mars rovers often undergo further Field
Trials in increasingly Mars-like environments at Mojave Desert Silver
& Lavic
Lakes & also the North
Pole at Devon
Island (& environs)
& South
Pole McMurdo Station
(see Exploratorium Antartica Expedition Webcasts).
On Mars, a biomechatronic-based biomorphic
explorer armada of robots,
including a prototype humanoid "Mars Walker" co-developed by
IIS & PolyPedal
Lab, explore the Red Planet. Controlled by VR software like WITS
& Atmosphere,
the machines report back their findings over the Interplanetary
Internet. As the journeyings
do proceed,
these robotic advance scouts are preparing the way for the Human Exploration of
Mars, in accordance with The Reference Mission
(see Section 1, pg. 11) of the NASA Mars Exploration Study Team,
during this Era of Human History, the
Age of the Robotic Exploration
of the Solar System.
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SFRSA has a strong liaison relationship with NASA
REP, Headquartered at NASA Ames
in Mountain View, California. As our members often participate in NASA
REP events such as their FIRST Robotics sponsorships,
so REP exhibits
at our SFRSA Robot
Games & often post links to our site, such as one on their Homepage for the
summer of 2001, June
16, which read "School's out...Now what?!?...Why not get involved with robotics this summer?...There are activities for all ages and ability levels on some great sites on the web:...Check to see if there is a robotics hobby club in your area!...Visit the SFRSA web site for tips on Getting Started in Robotics!".

NASA TV "Earth Views" archive
video from orbiting Space Shuttle of rotating Earth
(1,2),
& animation of Robot Arm building Int'l Space Station (3),
from the Human SpaceFlight
Gallery. "On Saturdays and Sundays, NASA TV airs Earth Views beginning at Noon and continuing through 3am ET."
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Flash
Robot Entertainment
Jonathon Robinson's Flash Music Video portrays the robotic Prime Directive. Jonathon's other works are also
doing
well.

Robot Hut
Robot
Museum


AIBO "K-9" vs. Thunder Lizard!
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Foreign Language
Website/Email/Text Translator
Need a Japanese Robot website translated
into English or an email translated into Russian? Give Alta
Vista's "Babelfish" a try for a very usable 2-way
"rough gist" translation across 10 languages.
Website Time Traveller
Internet Archive Wayback Machine
Trying to find a reference to a robot on a
website the way it was sometime between now & 1996? The Internet Archive Wayback Machine
may have the page, as it does this Homepage of the NASA
Robotics Education Project (REP) summer of 2001, June 16,
suggesting "Why not get involved with robotics this summer?" & recommending a "Visit the SFRSA web site for tips on Getting Started in Robotics!".

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ROBOTS.ORG was awarded NASA's Space Telerobotics Program
"Cool Robot of the
Week"! for Oct 16, 2000
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Web site created , maintained & developed by SFRSA Mediameister Cliff
Thompson, (anime Cliff by
Kelsey Kraus), and WebBotChick,Toni Thompson. Built
(mostly) with FrontPage and lots of hard work!
Copyright © 2002 San
Francisco Robotics Society of America
Site last modified: February 12, 2005
cliffarobotsdorg
(a =
at sign, d
= dot (anti junk/spambot mung))
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