Tai Chi Robot

[SPJ]

Tai Chi robot

[PangQuan]

This is soo neat!

It now poses a new question;

At what point will robots actually be able to take place in real time combat??

Yes, we are very far away, but we are never the less on the path...

Will human sport combat be replaced by robot combat?

Will one day we see a kung fu robot vs a karate robot? This will be very interesting to see techniques played out in combat situations with out the fear of killing. A fight competition with no rules other than "disable your oponent"....

[SPJ]

robot soldier

[PangQuan]

OMG

A freaking mech power armor!!!!

I dont have a language pack installed on this comp...

Are those weapons live?

[SPJ]

My Japanese is limited.

However, the company makes agricultural machinery.

The robot only fires rubber balls.

It moves like a snail even slower than a Tai Chi practitioner.

But the concept of building one and marching in the battle field will be like an episode in Star Wars by George Lucas films.

[PangQuan]

give it 50 years...

[Ou Ji]

http://i4u.com/article2536.html

[GeneChing]

Check out Sony's tai chi robot. Sony and Nirvana Tech needs to stage a push hands match.

[Bagua8]

Dude....... that is so freaking cool.

[FuXnDajenariht]

SONY Tai Chi robot:

yea dude. thats the sweetest thing ever.

very futuristic looking too.

long gone are the days of robots tipping over on the first 2 steps.

did you see the sweet kick it did? total awesomeness

[GeneChing]

Not quite a robot. More like a robotic skateboard. Click link for pic.

Professor, students build scooter based on Tai Chi principles
By Kim Medaris, Purdue University News Service
Posted March 17, 2009 (109 views)

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Motorized scooters controlled through the use of handlebars are a frequent sight on sidewalks, but a Purdue University professor and his students have built a scooter that relies more heavily on the rider’s sense of balance.

Henry Zhang, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering technology, along with four students, spent several months building a hands-free, two-wheeled, self-balancing scooter based on the principles of Tai Chi, a form of Chinese martial arts that centers on focusing the mind and staying aware of your center of balance.

The scooter contains a platform to stand on, and the on-off, and turning functions are initiated by the rider via a remote control. Zhang said that what makes their machine unique is that there is no handlebar for driving or steering. Instead, these actions are controlled by the rider shifting his or her Tai Chi poses. The scooter is driven forward and backward through the rider’s self-balancing, and its turning is controlled by optical encoder signal feedback that monitors the angular displacement of the remotely triggered DC motor with gear reduction.

The machine was designed and built in Purdue’s Multidisciplinary Design Lab at the Department of Mechanical Engineering Technology. Zhang and his students did the wiring, coding and assembly. The scooter has multiple functions and safety features with a real-time controller, latching relay system, drives and motors. Multiple sensor fusion perceives the movement of the rider and feeds the signals to the controller to slow down or accelerate the machine accordingly. The machine is powered with three 24-volt, 40-amp rechargeable batteries. The scooter’s top speed is about 15 mph.

Zhang said his goal with the project is to use the scooter as a tangible example of what he terms “hands-on, minds-on” interdisciplinary projects for learning and research that students can pursue if they study in the College of Technology.

Students working with Zhang on the project were Qiong Li, Danny Rodriguez and Ryne McHugh, all graduate students in mechanical engineering technology; and James Walls, a freshman in electrical and computer engineering technology.

[xcakid]

http://www.plasticpals.com/?p=14243

[Skip J.]

http://www.plasticpals.com/?p=14243

Boy - I wish we could stay in sync that close......

Thanks xcakid.....

[SanHeChuan]

Chinese Sword Fighting Robot

[GeneChing]

If you held a demolition derby on Boilermaker Ones, would it be like push hands?

Professor creates hands-free scooter
By Kerry Kirk
Features Editor
Publication Date: 10/20/2009

A Purdue professor used the ideas of Tai Chi to create a hands-free scooter called “The Boilermaker One.”

Henry Zhang, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering said he is favored by students for his life-experience and can make something “so complicated, very simple.”

“I always try to make complicated things simpler; I always try to help students understand complicated things in a simple way,” he said.

After obtaining five degrees between China and America, Zhang said he enjoys the world of academia because of six different aspects: teaching, learning, being practical, being useful, being beneficial (making money) and touching on a variety of fields.

He worked at Chrysler for 13 years and estimated 20 percent of the cars on the road are using his design. He designed the hydraulic control system and sensors in automatic transmissions used in all front-wheel drive vehicles.

“When I teach students, they love it because I can give examples,” he said. “They love it when you have real-world experience.”

“The Boilermaker One” looks much like a Segway without handle bars and is controlled by sensors and a remote control. Zhang explained that people can’t fall off because when it leans forward, the scooter moves with the body.

“Our scooter is hands-free, self-balancing and fully remote-controlled,” he said. “It relies more heavily on the rider's sense of balance. Its control codes are done by graphic programming, and it has a sensor fusion and real-time parallel, processing optimal control.”

Although Tai Chi is a difficult practice, Zhang said it is based on its fundamental teachings.

“Tai Chi’s poses are very complicated; we only need very simple ones to drive the scooter,” he said, these include having focus and knowing your center of body.

The scooter can hit about 15 mph with a battery life of up to 15 minutes, or 10,000 feet. Zhang said he and the four students working on the scooter are planning on putting the motor in the hub on their next model to make it more compact. They have spent nine months trying to perfect “The Boilermaker One” and will soon start working to create the smaller version, “Boilermaker Two.”

Zhang said he designed the scooter strictly for educational purposes and has no intention of marketing it.

“It’s too complicated and there are already Segways,” he said. “The whole thing is to show my students how to design a complicated system like that.

“We started from scratch, designed it with beauty and made it right.”

James Walls, a sop****re in the College of Technology said it was a challenge to design the scooter, but they succeeded.

“We had a good time working on this project together,” he said.

Zhang is happy with his design and excited to improve the scooter.

“We do not need to stretch far to impress people,” Zhang said. “It’s a smart machine; that is enough for it.”