Segway Robot Opens Doors
From: Technology Research News - 11/26/2003
By: Eric Smalley and Kimberly Patch

Cardea is a one-armed robot created by MIT researchers that can navigate
hallways and open doors; it incorporates the base of a Segway scooter
platform, whose dynamic balancing is essential to keeping the machine's arm
practical, according to MIT scientist Una-May O'Reilly. The five-foot,
200-pound Cardea prototype deploys a kickstand to prevent falling, while two
cameras serve as a vision system and sonar sensors aid in navigation.
Researchers plan to outfit the robot with two additional arms, heat sensors,
and a head so that it can safely interact with people at human-height level;
each arm will have six degrees of freedom and will be equipped with end
effectors or hands, while Cardea's vision system will be enhanced with
improved panning ability and arm-vision system coordination. As with
precursor robots such as Cog and Kizmet, Cardea will be programmed to learn
in an unstructured environment through exploration, trained to recognize and
manipulate objects, and use vocal tones and facial expressions to interact
with people. O'Reilly adds that researchers are investigating how to make the
robot capable of recharging its power supply. Cardea is one of a dozen
federal and university projects involving robots built on Segway bases that
were launched by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The Segway's
dynamic balancing abilities come into play when Cardea's arm moves, which
causes its center of mass to shift. "Regardless of where the weight is on top
of it...the platform is able to move with balance," O'Reilly notes.  

Limks:
http://www.trnmag.com/Stories/2003/111903/Segway_robot_opens_doors_111903.html
http://radio.weblogs.com/0105910/categories/sidebars/2003/11/12.html
http://www.techreview.com/articles/rnb_111103.asp
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/cardea.html

