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The M.A.R.S. (Multi-Appendage Robot System) is a robotic instrument designed in conjunction with the NASA JPL to be used in zero gravity to walk outside the space station (to perform maintenance tasks), or next-generation space exploration tasks.

For traction, the robot cannot use magnets (because of aluminum or ceramic surfaces) or suction cups (due to lack of air). Therefore, its feet are covered with microscopic hair with adhesive properties not too different from the appendage system of geckos. According to this BBC article, the little lizards have tiny hairs and pads on their feet that produce electrical attractions, literally gluing them down to any kind of surface - even polished glass.

The hexapod robot can perform six-dimensional range space calculations in order to maintain balance in space. LabVIEW RealTime software enables the robot to perform this control analysis in the vicinity of 25 nanoseconds.

Click here to download a video (37MB) of the M.A.R.S. robot demonstration.

The video also briefly talks about contact force calculation for a three-legged, winch-supported robot that can tackle adverse vertical terrain.

Here is a paper (pdf) by Dr. Dennis W Hong (who also presents the video demonstration) that goes into further detail about the NASA JPL LEMUR IIa design (that the MARS robot is based on), along with references to other robotic gait systems.

(via EngineeringTV)

I stumbled upon a video demonstration of PICO, a project that serves as a strong precursor to indicate the future of automaton interaction, based on the influence of computational/physical optimization.

PICO stands for Physical Intervention in Computational Optimization and is a project by James Patten, an MIT graduate whose biography describes him as a creator of interactive works in diverse media.

Objects placed on the Pico table, as demonstrated in the video, are controlled via software and electromagnetics, implying that client objects under control within the defined space are passive, but building an additional layer of intelligence into the objects themselves would provide an extra dimension of laws for the interaction amongst the objects in the given spatial dimensions.

While PICO provides an excellent automation framework for applications such as factory floor plan layouts and CNC toolpath optimization, it would be an interesting framework to apply towards social interaction for distributed robotics.

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University are pushing the lower limits of robotics design by pursuing the task of building robots that can literally walk on water. These water striding robots weigh just 10 grams, and use Teflon-coated legs to repel water. DC Servo Micro-motors (commonly found in smaller electronic devices like pagers) power these robots.

Difficult as it may seem, achieving balance on the water surface may not be the most daunting task at all - more likely, the challenge is going to lie in maintaining that balance over surface tension while initiating and coordinating the move. In fact, these robots can even walk backwards, going one step beyond the water strider insect that they emulate.

Watch a video of these robot designs on EngineeringTV.