Dennis Hong: My seven species of robot

Evan McMahon

http://www.ted.com/talks/dennis_hong_my_seven_species_of_robot.html

This Ted talk is about engineering different kinds of robots and allowing them to have different types of motion. The work for this ted talk is based out of RoMeLa, which is a robotics lab based in Virgina. Dennis Hong is the speaker for this Ted talk and he describes seven different types of robots the lab is working on today. The first robot they are working on is called the Strider robot, which is a robot that has three legs and rotates around an axis. This robot’s movement is modeled to represent the way a pendulum moves. The second robot that they are working on is called the Impass robot, which is a wheeled like robot. In creating this one, Dennis Hong says they are basically reinventing the wheel. The interesting this about this robot is that it uses a laser range finder to calculate its necessary motions to move through obstacles. In the video, this robot climbs up a wall that is three times the size of itself. The third robot that is show in this video is called CLIMBeR which stands for cable-suspended limbed intelligent matching behavior robot. This robot was inspired by space mission where we have sent robots to scout out mars to give us video footage, but they are turned away when they have a cliff to get over or down. This robot is intended to have the ability to climb these cliffs. The next robot is called Mars, which stands for Multi-appendage robotic system. The cool thing about this robot is that they take it out to the beach and make it walk in different types of sand. This robot adapts to different environment by changing its foot soil sinkage model. Another thing that this lab is experimenting with is whole skin locomotion. This is inspired by amebiod mortality mechanism. In this, movement is created by storing potential energy in an elastic skin, then releasing it to cause motion. RAPHaEL stands for robotic air powered hand with elastic ligaments. This is a robotic hand that uses compressed air instead of robotic motors to cause movement. Most artificial hands cost thousands of dollars, but what makes this model revolutionary is that it only costs $200 to make the prototype. The sixth robot is the HyDRAS. This stands for hyper degrees of freedom robotic articulated serpentine and is a snake like robot that allows for user interface by creating motion with the use of fiber optics. The seventh and final robot is called DARwIn which stands for Dynamic Anthropomorphic robot with intelligence. This robot is modeled after actual human beings and posses artificial intelligence. I am very interest in the engineering field and what really spikes my interest is that they actually are modeling robots now after humans. I find it very interesting that there are all these different ways to create motion artificially. I think it is especially relevant to me because I obviously haven’t had the ability to experience natural human motion for the past five months. Dennis Hong is the founder of the robotics lab RoMeLa in Virginia. He has been at the forefront of many breakthroughs in robotic design and engineering. He initially got his education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he got his B.S. in mechanical engineering. He then got his M.S. and Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Purdue. Before he founded RoMeLa in 2003 he taught engineering classes at Purdue. I believe that the main characteristic of Dr. Hong is that he is extremely creative. His creativity are what provide him with a platform to come up with the innovative ideas that he has. He says in his Ted Talk that the inspiration he has for these robots literally comes to him in dreams he has. In order to create a robot like the RoMeLa lab does, you need to be able to step back and think outside the box. Dr. Hong does this and that is what has made him so successful in this field. I found that this Ted Talk was extremely interesting and had some points that were relevant to what I what to do in the future. I have always been very interested in the medical profession, except without the whole actually working with people thing. That is why I became interesting in the actually technology used in the medical profession. What pushed me into deciding to choose an engineering major is that I am really fascinated with robotic limbs. I plan to study engineering at UCSC next year and then I hope to move on to get my Masters in engineering as well. I want my career to have something to do with creating a better robotic limb to more accurately mimic how limbs really work. Something that inspired this is seeing people on t.v. participating in sporting events with the weird curved hook-like artificial leg that allows for people with amputated legs to walk again. I think it’s great that this provides the ability to walk again, but I think the hook leg sort of looks funny and would love to create a robotic-artificial leg that actually looks like a normal leg (with toes and what not). Overall, I found this Ted Talk very interesting and it has really led me to become excited in my future education.