www.servomagazine.com/index.php?/magazine/article/january2013_Robytes
It's the Berries
A few years ago, the folks at the California Strawberry Commission ( www.calstrawberry.com) were inspired by the concept of driverless cars, which now cruise experimentally on California highways. They reasoned that if a car can navigate miles and miles of winding roads, surely a robotic vehicle could be devised to travel through a field and pick fruits and vegetables. So, in 2007, they got together with some researchers at UCLA, Caltech, and Cornell, and put together Robotic Harvesting LLC. The result is "a highly intelligent, self-navigating robotic harvester capable of automatically picking strawberries." The system has four elements: the robotic strawberry harvester itself, a strawberry data collector (a unit that takes photos to analyze berry size, plant pathogens, and other items of interest), a stereovision system used by the data collector, and a mobile platform used for harvesting, planting, spraying, and so on. Reportedly, the system can identify berries at the proper level of ripeness and pick them at rates of somewhere between two and five seconds each. The cost of the system was not specified, but it is said to be "economical," and interested parties are invited to contact the company for a free evaluation. Of course, videos are available at www.roboticharvesting.com/videos.html.
Robotic Harvesting's berrybot picks juicy strawberries using a robotic hand.
Robotic Circus ... Maybe
Last and certainly least in our robotics review is the Electric Animal Circus — a live show under development by Patrick Gleeson, a London-based, self-described "composer/coder/maker." He is not to be confused with the musician, synthesizer pioneer, composer, and producer from San Francisco of the same name. The Brit is in the process of assembling a traveling show that includes live original music performed on "strange made-up instruments," concept art, odd costumes and — of course — an assemblage of robotic animals. He recently announced completion of the first phase which seems to consist of settling on the concept. What is needed to move from a concept in a shed somewhere to the big time? "Well," he explained, "Now we need to actually create the show we've been talking about for so long. We need to gather together in one place a group of like-minded people, and a big chunk of cash, and begin the long journey that will end, one day, in a large
auditorium somewhere in the world, as the house lights dim, the crowd falls silent, the opening notes are played, and the Electric Animal Circus reveals itself to the world." If this piques your interest, drop in on www.electric animalcircus.com and check it out. Don't miss the recording by Miss Karla Kat & Her Ticking Kittens which actually isn't as awful as you are probably expecting. Then, if you have any skills in acting, animatronics, dance, filmmaking, or any related field (or if you just have money in your checking account), hop across the pond and join the fun. An insect-like creature in the workshop awaits its chance at fame and fortune.
UAS Provides Sophistication, Stealth
Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) come in all shapes and sizes these days, ranging from less than a pound to over 40,000 pounds. Since 2000, the US military alone has increased its inventory from about 50 to an estimated 7,000. As you may have noticed, the sophistication of UAVs has increased considerably, leading to a growing number of them being designated "unmanned aerial systems (UAS)" rather than UAVs. Toward the low end in terms of size but the high end in terms of sophistication is the Maveric UAS, produced by Prioria Robotics ( www.prioria.com) — a Gainesville-based company founded by graduates from the University of Florida. According to the company, "Maveric can be
SERVO 01.2013 9