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Robo sapiens: United States

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  • Dan Paluska, the mechanical engineering grad student leading M2's hardware design and construction, is seen here in a double exposure that melds him with his machine for a photo illustration. The lower torso and extremity robot, called M2, took its first tentative steps last year here in the basement of MIT's Leg Laboratory. Established in 1980 by Marc Raibert, the Leg Lab was home to the first robots that mimicked human walking; swinging like an inverted pendulum from step to step. Similar to image published on the cover of Wired Magazine, September 2000. MIT Leg Lab, Cambridge, MA.
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  • The M2 humanoid robot, built in the basement of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Leg Lab, took its first tentative steps in the year 2000. Dan Paluska, a mechanical engineering grad student, leads M2's hardware design and construction. The lower torso robot is funded by a DARPA (US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) program called Tactile Mobile Robotics. DARPA's goal is to replace soldiers and rescue workers in dangerous situations. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA USA.
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  • Graduate student Dan Paluska adjusts mechanisms of the lower torso and extremity robot, called M2. The robot is funded by a DARPA (US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) program called Tactile Mobile Robotics. DARPA's goal is to replace soldiers and rescue workers in dangerous situations. MIT Leg Lab, Cambridge, MA.
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  • Dan Paluska, the mechanical engineering grad student leading M2's hardware design and construction, is seen here in a double exposure that melds him with his machine for a photo illustration. The lower torso and extremity robot, called M2, took its first tentative steps last year here in the basement of MIT's Leg Laboratory. Established in 1980 by Marc Raibert, the Leg Lab was home to the first robots that mimicked human walking; swinging like an inverted pendulum from step to step. Similar to image published on the cover of Wired Magazine, September 2000. MIT Leg Lab, Cambridge, MA.
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  • Dan Paluska, the mechanical engineering grad student leading M2's hardware design and construction, is seen here in a double exposure that melds him with his machine for a photo illustration. The lower torso and extremity robot, called M2, took its first tentative steps last year here in the basement of MIT's Leg Laboratory. Established in 1980 by Marc Raibert, the Leg Lab was home to the first robots that mimicked human walking; swinging like an inverted pendulum from step to step. Similar to image published on the cover of Wired Magazine, September 2000. MIT Leg Lab, Cambridge, MA.
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  • Dan Paluska, the mechanical engineering grad student leading M2's hardware design and construction, is seen here in a double exposure that melds him with his machine for a photo illustration. The lower torso and extremity robot, called M2, took its first tentative steps last year here in the basement of MIT's Leg Laboratory. Established in 1980 by Marc Raibert, the Leg Lab was home to the first robots that mimicked human walking; swinging like an inverted pendulum from step to step. Similar to image published on the cover of Wired Magazine, September 2000. MIT Leg Lab, Cambridge, MA.
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  • Dan Paluska, the mechanical engineering grad student leading M2's hardware design and construction stands with his girlfriend, Jessica, at MIT Leg Lab, Cambridge, MA.
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  • Walking robot. Blur-flash image of Pinky, a walking robot prototype, being physically supported by researcher Dan Paluska at the Leg Lab. at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). Pinky is a next generation walking robot that, unlike previous generations, can walk untethered and unsupported at normal human pace. Pinky was built to help understand the dynamics of the human stride. Photographed in Cambridge, USA
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  • Pinky (chaperoned by graduate student Dan Paluska) is the prototype of the next walking robot from the MIT Leg Lab in Cambridge, MA. Established in 1980 by Marc Raibert, the Leg Lab was home to the first robots that mimicked human walking?swinging like an inverted pendulum from step to step. Famously, Raibert even built a robot that could flip itself in an aerial somersault and land on its feet. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 182.
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  • One of Rodney Brook's team's first subsumptive robots was the insectoid Attila (in photo from 1991), here being worked on by graduate student Cynthia Breazeal. The other pairs of hands belong to then-undergraduate student Mike Binnard, and former graduate student Colin Angle, who is now chief executive officer of the robotics firm iRobot. MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab, Cambridge, MA. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 60.
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  • Cynthia Ferrell (Breazeal) seemingly gives life to the robot Genghis at the M.I.T. Insect Robot Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA USA.
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  • Person gives life to Genghis at the M.I.T. Insect Robot Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • Cambridge, Massachusetts United States.Gehghis in "Playpen" at the M.I.T. Insect Robot Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • Rod Brooks gives life to Genghis at the M.I.T. Insect Robot Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • Colin Angle gives life to Genghis at the M.I.T. Insect Robot Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • Here COG,(short for cognitive) is seen using a slinky toy. Cog's designer is Rodney Brooks, head of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, in Cambridge, Mass. Although some might be discouraged by the disparity between the enormous amount of thought and labor that went into it and the apparently meager results (simulating the intelligence of a six month old baby), Brooks draws a different conclusion. That so much is required to come close to simulating a baby's mind, he believes, only shows the fantastic complexity inherent in the task of producing an artificially intelligent humanoid robot. Robo sapiens page 59
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  • Roboticist Rodney Brooks of the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory shares a slinky moment with his creation, Cog (short for cognitive), the robot he has been developing since 1993. Brooks is less concerned with making it mobile than with creating a system that will let the robot reliably tell the difference between static and social objects; for instance a rock and a person. In the resolution of such apparently simple distinctions, Brooks suggests, is a key to understanding at least one type of human learning. Cambridge, MA. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 62-63.
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  • Here COG,(short for cognitive) is seen using a slinky toy. Cog's designer is Rodney Brooks, head of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, in Cambridge, Mass. Although some might be discouraged by the disparity between the enormous amount of thought and labor that went into it and the apparently meager results (simulating the intelligence of a six month old baby), Brooks draws a different conclusion. That so much is required to come close to simulating a baby's mind, he believes, only shows the fantastic complexity inherent in the task of producing an artificially intelligent humanoid robot. Robo sapiens page 59
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  • Here COG,(short for cognitive) is seen using a slinky toy. Cog's designer is Rodney Brooks, head of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, in Cambridge, Mass. Although some might be discouraged by the disparity between the enormous amount of thought and labor that went into it and the apparently meager results (simulating the intelligence of a six month old baby), Brooks draws a different conclusion. That so much is required to come close to simulating a baby's mind, he believes, only shows the fantastic complexity inherent in the task of producing an artificially intelligent humanoid robot. Robo sapiens page 59
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  • Rodney Brooks of MIT (with the latest incarnation of Cog, his humanoid robot) believes it likely that robots can achieve humanlike intelligence and consciousness. But when that happens, he says, it will be unethical to have them work for us; we shouldn't treat our creations as our slaves. I think we're a long way from having to face it, but the landscape is going to be so unimaginable that it's hard to say sensible things." MIT, Cambridge, MA. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 25.
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  • Looking at Cog's still unfinished head, MIT neuroscientist Brian Scassellati ponders where he should mount the microphones that will enable the robot to hear. As important as controlling how the robot responds to people, he believes, is having some control over how people respond to the robot. The project does not have the resources to create a mock human being. MIT, Cambridge, MA. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 65.
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  • With its carapace not yet built, the mechanism inside the head of Cog is revealed against a photographer's lights. Cog's designer is Rodney Brooks, head of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, in Cambridge, MA. So much is required to come close to simulating a baby's mind, he believes, only shows the fantastic complexity inherent in the task of producing an artificially intelligent humanoid robot. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 59.
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  • Kismet is a complex autonomous, stationary robot developed by Dr. Cynthia Breazeal, at the time of this image a doctoral studies student at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Lab under the direction of Rod Brooks. Breazeal's immediate goal for Kismet is to replicate and possibly recognize human emotional states as exhibited in facial expressions. Kismet's eyelids, eyebrows, ears, mouth, and lips are all able to move independently to generate different expressions of emotional states. In this photograph, Cynthia poses with Kismet and "King Louie", a toy often used to stimulate the robot.
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  • MODEL RELEASED. Kismet robot interacting with a mirror held by researcher Cynthia Breazeal. Kismet is a robot that responds with facial expressions to her actions. It has been developed for the study of action recognition and learning, particularly in children. Kismet has several moods, which it displays as expressions on its face. It responds to visual stimuli like a baby. When there are no stimuli, it shows a sad expression. When paid attention to, as here, Kismet looks interested. Like a child, Kismet responds best to bright colours and moderate movements. Photographed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, USA.
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  • Wedged into her small, cluttered workspace in the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in Cambridge, MA., researcher Cynthia Breazeal holds a mirror to Kismet, the robot head she has been working on for two years. The cameras behind Kismet's big blue eyes send data to its computer, which has software allowing the robot to detect people and bright toys visually. In addition, the software recognizes people by vocal affect. Then, following its programming, it reacts, twisting its features in a comically exaggerated display of emotion. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 66.
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  • Eyes sweeping the room with what seems to be hopeful curiosity, Kismet the robot sits like an animated bust on Cynthia Breazeal's desk at MIT in Cambridge, MA. When it spots visitors, the robot's expression changes to an almost uncannily convincing expression of interest and delight. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species. One of a series of Kismet images.
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  • Eyes sweeping the room with what seems to be hopeful curiosity, Kismet the robot sits like an animated bust on Cynthia Breazeal's desk at MIT in Cambridge, MA. When it spots visitors, the robot's expression changes to an almost uncannily convincing expression of interest and delight. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species. One of a series of Kismet images.
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  • Eyes sweeping the room with what seems to be hopeful curiosity, Kismet the robot sits like an animated bust on Cynthia Breazeal's desk at MIT in Cambridge, MA. When it spots visitors, the robot's expression changes to an almost uncannily convincing expression of interest and delight. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species. One of a series of Kismet images.
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  • Eyes sweeping the room with what seems to be hopeful curiosity, Kismet the robot sits like an animated bust on Cynthia Breazeal's desk at MIT in Cambridge, MA. When it spots visitors, the robot's expression changes to an almost uncannily convincing expression of interest and delight. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species. One of a series of Kismet images.
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  • Eyes sweeping the room with what seems to be hopeful curiosity, Kismet the robot sits like an animated bust on Cynthia Breazeal's desk at MIT in Cambridge, MA. When it spots visitors, the robot's expression changes to an almost uncannily convincing expression of interest and delight. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species. One of a series of Kismet images.
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  • Eyes sweeping the room with what seems to be hopeful curiosity, Kismet the robot sits like an animated bust on Cynthia Breazeal's desk at MIT in Cambridge, MA. When it spots visitors, the robot's expression changes to an almost uncannily convincing expression of interest and delight. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species. One of a series of Kismet images.
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  • Eyes sweeping the room with what seems to be hopeful curiosity, Kismet the robot sits like an animated bust on Cynthia Breazeal's desk at MIT in Cambridge, MA. When it spots visitors, the robot's expression changes to an almost uncannily convincing expression of interest and delight. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species. One of a series of Kismet images.
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  • Eyes sweeping the room with what seems to be hopeful curiosity, Kismet the robot sits like an animated bust on Cynthia Breazeal's desk at MIT in Cambridge, MA. When it spots visitors, the robot's expression changes to an almost uncannily convincing expression of interest and delight. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species. One of a series of Kismet images.
    USA_rs_43_qxxs.jpg
  • Eyes sweeping the room with what seems to be hopeful curiosity, Kismet the robot sits like an animated bust on Cynthia Breazeal's desk at MIT in Cambridge, MA. When it spots visitors, the robot's expression changes to an almost uncannily convincing expression of interest and delight. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species. One of a series of Kismet images.
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  • Spread across a backlit surface like a Kandinsky painting, the disassembled Kismet head reveals the mechanisms (an updated second-generation version with a neck that "cranes") that allow it to manipulate its cartoonish lips, eyes, and ears into expressions that seem startlingly human. This next generation Kismet head is called K2. Chris Morse spent two hours taking it apart for us. Cynthia Breazeal developed Kismet at MIT in Cambridge, MA. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page  67.
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  • Cynthia Ferrell soldering at the M.I.T., Insect Robot Lab, Cambridge, MA. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • Robonaut, with an acrylic head, holds a drill with socket attachment at the Johnson Space Center, Houston. That NASA's teleoperated humanoid-type robot, called Robonaut, has no legs is by design, because in space, says project leader Robert Ambrose, an astronaut's legs can be a big impediment to fulfilling the mission of a spacewalk. The latest version of Robonaut has two arms, a Kevlar and nylon suit, updated stereo eyes, and is getting heat sensing capability. Possibly the most significant change is the move from total teleoperation to some level of autonomy.
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  • In the fenced Mars Yard at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the remote-sensing robot Rocky 7 navigates a mock-up of the terrain on the Red Planet. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 122-123.
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  • By flexing his data-gloved hand, robotics specialist Fredrik L. Rehnmark controls the NASA robonaut as it reaches for a battery-operated power drill on a test platform. Black goggles on Rehnmark's head give him the view from the twin digital cameras mounted in the robot's shiny carapace. Next to Rehnmark, engineer Hal A. Aldridge tracks the robot's test results. In a cavernous adjacent room in the Johnson Space Center  in Texas is a life-sized mock-up of the robonaut's future home: the NASA space shuttle. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 132-133.
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  • Feeling a hand resting on his shoulder, Robert J. Ambrose looks up to see a hovering Robonaut; the early prototype for the robotic astronauts his team is building for NASA at the Johnson Space Center in Texas. Intended to accompany astronauts into space, Robonaut will be especially important in emergencies. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 128.
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  • In a demonstration of mechanical dexterity, NASA's robot astronaut uses its hand to open a tether hook of the sort that will be used during the upcoming construction of the International Space Station. Designed to be as human-like as possible, Robonaut's hand has four fingers and an opposable thumb. Robonaut is the early prototype for the robotic astronaut being built at the Johnson Space Center in Texas. Intended to accompany astronauts into space, Robonaut will be especially important in emergencies. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 131 top.
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  • Spreading its solar-power panels to catch the last feeble light of day, the Rocky 7 patrols the Mars Yard of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Controlled by an operator (visible in shed window), it is working in dimly lit conditions like those it will face on Mars, which is much farther from the Sun than the Earth is. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 125.
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  • In Death Valley, California, the team responsible for a Russian Mars Rover 'Marsokhod' tests its vehicle to see how it will handle its maneuvering along the similar rocky terrain. The Planetary Society sponsored the test. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • Not long before going to Antarctica, William L. "Red" Whittaker took a rare moment off from his busy schedule to accompany Nomad, his meteorite-hunting robot, on a practice run. The robot spent Antarctica's summer of 2000 on the ice, hunting for meteorites. With its onboard instruments, Nomad found and classified five. It was the first time that a machine autonomously made a scientific discovery. Pittsburgh, PA. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 138-139.
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  • Working behind a plastic shroud that keeps dust out, NASA engineer Art Thompson of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, works with an early mock-up of what is called Nanorover, a lunchbox-sized space vehicle that will touch down on and explore a one-kilometer-wide asteroid. The small near-Earth asteroid 4660 Nereus is the target of a Japanese space mission that will launch in 2002. When its payload is full, it will return to the Japanese spaceship, which will in turn come back to Earth in 2006. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 127.
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  • Under the control of NASA engineers (from left) Eric Baumgartner, Hrand Aghazarian, and Terry Huntsberger, the Mars Rover robot slowly carries its small payload of rock debris and dirt up the ramp to its mother ship. The rover was scheduled to be sent to Mars on two missions, in 2003 and 2005. Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 126.
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  • In Death Valley, California, the team responsible for a Russian Mars Rover 'Marsokhod' tests its vehicle to see how it will handle its maneuvering along the similar rocky terrain. The Planetary Society sponsored the test. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • Metallic flakes wafting from his hand, Kris Pister of the University of California at Berkeley demonstrates one possible offshoot of robotics research: Smart Dust. Miniature machines, each the size of a dust mite, may eventually saturate the environment, invisibly performing countless tasks. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 26-27.
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  • A pioneer in aviation, Paul MacCready designed the first human-powered airplane, the first piloted, solar-powered airplane, the first life-size flying replica of a giant pterodactyl, and a pioneering solar-electric car. MacCready's firm, AeroVironment, is at work on the Black Widow (transparent model prototype in MacCready's hand), a remotely controlled plane capable of flying 40 mph for up to 20 minutes. Zipping along at treetop level, the 15-cm-long, 58-gram Black Widow could spot details missed by even the sharpest satellite cameras. AeroVironment  , Simi Valley, California. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 158 top.
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  • Dr. Paul MacCready, inventor and chairman of AeroVironment Inc. holds a see-through model of Black Widow: an MAV (Micro Air Vehicle) recently developed by AeroVironment for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). MacCready and his team of designers and engineers were able to accomplish the government's objective for an MAV. The Black Widow would likely serve surveillance purposes for the military, but there are other applications as well such as air quality testing and police assistance. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • Dr. Paul MacCready, inventor and chairman of AeroVironment Inc. holds a see-through model of Black Widow: an MAV (Micro Air Vehicle) developed by AeroVironment for DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency). MacCready and his team of designers and engineers were able to accomplish the government's objective for an MAV. The Black Widow would likely serve surveillance purposes for the military, but there are other applications as well such as air quality testing and police assistance. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • Designed as a miniature reconnaissance airplane capable of flying at 40 mph for up to 20 minutes, AeroVironment is building the tiny Black Widow, which ultimately will be able to fly for an hour?or should be, if engineers can figure out how to pack more energy into its batteries. Zipping along at treetop level, the 15-cm-long, 58-gram Black Widow could spot details missed by even the sharpest satellite cameras. AeroVironment, Simi Valley, California. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 158 bottom..
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  • Dr. Paul MacCready, inventor and chairman of AeroVironment Inc., Simi Valley, California, with members of his staff in one of the company's cramped workrooms. Wing sections of the Centurion project aircraft hang from the ceiling. They are raised to save space when not being worked on. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • AeroVironment engineer Matt Keennon repairs an Ornothopter; a balsa wood model that flies by flapping its four wings with energy generated from the untwisting of a twisted rubber band. In the background hang a few of the numerous models found in the company's design center. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • AeroVironment engineers (left to right) Marty Spadaro, Paul Trist Jr., Tom DeMarino, and Carlos Miralles cluster around the working prototype of the Mars glider, Otto. NASA sees an airplane as an important tool for exploring Mars early in the 21st century, and AeroVironment is seeking the honor of building the plane. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 158 top.
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  • Aerospace engineer Scott Newbern programs the flight computer in the Gryphon, one of the prototypes in the fleet of small robot jets under development at AeroVironment, a company founded in 1971 by inventor Paul MacCready. AeroVironment  , Simi Valley, California. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 156-157.
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  • Deep in the basement of the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute, Omead Amidi adjusts the wing of the robot helicopter he is designing with Takeo Kanade, a Carnegie Mellon researcher who specializes in robotic vision. Several smaller versions of the project sit in his workshop. Pittsburgh, PA. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 160-161.
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  • Ariel the crab-robot moves with a slow, steady, sideways gait. A machine with a serious purpose, it is designed to scuttle from the shore through the surf to search for mines on the ocean floor. Ariel was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and built by iRobot, a company founded by MIT robot guru Rodney Brooks. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • Wielding a paint brush, a robot touches up its human master in this photo-illustration at the SARCOS robot company in Salt Lake City, UT. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 20-21.
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  • Entertainer android robot. View of SARCOS, an android (human-like) entertainment robot, posing as if about to contemplate his next brush stroke on a life-like robot mask. SARCOS was developed at SARCOS Research Corporation in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Photo-Illustration. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • MODEL RELEASED. Entertainer android robot. View of Sarcos, an android (human-like) entertainment robot, playing seven-card-stud poker with a group of robot engineers. Sarcos was developed at SARCOS Research Corporation in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • In a photo-illustration, SARCOS, an animatronic robot built by the SARCOS Research Corp., a Salt Lake City, UT, robotics company, appears to peer at the seven-card-stud hand of Scott Reynolds (at right), one of the engineers responsible for creating him (with technicians Doren Prue, center, and Charles Ledger). From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 218-219.
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  • Flanked by the animatronic robots created in his workshops, Steve Jacobsen, an engineering professor at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, may be the world's most entrepreneurial roboticist-he's spun off four companies from his research and discoveries. Perhaps the most important product he makes is the Utah Artificial Arm (above Jacobsen's head), a high-tech prosthetic hand used by thousands of amputees around the world. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 216-217.
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  • Dismissing the fears that robots will come to dominate their creators, Hans Moravec of Carnegie Mellon argues that humans will literally become robots, "uploading" their consciousness and memories into their computers. Photographed at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 33.
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  • In Cambridge, MA, retired M.I.T. professor, Jerome Lettvin speaks about his nervous system research. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • A founder of artificial-intelligence research, Marvin Minsky of MIT now believes the field has taken a wrong turn. Rather than trying to build costly, clumsy physical robots, he says, researchers should concentrate their efforts entirely on computer simulations-that's the key to unraveling the nature of intelligence. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • Anita Flynn with vintage robot prototype "Gnat" at the M.I.T. Insect Robot Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Flynn was an Insect Lab scientist who liked to dream up possible jobs for tiny, cheap, throwaway robots.  She suggested that a gnat could crawl along an underground electrical cable until it finds a break, bridge the gap, and stay there as a permanent repair. Robo sapiens Project.
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  • Although MIT roboticist Rodney Brooks has worked in robotics since the late 1970s, he first attracted widespread attention when he began building robot insects, in the 1980s. (He was one of the subjects of Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control, a documentary film.) From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 61.
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  • Musing over the possible hierarchy of humans and humanoids, Takeo Kanade, the director of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA and an expert in vision systems, posits, "We are facing the fact that we may not be, any longer, the single entity that does a better job in all aspects. How we as human beings will react to it, I don't know. But we are surpassed by many artificial things already. We don't mind that we have turned computing numbers over to machines; humans are not afraid of that at all." From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 23.
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  • Precision robot arms maneuver microsurgical instruments through centimeter-long holes into the heart of a cadaver in a demonstration of minimally invasive surgery at Intuitive Surgical of Mountain View, California. The whole ensemble: console, tools, and operating table, was developed by the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, CA, a nonprofit R&D center created by Stanford University. The system was commercialized by Intuitive Surgical of Mountain View, Calif.; it now costs about $1 million. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 6-7. Intuitive Surgical Incorporated, based in California, USA, designed Da Vinci.
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  • Burying his face in a 3-D viewing system, Volkmar Falk of the Leipzig Herzzentrum (Germany's most important cardiac center) explores the chest cavity of a cadaver with the da Vinci robotic surgical system. Thomas Krummel (standing), chief of surgery at Stanford University's teaching hospital, observes the procedure on a monitor displaying images from a pair of tiny cameras in one of the three "ports" Falk has cut into the cadaver. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 176.
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  • Robot surgery. Surgeon (lower left) performing minimally invasive surgery (MIS) on a patient's heart using da Vinci, a remotely-controlled robot surgeon (centre right). The surgeon views a three- dimensional image of the operation site in the black box at left. The robot arms are controlled using instruments under the box. An endoscopic view of the area from the robot is seen at upper right. Another surgeon is examining chest X-rays at upper left. The da Vinci system allows precise control of surgical tools through an incision just 1cm wide, with greater control than manual MIS procedures. Da Vinci was designed by Intuitive Surgical Incorporated, based in California, USA.
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  • Sweet Lips the robot guide takes visitors through the Hall of North American Wildlife, near the Dinosaur Hall in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History in Pittsburgh, PA. Carnegie Mellon University robotics professor Illah R. Nourbakhsh's creation draws children like a pied piper by speaking and playing informational videos on its screen. It navigates autonomously, using a locator system that detects colored squares mounted high on the wall. A color camera and scores of sonar, infrared, and touch sensors prevent Sweet Lips from crashing into museum displays or museum visitors. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 220-221.
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  • Intended to provide 360-degree images of its surroundings, Omniclops, the robot "omnicamera," is being developed by Hagen Schempf (holding Omniclops) of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University. Schempf is now with the Robotics Engineering Consortium in Pittsburgh, PA. Founded in 1994 with seed money from NASA, the consortium is located off the Carnegie Mellon campus and operates with great autonomy in this enormous facility. Behind Schempf on the main floor are autonomous forklifts; out of sight, other rooms are chockablock with robotic harvesters and mine diggers. The forklift, which can understand commands like "unload the truck in bay 4," should be deployed in Ford factories by the end of 2000. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 144.
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  • Borrowing from Star Wars, engineers at NASA's Ames Research Center, just south of San Francisco, CA, are developing a personal assistant robot that can hover over an astronaut's shoulder in space, or work at the direction of an astronaut in situations too dangerous for a human. Floating weightlessly, the machine could have many uses: patrolling corridors for gas leaks, reminding astronauts about the tasks on their to-do lists, or serving as a communication link when people are busy using both hands. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 124.
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  • A fifteen-centimeter-tall robot scout, Schempf's Mini-Dora is intended to help police check out potentially dangerous situations. Unloaded from the back of a squad car, it could investigate buildings without risking the lives of police, as Schempf demonstrates by driving it up the front steps of an abandoned factory in a crumbling industrial section of Pittsburgh, PA. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 145.
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  • The product of a long quest, Robot III, an artificial cockroach built by mechanical engineer Roger Quinn (in blue shirt) and biologist Roy Ritzmann at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH, required seven years to construct. (Quinn directs the Biorobotics Lab at the university.) From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 102-103.
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  • In the East Bay suburb of Walnut Creek, near San Francisco, Will Wright and family collectively in their garage preparing their creation for "Robot Wars"(daughter Cassidy 11, nephew Patrick 14, and Will). Later that week, in a battle pit ringed by six-foot sheets of bulletproof glass and a sellout crowd, radio-controlled gladiators battle their robots to the mechanical death. Will Wright developed the Sims software games.
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  • U.C. Berkeley graduate student Eric Paulos describes his Personal Roving Presence (PRoP) as "a simple, inexpensive, Internet-controlled, untethered tele-robot that strives to provide the sensation of tele-embodiment in a remote real space." In other words, Paulos is trying to build a kind of avatar people could dispatch it to distant places to represent themselves in, say, business meetings. California, USA
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  • Leaning back in his chair, graduate student Jerry Pratt controls Spring Flamingo, a walking robot at the MIT Leg Lab in Cambridge, MA. A branch of MIT's renowned Artificial Intelligence Lab, the Leg Lab is home to researchers whose subjects run the gamut from improved artificial legs to robots that help scientists understand the complex dynamics of the human stride. Tethered to a slightly counterweighted boom that rotates around a pivot, the robot always walks in a circle in the lab.From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 8-9..
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  • Surrounded by his robot toys and sculptures, Clayton Bailey of Port Costa, California, is living proof that not everyone feels threatened by the prospect of being surrounded by mechanical human beings. In the studio behind his home, Bailey stands among the large robots he has sculpted since retiring as a professor of art from California State University, Hayward. He and his wife, Betty, have collected robot and space toys for the past 30 years. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 230-231.
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  • Reviewing the results of her work, Carnegie Mellon computer scientist Manuela Veloso (kneeling) watches the university soccer-robot team chase after the ball on a field on the floor of her lab. Every year, the Carnegie Mellon squad plays against other soccer-robot teams from around the world in an international competition known as RoboCup. Veloso's team, CMUnited, is highly regarded. Flanked by research engineer Sorin Achim, postdoctoral fellow Peter Stone, and graduate research assistant Michael Bowling (right to left), Veloso is running through the current year's strategy a month before the world championships in Stockholm. CMU's AIBO team members are Scott Lenser, Elly Winner, and James Bruce. Pittsburgh, PA. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 214.
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  • Moving like its skittish biological counterpart, Spring Flamingo walks tethered to a boom in a circular course around its home at the MIT Leg Lab, Cambridge, MA. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 8-9.
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  • Researcher John Kumph monitors the free-swimming robot pike he has designed. The robot is used in research into the swimming efficiency of fish. The robot is powered by motors, which pull on its skeleton, producing a realistic swimming stroke. It is steered by its fins. A human operator using a radio controls the battery-powered robot. Photographed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA,  USA.
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  • As Mark Tilden's Spyder 1.0 approaches like a tiny but menacing arachnid, its circuits try to optimize actions, walking in this case, with minimal energy. Perturbed by the environment, its patented "nervous net" seeks the minimum state, its legs moving almost randomly until it succeeds. In 1990, Spyder 1.0 was the first walking robot to use Tilden's nervous net control system. When Tilden first achieved such complex behavior from such minimal components, the results astonished some roboticists. Los Alamos, NM. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 118-119.
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  • t the University of Utah in Salt Lake City, computer scientist John M. Hollerbach puts a lab staff member on the SARCOS Treadport, a device that mimics the tug and pull of acceleration. Walking on a treadmill, the staffer is surrounded by a projected simulation of a Western mountainside. On a real hill, hikers must struggle with their own inertia to surmount the slope, a sensation no ordinary treadmill can provide. The Treadport uses force-feedback to push or pull at the user, uncannily evoking the sensation of climbing, a new dimension of realism for this type of simulation. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 137 top.
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  • Austin Richards of Santa Barbara, CA, is zapped by his homemade Tesla Coil. Richards wears a homemade robot outfit with a birdcage covering his head. The electrical "lightning" bolts his Tesla coil zaps him with do not do any harm because he is surrounded by metal that acts a Faraday cage, harmlessly channeling the charges to the ground and protecting his body from shocks. Richards performs these stunts for trade shows and parties. Here he is doing this for a block party near Santa Barbara. California, USA
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  • Austin Richards of Santa Barbara, CA, is zapped by his homemade Tesla Coil. Richards wears a homemade robot outfit with a birdcage covering his head. The electrical "lightning" bolts his Tesla coil zaps him with do not do any harm because he is surrounded by metal that acts a Faraday cage, harmlessly channeling the charges to the ground and protecting his body from shocks. Richards performs these stunts for trade shows and parties. Here he is doing this for a block party near Santa Barbara. California, USA
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  • An animated robot fly with 10 foot wingspan is part of an exhibit called the Robot Zoo.
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  • On a test run on Telegraph Avenue, a busy retail street near the UC Berkeley campus, Paulos controls the ProP (Personal Roving Presence) from a short distance away, via a remote link. One amused man in a wheelchair even stops and asks it for a light. Berkeley graduate student Eric Paulos describes his (PRoP) as "a simple, inexpensive, Internet-controlled, untethered tele-robot that strives to provide the sensation of tele-embodiment in a remote real space." Berkeley, CA. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 169.
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  • Leaning over the glass-topped workbench in the spare bedroom of his Los Alamos, NM condominium, where he builds most of his robot creatures, Mark Tilden shines a flashlight on what will become the head of Nito 1.0. Many of the components scattered over his desk are simple, cheap, and (by contemporary standards) primitive; many are ripped from junked tape decks, cameras, and VCRs. Nito will be Tilden's most ambitious creation yet. (The name stands for "Neural Implementation of a Torso Organism.") When complete, he says, this easily built machine should interact in a simianlike fashion in its world. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 121..
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  • "Nothing in nature is digital," says researcher Mark Tilden, who created Unibug 3.1. "Everything's analog?and analog can do better." Unibug 3.1, a slight variation on the disassembled model pictured on page 116 is an example of what he means. Although built of simple, off-the-shelf components, it can walk easily on a remarkable variety of surfaces, striding from a film of shallow water into deep sand without stumbling. Los Alamos, NM. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 120..
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  • Prairie sunflower, Helianthus petiolaris, designed by nature. Unibug 1.0, designed by Mark Tilden. Although built of simple, off-the-shelf components, it can walk easily on a remarkable variety of surfaces, striding from a film of shallow water into deep sand without stumbling. Seen here striding over a sand dune at Great Sand Dunes National Monument in south central Colorado. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 240.
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  • Roaming the sands like a glowing desert scarab, six-inch-long Unibug 1.0, designed by Mark Tilden, strides across the wasteland of the Great Sand Dunes National Monument in in south central Colorado. Although built of simple, off-the-shelf components, it can walk easily on a remarkable variety of surfaces, striding from a film of shallow water into deep sand without stumbling. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 2-3.
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  • Mark Tilden's robot: the analog nervous net- "Unibug 1.0" walking great Sand Dunes National Monument  in Colorado. MODEL RELEASED
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  • UC Berkeley graduate student Eric Paulos calibrates his Personal Roving Presence (PRoP), which he describes as "a simple, inexpensive, Internet-controlled, untethered tele-robot that strives to provide the sensation of tele-embodiment in a remote real space." Berkeley, CA . From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 168.
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  • In the water, pike can accelerate at a rate of eight to twelve g's, as fast as a NASA rocket. To scientists, the speed is inexplicable. In an attempt to understand how the flap of a thin fish tail can push a fish faster than any propeller, John Kumph, then an MIT graduate student, built a robotic version of a chain-pickerel?a species of pike?with a spring-wound fiberglass exoskeleton and a skin made of silicone rubber. Now under further development by iRobot, an MIT-linked company just outside Boston in Somerville, MA, the robo-fish can't yet swim nearly as fast as a real pike, suggesting how much remains to be learned. Photographed at the MIT tow tank, Cambridge, MA. From the book Robo sapiens: Evolution of a New Species, page 108-109.
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  • In this photo-illustration, graduate student Josh Davis (underwater, in a wet-suit) helps the RoboPike breach out of the water in order to show how well the robotic fish might be able to swim one day. The idea for the image of the RoboPike breaching came from the head of Ocean Engineering, Professor Triantafyllou, whose dream it is for a robotic fish to swim well enough to be able to jump out of the water.
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  • In this photo-illustration, graduate student Josh Davis (underwater, in a wet-suit) helps the RoboPike breach out of the water in order to show how well the robotic fish might be able to swim one day. Photographed at the Department of Ocean Engineering Testing Tank Facility at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The idea for the image of the RoboPike breaching came from Professor Triantafyllou, whose dream it is for a robotic fish to swim well enough to be able to jump out of the water. Published in Smithsonian Magazine, August 2000 issue, page 55.
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  • For a photo-illustration, graduate student Josh Davis (underwater, in a wet-suit) helps the RoboPike breach out of the water in order to show how well the robotic fish might be able to swim one day. The idea for the image of the RoboPike breaching came from the head of Ocean Engineering, Professor Triantafyllou, whose dream it is for a robotic fish to swim well enough to be able to jump out of the water Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
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Peter Menzel Photography

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