A Swedish programmer, Hans Andersson, has used a Lego Mindstorms NXT kit to develop a robot to solve Sudoku puzzles. The robot first scans the puzzle and uses an optical sensor to map out the puzzle's pre-set numbers and blank squares. The robot scans one line at a time, inching forward a little after each line is scanned.The blurry scanned image is then converted to a black and white binary image to improve the sharpness of the picture. A threshold value calculated by Otsu's Method is used to determine whether each pixel in the image is white or black.
The Otsu Method algorithm classes pixels as either foreground or background, and then determines the optimal threshold that minimizes the intra-class variance. Pixels below the threshold are set to black, and those above are set to white. A thinning algorithm is then used to convert the resulting image of each digit to 1-pixel wide lines. The digits are then examined for features such as their width, and the number and direction of tips on the digit. The digit six, for example, has one tip, which points to the right. Following this procedure for each digit, the robot identifies all the pre-set numbers in the puzzle. Once the puzzle is mapped, the robot solves it and fills in the blank squares. A recursive backtracking algorithm would normally be used to solve puzzles such as Sudoku, crosswords, or other puzzles in which the solution has several candidates. The method carries out a systematic examination of all possible solutions, and abandons and does not re-visit any that are eliminated. The Lego Mindstorms processor is too slow to use a backtracking algorithm and it does not allow for recursive functions, so Andersson had to make sure the calculations were optimized. The result is a little robot that can solve Sudoku puzzles and get them right every time, and in only a few minutes.
MIT engineers are showing off the latest generation of so-called robofish 15 years after they built the first one. The latest incarnation is sleeker, more streamlined and capable of mimicking the movements of a real fish.And it's capable of exploring underwater terrain submersibles can't, said Pablo Valdivia Alvarado, a mechanical engineer at the school.
Some of our sponsors were thinking of using them for inspection and surveillance," Alvarado said. "Since these prototypes are very cheap, the idea was to build hundreds -- 200, 500 -- and then just release them in a bay or at a port, and they would be roaming around taking measurements.
MIT researchers built their first robotic fish, "Robotuna," in 1994. But Robotuna has gone the way of the dinosaur. Alvarado said the new generation -- modeled after bass and trout -- cost only a few hundred dollars and have only 10 parts instead of the thousands used in Robotuna.
Something about Le Petit Prince, the mobile, plant-loving greenhouse robot makes us indescribably sad. Is it his one, massive adorable eye? Or merely the fact that he's named after one of the most depressing books ever written? Either way, we can't really argue with his usefulness -- the concept can carry about plants and care for them, all the while ravaging the terrain for further specimens. He's also designed to learn about the optimal growing conditions of the plants he collects, which really makes us want one to care for a certain, finicky houseplant we won't call out by name (but we're looking at you, Venus Flytrap). Check out the darling video after the break.
Yaskawa Electric’s Motoman SDA10 robot has been out and about for a little while now (along with its not-so-distant relatives ), but it’s apparently not just getting by on its good looks alone, and it recently took advantage of Osaka’s International Next-Generation Robot Fair to show off its newly developed cooking skills. While there unfortunately doesn’t seem to be any video available, the word is it was able to take an order from a customer using its voice recognition capabilities and whip up some okonomiyaki (a pancake, of sorts) from scratch, with it even going so far as to serve it to the customer and top it off with some condiments.
DelFly Micro has released an image sensing mini dragonfly that tips the scales at just 3 grams, and you will be able to manually control it to capture video images that will be transferred back to your PC when it returns to its nest of operations, which is located at your desk. It makes me wonder how this functions in breezy areas, as something this small will certainly fail to go up against strong gusts of wind. It will be interesting to see what kind of range the DlyFly Micro has, lets wait for it to come out
The guys over at Crabfu Motionworks have been responsible for some weird and wonderful robotic creations over the years, and their latest is no exception. The Crabfu R/C Tortoise Bot crawls along the ground like a turtle, with a set of 4 sub-micro servos controlling its pokey little legs.The way it ambles about, I don’t think this tortoise will be beating any hares in a race anytime soon.
The Begging Bot from Alexader Gurko is definitely entertaining. Built from a tower PC chassis, this unique bot synches sounds of a floppy as well as hard drive when spinning their respective motors. Once the song is complete, the CD-ROM drive will automatically open up, asking for donations from the public. Pretty interesting and cute - I’m not too sure how many people will actually throw in some pennies when they see this roaming the streets.
