美國加州Unbounded Robotics公司在本周舉行的“機器人商情會議與展覽 (RoboBusiness 2013)”上發(fā)表一款3,5000美元的 UBR-1 (讀做 uber-one)低價機器人。Unbounded Robotics在今年初才從專業(yè)機器人研發(fā)公司W(wǎng)illow Garage (曾打造出PR-2)拆分獨立而出，該公司的目標(biāo)就在打造一款性能更強大但價格更低10倍的移動機器人。 “我 們的員工主要來自Willow Garage公司開發(fā)團隊的主要成員，負責(zé)一些3-5年的開發(fā)項目，但我們還想進行一些更快完成的計劃，因此在年初成立獨立的公司，”Unbounded Robotics公司首席執(zhí)行官Melonee Wise指出，“在Unbounded公司時，我們從頭開始做起，不僅回歸我們認為人們所需要的機器人概念，同時也得以降低行動機器人平臺的成本。”

Unbounded Robotics的首款機器人行動平臺主要針對研究人員與企業(yè)需求而打設(shè)計：能簡化編程的單手機器人。
Source：Unbounded Robotics, Eric GulbransenYz8esmc

這 家公司總共只有4名員工，除了Melonee Wise以外，還包括一名電子工程師(系統(tǒng)工程師Derek King)、一名機械工程師(機械工程師Eric Diehr)、一名軟件工程師(首席技術(shù)官Michael Ferguson)，他們在不到一年的時間內(nèi)就開發(fā)出這款 UBR-1 機器人了。該開發(fā)團隊最重要的原則在于確保人類安全，因此，UBR-1 就是一款專為能與人們共同工作的協(xié)同機器人，就算當(dāng)有人擋到路時， UBR-1 機器人也不至于傷害人類。 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 第2頁：這種協(xié)同機器人能與你一起工作 第3頁：采用Ubuntu Linux LTS操作系統(tǒng)，英特爾第四代i5處理器

相關(guān)閱讀：
• 智能機器來襲，你的飯碗還保得住嗎？
• 智能手機業(yè)減速，日本機器人廠商寄希望于汽車業(yè)
• 教你DIY最狂拽炫酷的萬圣節(jié)電子搞怪Yz8esmc

{pagination} Melonee Wise解釋：“這種協(xié)同機器人能與你一起工作。我們設(shè)計出一只手臂的機器人，讓任何成年人在有必要的情況下也能輕易制服他，而且，我們還為這些機器安裝 傳感器，讓他們能感知周遭環(huán)境，主動計劃行走路線，以避開附近的人與障礙物。機器人的基座內(nèi)建雷射掃描機、頭部還安裝了視覺傳感器，使其建構(gòu)出可以看到你 的一種外在世界模式，因而能夠在你附近行走自如。機器人手臂的動作也是一樣的──它并不會盲目規(guī)劃路線，而是設(shè)法避免撞到物體?！?

UBR – 1機器人可順利處理專為人類設(shè)計的一般物體。
Source：Unbounded Robotics, Eric GulbransenYz8esmc

安裝在機器人基座的Hokuyo掃描儀會持續(xù)計算器器人距離面前的物體還有多遠，而頭部采用PrimeSense的 3D視覺傳感器，從而實現(xiàn)實時軟件，以建構(gòu)出 UBR-1 周遭的世界地圖。為了進行與完成用戶的命令， UBR-1 持續(xù)更新其實時地圖，使其即使在行進間也能經(jīng)由導(dǎo)航路徑順利地繞過障礙物。 UBR-1 機器人的單一手臂擁有七個自由度──由7個馬達驅(qū)動手臂中的7個關(guān)節(jié)，每個關(guān)節(jié)中都內(nèi)建編碼器告訴機器人目前所處的位置。此外，在機器人的手爪中它還結(jié)合了6自由度的慣性感測單元(IMU──3軸加速度計與3軸陀螺儀)，使其得以感測精細的動作以及偵測是否接觸掌握到物體。此外，手臂的兩個關(guān)節(jié)──手腕與手肘部份──還能連續(xù)旋轉(zhuǎn)，“真的有助于讓機器人實現(xiàn)一些難以達到的位置，”Melonee Wise說。 Melonee Wise將機器人手臂上像箝子般的手稱為“80%的手爪” ，因為它的平行面“可抓取約80%你想要它拿的東西。”而其它20%的任務(wù)，則必須由其它專用的鉗子來取代──從吸盤到靜電鉗子等。這只機器人的手臂長可 及地，而利用 UBR-1 可伸縮的手臂還可碰觸到貨架高處的對象。 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 第3頁：采用Ubuntu Linux LTS操作系統(tǒng)，英特爾第四代i5處理器

相關(guān)閱讀：
• 智能機器來襲，你的飯碗還保得住嗎？
• 智能手機業(yè)減速，日本機器人廠商寄希望于汽車業(yè)
• 教你DIY最狂拽炫酷的萬圣節(jié)電子搞怪Yz8esmc

{pagination} UBR-1采用Ubuntu Linux LTS 操作系統(tǒng)，執(zhí)行于英特爾第四代 i5 處理器上，基于ARM的ST微控制器負責(zé)管理馬達與移動組件。基座部份也安裝了6自由度的 MEMS IMU 。 該 機器人平臺執(zhí)行于開放來源的機器人操作系統(tǒng)( ROS)，擁有各種可用的應(yīng)用程序，如可進行實時規(guī)劃的 MoveIt ，以及一套由Unbounded Robotics提供的客制應(yīng)用程序，可實現(xiàn)導(dǎo)航、校正以及操縱桿遙控。機器人還可經(jīng)由拖曳手臂動作的方式進行編程，使其記錄一些常用動作以便重復(fù)利用。

UBR-1利用簡化的圖形編程語言來定義其行動。。
Source：Unbounded Robotics, Eric GulbransenYz8esmc

UBR-1是專為機器人研究人員以及商業(yè)而設(shè)計，如用于庫存控制中，它可瀏覽倉儲后拾取所需貨品，然后置于進店貨架中。工業(yè)應(yīng)用包括機器管理，例如從 CNC 機器上移除完成的組件，然后遞補下一款組件。 Unbounded Robotics還看好 UBR-1 的其它可能應(yīng)用，例如在飯店中提供客房服務(wù)、協(xié)助家中老人的居家照護，如提醒服藥、送水或拾起掉在地板上的遙控器，甚至還可陪老人打牌。 本文授權(quán)編譯自EE Times，版權(quán)所有，謝絕轉(zhuǎn)載 編譯：Susan Hong 參考英文原文：Unbounded Robotics Unveils Co-Robot，by R. Colin Johnson

相關(guān)閱讀：
• 智能機器來襲，你的飯碗還保得住嗎？
• 智能手機業(yè)減速，日本機器人廠商寄希望于汽車業(yè)
• 教你DIY最狂拽炫酷的萬圣節(jié)電子搞怪Yz8esmc

{pagination} Unbounded Robotics Unveils Co-Robot R. Colin Johnson PORTLAND, Ore. — The day fast approaches when that colleague you have lunch with in the office breakroom will not be a person at all. Earlier this year Unbounded Robotics Inc. in Santa Clara, Calif., spun off from Willow Garage -- maker of the pioneering Personal Robot (now in its second generation, PR-2). The goal was to create an even more powerful mobile robot that was 10-times less expensive. The result was the $35,000 UBR-1 (pronounced "uber-one"), which the company unveils this week at RoboBusiness 2013 (Oct. 23-25, Santa Clara). "Our staff were key members of the Willow Garage development team, working on projects three-to-five years out, but we wanted to do something sooner, so we spun off," said Unbounded Robotics CEO Melonee Wise in an interview with EE Times. "At Unbounded we started with a clean slate -- went back to what we thought people needed, while bringing down the cost of mobile robotics platforms." Unbounded Robotics' first model is a mobile platform for researchers and businesses wishing for an easy-to-program, one-armed assistant. (Source: Unbounded Robotics, Eric Gulbransen) The four-person company includes an electrical engineer (Lead Systems Engineer Derek King), a mechanical engineer (Lead Mechanical Engineer Eric Diehr), and a software engineer (Chief Technology Officer Michael Ferguson), who together with Wise designed the UBR-1 in under a year. Their primary directive was human safety, since as a co-robot the UBR-1 is designed to work alongside people without harming them even if they get in the way. Wise told us: A co-robot is something that can work alongside you. We designed the arm so that any adult can overpower it, if they need to, plus we have sensors on the robot that allow the robot to sense its environment and actively plan routes around people and other obstacles. The laser scanner in the base and the visual sensor in its head create a model of the world that sees you, so it can drive around you. It's the same with the arm motion -- it does not plan blindly, but avoids bumping into things. UBR-1's manipulator can handle ordinary objects designed for humans. (Source: Unbounded Robotics, Eric Gulbransen) The Hokuyo laser scanner in the base is constantly calculating the distance to objects in front of the robot, while the head has a 3D visual sensor from PrimeSense Ltd. in Tel-Aviv, which enables real-time software to create a map of the world around the UBR-1. When fulfilling the commands of its user, the UBR-1 constantly updates its real-time map so that its navigation routines allow it to smoothly glide around obstacles even if they are moving. The UBR-1 has a single arm with seven degrees of freedom -- seven motors driving seven joints in the arm, each of which has encoders to tell the robot what position it is in. That, combined with a six-degrees-of-freedom inertial measurement unit (a three-axis accelerometer and three-axis gyroscope) in the gripper, allows it to sense fine movements as well as to detect when it comes into contact with objects. In addition, two of the joints in the arm -- the wrist and the elbow -- can rotate continuously, which "really helps the robot get into hard-to-reach locations," according to Wise. The gripper on the arm is called an "80-percent gripper" by Wise, because its parallel faces "can do 80 percent of the things you want a gripper to do." For the other 20 percent, it is replaceable with any number of specialized grippers -- from a suction cup to an electrostatic gripper. The arm also has the ability to reach all the way to the ground as well as to reach high up on shelves by virtue of the telescoping torso of the UBR-1. UBR-1 uses a simple graphic programming language to define its actions. (Source: Unbounded Robotics, Eric Gulbransen) Internally, the Ubuntu Linux LTS operating system is running on an Intel fourth-generation i5 processor, which communicates with an even dozen STMicroelectronic ARM-based microcontrollers, which manage the motors and moving parts. The base also has its own six-degrees-of-freedom MEMS inertial measurement unit. The robot runs the open-source robot operating system (ROS) and all the applications available for it, such as MoveIt, for real-time planning, as well as a suite of custom applications supplied by Unbounded Robotics for navigation, calibration, and joystick tele-operation. The robot can also be programmed by dragging the arm around, with it recording those movements that can then be repeated. The UBR-1 is designed for both robotics researchers as well as for businesses such as inventory control, where it can browse through warehouses picking up items that it then takes into the store for stocking shelves. Industrial applications include machine tending, such as removing finished parts from computerized numerical control (CNC) machines then inserting fresh stock for the next part. Unbounded Robotics also envisions many other applications of its robots -- from delivering room service orders in hotels, to helping the elderly to age-in-place at home by retrieving such things as pill bottles or a glass of water or picking up the remote control dropped on the floor. Maybe the deluxe model will play cards, too.