Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute Researchers have developed a robot that can crawl inside natural gas pipelines to map them, while also detecting and repairing their leaks when necessary. The research project, which is near completion, was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) through the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) and its Rapid Encapsulation of Pipelines Avoiding Intensive Replacement (REPAIR) program. Upon its application, use of this system will drastically reduce the costs of pipeline leak detection and leak repair processes.  Image Credi ..read more

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ABB bought a Swiss tech company to improve its industrial robots’ AI and mobility capabilities. See full story at: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/abb-buys-tech-company-give-industrial-robots-eyes-and-brains-4040766 ..read more

An electrical circuit is a loop which provides a path for electric current (electric charge) to flow. This loop must be closed. In other words, the current must be able to flow from positive to negative terminals otherwise the flow will not take place. The charge is made possible by a source such as a battery which motivates the electrons to move in the conductor. So it is the movement, in other words the flow of these electrons that constitutes the electrical charge. Note that this happens from negative to positive terminal which is the opposite of accepted convention for current direction. I ..read more

Conductors: Conductors are the materials that easily allow flow of electric current upon application of voltage, such as copper. Conductivity is the measure of how easily current will flow through that material and shown by the symbol σ (sigma). Its unit is Siemens / meter (S/m) but usually milliSiemens / meter is used. It is a characteristic property a material. In other words, it is not affected by the geometry or size of material. Insulators: Insulators are the materials that do not allow or very hardly allow the flow of electrical current upon application of voltage. Example: Glass. Resist ..read more

Sensors and transducers can sometimes be confused because they both react to some change in their environment but they are not the same thing. SENSOR A sensor is a component in an electronic system that can detect (sense) various types of changes in the physical environment and as a result, communicate these to the bigger system it is a part of. In other words they do the same job as what our 5 senses do for us. A sensor can measure how much the change occurs and transmits this information in a convenient format  such as electrical signals to the system. The change can be about any physic ..read more

We can look at electronics in two different ways, both of which have different uses, which are analog vs. digital electronics. In short, analog electronics deals with continuous, smoothly varying signals, and digital electronics is about handling discrete signals (which are either on or off or in other words, 1 or 0). ANALOG ELECTRONİCS In general sense, analog means something that is comparable to / similar to something else that can continuously vary. This varying thing can be anything such as temperature, pressure, position, voltage… So in analog electronics, the signals can be represented ..read more

Actuation in robotics means the systems that enable physical movement. The most common ways of actuation are by electric motors, pneumatic and hydraulic systems, which we will introduce below. But note that there are other actuation systems as well, achieved by shape memory alloys, piezoelectric action, electromagnetism, movement achieved through thermal properties of materials and more. Now let’s take a closer look at Electric motor, Pneumatic and Hydraulic actuation.  Electric Motor Actuation:  This is the most common way, where, movement is achieved by electric motors, which can r ..read more

Elon Musk has just tweeted about his humanoid robot Optimus. It seems that the android is now capable of locating his own limbs in space and in connection with this, can learn tasks, even in a changing environment. The video in Musk’s tweet shows that the android can sort cubes based on their colors by picking them up by its fingers and can do this even when someone keeps changing the location and orientation of cubes deliberately. At the end of the video, the robot displays some acrobatic moves beautifully… A very promising video indeed ..read more

Optimizing mobile robot power efficiency The basic physical body of the robot should be understood and optimized first. Robot should be as lightweight as possible, unless high mass (for weight or inertia) is needed for a specific reason. Friction between moving parts should be minimized except for the parts that need a certain amount of friction. The components must be energy efficient, such as motors, sensors, microcontrollers. Sensor data should be obtained and processed efficiently, to avoid unnecessary data and processing. For this, data from multiple sensors should be efficiently integrat ..read more