Scientists at the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have developed an intelligent humanoid robot that can remember your name and face. The robot "Nadine" runs on software similar to that of Siri and functions as a receptionist at the university.
They also came up with a new tele-presence robot that serves as a way to be "physically" present in a place without actually being there. EDGAR, the name of this robot, mimics the movements a user makes with their upper body and can be controlled via webcam. Reminds me of the time Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory controlled a robot with a monitor attached to it, honestly. Whether or not this technology is actually useful in everyday life has yet to be seen, but at the very least this is great progression for AI industry.

http://www.valuewalk.com/2015/12/singapore-scientists-develop-nadine-humanoid-robot/

Note: The FRC kick off is this Saturday, so the build season for the next competition will start soon. I will be working in the mechanical engineering department for my school, so there will be posts in the future about my work there!

Update

So it's been a while since I've posted on here, but that doesn't mean that my interest in Robotics has died down!  I've moved around a lot since my last post, but I've finally settled down so I thought I'd just post an update on my current status. For the past year and a half, I've been busy working with the Monta Vista Robotics team at Cupertino, California. My team works towards the FIRST FRC competition that starts at the beginning of every year. The team has several divisions such as Finance and Operations, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering.I started out in Mechanical Engineering where I worked on the frame of the robot, beginning with prototypes made out of Bosch and then making finishing touches. I've learned how to use a lot of tools such as CAD and Solid Works which I believe will be helpful for future projects. I used to think that being involved in Robotics was a far-fetched dream in middle school, so looking back I realize how far I've come since then. (Pinched myself just to make sure I'm not dreaming) Anyways, for this next year I'm thinking about joining the Electrical Engineering division because I finally learned Calculus, and I have more experience in programming. Until the next FRC game begins in January 2016, I'll be coaching a team of 9-14 year-olds for the First Lego League tournament. Working with Mindstorms, my team will attempt to overcome the challenges that FIRST has set for the competition. Children can be hard to work with, but they learn extremely fast at the same time so it's an interesting experience. Until my next post...El Psy Congroo.(Kudos to you if you know what that means)

Picture of the robot called "El Toro" that I worked on

Note- Make sure your grades are good if you want to join your school's Robotics club because Robotics' school teams require commitment and your grades may drop.

Google's Driver less Car

   About 2 months ago the U.S state Nevada passed a law allowing Google to test their driver less car. The car is said to gather information from its surroundings by using Google Street View with an AI software that uses input from video cameras and sensors. So far it has been tested on the Toyota Prius, an Audi TT, and a Lexus RX450h. With this technology driving can be made safe and less accidents will occur.

Robot Reveals the Inner Workings of Brain Cells

  Wow! Recently researchers at MIT and the Georgia institute of technology have developed a robotic arm that can identify and record information of the neurons in the living brain. The researchers said that when tested with a living mouse's brain the robotic arm, guided by a cell-detecting computer algorithm, could identify the neurons in the mouse's brain with better accuracy and speed than that of a human. Using this technology scientists will be able to classify the thousands of various cells in the brain, identify how they are linked to each other, and compare a diseased brain cell with a healthy one. For more information about neuroscience and biology check out this blog! http://genesforteenz.blogspot.in

Robotics Coffee Shop

   Today I came across an article where it said that a coffee shop called Briggo used robots to serve coffee. Situated in Texas Briggo is a coffee shop where you can order via Internet, on the phone or at the kiosk itself. All you have to do is basically choose your drink from a wide variety of options, choose some add-on, pay the amount due online and go pick it up. The robot does the rest. For example once the order is place a robot calculates the amount of milk required, how the coffee should be ground and how the shots are pulled. It is very precise. Once your drink is made Briggo will text to you to come over and pick it up. As of now Briggo is only situated at Austin however a new version of Briggo is under development, allowing it to be located at airports, hospitals and shopping malls. Here is the link for the site https://www.briggo.com/web/

DNA Cells Programmed to Kill Cancer Cells

   Recently scientists have created a new type of a robot, made entirely from DNA strands. The robot is said to be programmed in order to identify and kill cancer cells. So far the robot has been programmed to attack leukemia and lymphoma cells in a laboratory dish. The robot delivers immune system antibodies that kill the cancer cells or cause them to destroy themselves. The technology is still not commercially available, however.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-24/dna-robots-programmed-to-kill-cancer-cells-harvard-study-shows.html

- Mithil Hari

How Do Robots Work?

   Wondering how robots work? Various robots operate in different ways, but they all share a similarity
in terms of their design and operation.

   Robots are made of a few basic parts :- a body, motors/engines that help move the parts of a robot, sensors that provide input to the robot and a microprocessor that acts as a brain. A robot may be programmed to perform the same actions over and over again , however most robots decide what to do based on the information from their surroundings. These robots need sensors to collect this information. For example, if a robot is programmed to move around obstacles it needs sensors in order to sense the presence of an obstacle. 

   However in order to understand the data collected by the sensors, a robot requires programming. Programming helps the robot understand the data given and to perform the required action. This programming in turn helps a robot's microprocessor tell the mechanical parts what to do. The microprocessor will state the position required of a part, the way it should be turned,etc.

   This process is the same for all robots no matter their differences in functioning,size,etc.