Robohub Podcast

#089: Demonstrations at IROS, with Péter Fankhauser and Mike Rubenstein

Link to audio file (28:47)In today’s show, we hear about two demonstrations that caught our attention at the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS). Péter Fankhauser from the ETHZ in Zurich tells us about the Rezero ballbot, a balancing robot that speeds around on a sphere. Mike Rubenstein from the Self-organizing Systems Research Group at Harvard then tells us about their efforts to make swarms of 1024 robots a reality with the kilobot project.

Robots: IROS Exhibit Hall

#088: IROS exhibit hall, with companies at IROS 2011

Link to audio file (01:02:42)In today’s show we take you around the Exhibit Hall of the IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) that took place in San Francisco last week. IROS is one of the main conferences in robotics, attracting thousands of roboticists from around the world. This year’s edition celebrating 50 years of robotics received a record number of submissions. The conference, that spans over 6 days, featured workshops, tutorials, interactive presentations, live robot demonstrations and keynote talks from world-leading roboticists on design, bio-robotics, and Google’s autonomous cars.

Robots: Educational Robotics

#087: Educational robotics, with Francesco Mondada, Stéphane Magnenat and Fanny Riedo

Link to audio file (35:16)In today’s show, we look at the playful field of educational robotics. We start by talking to Dr. Francesco Mondada, the leader of the MOBOTS group at EPFL, about his group’s efforts in this field. Focus is given to the Robotics Festival, an annual event he started back in 2008. We then talk with Stéphane Magnenat, a former member of the group and current member of the Autonomous Systems Lab at ETHZ. Stéphane developed ASEBA, a straight-forward software package that allows beginners to program robots easily and efficiently. Finally, Fanny Riedo, PhD student in the MOBOTS group, presents the low-cost educational Thymio II robot.

Robots: Robot Art III

#086: Robot art (Part 3), with Leonel Moura and Ken Rinaldo

Link to audio file (54:28)This episode is the last of this three part special series about robot art with guest interviewer David St-Onge, an engineer working at the interface of visionary arts and creative science. David was our guest in a previous episode of the Robots Podcast about robot art. He now brings us into his world through in-depth conversations with 6 world renowned experts in the field. In today’s show, we talk to Leonel Moura, a European artist born in Lisbon, Portugal, and Ken Rinaldo, Director of the Art and Technology program in the Department of Art at The Ohio State University. Both artists are well known for their dual talent as artist and robot engineer, having built most of their systems themselves.

Robots: Robot Art II

#085: Robot art (Part 2), with Bill Vorn and Louis-Philippe Demers

Link to audio file (54:53)This episode is the second of a three part special series about robot art with guest interviewer David St-Onge, an engineer working at the interface of visionary arts and creative science. David was our guest in previous episode with the Robots Podcast about robot art. He now brings us into his world through in-depth conversations with 6 world renowned experts in the field. In today’s show, we talk to Bill Vorn from the University Concordia in Montreal and Louis-Philippe Demers from the Nanyang Technological University in Singapour. Both artists started their carreer together in Montreal where they worked on state of the art robotic projects for more than 10 years. One of their most famous projects, ‘La cour des Miracles’ can be seen below.

Robots: Robot Art I