Precise Path just received an additional $4.5 million dollars in funding for their robots that mow grass. According to their recent press release, the Indianapolis based company received a boost in investments and is already staging pilot programs with two major golf course management companies. The Precise Path robot, the RG3, is about the size of a riding mower, and both cuts and rolls golf greens at the same time. Using position tracking the robot can mow a green in a single pass, even in the dark. Not only that, but the accompanying software allows operators to decide the direction and path of the cut, giving the finished grass a customized and pristine look. Eventually the bot could be used to cut company logos in lawns. We’ve got a series of videos for you below, each highlighting a particular advantage, or limitation, of the robot. Precise Path seems on a steady track towards taking a big chunk of the billion dollar market of golf course mowing, but with a price tag near $30,000 don’t expect the RG3 to be on your own lawn anytime soon.

According to Precise Path, there are more than 32,000 golf courses around the world, and the US alone spends $1 Billion in maintaining golfing greens. Much of this grass is mowed by hand, a labor-intensive solution. With robots, golf courses could cut that labor by 75% (one robot operator overseeing 4 robots). In their blog, Precise Path lays out how 4 RG3s could offset more than 90% of their own costs in just a single year. They also portend that the robots may provide tens of thousands of dollars in additional revenue by allowing courses to open earlier because the bots can mow while it’s still dark. Those sorts of projected savings are a good indication that automation may be ready to revolutionize golf courses, and a clear example of why Precise Path was able to secure millions of funding in its recent campaign. Here’s a video that further explains the financial incentives for augmenting grounds keeping with robotics.

Lawn mowing robots are just part of a larger trend of robots handling maintenance chores, whether they be vacuuming or washing windows. Precise Path likes to compare their RG3 to iRobot’s Roomba vacuum. Unlike the Roomba, the RG3 covers an area in a single pass and in a manner decided by the user. However, the real comparison to robot vacuums shouldn’t be to the Roomba, but to second generation robot vacuums like Neato’s XV-11. In that line-up, you can more clearly see RG3’s limitations.

First, the RG3 requires four beacons to be placed on the green it will mow. The robot then uses ultrasonics and infrared sensors to track those beacons and position itself precisely. The first time that an operator uses a RG3 on a green, he or she must manually drive the robot around, mapping out the perimeter of the area. Later, the robot can return and ‘fill in’ (mow in?) the space automatically.

In contrast to RG3’s beacon approach, the XV-11 robot vacuum uses a laser range finder to dynamically map a space and an advanced alogorithm (SLAM) to plan a route each time. The XV-11 approach is more sophisticated, but there are reasons why the RG3 does things the way it does. Golf greens, unlike carpets, are not uniformly flat, and I doubt a currently available laser range finder would be able to find the perimeter of a green as precisely as it needs to. With a $30,000 device you want to make sure that the robot always stays in a safe environment. Having the robot wonder off the green would be dangerous in a course with sand and water traps.

What new innovation does the RG3 bring to the field of maintenance robots? User controlled paths. Actually, the RG3 isn’t the first to come up with the idea, but they’ve implemented it rather well. Using Precise Path software, you can sit on your computer, see all the different greens that the RG3 has in its memory, and decide how each section of grass will be cut. Change the position of turns, the direction of perimeter mowing, etc. The control isn’t universal, you can’t just draw a line on the screen and have the robot trace it (yet), but the different options seem complete enough. You can also set schedules by day of the week, and your preferences are easily stored on to a flash drive and uploaded to the robot. It’s a great concept and one that I wish we would see on robot vacuums soon. Ultimately it’s this control over the robot path that will enable you to write messages and draw logos in the grass – something that I’m sure we’ll see on the PGA tour in the next few years.

Practically minded readers may be wondering about mowing blades, run times, safety, sound, and other considerations. Well, the blades and roller for the RG3 are all top of the line industry standard according to Precise Path, and seeing as I know nothing about the grass mowing industry I can’t comment on whether or not that is true. It certainly looks professional. As for run time, the robot is electrically powered and the three onboard batteries provide up to 3 hours of life in the field. You would think that would make it quiet (and it kind of does) but the RG3 won’t be able to sneak up on you. Even if it did, it has a LIDAR obstacle detection system to prevent it from mowing you down.

Overall, I’m rather impressed with the RG3 and I imagine that if the pilot programs are successful we’ll be seeing a lot more of these systems on golf courses, football fields, and corporate campuses. That means that human mowers may see their jobs change radically in the next five to ten years, if the jobs stay around at all. However, until we build robots that trim bushes, rake sand, and prune trees I don’t think that grounds keepers as a whole should be worried. Though, to be honest, it’s probably only a matter of time until those robots are created as well. After grass, Precise Path says that it would like to set its sites on snow, airplane runway cleaning, and other outdoor maintenance. We should remember though that high paying occupations, like lawyers, are also facing competition from machines in the form of software programs. Automation continues to tackle jobs at all levels of the economy and how that reshapes the way humans work will be an important part of the 21st century.

Best case scenario – we all have more time to play golf.
Worst case scenario – we all have more time to play golf. (I’m not really a fan of the game).

More videos of the RG3 can be found on the Precise Path YouTube channel.
[image  credits: Precise Path]
[source: Precise Path]

Canadian robots aren’t afraid of a little power. Hydro-Quebec’s Research Institution (IREQ) created an inspection and maintenance robot that can traverse overhead transmission lines even when they are buzzing at hundreds of thousands of volts. Called the LineScout, the IREQ robot is remotely controlled by workers on the ground, giving them an up close view of lines so they can detect damage, de-ice the conductor, and perform simple repairs. It has thermal-IR imaging so it can see ‘hotspots’ on the line and prevent the fraying and breaking of lines that leads to major blackouts and delays. In short, the robot has the potential to save Canada millions in lost energy and revenue as well as keeping human lives out of danger. No wonder it recently won the Edison Award from the Edison Electrical Institute. Check out the LineScout in action in the summary video below.

Robots seem destined to augment any job that humans find dangerous, dull, or difficult. Power line inspections seem to qualify under all three. The LineScout provides a distinct advantage over human workers inspecting the line by hand and if IREQ is able to commercialize the robot, we should expect it to see use in electric grids all over the world. In fact, similar bots in the research phase have already started to pop up. However, LineScout has been field tested dozens of times in British Columbia, in rough terrain, so it seems to have an edge. Eventually we’ll want these robots to be upgraded from remote controlled to semi or fully autonomous.

The aging North American electric grid is going to be a continued liability as power needs increase in the years ahead. The addition of a new generation of electric vehicles has the potential to really stress the system. In the near term we’ll need lots of inspections, lots of minor repairs, to avoid the catastrophic failures and region wide blackouts we’ve seen in the past. LineScout and other power transmission line robots of its kind will be essential.

But in the long term we’re going to need to upgrade the transmission system completely. Honestly this should have happened twenty years ago. Not only do we need more conductor, and newer lines, we also need an updated way to deal with routing power as demand fluctuates. In other words we need a smarter grid. To accomplish that we’re likely to start embedding millions of internet enabled sensors throughout power lines. These sensors will be able to relate much of the same information that LineScout can provide, only in real time. Such a smart electric grid is one of the potential (and very useful) applications of the Internet of Things.

Does that mean that LineScout is out of a job before it even gets deployed? Not at all. A sensor enabled smart grid is the future, but we’re still going to need inspection robots. Not just to verify sensor readings but to enact small repairs and perform maintenance. Robots like the LineScout are going to have a vital role in the smart energy ecosystem of the future, rest assured. I envision a time when the maintenance of the grid is almost entirely automated. Sensors locate potential dangers and then alert robots which come to take a closer look and automatically correct for small damage. When larger problems occur, then you call in the humans. That’s a setup that is likely to be repeated not just for energy grids, but all sorts of valuable industrial machines and networks. Platforms like LineScout are a sign that our most complex and vital systems will use robotics to help move themselves into future.

[screen capture and video credit: On Demand Production Network]

Can’t afford your own F1 team? Perhaps you can afford the Lotus Exos Type 125 ($1 million). Powered by a 650 HP Cosworth V8 and weighing in at just 1,433 lbs., the buyers of this racing car will be enrolled in the “Exos Club,” which offers extensive drivers training, mental and physical preparation, and then a five-race series across Europe in 2011 for all 25 owners. Some say it’s a way to get around the F1 testing ban, but we say it sounds like a helluva way to blow those extra lottery winnings.

Here he is in all his chubby 1997 glory, introducing the TBWA/Chiat Day produced “Think Different” campaign with an unattributed quote from poet Jack Kerouac, “People who think they are crazy enough to change the world, are the ones who actually do.”

Recently i cam across this amazing innovation – Frontline gloves, developed by Ashwin Rajan and Kevin Cannon,  are a gesture-based communication tool designed for firefighters.

The pair of networked gloves allows two firefighters to communicate with each other using gestures in dire situations of zero-visibility and high noise levels.

Each glove contains custom-made electronics and sensors that allows communication via a wireless protocol. Simple gestures such as a thumbs up communicates the obvious “ok” while a “fist” communicates “mayday.” The corresponding icon illuminates on the partner’s glove to indicate the instruction.

Additionally, the gloves is designed with a “distance display” but it is unclear as to the if the gloves are measuring proximity to each other or simply functioning as a sonar device to avoid obstacles in low-visibility conditions.

This project is a brilliant example of wearable technology used in the context of designing safety apparel.

Via Fashioning Technology

How much do you think you could fit into your car? With a little bit of industrial designing, quite a bit, it turns out. Designer Cornelius Comanns managed to turn a tiny three-wheeled car into a rolling home.

Called the “Bufalino,” the mini-RV seats two, has a fold-down bed, a stove, a basin that acts like a sink and a tank for water, fridge, and loads and loads of storage space. The only thing it’s missing is a shower — you have to wonder why that back couldn’t extend into some kind of ring of canvas where one could stand under an extending shower head.

Via Dvice

Pranav Mistry, Pattie Maes, and Liyan Chang, researchers from MIT’s Media Lab, created an invisible mouse using an infrared laser beam on the right side of a laptop keyboard and an infrared camera on the right side of a laptop screen.  Their prototype cost them all of $20.  Chances are the invisible mouse will cost you even less.

The tracking camera picks up the movements of the user’s hand when in the perimeters of the laser beam range, and then projects the movements onto a display on the computer screen.

The camera registers movements of the hand and hand actions, such as clicking and double-clicking, but the researchers are working on teaching the computer more mouse commands.  The problem is that, even though the mouse is invisible (aka not there), you still have to hold your hand and move your arm as if you were controlling a real mouse, and I think it would be more ergonomic (aka comfortable) if you really were using a mouse (aka piece of hardware).

No matter what happens to the development of the invisible mouse, this video introduction of it should go down as one of the cleverest introductions to a product ever.

One big problem with solar power, is finding a place to put all of those big solar panels. People living in apartments can’t exactly stick a solar array on the roof, so solar windows are the ideal solution.

I’ve seen other solar windows before, but they tend to require replacing the entire window. This solution from a Norwegian company called EnSol can be sprayed onto the glass, resulting in a slight tinting. A thicker layer can also be used on the walls for further coverage, then I suppose you could add some solar ivy if you really want the full effect.

EnSol has been developing the spray with help from the University of Leicester’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, and hopes to have a product on the market by 2016.

Via Gizmag

The food versus fuel debate already has many people worried that we can’t feed the world and power our cars. but some folks are claiming we can power (some of) our cars, feed the world and have a drink in the process.