Servo - 05.2017

SERVO Magazine is a monthly robotics publication produced by T&L Publications.It has been an active member of the robotics community, sponsoring such events as the FIRST Robotics Competition, the Robonexus robotics convention and the Tetsujin robotics competition.

*... Ask Mr. Roboto. Tap into the sum of all human knowledge and get your questions answered here! From software algorithms to material selection, Mr. Roboto strives to meet you where you are — and what more would you expect from a complex service droid? I was inspired by William Henning’s series on building a Raspberry Pi robot and have created my own version. * Atrocious: The $200 Hobbyweight — Part 1. Sometimes, a challenge is all you need to inspire you to do something greater than what you may have previously thought possible. For me, this challenge came in the form of a Facebook post by fellow competitor, Kyle Singer. * Police, Security, Military, and Emergency Response Robots. Ever since people first began to build robot-like devices, certain groups began to take serious interest. "Can this type of machine be the answer to my situation?" they would ask. Military groups around the world saw ways to use robots to retain a presence within a field of battle without endangering humans in the process. The same scenarios were appealing to law enforcement agencies, though different capabilities were necessary for their robot design. Security companies saw robot technology as a way to offer 24 hour patrol of critical areas without the higher costs of human beings. Emergency response groups realized that a combination of these two “groups” was needed for their specialized situations, such as the clean-up of nuclear reactor disasters that I’ll discuss next. Robots have entered all of these areas with great success, though a few have ‘died’ in the process. ...*