Rise of the Robots

: Segway Platform Gives Mechanoids Motion


Originally developed by New Hampshire-based Segway for a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program, the Robotic Mobility Platform (RMP) allows robot developers to focus more on the thinking power of their machines while providing a quick mode of transportation.





Read More…A military project aimed at building smarter robots has given researchers the wheels they need to make their automatons go.





Originally developed by New Hampshire-based Segway for a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) program, the firm’s Robotic Mobility Platform (RMP) allows robot developers to focus more on the thinking power of their machines while providing a quick mode of transportation.





“The speed at which we can move is impressive,” said Manuela Veloso, who leads the robotics CORAL research group at Carnegie Mellon University. “From a motion point of view, it’s extremely reliable.”





During DARPA’s Mobile Autonomous Robot Software (MARS) program about 14 different research groups received Segway RMP platforms, some programmed to play soccer while others model the human brain.





“Some of the power researchers got this stuff and in about a week they had their robots rolling…it was pretty fast,” said John Morrell, Segway director of systems engineering for the RMP project, in a telephone interview. “It’s been really interesting to see what people have come up with.”







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