19/IV/2008
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We have finally released the new version of our Reem robots: the Reem-B. Among other abilities, it has increased autonomy in all aspects (battery, computer power and movement). It can carry heavy loads, climb stairs, coordinate vision with grasping, and create maps of its environment and move autonomously around it while avoiding obstacles. Just watch a demo of those abilities in the newly released video here. Official presentation and press release is under preparation (more info at www.pal-robotics.com). Stay tuned...
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15/X/2007
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The spanish newspaper Público published an article about the work that we doing with the Humanoid Reem robot. You can find the scanned text here only in Spanish.
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28/IX/2007
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The last number of the ACIA newsletter features a short popular science paper I wrote about Social Robotics and its impact in the future of humanity. It describes what do we mean by social robots, shows some applications and real robot implementations, and points toward a discussion on our future in a world with such machines. Everything is written for the general public. The original text in Catalan language can be found here. An English version can be found here.
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01/VII/2007
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Our company is participating at the Robocup at Home challenge in Atlanta. The challenge consists of a robot that has to handle itself inside a home and perform some typical tasks of a service robot, like follow a human, move through the environment, and bring stuff to its owner. I am in charge of developing the navigation skills of the robot.
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01/III/2007
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I have been hired by Pal Robotics company for the creation of autonomous humanoid robots that will work as service robots at home. Very interesting challenge!.
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02/I/2007
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We are organizing a special session about cognition in embodied systems during the next International Work-conference on Artificial Neural Networks (IWANN2007). Papers are accepted for this session until the next February the 4th. More information about the special session and instructions on how to submit can be found here.
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10/XII/2006
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Our two Aibo robots Travolta and Olivia have appeared on the spanish TV show 'El Hormiguero' featuring a dance that we have programmed using the Urbi environment. The robots played an extended version of the dance that won the Danftpunk dance contest organized by Sony. A video of the performance can be found here. The source code of the dance program can be found on my Aibo programming page. |
26/X/2006
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I have released a new page containing our results on modular
controllers for autonomous robots. This page describes the two types of modularity that we identify for modular controllers (that we call strategic and tactical modularity), and uses a test-bed example (the garbage collector) to show the differences between them. Additional results are included, showing the special characteristics of tactical modularity. Source code is also provided to test our results on your Webots simulator. |
10/X/2006
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Tomorrow 11/X/2006 will start a exhibition about approaching science at Palau Robert, in Barcelona.
This exhibition tries to approach science to everyone through several spaces dedicated
to special subjects of science. I have collaborated in the creation
of the Social Robotics space,
creating a video script that shows the differents aspects involved in social robotics
and its future applications in real life. During all the exhibition, there will be
a face recognition demonstration of Aibo robots,
created by my friends of the Computational Vision Center.
The exhibition will last until 31/VII/2007. |
08/VII/2006
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This year commemorates the 50th anniversary of the birth of the
Artificial Intelligence discipline. In order to celebrate it,
the 50th Anniversary Summit of Artificial Intelligence will
be held in Monte Verita (Switzerland) next week. In collaboration with Oscar Vilarroya,
I will present an abstract there with our vision about AI.
On top of that, I will do a day per day chronicle of the events happened
during the summit, including pictures, videos, talks and interviews.
You can find the AI summit chronicle here. |
05/V/2006
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In 2002, Dr. and scientist Oscar Vilarroya wrote a book in catalan language entitled 'Paraula de robot', about Aibo research applied to
the relation between language and our cognitive capacities.
His book won the European popular science award on that year.
Due to its selling success in Catalan language, an updated version in Spanish
is being released in the next month. Dr. Vilarroya and I, we have created together a new
chapter for the Spanish edition of the book, entitled 'La madurez de los Aibo',
which explains the new findings on autonomous robots in the last years.
We will do the official presentation of the book the 5th May at the University of Valencia,
including an Aibo demo. Everyone is free to attend!.
Update: the presentation will take place at the stand of
the Llibreria de la Universitat de Valencia at the Fira del Llibre,
placed at the Jardins dels Vivers, on Friday 5th at 19:30.
Update-2: the presentation took place with a high success.
Read the reviews by two local newspapers (review-1, review-2) or
watch the Aibo video demo done during the presentation. |
21/IV/2006
The April 21st, I'll give my second invited talk at the
Josep Mestres i Busquets High School of Viladecans, in Barcelona. This
will be a popular science talk about autonomous robotics
research in the world. An Aibo demo will also be presented and
attendants will be able to interact with it.
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