{"id":343570,"date":"2017-06-14T06:20:48","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T22:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1502627"},"modified":"2017-06-14T06:20:48","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T22:20:48","slug":"re2-is-making-bomb-defusing-robots-as-intuitive-to-control-as-your-own-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/re2-is-making-bomb-defusing-robots-as-intuitive-to-control-as-your-own-hands\/","title":{"rendered":"RE2 is making bomb defusing robots as intuitive to control as your own hands"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Within a few minutes, I\u2019ve got one hand grasped gingerly on the zipper. The other is holding the bag\u2019s handle in place. I unzip it slowly, as if performing surgery. There\u2019s none of the pressure of a real life battlefield, but the potential humiliation of having to start all over again in front of the film crew is enough motivation to it right this time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

RE2 Robotics\u2019<\/a> (pronounced \u201cRe-Squared\u201d) control scheme takes some getting used to. Each arm serves as an \u00a0analog to the limbs on the military robot a few feet in front of me, but the control scheme and the exacting nature of every arm movement present a bit a learning curve.<\/span>\u00a0After a few frustrating misses, however, I manage to save face in front of room full of onlookers silently judging my robotic manipulation skills.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Mellon spinoff has been developing the control scheme for about a decade now \u2014 around two-thirds of its existence. It\u2019s the result of the growing movement of biomimicry<\/span> in the robotics field, as more and more engineers look toward nature for inspiration. In the case of Re2\u2019s Robotic Manipulation System, it was right in front of them the whole time. What better scheme could there be for controlling robotic grippers than our own arms?<\/span><\/p>\n

The\u00a0 control\u00a0<\/span>system sits atop a tripod, with two grips mounted on bars that curl over top like bicycle racing handlebars. Each grip has series of buttons controlled by the thumb. It\u2019s those last few, which control the robot\u2019s motion and camera position, that take the most getting used to. But the RE2 employee who operates the robot for the sake of our video demo assures us that within a couple of hours, the whole thing becomes second nature.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s the motivating principle behind the system: a control scheme that closely mimics our own movement. The scheme is designed to operate the rover\u2019s arms in some of the high stress environments, from decommissioning roadside bombs to handling harmful materials in the wake of a major disaster like 2011\u2019s Fukushima accident. It\u2019s the third \u201cD\u201d in the \u201cdull, dirty and dangerous\u201d paradigm roboticists inevitably raise when discussing the importance of replacing certain jobs with automation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOften times, you still need the human intellect to perform those tasks,\u201d founder and CEO<\/span> Jorgen Pedersen<\/span> explains. \u201c<\/span>But they\u2019re dangerous, so the question is, how can we project that human capability remotely, so they\u2019re still able to do their job and leverage the human intellect to solve a really big problem? That\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do \u2014 keep the human safe, but allowing them to still do their job.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Over the last decade, off-the-shelf Xbox and Playstation controllers have become a fairly standard solution<\/a> for controlling these sorts of robots around the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. They\u2019ve proven a decent makeshift solution. After all, many enlisted troops fit firmly within a key demographic for the consoles and are likely already familiar with their controls.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the systems could benefit from more direct method in high pressure situations. So, a decade ago, Re2 began to develop its current control scheme, one it believed would be even more intuitive than a gaming console by directly mimicking human movement.<\/span> The company\u2019s system includes two modular arms that affix to a military robot like Endeavor\u2019s (formerly iRobot) Packbot, along with the tripod-mounted control scheme.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going to project that human capability, the most human way to control it is to have it be as much like you as possible,\u201d says Pedersen. \u201cThat\u2019s where we\u2019ve come over the past decade, having true human-like capability. It\u2019s no coincidence that these robots look like human torsos. These systems are a projection of you, remotely. It\u2019s almost like an avatar, where you\u2019re dealing with a threat out of harm\u2019s way.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The operator controls the system from a safe distance by viewing the robot\u2019s camera feed from a remote laptop. The company is also developing a set up that utilizes a VR-style headset to complete the avatar-like scenario, similar to the system that many drone makers have employed.<\/p>\n

RE2 sees military applications as just the first step for the system. And it\u2019s a logical place to start. Like so many robotics startups, military contracts are what kept the company afloat for many of its formative years. But while Pedersen concedes that such a control system could be utilized for hand to hand combat, he prefers, unsurprisingly, to focus on the positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, people could use this technology for other means,\u201d he says. \u201cBut our charter is saving lives and extending it into new markets like health care, where we can do patient assist. [We can] help a person from a wheelchair to a bed or a wheelchair to a toilet, as the brawn for a caregiver.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" Within a few minutes, I’ve got one hand grasped gingerly on the zipper. The other is holding the bag’s handle in place. I unzip it slowly, as if performing surgery. There’s none of the pressure of a real life battlefield, but the potential humiliation of having to start all over again in front of the film crew is enough motivation to it right this time.\u00a0 RE2… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

\"\"\/ <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5817,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[59,66,26],"class_list":["post-343570","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-technology","tag-media","tag-techcrunch","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5817"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343570\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}