Handbot, the shelf climbing bot

posted Aug 21st 2009 6:23am by
filed under: robots hacks

Handbot is one piece of a larger project called Swarmanoid. The aim of the swarmanoid is to replicate the functions we usually desire out of a humanoid bot with a whole swarm of specialized bots. That seems like a silly goal to us, considering the only requirement for a humanoid bot is that it be shaped like a human. That aside, we like their stuff. The handbot specifically is designed to retrieve books from bookshelves. It has specialized arms for climbing and grabbing the books with a batman-esque retractable rope launcher mounted on top for added speed and strength. The gait of the handbot really reminds us of how chameleons walk. We’re curious if this is a coincidence or not.

[via BotJunkie]

tagged: ,


22 Responses to Handbot, the shelf climbing bot

  • chicosoft says:
    August 21, 2009 at 7:07 am

    cool

    Reply Report comment
  • EFH says:
    August 21, 2009 at 7:22 am

    What’s with the string?

    Reply Report comment
  • greenyooper says:
    August 21, 2009 at 7:46 am

    @efh – please, please read the summary at lest before you post

    Reply Report comment
  • greenyooper says:
    August 21, 2009 at 7:47 am

    i mean least – serves me right

    Reply Report comment
  • Odin84gk says:
    August 21, 2009 at 8:06 am

    That was kinda painful to watch.

    Reply Report comment
  • strider_mt2k says:
    August 21, 2009 at 8:50 am

    I could have seen the movie in that time!

    Reply Report comment
  • Ryan says:
    August 21, 2009 at 9:04 am

    What is the point in this. I wouldnt want a bot making holes in my ceiling and taking 30mins to get one book! wtf. waste of time

    Reply Report comment
  • Polaczek says:
    August 21, 2009 at 9:43 am

    ITS EFFING BATMAN!

    Reply Report comment
  • moron4hire says:
    August 21, 2009 at 10:11 am

    ryan: what is the point of your existence? If I wanted to hear negativity all the time, I’d just pull my polish sausage out of your mother’s mouth.

    Reply Report comment
  • michael says:
    August 21, 2009 at 10:33 am

    Well, the robot climbing by grasping and switching arms is a nice idea, but the concept of using it to grab a book isn’t such a nice idea…

    As far as I can tell it can’t even bring the book back to the owner. Can it put the book back on the shelf?

    Don’t get me wrong, really nice proof of concept of climbing something – the tool just doesn’t fit the job.

    Reply Report comment
  • JPElectron says:
    August 21, 2009 at 11:05 am

    Am I the only one thinking that if it can descend via the rope, wouldn’t have been faster to go up using the rope? Grandma could have died in the time it took to fetch her that book!

    Reply Report comment
  • macegr says:
    August 21, 2009 at 11:22 am

    Relax, it’s just a cute little example set up with very restricted parameters. No one is expecting this robot to ever actually be used to get books for anyone.

    Reply Report comment
  • chris says:
    August 21, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    The video of it using the grappling canon is much cooler.

    Reply Report comment
  • Jlkansascity says:
    August 21, 2009 at 12:21 pm

    Oh, great. Now all the libriarians will be out of work, replaced by a creeping horde of these little robots. This will put thousands of librarians and book store workers on the unemployment line!

    Reply Report comment
  • pooh says:
    August 21, 2009 at 12:30 pm

    this would be an awesome tool for a disabled individual. I can see were this can help someone be more independent.

    Reply Report comment
  • Motoma says:
    August 21, 2009 at 1:07 pm

    Wait…uh, what? A grappling hook? I want to see more of that in action.

    Reply Report comment
  • Hackius says:
    August 22, 2009 at 4:56 am

    EPFL has some good projects recently.

    Reply Report comment
  • PocketBrain says:
    August 22, 2009 at 5:56 am

    “We’re curious if this is a coincidence or not.”
    It’s probably pure coincidence. The grappling “tongue” is coincidence, too. Not to mention the big, non-functional googly chameleonesque eyes. Pure ko-inkeedink.
    I wonder if the grappler attaches itself? We never saw where that went.

    Reply Report comment
  • barry99705 says:
    August 22, 2009 at 7:30 am

    @Motoma
    I think he meant this. Kinda cool magnetic grappler.

    Reply Report comment
  • spector306 says:
    August 22, 2009 at 2:24 pm

    Well, that magnetic shot was pretty sweet.

    I wish they’d let it loose on a building and just see if it could climb to the top or how many stories it could go.

    Reply Report comment
  • hackist says:
    August 24, 2009 at 3:18 pm

    Wouldn’t elderly/disabled people find it easier to pick the book off the shelf than off the floor?

    Reply Report comment
  • Dudley Auila says:
    April 17, 2010 at 11:04 am

    As a Newbie, I am often searching on the net for articles that will assistance me. Thank you

    Reply Report comment

    • Leave a Reply

    XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title="" rel=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <pre> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

    Hack a Day serves up fresh hacks each day, every day from around the web as well as hacking related news.

    Send us your hacks










         



    Hacks

    Resources