Human Mind-Controlled Robotic Arm

Researchers in USA have developed a prosthetic arm at John Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory, that is controlled by human mind like a normal human limb.This robotic arm has been successfully tested on a 53 year old paralyzed woman named Jan Scheuermann in Pittsburgh.She is paralyzed neck-down.Jan was paralyzed 13 years ago when she was diagnosed with spinocerebellar degeneration.
Accurately translating the brain signals was one of the biggest challenges in mind-controlled prosthetics.This objective has been successfully achieved in this project.

TOPIO - TOSY Ping Pong Playing Robot

TOPIO is a bipedal human-like robot,which has been designed to play table tennis against human beings.It was designed by TOSY Robotics JSC,Vietnam.Its first version was designed in 2005.The first version of this robot (TOPIO 1.0) was publicly demonstrated on 28 November 2007 at Tokyo International Robot Exhibition,Japan.The second version of this robot (TOPIO 2.0) was demonstrated on 5 February 2009 at Nuremberg International Toy Fair,Germany.The third and latest version of this robot (TOPIO 3.0) was publicly demonstrated on 25 November 2009 at Tokyo International Robot Exhibition,Japan.Until today its three versions have been designed and each new version has improved features than that that of the previous version.The focus of this article will be TOPIO 3.0.

TOPIO 3.0

Bina48 - The World's most Advanced Robot

Bina48 is a humanoid robot which is based on the personality and appearance of a real person,Bina Rothblatt,the co-founder of LifeNaut,which is involved with robot-human fusion as  a technological means to immortality.It is actually a robotic head,that is believed to be the most advanced humanoid robot to date.This robot resides at Terasem Movement Foundation's building in Bristol,Vermont.Terasem Movement Foundation is a nopn-profit organisation interested in artificial intelligence.Bina48 was developed by David Hanson of Hanson Robotics.It was developed for Martine Rothblatt,Bina Rothblatt's husband, to give Bina Rothblatt a kind of immortality.Martine Rothblatt is a millionaire and a businessman,who is believed to be involved with Terasem Movement Foundation.Martine Rothblatt paid $125,000 to Hanson Robotics for development of this robot.Martine Rothblatt,who was born male, married Bina Rothblatt  before he underwent a sex change operation and they  have stayed together after Martine's sex change operation.Bina48 is perhaps the first android which is based on a real woman.An android is a human like robot which has feelings and intelligence like a human being.

(Image via The Newyork Times)

ASIMO - Japan's Autonomous Humanoid Walking Robot

On November 8,2011,Honda Motor Co., Ltd.,Japan, unveiled its all-new ASIMO humanoid robot,that is equipped with world's first autonomous behaviour control technology.Due to significantly advanced intelligence and physical ability,this robot is capable of moving without being controlled by the human operator.With its decision making capability this robot is intelligent enough to determine its behaviour in concert with its surroundings such as movements of people.This robot is equipped with many advanced capabilities like high-level postural balancing capability,external recognition capability and capability to generate autonomous behaviour which render it capable of  autonomously walk and move around like a human being.

Murata Boy -The World's First Bicycle-riding Robot

Murata Boy is the world's first bicycle-riding robot developed and designed by Murata Manufacturing Company, Ltd.,Japan.This robot can ride a bicycle like a human being.Murata Manufacturing Company, Ltd.,is a Japan-based company involved with Research, Production and Sales of Electronic Devices made from fine ceramics.

HRP-4C - Japanese Model Female Robot (World' First Robot Singer)

The HRP-4C is a female humanoid robot developed by Shuuji Kjita (Leader) and others of the Humanoid Research Group,the Intelligent Systems Research Institute (Director : Shigeoki Hiraj) of the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)(President : Hioyuki Yoshikawa),Japan.It is a Cybernetic Human having the shape and appearance of a human being.It can not only walk and move like a human being but also,using speech recognition and so forth,it can interact with humans.Humanoid robots are expected to be one of the final forms of next generation robots.Applications of humanoid robots to date have been limited to the platforms of research and development  (R&D),hobbies  and so forth.Developing an intelligent biped humanoid robot,that could move an behave like a human being, is indeed a big challenge for engineers and scientists to meet.