Beat-Up Bot
The Beat-Up Bot iRobot was built as part of DARPA's Autonomous Robotic Manipulation Program. They wanted to prove that this design could take a beating. This would be of much help since the design is supposed to be geared towards tee ball and practicing of batting. The picture above shows them testing the robot by using an alluminum bat, and baseball placed in the machine. This is to show the good qualities of the robot. The most important would be how it is soft and flexible enough to avoid serious damage, as well as the prongs to hold the baseball is made of a rubbery substance in order to be constantly hit at high forces. Also, in order for the rubbery substance to keep a good hold on the ball it is still strong enough to grab onto the object up to about 50 pounds with a tight enough grasp. This part of the robot is also lined with sensors and other components to sense when to grab onto the ball.
Flexibility of design.
I believe this new robot is a great idea. I see it being very successful, even with just seeing the first model. As it is stated in the article, this is geared towards baseball. That would mean it would take place of the baseball tee that is currently used to teach young children how to hit with a baseball bat. I believe this design is better because, with my personal experience, the ball would constantly fall off of the baseball tee. Also, I remember after a great amount of use, the tee would become banged up and mishaped. This would add to the amount of times and ease that the ball would fall to the ground before you hit it. This robot would fix that problem by holding it in place with the rubbery prongs. With the right amount of strength and flexibility this can do the job of holding the ball in place and letting go at the right time without preventing it to sore at its full potential (as to still be able to see your own personal batting progress). Aside from the small children, I would also see this being successful for major league players/athletes. Now ovbiously, they would not be just learning how to hit a baseball, but practice makes perfect and I am sure that they hit many baseballs each day. This would make an easy and quicker way of being able to practice their batting skills.
Surprisingly, I don't see many issues with this robot design. Being happy with a weekly robot article barely happens for me. One of the only issues I could find with this robot is that I was wondering how they are keeping the robot stable. You can't quite tell in the picture if the robot is secured onto the table. All it looks like is that it is just sitting on top. This would be a problem if it is being constantly hit and moved slightly each time. It would fall off onto cement (or any surface) and possibly break and get damaged. Although, this could possibly not be a problem because you can't really tell specifically if anything is being done to prevent this in the video. Another issue would be the prongs. It is said to be a rubbery substance that is both flexible as well as strong and sturdy. The only reason I see this as a problem is because I don't understand this. I would think that there is a fine line between strong and sturdy compared to flexible and with that could lead to problems. Overall though, I see this as a very good first design and with technology these days only has room for many more improvements and advancements over time.
Surprisingly, I don't see many issues with this robot design. Being happy with a weekly robot article barely happens for me. One of the only issues I could find with this robot is that I was wondering how they are keeping the robot stable. You can't quite tell in the picture if the robot is secured onto the table. All it looks like is that it is just sitting on top. This would be a problem if it is being constantly hit and moved slightly each time. It would fall off onto cement (or any surface) and possibly break and get damaged. Although, this could possibly not be a problem because you can't really tell specifically if anything is being done to prevent this in the video. Another issue would be the prongs. It is said to be a rubbery substance that is both flexible as well as strong and sturdy. The only reason I see this as a problem is because I don't understand this. I would think that there is a fine line between strong and sturdy compared to flexible and with that could lead to problems. Overall though, I see this as a very good first design and with technology these days only has room for many more improvements and advancements over time.