2003年11月SERVO Magazine:机器人技术与竞赛特辑

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《SERVO 杂志2003年11月》是一本专注于机器人领域的专业月刊，由T&L Publications在2003年10月创刊，针对机器人爱好者和专业人士提供深度的技术内容。该期杂志内容丰富，包括多个特色栏目和专题： 1. **"ALWAYSONROBOTICS"**（第16页）可能探讨的是持续运行的机器人技术，可能涉及自动化、节能或永不停歇的机器人解决方案。 2. **"NEURONSFORROBOTS"**（第71页）关注神经网络在机器人技术中的应用，可能涉及人工智能、机器学习或者仿生学的结合。 3. **"WHATWOULDYOUTRUSTAROBOTtodo?"** 这个标题可能是一个讨论议题，鼓励读者思考机器人在日常生活或特定任务中的可靠性和道德问题。 4. **"LowCostSoundSensor"**（第34页）介绍低成本的声波传感器，对于寻求经济实惠的硬件解决方案的工程师具有实用价值。 5. **"BatteryFuelGauge"**（第38页）可能是关于电池电量监测系统的设计，帮助用户管理电池寿命和优化能源使用。 6. **"Hexatron-Part1"** 和 **"SOZBOTS-Part2"**（第42页和第52页）可能是连载项目，涉及到电子设计或者机器人构造的教程，分两部分展示。 7. **"TheHeadTracker"** 可能是关于头部跟踪技术的详细介绍，常用于增强现实、姿态控制等领域。 8. **"Mind/Iron"** 和 **"AskMr.Roboto"**（第21页和第24页）可能是技术问答或者观点分享，提供机器人领域的见解和解决问题的方法。 9. **"Robytes"** 和 **"RoboticsShowcase"**（第62页和第65页）可能展示了最新的机器人技术和产品，供读者了解行业动态。 10. **"RoboticsResources"** 和 **"Appetizer"**（第66页和第78页）可能提供机器人开发的资源链接，以及对下期内容的预告或精华内容片段。 11. **"Publisher'sInfo"** 提供了订阅信息和出版商联系地址，对于想要订阅或了解更多信息的读者很有用。 12. **"NewProducts"** 介绍了最新发布的机器人产品和技术，反映了当时的创新趋势。 13. **"RobotBookstore"** 和 **"RoboticsCalendar"**（第30页和第64页）可能包含推荐读物列表和当月的机器人活动日程。 14. **"Advertiser'sIndex"** 列出了广告商的信息，为读者提供了广告支持的来源。《SERVO 杂志》不仅是技术内容的载体，也是社区交流的平台，对于那些致力于机器人技术发展的人来说，每个月都是一次深入学习和探索的机会。

ing robotic Sentinels. All of which are

controlled by a central computer,

which uses humans as “living batter-

ies.” (Or at least that's what we know

from the first two movies. The last

film in the trilogy, Matrix Revolutions,

hasn't been released at the time this

article is being written, and promises

additional mind-blowing plot twists.)

The Evolution

Continues

Based on a concept developed

Stanley Kubrick, Steven Spielberg's

A.I. is a maddeningly inconsistent

film, but it shows a

world in which

robots are evolving far faster than

man is. David, the Pinocchio-like boy

played by the charismatic young

actor Haley Joel Osment, is years

beyond our current technology. But

by the end of the film, he meets up

with even more advanced robots,

which control planet Earth thousands

of years in the future, after mankind

is extinct. Of course, our current level

of technology is nowhere near

David,

Hal, R2, or the Matrix (I think … say,

who was that fellow in the black suit

and tie clip following me last night??)

But robots, as this new magazine

demonstrates, are increasingly all

around us. And artificial intelligence

will be a reality as well — someday.

But as David Stork notes, “It's going

to be many, many decades. Or as

John McCarthy said, it will either be

within four, or four hundred years,

and it depends on getting two

Einsteins and three Von Neumanns-

you can't predict it; it could be soon,

or might not be.”

In any case, the movies have given

us a wonderful sneak preview into

our biomechanical future.

SERVO 11.2003 13

Photo by Giles Keyte

Digital work by Industrial Light & Magic.

robotsinmovies.qxd 10/6/2003 5:38 PM Page 13

“Hey, this R2 unit of your seems a bit

beat up. Do you want a new one?”

“Not on your life! That little droid and

I have been through a lot together.”

R2-D2 is such a popular movie robot,

and so beloved by many readers of Nuts &

Volts and Servo, that we wanted to inter-

view the man who controls him, to find

out exactly what's going on underneath

R2's silver and blue dome.

Don Bies (www.starwars.com/bio/

donbies.html) began with Industrial Light

and Magic in 1987 as a puppeteer on The

Witches of Eastwick, and later that year

joined Lucasfilm Ltd., as R2-D2's operator

for a series of Japanese commercials. Since

then, he's controlled R2 on each of the lat-

est trilogy of Star Wars films, including its

final chapter (apparently titled, if you

believe the Internet rumors, Star Wars:

Episode III: An Empire Divided, which obvi-

ously is subject to change), due for release

in May of 2005. As he's in Australia, shoot-

ing that film's live action sequences, we

spoke with Bies by phone.

Bies says that mechanically, R2 is actu-

ally quite simple. “We've got two

wheel-

chair motors in the left and right foot. And

then the front foot is a caster. For the head

turn, we just directly attached a big chunky

servo, and it works pretty well.”

Ever since Episode I, Bies has used

Futaba 9ZAP nine channel model airplane

radio control units to operate R2. Essentially

stock, their batteries have been replaced by

Makita batteries for longer life.

“We have a Vantec speed control

(www.vantec.com) to control the

motors. It drives off of one stick, and it's

done through the Futaba radio transmitter.

So I can just push this one stick forward

and the robot runs forward. And if I push

it backward, it goes back, and left goes

left, and right goes right, as opposed to

having two stick controls, as in a tank

drive.”

Back to the Future

While the current Stars Wars trilogy

features gobs of cutting-edge digital tech-

nology, much of its production design

owes its lineage to the first round of Star

Inside The World's

Most Popular Droid

14 SERVO 11.2003

robotsinmovies.qxd 10/6/2003 5:38 PM Page 14

Wars films, back when movie special

effects were far less sophisticated.

While R2's basic shape came from the

seminal illustrations that George Lucas had

painted

by industrial artist Ralph McQuarrie,

his design was finalized by John Stears, who

headed the British on-stage special effects

department of Star Wars' original sound-

stage — EMI's Elstree

studios.

The many documentaries made dur-

ing the shooting of those first Star Wars

films featured numerous shots of radio

controlled R2s crashing into walls, or sim-

ply refusing to move on cue. Bies admits

that the original R2s “had a lot of prob-

lems, because the R/C technology at the

time was pretty much in its infancy. But

since then, the radio control units them-

selves have become very, very stable.”

The stability of those controls allows

Bies to effectively think like an actor when

he's on set, “to a certain extent. I don't

want to sound like I'm doing brain surgery

or anything,” because R2 is “so limited in

what it can do — the head can turn, and

we have the little holographic eye that

moves up and down, so you can get a lit-

tle motion out of that. I think that 90 per-

cent of R2's character comes out of the

sounds that they put in later, so you get all

those movements in with the bleep or the

sad whistle or whatever.”

The Man Inside Artoo

Of course, R2 has another handler —

since the mid-1970s, three foot, eight inch

tall Kenny Baker (www.kennybaker.co.uk)

has often been inside of him. In the origi-

nal films, in most shots where R2 was

shown

waddling on two legs, Baker was

inside. For George Lucas and the rest of the

original Star Wars production team, having

an actor inside of Artoo was often far more

reliable than the R/C controls

of the time.

For better or worse, technology has

rendered Baker increasingly superfluous to

the latest trilogy. “Kenny's been used less

and less,” according to Bies, “partially

because of the stability and the reliability

of the R2 units, and partially because R2 is

going more in the digital route. In Episode

I, Kenny was in the film a fair amount,

whenever there's a two-legged version. In

Episode II, we didn't use Kenny at all in

Australia — we were able to do everything

with the radio-controlled units. And if we

needed a two-legged R2 for a shot, it

would typically be me just hiding behind,

or underneath it wiggling it around when

necessary, with a radio-controlled head

that we put on it, so that it could turn its

head back and forth.”

Bies says that it was out of courtesy to

Baker that Lucas allowed him to control R2

for one shot in Episode II. And Bies is sure

Baker will be inside R2 for a shot or two in

Episode III, as well. The films just wouldn't

look right without Baker getting a screen

credit for portraying R2.

And digital effects are reducing Bies's

role with R2, as well. “On Episode II, some-

body did a shot count, and there were

something like 96 R2 shots in the film, and

14 of them were digital R2s, there was one

Kenny shot, and then the rest were me

with the radio controlled units. With

Episode III, it's too early to tell, but R2 has

a bigger role in the film, and has more

action sequences, so there will probably

end up being more digital shots of R2 in

the picture.”

Of course, whether he's radio con-

trolled, actor controlled, or digital, R2 will

always be a hero to movie fans.

erform proportional speed, direction, and steering with

only two Radio/Control channels for vehicles using two

separate brush-type electric motors mounted right and left

with our mixing RDFR dual speed control. Used in many

successful competitive robots. Single joystick operation: up

goes straight ahead, down is reverse. Pure right or left twirls

vehicle as motors turn opposite directions. In between stick

positions completely proportional. Plugs in like a servo to

your Futaba, JR, Hitec, or similar radio. Compatible with gyro

steering stabilization. Various volt and amp sizes available.

The RDFR47E 55V 75A per motor unit pictured above.

www.vantec.com

STEER WINNING ROBOTS

WITHOUT SERVOS!

Order at

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SERVO 11.2003 15

robotsinmovies.qxd 10/9/2003 7:51 AM Page 15

Introduction

Science fiction stories have always set the standards for

what people expect from "real" robotic creations. Books and

movies like I, Robot, Silent Running, and Short Circuit por-

tray robots that exhibit intelligence, resourcefulness, autono-

my, self-preservation and other sophisticated behaviors.

Consider the famous odd couple from the Star Wars

series — R2-D2 and C-3PO. They navigate their environments,

communicate with each other, and plan rescues of them-

selves and their human counterparts. Even though we find

these fantasy robots captivating and compelling, their high

level abilities do not exist in present day robots, but remain

the exclusive domain of "living systems."

Witness the long and thus-far fruitless efforts to create

true "artificial intelligence." Even "Deep Blue," IBM's special-

ized chess playing computer which soundly defeated human

chess champ Garry Kasparov in 1997, has nothing near the

abilities of the fictional HAL 9000 computer in the classic

motion picture 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The many assumptions — both stated and unstated —

that lurk behind science fiction robots provide robot builders

with many daunting challenges. Consider the issue of power.

Power Challenge

In the classic TV series Lost In Space, robot B-9 had its

own station aboard the Jupiter 2 spaceship and regularly

returned there for recharging.

Likewise, R2-D2 never exhibited a "low battery" condition

in the middle of a battle, or at any other time. The plucky lit-

tle Astromech droid routinely located and accessed informa-

tion ports conveniently placed throughout the Death Star

and other Empire facilities. Though never directly explained in

the movie, droids like R2 evidently could also recharge them-

selves as needed, without human intervention.

So the challenge that we as robot builders face in trying

to "make the future come true" lies in bridging the gap

between our imagination and what we can successfully

build.

To understand that challenge, picture a simple modern

robot capable of "living" around your home. Assume it can

run for six hours on a set of four AA batteries. Operating 24

hours a day, 7 days a week, and using regular alkaline cells,

it would need a total of 5,840 batteries per year!

If the same robot used rechargeable batteries (a big cost

savings, for sure) at four battery changes a day, you would

perform 1,460 swaps per year — more than the number of

meals you'll consume in the same time. With the robot requir-

ing this kind of attention, you'd have to wonder who's the

servant and who's the master!

So to significantly reduce the amount of "routine" atten-

tion a robot requires from humans, our mission lies in finding

ways to endow the robot with the ability to reliably care for

its own power needs.

Four Paths to Robot Power

Let's step back and take a look at the four general ways

that autonomous robots handle their needs for power here

at the start of the 21st century.

Path 1 — Live Fast, Die Young

Robots on this path use power at whatever rate they

need, but they neither sense nor "worry" about their reserves

running out. When the batteries ultimately do die, so do the

robots.

Most small and "toy" type robots use this approach. They

generally can continue operating even as their power levels

drop, though they may move more slowly as this happens.

Path 2 — Spend What You Earn

These more frugal types of robots carry solar cells to

charge a storage device, then when they have gathered suf-

ficient reserves they move, sometimes just in small jumps. Of

course, when the sun or other light source stops shining, the

16 SERVO 11.2003

by Roger Gilbertson

Power Challenges

“Always On”

Robotics

Gilbertson.qxd 10/8/2003 10:35 PM Page 16

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