If robotic behaviour could be engineered and developed has been the topic of much research papers. CURI-4 is a robotic platform which aims to prioritize certain behavioral traits in robots and control behaviours. CURI-4’s primary behaviour is to find a ball, picking it up and hiding it and once it hides, it loses memory conveniently in order to repeat again. Higher priority behaviours like avoiding obstacles, hiding when loud sounds are generated, and following moving objects when a whistle is heard, are given importance and the primary behaviour of searching the ball is suspended and resumed later. CURI-4 platform is a tethered robot and is equipped with a camera that helps the robot take the images of what it is trying to grab and ‘decide’.
The gripper can be lowered and the robot tilts while picking up the ball. The main components of the robot are 2 DC motors with gearboxes for the drive mechanism, 4 RC type servomotors, small CCD camera, electronic material, and a drive configuration, which contains a tripod with 2 individually powered wheels. A servo controls the pitch of the camera, 2 servos control the gripper and the fourth is used for the leg mechanism. Made of aluminum and plastic, the robot has many steel components as well. Control consists of 486Dx40, 8Mb RAM, a 500Mb HDD and a Creative Labs Video Blaster for image capturing. The robot uses a PC for an interface and draws power from there as well. It costs about $300 to build.
Via: Robots
