Here, science fiction has no place; All the robots presented are already operational and find concrete applications in many areas. The public was able to see it by going to Place Pey-Berland in Bordeaux this Saturday, October 19. With the support of the Regional Council, the event Robotics in New Aquitaine (RobNA) took place all day in the open air. Young and old alike were able to test the latest innovations and at the same time discover their regional designers.
The underlying idea of this rather original meeting is to show that robots are not reduced to the humanoids imagined in science fiction films and books. “We want to demystify all this and report to citizens what is being done in the laboratories,” summarizes Nicolas Rougier, researcher at the Inria Center of the University of Bordeaux and co-organizer of the event. For example, walking, which is simple and innate to us, is very difficult for a robot to do. The same when we use our hands. To imagine the difficulty this poses for a robot, put thimbles on each of your fingers and you will have difficulty grasping objects…”
Four mechanical fingers
Demonstrated that day, a four-fingered robot hand aims precisely to assist humans in the most skillful way possible. For example, by taking samples underwater at a depth of 2,000 meters without breaking them. Scientists have worked on the “clamping effect” and this artificial hand is in fact made up of four robots operating 16 motors: one for each finger. This “hand” was designed by the Pprime Institute (a CNRS research unit). “It’s a feat and undoubtedly what is best done in this area today,” says Olivier Lyprofessor at the University of Bordeaux at the Bordeaux Computer Science Research Laboratory and co-organizer of RobNA.
Equipped with wheels, a movable stem and a screen, this robot allows sick students to attend classes remotely.
Sébastien Darsy
Further on, a stand is dedicated to a “telepresence robot”. This was designed for sick students absent from their class for more than three weeks. The object is on wheels, has cameras, microphones and screen attached to the end of a rod which adapts to the height of the face of its interlocutor. ” This robot is the avatar of a student who makes him move remotely and can thus follow lessons, we learn. National Education has ordered 4,000 for testing. »
Less flashy than a humanoid, this robot can eliminate weeds on its own without chemicals.
Sébastien Darsy
Robots don’t just go to school; they also work in the fields. Designed by researchers from the XLIM institutein Limoges, a machine aims to carry out mechanical weeding by identifying cultivated plants and invasive plants. “It’s very useful for doing organic farming over a very large area,” notes Olivier Ly. And it can work cooperatively with drones. Which were also presented this Saturday: including one which analyzes the images to harvest a good harvest of… chestnuts.
Here a “dog” robot that can go to dangerous places instead of humans.
Sébastien Darsy
One of the stars known to the general public: the robot who plays football and participates in the Robocup competition.
Sébastien Darsy
Among all these machines on display, it is impossible not to mention the robot that plays football and the one that has four legs to poke around in dangerous places: their mimicry with man and dog really appealed to the children.
