robots

real

you can touch them

robot: 1923, from Eng. translation of 1920 play "R.U.R." (= Rossums Universal Robots) by Karel Capek (1890-1938), from Czech "robotnik" = "slave" and "robota" = "forced labor, drudgery".

  • ZORC, a humanoid robot learning to walk.
    My diploma thesis at the University of Dortmund.
  • Matilda-II, the autonomous, mobile, learning (?) robot.

virtual

you can watch them

These beasts only exist in the form of bits and bytes and should teach us something about the algorithms used to bring them virtually alife.

  • spe·cies, virtual creatures of several competing and co-evolving species.
  • SIGEL, a comprehensive simulation environment for experimenting with walking robots. Used to teach the virtual ZORC.
  • RoboRail, a simulated robotic vehicle learns to follow a "painted" track.
  • Collector, a virtual agent eagerly collecting items in his simulated environment and returning them to a home base.