As a generous charity for a fundraiser, one brave soul has volunteered to have his head shaved by a robot with three arms (looks similar to Dr. Octopus' extra arms from Spider-Man). The robot is a Multi-Armed Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV ), and was being controlled from an operator through a computer. The charity was for St. Baldrick's Foundation to help cure child hood cancer and the robotics firm helping with the fundraiser and providing their own robot for use was Intelligent Automation, Inc.
The program did a little more than raise money for charity. It demonstrated the flexibility to carry out tasks for their UGV robot. The robot yields three arms, all equipped with cameras, and 29 degrees of freedom. The camera and arm arrangement allows the user to move the arms relative to various frames of reference. As a result, the robot is capable of carrying out tasks that require complex movements and manipulations to objects.
The UGV used has many purposes it can serve. It has shown the ability to handle tools, inspect backpacks, tie knots, breach doors, and IDE disarming. Although the robot gave a far from perfect haircut, it gave a perfect example of how far along robots have come. Not to mention they did have a robot set up for emotional support and one to clean up the hair on the ground. Maybe next time a robot can wash our hair for us too.
Eavesdropper
