Tiny Kilobots to go on sale

Do you think that you'll never be able to afford a robot of your own that isn't a toy? Well, if you can get Swiss robot-maker K-Team Corporation to sell you one, chances are you can easily afford a Kilobot - perhaps even a whole bunch of them. Designed and first built by Harvard University's Self-Organizing Systems Research Group, the three-legged robots aren't much larger than the 3.4-volt button cell batteries that power them, and move by vibrating across smooth, flat surfaces. They were created to study robotic swarming behavior, with the intention that tens, hundreds or even thousands of them could be used simultaneously in one experiment. Harvard has just announced that it has licensed the Kilobot technology to K-Team, which will commercially manufacture the robots so that other groups and institutions can purchase them for their own research.

Along with its lithium-ion battery and rigid legs, each Kilobot incorporates an LED bulb, two motors (which vibrate the legs), a wide-angle infrared transceiver, and a microcontroller. An unlimited number of the little guys can be programmed via a computer-linked overhead infrared controller in under 40 seconds, and each have the ability to act autonomously, based on the parameters of that programming.

The Harvard researchers have so far gotten cooperating groups of Kilobots to do things such as foraging for "food," following a leader, dispersing from one another, and synchronizing the blinking of their built-in LEDs. While a bunch of little robots doing these things might not seem to have huge applications in the real world, the lessons learned from such research could lead to groups of more practical robots performing duties such as the exploration of hostile environments, search and rescue missions, environmental monitoring, or hazardous material clean-ups.

That kind of research would be quite costly to conduct using larger, more complex robots, and could be inaccurate just using computer models.

There's no word yet on whether or not K-Team will sell individual Kilobots to ordinary folks like us (although just buying one would be sort of like owning one ant), or how much they will cost. According to Harvard, however, each one costs about US$14 to build.

Here's a video overview of the Kilobot from Harvard's SSR Lab:

LED by LITE aims to brighten up night-time cycling

The arrival of high-intensity LEDs has certainly made a huge difference to the brightness of bicycle headlights. Some people, however, are now looking at using the bulbs not just as a means of lighting the cyclist's way, but of making their bicycles more visible to motorists. A couple of examples include the Aura and Revolights systems, both of which incorporate LEDs into a bike's wheel rims. Another system, that looks like it might be considerably less involved yet still effective, is called LED by LITE.

Developed by Utah father and son team Rick and Brandon Smith, LED by LITE consists of four strips of silicone-encased LED bulbs. Two of those strips (containing white bulbs) mount on the bicycle's front forks, while the other two (with red bulbs) go on the seat stays. All four strips are waterproof, can be removed and reinstalled by the cyclist in a matter of seconds, and receive their power from a rechargeable 12-volt lithium-ion battery pack.

The LEDs are bright enough to both light the road ahead of the rider, and to make the bicycle stand out to motorists.

What makes the system particularly interesting, however, is its Dashboard. Mounted on the handlebars, this wireless unit features left- and right-turn buttons - press the left-turn button, and the left front and rear light strips will flash on and off, press the right, and ... you get the idea. It also allows users to switch the running lights between continuous and modulated (flashing) modes.

Rick and Brandon are currently in the process of raising funds from prospective customers, to commercially produce LED by LITE. A system with a total of 36 bulbs is planned to retail for US$175, although a pledge of $125 will get you one once they're ready to go. Versions with 24 and 48 bulbs are also available.

New type of light-emitting material could rival existing OLEDs

Organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) are a technology that shows great promise, as they are thinner, lighter, and less expensive to manufacture than their non-organic LED counterparts. Despite their name, however, they are not fully organic, as small amounts of precious metals are required to make them glow. A completely organic and even cheaper alternative could be on its way, though ... researchers from the University of Michigan have created metal-free organic crystals that shine with phosphorescence – until now, only non- or semi-organic compounds have displayed this property.

The crystals – or phosphors – glow white in visible light, while radiating blue, green, yellow and orange in ultraviolet light. Different colors can be obtained by altering their chemical composition.

The light itself comes from molecules of oxygen and carbon called “aromatic carbonyls.” Typically, they only produce a weak phosphorescence, and only under special conditions such as very low temperatures. In the U Michigan material, however, the carbonyls bond with halogens in the crystal, packing the molecules tightly. This suppresses vibration, minimizing energy lost as heat, and maximizing energy that produces phosphorescence under practical conditions. The result is a brightness comparable to that of OLEDs, which are themselves brighter than LEDs.

“This is in the beginning stage, but we expect that it will not be long before our simple materials will be available commercially for device applications,” said lead researcher Jinsang Kim. “We expect they will bring a big change in the LED and solid-state lighting industries because our compounds are very cheap and easy to synthesize and tune the chemical structure to achieve different colors and properties.”

The university is currently looking into patenting the technology, and seeking partners for commercialization.

The research was recently published in the journal Nature Chemistry.