A research team from National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) has invented a robot that can carry out automated nighttime surveillance, climb stairs and move freely around buildings, the team announced yesterday.
The team was comprised of researchers from the school’s Computational Intelligence and Robotics Lab and led by Wang Wei-yen (王偉彥), a chair professor in the Department of Applied Electronics Technology.
It took the team three years to develop the robot, named “NTNU-CIR-I,” which is capable of carrying out surveillance patrols in complicated landscapes during the day and at night.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The team said the robot was meant to fill the gap in the security of school campuses that are open to the public after class hours. The robot can patrol areas that are not patrolled so often by campus security and that the scope of mounted surveillance cameras cannot reach.
Many other robots rely on four wheels to move and are thereby limited to flat surfaces, but the NTNU-CIR-I was designed to overcome this limitation by employing highly sensitive sensors to detect and navigate past obstacles, even in the dark, Wang said, adding that it can also calculate the angles of slopes or stairs to adjust its movements as it climbs.
The team said they think the robot could be a useful addition to security systems in factories, buildings and campuses because it can transmit real-time footage through the Internet.
It could also be used for educational purposes, such as though the application of its sensors, motor control, image processing and intelligence algorithm design, the team added.
Wang was awarded the titles of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Fellow and Institution of Engineering and Technology Fellow this year for his contribution to the field of robotics, the school said, adding that the team is applying for a patent for the robot.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a "tsunami watch" alert after a magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off the Kamchatka Peninsula in northeastern Russia earlier in the morning. The quake struck off the east coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula at 7:25am (Taiwan time) at a depth of about 19km, the CWA said, citing figures from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center. The CWA's Seismological Center said preliminary assessments indicate that a tsunami could reach Taiwan's coastal areas by 1:18pm today. The CWA urged residents along the coast to stay alert and take necessary precautions as waves as high as 1m could hit the southeastern
FINAL COUNTDOWN: About 50,000 attended a pro-recall rally yesterday, while the KMT and the TPP plan to rally against the recall votes today Democracy activists, together with arts and education representatives, yesterday organized a motorcade, while thousands gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in Taipei in the evening in support of tomorrow’s recall votes. Recall votes for 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and suspended Hsinchu City mayor Ann Kao (高虹安) are to be held tomorrow, while recall votes for seven other KMT lawmakers are scheduled for Aug. 23. The afternoon motorcade was led by the Spring Breeze Culture and Arts Foundation, the Tyzen Hsiao Foundation and the Friends of Lee Teng-hui Association, and was joined by delegates from the Taiwan Statebuilding Party and the Taiwan Solidarity
Instead of threatening tariffs on Taiwan-made chips, the US should try to reinforce cooperation with Taiwan on semiconductor development to take on challenges from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a Taiwanese think tank said. The administration of US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose across-the-board import duties of 32 percent on Taiwan-made goods and levy a separate tariff on semiconductors, which Taiwan is hoping to avoid. The Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), a National Science and Technology Council think tank, said that US efforts should focus on containing China’s semiconductor rise rather than impairing Taiwan. “Without
The National Museum of Taiwan Literature is next month to hold an exhibition in Osaka, Japan, showcasing the rich and unique history of Taiwanese folklore and literature. The exhibition, which is to run from Aug. 10 to Aug. 20 at the city’s Central Public Hall, is part of the “We Taiwan” at Expo 2025 series, highlighting Taiwan’s cultural ties with the international community, National Museum of Taiwan Literature director Chen Ying-fang (陳瑩芳) said. Folklore and literature, among Taiwan’s richest cultural heritages, naturally deserve a central place in the global dialogue, Chen said. Taiwan’s folklore would be immediately apparent at the entrance of the
RSS