Robofair shows advances in robotics and mechatronics

The fourth annual Robofair, the biggest yet, showcased national and international advances in robotics and mechatronics.

Various exhibitors displayed a range of robots of many types at Western Australia’s Curtin University on the weekend. The WA police bomb squad rubbed shoulders with the likes of the Curtin Robotics Club and Mars Society WA.

Tim Keely, the engineering outreach coordinator at Curtin, said the exhibition was about how robots could help humanity rather than replace it.

“It is to educate people about robotics and the related technology, and kids who might know Wall-E and Transformers who might have a real interest in those type of things,” Keely said.

“At the heart of it all, robots are about us. What do we want, what is too dangerous for us, and what do we not want to do?”

WA’s Water Corporation showed off the robots that helped out in the aftermath of the Pike River mine disaster in New Zealand in November 2010, while students of the university were working late into the night to fine-tune some creations with less serious applications.

Toby Scantlebury, Jimmy Hartanto and Xuejin Tang from the Curtin Robotics Club were working on a robotic spider and a robotic car that could be controlled via a Bluetooth-enabled phone and a 3D printer capable of ‘printing’ with molten plastic moulded to specific shapes and specifications.

Source: AAP