News about Robot Gadgets:
Ollie the robot comes in blimp form, with a child’s mentality
The other day, we reported on some telepresence robots that were essentially miniature blimps that fly around with someone’s head on it, and I equated the floating heads with something rather dystopian.
University of Chicago to get a mechanized library
Just yesterday, I reported on the Yobot, a robot arm that will be stationed at a Yotel near Times Square New York, and its job is to take ones bag for safekeeping and file it with others.
Let the Yobot take your bag
This summer, a 669-room hotel known as the Yotel will open up at Times Square. This particular hotel has a “sleek, techno feel”.
I suppose someone wants the Yotel to be the “hotel of the future”, which is why guests have the option of giving their bags to a robot for safekeeping. Yes, this robot arm can take your bag an put it in one of 133 storage lockers.
See a real bionic hand in action!
We have reported on bionic limbs before, such as the i-LIMB. I suppose that what fascinates me most about bionics is how we have jumped from science fiction to science fact in such a short time.
Exoskeleton lets UC Berkeley graduate walk for his graduation
Now that June is here, there are a lot of people who are “walking” for their graduation. However, if you are paralyzed from the waist down and in a wheelchair, you can’t literally “walk the walk”, so to speak.
Willow Garage’s PR2 robot being trained as a cashier
I worked a for few years at Wal-Mart, and it’s very weird to shop there when you have worked there yourself. With only one exception, I can tell that the cashier doesn’t want to be there any more than I wanted to.
Luna Robot from RoboDynamics
I believe it was the preview of the movie Bicentennial Man that promised that every home would have a robot by the year 2005. Well, we aren’t there yet, but RoboDynamics is promising a robot in every house by 2021.
Robot is inspired by the caterpillar
I have said before that if you are going to build a robot, then you should imitate something of nature. I have seen robots inspired from snakes and birds, but this is the first one that I have seen that have looked to the caterpillar.
DON-8r robot raises money for charities
Who would have thought that a simple robot could actually be used for raising money for charities? Then again, that is not so strange. After all, we have seen skeptical looks dropping on normal folks who go from table to table in public places, wearing a badge that endorses where they came from, which organization they are representing in order to collect money from the public. Many of us have felt cheated in the past after giving our money away, only to read of a particular money-collecting scam in the papers a few days later. With the DON-8r, this coin powered robot might be more appealing to have us part with our money.
Lawn Mowing with your iPhone 101
In case you missed it, Husqvarna has been in the robot lawn mowing business for quite a while now, we have been reporting on them for a few years already. Ahhh the pleasures of sitting in air conditioned comfort while the mower tackles your lawn all by itself.
Check out this the HECTOR spider robot
This spidery looking robot is designed by the University of Bielefeld’s Department of Biological Cybernetics, and it is the HECTOR, which is a weird quasi-acronym meaning the HExapod Cognitive auTonmously Operating Robot.
REETI the robot can show its emotions
I know some of us never want robots to ever have emotions, but I suppose that no one has any qualms about creating a robot that could show emotions.
This is the desktop robot known as REETI, and I am not certain what it stands for, but it is a communication robot and a multi-media tool that could be used to convey a very particular type of message. You can watch the video after the jump if you want to get an idea of how this works.
You have got to like the SWITL spatula
Sometimes it is the simple things in life that you appreciate the most. For example, something that can clean up a ketchup or mayonnaise stain without leaving any trace evidence (for lack of a better word).
Mechanical Bird uses its own wings to fly
I remember seeing pictures from DaVinci’s manuscripts of flying machines. Many of them were ornithopters, flying machines that use the flapping power that birds use to defy gravity. I remember even reading a short story once called “DaVinci Rising” that depicts the Renaissance great actually succeeding in his accomplishment.
Cyberdyne’s HAL-5 Exoskeleton, that’s right, Cyberdyne
While I was at CES last January, I passed a booth for Cyberdyne. I saw that and wondered: “don’t they know that this is the organization that ended the world in the Terminator movies?”
Check out this 26 foot snakebot camera!
Even though I am based in the United States, I am constantly thinking about Japan after the tsunami and earthquake.
A while ago, we reported on a snake-like robot known as the Omnitread that is essentially a train of treaded cars that can got through rubble. It is a design that I have seen before in the Firegard, and this model here.
Equipois x-Ar makes repetitive tasks easier
This is the x-Ar exoskeletal arm from Equipois, and it is designed for lifting. You might think that this thing is designed to be one limb from a Power Loader like in Aliens, but it is not designed to be a strong arm to give you superhuman strength.
Georgia Tech has taught Simon the robot to make certain we pay attention to it
One of the things that I have noticed about robots is that developing an actual functioning one is a lot of baby steps.
I seems like someone develops a good robot arm, someone else has a robot eye, and someone else has to figure out how to make a robot do some minor thing like snap its fingers. In the case of the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech, someone has figured out how to make its robot, Simon, get your attention.
Skeletonics Exoskeleton
We have reported on a lot of interesting Power Loader suits before, you know, like the type that were used in Aliens. I still can’t figure out how they did that effect without computer generated effects.
Attack of the RoboRoach
Do you remember when we did that report on the the Hexbug? Now some people have taken this robot bug toy and somehow grafted the technology onto an actual bug.
Someone taught a Robot Seal to shoot a basketball with a 99 percent success rate
Say hello to Paro, the Japanese robotic seal. It is the creation of some roboticists at National Chiao-Tung University in Taiwan.
Even though a robot seal would be pretty interesting, this is just a robot arm dressed up to look like a seal. For some reason, they made it so the arm/seal can shoot baskets.
Babyloid is just plain creepy
There are a few things that you need to know about Japan – it has been in recession for the longest time, banks don’t pay interest, it has been the 2nd largest economy in the world for eons before China took over that mantle, and “boasts” of the world’s oldest society since 20% of the population is at least 65 years old. Well, apart from that, how about something more cheerful, like it is the top robot nation in the world?
DARPA and Boston Dynamics unite for a “cheetah robot”
I have seen DARPA’s ideas for defense before, and they always seem to see far-out, right out of science fiction.
Fijit Friends – Robots for Girls
It’s no surprise that kids flock towards interactive toys. I remember when the closest thing I had to interactive toy was a my Rock Flowers doll, she would attach to the top of a little yellow record that every doll came with, and she would spin on top of your record player for as long as you left the darn thing on. I would dance with “Lilac” for hours. Forget interactive toys, my kid doesn’t even know what a record player is.
ReCon 6.0 Programmable Rover
If you want to introduce your little ones to the world of robots and robotics, then you might be interested to check out what the ReCon 6.0 Programmable Rover is capable of doing. Retailing for a pretty decent $69.99 to get your child off the right footing, the Programmable Rover largely depends on your imagination – it can be a toy, a robot, and a tool for learning.
AeroVironment Nano-Hummingbird has a video camera
A while ago, we covered a Robot Hummingbird created by a Japanese researcher named Hiroshi Liu, and it was intended to have a camera.
RoboEarth is a “World Wide Web” for robots
You know how the Internet has become a place where billions of people are coming together and learning all sorts of things they never heard of before?
Palro gets an upgrade, and a voice!
Some of you might remember when we covered Palro almost one year ago from February.
At the time, we reported that Palro had 20 joints, five microphones, voice recognition, mono speakers, 3 Megapixel camera, Wi-Fi IEE 802.11 b/g/n, gyro-sensor, three-axis acceleration sensor, eight pressure sensors on the feet, 1GB internal memory, a USB port, and an Intel Atom 1.6GHz processor.
See this Arduino-based ArduSpider robot toy!
I believe that what you are seeing here is a product of something that Jose Julio’s daughter said to him: “Dad, can you build a robot for me?”
Check out this robotic head of late science-fiction author Philip K. Dick
If you have never heard of Philip K. Dick, then you might have heard of his body of work.
His stories have inspired many movies including the classic Blade Runner, not to mention other decent science fiction films like Total Recall, Minority Report, and A Scanner Darkly. Then there are other mediocre adaptions like the Nicholas Cage movie Next, Impostor, and Paycheck. I’m not certain of the status of The Adjustment Bureau. That last film is coming soon, has Matt Damon, and looks pretty interesting.
T-82 is one candy-scooping robot
This is the T-82 robot, and it’s purpose is to give out candy.
This isn’t the first time that I have seen a food-serving robot. I believe that there is a restaurant that has robot servers.
The Scooba 230 and Roomba 700 series updates by iRobot
I’m sure a lot of you probably can’t live without those circular robot discs that clean up our floors while we sit back and do what we want to do: not clean.
Charles the GPS robot can read a driver’s expressions
This week, we are going to be at CES 2011 in Vegas, and we will be covering a lot of brand spanking new technology from a lot of real companies. I thought that I would get this conceptual product out of the way before I head down to Vegas tomorrow.
How the THKR-4 robot rings in the new year
I’m not certain if it is New Year’s Day by the time you read this, because I know our readers are worldwide and are in different time zones. I couldn’t think of a better time to post this than now.
Guide robot from Japan’s Tsukuba University
I saw this particular robot the other day, and I’m not certain why I didn’t report on it. After all, I see a lot of robots here on my watch, and this one stood out on me.
The Sphero remote control ball on Bluetooth
We can do a lot with our mobile phones, and apparently rolling a ball via Bluetooth is now one of them.
I guess that there is something interesting about a robotic ball, and it is a lot less flamboyant than the Prime8.
This Sarcoman robot can juggle
We have seen some interesting robots in our time, and this Sacroman has the ability to do something that I can’t: juggle.
I’m pretty certain that Asimo isn’t capable of doing that. Sure, it may be able to walk up a flight of stairs, but as far as I’m concerned, if a robot can’t do circus stunts, then it isn’t a robot.
Robotic road train could change commuting as we know it
I think we all know that most of us waste a lot of quality work time driving to and fro to work each day. To make matters worse, some of us decide to “use the time better” by talking on the cell phone or doing other mobile applications that lead to distracted driving accidents.
This is a prosthetic limb like I have never seen
I have to admit that I don’t know what it is like to lose an arm, and need to use a prosthetic one.
Robot is programmed to pick strawberries
This posting should be a warning to anyone who has a career in harvesting fruit. You could be replaced by a robot.
This robot has been developed by Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organization, and it has the ability to detect how ripe a strawberry is, and then can cut the stalk without damaging the sweet fruit itself. There is a video of it after the jump so you can see the strawberry-picking robot in action.
DreamBots Ltd. presents the WheeMe massaging robots
So who says that you need human hands to give you a massage? Well, you do, actually.
However, if you are willing to try out an acceptable substitute to fleshy human hands touching your back, you might want to consider the WheeMe from DreamBots Ltd.
Tony Sale’s 60-year-old Robot, George
The guy on the left is Tony Sale, and he is the inventor of George, the guy on the right.
George is a robot that is made from the aluminum and other scraps of a crashed bomber sixty years ago. Apparently, he has spent a large percentage of that time in a storage shed.
ANYBOTS – Finally, a robot that will go to work for you
I’m still laughing… since I was a child I had dreams about the future, and how one day, I would be able to sit in my pajamas all day with the TV on and still be able to make the big bucks. I’m not exactly sure how this next product fits into that dream, but I’m having a darn good time imagining it.
This is the greatest robot costume, ever!
I realize that I am about a week late for any Halloween-related postings, but this robot costume should win any costume contest in any month.
Watch this Micromouse do a maze in 5 seconds, eventually
This micromouse robot competition is some international event that involves a tiny automated robotic mouse that goes through a maze, studying every possible turn, and then restarts, going through the maze as fast as possible.
