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Robot
More robotic fish spawned to monitor water quality
By Darren Quick
23:32 November 4, 2009 PST
Although fish numbers are in decline in oceans all around the globe, the same can’t be said for their robotic brethren. Like the “Robotuna” from MIT and the robots developed by a team at the University of Essex, the latest robotic fish from Michigan State University also take inspiration from nature. The aim is to give researchers more precise data on aquatic conditions and provide a deeper understanding of critical water supplies and habitats... and hopefully help improve the outlook for fish of the biological variety. Read More
I am what I am, I’m Popeye the audio-visual robot
By Darren Quick
22:12 November 3, 2009 PST
The ease with which human beings make sense of their environment through a range of sensory signals belies the complex processing involved. Approaches to give robots the same purposeful perception we take for granted have typically involved studying visual and auditory processes independently. By combining data from both sound and vision European researchers have developed technology that could facilitate robotic understanding and responses to human behavior and even conversations, bringing us closer to a future where humanoid robots can act as guides, mix with people, or use perception to infer appropriate actions. Read More
MIT and Audi developing friendly robotic co-driver
By Darren Quick
20:56 November 1, 2009 PST
Vehicles are slowly but surely heading towards a future where the driver is almost irrelevant. A raft of new technologies will be employed to control a vehicle’s performance, speed and steering. Eventually leading to vehicles that drive themselves. Many Technologies designed to assist drivers are already reaching fruition including systems that recognize tiredness in drivers or control the throttle and brakes for the duration of a journey. The latest driver assist technology to catch our eye comes out of the Massachusetts Institute of technology (MIT), where researchers are creating an in-car personal robot that is designed to offer the same kind of guidance as “an informed and friendly companion.” Read More
Pentax gets colorful with Korejanai K-x D-SLR
By Paul Ridden
21:56 October 28, 2009 PDT
Black may not be the new black in the world of digital SLR cameras. Last month Pentax announced its intention to add a splash of color by offering its new K-x camera in white, red and blue as well as black. Now the company has announced a very colorful limited edition K-x based on the design of the popular Korejanai robot. Read More
Cyclops - the visually-impaired robot
By Jeff Salton
19:32 October 22, 2009 PDT
Scientists at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a remote-controlled robot to help test the effectiveness of visual prostheses, such as an artificial retina, which are implanted into visually-impaired patients. Cyclops the robot - or, rather, the mobile robotic platform, or rover - lets scientists “see” the results that human patients could expect without having to test the device on them first. It is hoped that this approach may spare them some unnecessary procedures and one day lead to giving blind people the freedom of independence. Read More
ChemBot: the shape-shifting robot that is the stuff of nightmares
By Darren Quick
23:22 October 14, 2009 PDT
We’ve looked at robots that use a variety of ways to get around, from caterpillar treads, to wheels, legs, wings and even combustion-driven pistons. But the title of weirdest (not to mention unsettling) method of robot propulsion we’ve come across has to go to the shape-shifting ChemBot from iRobot. The ChemBot, which looks more like the Blob than most people’s preconceived ideas of what a robot should be, moves around by changing its shape in a process its creators call, “jamming skin enabled locomotion.” Read More
Household robots – a burglar's man on the inside?
By Darren Quick
19:34 October 11, 2009 PDT
Until robots rise up and overthrow their puny human creators, one of the main risks comes from the people using the robots. A new study warns that the current crop of household robots presents a serious safety and privacy risk. They make it all too easy for nefarious types to hijack control of the robots and access valuable data - even giving them the ability to watch and listen in on private conversations, and perform remote reconnaissance on a house. Read More
KUKA RoboSim 4-D Simulator ready to shake, rattle and roll theme park patrons
By Darren Quick
02:53 October 9, 2009 PDT
Jaded theme park aficionados looking for a new thrill will want to get along to the Innoventions pavilion in Epcot at Disney World, Florida, to experience The Sun of All Thrills. On display will be the new KUKA RoboSim 4-D Simulator, a robotic ride that not only puts thrill-seekers at the mercy of a 3-D motion robotic arm, but also adds “wind” by controlling air movements to provide a more realistic simulation experience. Read More
MIT's robo-fish swims like the real thing
00:23 October 9, 2009 PDT
What is it with scientists and robotic animals? Did they not have pets as children? This year alone, we’ve seen robot ferrets, penguins, dogs, locusts, moles and bats. And now, scientists at MIT have come up with a robotic fish. Although we’ve seen mechanical fish before, this one is different in a very significant way – the robofish truly mimics the natural swimming action of real fish, flexing mechanical muscles to propel itself through the water. Read More
Like a fish out of water - Nissan unveil EPORO robot car concept
By Mick Webb
21:13 October 7, 2009 PDT
Taking its cue from under the sea, Nissan has revealed the latest offering in its ongoing Safety Shield line of research and development, aimed at making our roads and vehicles safer and smarter. Programmed to think and move like a school of fish, Nissan’s EPORO robot car prototypes move in unison as a group while communicating to avoid collision. Read More
Get away from her you b#%$@ - the Power Loader suit to become a reality
By Darren Quick
22:27 October 4, 2009 PDT
Science-fiction is well on the way to becoming science fact with engineers from Activelink, a Kyoto-based subsidiary of Panasonic, developing an exoskeleton suit inspired by the "Power Loader" suit Ripley wore in her climactic battle with the Queen Alien in Aliens. And, just like in the movie, the Power Loader suit is designed to give its wearer superhuman strength for the lifting of heavy objects – in the movie it was cargo, but Activelink also has construction and disaster relief operations in its sights. Read More
Honda develops new personal mobility device – the U3-X experimental vehicle
By Mike Hanlon
04:22 October 3, 2009 PDT
A self-balancing unicycle experimental vehicle from Honda to be shown at the Tokyo Motor Show next month might just be history in the making. Weighing less than 10kg, the 24 by 12 by 6-inch U3-X experimental vehicle runs for an hour, is small enough to be carried onto an airplane as hand luggage, has a wheel which spins in two planes and is set to challenge, perhaps even change, society’s concept of personal mobility. Read More
Video: the state of the art in robot perception and dexterity
By Loz Blain
21:02 September 29, 2009 PDT
Don't watch the video after the jump if you've recently seen a Terminator movie - because it's becoming clear that if the robots come after us, there'll be no stopping them. The video shows an incredible array of three-fingered robot hand/eye co-ordination exercises, including throwing and catching, spinning pens, tying knots and dribbling a ping-pong ball. The Ishikawa Komuro laboratory at the University of Tokyo put these videos together to demonstrate the incredibly quick parallel processing they are achieving with a mix of visual and tactile sensory inputs. Astounding stuff. Sarah Connor, you're in deep trouble. Read More
DUSTBOT collaborative, multifunctional robots keep your town clean
20:14 September 23, 2009 PDT
A group of European companies and universities have collaborated to produce a series of multifunctional robots for urban hygiene tasks. With abilities ranging from door-to-door garbage pickup and transportation, to automated street cleaning, the DUSTBOTs recently demonstrated their skills at a station in the town of Atxuri, Portugal. Read More
Sandia hoppers have robots jumping for joy
By Darren Quick
00:23 September 21, 2009 PDT
Whether they use wheels, treads, or even legs, robots often have trouble extricating themselves from situations they may encounter on a space mission. Their design can also prevent them from easily navigating around certain obstacles. The chances of hitting a roadblock only increase when human control is removed, as in the case of autonomous robots. Hopping robots inspired by the clumsy jumping of grasshoppers could prove to be the answer to giving robots unprecedented mobility for exploring other planets, gathering battlefield intelligence, and assisting police during standoffs or surveillance operations. Read More
Locusts give up aerodynamic secrets of insect flight
By Karen Sprey
19:04 September 20, 2009 PDT
It seems that locusts, the bane of farmers the world over, have served some purpose after all. With the aid of a wind tunnel and a high-speed digital video camera, scientists have captured the changes in the shape of the locust's wings during flight and created, for the first time, a computer model that recreates the airflow and thrust generated by their complex flapping movement. Modeling the aerodynamic secrets brings us a step closer to creating miniature robot flyers with the maneuverability and energy efficiency of an insect - such micro-aircraft would likely have huge benefits for search and rescue, military activities and inspecting hazardous environments. Read More
Work out with Taizo the exercising robot
By Darren Quick
00:42 September 15, 2009 PDT
‘Taizo’ is a humanoid robot designed to lead the elderly in physical exercises. He stands just 72cm (28") tall and has 26 degrees of freedom that enables him to smoothly demonstrate around 30 different moves for his followers to imitate. Since his primary assignment is to help the elderly, most of his exercise regime centers around chair-bound activities, but he can stand up to demonstrate some actions. Read More
The Polaris mobile handset robot
By Paul Lester
17:34 September 10, 2009 PDT
Despite having limited success in other countries, Japan enjoys nothing more than coming up with progressively weird and wacky designs for robots, and it doesn’t seem to matter whether they have any real practical application.The latest entry into this category is the Polaris mobile phone robot, a spherical, mobile device designed to house a handset that, when not docked, will be busy recording data based on a user’s day-to-day activity. Read More
LG’s Roboking robotic vacuum cleaner gets smarter
By Paul Lester
11:18 September 10, 2009 PDT
Ever since Electrolux introduced the couch-potato to the Tribolite, vacuum cleaner manufacturers have been coming up with progressively smarter, more efficient ways to automate this common chore. iRobot has been busy refining the Roomba and Dyson came up with something that looks more at home on the battlefield in the DC06, but this time it’s LG’s chance to get involved and the new Roboking promises intelligent cleaning using a range of advanced sensors. Read More
RIBA the friendly robot nurse
By Jeff Salton
08:39 September 3, 2009 PDT
It might look like a cross between a snowman and a badly-designed toy polar bear, but the nursing fraternity should appreciate RIBA, a robot that can lift patients in and out of beds and wheelchairs on command, while at the same time saving nurses’ backs and improving patient care and safety. Read More
iRobot Warrior 700 designed to deliver... more robots
By Alan Brandon
22:14 August 26, 2009 PDT
The new iRobot Warrior 700 robot looks like the (much) bigger brother of the company’s PackBot. In fact the Warrior is a much larger, more powerful platform designed to deliver, well, PackBots (among other missions). The Warrior 700 can carry a PackBot at the end of an articulated arm, and insert the it through a window for reconnaissance, explosive ordnance disposal, rescue, or other missions. Read More
Robotic gaming gets on a roll
By Darren Quick
00:42 August 26, 2009 PDT
Robots have uses beyond packaging, production lines and the imminent overthrowing of humanity - or at least South African/U.S. start up Robonica thinks so. It’s aiming to ‘redefine the entertainment robotics market’ with a line of robotic gaming products that fuse elements of robotics, remote controlled vehicles and electronic gaming. The core of the Robonica’s introductory product, Roboni-i Action Games, is a fully programmable remote controlled robot with sensors that make it aware of its environment and that enable it to interact with other robots. Read More
Intelligent harvesting robot could lead to cheaper food at the checkout
By Darren Quick
02:37 August 17, 2009 PDT
Researchers in the U.K. are working at turning newly developed imaging technology into an intelligent harvesting machine. Using microwave measurement, the system can look beneath the leafy layers of a crop, identify the differing materials, and enable precise size identification. Such a machine could minimize wastage in crops like cauliflower and solve an impending labor shortage for U.K. farmers caused by a fall in the number of migrant workers. Read More
An enduring feat - Panasonic EVOLTA batteries set second Guinness World Record
By Mick Webb
23:08 August 16, 2009 PDT
Panasonic has put its EVOLTA line of alkaline batteries to the test and set a Guinness World Record for the second time. Its little “bot that could”, named 'Mr Evolta', has successfully completed the "24 Hours of Le Mans” endurance challenge powered on two AA EVOLTA batteries, giving Panasonic boasting rights to “the longest distance covered by a battery-operated remote–controlled model car”. Read More
Harnessing blowflies to teach robots how to see
19:24 August 11, 2009 PDT
One of the biggest challenges facing robotics is teaching machines to perceive surroundings and make sense of what they see. Attempting to duplicate the complexity of human perception is next to impossible, so researchers at Cognition for Technical Systems (CoTeSys) in Munich are, instead, studying how blowflies process images using a 'flight simulator'. Despite having a brain the size of a pinhead, a fly can process and interpret 100 discrete images per second – four times better than humans. Read More
Rex Alfie Lee
- November 9, 2009 @ 12:19 UTC
