Hasta La Gadget!

When it comes to the battle of the bulge, there is a major front to fight on in the coming months – the Christmas season, where it is a free-for-all situation as you visit friends and host parties, seeing those valuable gym visits whittle away while you gorge on a seemingly endless supply of food. That gym membership is about as worthless as Japanese currency from World War 2, so you might want to enlist some outside help. Enter the Autom robot, a robot that comes with human-like expressions while helping you track your weight loss efforts.

The Autom robot is the creation of Intuitive Automata, where this social robot will carry out daily conversations with users at home. Autom will be able to track the amount of calories, share with you motivational thoughts and sayings, while updating you on the most recent weight loss trends and shares personalized suggestions. You can only let Autom help you if you’re completely honest with the answers to the questions she “asks” you over the touchscreen display. No idea on whether you will develop an emotional bond with Autom in the long run though, although if you do, the chances of success in slimming down will definitely be far higher.

Right now, Autom knows the calorie count in nearly 75,000 foods, and these include meals at popular restaurants. The first of Autom robots will ship early next year, costing $199 a pop with a $19.99 monthly subscription.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Autom robot helps you lose weight, Autom weight-loss coach robot,

Last fall, a little tank treaded robot turned up on Kickstarter called the Romo from Romotive. The Romo used your iPhone as its brain to control the tank base to allow the little bot to perform all sorts of tasks. The team behind the little robot is back on Kickstarter right now looking for more funding.

The developers want the additional funding to help make the robot smarter, faster, and easier to use. The team says that they have redesigned the robot from the circuit board up and then set up production at a manufacturer in China. The developers are now trying to raise money to improve the software and are seeking another $100,000.

This next-generation Romo robot is described as “almost” everything a personal robot should be. The developers say that the new bot is cute, responsive, and really fast. The developers want to use the money raised to develop software to allow Romo to perform two-way telepresence, computer vision, autonomous navigation, and facial recognition.

The team says that with funding the new features will be released as updated apps. The team also promises to wrap a SDK around each function allowing developers to create their own apps to share. A pledge of $150 will get you one of the first next-generation Romo robots. So far, the team has raised $42,931 out of its goal of $100,000. The team has 28 days to go so it’s very likely they’ll get the money they need.

Romo smartphone robot back on Kickstarter is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We did talk about the Romo smartphone bot at the end of last year, and nearly a year later, it is time for an update, which is why Romotive, the company behind Romo has decided to make the latest version of Romo as a Kickstarter project. Not only that, they are teaming up with Neiman Marcus to feature Romo in their holiday catalog. Known as the new “Gen 3” Romo, it will definitely be faster than its predecessor, is stronger, as Romotive claims, “way more fun.” Only one way to find out – get the Gen 3 Romo should it roll off production lines and test it for ourselves.

Apart from the Gen 3 Romo coming in a redesigned form factor, Romotive decided to make it all the more easy to use. It will be as simple as plugging in your iPhone or iPod, and the Romotive app will install automatically. This will subsequently allow you to control Romo from virtually any iDevice, including the latest iPhone 5 (or perhaps the upcoming iPad mini which will be announced this October 23rd).

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: X1 exoskeletal robot suit for astronauts, Robot wheelchair “grows” legs, climbs stairs,

When you are in space, the lack of gravity means stuff would be floating around unless they are strapped down or tied somewhere, and it does give you the illusion that you’re far stronger than normal as you handle a floating safe which you normally would be unable to budge while you are on earth. Not only that, the lack of gravity would also mean astronauts’ bone density gets affected the longer they remain in space, requiring them to maintain a strict fitness regime so that they do not end up too frail when their space mission is over. The X1 exoskeletal robot suit might be utilized by NASA to make astronauts stronger while maintaining fitness levels even in space.

Originally designed to be a human assist device that enables folks with paraplegia to walk again, the X1 exoskeletal robot suit boasts of strategically designed motors that enable high torque applications including stair climbing, coming with multiple points of adjustment to accommodate a wide range of users. When used in space, it can amplify astronaut strength, or perhaps function as an exercise device for long duration missions. There will definitely be changes made to the X1 exoskeletal robot suit in due time to increase its functionality and flexibility, and let’s hope that the whole world ends up the better for it.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Astronauts and robots seal deal with a handshake, Robonaut by NASA is alive and kicking,

If there is one thing the modern day wheelchair cannot do, it would be to climb up stairs. Of course, all of that might very well change for the better in the future, as the Chiba Institute of Technology saw a group of researchers led by Shuro Nakajima come up with a robot wheelchair which is capable of climbing over steps as seen in the YouTube video above. The robot wheelchair will not be able to work as fast as a Transformers transformation, but it does make full use of its four-wheel drive and five axes to overcome a previously insurmountable obstacle for regular wheelchair users.

As the user, you tell the robot wheelchair just where it is to go via a joystick, and the robot will automatically assess the surrounding terrain, making the relevant moves afterwards. Should you end up on uneven ground, the robot will control the seat in order to maintain a level field. It relies on sensors on its feet to figure out what’s on the ground, as well as “seeing” just how far it is from a step. Right now, the working prototype is classified as a conceptual wheelchair, but most of the motion has been worked out. The next step would be to fine tune the user experience, and this can only happen best via a live user test.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Robotic wheelchair offer independence to the elderly, Robo wheelchair trained to heel,