Hasta La Gadget!

When you were a kid, and the last slice of pizza is lying down there in such an inviting manner, leaving you and your brother eyeing it – there was only one way to resolve the dispute without invoking the higher powers of dad and mom. Rock, Paper, Scissors was the way to go, but sometimes, your elder brother, despite being the loser, ends up on top simply by virtue of the birth order. Well, it seems that the world of robotics have advanced to such a stage where the next time you want to go up against someone in a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, you might want to send in this robot hand as your representative. It wins every single time, hands down (pun intended).

Hailing from the Ishikawa Oku Lab at the University of Tokyo, the reason why it is so unbeatable is because it uses a high speed vision system that is fast enough to detect just how you are going to form your object before it “counters” you with a winning, er, hand. In fact, it reacts so fast, you cannot really accuse it of cheating since that cannot be proven according to the naked eye. We are talking about milliseconds here, people! Go ahead, watch the video after the jump and see it to believe it. (more…)

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: First robotic liver procedure happens in Italy, Robots to arrange rooms according to your needs ,

What to get the homeowner who has everything? Perhaps a robotic vacuum styled in the fashion of an RC toy will fit the bill. Here at a gdgt event in New York City we happened upon iRobot’s Roomba 790, which comes with a touchscreen remote for manually controlling where the bot goes. The controller — make that the “Wireless Command Center” — has an interface matching the one on the 790 itself, so there’s no second set of menus to master here. In addition to deciding where it moves, you can also schedule daily cleanings or tap a “Clean” button to push the robot into action.Though this isn’t the first time iRobot’s dabbled in remote-controlled vacuum cleaners, previous models tended to rely on infrared sensors, meaning you could only control the Roomba if it was in your line of sight. This guy, though, uses a proprietary technology that allows you to program that 4pm scrubbing from up to 25 meters away.

As for battery life, it runs on four AA cells, and is rated for three to six months of runtime, depending on how compulsively you plan on cleaning. Interestingly, despite the change in wireless standards, the 790 is compatible with older 700-series Roombas, though it’s not as is the controller would be sold separately. If you happen to be the kind of fabulously wealthy family who can afford (and has a need) for multiple Roomba cleaners, you can only pair the remote with one robot at a time anyway. Don’t have the budget for a $700 robotic vacuum kit? We’ve got hands-on photos below and a demo video after the break.

Continue reading iRobot Roomba 790 with Wireless Command Center hands-on (video)

iRobot Roomba 790 with Wireless Command Center hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jun 2012 18:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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