Great news if your aquarium goes through fish faster than a fish n’ chips restaurant. Takara Tomy has created these robotic alternatives that will swim around your tank in an incredibly lifelike fashion. But they never need to be fed, and more importantly, will never dirty the tank. More »
Robots can serve a wide variety of purposes, ranging from security, to surveillance to making breakfast. So why not celebrate robotic diversity next year with this awesome 2013 robot calendar?
Designed by Fifty Five Hi’s in collaboration with Justin Mezzell, the 4-color screenprinted, 16×24 wall calendar features a different robot for each month. But they’re not just any robots, no. Each one represents its month in its own special robotic way.
For instance, there’s a robot leprechaun for March, a robot scarecrow for September, and a not-so-tasty robot turkey for Thanksgiving. Say, wasn’t there a robot turkey on an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force?
The 2013 Robot Calendar sells for $24.99(USD), and is being produced in a limited run of just 200, each hand-numbered. Grab one before they’re all gone over at Fifty Five Hi’s.
[via NOTCOT]
I recently had to quit caffeine for health reasons, so I’m always on the lookout for tasty beverages that I can substitute for my old cup of coffee. One of my personal favorites – especially on a cold winter night – is a cup of warm herbal tea. And what better way to be served a cup of tea than by a robot? I don’t expect to have a personal robot butler in my house any time soon, so I guess I’ll have to settle for this robot tea infuser instead.
Kikkerland’s quirky little robot-shaped infuser is made from perforated stainless steel, and has bendy arms which help it fit whatever size mug you happen to have lying around. Say, doesn’t some other shiny metal robot have flexible arms? Though Bender’s arms are usually found raising a bottle of Pabst Blue Robot or Olde Fortran Malt Liquor, rather than a more civilized cup of Earl Grey.
You can grab the robot tea infuser over on Amazon for just about $9(USD).
The last time we checked in on the state of robot gymnasts they performed admirably on the horizontal bar, but fell out of medal contention with a laughably horrible dismount. More »
NASA and the European Space Agency have announced they have successfully tested an internet-like interplanetary communications protocol, called Disruption Tolerant Networking (DTN), between astronauts on the International Space Station and a Lego-built robot in Germany. Over 225 miles separate the two.
NASA and the ESA said yesterday that DTN could one day allow “internet-like communications” with spacecrafts and help support infrastructure on other planets. The experiment took place late last month, and it involved remotely operating a small Lego rover-like robot from the International Space Station.
The Lego robot was located at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany and it was being operated and driven by US astronaut Sunita Williams who used a laptop that was designed by NASA. A command sent from the laptop would start a script to control the Lego rover, which is also actually a prototype designed for use in the ESA’s future missions.
NASA space communications chief Badri Younes says that once the protocol gets past the experimental stage, DTN could be useful for controlling robots on Mars from either a manned orbiting spacecraft or from Earth using satellites as relay stations. DTN is slightly comparable to the Internet Protocol in terms of functionality. However, the big difference is that IP relies on a continuous connection, while DTN allows for more disconnections and errors.
[via ZDNet]
NASA and ESA test internet-like communication protocol using Lego robot is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
NASA (and the ESA) have long been working on a multi-planet internet that can link up spaceships, probes and rovers, but they’ve at last brought the experimentation from the broad scale to smaller dimensions. Lego bricks, to be exact. International Space Station expedition lead Sunita Williams recently steered a Lego Mindstorms robot at an ESA facility in Darmstadt while she orbited overhead, proving that future space explorers could directly control a vehicle on a planetary surface while staying out of harm’s way. As in the past, the key to the latest dry run was a Disruption-Tolerant Networking (DTN) system; the focus was more on reliably getting packets through to the brick-based vehicle than on pure speed. As tame as that Earth-bound test drive might sound relative to an in-the-field use on a less familiar world, it demonstrates that the DTN approach can work when it really counts. We just wouldn’t hold our breath for any Martian RC car races.
Filed under: Robots, Science, Internet, Alt
ESA, NASA test interplanetary internet by remote controlling a Lego robot from the ISS originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Nov 2012 11:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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R2-D2 is a droid from Star Wars that we’ve seen many fans attempt to recreate. Some have managed to create replicas which only look like R2-D2, while others have tried more sophisticated replicas that come with lights and sound and etc. Well the folks at Podpad Studios have come up with the R11:E1, which is also known as “Zoe”, a name in which her creator has taken from Caprica. Now only does Zoe look pretty good as far as droid replicas go, but she comes with all the bells and whistles, such as lights, sound, and even working Holo eyes! Pretty impressive, no? According to its creator: (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Robot dragonfly can hover and fly like its real arthropod counterpart, Bebionic 3 hand gets a new video,
Don’t get me wrong, I love R2-D2, but Podpadstudios‘ Astromech droid is plain beautiful. Just look at the detail and all of those lights. Her name is R11:E1, a.k.a. Zoe. Her creator named her after Zoe from Caprica, which also warms my cold dead heart.
She’s not just all show. The ‘bot is powered by three 25Amp 12v SLA batteries, two running the 24v drive system and the third running the 12v electrics. Zoe has many gadgets onboard and built-in, including a router and IP webcam which broadcasts at charity events.
She’s got an on-board sound system, a fire extinguisher, working utility arms and claws, a 140db siren, working holo-eyes, periscope, a smoke machine ported through exhaust, lots of LED and el-wire, with light reactive paint, and a full working on-board DLP projector setup to display Princess Leia’s message from Star Wars. Holy crap! How did they get all of that in there?
Now THIS is the droid I have been looking for!
[via Walyou via Nerd Approved]
In the future, when the inevitable and literal fast food wars break out, we’ll all be too fat and unhealthy to fight for our chain of choice – which is why these fast food chains should start developing their own war machines. Here’s a free idea for McDonald’s, courtesy of Sean and Steph Mayo. Behold! The Big MaK!
The husband and wife LEGO enthusiasts made the Big MaK for Bricklink’s Creations for Charity (and it seems it’s already been bought). I hope the Mayos make more food-themed mechs. I imagine the Taco Bell mech will be able to combine with the Doritos mech to form a smaller but tougher robot, the KFC robot will be a robot sandwiched in between two other robots and the Pizza Hut robot will be stuffed with smaller robots.
[via Obvious Winner]
Music lovers will often tell you that Roland’s TR-808 gave birth to modern music. Acid house, rap, techno and other genres owe some of their original (and even current) sounds to that synthetic beat. Moritz Simon Geist appreciates the effort, but has built a solution for those who think the drum machine is a little too perfect: his MR-808 installation has robot limbs playing all the equivalent real-world instruments, right down to the cowbell. A laptop musician at the helm sends MIDI input to an Arduino controller that then triggers the robot’s instrument motors and matching lights. The effect is a unique mix of flawless cues with imprecise, almost organic sounds — imagine 808 State or Kanye West replacing each and every machine with a live band and you’ve got the idea. Although the sheer size of the MR-808 sadly nixes chances you’ll ever see one at the local nightclub, it could give any of Geist’s recorded music one of the more distinct vibes we’ve heard.
MR-808 recreates Roland drum machine with robot instruments, puts them in an 808 State (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 07 Nov 2012 18:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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