Hasta La Gadget!

Between old Paro the robo seal and the original iteration of Keepon, we’ve seen plenty of adorable robots designed for therapeutic purposes. Romibo’s creators have no qualms admitting that their own creation is following in those cuddly footsteps, but what sets their furry ‘bot apart from much of the competition is a focus on (relative) affordability. For starters, there’s the fact that Romibo is being offered up as an open-source project online, letting do-it-yourselfers build their own versions and contribute custom designs.

The company’s also hoping families will get into the act, making sure that Romibo is “able to be assembled by a neurotypical child 10+ and a parent” — and then there are the plans to offer up workshops to let folks build robots to be donated to special needs facilities. Once built, Romibo can drive around, blink its eyes, speak and move its antennae. Crack it open and you’ll find WiFi, bluetooth, light sensors, an IR Proximity sensor, accelerometers and a big ‘ole Arduino Mega. There’s a certain amount of autonomous functionality (watch in the video below as Romibo’s handler warns about it driving off the edge of the table), or you can control the robot via an iPad app. You can also use an SD card to help teach it some new words.

Continue reading Romibo therapeutic robot, eyes-on (video)

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Romibo therapeutic robot, eyes-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Oct 2012 09:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Few things are better than having robots perform your chores for you. While wireless robot vacuums have been on the market for years, the earliest models were clunky and not terribly good at their jobs. That has changed as technology has improved, however, and now LG has announced its latest offering: the Hom-Bot Square.

The Hom-Bot square is a small robot vacuum that was previously referred to as the Hom-Bot 3.0 This updated Hom-Bot vacuum features a new square shape (hence its name), as well as longer side brushes and a larger body. According to the announcement, it is 72% more efficient at cleaning corners than the previous model. Check out their “Dirty Nightmare” video for a strange glimpse into its square-shaped goodness.

The top camera performs ceiling localization and mapping, while the sensor creates a map of the room it’s in and keeps the device’s placement within it. The top camera has a sensor that can adjust to darker settings called Illumination Invariant based Simultaneous Localization and Mapping, II-SLAM for short. The device uses ultra-sonic distance sensors, and has a learning function that allows it to adjust to the room it’s in.

Like the versions before it, the Hom-Bot Square features Spiral, Zig Zag, and Cell by Cell models; it also features the new My Space mode, which lets it clean a specific area one time, after which point its memory will reset. The device is now on sale in France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. It is also known as the Carpet Master in Germany.

[via LG Korea]

LG launches robot vacuum Hom Bot Square is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

You might know CHARLI-2 as Virginia Tech’s five-foot tall humanoid robot who is designed to be a firefighting robot. What you probably didn’t know is that this bot can also dance to Gangnam Style.

He’s so good at it because he was designed for ships are filled with “knee-knocker” passageways, ladders and steps. Basically, this guy can get around and get out of your way. So now CHARLI-2 can add dancing to K-Pop to his list of accomplishments, which include being a repeat champion at the RoboCup robotics awards for two years running for instance.

Forget defending our watery borders or fighting pirates. It seems that the Navy is more interested in making robots dance. That’s fine with me. If they are getting their groove on, they aren’t killing anyone.

[via Geekosystem via Botropolis]

Well, there goes my plan of hiding on a rock cliff from robots who can’t get me because they don’t know how to walk a tightrope. It appears they can now walk tightropes with the greatest of ease. Then again, I’ll just bring some scissors with me. That’ll teach ‘em.

Check out this video of a humanoid robot walking a tightrope with no problems at all, complete with techno music to accompany the feat. It takes its time doing it, but still it’s doing it way better than most humans. The robot spreads its arms to help maintain balance and slides its feet one at a time.

So I have my supplies ready, including scissors and I have a nice high spot picked out to survive the robot apocalypse. Even if they deploy a high wire, I can cut it with cable cutters. I will probably starve up there after my supplies run out, but they can kiss my cold dead corpse.

[via Hackaday via Geekosystem]

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,