Hasta La Gadget!

Robots do make plenty of difference on the battlefield in terms of defusing bombs, helping save lives in the process since no one needs to endanger one’s life unnecessarily. I guess the same can be said for other dangerous assignments off the battlefield as well, as police and FBI agents relied on a robot to help disarm a tripwire as well as clear bombs from the apartment of James Holmes, the 24-year old suspect in the recent shocking Denver, Colorado shooting. According to the relevant authorities, all hazardous items from the unit has been cleared thanks to the help of a robot, and residents around the area are now able to return to their respective abodes.

It was reported that the “skillfully driven” robot managed to successfully neutralize an oxidizing agent as well as fuel that is located just inside the door, in addition to the improvised explosive device (IED), not to mention triggering mechanisms, wires and fuses. Good job guys – hopefully there will not be a single bit of the apartment that is overlooked.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Swumanoid robot is the most advanced ever – for now, iRobot Packbot defuses bombs ,

Looking for a place to unwind this weekend? Well, there’s one place in Kabukicho, an entertainment and red-light district in Shinjuku, Tokyo that you might want to check out. It is called the Shinjuku Kabukicho Robot Restaurant. As the name suggests, the restaurant that’s more like a cabaret club features giant-sized robots and dancing women. Yes, the robot restaurant has real scantily clad women that will drive the giant robots while dancing along.

The restaurant has musical shows as well, and girls playing taiko drums together with a marching band. You’ll also see girls riding on motorbikes and a tank. According to CrunchyRoll, the Shinjuku Kabukicho Robot Restaurant reportedly costs 10 billion yen to build. If you’re interested, you’ll have to pay $37 to enjoy what the restaurant has to offer – from drinks to robots, and from food to anything else. Of course, this isn’t a place for kids to wander. So you pretty much get the idea, hopefully.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Restaurant in New York completely replaces menus with iPad 2, Restaurant Uses Projector To Project Image Of Food On To Diners’ Plates,

We’ve all seen a Roomba at one point or another, be it picking up debris around our feet in a friend’s living room or chauffeuring a courageous kitty for an entertaining clip on YouTube. Likely far less familiar, however, is iRobot’s gadget-filled Massachusetts headquarters, including the museum-like “cool stuff room” in the lobby. There you’ll find a large variety of autonomous devices, ranging from an early Roomba prototype that subs in a removable cloth for the vacuum to the relatively creepy My Real Baby — an $89 doll that cries for food and offers realistic reactions to tickling. There’s also plenty of industrial and military gear on hand, including a long cylindrical bot used for repairing oil rigs as they continue to operate, a full-size self-driving vehicle and a wall-climbing robot that uses suction cup wheels to ascend vertically. Some of the exhibits are downright creepy, such as a crab-like prototype which an iRobot employee referenced as being “inspired by nature,” though the company’s familiar household gadgets help to balance out the eerie. Sadly, the collection doesn’t appear to be open to the public, though IEEE was granted a tour, which it graciously filmed for your enjoyment — you’ll find that video walkthrough just past the break.

Continue reading Visualized: a look inside iRobot’s gadget-filled ‘cool stuff room’ (video)

Filed under: Robots

Visualized: a look inside iRobot’s gadget-filled ‘cool stuff room’ (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jul 2012 21:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Some folks we met in Charlotte had a mission: they wanted to win a contest (sponsored by Red Bull) for the coolest Arduino project in the land. I think they may have nailed it. The project, built by engineers and designers for Edison Nation, turns an ordinary desk into a booze-infused party zone when the clock hits five (or when you slap the Swingline stapler.)

The project has been submitted to the Red Bull website and the guys could use your help getting to the top so they can head out to the 2012 Maker Faire in NYC.

Sadly the Red Bull website is an absolute mess and there is no visible means of voting, but if you figure it out, give these guys a nod. It’s not every day that you see a system that can turn an office into a red-hot, robotic bar.

A swimming robot? Wait a minute, don’t we already have that in the form of Emily who recently saved a couple of lives? I guess there is more than meets the eye with the Swimming Human Model, where it is known as Swumanoid for short. His designers are real proud of him, and for good reason, too. After all, he is touted to be the “most advanced swimming robot ever made”, where he was created so that engineers are able to better study the fluid mechanics at work surrounding competitive swimmers in the pool. The whole idea of Swumanoid is to improve swimmers’ actions – and as a result, lap times. Measuring half the size of a human, all four limbs will move simultaneously courtesy of a combination of 20 independent motors that will control key joints.

According to Associate Professor Motomu Nakashima, Tokyo Institute of Technology, “I believe that this level of a realistically human-like swimming robot being perfected is a first in the world.” Swumanoid holds a huge advantage over human test subjects, as he can reproduce the same pre-programmed movements repeatedly without fail or having any variance for a more accurate analysis. Does this mean Speedo can slow down on their swimsuit research? No, but one thing’s for sure – expect even more world records to fall in the future as swimming strokes are perfected.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: iRobot Packbot defuses bombs , Emily robot lifeguard finally saves lives,