Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re unable to skip stones in the water, it’s okay – we now have robots that are capable of doing the stone skipping for us. Some folks have come up with a robot to help raise awareness for the summer activities available at a resort in Sun Valley, Idaho. Called Skippy, the robot can throw skip stones into the lake on your behalf – all you have to do is log on to the Skippy website, sign in (via Facebook or Twitter) and let your robot skip a stone for you!

There seems to be a leader board of some sort but it doesn’t look like you get anything for being on top, but there’s also an unrelated contest on the website for you to win a free trip. Skippy will only be available from July 9-13, so be sure to check it out before it’s taken offline. Check out a video introduction to Skippy above.

[Skippy]

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Large robotic cranes made out of metal just weigh too much these to be convenient for the average joe. That’s where the Cardboard Robot crane comes into play. The crane is programmable through your computer(connects via USB) and can perform several tasks for you depending on the arm attachment you are using.
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Mahoro is a general purpose robot co-developed by AIST and Yaskawa. It’s mission in life is to carry out dangerous lab work that was previously done manually by humans. Its jobs include culturing and dispensing with more accuracy and speed than a human can do it. Mahoro completes tasks better and in half the time. It also cuts down on accidents.


That last part is a real bonus when you are talking dangerous chemicals or nuclear material. This isn’t your typical factory robot since his arms have seven joints opposed to six or less. This extra axis means that the robot arms can replicate the elbow joint of a human and that gives him more flexibility. Moving like a human means that he is more efficient.

He’s already being used at some universities and pharmaceutical companies. The next goal is to make this ‘bot safe enough to work alongside humans – and hopefully not take their jobs.

[via Geek]

A group of students from the University of the West of England designed a robot built from recycled materials that that could help detect underwater mines. The robot has been constructed out of household parts, spare car parts and an Internet router. It even features a camera taken from a PlayStation 3, fan guards from a computer and a Land Rover’s reversing light.

The robot has been entered into an international competition for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles in Italy this week. AUVs generally use sensors and sonar to figure out locations and carry out tasks that have been pre-programmed into them. Team leader Gareth Griffiths said that one of the biggest challenges the team has faced includes building the AUV to be tough enough to work in such hostile environments, like murky deep waters, but advanced enough to be sealed tight for underwater journeys and relatively lightweight at the same time.

If everything goes according to plan, the AUV constructed entirely out of recycled junk could work comparably well to real AUVs in detecting mines. AUVs can also be used to inspect oil rigs or to clean the structural bases of sea wind farms and need to have excellent tracking and vision sensors to ensure safe and accurate movement underwater.

[via Daily Mail]

Students build underwater mine-detecting robot from household junk is written by Elise Moreau & originally posted on SlashGear.
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Landmines that were dropped many decades ago in certain countries during times of war are still active – and concerted efforts are still being made so that no one else gets maimed. British students have come up with a robot that was built using recycled materials in order to detect underwater mines, now how about that? A total of seven students from the University of the West of England are behind the design and construction of this massive 20,000 pound underwater robot, using nothing but regular household junk, an Internet router and spare parts from cars.

The camera on this DIY robot was sourced from a Sony PS3, while a broadband router in addition to fan guards from a defunct computer will also see action underneath the hood. Not only that, a reverse light from a Land Rover is also given a new lease of life here. Known as the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), it relies on sensors and sonar in order to map out just where the underwater mines are. Other uses for this would include inspecting oil rigs or cleaning the base structures of sea wind farms.

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