Hasta La Gadget!

Remember how that in Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Princess Ariel decided to trade in her voice for a pair of feet so that she will be able to be on land with the prince who caught her heart? Well, she certainly had the help of Ursula the sea witch in getting her wish, which was a fair deal (albeit a bit naive on her side), but back to the real world, there are no incantations that will be able to give anyone a new pair of feet, but technology certainly could do something about it. Case in point, the AMBER robot from Texas A&M’s Amber Lab robotics team.

Apparently, there has been an approximation of those foot bones which allows the robo-Manziel to have the pivot-points required for a more natural movement that is as close as it gets to human movement at this point in time. The final product will not have anything to do with making synthetic legs stronger, and at the end of the video when you saw the legs stumble? That was done on purpose, to show that the attached boom offered lateral stability. What kind of strides would you like to see the robotics industry make in the near future?

AMBER Robot Gets Feet The Little Mermaid Would’ve Envied original content from Ubergizmo.

One of the biggest challenges that engineers have faced in their quest to build a humanoid robot is one of the simplest tasks for humans: walking. More specifically, they’ve had a hard time engineering a robot to take strides and roll each foot heel-to-toe, like we do. Until now, that is.

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Robots are meant to help humanity in their very own way, which is a good thing. We are just keeping our fingers crossed that robots do not gain that kind of self awareness that would enslave us all, just like all those apocalyptic scenarios that we have seen in science fiction movies. Well, here is a robot that knows the value of a life. Robotena, as “she” is called, is a nurse robot that is capable of moving the injured away from snipers on the streets of Syria. After all, it makes perfect sense. Anyone who wants to help someone who has been shot in the street by a sniper would run the risk of being shot him or herself, so why not send out a robot? Unless the sniper knows of the Robotena’s weak points, wasting bullets on a hunk of metal with the risk of revealing one’s position could be too much.

Ahmad Heidar hopes his invention of Robotena will be able to ensure that help will reach those injured in such vile attacks. Heldar said, “The brother of one of my students got shot in the leg. It was such a memorable moment.” It a few minutes, a fatal shot to the neck had killed him, while another half an hour was required to remove the body away from the sniper’s threat. It does start to sound as though the military might want to dip their fingers into the Robotena first though.

Robotena The Nurse Robot Moves Injured Away From Danger original content from Ubergizmo.

Have you always wanted to live the life of a king, being served by peons wherever you go? Perhaps you might not need to be insanely rich in order to do that, and neither do you need to slight another human being’s feelings by letting him or her feel as though they are one class lower than you, as a robot might just be a decent substitute. How does having your very own personal robot butler sound like? This is where the UBR-1 comes in, where it would arrive as a one-armed orange humanoid that will be able to play a role in your life – assuming you lead a lifestyle that would accommodate its presence. Of course, that would also mean after you have parted with $35,000 for this puppy.

The UBR-1 would arrive with a visual interface that is called MoveIt! so that it can direct its motions. This might very well be one of the most sophisticated robots that someone with relatively little robotics training is able to operate. MoveIt! comes in the form of an app that will feature a drag-and-drop interface, where it will interact with a robot’s sensors. With the help of that sensor data, MoveIt! will be able to provide the user with a 3D model of the robot in its actual physical environment, allowing the user to test out and direct a robot’s movements in a virtual environment prior to making them happen in real time.

UBR-1 Personal Robot Butler original content from Ubergizmo.

Have you ever wanted to race some RC cars, but just ended up crying because no one was there to play against you? Anki Drive, a new toy (and technological marvel) coming out on October 23rd, 2013, is going to change everything. Mini remote control cars that know how to drive themselves by using artificial intelligence? YES.

Think that this isn’t the greatest thing ever? What if I told you that Apple gave Anki the stage at one of their most high-profile tech keynotes of the year? Now that I have your attention, take a look at what is sure to be one of the most revolutionary toys ever brought to market.

Anki Drive allows you to, using your iOS device, race remote control cars against your friends. But, in addition to that, it lets you race remote control cars against cars driven entirely by artificial intelligence. The Anki Drive vehicles analyze their relative positions on the track 500 times per second, and make decisions accordingly.

What’s more, players can give AI cars different tasks: when commanded to, computer-controlled cars will attempt to block a certain car by getting in front of it. They can also be told to put the pedal to the metal, of course.

This product is honestly mind-blowing to me – you can upgrade and level-up your cars, just like in video games, and you can use the cars’ weapons: tractor beams, shields, and more! Send opponents’ cars reeling or pull them towards you so that you can get a better shot! If this does not end up being the top-selling toy of Christmas 2013, I’ll eat both of my shoes.

The Anki Drive app is available for download on the App Store as of right now, but the product will not be available until October 23rd – more information is on the Anki Drive website.

Want more remote control goodness? Check out the remote control cockroaches and the world’s fastest remote control car, if you dare.

[via Uncrate]