Mar 19
The Winbot latches itself to your glass panes via a suction mechanism, then scoots around on its caterpillar feet to wash and dry your windows.
Mar 19
The Curiosity Mars Rover that hails from NASA is extremely far away from home, and it will see out the rest of its remaining days on the Red Planet, but it seems that all is not fine and dandy with this remotely controlled robot. Perhaps it is home-sick (it is a joke, people!), but another computer glitch has hit Curiosity, which would prevent it from resuming its science experiments. According to the mission’s chief scientist, Curiosity entered safe mode yet again throughout the entire weekend, no thanks to a computer file error.
In safe mode, all activities would remain on hold, although Curiosity would be able to maintain its contact with us citizens of planet Earth. Earlier this month, there was an issue with Curiosity’s computer memory, and the team behind Curiosity kept their fingers crossed that they could continue with more experiments on the Red Planet before being hit by the latest set of problems. Hopefully all on board the Curiosity will be able to be fixed sooner rather than later, so that everyone can move on in knowing whether the possible traces of water alone could end up aligned with a million other factors that pave the way to support a theory of life being possible so far away.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Salamandra Robotica II Robot, CHIMP Robot: Move Like A Tank, Act Like A Primate,
Mar 18
Back in the 1980s we had a little game system here in the States called the NES. In Japan, that system was called the Famicom. It looked mighty different, but played most of the same games. And while the Famicom has long-since been discontinued, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t get the occasional hack done to it just like the NES. Here, we have a Famicom, hacked to control a robot.
Ninagawa Izumi’s robot is controlled by the classic red and gold Famicom gamepad. While I’m not sure of all of the steps in the hack, it involved the use of a Bluetooth dongle, a Wii controller, an NES/SNES to Wii adapter, a PS to Wii adapter and a Bluetooth-to-serial adapter. All of this was put together to control a cute little ROBO-XERO humanoid robot with some googly eyeballs. Here, check it out in action:
Funny thing is, this isn’t the only controller that he’s operated his robot with…
Sweet, eh? I wish Nintendo would come out with their own line of robots operated by game controller. Heck, they could even skip the Famicom, and go straight for the Wii U controller. It would be cool if you could pilot a Nintendobot using motion control and get a ‘bots-eye view using the screen. I bet they’d sell at least a few more Wii Us if they started offering Wii U robots to go with. And yes, I know it wouldn’t be the first time Nintendo connected a robot to a console.
[via Tiny Cartridge]
Mar 18
Engadget Expand wrap-up: Google, Kinect, electric cars, robots, makers and more!
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Not all that long ago, we were staring at spreadsheets, table layouts and sketch-ups, squinting our eyes and attempting to wrap our brains around all of it. On Friday, we popped by Fort Mason in San Francisco, to test drive ZBoard’s latest and greatest electric skateboard, and things were already underway, the stage was being erected and banners with our familiar logo were draped everywhere. That moment, however, had nothing on the surreality of the following morning, when, bright and early, the companies began setting up tables.
Outside, a Tesla Model S was parked for test drives, and inside were a pair of electric Toyotas, one sporting a giant, decorative plug on its roof. There were big booths from Lenovo and Nokia, an Indie Corner jam-packed with and impressive displays like the the Ekso Bionics robot exoskeleton and Da Vinci’s truly awe-inspiring surgical robot. Next to that, was Insert Coin, a gathering of all the semi-finalists for our first-ever startup competition, who had flown from all over to show off a truly diverse and impressive selection of innovation.
On stage, an equally diverse array of panelists joined us, from reps for companies like Google, Microsoft, Toyota, and OUYA, to 3D printing companies, roboticists, futurists, sci-fi writers, space explorers, indie gamers and a multimedia DJ / philosopher. Frankly, we’re exhausted. And we can’t wait to do it again. See you in New York.
Filed under: Announcements, Cellphones, Cameras, Displays, Misc, Gaming, GPS, Handhelds, Home Entertainment, Household, Laptops, Peripherals, Robots, Tablets, Transportation, Wearables, Wireless, Storage, Networking, Science, Internet, Software, HD, Mobile, Alt
Mar 18
Fighting Walrus Radio turns your iPad or iPhone into a UAV controller (video)
Posted in: Today's Chili 
So, here’s a situation: you’d love to your iPhone or iPad to control your UAV collection, and you’re pretty obsessed with collecting as many of these UAVs as possible. Aside from undoubtedly landing yourself on an FBI watch list, you’ll probably also be interested in helping the folks at Fighting Walrus Radio turn their dreams into reality. In a nutshell, the project seeks to fund an iOS hardware peripheral that operates with both Lightning and Dock Connector-equipped products — turning ’em into “a mobile ground station for your personal unmanned aerial vehicle.” It’s built to report your UAV’s critical flight systems and log flight data within a one mile range, and it’s compatible with all MAVLink drones as well as the Parrot AR.Drone. Also, it’s called the Fighting Walrus Radio. For those that need a bit more convincing, there’s a demo video just after the break, while to-be customers can hit up the read link.
Filed under: Robots
Source: Indiegogo
Mar 18
Salamandra Robotica II Robot
Posted in: Today's Chili
When you have a robot that carries the name Salamandra Robotica II, you know for sure that it has something to do with salamanders, where the image above depicts the Salamandra Robotica II making its way to take a dip in Lake Geneva. It can be quite unnerving checking out this robot, considering how it seems to have gained the gait of an actual salamander, where it will be able to swim (meaning it is waterproof to a certain extent, or should we say, water resistant), crawl, and even walk like the real deal.
Just how does the Salamandra Robotica II do it? Well, it is capable of performing such feats of mimicry that eerily resembles an actual salamander thanks to a digital neural network that instructs it to swim, crawl or walk, depending on the intensity of electrical signals that course through its “spinal cord” circuits. There is a remote “brain” laptop which plays the role of mimicking signals that a real salamander brain sends to its spinal cord, which then allows the Salamandra Robotica II to alter its speed, direction and gait through the simple act of triggering a simple electronic signal. Something tells me the military will have great and interesting use for this…
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: CHIMP Robot: Move Like A Tank, Act Like A Primate, Hitachi Ropits Self-Driving Vehicle,
Mar 18
Now that our Insert Coin: New Challengers contestants had duked it out and the judges have made their decision, we have a winner: Ziphius. Not only did the bot win $20,000 thanks to deliberation by our judges, but it came home with our $5,000 reader’s choice prize too. Victorious and $25,000 richer, the brains behind the aquatic drone joined us backstage to chat about their project. For the full interview, check out our video after the break.
Follow all of Engadget’s Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Filed under: Robots
Mar 17
Marc Raibert, president and chief robot lover of Boston Dynamics (of AlphaDog, BigDog and Pet-Proto fame), joined us on the Expand stage to discuss the present state and future of robotics. Raibert wound his way backstage and sat down with us to talk about the importance of biology’s influences on the creation of robots and the possibility of his firm developing consumer bots. Hit the jump to catch the video interview.
Follow all of Engadget’s Expand coverage live from San Francisco right here!
Filed under: Robots
Mar 17
Robopocalypse: Now liveblog
Posted in: Today's Chili 
We’ll be discussing the history and near-future of robotics with luminaries from Willow Garage, Boston Dynamics (yes, the people behind Big Dog) and 3D Robotics. Our editor-in-chief, Tim Stevens, is orchestrating proceedings and we’ll be liveblogging the whole event right here… in just a few minutes.
March 17, 2013 2:15 PM EST
Filed under: Robots
Mar 17
Top honchos of 3D Robotics, Willow Garage and Boston Dynamics (yes, of BigDog fame) join us — and some mechanical pals — to discuss the past, present and future of robotics.
March 17, 2013 2:15 PM EDT
For a full list of Expand sessions, be sure to check out our event hub.
Filed under: Robots
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