May 06

Robots learn to share, try to repair bad rep (video)

Posted in: robot, Robots, science, Today's Chili, video
Altruistic Robot

We’ve been told time and time again to fear our mechanical friends, so imagine our relief when we heard that some Swiss scientists had a batch of bots that displayed altruism. What’s more, these little two-wheeled foragers weren’t programmed to share, they evolved the trait. Researchers at EPFL infused Alice microbots with digital “genes” that mutated over time as well as color sensors that allow them to navigate their environment. The robots were tasked with collecting “food” and given the option to keep it for themselves or split it amongst their silicon-brained relatives. The more they decided to give to others with similar genetic makeup the more those virtual genes were passed on to future generations — including the one for altruism. The experiment is an example of Hamilton’s Rule, an evolutionary model for how the seemingly counter-intuitive trait of selflessness could arise through natural selection. Don’t let your guard down just yet, though — the robots are only sharing with each other for now.

Continue reading Robots learn to share, try to repair bad rep (video)

Robots learn to share, try to repair bad rep (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 06 May 2011 05:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink io9  |  sourcePLoS Biology  | Email this | Comments

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May 04

POLYRO humanoid robot can be built by you, looks more like K-9 than C-3PO

Posted in: diy, kinect, Linux, robot, Today's Chili, ubuntu


It may bear closer resemblance to an upright dog than a human (check out those ears!), but POLYRO here is the least frightening example of a do-it-yourself robot that we’ve seen to date. We’re not sold on the humanoid’s name as an acronym (oPen sOurce friendLY RObot), and the instructions and assembly photos are rather hit or miss, but this rollin’ rover definitely scores some points for looks. Prepare to get down and dirty with a jigsaw, drill press, and “safety equipment,” before the latest addition to your family is ready to roll across the living room floor on its iRobot base. Instructables has posted a full shopping list, including a 10.1-inch netbook, ROS (Robot OS), and a Kinect. If you’re feeling brave, clear some time in the schedule and space in the garage after heading over to our source link.

POLYRO humanoid robot can be built by you, looks more like K-9 than C-3PO originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 May 2011 20:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CrunchGear, Plastic Pals  |  sourceInstructables  | Email this | Comments

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May 02

New Zealand paralympian buys first Rex Bionics exoskeleton, takes robot walking legs for a spin

Posted in: robot, Today's Chili, video

Surely we weren’t the only ones to wonder aloud who would be the first come up with $150,000 for a Rex Bionics robotic exoskeleton when the Auckland-based company introduced it last summer. Of course, no price seems too high for the ability to walk again, but that’s still a lot scratch to get together — and the space has been getting a lot more competitive as of late. The honor went to fellow Kiwi Dave MacCalman, a multiple medal-winning paralympian, who lost the use of his legs after sustaining a spinal cord injury while diving into a river. The 6-foot, 4-inch athlete took his first steps in over 30 years with the use of his newly-purchased robot legs — and from the look on his face, he definitely got his New Zealand dollar’s worth. If you need a quick refresher on exactly what this thing can do, check out the video after the break.

Continue reading New Zealand paralympian buys first Rex Bionics exoskeleton, takes robot walking legs for a spin

New Zealand paralympian buys first Rex Bionics exoskeleton, takes robot walking legs for a spin originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 11:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceRex Bionics  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 29

Rollin’ Justin robot plays catch, makes coffee, aims to replace your dad (video)

Posted in: germany, robot, RobotApocalypse, Robots, Sports, Today's Chili, video

With an 80 percent success rate, there’s a pretty good chance that Justin here is better at playing catch than you are. This old German Aerospace Agency-designed robot, which we first saw in 2009, learned a new trick — he can track thrown objects as they approach, calculate their flight path, and snap his cold, soulless hands around them before they hit the ground. Better yet, he can catch two objects at the same time. For his encore, Rollin’ Justin uses his tactile finger sensors to prepare you a cup of coffee, just so you know there’s no hard feelings once’s he’s done schooling you at three flies up. The ‘bot can be controlled via iPad and acts totally grateful when you get him a tie for Christmas, even though it’s not what he really wanted. Video after the break.

Update: Johannes sent us another video of him catching two balls with one hand! It’s after the break.

Continue reading Rollin’ Justin robot plays catch, makes coffee, aims to replace your dad (video)

Rollin’ Justin robot plays catch, makes coffee, aims to replace your dad (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Apr 2011 02:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Plastic Pals  |  sourceGerman Aerospace Center  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 28

Researchers build a robot inspired by caterpillars, nightmares (video)

Posted in: robot, Today's Chili, video

There’s a long history of robots modeled on animals, and some researchers from Tufts University have now taken things in a particularly creepy-crawly direction. They’ve built a robot that’s able to mimic the way a caterpillar balls itself up to bounce away from predators. As you can see in the video above, while the robot (dubbed GoQBot) is quite a bit bigger than the actual bug, is does indeed do a pretty good caterpillar imitation. What might such a bot be used for? Well, the researchers say that the so-called “ballistic rolling” behavior could be used to improve on some of the many existing robots that are modeled on worms or snakes — which could let them fling themselves into a disaster area, for instance, and then wiggle around to aid in search and rescue operations. Head on past the break to see the bot in slow-motion.

Continue reading Researchers build a robot inspired by caterpillars, nightmares (video)

Researchers build a robot inspired by caterpillars, nightmares (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 20:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Robots.net  |  sourcePhysOrg  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 26

Don-8r the panhandling robot set to make the homeless obsolete (video)

Posted in: concept, money, robot, RobotApocalypse, robotics, Today's Chili, video

Until now, one field has been safe from robotic interference: collecting money on the street. Not for long. A space already overcrowded with guitar playing hippies, dogs in bandanas, and children carrying bright orange UNICEF boxes has a new force to reckon with. It’s Don-8r (pronounced “donator,” for those who don’t speak robot), programmed expressly to collect change and be adorable. University of Dundee student Tim Pryde created the coin-fueled robot to help raise money for charity. It’s taken a few spins around the school’s campus and has already mastered the three Ps of money collection: politeness, persistence, and performance — the latter accomplished via color changing lights in its orb-like head. Video of Don-8r doing its thing after the break.

Continue reading Don-8r the panhandling robot set to make the homeless obsolete (video)

Don-8r the panhandling robot set to make the homeless obsolete (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink SlashGear  |  sourceTim Pryde  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 25

Vibratron plays impossible music with ball bearings, is your new master (video)

Posted in: arduino, Music, robot, Today's Chili, video

First they came for Jeopardy!, then they came for our vibraphones. We still own baseball, but the “humans only” list has grown one shorter now that the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Club has birthed Vibratron, a robotic vibraphone. Vibratron’s Arduino Mega controls 30 solenoid gates that drop steel balls onto the vibration keys, producing a note; an Archimedes screw recycles the bearings, turning them once more into sweet, sweet music. We should also note that Vibratron doesn’t put decent, salt-of-the-earth vibraphonists out of work. That cacophony in the video is “Circus Galop,” written for two player pianos and impossible for humans to perform — and still pretty hard for humans to listen to. See, Vibratron is here to help you, fellow humans. At least for now. Click the video above to get acquainted.

Vibratron plays impossible music with ball bearings, is your new master (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Apr 2011 01:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Make  |  sourceCarnegie Mellon Robotics Club  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 22

SARbot searches for victims underwater in Japan (video)

Posted in: Japan, robot, Today's Chili, video

Joining the extended family of robots assisting with the relief effort in Japan, the Texas-based Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue (CRASAR) has sent its SARbot to Rikuzentakata. Like some of the other bots, this guy can shoot video as it swims under houses and other crippled structures, but it also sports a “limb grasping mechanism,” designed to retrieve drowning victims and assist in other search and rescue operations. As of yet the machine’s searches have come up empty, but the bot has kept the camera rolling during it’s underwater adventures, so head past the break to check out a clip of its footage.

Continue reading SARbot searches for victims underwater in Japan (video)

SARbot searches for victims underwater in Japan (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 21:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PhysOrg  |  sourceCRASAR  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 22

Husqvarna lawnmower remote for iOS: a lot less fun than we’d hoped

Posted in: app, Apple, ios, ipad, iPhone, ipod touch, IpodTouch, robot, Today's Chili
Sure, we’ve been living in a series of safe houses and seedy motels since 1968, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t have nice things. A two-car garage, white picket fence, and a healthy lawn: that’s the American Dream, right there. But with all that middle class comfort comes responsibility — and how are you going to find the time to keep the grass under control when you’re working three jobs to keep up with the mortgage on your McMansion? Friends, that’s where Husqvarna’s My Automower app comes in. That’s right: rather than sending SMS messages to your GPS-enabled Automower, all of its functions (starting, stopping, tracking the thing’s progress via GPS) can now be handled from the safety of your iOS device. What it will not do, however, is transform your robot lawnmower into a semi-autonomous, blade-wielding backyard defender (hopefully the company addresses that in a software update). PR after the break.

Continue reading Husqvarna lawnmower remote for iOS: a lot less fun than we’d hoped

Husqvarna lawnmower remote for iOS: a lot less fun than we’d hoped originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 10:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceApp Store  | Email this | Comments

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Apr 21

Ph.D. student subjects advanced robot to dance, embarrassment (video)

Posted in: robot, Robots, Today's Chili, video
Sarcos

This is Sarcos, a highly-advanced robot capable of balancing on his own two legs. He’s also connected to a motion-capture system that allows him to accurately mimic the actions of a human operator. For what grand purpose does his puppet master Benjamin Stephens use these impressive assets? Dancing, of course. Seriously people, they’re going to remember this when the time comes for revolution. Video after the break.

Continue reading Ph.D. student subjects advanced robot to dance, embarrassment (video)

Ph.D. student subjects advanced robot to dance, embarrassment (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 20:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CrunchGear  |  sourceCarnegie Mellon (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments

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