Hasta La Gadget!

What did you do over the last fortnight? Stuff yourself with food? Buy some stuff at a mall? Panasonic’s tiny Mr. Evolta robot mascot walked 317 miles. Now I’m not saying that Mr. Evolta is better than you, but let’s face it, he probably is.

The little green and white ‘bot traveled from Tokyo to Kyoto along Japan’s ancient Tokaido high road, carrying 12 AA batteries in a wagon behind him. Some humanoid Panasonic employees followed along side him, offering up infrared signals to help him along his way.

Mr. Evolta peaked out at a top speed of 2-3 mph, but managed to finish the route ahead of schedule, rolling past crowds of enthusiastic onlookers along the way. Check out a (Japanese) video of the adorable little publicity stunt, after the jump.

Nao developer program kicks off: $4,800, robot included originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 28 Nov 2010 06:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It may just be an elaborate stunt to promote batteries, but it’s hard not to get a little caught up in Evolta’s 500-kilometer trek from Tokyo to Kyoto, which finally came to an end this week after two months on the road — ahead of schedule, no less. Aided by a team of “Evolta Sisters,” the pint-sized robot hauled a dozen AA Evolta batteries in a cart the whole way, and guided itself by following an infrared signal from a device pushed in front of it — a few other ground rules also allowed it to be carried up stairs, and the bot didn’t walk at night or in the rain. Even still, 500 kilometers is 500 kilometers (or 317 miles, if you prefer), and that’s a long way for any robot to walk. Head on past the break for a video recounting some of the journey.

Continue reading Panasonic’s Evolta robot finishes 500-kilometer trek ahead of schedule

Panasonic’s Evolta robot finishes 500-kilometer trek ahead of schedule originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 26 Nov 2010 05:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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This is George. He’s a six-foot tall robot handmade from the aluminum scraps of a crashed bomber in 1950. George is remote controlled, and was built by Tony Sale, the same man who recently resurrected the nearly forgotten robotic darling from the storage shed where he’s spent the last 45 years or so. Some oil and batteries were all it took to get George up and walking again, and he’ll now have a permanent home at the National Museum of Computing in Bletchley Park, Buckinghamshire, England. And that’s the next museum we’ll be visiting, because we cannot get enough of this giant. Tear-inducing video is after the break.

[Image Credit: Geoff Robinson, Daily Mail]

Continue reading 60 year-old remote-controlled robot made from scrap parts makes a dramatic, beautiful comeback

60 year-old remote-controlled robot made from scrap parts makes a dramatic, beautiful comeback originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 23 Nov 2010 21:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You could certainly buy a ready-made robot to sweep your hardwood floors, but doesn’t building your own out of Lego bricks sound like loads more fun? That’s what PlastiBots did with the Pulito pictured above, a Lego Mindstorms NXT sweeper with a host of sensors to navigate around furniture and a standard Swiffer pad to scrub. There’s no fancy NorthStar or Celestial navigation packages to keep the bot on track, so it meanders about much of the time, but there is an fancy infrared beacon on the robot’s charging dock to guide the creature home. When the Pulito’s running out of juice from a long, tiring session of painstakingly traversing your floors, it’s programmed to automatically seek out that invisible light and receive a loving 12 volt embrace from the station’s brass charging bars. See it in action after the break, and hit our source link for more.

[Thanks, Dave]

Continue reading Pulito, the Lego Mindstorms swiffer-bot that seeks out electricity (video)

Pulito, the Lego Mindstorms swiffer-bot that seeks out electricity (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Nov 2010 09:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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