Oct 04

Screen Grabs: Willow Garage’s telepresence bot guest stars on The Big Bang Theory

Posted in: robot, Robots, Today's Chili
Screen Grabs chronicles the uses (and misuses) of real-world gadgets in today’s movies and TV. Send in your sightings (with screen grab!) to screengrabs at engadget dot com.

CBS’s The Big Bang Theory is the super popular sitcom about brilliant nerds. If you’ve been watching, you’ve undoubtedly seen Steve Wozniak’s recent guest spot — but there have been other notable presences, too. Willow Garage‘s Texai telepresence robot recently made an appearance as “Shel-bot” — a stand in for the character Sheldon. While we didn’t get to see the hilarious high jinks ourselves, we can tell from the screen shots that it was a pretty good time. Hit up the coverage link to learn more about Willow Garage’s Texai.

Screen Grabs: Willow Garage’s telepresence bot guest stars on The Big Bang Theory originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 02:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceHizook  | Email this | Comments

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Oct 02

Kid’s Walker fulfills your child’s dream of piloting a kickass robot suit (video)

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

Four years ago Sakakibara Kikai brought us a $300,000 real-life BattleMech, and the company hasn’t sat idle since then — last December, it put the final touches on a significantly smaller exoskeleton designed specifically for children. The Kid’s Walker stands just over five feet tall and weighs four hundred pounds, and though the gasoline-powered creature doesn’t exactly walk, its wheeled feet definitely stroll around. The Japanese company told Gizmag the suit isn’t presently for sale — just rentals for now — but would probably cost about 1.8 million yen (around $21,600) should it come to market. If you ask us, that’s a small price to pay; everyone knows it’s always the young mecha pilots that end up saving the world. Video after the break.

Continue reading Kid’s Walker fulfills your child’s dream of piloting a kickass robot suit (video)

Kid’s Walker fulfills your child’s dream of piloting a kickass robot suit (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Oct 2010 15:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 01

Android Droid is a Robot That Runs Android OS

Posted in: Android, Google, Miscellaneous, operating system, robot, Today's Chili

The green Android mascot is now a walking robot and a recursive one at that–it is powered by the Android operating system.

Two Japanese companies, RT Corporation and Brilliant Service, created a humanoid robot called “RIC” to show Android is not just for smartphones and tablet computers. The robot, which took about 60 days to build, is about 4 -feet tall.

The Android robot made its debut at the Google developer day in Tokyo earlier this week and as you can see in the video above, it is a delightfully cute  machine.

The Android Droid uses an Armadillo 500 FX embedded hardware chipset and communicates via Wi-Fi with an Android cellphone or tablet. The robot can swing its arms and move it to the left and right. The top of its head can also be opened to show the brains of the device.

RT Corp created the body of the robot and did the system integration and testing, while Brilliant Service developed the robot controller software and applications necessary to operate the machine, says Robot-Dreams, a site which has posted detailed pictures.  There’s no word though on what version of Android the robot is running.

Check out the video below to see a quick snapshot of the building process.

The Android robot is fun and a great way to show the possibilities and potential of the operating system. It’s also a bit of a gimmick since the OS isn’t designed for such machines. Still it’s interesting to see developers find ways to go beyond Google approved devices for Android.

See Also:

[via Engadget]


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Oct 01

Josh invades Late Night studio with flying robot army of one (video)

Posted in: apple tv, robot, Robots, Today's Chili, video

Lest you weren’t glued to your television sets last night, our own Josh Topolsky raised quite a bit of mayhem on Jimmy Fallon’s Late Night show. After doing the professional thing and showing off the minuscule Apple TV and Roku XDS media streamers, Josh proceeded to power up an AR.Drone quadricopter and fly it around the studio in a decidedly menacing fashion. For video of Jimmy’s courageous reaction and the fallout from this robot invasion, jump past the break.

[Thanks, Sonny]

Continue reading Josh invades Late Night studio with flying robot army of one (video)

Josh invades Late Night studio with flying robot army of one (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Oct 2010 04:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 01

This Android android runs Android, eats humans

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

Don’t get enough Android in your life between your daytime Droid pal and that raging evening Engadget Podcast addiction? Well, try this on for size, fanboy: two Japanese companies, RT Corporation and Brilliant Service, have teamed up to make an Android logo-shaped Android that runs Android and that can be controlled by an Android device over WiFi. Happy now? All Google loyalist needling aside, this little bot is actually pretty wild, with an Armadillo 500FX board inside controlling the sizable green creature. In fact, Android and robotics has been a bit of a love fest over the past year or so, and we’re excited to see where they’re headed — hopefully recursive mascots isn’t the evolutionary endpoint here. Check out some video of the bot after the break.

Continue reading This Android android runs Android, eats humans

This Android android runs Android, eats humans originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 01 Oct 2010 03:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 30

iRobot patents “Celestial Navigation System” for the Roomba

Posted in: navigation, patent, robot, Today's Chili

While Roomba’s automated approach to floor cleaning might’ve been novel for its day, its random bumbling is starting to look dated, particularly in comparison to laser-guided, ultra smart vacuums like the Neato XV-11. Well, iRobot is naturally not going to take this lying down, and the company has received a patent for a new “Celestial Navigation System” based on IR beacons bounced off walls and ceilings that the Roomba can track and calculate its position from. It doesn’t sound as fancy as Neato’s completely self-contained system, and it’ll require the setup of multiple beacons throughout the house to make the bot self-sufficient, but we’re guessing it requires less processing and gadgetry on board to pull off — which hopefully means Roomba can stuff this into bots cheaper than Neato’s $400 XV-11. Mint, which was supposed to ship this summer from Evolution Robotics, uses a similar system to the one iRobot is proposing and has a rumored price of under $250.

iRobot patents “Celestial Navigation System” for the Roomba originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Sep 2010 09:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 29

Murata Seiko and her male counterpart get upgrades, we get another look at their awesome skills

Posted in: Japan, Panasonic, robot, Robots, Today's Chili

Murata Seiko, or Murata Girl, is a pretty impressive, attractive little piece of work. The unicycling, dress-wearing robot brings smiles wherever she goes, we’re sure (when we had the chance to see her in person that was certainly the case). You may or may not have known that Murata also has a bike riding male counterpart called Little Seisaku? Well, they’ve both just gotten their upgrades for the year, and that, of course, gives us another opportunity to admire them in all their cuteness. While there aren’t any videos of their improvements yet, we know that Murata Girl’s now able to traverse an S-shaped balance beam in addition to her straight one, while Little Seisaku’s charging capabilities have been upgraded (he can now do so wirelessly), and he’s more efficient, too. Check out another shot below.

Continue reading Murata Seiko and her male counterpart get upgrades, we get another look at their awesome skills

Murata Seiko and her male counterpart get upgrades, we get another look at their awesome skills originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Sep 2010 12:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 27

Robot Can Solve Rubiks Cube Really, Really Fast

Posted in: robot, Robots Robotics, Today's Chili

This is RuBot II. Learn his name, you will be working for him some day–if you’re lucky. RuBot II can solve a Rubik’s Cube. Really, really fast. He can do the thing in under 23 seconds. Not bad, considering that the standard cube has some 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 permutations.

The robot, the second such ‘bot (as the name implies) created by Pete Redmond, was on display at the Hall of Science in Queens this weekend, as part of the first World Maker Faire held in New York.

Before RuBot II solves the cube, a technician calibrates him, mixes up the cube, and then places it into his cold metal claws. The robot scans a side of the cube to see how it’s mixed up and then proceeds to solve it. The robot actually made it into The Guinness Book of World Records for his cube-solving skills.

Check out a video of him in action this weekend, after the jump.

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Sep 27

EPFL develops Linux-based swarming micro air vehicles

Posted in: Linux, network, networking, robot, Today's Chili, video
The kids at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (or EPFL) have been cooking up quite a bit lately, as this video demonstrates. Not only have they put together a scalable system that will let any flying robot perch in a tree or similar structure, but now they’ve gone and developed a platform for swarming air vehicles (with Linux, nonetheless). Said to be the largest network of its kind, the ten SMAVNET swarm members control their own altitude, airspeed, and turn rate based on input from the onboard gyroscope and pressure sensors. The goal is to develop low cost devices that can be deployed in disaster areas to creat ad hoc communications networks, although we can’t help but think this would make the best Christmas present ever. See for yourself after the break.

Continue reading EPFL develops Linux-based swarming micro air vehicles

EPFL develops Linux-based swarming micro air vehicles originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Sep 2010 12:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sep 25

Robot Archer iCub learns to shoot arrows, pierces our mortal heart (video)

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

How do you make a creepy baby robot downright cute? Give it an Indian headdress and teach it the bow-and-arrow, of course. The same team of researchers who brought us the pancake-flipping robot arm have imbued this iCub with a learning algorithm that lets it teach itself archery much the same as a human might do, by watching where the suction-tipped arrow lands and adjusting its aim for each subsequent shot. In this case, it obtained a perfect bullseye after just eight attempts. Watch it for yourself after the break, and ponder the fate of man — how can we possibly stop an uprising of adorable robots that never miss?

Continue reading Robot Archer iCub learns to shoot arrows, pierces our mortal heart (video)

Robot Archer iCub learns to shoot arrows, pierces our mortal heart (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 25 Sep 2010 18:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePetar Kormushev  | Email this | Comments

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