Jan 30

Proto-2 humanoid robot auditions for Thunderbirds 2.0

Posted in: robot, Today's Chili
While there are some robots like ASIMO still keeping it real with their classic robot looks, it seems that humanoid bots these days are increasingly falling into one of two categories: creepy and more creepy. Making no attempt to alter that trend are the researchers from Advanced Robotic Systems Laboratories (or ARSL), who are now showing off their new Proto-2 robot — and apparently holding it against its will. Designed partly to aid in the study of human-robot interaction, Proto-2 packs an “expressive face” complete with moving, Peter Gallagher-esque eyebrows, and it apparently has a more natural walking gait than many other humanoid bots thanks to a new dynamic toe-joint that ARSL developed. Unfortunately, there’s no video of it in action available just yet, but you can check out plenty more pics, and even an interview with its creator by hitting up the links below.

Proto-2 humanoid robot auditions for Thunderbirds 2.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Jan 2010 18:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 29

Meet Diego-san, the latest robot baby to haunt your nightmares

Posted in: robot, Today's Chili
The Apple iPad wasn’t the only magical and revolutionary thing revealed this week.

Meet Diego-san, the latest robot baby to haunt your nightmares originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 26

Castrol builds freakishly large robot to kick a soccer ball, break legs of silhouette defenders

Posted in: robot, Today's Chili
Castrol builds freakishly large robot to kick a soccer ball, break legs of silhouette defenders

Soccer players are generally such crybabies that we can understand why you’d want to replace them with robots, and sometimes that’s done with great success. We don’t think we’ll be seeing this latest player on the pitch anytime soon, though. It’s something of an exhibition robot, a creation sponsored by Castrol to beat the legendary leg of Cristiano Ronaldo, who can kick the ball at 130km/h. This bot from Castrol can top 200km/h, which is mighty impressive — until you see the size of it. We’re pretty sure we saw limos smaller than this out in Vegas, and we’re positive that even they are more useful than this thing. Still, check out the video after the break, and watch that plywood defender’s leg go flying.

Continue reading Castrol builds freakishly large robot to kick a soccer ball, break legs of silhouette defenders

Castrol builds freakishly large robot to kick a soccer ball, break legs of silhouette defenders originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jan 2010 10:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jan 25

Asimo learns to sing and dance, but has yet to learn how to love

Posted in: patent, patent application, PatentApplication, robot, Today's Chili
From parade appearances to his most recent star turn at Sundance, it looks like Asimo’s re-invention as a song-and-dance man continues unabated. Most recently, those crazy intellectual property lawyers-cum-bloggers at Stamoulis & Weinblatt, LLC have hepped us to a patent app in Honda’s name that describes a robot that can not only pick up a beat and dance along, but recognize the tune and sing its lyrics as well. The latter is accomplished by a wide array of techno-stuff, including a “sound collecting unit,” a “voice signal generating unit” capable of both scat singing and singing singing, a “self-vocalized voice regulating unit,” and more. As far as the dancing goes, the application implies that it has something to do with a “beat interval estimating unit” and a “beat time reliability calculating unit,” although we like to believe that the automaton learned to dance the way grandpa did — from Arthur Murray on West 57th Street in Manhattan.

Asimo learns to sing and dance, but has yet to learn how to love originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Stamoulis & Weinblatt LLC  |  sourceUnited States Patent Application  | Email this | Comments

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Jan 22

Caption contest: Optimus Prime moonlights as clothes dryer

Posted in: diy, homebrew, optimus, robot, Today's Chili

What does a superpowered Transformer do in his spare time — you know, when he’s not too busy starring in some of the worst written pieces of escapist cinema? Well, for one Taiwanese fella, there’s nothing Optimus Prime likes doing more than supporting a bamboo stick used for hanging washed clothes. Seriously, the dude spent $1,600 on scrap metal, built a 14-foot model of his son’s favorite mech superhero, and now has it serving as a spectacularly ornamental pivot for his washing. Classy. Oh, and video after the break.

Richard Lai: [pumps up hydraulics] “Why hello there, cute little red car…”
Tim: “Autobots, spin cycle!”
Thomas: “Transformers: Revenge of the Snuggle Bear.”
Darren: “Man, it’s chilly out today. Wait — these aren’t my threads! RAWWRRRR!”
Paul: “Oh, sure, Shia said he’ll be ‘right back.’ I hate that kid.”
Josh F.: “Do these windows make me look fat?”
Laura: “Get Michael Bay on the phone. Immediately.”
Joanna: “Mommm, bathroom!”
Chris: “After nine years, Johnny 5 finally admits that he’d been juicing.”
Joe: “There’s not much more to this than meets the eye… sadly.”
Don: “You think this is impressive? Wait until you see Voltron mowing my lawn.”
Josh T.: “I need something to do until Transformers 3 rolls around. This cocaine isn’t going to buy itself.”

Continue reading Caption contest: Optimus Prime moonlights as clothes dryer

Caption contest: Optimus Prime moonlights as clothes dryer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceMobile01  | Email this | Comments

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Jan 19

Ben-Gurion University’s wall-climbing robots scale defenses, haunt nightmares, stain faux-finishes (video)

Posted in: robot, robotics, Today's Chili
Ben-Gurion University's wall-climbing robots will scale your defenses, haunt your nightmares, stain your faux finish

We’ve seen plenty of prototype mechanisms for autonomous dealies that can scale the straightest of walls, but never have we seen so many gathered together into what can only be called a festival of disconcerting feats of robotic ingenuity. One uses magnets, one has little claws, and one uses integrated hot glue guns that would leave you with no doubt that something sticky had been exploring your walls. They were all developed by a team of engineers working with Amir Shapiro at Ben-Gurion University in Israel, where he studies biomimetrics: technology that tries to do what animals do. Applications for all this? The Israeli military is apparently quite interested, a force that we will be working extra hard to stay within the good graces of from now on.

Continue reading Ben-Gurion University’s wall-climbing robots scale defenses, haunt nightmares, stain faux-finishes (video)

Ben-Gurion University’s wall-climbing robots scale defenses, haunt nightmares, stain faux-finishes (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:12:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePhysorg  | Email this | Comments

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Jan 18

KIST Mahru-Z waits on you very, very slowly

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

We’ve seen KIST‘s Marhu robot tooling around here before, but now they’re showing off the latest models, the Mahru-Z (with some help from Mahru-M), in some super useful scenarios. Mahru-Z and M have been successfully demonstrating their service abilities by carrying cups of tea, and retrieving toast from toasters and delivering it as well. The Z-version bot is a bit shorter than previous iterations, and also sports different, more dextrous arms. He stands about 4 feet 3 inches tall and weighs 122 pounds. Both bots are networked and use 3D object recognition in their task completion. Overall, the improvements to the Mahru bots are iterative, but it sure is great to hear that one day we’ll have someone to bring our breakfast to us in bed. Video is after the break.

Continue reading KIST Mahru-Z waits on you very, very slowly

KIST Mahru-Z waits on you very, very slowly originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 18:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePlastic Pals  | Email this | Comments

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Jan 12

Manoi Go break-dancing robot blows our minds

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

We’ve got no idea how this nugget of glorious mechanized boogie snuck past us — we’ll blame it on the horror we experienced while watching Doka Harumi’s robot dance routine. Another entrant in that same Japanese robo-dance contest, this red-blazered drone brings the pain, the funk, and all necessary accessories to rock your world. We’re not kidding — if you don’t like this, you don’t like technology. Skip past the break for not one, but two doses of that mind-altering video action.

Continue reading Manoi Go break-dancing robot blows our minds

Manoi Go break-dancing robot blows our minds originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechDigest  |  sourceYouTube (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments

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Jan 11

Video: Sex Robots Creator Discusses His Vision

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

On Saturday we wrote about Roxxxy, the “world’s first sex robot.” The post struck a chord with readers, to say the least, hitting the sweet spot between the technology of CES and the “adult entertainment” of AVN. And, let’s face it, thanks to countless science fiction stories, this sort of, um, device, has likely been atop the wishlist of many of the world’s geeks, for a very long time.
I attended TrueCompanion’s presentation at AVN’s mainstage on Saturday, in which Roxxxy’s creator spoke about the potential future for his sex robot, discusses pricing, and explains its connection to the gay community.
Check out a brief video of that event, after the jump–but be warned, while there’s no nudity or profanity in it, it’s still a video about a sex robot shot on the floor of the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo, and therefore may not be safe for work–unless, of course, you work at some kind of sex robot factory. If that’s the case, enjoy, and maybe invite your boss in to watch it with you.

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Jan 05

Interactive Toys Intros Skeet Shooter

Posted in: robot, Tech Toys, Today's Chili

interactivetoyskeetshooter.jpg

Interactive Toys had one of the surprise hits of last year’s show with its Duck Hunter game, which pits players against a robotic flying duck. Naturally the company set out to capitalize on that success. Later this year, the tech toy company is set to release Skeet Shooter.

The plastic skeets pop out of the machine and you point the gun at them. If you make contact, they break apart. It’s just that easy–and like its predecessor, the game looks like hours of fun for the kids.

Unfortunately, the company didn’t have a working model yet, so no video–you’ll have to use your imagination. If it helps at all, I did almost get hit in the head several times by a nearby flying robotic duck. Oh, the things I do for Gearlog.

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