Dec 03

British Library packs its least requested items into new, robot-operated facility in Leeds

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

The British Library’s just taken the wraps off a new facility up in Leeds where they’ll now house some lesser used items (things like patent specs and Martin Amis’ diner receipts). The new digs are a £26 million (that’s about $43 million) building in West Yorkshire controlled by seven robot operators capable of pulling items and taking them to a retrieval area when they’ve been requested by librarians. Hit the BBC Source link to check out the futuristic system for yourself.

British Library packs its least requested items into new, robot-operated facility in Leeds originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceYorkshire Evening Post, BBC  | Email this | Comments

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Dec 03

EU scientists develop LifeHand thought-controlled prosthesis

Posted in: Medicine, research, robot, science, Today's Chili
We’ve seen plenty of developments in neurology and robotics over the years, including the Smart Hand prosthesis and targeted muscle reinnervation, and now researchers at the Bio-Medical Campus University of Rome have announced LifeHand. Connected via electrodes to an amputee named Pierpaolo Petruzziello, the device is able to perform complex movements and is controlled by thought alone. “It’s a matter of mind, of concentration,” said Petruzziello. “When you think of it as your hand and forearm, it all becomes easier.” The five year project, funded to the tune of about $3 million by the European Union, is just the beginning — they still have to figure out how to make the implants permanent. Get a closer look below.

Gallery: EU scientists develop LifeHand thought-controlled prosthesis

EU scientists develop LifeHand thought-controlled prosthesis originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Dec 2009 08:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePhysOrg  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 30

Doka Harumi’s robot dance routine fills us with shame for humanity, but mostly Japan

Posted in: Japan, robot, Today's Chili

Have you ever felt guilty after watching a robot dance? Don’t worry, you will soon. Worse than that time you “accidentally” sat through four episodes of Sailor Moon. Worse than that time you watched the Helicopter Boyz video and then sent it to all your friends. Worse than that time you got a J-pop song stuck in your head and tried to hum it to Shazam so you could identify it and buy it on iTunes. So much worse. Video is after the break.

Continue reading Doka Harumi’s robot dance routine fills us with shame for humanity, but mostly Japan

Doka Harumi’s robot dance routine fills us with shame for humanity, but mostly Japan originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 13:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Hack a Day  |  sourceBotJunkie  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 30

Samurai of Kuroda granted a cybernetic upgrade

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

Looking for a techno spin on the traditional, the Samurai of Kuroda have become assimilated into robot territory. They dance, they drink, they wield a great spear and use it to skewer flesh when you’re not looking — probably. Look for the creations at IREX 2009 and then after at RoboSquare in Kyushu. If you can’t make it out, or want a preview, take a peep for yourself after the break.

Continue reading Samurai of Kuroda granted a cybernetic upgrade

Samurai of Kuroda granted a cybernetic upgrade originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 02:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Plastic Pals  |  sourceRobotWatch  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 27

Roomba saves child from deadly Viper, challenges Tango to a fight

Posted in: robot, Today's Chili
We’ve always known that the Roomba was something of a bad-ass — iRobot, after all, has quite a reputation within the defense industry — so we weren’t surprised when one of the autonomous vacuum cleaners took down a certain Vipera palaestinae (a venomous snake found in the Middle East). Considered a leading cause of snakebites within its geographic range, the snake was found mangled ’round one of the robot’s rotating brushes when Eli and Efi Frida returned to their home in Galilee, which they share with their two children, aged four and seven (as well as several cats and dogs). “We were very lucky,” said Eli, “If the snake would have hid in the house and bitten one of the children it could have ended badly.”

Roomba saves child from deadly Viper, challenges Tango to a fight originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceBotJunkie, Facebook  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 21

Toyota Partner Robots heading to the moon, offworld colonies inevitable

Posted in: robot, Today's Chili, Toyota

It started off innocently enough. Personal transporters, they told us, just robots to make life easier. Now look at them — Toyota’s Partner Robots are set for upgrades that include back-mounted solar chargers, spring-loaded jumping mechanisms, and a design hardy enough to withstand lunar temperature drops. Intended for the performance of exploratory missions on the moon — alongside a four-wheeled robotic rover — the new designs were introduced by Toyota in a presentation titled “Realization of Moon Exploration Using Advanced Robots by 2020.” So, if the world doesn’t actually end in 2012, by 2020 we’ll have extraterrestrial robots plotting our demise anyway. More pictures of lunar colonization can be found after the break.

Continue reading Toyota Partner Robots heading to the moon, offworld colonies inevitable

Toyota Partner Robots heading to the moon, offworld colonies inevitable originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Plastic Pals  |  sourceGetRobo  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 20

Robots perform synchronized interpretive dance for the holidays, fill us with cheer

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

You know what we love? Dancing robots and Christmas tunes. So combining the two and throwing the video up on YouTube would be akin to heaven, right? Well, as you’ll see in the amazing video after the break: it doesn’t get much better than this. In fact, it might even be enough to clear the “bah humbug” out of us for good.

Continue reading Robots perform synchronized interpretive dance for the holidays, fill us with cheer

Robots perform synchronized interpretive dance for the holidays, fill us with cheer originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Plastic Pals  |  sourceYouTube  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 20

Robots perform in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ said to outdo the cast of New Moon

Posted in: robot, Robots, Today's Chili

Shakespeare’s plays have a long, long history of being modded to fit the times. We’ve seen Macbeths do the running man, and Cordelias dressed like Susie Sioux — and we’ve also seen Forbidden Planet, so we know that Robby was just a tinned up Ariel. So robots in Shakespeare? Sure, we’ve seen that before, but what haven’t we seen intertwined into bad theatre? Well, Texas A&M’s just staged A Midsummer Night’s Dream to include robotic cast members. Working with Professor Robin Murphy, who heads up the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue, director Amy Hopper hacked the script a bit to include an air robot — which is about the size of a pizza, and has been used in military operations — playing a fairy, and six small radio controlled helicopters. The robotics team used the opportunity to observe how cast and audience members reacted to the robots, and we’re pretty sure the audience warmed to them far more quickly than they would to Christian Bale or Sean Penn.

Robots perform in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ said to outdo the cast of New Moon originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceWired  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 19

Kawada NEXTAGE humanoid robot just wants to help out (video)

Posted in: robot, Today's Chili

In a world where the Headtime scalp massager not only exists but presumably even sells, is it any wonder that assistant robots like this here fella are cropping up? While keeping the design somewhat generic in order to be able to adapt the bot to the particular circumstances where it is employed, the designers at Kawada Industries are keen to promote the NEXTAGE as a step toward humans and machines co-existing and working together in harmony. Sounds peachy, doesn’t it? Of course, some meatsack will have to be made redundant to make way for the machines, but humans were always going to be sacrificed for the greater robotic good. That was the plan all along. See the video demo after the break.

Continue reading Kawada NEXTAGE humanoid robot just wants to help out (video)

Kawada NEXTAGE humanoid robot just wants to help out (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Nov 2009 12:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Plastic Pals  |  sourceKawada Industries  | Email this | Comments

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Nov 18

3D mapping drone fires lasers from a mile away (video)

Posted in: laser, robot, robotics, Robots, Today's Chili

The MIT Technology Review has unearthed a new laser-based 3D mapping robot that can produce results similar to those obtained from $100,000 systems at about a fifth of the cost. Funded by the US Army, researchers at the Stevens Institute of Technology have now demonstrated the Remotely Operated and Autonomous Mapping System (ROAMS, for short), which employs a mirror-based LIDAR system that bounces a laser off a rapidly rotating mirror and gleans environmental information from how long it takes for each pulse to bounce back. An array of video cameras and IR proximity sensors add to this recon bot‘s sentience, though you’ll still need to be within a mile’s range to operate it. So not quite yet ready for solo missions to Mars, but plenty useful for gathering data on our own planet. You’ll find video and imagery of the results this machine kicks out after the break.

Continue reading 3D mapping drone fires lasers from a mile away (video)

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3D mapping drone fires lasers from a mile away (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Nov 2009 06:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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