Jun 21

DIY Robot Voice Modulator makes it that much easier for you to cover Styx

Posted in: robot, Robots, Today's Chili

Yes, you could just run out and buy a vocoder, but they’re kinda pricey and this way is so much more fun! Using an IKEA clock, a fluorescent desk lamp, an HT8950 voice modulator, a condenser microphone and some miscellaneous stuff you’re crafty self is bound to have just laying around, you can make one of your own! Doesn’t look terribly complicated to us, but then, we love things that are terribly complicated. Get to it, sirs — hit the read link for full instructions. Dōmo arigatō.

[Via Make]

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DIY Robot Voice Modulator makes it that much easier for you to cover Styx originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:35:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 19

Movie Gadget Friday: Runaway

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

Ariel Waldman contributes Movie Gadget Friday, where she highlights the lovable and lame gadgets from the world of cinema.

Previously on Movie Gadget Friday, we tapped into the near dystopian future of fear in Brazil. Keeping on that 1980’s near-future vibe (but with a slightly more sentient twist), this week we check out Michael Crichton’s Runaway, starring Tom Selleck, Gene Simmons, Cynthia Rhodes and Kirstie Alley. Filled with circuitry and hardwired chips, the movie reinforces wholesome family values by featuring warranty voids as the gateway hack to murder.

Leaping Insect Robot

Measuring in around the size of a human head, these six-legged, spider-like, autonomous robots are mechanical in movement but shockingly precise in killing prey. The autonomous insects have the ability to propel themselves up to seven feet in the air, allowing for attacks on unsuspecting victims. Dual-functioning, the legs are able to crawl and grasp a multitude of surfaces, albeit awkwardly and rather slowly. After programming targets into a mainframe, the robots are able to identify and kill victims by injecting them with acid via a probe before short circuiting and eventually exploding into a ball of flames. Sadly, the robots lack any sort of remote control, making human errors in target-programming unable to be edited.

Continue reading Movie Gadget Friday: Runaway

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Movie Gadget Friday: Runaway originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Jun 2009 13:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 17

Video: Japanese robot reads aloud from books, whispers vague threats while you sleep

Posted in: Books, education, Japan, robot, RobotApocalypse, Today's Chili

Perhaps our Future Robot Overlords[TM] aren’t planning on decimating the human population after they take over — they might have a good reason to retain a handful of bipedal hominidae. Who knows, really? But we’re betting that if they do, the lucky slave population is going to want to hear some bed-time stories from time to time. To that end, Japanese researchers have developed Ninomiya-kun, a 3.2-foot tall aluminum-framed robot capable of reading aloud from printed material. Developed at Waseda University and recently unveiled at a trade fair in Kitakyushu, the bad boy uses cameras to “read” the text, which it parses with OCR software before synthesizing its voice. As far as we can tell, this thing still sounds like a machine, and it’s vocabulary is somewhat limited (it can currently recognize over 2,000 kanji, hiragana and katakana characters), but researchers are working on a more lifelike voice and a broader vocabulary. After that, the developers would like to unload this thing on elementary schools and old folks homes, whose population won’t find this thing creepy or disconcerting at all, at all. We’re sure of it. Peep the video after the break.

[Via Pink Tentacle]

Continue reading Video: Japanese robot reads aloud from books, whispers vague threats while you sleep

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Video: Japanese robot reads aloud from books, whispers vague threats while you sleep originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 12

RoBe:Do’s newest ‘just add netbook’ robot kit for sale

Posted in: netbook, robot, robotics, Today's Chili

Looks like the RoBe:Do gang, who recently blew our minds (well, filled our tummies) with their Twitteriffic Popcorn Poppin’ Bot, are back on the scene with another one of those modular robot chassis designed for those of you looking to get into the robot game with nothing more than a spare netbook, some serious programming chops, and a few hundred bucks burning a hole in your pocket. The newest creature, named “Three,” features a simplified design, faster motors, and a larger base for those six-plus-pound laptops of yours. Just dig into the supplied high level software libraries and code yourself a robot! And if you’re feeling frisky, check out the various options — including infrared sensor and webcam. Order now and it’s yours for $399, or hold off until July 1st and pay the full $439. Peep the gallery below for a closer look.

Gallery: RoBe:Do’s newest ‘just add netbook’ robot kit for sale

[Via SlashGear]

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RoBe:Do’s newest ‘just add netbook’ robot kit for sale originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 10

Chef Robot makes sushi even more dangerous

Posted in: robot, Today's Chili

If you’re squeamish about eating sushi then we doubt this is going to help. Chef Robot, on display at the International Food Machinery and Technology Exhibition in Tokyo, is really just FANUC’s M-430iA sanitary food and pharmaceutical robot with a fleshy appendage — guess the rest of the human is right there on the serving tray. Soylent Green is people!

[Via TokyoMango]

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Chef Robot makes sushi even more dangerous originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 09

Israeli military develops robot snake for battlefield, children’s nightmares

Posted in: military, robot, Today's Chili

While this is by no means the first time we’ve seen a robotic snake prototype, it isn’t every day that we find one so close to deployment. This self-propelling, two feet long robot can crawl along the ground, climb through debris, and even stand erect to give the operator a better view. The Israeli Defense Force is will use this thing for routine surveillance and reconnaissance, broadcasting video and sound to a monitor and control station. And if this is not enough? In that case, the prototype can be wired with explosives — making it, according to the Jerusalem Post, a “suicide snake.” Fun! And rather upsetting. No proposed price or timetable yet, but you can see the thing in action for yourself after the break.

Continue reading Israeli military develops robot snake for battlefield, children’s nightmares

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Israeli military develops robot snake for battlefield, children’s nightmares originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Jun 2009 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jun 05

Body-Swapping Robot Brain is Ready to Do Your Bidding

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

robobutler.jpgWhether you consider the idea of a house full of robots waiting to do your bidding a dream-come-true or a nightmare, there may be a bigger problem. Researchers now worry that the average human could be overwhelmed by the task of interacting with half-a-dozen or more automatons rolling and walking around the home. The novel solution: A core robot personality that jumps from device to device.

According to a report in New Scientist, researchers at University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield, UK, have created a single robot brain that can jump from robot-to-robot, and even computers scattered throughout the home. The benefit is that homeowners can communicate a task to the robo-butler in one interface and, even if that robot cannot accomplish the task, it can communicate with one that can, and even relay back to the owner that the task has been completed.

Other features the uni-bot-brain brings are the ability to recognize different people (I hate when they mistake me for a chair), respect personal space (no more robots goosing you) and other norms of social interaction (finally, my robots will stop picking their noses).

Trials are currently underway in two story home in the UK. You can see more in the video at New Scientist’s site.

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Jun 01

Preyro robot experiment could enable robots to better mimic animals, kill us all

Posted in: research, robot, RobotApocalypse, Robots, science, Today's Chili

It’s kind of strange, really, how we can see just how near the end is, yet these so-called geniuses employed within the realm of academia are totally oblivious to their own evil deeds. Take cognitive science professor John Long, for instance, who is currently conducting a Preyro robot experiment in a Vassar College lab that intends to “allow robots to mimic animals far better than before.” To him, he’s just hoping to study evolutionary patterns in order to better understand how certain tweaks to things like fins and tails affect performance in the place we call reality. Though, there’s a very real possibility that this research could accelerate the impending robot apocalypse by at least a score. Oh, what we’d give to be incognizant of the truth.

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Preyro robot experiment could enable robots to better mimic animals, kill us all originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Jun 2009 06:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 29

Volleyball-playing robot has Mac mini brain, heart of a champion

Posted in: robot, Sports, Today's Chili

Volleyball-playing robots may only come around every ten years or so, but they at least bring along some fairly big improvements when they do show up — like actual mobility, in this case. Of course, “volleyball-playing” is still a bit of a stretch. The bot is actually designed to be more of a training aid, with it making use of a range of sensors, built-in GPS, a compass, and an iSight camera (all linked to a Mac mini) to track down balls and set them up for spiking drills. As you can see in the unfortunately short video after the break, all of that more or less works as advertised, although it seems that we’ll still have to wait quite a while for the inevitable robot vs. robot match.

Continue reading Volleyball-playing robot has Mac mini brain, heart of a champion

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Volleyball-playing robot has Mac mini brain, heart of a champion originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 17:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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May 29

Video: Dustbot takes out the Eurotrash

Posted in: robot, Today's Chili, video

Push up those Armani shades and tighten your white trousers, the Dustbot is coming to wash the scum off the streets like a Segway riding Travis Bickle. Give him a call from your mobile and the Dustbot will come to your house and dispose of the rubbish. At least that’s the plan for this Italian disposal-bot fitted with GPS navigation, gyroscope, and a bevy of sensors meant to keep it from crushing the innocents. Look, we get that it’s a prototype and is meant to traverse the narrow streets of ancient cities, but a trash collecting robot with the capacity of just two kitchen cans seems like a serious limitation. Watch the long slow ride after the break.

[Thanks, Craig]

Continue reading Video: Dustbot takes out the Eurotrash

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Video: Dustbot takes out the Eurotrash originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 May 2009 07:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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