Jul 03

LG RoboKing vacuum bot can self-diagnose, ask for help after colliding with your Roomba

Posted in: household, LG, robot, Today's Chili

Sick of all those one-way chats with your Roomba 700? LG’s got you covered with its latest self-diagnosing robotized cleaning assistant. The newest RoboKing — the VR6172LVM — will set you back 779,000 Won (around $730), and apparently sports a low noise 48dB design (when it’s not talking, we presume). Most intriguing to us, however, is the bot’s ability to run diagnostics at the press of a button, enunciating its ailments if any one of the fourteen testable components are in-fact broken. We imagine your carpet would be happy to welcome Robo to the family, but when you have two pets to brush and all kitty can do is meow, we surmise the vacuum will come forth as King.

LG RoboKing vacuum bot can self-diagnose, ask for help after colliding with your Roomba originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 03 Jul 2011 23:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Gizmodo  |  sourceAkihabara News  | Email this | Comments

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Jun 30

Hanako 2 robot acts like a human dental patient, makes us say ‘aah’ (video)

Posted in: Japan, Medicine, robot, Today's Chili, video
No, she’s not in a state of shock, nor is she hunting for plankton — she’s simply waiting for the dentist to polish her pearly whites, just like any other conscientious robot. Known as the Showa Hanako 2, this humanoid was originally developed last year as a tool for dentists looking to practice new procedures. Now, engineers at Japan’s Showa University have updated their dental denizen, adding a motorized head and replacing her PVC skin with a more realistic silicon coating. She also boasts speech recognition capabilities and can execute freakishly natural movements, including blinking, sneezing, coughing and, under more unsavory circumstances, even choking. See her in action for yourself, after the break.

Continue reading Hanako 2 robot acts like a human dental patient, makes us say ‘aah’ (video)

Hanako 2 robot acts like a human dental patient, makes us say ‘aah’ (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 13:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink CrunchGear  |  sourceDigInfoTV (YouTube)  | Email this | Comments

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Jun 27

Star Wars Operation lets you get to the bottom of the R2-D2 booster rocket debate

Posted in: droid, robot, Star Wars, Today's Chili, Toys

Let’s face it kids, you weren’t going to be a doctor. Time to give up on that dream. But what about the equally exciting and significantly less bloody world of droid repair? We all know that robots will soon have a major presence in our society, piloting our spaceships and mingling with our Wokiees (good luck getting into our cantinas, though), so it’s probably best to get a jump on these job skills at an early age. With future job markets in mind (ones oddly similar to those experienced a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away), Hasbro is launching a new edition of the popular board game Operation, swapping out the red-nosed Cavity Sam for everyone’s favorite rolling trashcan, R2-D2. The game can be pre-ordered now for $27, and it’ll start shipping in September, so if you need an early-autumn kid birthday gift for under $30, this may be just the droid you’re looking for.

Star Wars Operation lets you get to the bottom of the R2-D2 booster rocket debate originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 27 Jun 2011 15:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Chip Chick  |  sourceToy Wiz  | Email this | Comments

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Jun 23

Chinese UNISROBO KIRFbot is a not-so-cheap knockoff of NEC’s PaPeRo

Posted in: kirf, robot, Robots, Today's Chili
UNISROBO

The KIRFs we normally see are of the cellphone and PMP variety, with the occasional laptop scattered here and there. In fact, this might be the first time we’ve seen a clone of a serious robot, and not just some remote-controlled toy. Above is the UNISROBO from a pair of Chinese companies, UNIS and Just Good Technology. Those of you with a strong memory may immediately notice its amazing resemblance to NEC’s PaPeRo and PaPeRo-mini. Outside of the bright job, the only major aesthetic difference is the LCD embedded in UNISROBO’s chest. Under the hood, however, is a different story — this Chinese knockoff is missing the stereoscopic cameras and ultrasonic sensors that helped its Japanese inspiration navigate. There’s one thing these copycats are not though — cheap. UNIS will be selling two models at 2,980 and 3,980 Yuan (about $460 and $615). One more picture after the break.

Continue reading Chinese UNISROBO KIRFbot is a not-so-cheap knockoff of NEC’s PaPeRo

Chinese UNISROBO KIRFbot is a not-so-cheap knockoff of NEC’s PaPeRo originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 23 Jun 2011 15:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourcePlasticPals  | Email this | Comments

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Jun 21

Kiro robot teaches Korean kindergarten by day, discusses Kandinsky by night

Posted in: education, korea, robot, robotics, South Korea, SouthKorea, Today's Chili, video
This little girl loves Kiro. Why? Because he’s probably the raddest robot teacher she’s ever seen. Developed by Korea’s Robot Research Institute, the bot recently wrapped up a three week trial period in a kindergarten classroom, where he apparently spent most of his time screening educational videos on his abdomen, playing interactive games, and keeping his students in rapt attention. When he wasn’t busy dishing out Ritalin to his underlings, Kiro also served as a guide at the Dong-A University Museum, in Busan. After programming the droid with enough knowledge to make him sound smart, engineers set him loose within the art gallery, where he would provide visitors with background information in hushed, docent-dulcet tones. He loves kids. He loves art. He’s always smiling. He’s the kinda bot you could bring home to Dad. Scope him out for yourself in the video, after the break.

Continue reading Kiro robot teaches Korean kindergarten by day, discusses Kandinsky by night

Kiro robot teaches Korean kindergarten by day, discusses Kandinsky by night originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Jun 2011 10:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink io9  |  sourcePlastic Pals  | Email this | Comments

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Jun 17

Web-controlled tweeting Roomba is a perfect storm of DIY magic

Posted in: arduino, diy, robot, Robots, Today's Chili, twitter
Web-controlled tweeting Roomba

There are three things that will guarantee your DIY project some attention: slap it on a Roomba, base it on Arduino, or make it tweet. Do all three and, well, you’ve got a nerdgasm-inducing bit of Make fodder. The creation you see above is a web-controlled tweeting Roomba whipped up by Instructables member matchlighter using a 500 series vacuum bot and the Sparkfun WiFly shield for Arduino. The autonomous cleaner can be triggered from anywhere there’s an internet connection and updates Twitter to keep you abreast of its status (Ahh! Dock sweet dock). While Mr. matchlighter was kind enough provide directions for building your own, a lot of the actual coding is left up to you. (We’re lazy, let us just copy and paste dammit!) If you think you’ve got the programming chops, hit up the source link for instructions and check out the original’s Twitter feed at the more coverage link.

Update: The complete code is in step eight of the Instructable.

Web-controlled tweeting Roomba is a perfect storm of DIY magic originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jun 2011 13:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceInstructables  | Email this | Comments

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Jun 16

Harvard’s Kilobot project does swarm robots on the cheap (video)

Posted in: robot, Robots, Today's Chili, video
We’ve certainly seen plenty of swarm robots before, but few of those are cheap enough to let you easily build something that can truly be called a “swarm.” These so-called Kilobots developed by Harvard’s Self-organizing Systems Research Group, however, can apparently built for just $14 apiece, and can each be assembled in just five minutes to boot. Despite that low cost, the bots are still capable of plenty of swarm-like behaviors, including the ability to follow the leader, disperse in an environment, put on a synchronized LED light show. Head on past the break for a pair of videos.

Continue reading Harvard’s Kilobot project does swarm robots on the cheap (video)

Harvard’s Kilobot project does swarm robots on the cheap (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jun 2011 13:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink IEEE Spectrum  |  sourceHarvard  | Email this | Comments

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Jun 16

Parrot AR.Drone floats into damaged New Zealand cathedral, returns with haunting video

Posted in: ipad, robot, Today's Chili, video
Whenever disaster strikes, robots are among the first to scope out the damage. Rarely, however, do they return with footage as eerie as what this Parrot AR.Drone recorded in Christchurch, New Zealand. In the wake of Monday’s 6.0-magnitude earthquake, engineers sent the $500 bot into the city’s Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament — a 106-year-old Roman Catholic church that had sustained significant damage, rendering it too dangerous for humans to enter. The iPad-controlled quadrocopter swooped in and captured rather depressing images of the cathedral’s battered interior. The video’s quality may be low, but its creepy quotient is high: shattered stained-glass windows, piles of debris, stray pieces of iconography — it’s all quite heavy. Head past the break to see it for yourself.

[Thanks, Ross]

Continue reading Parrot AR.Drone floats into damaged New Zealand cathedral, returns with haunting video

Parrot AR.Drone floats into damaged New Zealand cathedral, returns with haunting video originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Jun 2011 10:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink iPhonewzealand  |  source3 News  | Email this | Comments

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Jun 14

Batcopter UAV observes anti-collision bat behavior, crashes into ground (video)

Posted in: camera, robot, science, Today's Chili, video


If you wander out into a gaggle of fellow humans in total darkness, chances are you’re going to bump into one or two. Such is not the case for bats, which do much of their hunting after the sun sets. Boston University‘s Intelligent Mechatronics Lab launched operation Batcopter to better understand how bats can fly in clusters large enough to be detected by radar without colliding. Equipped with a GoPro 3D HD camera, GPS, and OpenPilot’s CopterControl system, the 1.8-pound quadcopter UAV joined Brazilian free-tailed bats in the skies of South Texas, capturing some pretty cool footage along the way. A trio of high-speed infrared cameras positioned on the ground photographed the aircraft’s interactions with the flying mammals, which seemed to maneuver around the man-made intruder without incident, until a rotor failure resulted in a Batcopter inversion and subsequent ground collision. Even so, the craft still managed to take to the skies. Jump past the break to see the crippled UAV in action, and hit up the source link for some awesome infrared footage and stills.

Continue reading Batcopter UAV observes anti-collision bat behavior, crashes into ground (video)

Batcopter UAV observes anti-collision bat behavior, crashes into ground (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Jun 2011 10:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink IEEE Spectrum  |  sourceBoston University  | Email this | Comments

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Jun 13

Fits.me imitates ladies of all shapes and sizes, tries clothes on for you (video)

Posted in: robot, Robots, Today's Chili, video
Fits.Me Female FitBot

Unless you’re in the rather strange habit of going to stores, trying on clothes, and returning home to purchase them online, you never know how they look on you until the package arrives on your doorstep. Last year Fits.me tackled this little niggling e-commerce issue with a shape-shifting male mannequin and finally, after a year of tireless work, the fairer sex has its own FitBot — turns out the female form is much more difficult to replicate. Again, the adjustable, human stand-in is making its debut at the British retailer Hawes & Curtis and our more womanly readers can head to the source to get a better idea of how the White Hipster Shirt would drape across their particular body type simply by moving a set of sliders. But, before you go, check out the pair of videos after the break.

Continue reading Fits.me imitates ladies of all shapes and sizes, tries clothes on for you (video)

Fits.me imitates ladies of all shapes and sizes, tries clothes on for you (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jun 2011 10:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Next Web  |  sourceHawes & Curtis  | Email this | Comments

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