Hasta La Gadget!

With an 80 percent success rate, there’s a pretty good chance that Justin here is better at playing catch than you are. This old German Aerospace Agency-designed robot, which we first saw in 2009, learned a new trick — he can track thrown objects as they approach, calculate their flight path, and snap his cold, soulless hands around them before they hit the ground. Better yet, he can catch two objects at the same time. For his encore, Rollin’ Justin uses his tactile finger sensors to prepare you a cup of coffee, just so you know there’s no hard feelings once’s he’s done schooling you at three flies up. The ‘bot can be controlled via iPad and acts totally grateful when you get him a tie for Christmas, even though it’s not what he really wanted. Video after the break.

Update: Johannes sent us another video of him catching two balls with one hand! It’s after the break.

Continue reading Rollin’ Justin robot plays catch, makes coffee, aims to replace your dad (video)

Rollin’ Justin robot plays catch, makes coffee, aims to replace your dad (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Apr 2011 02:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Until now, one field has been safe from robotic interference: collecting money on the street. Not for long. A space already overcrowded with guitar playing hippies, dogs in bandanas, and children carrying bright orange UNICEF boxes has a new force to reckon with. It’s Don-8r (pronounced “donator,” for those who don’t speak robot), programmed expressly to collect change and be adorable. University of Dundee student Tim Pryde created the coin-fueled robot to help raise money for charity. It’s taken a few spins around the school’s campus and has already mastered the three Ps of money collection: politeness, persistence, and performance — the latter accomplished via color changing lights in its orb-like head. Video of Don-8r doing its thing after the break.

Continue reading Don-8r the panhandling robot set to make the homeless obsolete (video)

Don-8r the panhandling robot set to make the homeless obsolete (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Apr 2011 07:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The latest in a long line of terrifying (and occasionally adorable) pseudo-arachnid robots, Kondo‘s upcoming KMR-M6 is doing more with less. Thanks to a unique spring supported linking leg joint, this hexapedal bug gives you the heebie-jeebies with only two servos per leg. The new leg design lowers build costs while improving performance and stability, and was developed for education, research, and hobbyist markets. The base kit hits Japan next month for about ¥76,000 (about $880) and comes with twelve servos, a control board, a 10.8V 800mAh NiMH battery, software, and a frame with extra space for adding optional, cameras, grippers, or other servo controlled fancies. Although it’s not as lovable as Kondo’s turtle-bot, watching this robo-bug scuttle and march (after the break, if you’re wondering) is far more awesome than it is creepy. It’s another sign of the robot apocalypse, sure, but are you seriously going to let that ruin your Friday, Friday, Friday, Friday?

Continue reading Kondo’s spring-loaded spider robot creeps on the cheap (video)

Kondo’s spring-loaded spider robot creeps on the cheap (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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You’ve seen one quadrocopter juggle a ball autonomously while gliding through the air, but how’s about a pair of them working cooperatively? Yeah, we’ve got your attention now. The Zurich-based lab that brought us the piano-playing and ball-bouncing quadrocopter is back with a simply breathtaking display of robotic dexterity and teamwork. Like all mad scientists, they call their Flying Machine Arena research “an experiment,” though we see it a lot more as a Pong-inspired dance of our future overlords. We all know how far video games have come since two paddles batted a ball between one another, right?

Continue reading Quadrocopters juggle balls cooperatively, mesmerize with their lethal accuracy (video)

Quadrocopters juggle balls cooperatively, mesmerize with their lethal accuracy (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While some bot makers are busying themselves designing AI to simulate humans’ natural and distinct lack of intelligence, it’s nice to see there are still old-fashioned researchers out there keeping the Skynet dream alive. Northrop Grumman‘s aeronautics gurus have paired together a Global Hawk unmanned aircraft with a manned Proteus ship way up in the skies — 45,000 feet, to be precise — with the vessels of ingenuity managing to fly in tandem at a distance as short as 40 feet. Unsurprisingly, this is the first time such intimacy has been reached between UAVs (the Proteus had a monitoring crew on board to ensure the insurance bill wasn’t through the roof) in high altitude, and the ultimate goal of having two Global Hawks doing the deed without any human intervention is said to be within reach by next year. That’s when these light and agile air drones will be able to refuel themselves and go on for a mighty 120 hours in the air… plenty of time to complete a well planned extermination down below, if one were so inclined.

Continue reading NASA’s Global Hawk completes unmanned airborne refueling simulation, will do it for real next year (video)

NASA’s Global Hawk completes unmanned airborne refueling simulation, will do it for real next year (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 10 Mar 2011 03:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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