Hasta La Gadget!

After the jump, we’ve got a look back at the weird year that was, including lost iPhones, sex robots, time-traveling wireless customers, and exploding cell phones.

Robots are among our most polarizing technological innovations. Some of us love and openly embrace bots, while others live in near constant fear of an android coup. When I hear, “robot learns to run like humans,” I imagine robot races and bipedal bots bounding over hills to help save us. The fearful, however, see their worst fears realized: “Now robots can actually chase and catch us.”

Robot researchers like Ryuma Niiyama (currently working in MIT’s Robot Locomotion Group) couldn’t care less about your fears. According to a report in IEEE Spectrum, Niiyama is building a biped robot called “Athlete” that uses artificial muscles and prosthetic feet to run at speeds and in a style more akin to human locomotion. Previous humanoid robots like the Honda Asimo use a complex array of motors, sensor and actuators to walk and even, in the case of Asimo, “run.” However, anyone who has seen Asimo dash around a stage knows that the bot’s motion doesn’t look entirely natural.

Niiyama’s robot mimics some aspects of human running to achieve a more natural gait. The robot’s artificial muscles reside entirely above the “knees”. Below that it’s all prosthetic elastic blades that some double amputees use for running. As a result, the robot springs forward with each step–as humans do– and uses its muscles and sensors to maintain balance as it races forward; again, pretty much as people do when they’re running.

So far, Niiyama and his team have only been partially successful. Athlete runs a few unaided steps but then falls over. Watch the video below, which charts Athlete’s development from an early 2007 model to today’s elastic-blade-fitted Athlete.

Video after the jump.

What did you do over the last fortnight? Stuff yourself with food? Buy some stuff at a mall? Panasonic’s tiny Mr. Evolta robot mascot walked 317 miles. Now I’m not saying that Mr. Evolta is better than you, but let’s face it, he probably is.

The little green and white ‘bot traveled from Tokyo to Kyoto along Japan’s ancient Tokaido high road, carrying 12 AA batteries in a wagon behind him. Some humanoid Panasonic employees followed along side him, offering up infrared signals to help him along his way.

Mr. Evolta peaked out at a top speed of 2-3 mph, but managed to finish the route ahead of schedule, rolling past crowds of enthusiastic onlookers along the way. Check out a (Japanese) video of the adorable little publicity stunt, after the jump.

Robots are the future. They will drive our cars, clean our bagel crumbs, and remove our prostates. And now, behold as they replace our beloved organic-based musicians.

Drexel University grad student Alysa Batula recently programmed a Robonova to play one of the music world’s most important compositions: “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.”

In the above video you can see that this SkyNet Liberace hits a few sour notes along the way. But for only having two clunky limbs to play on, it’s not a bad bit of coordinated engineering.

via SingularityHub

In the future, fighter pilots could be little more than relics of lesser Louis Gossett, Jr. movies. The US Air Force is currently deliberating future incarnations of its elite stealth fighter, the F-22 Raptor. The USAF is reportedly very interested in pursuing remotely-controlled, pilotless Raptors to be operational by 2030.

All branches of the armed forces already make use of unmanned aerial drones for surveillance and targeted ground/sea strikes. However, the F-22 was specifically designed as an air superiority fighter for going nose-to-nose with other air crafts. Top Gun stuff. So, bringing this craft into the unmanned realm is a big (if not inevitable) step.

Remote piloting has many potential benefits. Obviously, human pilots can now be placed out of harm’s way. Additionally, unmanned planes would be able to perform complex maneuvers without having to factor in the effects of life threatening G-forces on human cargo. And from a design standpoint, space that formerly had to be allocated for pilot and accompanying life-support systems can now be otherwise used.

In the future, the military will basically be a collection of big expensive remote-controlled cars.

via seventoten