Hasta La Gadget!

Imagine a giant, deadly robot hummingbird. Now imagine it not with wings, but with four buzzing rotor-blades that work in concert to keep it as steady as a real hummingbird while sipping nectar from flowers. Now, finally, imagine that instead of sipping flowers, the robot beast teams up with other robots to cause the death of the human race (or just to lift some wood).

The video shows a team of these terrifying beasts working together to pick up objects. The quadrocopters are equipped with grabbing hands to lift, carry and drop loads. Because their movements are controlled by computers and sensors, they are capable of incredibly accurate movements and now, in a network, they can haul objects together.

Quadrocopters are basic beasts and therefore cheaper and easier to make than single-rotor machines. Because they can tip themselves up to provide forward propulsion, the rotors themselves don’t need to do anything but spin, keeping them simple.

But forget about the lifting: it’s nothing more than a fancy coin-op grabber-hook fairground trick. The real menace is that these things now move in coordinated swarms, and will soon, no doubt, be able to hunt and destroy weak, fleshy humans just like an eagle toys with a mouse before swooping down mercilessly. Be afraid.

Cooperative Grasping and Transport using Quadrotors [TheDmel/YouTube via Engadget]

See Also:

• Flying Panties to Buzz Tokyo Skies
• Flying Copter-Cam Swoops Over New York City
• Swarm of Micro-Helicopters Could Create a Giant 3-D Display …

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Sure you can make a drum machine out of Legos, but can you make an actual drummer out of Legos? Steve Averill couldn’t, but we think his rather more organic creation is even better than plastic bricks. It’s called the Spruce Deuce, a robot that, like the Spruce Goose, is actually made of birch plywood. He’s articulated by 11 radio servos tied to a MIDI controller and, amazingly, is pretty good — or, at least, he isn’t bad, able to hit the snare, tom tom, and cymbals. He’s even mastered the double bounce and sets the rhythm before the song starts, which you can see after the break. Sure, he’s a little more stiff than you might want for an average jazz percussionist, but when you’re dealing with something constructed from cross-ply wooden sheets you have to give up a little flex, man.

Continue reading Spruce Deuce robot drummer is a fleshbag percussionist’s worst nightmare (video)

Spruce Deuce robot drummer is a fleshbag percussionist’s worst nightmare (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The AQUA2, built at McGill University in Montreal, is the first of its kind. You see, the AQUA2 is a robot that can both dive and swim in water, and move about on land. The amphibious bot can explore water up to 120 feet and is tethered to a remote control via ethernet or fiber optics. The ‘headless’ robot’s flippers make it a pretty impressive swimmer, and it’s also strikingly fast on even rough terrain. Check out the video after the break.

Continue reading AQUA2 amphibious robot is super cute and fast, less annoying than most pets because it has no head

AQUA2 amphibious robot is super cute and fast, less annoying than most pets because it has no head originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Jul 2010 14:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Kawasaki and Mouri Laboratory at Gifu University in Japan are researching and developing a touch interface which, combined with 3D displays, could offer a new way to simulate the touching of objects. HIRO III is a haptic interface robot which can provide realistic kinesthetic sensations to the user’s hand and fingers, while the 3D display provides the visual experience. Possible applications include medical diagnostics training, but for now, HIRO III is still in the lab. Interestingly, we’ve seen a very similar — albeit more scholastic — take on the same idea very recently. Hit the video below for a fuller look at this one.

Continue reading 3D displays and haptic interfaces come together in HIRO III

Filed under: Displays, Robots

3D displays and haptic interfaces come together in HIRO III originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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A new £300 million ($445 million) hospital is set to open up soon in Stirlingshire, Scotland. Why would you care about that? Maybe because laser-guided robots will play a fundamental role in the facility’s daily running, including the disposal of waste, delivery of meals, cleaning of operating theaters, and (gulp!) drug dispensation. We’re told they’ll have their own underground lair corridors and dedicated lifts, with humanoid employees able to call them up via a PDA. It’s believed that using robots to perform the dirty work will be more sanitary than current methods, but we have to question the sanity of anyone who believes this isn’t the first step toward the robot rebellion. Well, it’s been nice knowing you guys.

Robots to invade Scottish hospital, pose as ‘workers’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 04:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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