Hasta La Gadget!

Boeing’s X-37B, the test craft that’s been kicking around for the last decade or so, has finally made it into orbit. Formerly a NASA project, we’ve heard little about the thing since it passed into DARPA hands in 2004 — and statements like those of the Air Force’s Gary Payton don’t help much: “in all honesty, we don’t know when it’s coming back for sure.” How’s that for autonomous? Also uncommented upon, yet tantalizing, are the military’s intentions for the unmanned vehicle, which can remain in orbit 270 days at a time. Spy drone? Orbital weapons platform? Plaything for our future robot overlords? (Let’s hope it’s not the last one.) The success of the mission will depend on a couple things, namely: how the return trip goes (it should make it back to California’s Vandenberg Air Force Base via autopilot… sometime) and whether the thing can be re-launched quickly enough. Ideally, the craft should be ready for another flight in fifteen days. Another test is planned for 2011.

[Thanks, One Love!]

Boeing X-37B autonomous space shuttle launched last night, due back ‘whenevs’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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San Francisco’s football team may have its share of detractors, but in a face-off against a robotic kicking machine, Niners placekicker Joe Nedney came out on top.

Nedney was pitted against a 340-pound titanium robot called Ziggy. The event was billed as a man-vs.-machine battle in a leadup to Robogames, a robot competition event that will be held this weekend in San Mateo, California. Nedney kicked a football 45 yards while Ziggy, the robot, failed to clear the goalposts in two attempts at that distance. For a detailed rundown of the play, check out Wired Playbook’s coverage.

Ziggy is no lightweight, though. A star in the robot world, it has a titanium-covered armor plate and has been a gold medal champion at Robogames for three years in a row. Ziggy’s heft and power have made it one of the most powerful amateur robots built. For instance, in one video, Ziggy tosses a washing machine around as if it were a ball.

In practice sessions, Ziggy has been able to kick a ball over 60 yards. But that was on a concrete surface with no headwind.

The football field’s grass surface meant that a major portion of the energy released by Ziggy’s pneumatic arm ended up driving the robot deeper into the ground rather than providing thrust to the ball, explains the BotJunkie.com website.

But all that’s just excuses. For those keeping score, Nedney is the winner — and humans rule.

For now, at least.

See below for a video of the Nedney vs. Ziggy kick-off, plus a closer look at Ziggy.

Photos: (Evan Ackerman/BotJunkie.com)

Do we need an excuse to show you a gallery of the most amazing, mind-bending mechanical spiders ever to emerge from the fevered brains of roboticists?

No, we do not.

Something about multilegged creatures just seems to fire the imagination of robot builders. Their stability, agility and — let’s face it — creepiness are hard to match.

They’re fast, resilient and occasionally cute. They climb walls, leap off buildings and spy on enemies.

The amazing thing is how many people seem to be building multilegged robots lately, from NASA to British defense firms to French performance artists.

Technically, not all of these are spiders. Many stand on six legs, not eight, and some were modeled after cockroaches rather than tarantulas. Details, details.

On to the spider robots.

Above:

La Princesse

Ironically dubbed “La Princesse,” this 50-foot spider bot roamed the streets of Liverpool in 2008. It was an art project that, instead of sending people fleeing in a panic, drew crowds of admirers. La Princesse was constructed by the French performance art firm, La Machine.

Photo: Matthew Andrews

This Robovie isn’t a dexterous grabber, a powerful computer or a walking tank like its Vstone counterparts. No, at first blush, the Robovie-mr2 is just your average designer Japanese cutebot, albeit one with an iPod Touch for a heart, but that’s exactly why this one foot tall bot makes the perfect spycam. No one would suspect it hides 18 servo motors, a miniature CCD camera, speakers and microphone inside its demure, puppy dog exterior (hear it speak Japanese after the break), much less that you can directly control every movement over WiFi. And even should they catch your Robovie eavesdropping, they’d be hard pressed to execute a being with such powerful charm. Hit up the gallery if you don’t believe us — this robot knows just how to beg for its life.

Continue reading Robovie-mR2’s puppy dog eyes make it the perfect spy

Robovie-mR2’s puppy dog eyes make it the perfect spy originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Mar 2010 10:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Grossed out easily? If so, we suggest you hand this article off to someone more calloused while you read all about our recent Windows Phone 7 Series discoveries. For those of you still here, the Virtobot is one of the more ominous robots we’ve seen; used currently at the University of Bern’s Institute of Forensic Medicine, the creature is capable of performing “virtual autopsies.” In other words, corpses can be slid within the 3D scanner for investigation, all without ever cracking open the skull or slicing the cold, pearly skin. The goal here is to provide investigators with information on deaths even years after they happen, possibly after new evidence is dug up. It’s hard to say what this means for you here on this Earth, but you can rest assured that 187 you were pondering might be a wee bit harder to get away with now. Video after the break, if you’re dark enough to handle it.

Continue reading Virtobot scanner performs ‘virtual autopsies,’ no body-slicing necessary (video)

Virtobot scanner performs ‘virtual autopsies,’ no body-slicing necessary (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Mar 2010 05:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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