Hasta La Gadget!

It looks like somebody’s got some competition. So, Spazzi’s probably not going to dethrone the reigning King of Cute, but judging from what we’ve seen of its moves, it could give Keepon some competition on the dance floor. This little, solenoid-packing robot, featured in the latest issue of Make, is actually kin to our boy Keepon, and uses an Arduino (holla!) to control the solenoid’s and springs that give it that special robot swag. If you’ve been pining after Keepon, and have some DIY skills, hop on past the source link for the full build, or just check out a video of Spazzi gettin’ its groove on after the break.

Continue reading Spazzi dancebot can’t teach you how to Dougie, but it’s got the robot on lock

Spazzi dancebot can’t teach you how to Dougie, but it’s got the robot on lock originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 15 Jul 2011 03:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Amongst the array of robots on display at Robotech today out at Tokyo Big Sight, Kagawa University’s artificial voice system robot was possibly one of the most interesting and bizarre looking. The silicone mouth complete with moving lips and tongue aims at replicating human speech without using speakers or digital waves in order to come as close to a real life sound as possible.

The silicone mouth robot uses airflow and control valves to replicate a human trachea and vocal chords, and a resonance tube, or a silicone throat further manipulates the air into distinct sounds. The lips and tongue are then used to shape the sounds just as we do when talking in every day life. A microphone records the noises coming out of the silicone lips and is automatically processed through a computer, analyzing the pitch and frequency to match it against the pitch and frequency of a human’s voice. The computer then adjusts the sound automatically as the computer learns the correct valve adjustments and compression in the silicone throat to match a human voice, similar to tuning an instrument.

The robot currently can utter a number of Japanese alphabet sounds as well as sing a basic song, although not quite pop star level yet!

The silicone throat-like area is usually controlled by machine valve but was on display today for visitors to see the actual working parts of how the sounds are made. Although only rudimentary in its vocabulary at present (and a certain similarity with a cow!), the fact that this is generating and learning how to shape sound without any speakers certainly makes for a more natural sound than the current digital reincarnations.

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Snails with benefits? Our salt shaker might disagree. But some enterprising engineers over at Japan’s Chuo University managed to turn this garden-variety pest into fodder for mechatronic inspiration. Based on the gastropod’s preferred method of ‘galloping’ — wherein waves of foot-to-head muscle contractions propel it forward — researchers at the Mechatronics Lab created TORo II, an omnidirectional robot that could make its way to a hospital near you. Why’s that? Well, the bot’s large gripped surface area makes it ideal for narrow, slippery environments — so it won’t budge if knocked into (though you might wind up on the emergency room floor). Although the unique movement technique has been used to create other mecha-mollusks in the past, the team behind this project made sure to create some of their own ceiling and wall-climbing critters — suction definitely included. We admit, we kind of feel guilty about the sodium chloride transgressions of our youth. And now that we know snails can be useful, it’s only a matter of time before the bedbug gets repurposed. Full omnidirectional video awesomeness after the break.

Continue reading Japanese TORo II gallops ahead at a mechanical snail’s pace (video)

Japanese TORo II gallops ahead at a mechanical snail’s pace (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jul 2011 21:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It seems like the folks over at the Flying Machine Arena are finally starting to catch on — those quadrocopters are going to kill us all. Thankfully, after teaching them to juggle and tap out some tunes, the researchers came to their senses and put the flying machines on a Kinect-controlled leash. Instead of flitting about autonomously, the four-rotored nightmares are directed by a puppeteer waving his hands. Movement is controlled by the right hand, while raising the left one tells the copter to do a little flip for its master’s amusement, and a commanding clap makes it sit down like a good little pup. Best of all, if you don’t give it any arm-waving instruction it just hovers and waits until you tell it otherwise. On further consideration, maybe we haven’t been creating our own murderers, but a new man’s best friend — after all, they don’t eat much and can’t chew up your remotes. Check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Quadrocopters reined in by Kinect leash, we feel safer already

Quadrocopters reined in by Kinect leash, we feel safer already originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Jul 2011 01:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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London-based designer Kevin Grennan has a particular stance on the yet-to-be-fought Robots vs Humans war — it’ll stink, literally. Mocking a part of our bodies we spackle to stop secretions, this Brit created a robotic armpit that sweats out pheromones so you stay out of danger. As part of his graduate exhibit at the Royal College of Art, our android-averse artiste has three smelly cyborg concepts up for your schematic consideration: there’s the underarm-equipped, bomb-sniffing bot that’ll warn you away with the scent of human fear, and a picker robot that enchants female assembly liners to work harder, better, faster with its manly musk. Sure it all seems harmless, that is until you enter into a trusting relationship with an oxytocin-spritzing surgical automaton. We don’t blame you if any of the above has you locking the Roomba up for the night — that’s exactly Kevin’s point. But there’s no need to panic just yet, a future filled with “but I’m a real boy” robot-complexes is still a ways off.

Robotic armpit sweats you out of harm’s way, Uncanny Valley just got a lot stinkier originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Jun 2011 14:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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