Archive for the ‘Robots and such’ Category

Older Entries

 Powered by Max Banner Ads 

Heineken Bot Looks Cool, Pours Light

9, Feb 2010

This Heineken pouring robot from Middlesex University was strutting its stuff at the Kinetica Gallery in London recently, driving around a table and pouring beer (a very little bit of beer) on demand. The bot is equipped with obstacle avoidance sensors as well as a sensor on top that you can wave at to signal [...]

Intel Needs To Make More Jeffreys

8, Feb 2010

I was too busy taking a nap to watch the Super Bowl, but fortunately the important parts of it are now up on YouTube. For what it’s worth, Intel, with the amount of money that this commercial probably cost you, I bet you could have made an actual Jeffrey.
Jeffrey has his own Facebook page, of [...]

ChIMERA Whole Skin Locomotion Robot

8, Feb 2010

Participants in DARPA’s ChemBots program are busy producing some pretty cool (and weird) robots. Already, we’ve seen a blob robot from iRobot as well as a creepy looking concept from Boston Dynamics. Video above comes from Virginia Tech’s RoMeLa Lab, and shows their ChIMERA robot, which is an acronym for “Chemically Induced Motion Everting Robotic [...]

Shirt: The Heart Goes On

8, Feb 2010

Oh, if only ’twere this easy…
$15, available for a severely limited time.
[ shirt.woot ]

Robonaut 2 Functions Like Astronauts, Has Better Helmet

5, Feb 2010

This badass looking android is Robonaut 2, a joint project of NASA and General Motors. Robonaut 2 is an evolution of Robonaut 1, who was spawned by NASA and DARPA and had an ATV for legs. R2 emulates the upper torso of a human, and is designed to work closely with humans using the same [...]

Earthquake Detecting Robot Will Save You

4, Feb 2010

I’m not entirely sure why this robot is a robot, but it performs a useful purpose and looks fierce while doing so. Built by students from J T Engineering College in Gujarat, India, the robot is connected wirelessly to sensors embedded in the ground and can somehow detect impeding earthquakes about 3 hours before they [...]

Noel Sharkey Interviewed, Admits Trying To Kill ASIMO

3, Feb 2010

Professor Noel Sharkey and I have differing perspectives on armed robots, and now I know I’m in the right, because Professor Noel Sharkey wants to kill ASIMO.
Just kidding, of course, although in this interview from Silicon.com he talks about trying to push an ASIMO over in an attempt to determine whether or not it was [...]

Icosatetraped Robot Walks On 24 Soft Legs

2, Feb 2010

Icosatetraped does, in fact, mean “twenty-four legged.” I’m not sure how to inject “soft” into that word (icostatetrasquishaped?), but this robot does have 24 soft legs. Or rather, 8 legs are soft (and moving) at any one time, while the other 16 are pressurized to carry the weight of the bot. It can move at [...]

Robots Evolve Cooperative Behaviors, Learn To Hunt And Be Hunted

2, Feb 2010

Last time we heard about robot evolution, the bots were figuring out how to deceive each other. Now, researchers at EPFL in Switzerland have been using the same sort of genetic programming techniques to enable robots to teach themselves how to solve mazes, cooperate on tasks, and hunt each other (we’ll save that one for [...]

DARPA Asks Boston Dynamics For Bigger BigDog

1, Feb 2010

We first got wind of this back in October, but now it’s official, with a picture… DARPA’s LS3 (Legged Squad Support System) program has just awarded Boston Dynamics $32 million over 30 months to design and build a prototype for a new, larger walking quadruped platform that will probably not be called HugeDog. Here’s what [...]


Older Entries
top