Continue reading Gemini-Scout robot can scope out mining accidents, may save lives (video)

Gemini-Scout robot can scope out mining accidents, may save lives (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Aug 2011 08:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MABEL the running robot has been training hard, grabbing the title of “fastest bipedal robot with knees.” Like any great sports star, it’s been plagued by many dream-crushing obstacles and injuries, but this time it’s done it: running at a speed of 6.8 miles per hour on a track. Jessy Grizzle, professor at the University of Michigan’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, attributes this bot’s success to its human-like weight distribution — a heavier torso and flexible legs with springs similar to tendons for movement “like a real runner.” This bipedal technology, which can mimic a human’s ability to run and climb over obstacles, may be used to help the disabled walk again, in rescue situations or as the basis of future vehicles that don’t require roads or wheels to drive. If MABEL doesn’t make the SWAT team this year, it can most certainly snag a spot as an extra in the next Transformers movie. Check out the PR and video of this modern day robo-Flo-Jo after the break.

Continue reading MABEL running robot snags bipedal speed title, cue ‘Rocky’ theme (video)

MABEL running robot snags bipedal speed title, cue ‘Rocky’ theme (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Aug 2011 20:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What’s more frightening than a swarm of robots? An award-winning swarm of robots trained to raid your library — that’s what. This SciFi-worthy outfit of mechanized literature swindlers, known as the “Swarmanoid,” landed themselves the Best Video Award at this week’s AAAI (Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence) conference in San Francisco. The video in question features the mixed bag of eye-bots, hand-bots and foot-bots in an Oceans 11-style bookcase heist. Of course, there are probably easier ways to reach the top shelf (e.g. a ladder), but none that get us thinking about the end times quite like this. The full video awaits you after the break.

Continue reading Swarm robots attack your bookshelf, win AAAI Oscar

Swarm robots attack your bookshelf, win AAAI Oscar originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Aug 2011 09:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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After five years behind locked doors, researchers at Lockheed Martin’s Intelligent Robotics Laboratories in New Jersey have emerged with a working prototype of the “Samarai,” a tiny DARPA-commissioned surveillance drone. The nano air vehicles (NAVs), modeled after falling Maple leaf seeds, are designed to be super light weight and agile for vertical lift off, hovering, and navigation in tight spaces. Like your favorite $5 Subway sammie, these surveillance bots are a foot long, but instead of being shoveled in your mouth, they’re thrown like boomerangs into flight and controlled using a tablet app or a basic remote. These eyes in the sky will officially launch next week at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International Conference, but until then you can check out the video of their first flight below.

Continue reading DARPA’s Maple leaf Remote Control drone takes first flight (video)

DARPA’s Maple leaf Remote Control drone takes first flight (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Aug 2011 21:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Remember those awesome pin art toys where you could press your hand (or face) into the pins to leaving a lasting impression? Researchers at MIT have taken the idea one (or two) steps further with “GelSight,” a hunk of synthetic rubber that creates a detailed computer visualized image of whatever surface you press it against. It works as such: push the reflective side of the gummy against an object (they chose a chicken feather and a $20 bill) and the camera on the other end will capture a 3-D image of the microscopic surface structure. Originally designed as robot “skin,” researchers realized the tool could be used in applications from criminal forensics (think bullets and fingerprints) to dermatology. The Coke can-sized machine is so sensitive, it can capture surface subtleties as small as one by two micrometer in surface — finally solving the mystery of who stole the cookies from the cookie jar. (Hint: we know it was you Velvet Sledgehammer).

Continue reading Robot skin captures super detailed 3D surface images

Robot skin captures super detailed 3D surface images originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Aug 2011 08:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Aww, look! Bakebot’s soooo cute! He’s actually cooking things these days, thanks to MIT grad student Mario Bollini, who recently upped the creature’s skill level in an effort to grab more calories with less effort. Little did he know, however, that teaching a self-contained machine how to feed the future uprising wasn’t exactly the best long-term move. No, that creeping feeling of fear isn’t unwarranted.

Darren: “01001111 01001101 01000111 00100000 01000011 01001111 01001111 01001011 01001001 01000101 01010011!”
Terrence: “Bakebot’s lessons with the master chef were going so well, until his Bork to binary translator failed”
Brian: “Bakebot love kitten. Bakebot eat kitten.”
Brad: “Stephanie! Johnny no add vanilla!”
Sean: “It’s so unfair! I have eight other senses, but I’d trade them all — even smision — to be able to taste.”
Christopher: “Rachel Ray hit a wall with 15 minute meals, so we found a faster, more charismatic replacement. Meet Rachel Number 5.”
Michael: “Here I thought the robot apocalypse would be powered by nuclear fusion and laser beams, turns out it’ll be running on profiteroles and delicious cakes.”
Jon: “I’m toasting bread in my head right now…seriously”
Zach: “You want me to wear a what? Why don’t you trying sticking a fan in your scalp. Then you can tell me to wear a hairnet.”
Joseph: “How do ya like my ganache now, Martha???”
Daniel: “A robot may not injure a cupcake or, through inaction, allow a cupcake to come to harm.”
Richard Lai: “How do you like them cookies, Firefox?”
Jose: “How am I supposed to add a teaspoon of sugar with this underperforming Kinect camera?”
Kevin: “Enough with the cakes, what was Leia saying about our only hope?”
Dana: “I. Love. A. Little. Bourbon. In. My. Cookies. Don’t. You.”
Richard Lawler: “Death to all humans. Sweet, delicious, chocolatey… death.”
Don: “Just don’t call him Iron Chef. He hates that.”
Billy: “Ace of Cakes was canceled because I annihilated the host.. now I must weaponize that Millennium Falcon cake.”
Zachary: “Jobless MIT grad narrowly avoids soup kitchen, emerges from basement with replacement mother.”

Caption Contest: Bakebot learns to actually bake things, feed the looming robot army originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Aug 2011 11:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What’s a good way to impress your friends? With a robot boom box that responds to your every hand movement, that’s how. Meet Qbo, TheCorpora’s open-source Linux robot who we’ve gotten to know over the years, even through his awkward phase. Nowadays, this full grown cutie has stereoscopic “eyes” and a face-identifying system that’s capable of learning, recognizing faces, and responding. With his new hand gesture recognition skills, Qbo will start playing music the moment you hold up a fist. Putting your hand out in a “halt” position stops the song and pointing left or right jumps to different tracks in your playlist. Giving Qbo the peace sign increases the volume (yeah, seriously!), while pointing the peace sign down tells him to take it down a few notches. The ultimate party mate and wing man is even so kind as to announce the name and title of the track. The video after the break best explains what hanging with this fellow is like, but if you’re keen on textual explanations, just imagine yourself awkwardly doing the robot to control your stereo. Go on, we won’t look.

Continue reading Qbo music player robot responds to hand gestures, challenges DJ Roomba to a dance-off (video)

Qbo music player robot responds to hand gestures, challenges DJ Roomba to a dance-off (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Aug 2011 06:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIKEN’s original RIBA healthcare robot was already fairly adept at lifting patients while not completely terrifying them but, as is the case with such things, it’s now been succeeded by a new and improved model. While its outward, bear-like appearance hasn’t changed, the new bot boasts a series of upgrades that now lets it bend over and lift patients up directly off the floor, not just off a bed or wheelchair. It’s also now able to lift patients that weight up to 176 pounds (41 pounds more than before), and it packs an array of new sensors that let it more accurately gauge a person’s weight and carry them more comfortably — not to mention some touchscreen controls on its back for when it needs a bit of direction. Hit the source link below for a video.

[Thanks, robotbling]

Continue reading RIBA-II healthcare robot now stronger, smarter — still a bear

RIBA-II healthcare robot now stronger, smarter — still a bear originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Aug 2011 16:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We saw this coming when we met FRIDA, and now it’s apparently happening. According to Xinhuanet, Foxconn’s founder and chairman chose a workers’ party last Friday night to reveal plans for a surge in the company’s robot contingent. There’ll be 300,000 robots in operation by next year and a swarm-like 1,000,000 within three years — versus just 10,000 today. The bots will be required to spray, weld and not kill themselves. We can only imagine how this news went down at the party, but soon stuff like that will hardly matter.

Foxconn wants 1 million new workers, must be robotic originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Aug 2011 05:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Man builds DIY Segway for $434, begins casting ‘Arrested Development’ fan film (video)

Man builds DIY Segway for $434, begins casting ‘Arrested Development’ fan film (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 26 Jul 2011 09:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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