Iowa State robot available for ribbon cuttings, birthday parties, uprisings

Robots can travel in time, ride (stationary) motorcycles, and teach your children to disrespect you -- but rarely do they have any sense of ceremony. That's not the case with Iowa State University's still-nameless creation, who recently served as MC to open the school's new Electrical and Computer Engineering building. Said robot is comprised of two Barrett Whole Arm Manipulators stuck on either side of a torso, with a dual-Quickcam-equipped head that can be made to emote thanks to some simple eyebrows and lips. When not cutting ceremonial ribbons he can be found in the lab, twisting and dropping objects to learn about them, as shown in the video after the break. Next step: twisting and dropping lab technicians.

[Via Plastic Pals]

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 27th 2009 12:37AM]

He'll cut ya! WATCH OUT!!!

[McBang2023 Posted Jul 27th 2009 12:38AM]

really? is that the best you could com up with?

[MSM Posted Jul 27th 2009 12:38AM]

robot with scissors??

robot that feel and learn, robots that love??

I see iRobot coming to reality soon!! (and I am not talking about an Apple robot, I mean the movie)

[Gad Get Posted Jul 27th 2009 3:42AM]

There's a robot manufacturer by the name of iRobot (perhaps you've heard of the Roomba?). So your Apple joke kinda falls flat. As for the Will Smith movie, it's actually called "I, Robot".

Fail!

[MSM Posted Jul 27th 2009 3:54AM]

Oh the vacuum thing! Completely forgot about that lol

Well the movie was released a few years ago so I can't remember the exact name hehe

Anyways, all I remember is that the world will end when robots take control... or something like that

[Blackflag486 Posted Jul 27th 2009 12:40AM]

Read it again.. Josh

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 27th 2009 12:41AM]

Giving a robot a pair of giant scissors is like giving a biology book to a lion.

[jackbravo Posted Jul 27th 2009 12:55AM]

does it run on android?

[YodaGuy5 Posted Jul 27th 2009 12:58AM]

The guy on the right taught me JAVA.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 27th 2009 12:14PM]

He taught me Java as well. Wasn't exactly the most engaging class... but I guess it was a programming language.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 27th 2009 5:24PM]

He taught me jawa

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 27th 2009 1:05AM]

The headline totally faked me out.

I would have loved to see the State Robot of Iowa.

Could it transform into a grain silo?

Shuck corn at speeds unknown to man?

And a 50 State Robots competition would be Awe. Some.

[cdf74dc9 Posted Jul 27th 2009 1:15AM]

Wow how hard it is to cut a ribbon? This just prove man is to lazy to do anything.

[KRISC123 Posted Jul 27th 2009 1:54AM]

it is extremely difficult to use scissors using only tongs, believe me, ive tried.

[blackdenton Posted Jul 27th 2009 1:20AM]

Go Hawks!

[yaksplat Posted Jul 27th 2009 8:00AM]

Cyclones?

[Brokinarrow Posted Jul 27th 2009 12:50PM]

He's making a jab at Iowa State, as the Iowa Hawkeyes are the Cyclone's big rival in the state.

[looselycoupled Posted Jul 27th 2009 1:35AM]

I just looked at that guy's CV in his website.
He is from Bulgaria, a member of MENSA, was the top C.S. student with a 4.0 during undergrad, and got a C.S. Ph.D from Georgia Tech.
Jesus..

[bonzo Posted Jul 27th 2009 1:38AM]

Today, ribbons. Tomorrow...

[KRISC123 Posted Jul 27th 2009 1:43AM]

The hands of innocent children

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 27th 2009 7:01AM]

Spinal cords of innocent people

[Gib Posted Jul 27th 2009 9:33AM]

the foreskin of innocent Jewish children

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 27th 2009 3:09AM]

Jesus- us Americans sure don't know how to make our robots not look like garish monstrosities.

Them Japanese are doing it right.

[Maxx Posted Jul 27th 2009 4:06AM]

I thought that it was General Grievous for a moment.

[Brokinarrow Posted Jul 27th 2009 12:51PM]

multi pass!

[GGG Posted Jul 27th 2009 4:48AM]

somebody please take those scissors away from the robot before he hurts somebody!

[2d546a2d Posted Jul 27th 2009 6:49AM]

Reminds me of a certain hair cutting robot PBF comic...

[SewerShark Posted Jul 27th 2009 8:11AM]

Does he do circumcisions?

[Vaughanabe13 Posted Jul 27th 2009 8:32AM]

At least Iowa State is doing something other than being at the bottom of the Big 12 at almost every sport, every year.

[Dorf Posted Jul 27th 2009 9:16AM]

ZING!

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 27th 2009 12:15PM]

So true and it hurts soo much.

[TheRealMikeyG Posted Jul 27th 2009 12:44PM]

except for mens wrestling.....
womens basketball......



now when it comes to football....at least we aren't baylor.....

oh but at least they have a baseball team.......


i wonder if they are making the robot take "voluntary" days off and contribute it's electrical costs to the "university fund" like they are with university employee's (not teaching staff mind you) and their pay...........

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 27th 2009 1:27PM]

yeah, why would you want to go to a school that takes academics more seriously than athletics? Stupid, right?

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 27th 2009 8:00PM]

If anything it looks like a prototype of good ol' General Grievous.

[Vaughanabe13 Posted Jul 27th 2009 2:11PM]

I'll admit Iowa State has pretty good academic programs, and that means a lot coming from a computer engineer at Iowa... but you can't deny that a university's public perception isn't heavily influenced by its athletic programs, and Iowa State is the laughing stock of the midwest conferences year after year in that department. They're picked last again in the Big XII this year for football... Wrestling doesn't matter because Iowa wipes the mat with them year after year...Do you really want to stand behind Women's Basketball?

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 27th 2009 5:32PM]

I won't deny it, but it's still stupid as hell. Why people think that Universities are for sports first and learning second is beyond me. Then again, I picked ISU for it's computer engineering department, not for the football team.

[(Unverified) Posted Jul 30th 2009 1:39PM]

And Iowa has *never* been bad at any sport... and certainly never worse than Iowa State. /sarcasm

Please, when I went to ISU, we beat you guys at football the last two years I was there, and then for two or three more years after that. We also beat you pretty solidly at basketball (it helps having Marcus Fizer and Jamal Tinsley on the same team). And what the hell is wrong with Women's Basketball? I had a blast going to the Women's games while I was at school... and we mopped the floor with your "Lady" Hawks.

But, my main point still stands... who cares? You should pick a school for its academics, not its athletics (unless of course you are an athlete yourself... but even then, unless there's a good shot you are going to go pro, you may still want to pick for academics so you can have a fall back). I could care less that ISU's athletic program is "bottom of the Big XII." In my major (Chemical Engineering), it is one of the top programs, and it was close to home... and it was cheap (relatively speaking, non-Iowa resident, so not super cheap). I still had plenty of fun at Cyclone games, even during my first year there when we lost to everyone but Baylor and UNI. Last time I checked, I could still get drunk at the post-game parties and then get up hungover on Sunday afternoon to slog through my calculus homework. And in the end, I got a degree that was worth something (instead of getting the same degree from U of Iowa, which wouldn't be nearly as impressive in ChemE).

[jawoo2006 Posted Jul 27th 2009 4:58PM]

I've actually helped Alex Stoychev with his research before and taken a class from him. Very very fascinating stuff. I was there in its early stages of research when he only had one webcam and one arm. The program that he runs is Java with some distinctive tweeks.

Go Cyclones!