Finally, your dreams of a constant foosball opponent have become a startling reality. Some clever DIY-types have come up with a solution for how to fill all those long, lonely nights -- a computer-controlled foosball table. The premise is simple: servos coupled with a micro-controller operate the arms of the table, while a camera above the action monitors the game, including the location of the ball and the opponents moves, then processes that information using a custom AI. Sure, your game won't include players like Hitler or Ghandi, but at least you won't have to go hunting for competition on those late nights. Check the video after the break, and hit the read link for all the how-to info.

We always knew that the eventual robotic rebellion would come in stages (and would start with Roombas), so while many may take a childish satisfaction in seeing an innocent Roomba hacked up to shoot Airsoft BB pellets, we're constantly aware that this is another step towards the ultimate annihilation of all meat-based life forms. "Cool Bots!" MAKE cries, oblivious to the destructive potential pent up inside the little hoover's circuitry -- it's thinking: "I don't even need to try, they're giving me weapons!" Fortunately, this is very much an early stage killer robot, as the photos over on isobot's flickr stream attest. The modified Roomba may look menacing with its red laser sight, but it appears as if the little thing can't aim its plastic payload any higher than a few inches off the ground, limiting its targets to feet and unsuspecting house cats. Of course, that red laser also gives it more than a passing similarity to a certain infamous robot / human hybrid. Today, Airsoft; tomorrow, assimilation?

[Via MAKE]

If you've ever fallen out of a plane before (or perhaps been pushed, not that we're bitter or anything), you might've realized that while hitting the ground isn't usually hard to manage, hitting a particular area of ground can be rather difficult. Even more so with unmanned cargo drops, which can land miles from their unintended drop point due to winds or a mis-timed release. Well, Atair Aerospace is bringing some hot "flocking" technology of theirs to bear on the problem, which allows you to deploy 50 or more cargo parachutes in the same airspace, from as high as 35,000 feet, and have them all autonomously glide for as far as 30 miles before landing within 50 meters of a preprogrammed target. The "Onyx" parachutes have parafoil systems to direct themselves, and the flocking and "Active Collision Avoidance" technologies allow the robotic parachutes to communicate with each other and avoid messy accidents. Altair was awarded a $3.2 million contract by the US Army to supply Onyx systems, slightly out-doing our bid of $5.95 and half a box of French fries to use the system for automatic tradeshow schwag deployment.