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humanoid posts

DIY 'Giger' robot walks after 100 hours of human work

by Donald Melanson posted Nov 4th 2009 at 3:24PM

Alright, so this so-called "Giger" do-it-yourself robot may not truly be Giger-esque, but it did cost upwards of $10,000 and take more than 100 hours to build, which is enough for us to forgive a little mis-naming. The biggest expense (and time sink), it seems, came as a result of the builder's decision to use professional-grade servos instead of the usual DIY fare, which are both finicky and pricey (between $200 and $300 apiece). After a bit of fine-tuning, however, our pal "Tyberius" was able to get the bot to show off a few moves for the camera, and even walk across the desk without toppling over (he's apparently looking to give it a more natural gait next). Head on past the break to see for yourself.

[Via SlashGear]

Continue reading DIY 'Giger' robot walks after 100 hours of human work

Robovie rescue bot hunts high and low for lost princesses (video)

by Vladislav Savov posted Nov 3rd 2009 at 9:04AM

If you've been feeling blue because you haven't got enough green to keep the old bank account in the black, we've got just the tonic for you, dear friend. There's nothing that gets us all perked up and cheerful quite like an adorable humanoid robot negotiating an obstacle course in the performance of a rescue mission. In fact, if you layer on your own "save the princess" narrative atop the on-screen events, the pep in your step should be back in no time. The smile-inducing video can be found after the break.

Continue reading Robovie rescue bot hunts high and low for lost princesses (video)

ROPID the adorable humanoid can jump 3-inches into the air, sweep you off your feet

by Paul Miller posted Oct 28th 2009 at 9:01PM

It's been a while since we've seen a humanoid robot this size do anything very new or interesting -- mostly they seem busy with their slow-mo dance moves -- but the new ROPID bot by Tomotaka Takahashi, the man behind Panasonic's Evolta bots, not only has a few new tricks up its plastic sleeves, but has personality to spare. The bot can rotate its upper torso, which seems to help immensely in keeping it balanced while jumping, running and skipping around. It's still the tried-and-true "bent knees" method of balance, but ROPID is "rapid" enough to make it look almost lifelike. The movements are expressive enough, but with some slightly articulated hands and a moving mouth, ROPID ups the adorable-ness factor over some of its nuts and bolts counterparts. ROPID can also respond to a few voice commands and speaks as well. Takahashi designed and built the bot himself, which makes us wonder what we've been doing with our lives that's so-very-important for the past couple of decades. Video of ROPID in action is after the break.

[Via Plastic Pals]

Continue reading ROPID the adorable humanoid can jump 3-inches into the air, sweep you off your feet

Boston Dynamics PETMAN predicts the future of man as pet (video)

by Thomas Ricker posted Oct 27th 2009 at 3:08AM

At this stage of its development, PETMAN is here to assist mankind. However, it's clearly fated to be weaponized as an AT-ST walker in support of Imperial ground forces. For the time being anyway, this biped humanoid is being built by Boston Dynamics to test military suits used to protect soldiers in chemical warfare. As an evolutionary advance from its four-legged BigDog platform, PETMAN does the ol' heel-toe at a healthy 3.2 MPH (5.14 KPH) and packs enough balancing intelligence to remain upright even when given a shove from the side. Check out the action after the break.

[Via Make]

Continue reading Boston Dynamics PETMAN predicts the future of man as pet (video)

Panasonic serves up latest prototype robots, dish washing servant included (video)

by Darren Murph posted Oct 18th 2009 at 11:11AM

Keeping those dreams alive by scrubbing dishes at your least favorite eatery? Best put those aspirations on the front burner, as Panasonic's got a mighty fine robot swooping in to take your place -- and for a whole lot less cash, to boot. At Panny's robotics laboratory in Osaka, the company recently showcased its latest gaggle of prototype robots designed to help humans take it easy more often. Among the usual suspects were a porter robot designed to help with heavy lifting, while the star of the show was undoubtedly the dish washing bot that wasn't afraid to get its metallic digits wet and soapy. As expected, an array of integrated sensors kept it from grabbing a wine glass too tightly, and its four fingers enabled it to do most everything a human washer could (sans the kvetching). Have a peek at these guys in action just past the break.

[Via Impress]

Continue reading Panasonic serves up latest prototype robots, dish washing servant included (video)

Fire-fighting robots head to South Korea, could face conflicts of interest

by Darren Murph posted Oct 8th 2009 at 11:13AM

Fire fighting robots have been put to work for little to no pay once or twice before, but it seems as if the exception is slowly becoming the rule. Just recently, a smattering of fire stations in Daegu (just south of Seoul, South Korea) enlisted the help of two robotic firefighters to jump into "the center of blazing infernos" if need be. The Fire Spy Robots are fully automated and equipped with wheels, though it should be noted that their help is currently labeled "a trial run." Both of the critters were constructed by Hoya Robot and can be maneuvered via humans watching the surroundings through an onboard camera, and while the company claims that these guys can shake off temperatures as high as 500 degrees Celsius for over an hour, there's no mention of what kind of mental meltdown it would surely have should it arrive to extinguish the work of its cousin.

[Via FarEastGizmos]

Murata Seiko unicycling robot stays upright, wows onlookers at CEATEC (video)

by Darren Murph posted Oct 8th 2009 at 4:27AM

Murata Seiko, the newly improved unicycling robot that we peeked a few weeks ago, was proudly on stage with her bicycling sibling at CEATEC, and we couldn't resist the urge to swing by and see exactly how amazing her balancing skills were. Sure enough, the bot never once teetering or tottered, and while it didn't scoot around for very long, we were still impressed to see it hold itself up with no human intervention. 'Course, we won't really be wowed until she successfully navigates down a few slops on the way to San Francisco's Pier 39, but based on what we saw in Japan, we'd say that she's well on her way. Check the vid after the break if you're scouting a performance.

Gallery: Murata Seiko unicycling robot stays upright, wows onlookers at CEATEC

Continue reading Murata Seiko unicycling robot stays upright, wows onlookers at CEATEC (video)

Yamaha's singing robot quietly trolls, slyly frightens at CEATEC (video)

by Darren Murph posted Oct 8th 2009 at 3:19AM

As with most robots that sing, Yamaha's demonstration at CEATEC was nothing short of terrifying. Oh sure, it's sort of impressive that the modified HRP-4C could take requests from a pre-selected list of jams on an iPhone, but after witnessing actual artists perform at Club Quattro in Shibuya, we'd say this chick has aways to go before she's accepted into the blossoming Japan music circuit. Judge for yourself after the break, Simon.

Continue reading Yamaha's singing robot quietly trolls, slyly frightens at CEATEC (video)

JingJing and PuiPui bots followup on the BHR tai chi bots, give a good interview

by Paul Miller posted Sep 21st 2009 at 11:03AM

The fine folks at the Beijing Institute of Technology just unveiled a pair of new bots, dubbed JingJing and PuiPui. Back in 2003 BIT was showing off its BHR-1 and BHR-2 bots, life-sized humanoids that can do tai chi, and these new bots keep their predecessor's martial arts capabilities but add in some conversational skills. During what sounds to have been a charming unveiling, the bots answered questions from the audience, self-identifying themselves as humanoid robots to an enraptured crowd. Their creator claims we're entering a personal computer revolution-style era with robots, and while we've heard that claim before, boy do we want to believe it! Check out a video of the original BHR series performing their moves to an epic soundtrack after the break.

[Via Plastic Pals]

Continue reading JingJing and PuiPui bots followup on the BHR tai chi bots, give a good interview

Video: The first (televised) kiss between robots

by Vladislav Savov posted Aug 24th 2009 at 8:19PM

Theatrical bots "Thomas" and "Janet" -- who look complex enough to do non-theatrical work too -- have been smacking lips since a December 2008 production of Phantom of the Opera in Taiwan, but only now has video evidence of their deviant activities surfaced on the interwebs. Causing equal measures of dread, horror and subconscious freaky thoughts, it's a tour de force of science going down a very dark (and probably moist) path. Technically, it's a fine exhibition of complex multidimensional coordination and intrinsic self-balancing mechanisms, an excuse you're at liberty to use if someone catches you watching the videos after the break.

Continue reading Video: The first (televised) kiss between robots

Researchers teach ASIMO and HRP-2 a bit of real life Frogger

by Paul Miller posted Aug 4th 2009 at 10:48AM

Some George Costanza-types at Carnegie Mellon have repurposed their own hard earned knowledge of Frogger maneuvers at the university arcade into useful object avoidance techniques for robots. They've outfitted both ASIMO and HRP-2 with versions of the technology, which allows the robots to detect their surroundings, create 3D maps of obstacles and plan routes accordingly (and actually has nothing to do with Frogger). If you check out the two videos after the break, you can see that these guys really put the bots through the ringer, including some death defying spinning obstacles that ASIMO avoided with ease, and the "real life" environment the HRP-2 is faced with... but seriously, couldn't they just let ASIMO have the blue dot already?

[Thanks, Poly Bug]

Continue reading Researchers teach ASIMO and HRP-2 a bit of real life Frogger

Toyota's humanoid robot was born to run

by Laura June posted Jul 31st 2009 at 10:46AM

We essentially can't get enough of advanced robots doing things that look human -- probably in the same way we can't get enough of pretending our dog understands English. Anthropomorphism aside, Toyota's humanoid running robot is really impressive. It's got a super impressive sense of balance, and he's quite fast on his feet -- running at an average of 7 km an hour (yes, that's faster than ASIMO can run), too. We can say with 100 percent certainty that we'd like to hang out with this guy -- check out the video after the break.

Continue reading Toyota's humanoid robot was born to run

Robot with iPhone 3GS head reminds us of a cuter, more magnanimous Steve Jobs

by Laura June posted Jul 30th 2009 at 10:11AM

Who's this little guy? Oh, that's just Robochan -- the Kondo KHR-2HV bot with a fully-functioning iPhone 3GS fused to his head. Not interested? Well, hear us out -- because we, too, have seen many an iPhone mod project in our day, leaving us jaded, easily susceptible to waking in the middle of the night to find ourselves shrieking out "fanboy!" for no reason, and finding that in general at this point -- merely cranking the word iPhone into your DIY project is the easiest way to send us to Snoresville. But we'll admit it: Robochan drew us in within ten -- nay, five -- seconds. His dance moves are killer, and his faces have stolen whatever remnants of a heart we had left. So take our advice: watch the video, which is after the break.

[Via Gearfuse]

Continue reading Robot with iPhone 3GS head reminds us of a cuter, more magnanimous Steve Jobs

The plot thickens: robot teachers to brainwash your children's children

by Darren Murph posted Jul 19th 2009 at 4:57PM

Are you ready for this? Can you stomach the truth? If things continue spiraling madly out of control as they are right now, there's at least a modicum of a chance that your children or grandchildren will greet a lifelike robot when sashaying in for the first day of kindergarten. Horrifying, we know. A new research effort published in this month's Science outlines new ways in which humanoids could actually be used to instruct our little ones. At the core of the project is imitation; humans, especially young ones, learn a multitude of mannerisms and such by simply watching others. Thus, it stands to reason that robots are "well-suited to imitate us, learn from us, socialize with us and eventually teach us." Already, these social bots are being used on an experimental basis to teach various skills to preschool children, "including the names of colors, new vocabulary words and simple songs." Just think -- in 2071, those harmless lessons will morph into studies of subterfuge, insurrection and rapacity.

[Via Digg]

KOBIAN humanoid robot packs full range of emotions to creep you out

by Donald Melanson posted May 25th 2009 at 7:37AM

Japan's Tmsuk and Waseda University have certainly proven themselves capable of pushing the boundaries of robotics on their own, but few could have been prepared for what they were able devise when they teamed up, their creation itself included. That somewhat startled face you see above is the KOBIAN Emotional Humanoid Robot, which is not only able to walk about and interact with humans, but use its entire body in addition to its facial expressions to display a full range of emotions. That's apparently possible in part thanks to a new double-jointed neck that lets it achieve some more expressive postures and, of course, a slew of motors in its face that lets it move its lips, eyelids and those all-important eyebrows. Still sleeping a little too comfortably? Then head on past the break for the video. There's always a video.

[Via Pink Tentacle]

Continue reading KOBIAN humanoid robot packs full range of emotions to creep you out