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ICYMI: Bro-saving weight bench, 4-gram robot and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-891327{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-891327, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-891327{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-891327").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A weight bench designed for people who want to lift alone has a hydraulic foot lever to save yourself from injury. A 4-gram robot can move two different ways: As an inchworm, or by flicking itself in the air with flippers that get a charge from a mild electric current. And an art project made of a 3D-printed top uses eye tracking sensors and software to let the wearer know when he or she is being stared at by responding with movement.
4-gram 'Tribot' shows off heat-activated high jumping
At the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), a laboratory that specializes in origami robots has created one that was inspired by the inchworm. The tiny 4-gram machine called "Tribot" can crawl, jump seven times its height and then resume crawling without any resting period in between. Since Jamie Paik's team at the Reconfigurable Robotics Laboratory couldn't use typical bulky motors to create a light and foldable machine, they had to use titanium and nickel "shape memory alloy" to build actuators and springs for it. Tribot crawls by heating those memory alloy parts with an electric current -- the heat makes its limbs "remember" or pop back to their original shape after expanding. In the video below, you can watch the researchers discuss both Tribot and the other origami robot they're developing, a four-limbed "Crawler."
Engadget's recession antidote: win a WowWee Tribot!
This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff or companies stop sending things. Today we've got a WowWee Tribot on offer. Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting! Hooray for free stuff! Two more shots of the products after the break.The rules: Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too. You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.) If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine. Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad. Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) WowWee Tribot. Approximate retail value is $80. If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen. Entries can be submitted until Thursday, April 30th, at 11:59PM ET. Good luck! Full rules can be found here.
Video: WowWee's Tribot comes alive on the small screen
We're a little disappointed that we didn't get to see exactly how much personality WowWee's Mr. Personality had in him, but Mahalo Daily's Veronica Belmont scored some facetime with the Tribot, and we'll admit that his three-wheeled dancing moves are pretty impressive. Check the whole video after the break.
WowWee lets out Alive animal bots, Fun mini-bots
WowWee continues its cuddly robo-assault today, backing up the revamped FlyTech and Robotics gear with the Alive Lion, a furry robo-pet with "lifelike responses." The Lion features realistic fur, an animated face, and several feline-like reactions, like going limp when picked up by the scruff of the neck and falling asleep when left alone for five minutes. The Lion should be shipping soon, but the entire Alive line will get bigger later this year with the addition of the Alive White Tiger Cub, the Alive Panda Cub, and the Alive Polar Bear Cub.If you're not into cuddly, WowWee's got you covered with its new Fun series, which is comprised of several miniature Bug-Bots. Coming in several wheeled and treaded version, the bugs each have different particular skills, and touch sensors will enable several to interact as a swarm. In addition to the Bug-Bots, the Fun line will also include miniature versions of Wrex the Dawg, Tribot, and FemiSapien. Check 'em all out in the gallery! %Gallery-12662%
WowWee's Robotics lineup gets some new additions
WowWee, your favorite neighborhood bot-makers, have busted out of the gate at CES this year with another handful of new automatons sure to please even the toughest of fans... probably. On tap for the 2008 lineup are the Tribot, a three-wheeled robot which sports "distinct expressions" and "animated eyebrows," and can be controlled via a tilt sensor remote. Also on tap is the Femisapien, the female counterpart to the company's terrifically popular Robosapien line. Other inclusions are Wrex the Dog, a (you guessed it) dog robot with "desires and distinct moods" (happy, angry, and... er, crazy), as well as the Chatterbot, robo-figurines that connect to your PC via USB and can interact with email, IM, and web browsing apps (annoyingly, we suspect). WowWee is also introducing a new IR controller, the RoboRemote, which lets you program and assign individual buttons for elicit activities with your Robosapien, Robosapien V2, and Roboreptile, amongst others. Seem like a lot? That's just the Robotics gang -- stay tuned for another batch of bots from the company's other lines.%Gallery-12655%
