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The machines that rose to DARPA's robotics challenge
The robot apocalypse has been postponed. At DARPA Robotics Challenge in California, where the world's best and brightest robots came to compete, the machines were far from invincible. They moved at a glacial pace, stumbled and slammed to the ground and lay there motionless until their teams of humans came with a rig to pick them up. But their falls and flaws revealed how vulnerable they are, and actually made them seem more human in the process. These machines exhibited grit, intelligence and dexterity that could potentially make them stellar first-responders in disaster situations in the near future.
Carnegie Mellon's Chimp robot is reporting for duty, sir
See that guy? He's for real. He's also from Pittsburgh. A team of wizards from Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Center is presently building a new "human-scale" robot in order to compete in DARPA's Robotics Challenge. Part of its charm revolves around the rubberized tracks on its feet as well as on the extremities of each of its four limbs -- not surprisingly, these are engineered to help it maneuver in some pretty sticky situations. According to the institution, it'll move much link a tank, but it'll also be able to chug along on the treads of just two limbs when needed, such as when it must use one or more limbs to open a valve, or to operate power tools. Oh, and in case you're curious, CMU has affirmed that it'll "be able to perform complex, physically challenging tasks through supervised autonomy," which sounds precisely like the kind of vague description an ill-willed robot would explain to its master before completely taking over his / her life. Just sayin'.
Julius the Pirate Monkey DS Lite
It's been too long since we last took a sip from China's rum bottle of personalized DS Lites; it's time to get back on that wagon with a buccaneer-themed skin.YYJoy forumer Pikapika shivered our timbers, decorating his handheld with a crossed-cutlasses pattern and Julius the Monkey decked out in full corsair regalia. Now that's piracy we can get behind! Walk the post break plank for more photos of the shipshape DS Lite.
Everlasting Love is worth the effort
Why haven't we seen more rhythm platformers since Donkey Kong Jungle Beat? And while we're at it, how come there aren't more games that feature primates? We were on the verge of sending out subpoenas and demanding answers from the video game industry's "top people," but then we stumbled upon Everlasting Love, a charming, monochrome game from homebrew developer Mia (Ninja & Zarbi, Oil Panic DS).Following the single-song soundtrack (from We Love Katamari) and the monkey protagonist's head movements, players tap the A button to the beat. Just hitting the A button at all makes the simian character bounce around, but he jumps higher depending on how rhythmically accurate you are. You can use the directional pad to face which direction you want to pounce, but all movement is limited to hopping around.While there's a lot of emphasis on staying with the rhythm, jumping as high as possible isn't the goal of the game -- you're actually meant to complete the levels with as few measured hops as possible. Some of the portions actually require you to jump off-beat, keeping your head down to avoid low-hanging spikes.Everlasting Love can get pretty frustrating at times, but we're not sure if it's the fault of the game's or our own lacking abilities. Clearing the first pit took us a few tries before we could put it behind us, and the obstacles get exponentially harder after that. At version 0.1 though, Everlasting Love has a lot of potential to be the rhythm platformer we've been waiting for all these years.[Via DCEmu]
Sony's Walkman monkey "Choromatsu" passes away at 29
While devices such as the GameBoy and original Atari are more like slivers of history than gadgets of days past, Sony's Walkman has also become transcendent through time, and one of the fellows who helped put it on the map has sadly passed away. Choromatsu, the "meditating monkey" who starred in a Sony spot that eventually won best commercial in the late 1980s, died this past Sunday after living for 29 years. The monkey was famous for his various performances around Japan, and happily retired in 1990 to live out the latter half of his life with his 41 year old "human partner in performances," Goro Murasaki. While Sony's recent marketing attempts have been somewhat intriguing and less subtle than the firm would've hoped, this critter could probably convince anyone that owning a Walkman is a soul-soothing experience, so if you missed his performance back in 1987/88, be sure to click on through for the ad in its entirety.[Via TokyoMango]
Yeah, but how is he at Donkey Kong?
Monkey see, monkey do (Ms.) Pac-Man, posted in honor of the yellow chompers debut on Xbox Live Arcade August 9.
