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Meet Diego-san, the latest robot baby to haunt your nightmares
The Apple iPad wasn't the only magical and revolutionary thing revealed this week.
ATOM-7xp humanoid robot is indeed Atom-powered, Windows-based
Our enthusiasm for this particular walking robot is unfortunately a bit dampened by a lack of video, or any evidence of actual walking, but both of those are promised to be forthcoming, and the bot still has enough going for it to distinguish itself in the meantime. Proudly made in the USA by Futurebots, this so-called ATOM-7x robot is actually powered by not one but two Atom processors (a dual-core Atom 330 and an Atom 230), which themselves power two separate systems running Windows XP and Windows 7. Those, paired with slew of sensors, gyros and accelerometers, promises to give the bot a whole range of humanoid capabilities, including an advanced stereo vision system that its creators say will let it "take on real world problems." Complete details are otherwise still a bit light, but the bot can apparently operate autonomously in addition to being used as a telepresence robot, and it unsurprisingly wasn't cheap or easy to build ("2 mortgages and lots of sweat"). We'll be sure to keep an eye out for any sightings of this one in action.
Nippon Institute of Technology unveils educational humanoid robot
We really can't get enough of these humanoid robots. Researchers collaborating from the Nippon Institute of Technology, Harada Vehicle Design, ZMP and ZNUG Design have just taken the wraps off another addition to the crew. The newest version of the e-NUVO walk bot stands about 4 feet tall, making it roughly the size of an elementary school aged child, and will be incorporated into classes to teach children about humanoid robots in a hands-on environment. We'll admit that after seeing a video of the bot in action (it's after the break), we're pretty jealous of those school children.
Nao performs Star Wars homage, scores mad geek cred
While we're still busy thinking up legitimate uses for a humanoid robot, Aldebaran Robotics keeps finding newer and zanier ways to play with its Nao. The latest is a pre-programmed Star Wars routine that should have all you aging loyalists positively moist with glee, and even includes a terrific R2D2 impersonation that is not to be missed. Past the break, you shall find it. Oh, and as to real world uses, there are further videos of Nao reading out your emails and doing balancing acts, which may be found at the source link.
Toyota Partner Robots heading to the moon, offworld colonies inevitable
It started off innocently enough. Personal transporters, they told us, just robots to make life easier. Now look at them -- Toyota's Partner Robots are set for upgrades that include back-mounted solar chargers, spring-loaded jumping mechanisms, and a design hardy enough to withstand lunar temperature drops. Intended for the performance of exploratory missions on the moon -- alongside a four-wheeled robotic rover -- the new designs were introduced by Toyota in a presentation titled "Realization of Moon Exploration Using Advanced Robots by 2020." So, if the world doesn't actually end in 2012, by 2020 we'll have extraterrestrial robots plotting our demise anyway. More pictures of lunar colonization can be found after the break.
Kawada NEXTAGE humanoid robot just wants to help out (video)
In a world where the Headtime scalp massager not only exists but presumably even sells, is it any wonder that assistant robots like this here fella are cropping up? While keeping the design somewhat generic in order to be able to adapt the bot to the particular circumstances where it is employed, the designers at Kawada Industries are keen to promote the NEXTAGE as a step toward humans and machines co-existing and working together in harmony. Sounds peachy, doesn't it? Of course, some meatsack will have to be made redundant to make way for the machines, but humans were always going to be sacrificed for the greater robotic good. That was the plan all along. See the video demo after the break.
DIY 'Giger' robot walks after 100 hours of human work
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.
JingJing and PuiPui bots followup on the BHR tai chi bots, give a good interview
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]
Video: Vstone's tiny Robovie-nano robot drives the lane, jumps, shoots, scores retail availability
There is certainly no shortage of humanoid robots conspiring to attack your savings, but few look to offer the combination of tiny size and amazing dexterity of the Robovie-nano, the little guy from Vstone who is now shipping to would-be Dr. Frankensteins. He's just 230mm tall (about nine inches) and weighs 575g (about a pound and a quarter), but looks to be at least as nimble as larger forebearers and is far cheaper than most, costing just ¥49,350 ($540) to start -- less than a set of those sweet robot hands we spotted last week. For that you won't get the optional "gripper shaft" mitts shown above, or the paintable Lexan bodywork he sports in the video after the break, but nobody ever said a robot needs clothes, right? %Gallery-73439% [Via Impress]
Video: The first (televised) kiss between robots
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.
Researchers teach ASIMO and HRP-2 a bit of real life Frogger
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]
Toyota's humanoid robot was born to run
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.
Robot with iPhone 3GS head reminds us of a cuter, more magnanimous Steve Jobs
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]
KOBIAN humanoid robot packs full range of emotions to creep you out
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]
iRobot says its Warrior bot is more human than ASIMO
Is a humanoid robot inherently more human than your average task-specific bot? iRobot apparently doesn't think so, and it's taken square aim at one of the most popular humanoid bots around to make its point. That argument arose in a recent interview with CNET News, where iRobot CEO Colin Angle responded to a question about humanoid robots by flatly asking, "why would you want to make a humanoid robot?," adding that they might be good for movies or those looking for a robot companion, "but other than that, most tasks are best tackled by designs that are not constrained by trying to look like a person." He then goes on to note that Honda's ASIMO "requires a team of 10 or 15 people to maintain it, it can walk about, maybe, half a meter per second and in some situations climb stairs over the course of a few minutes, and if it ever falls down, it's a paperweight." On the other hand, iRobot's Warrior bot, he says, "can take a 10-foot drop onto concrete, drive 20 miles an hour, drive up stairs without stopping at full speed, carry 200 pounds of payload and has, maybe, five motors," which means it can "go nearly everywhere a human can." So, Angle says, "you look at these things and say, which one of these is a robot human? The answer is, Warrior." Is it? Or, deep down, is there a little bit of ASIMO in all of us?
NAO humanoid robots gets a price tag, exhaustive overview
We've been keeping an eye on Aldebaran's NAO robot since before it even took its first steps, and it now looks like the little guy is finally set to try to make it on its own in the wild world of the commercial market. That word comes courtesy of an exhaustive white paper posted by Aldebaran on the arXiv website, which also includes the helpful little detail that the bot will cost interested laboratories about €10,000 (or roughly $15,600). Unfortunately, there's no indication as to exactly when the bot will be available, but those in the market for one can at least tide themselves a bit over by pouring over the details available in the PDF at the link below.[Via Slashdot]
KumoTek rolls out KT-X humanoid robot kits
Vstone's various humanoid robots have already made their presence known in Japan, and it looks like they're now finally making their way over here with a little help from the folks at Texas-based KumoTek. They've just announced their new line of KT-X series bots (seemingly identical to Vstone's Robovie-X), including the 13-motor KT-X Lite, the 17-motor KT-X, and the 20-motor KT-X Gladiator, all of which are apparently aimed at the educational market and range in price from $990 to $1,490. Like its Vstone counterpart, the KT-X measures about 13 inches tall, and is able to be controlled with a standard PS2 wireless controller, although it apparently comes with the added educational benefit of KumoTek's Robot P.E.T.S. (Robots Promoting Education Through Science) educational system, which the company hopes will help set students off into a career in robotics or mechanical engineering.[Via I4U News]
Humanoid Mega Dynamizer robot mows down lawns, our hearts
Sure, you can get a robot that mows lawns and nothing else, but what about those of us that are holding out for a humanoid robot that'll save all our 20th century tools from the scrap heap? While that possibility is still quite a ways off, we can now at least get a glimpse of our possible future on a comically-sized scale courtesy of the video after the break, which shows the Mega Dynamizer robot doing its thing with reasonable effectiveness -- at least until it runs into a doghouse. Of course, those that follow such things will recall that this is hardly the first time that the Dynamizer family of robots has taken on some decidedly human-like activities, with one of Mega Dynamizer's predecessors having already proven itself a relatively capable downhill skier.[Via BotJunkie, thanks Tony S.]
Sarcos humanoid robot learns how to take a shove
We've already seen some of Sarcos' robotics gear put to some slightly frightening use in the form of a military exoskeleton, and it now looks like one of the company's full-fledged robots is getting a chance to strut its stuff as well, with a little help from the folks at Japan's Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute. As New Scientist reports, they've developed some software that allows the robot to stay on its feet when its bumped, shoved or even kicked (which makes mere dynamic balancing robots look positively inadequate). The key to that, it seems, is that the robot's joints are never kept rigid, which allows them to give slightly when any of the array of sensors detect the slightest jolt, giving the software a chance to then adjusting the robot's feet as necessary to keep its balance. Not surprisingly, they don't seem to have given the robot the ability to shove back just yet, but you can check out its current capabilities in the video available at the site linked below.
"Justin" humanoid robot gets shown off, no one harmed
It may just be for demonstration purposes for now, but this humanoid robot dubbed "Justin" certainly looks like he means business, and we can all be thankful that's he's confined to a table or there's no telling how things might have gone down. Apparently, Justin's biggest claim to fame is his pair of DLR-III Light-Weight arms which, in addition to making other robot arms look positively retro, are dexterous enough to pick up a trash can and dump it or twist a lid off a jar. No word as to when Justin might be let loose from the lab, but you can get a better look at what he's capable of in the video at the site linked below.
