Botropolis

Bandit Wants To Pump You Up

Conner Flynn — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:14:33 +0000

Bandit is a robotic personal trainer that wants to show you what a girlly-man you are and help you work out those puny muscles. He was developed by students at USC’s Viterbi School of Engineering, designed to walk humans through workout routines using vocal “encouragement” and articulated arms.

He’s a bit of an ass. After he works you out for a little, Bandit asks if you are sweating, and then implies that he’s sweaty, too. Which comes off sarcastic, as if he has better things to do. Bandit also has a mode where he watches your movements and mimics them, matching your arm motions. After that, more sarcastic remarks. You’ll want to kick his metal ass real good.

[Dvice]

Robolamps made from plumbing supplies

Conner Flynn — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:46:40 +0000

Check out these Robolamps from Croatian artist Robert Matysiak. They’re made using plumbing supplies and decked out with green or yellow light bulbs, giving them a unique look.

They are awesome, but sadly they aren’t available to the public just yet. Though we hope that might change soon.

[SB]

Bender House

Conner Flynn — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:41:04 +0000

Looking for a house with a nice view? Something by the ocean? Make sure it’s somewhere far away from all things robotic. Somewhere you can wait out the coming robot wars. Not this house. This house will draw robots from miles around.

[Gizmodo]

Hands On: WowWee’s Roborover

Conner Flynn — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:44:44 +0000

WowWee was kind enough to send us a Roborover for review. Roborover has a good natured personality, plays games, lights up, and interacts on a very basic level. Like all of WowWee’s bots, this little guy is a lot of fun.

As usual, we love what the company has done with design. Roborover is bright yellow color and very human-like. How could you not want to play with him? He has the usual carry handle on back and the treads are not only functional, they look great.

Roborover is pretty easy to figure out right out of the box, but you’ll want to consult the manual for the finer points. Just pop in four C batteries and three AAA’s for the remote, press the on button and he powers up and asks to go on an adventure with you and immediately starts exploring. Be fore-warned, he’s a chatterbox. Much more talkative than Tri-Bot. Truth be told I found Roborovers talk to be kind of annoying. It didn’t grab me the way Tri-Bot did. Just seemed dumbed down and repetitive. But still, your 7 year old won’t care. He’ll love that the bot is talking to him and interacting.

WowWee did a great job with the tread-based wheels. They allow Roborover to navigate over most low obstacles while staying stable on uneven surfaces. And even though they do not recommend it, he travels well outdoors. One thing you should know for inside play is that he’s going to be slower on carpet and the treads of course will pick up dust, carpet fiber, and hair, but it’s easy to clean.

For the most part RoboRover is great about avoiding obstacles, but he has a real problem when he gets into a tight space and can’t get out on his own.

His headlight is just a basic on and off.

The remote is easy to use and even kids should find it self explanatory and easy to select the 5 modes.

In Demo mode Roborover shows off by speaking, and moving in all directions. In Explore mode he moves around and talks your ear off. Game mode consists of the Tomb game and the Swamp game. Both are memory games where the robot moves in a certain pattern and you have to repeat. In Lookout mode Roborover will scan the area and then wait. If he detects motion an alarm sounds. He will stand guard for up to 10 minutes. Seek mode allows RoboRover to find you. Move away, hold the Seek button and he will find you. Though sometimes he thinks he’s found you when he only spotted an object.

Bottom line: We really love what WowWee does with design and personality on their bots. They move around great. We love the bot, but we really want to see WowWee push it more with interactivity. The bot performs very well, but makes a lot of mistakes, where as Tri-Bot from last year performed very well.

We say buy it. You’ll have a great time even if you get bored quickly. But more importantly it should entertain your kid for much longer. You can’t go wrong really.

[Wowwee]

Walky Lets You Control Robots With Your iPhone

Conner Flynn — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 17:00:17 +0000

So you want to control your favorite robot with finger gestures on your iPhone? Now you can. Yuta Sugiura and his colleagues at the Keio University have developed a new control system for robots dubbed ‘Walky’ that lets you control various robots with your iPhone, using the device like a Wiimote.

You can make the robot walk, jump, turn and even kick a football. Too bad we can’t control large killer bots with it.

[GG]

BSG Cylon Target Practice Poster

Conner Flynn — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:42:08 +0000

The thing about surviving the coming apocalypse is, even if you have all of the guns in the world, you need to know where to hit ‘em. So why not get some target practice in with a real Cylon Centurion target, as seen on BSG.

It’ll be available soon over at Quantum Mechanix.

[Quantum Mechanix] VIA [io9]

High Voltage Line Robot Inspects Power Cables

Conner Flynn — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:35:29 +0000

There are some jobs that are so dangerous that even humans should not attempt them. Like inspecting high-voltage power lines. These are the kinds of jobs that we need robots for. If a bot gets fried beyond recognition, it can easily be replaced, unlike their human counterpart.

So, Tokyo-based company HiBot is working with western Japan’s Kansai Electric Power Co. to test a new robot next year that will do the job and inspect several power cables at once.

[makezine]

HUBO shows off some new moves

Conner Flynn — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:29:32 +0000

If you think that you’re safe because Honda’s Asimo walks so slow and is on the small side. Think again. Some of these humanoids are getting downright coordinated. This video of the Korean Institute of Advanced Science and Technology’s recent advances on its HUBO project is a cautionary tale. Why? Because we get to see HUBO walking around quite able, flexing steel fingers as if in preparation to crack some necks and even handling a sword.

In other words run! Hide! Because when HUBO puts a beating on you a few years from now, you’ll wonder why you didn’t pay more attention to this video and heed our words.

[Plastic Pals]

Fujitsu Office Delivery Bot

Conner Flynn — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 17:07:17 +0000

Fujitsu, with Yokohama National University and the University of Electro-Communications, have developed an Office Delivery Robot with an unusual design. It can carry up to 44 lbs and uses stereo vision, a laser range finder, and UWB (Ultra-wideband) TWR-TOA (two way ranging-time of arrival) for SLAM that is accurate to within 10cm (4″).

The unusual design is the table top that is a touch screen, which allows users to access information and communicate with others around the office. Fujitsu built the robot to deliver up to 500 copies, or even beverages, as part of NEDO’s (New Energy & Development Organization) initiative. Sadly the bot didn’t pass the next phase of funding, and Fujitsu has no plans to commercialize it.

[Plastic Pals]

The Evolution Of Honda’s ASIMO

Conner Flynn — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:55:44 +0000

In October ASIMO had a 9th birthday party. On display were his many ancestors, all set up to show his evolution. He went all the way from bulky and awkward, to more human-like and cute. Time flies doesn’t it?

[Robot Watch]