Botropolis

The Self-Portrait Machine Uses You To Draw Your Face

M. Musick — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 03:52:03 +0000

Drawing is most defiantly a tough skill to possess, but after many years of practice and school, you learn to do it; and do it well for that matter. Well haven’t you always wanted a portrait of yourself to hang up on the wall, but you don’t want to pay someone else to do it for you? Well here you go! Now you can be like a rich snob without even being rich.

The self-portrait robot designed by Jen Hui Liao snaps a picture of you, then stores it in its blank memory and draws on it like a blank canvas. Except, instead of drawing it for you, it encases your hand and makes you put every drop of ink on the paper. It does sound like it’s just going to make you draw it yourself, but as shown in the video below, it only holds your fingers and hand in place, so it does every stroke for you, but don’t worry, that self satisfaction is guaranteed after you finished the impossible.

[slipperybrick]

Norton Commando Robot Transforms Into A Motorcycle

Conner Flynn — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:12:05 +0000

The Norton Commando robot by Steve Twist is a neat new take on the transforming process. In this short a neat looking “healthy” robot transforms into a rideable motorbike. It took Twist about eight months to do this, all for his Undergraduate Degree course in Computer Visualization and Animation at Bournemouth University.

[Gizmowatch]

Pentagon’s Robo-Hummingbird Flies Like The Real Thing

Conner Flynn — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 17:03:06 +0000

Military researchers have built a tiny drone that looks and flies just like a hummingbird. Even your garden isn’t safe now. Next time you see that pretty hummingbird sucking nectar from your flowers, you may just think twice about how cute it is.

This thing flaps its robotic wings to stay in air like the real thing. So far, the bird has only stayed aloft for 20 seconds at a time, but it has shown its capability as a spy already. AeroVironment doesn’t just want the little drone to fly like a bird but also to look like one. So it has been given another $2.1 million(By DARPA) to build a humming bot version 2.0.

[New Launches]

Optimus Prime Speaker Does Not Transform

M. Musick — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 02:56:35 +0000

Who wouldn’t want a pair of Transformers speakers that would actually transform into a more incognito shape. Well if that’s what you like more, then you’d like the Optimus Prime iPod docking station instead. If you like Dumbo then you might just like these speakers. These speakers don’t seem to transform though since they didn’t want to raise the price over $50.

Plug the speakers into a USB port and they’re ready to play all your favorite songs, like normal speakers. Personally though, i think it looks better as a paper weight, since it looks like a decapitated elephant with its ears wide open.

[Slipperybrick]

Retro Robots Found In Japan

Conner Flynn — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:53:06 +0000

It’s pretty hard to translate, but it looks like a bunch of robots that were created by Jiro Aizawa in the 50s and 60s have been found in a wearhouse in Japan. They are awesomely retro and have all of the design aesthetics from the era.

They have lights controlled by vacuum tubes and it looks like they may move as well. The robots will be fully restored to their former glory to terrify and thrill a whole new generation. They are a sight to see and should probably be in a museum somewhere.

[Botjunkie]

Industrial Manufacturing In The Comfort Of Your Home

M. Musick — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 02:30:19 +0000

Creating and selling stuff has always been the way of our economy, but an even more hot topic is manufacturing at minimal levels. Assembly lines have gotten more and more productive throughout the years, but we have not gotten something so small before.

The M-1iA from FANUC robotics is what I am talking about. It only weighs 17 Kg, which is pretty amazing for something that would replace a 86.6 Kg worker. As you can see in the video, the M-1iA is very swift about its job of putting keyboards together; and accurate too. Nothing that isn’t expected from robots. Add this robot to the Self-assembling robot and you got mass destruction production.

[Eggshell-Robotics]

Robot Rat Searches For Disaster Survivors Using Whiskers

Conner Flynn — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:17:56 +0000

The SCRATCHbot was designed for search and rescue missions. What’s interesting about this one is that, much like a real rat, it uses its whiskers to detect disaster survivors in dangerous areas. The Bristol Robotics Laboratory developed the rat-bot over the past 6 years and now they hope to find interest for it in underground and underwater projects where vision can’t locate people/things.

It may have some other uses as well, like textile inspection and implementation inside intelligent vacuum cleaners, where it would be able to adjust the cleaning to the particular surface it senses. Video below.

[Engadget]

Robogeisha

Conner Flynn — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:05:11 +0000

The trailer for Robogeisha is three minutes of absolute robot/geisha craziness. This is NSFW due to violence alone. I mean, in one scene a girl gets stabbed in the ass and blood shoots out. This may be the best or worst thing ever. TENGU MILK! HANDICAP GUN! GEISHA CHAINSAW!

[Topless Robot]

Clara 2.0: Creepy Baby Theremin Virtuoso

Conner Flynn — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:36:51 +0000

Clara is a creepy little robot baby with a duct tape diaper on her midsection instead of her ass, and a hankering to play the theremin. Clara was created by Sarah Angliss, a musician and sound artist. And Clara will be in my nightmares henceforth, terrifying me with her creepiness and occasionally shitting herself, while providing her own otherworldly theremin soundtrack.

This music video looks like it was shot in the 60’s and I believe it may be some kind of cult propaganda. The damn baby keeps making weird sounds and waving a kitchen whisk everywhere.

[Robot Living]

Autonomous Robot Navigates Like A Human

Conner Flynn — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 12:10:11 +0000

European researchers have developed a robot capable of moving autonomously using human-like visual processing. The robot is helping researchers explore how the brain responds to its environment while the body is moving. The end result may be machines that are better able to navigate through cluttered environments.

The robot is a wheeled platform with a robotic head that uses two cameras for stereoscopic vision. It can turn its head and shift its gaze up and down or sideways to check out its surroundings, and can measure its own speed relative to its environment.

The robot is controlled by algorithms designed to mimic different parts of the human visual system. Instead of capturing and mapping its surroundings over and over in order to plan its route, the way most robots do, this robot uses a simulated neural network to update its position relative to the environment, continually adjusting to each new input. So it mimics human visual processing and movement planning.

[Technologyreview]