Tag: robot
Japanese students waste their time making virtual cat whiskers
They are making “artificial, wearable, light-based hairs (or antennae)”.
The idea is that little infra-red sensors constantly scan the environment – those are your virtual antennae – with miniature vibration feedback…
Mega Mech Airmagination inflatable robot at Wal-Mart is largest in market!
Just what every little Timmy and Tricia needs, a giant inflatable robot. Maybe kids can program it to steal their Mummy’s Brooks Brothers’ cardigans, and key-scratch their Daddy’s Rolls Royce?
Ok, so it’s only $40 from Wal-Mart, so is unlikely to be given to little bourgeoisie kiddywinks in America, but still, does a child really need something twice the size of them to play with? The Mega Mech Airmagination inflates to 48 inches tall…
Zeno: childlike robot with artifical intelligence doesn't look quite right
"Zeno", the brainchild of Hanson Robotics, is a robot complete with vision, decision-making and learning capabilities, as well as the ability to change its facial expressions and move based on what it "sees". This Artificial Intelligence also allows for speech…
Transformed: the robot that's a Motorola ROKR in disguise
Fancy a Motorola ROKR mobile? No? Okay, it’s not the most inspiring handset in the world. What if it could turn into a robot though, eh? Thought that’d get your GeekDrool going.
Check this out. I have no idea who made it, why they did it, or how much it cost. But I do know that I want one – more even than I want an iPod Touch, a crate of organic cider, or a hooky Russian oil billionnaire to fund Bishops Stortford FC. It’s genius.
The world's best (alright, only) robot-shaped calculator
Surely a calculator-shaped robot would be a cooler thing to have in your pencil case? You could let it out in exams to shoot lasers at the invigilator while you crib quadratic equations answers from the person next to you. It’s daydreams like this that stopped me getting a decent Maths GCSE grade, incidentally.
Anyway, US gadget site Perpetual Kid is selling the less attractive option, a robot-shaped calculator…
Segatoys Dream Cat Smile now has – gulp – a video advertisement. Cue the vom-bags!
Remember that god-awful Segatoys Dream Cat Smile from a few months back, which caused possibly every Dreamcast-owning Sega fan to mourn the downfall of their adored Sega Empire, and join up for another year’s membership of the anti-Sony fanclub?…
A robot that helps you lose weight? Is that Gillian McKeith, then?
Tech Digest, featuring robots?! Never! The latest in our robotic obsessions is the Autom, which apparently helps people lose weight. I’ll take five!
Being described as a ‘weight maintenance sociable robot’ designed by the MIT Media Lab, it allows users to interact with the ‘bot through a touchpad, whilst it tracks your face and actually speaks to you. Here’s hoping it’s not programmed to say ‘you fat cow, lay off the Krispy Kremes already’….
Toyota's DJ Robot becomes a slightly less glamorous receptionist
It’s not often you hear of a DJ throwing in the towel and becoming a receptionist, I can’t imagine tight skinny black jeans and scruffy, sweat-soaked tousled hair being generally accepted in offices.
But, that’s what DJ Robot has done. Created by Toyota, it’s performed at the 2005 Aichi World Expo with several of Toyota’s other musical robots…
Forest fire fighting beetle-like robots in development
Robots are often developed to do highly unappealing, dangerous jobs, and these beetle-like bots in development by boffins at the University of Madgeburg-Stendal in Germany are no exception.
Their primary purpose in life is to fight forest fires.
Officially called OLE, they could theoretically run at 20-30 kmh, feature ceramic coating to protect them from temperatures of up to 1,300 degrees Celcius, and are able to retract their legs when they sense danger (like being barbecued, for example).
A team of 30 of these concept robots could cover an area of forest as large as 4,400 square miles. Unfortunately, they don’t currently exist, and there’s no clue yet when, or if, they will.
I don’t know what OLE stands for, but it’s probably in German. Any ideas?
(Via Bot Junkie)
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Forget a rugby player, this Optimus Prime Transformers PC case mod will scare the stalkers off!
…and no doubt ensure you never get a boyfriend/girlfriend again.
As everyone and their Josh Duhamel-fancying girlfriend knows, a Transformer just isn’t a Transformer if it doesn’t, well, transform. Things have to do what they say on the tin now, otherwise People Get Angry.
So full points to the man stuck in his perpetual ’80s flashback who created the fully customised Optimus Prime PC case. Able to transform from a PC tower…
