Fun
Ever Seen a Packbot Fly? Check this out!
Okay, so the video isn’t exactly “fresh” but the real news is that iRobot recently kicked off a video channel on YouTube called iRobot iTube which I just read about on the ieee Spectrum site.
7Jan2009 | Ray Renteria | 0 comments | Continued
FIRST Robotics Competition Kicks Off This Weekend
Thousands of kids from around the world will be participating in the robot-centered competition called For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) spawned by inventor Dean Kamen. The kickoff is Saturday, January 3 and will include a satellite feed handled by NASA in which Kamen himself will address the masses.
2Jan2009 | Ray Renteria | 0 comments | Continued
Robot Takes Aim at Human’s Puzzle-Solving Record
It’s all over the web. On January 8, 2009 a robot named RuBot2 will try to beat the world record set by a human at solving a Rubik’s Cube puzzle. Yawn. This shows good programming but I’ll only be impressed when a robot is built not knowing the concept of a Rubik’s cube then later [...]
28Dec2008 | Ray Renteria | 0 comments | Continued
PR Bot Still Making People Smile
If the value of a robot is determined by the amount of emotional response it evokes, then Elektro is priceless. The robot built in 1937 has been stimulating the imagination of those who have seen him for over 70 years. Read about his life in this month’s New Scientist.
26Dec2008 | Ray Renteria | 0 comments | Continued
Elegant Hexapod Transcends Art, Technology
iC Hexapod is the coolest robot I’ve ever seen. Builder Matt Denton of Micromagic Systems designed and machined the parts, motherboard, controller, and algorithms required to bring elegant animate life to this gorgeous piece of creative engineering, as Denton calls it. Each leg sports three servos giving it 18 degrees of freedom. [...]
21May2008 | Ray Renteria | 0 comments | Continued
BoozeBot 9000 Feels Your Pain
Patrons at your typical dank, seedy bar typically want two things from their barkeep- a perfectly prepared whiskey sour and a sympathetic ear. An ear ready to hear all about your tragic life and how nobody loves you. Those attending the misleadingly named Roboexotica in San Francisco last weekend want to outsource [...]
13May2008 | David Hahn | 0 comments | Continued
This Week in Bionically Enhanced Critters
As loyal longtime readers of RobotCentral already know, on Mondays we like to review the week’s advances in robotic animal parts. This past week had some truly exciting and disturbing developments.
Our robotic ornithologist readers will appreciate that Beauty the Bald Eagle will soon have a new bionic beak. Idaho Biologist Jane Cantwell has [...]
Robots and Your Prostate: What Could Possibly Go Wrong
Leonardo da Vinci was known for many things: painting, sculpting, and of particular interest to RobotCentral readers, a French king commissioned him to build a walking mechanical lion. Which for some reason could produce a chest full of flowers on demand (probably because Leo had not yet invented the chainsaw). But he also [...]
4May2008 | David Hahn | 0 comments | Continued
Break-Dancing, Stair-Falling, and now Baton-Twirling
Ask a symphony musician what the difference is between a conductor and a chimpanzee, and the musician will likely tell you that some chimpanzees have been shown to be able to communicate with humans. Perhaps a robot can gain their respect, and on May 13th, Honda’s multi-talented ASIMO Robot is going to try. [...]
25Apr2008 | David Hahn | 0 comments | Continued