Flying Robot Penguins – AirPenguin
04.02.10 :: 6 Comments, leave your own!
As if penguins weren’t awesome enough already, Festo, an über efficient German efficiency company, have created the AirPenguin – an autonomous flying robot penguin. This is a pure example of beautiful engineering at work, if not pointless (except for being a pure example of beautiful engineering at work of course). The penguins have a micro-controller that allows the to explore with “free will” in a defined airspace, detecting said airspace and each other using ultrasound transmitters. Presumably they are flying by being full of helium as opposed to some new anti-gravity technology I haven’t heard about yet.

I do feel a sense of impending doom in the video when the penguins are flying slowly towards their keepers, which got me thinking about an army of these flying penguins one-hundred strong slowly making their ever shiny progress across the country mesmerising the population into submission. And there won’t just be penguins – there will be eagles, sharks, tigers, bassett hounds and elephants too (and so on in that fashion). We bow to our new flying robot animal overlords.

via Rickey
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Icosatetraped Robot!
03.02.10 :: No comments yet, leave your own!
This robot is really cool and reminds me of some sort of Pokémon snail/millipede creature or Rincewind’s Luggage from Terry Pratchett’s novels. Icosatetraped means that is has 24 feet, which whilst is true, only actually uses 8 of them to move – the other 16 ‘feet’ being used to support the robot’s weight. Most remarkable is that the feet themselves are soft – that is they are made from hollow, ribbed tubing – which is quite novel. The ribbed part is important too since the feet are controlled pneumatically, the tubes filling with air and emptying to bend them in any direction! The robot is controlled over wifi to a mac mini.

I would like to know how many weekends “a few weekends” (the time it took to construct) is because if it is anything less than eight that is incredible! I want to work at Google and make robots damnit.

via Boing Boing
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Living With Robots – a Honda Short Film
23.01.10 :: No comments yet, leave your own!
Honda released this short film, Living with Robots, at the Sundance Film Festival. It is pretty cool, mainly about ASIMO and its history but also throws in some footage of the weird bodyweight support thing. Basically, its like a pair of electronic pants for lazy people that makes it appear as though a large robotic spider is trying to escape from your crotch. Anyway, pretty good watch so press play now.

After you’ve digested that, let me thrill you with more ASIMO visual pleasure by showing you the old advert/film attempting to bring warm joyous feelings towards ASIMO and such. Well, it works. Enjoy.

Honda – Dream the Impossible Campaign
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Nerdbots – Awesome Found Object Robot Sculptures
19.01.10 :: 2 Comments, leave your own!
Leotron

Nerdbots is brought to you by Nicholas and Angela from Kansas city. These people are my kind of people. The kind of people who one day decide they need to build a robot, dreams that I too share deeply with them. Using items they pick up at antique and thirft stores, they painstakingly create robot sculptures that are literally the greatest creations I have ever seen. I have no more words, just go to their site and take a long, long look. Then buy me one.

Rhapsody - freaking sweet NES pad win

Weston

Vita-Mix

Oddmund

Guy

Eico III

Channel Master

Nerdbots
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MIT’s AIDA – Digital Driving Assistant, Better than Kitt
10.01.10 :: No comments yet, leave your own!
Affective Intelligent Driving Agent

I am in your car, sensing all your stuff

Meet AIDA, the Affective Intelligent Driving Agent – a new personal robot to live in your car (probably an Audi as AIDA has very effective taste circuits). The project is a collaboration between the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab, MIT’s SENSEable City Lab and the Volkswagen Group of America’s Electronics Research Lab.

Embedded in the dashboard, this robot will not only be an in-car navigation aid but a sociable robot, getting to know the driver and pretty much be like your best mate helping you avoid traffic and watch out since you’re looking a bit tired. Hopefully AIDA won’t be like my mates who moan about my driving and leave rubbish everywhere, though.

AIDA will be fed tonnes of data from sensors all around the car – such as GPS, speed, car ahead proximity, tyre pressure, microphones and even galvanic skin response – then will convey them to you by offering time-saving routes, warnings that you look sleepy (or attempt to calm you down if you look like you’re stuck behind an idiot going 50mph in the fast lane yet again) and general companionship on long journeys. This will all happen through the high-resolution display showing a variety of facial expressions and warning signs whilst also being capable of speech synthesis.

Overall, I think this robot is brilliant and would love one in my car. And, unlike with Kitt, there are no requirements to have a dodgy perm and tight leather trousers to use it. Unfortunately, I figure that means buying a rather expensive car that may or may not exist yet. Maybe I could loan one to test this out.. fingers crossed!

Affective Intelligent Driving Agent

*fume*

aww, AIDA be sadded

AIDA warning

MIT via Gizmodo via Plastic Pals
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Junk Robot Sculptures
06.01.10 :: No comments yet, leave your own!
greasy does it

These robots made from recovered junk and found items are fantastic, even if they aren’t quite finished yet! Made by Travis Pitts, a freelance illustrator and designer, they hold on to a retro style and look superb. The attention to the details is where the win lies, kids (check out the buttons on the mad scientist bot!). I do hope that he finishes them and sticks a light in the, er, eggbot – it would make a great lamp that I would be quite prepared to pay for. Look out for more robot stuff, amongst a wealth of very impressive items, on his flickr page.

open your mouth and just say aaarrghh

baby robot? eggputer? lampbot!

Travis Pitts flickr via Super Punch
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DogBot – Goro Fujita concept robot art
02.01.10 :: No comments yet, leave your own!
01110111011011110110111101100110

This is a really awesome concept painting of a dogbot by Goro Fujita, a Japenese-German artist with a penchant for robots. I like the simplicity and the facial emotion of the sugar-cubish dogbot even though it’s only got a pair of black oval eyes for features. Basically, I want one.

Check out Goro’s blog, find his paintings and enjoy his website for more roboty goodness.

AREA-56 via Flickrfy
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I LIKE ROBOTS

I LIKE ROBOTS

2010: A YEAR IN ROBOTS

About

Blimey, it’s 2010 already, the most futuristic year to have ever happened. And what else exists in the future? Robots of course. So, in homage to our new masters (pending imminent takeover) here you will find a new robot each and every day of 2010, whether they be in pictures, art, videos or other forms.