An unusual style for a robot, here's a prototype that you've surely never seen before: the bridge robot! Even if the model shown below is a miniature the size of a toy, the principle could certainly be replicated on a scale the size of a military vehicle, for example. The Stilzkin EXT3 robot …
Boston Dynamics' LittleDog has made progress recently. Not only was this little robotic critter able to move alone over difficult terrain, but now it does so with greater confidence: It jumps, climbs stairs, and reacts to real-time obstacles. "Little Dog" means "petit chien" in French, and it i…
The Advanced Security Guard (ASGuard) is a design by the Center for Robotics Innovation at the University of Bremen in Germany. This robot prototype can go underwater and on any type of rough terrain. Its role is to intervene in rescue operations during accidents or natural disasters. Asguard …
Here is a pretty amazing performance by a small humanoid robot. Surprising for two reasons: The first is that the stunts are rather sophisticated: he can do a handstand comparable to a great gymnast. The second is more mysterious: the music that accompanies the video is a song by Jacques Brel's …
In the Netherlands, some robots are already replacing gas pump attendants. The robot's code name: Tank Pit Stop. So, you no longer need to leave your vehicle; it's a little like the drive-in at fast-food restaurants :-) This robot was invented in 2008 and costs 75 000 euros. Its effectiveness…
Warehouse robots that help with the packing and stacking of sugar bags, it's a lot faster than "arms". At first glance, these bags of sugar must weigh about 50 kg each. You can imagine the effort spent by workers on carrying out a similar type of loading. Featured in this video, industrial robot…
The Micropilot MP-Vision Glider is an unmanned air vehicle. It can be preprogrammed with specific flight plans in advance. This drone can be optionally equipped with a camera to take snapshots of crops or forest areas, for example. The MP-Vision has a radio control but can also fly autonomou…
Tomohiro Shibata, a researcher in robotics and Satoko Inoue, who works for Kokoro (a robotics firm) in Japan, have found an original way of getting married. They used a priest robot. The humanoid robot, I-Fairy, officially performed the marriage. It's a world first. I-Fairy by Kokoro costs ab…
This sculpture is actually a robotic cube capable of keeping its balance by itself with an automatic stabilization mechanism to shift the center of gravity. The modules sway and can maintain the balanced position. Even more incredibly, the structure can be pushed and still not fall. Of course, …
The German Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics presented, at the IEEE 2010, a safety demonstration with an industrial robotic arm. In this case, they wanted to study the contact between a robot handling a sharp tool (scissors, kitchen knife, saw, scalpel) and human skin in order to prevent acci…
The bionic hand by the British company, Touch Bionics, is called i-Limb and its purpose is to replace the amputated limbs of people who have suffered accidents or injuries. The i-Limb Pulse is a revolutionary robotic hand-arm which can grab objects in a natural way. As well as shaking hands wit…
We recently told you about the oil spill and the important role played by robots to contain it in the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico and the BP offshore oil rig. Here's a first new video reported by DeepWaterHorizonResponse yesterday, from a site of support and reflection in order to find a solutio…
The Lockheed Martin Samarai is an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV). The project had to be abandoned but a new video has just appeared on YouTube. The SAMARAI is a 30 cm single rotating wing which can fly vertically, land, take off again, and go in any direction. It's inspired by the maple seed, whic…
We told you in March about the DNA nanotubes against cancer, developed at McGill University in Montreal. This time the American researchers have developed robotic molecules capable of modifying DNA to repair damaged or flawed tissues, like small robotic spiders. The robot measures 4 nanometers …
As a complement to our article yesterday on iRobot's future strategy in personal assistants, here's a video of the company's CEO, Colin Angle, at TEDMED 2009. It's a "must see" for those who follow the company closely. Concerning medical assistance to the elderly or increasingly dependent, it's e…
The manufacturers of industrial robots have seen a sharp increase in their activity for the first quarter of 2010 in the United States. The number of orders jumped +16% while billing on sales skyrocketed by 30% for the first quarter of the year. The comparison is made with the same quarter last…
