Marathon Robotics has developed some special Segway robots for training snipers in the Department of Defence in Australia. The Segways are especially adapted for military exercises, moving and responding virtually like humans. They move autonomously, can avoid obstacles at the last minute, go i…
We've already told you about Tsutenkaku, the tower robot from Osaka in Japan. This miniature robotic replica of Osaka's broadcasting tower, which measures 103 meters in height, is 1.70 m tall. This symbol of Osaka recently made its appearance in public as the master of ceremonies at the Electri…
You could almost believe it's a genuine press release from "Stark Industries" but actually it's a promotion for the film Iron Man 2. The video, site, company, press releases, photos,... it all seems very real but by taking a closer look you can see that the people in the video look more like act…
After the Runbot created in 1999, there's now Runbot2, developed by the Tokyo Polytechnic University. Even if it still has loads of wires connected to its body, this quadruped robot moves very naturally. It can run like an animal (a dog or a cat for example) in a way that clearly shows us the r…
Here's a robot which looks like the Loch Ness sea monster but which comes to us straight from Japan. A hybrid between a kind of worm and prehistoric monster. It has to be admitted that the prototype is pretty successful and you would easily say it looks like a real sea mammal. You can see other…
Hiroshi Ishiguro has just created a second version of its Geminoid humanoid robot: the Geminoid F (for 'female'). This female robot is a copy of an attractive woman in her 20s. Unlike the first Geminoid, it only has 12 servo motors in its face (50 for the H1) and 46 degrees of freedom for her bo…
James Corrigan is 72 years old and is a patient robot especially designed for nurses. The University of Houston-Victoria in America has decided to acquire this human simulator. As Victoria Advocate says, this robotic patient is dying of lung cancer but with a quick reboot he'll be all better. In …
According to Industrie.com, the Swiss-Swedish company, ABB, has launched a touchpad allowing the guided repair and maintenance of robots. This tablet PC allows all minor operations to be carried out without necessarily using a technician on site. It explains in detail the procedure to follow in…
Pirobot is a robot prototype which can focus on a ball of a specific color until it gets it and then concentrates on a second ball. In the video below, Pirobot only sees the green ball; it follows it with its eyes (with its camera) until it can finally hold it in its hands. Immediately afterwa…
We've already introduced you to PR2 in the past, the open-source robotic platform by Willow Garage. Recently we saw that the PR2 was able to autocalibrate on its own. Well, now it can also fold the laundry! The PR2 faced the test of folding 50 towels and succeeded with 100%. For now it only fold…
Do you remember Truckbot HTC G1 which we told you about in early March? Well, here is a new version of this little robot from Tim Heath and Ryan Hickman, this time flashier, in green transparent plastic and mainly, with improved capabilities. Truckbot used to respond to commands via a laptop. …
The Japanese laboratory, Kobayashi Lab, at Waseda University is in the process of developing SCHEMA, a new humanoid robot. It's 1.19 m tall and has 14 degrees of freedom, 6 in the arms and 8 in the head. The aim is to create an emotional humanoid. To achieve this, Schema has been given several …
Dino Segovis has created an all-terrain robot on a roomba platform. The "Urban Roverbot" is a mobile robot which is not satisfied with rolling on flat surfaces, that would be too easy :-) No, the prototype by Segovis is inspired by Mars Exploration Rover and can roll on broken ground amongst st…
American designer Norio Fujikawa has just completed the fantastic concept of a surveillance robot in the form of a spider. Kanibot has 6 legs, a video camera + a camera, motion sensors and an antenna to communicate with its base. Kanibot can venture on almost any terrain like a real spider. …
Rather than resorting to human guinea-pigs to practice the dental profession, Japan has decided to create its own guinea-pig robot, always ready to be operated on in the mouth. Hanako the female robotic patient can salivate, have a runny nose, move her eyes and express pain by speaking. She ope…
The robotics community welcomes a new player: Contineo Robotics. The company will develop robotic hands adept at delicate manipulations, robotic platforms and control systems. The hands will be primarily designed for first responders as well as for military use for handling bombs or explosives.…
