In a not-so-surprising move, iRobot Corp. has announced their new iRobot Create programmable robot. The platform allows you to use the robust Roomba-like chassis to create your own robotic creations. An optional Command Module plugs right into the cargo bay to allow you to program and controll the…
A Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle has flown its first ever mission over the USA. This past Monday the robot landed at Beale Air Force Base in California, after completing its unstated mission. "This landmark flight has historic implications since it's the first time a Global Hawk has …
This is for all of you out there that read the ballroom dancer-bot story and decided you needed to master walking before dancing. Nomura Unison Co. along with Tohoku Universities' Kazuhiro Kosuge and Yasuhisa Hirata have created a robotic walking assistant that not only senses its user'…
Dr. Josh Bongard, a graduate of Cornell University, and now an assistant professor at University of Vermont, has created a robot that automatically determines and compensates for any damage done to its four legs. The research, which recently appeared in Science Magazine (abstract here) is especial…
White Box Robotics has finally started shipping its first run of PC 914 robots. By now the first run should be completely shipped, sans the attractive outer shell, due to delays in manufacturing. You may also notice that two small vertical parting lines were added to the bottom of the robot to brin…
iRobot issued a press release this morning detailing some of their new products . Of special interest is the new 250lb Warrior robot. Warrior, which is about six times the size of the packbot, can move at over 12mph over rough terrain and can carry a payload of up to 100 lbs. This annoucement coin…
This story lands in today's "very cool, yet very scary" category - South Korea develops a machine-gun equipped robotic sentry. The sentry robot is equipped with two cameras, one for day-time and one for infrared night vision, zooming capabilities, a speaker for notifying the intruder…
Instead of having a robot crawl through your intestines, how about it gliding along on a trail of slippery mucus? A group of researchers from Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands, is taking this novel approach to inter-body exploration in order to protect the delicate lining of the in…
First it was Jesse Sullivan, the first man to receive two bionic arms that are controlled via his own brain impulses, now it's Claudia Mitchell, the first woman to receive such an arm. Mitchell is the 4th such person to receive such an arm, which is controlled via nerves which originally went …
A group of scientists at MIT are working on a gas engine about the size of a quarter. Better yet, it's made out of sillicon. The device, who's individual pieces are all working, still needs to be fully assembled and tested. The engines components, like a combustion chamber, compressor, and turbine,…
Robot hobbyists (with a hefty wallet) rejoice! The long awaited 9-Series PC Robots from White Box Robotics are officially soon-to-be-shipping. The robots, manufactured by Frontline Robotics, which merged with Tom Burick's brainchild, White Box Robotics, are first being released in a low quantity, …
On Friday CMU announced via press relase the creation of the "Ballbot" (original, I know). It's a robot that dynamically balances on one steel ball. It was picked up by several robot websites and was also featured on RocketBoom. That's all fine and good, until someone cries "fowl!&…
A couple of notable interviews hit the web today.The first is Astrobiology Magazine's interview with Alex Ellery. Ellery heads the Surrey Space Centre's Robotics group and is taking part in the European Space Agency's ExoMars project. The second comes from BusinessWeek, who interviews Tatsuya Matsu…
Biomimetics is off and looking at practically anything for inspiration. Insects are a particular favorite, of course, particularly those that fly, climb, and perform other gravity-defying tricks.Take the fly, for instance. How does it walk upside down? German researchers recently proved that flies …
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have created a team of unmanned aerial and ground vehicles that work together as a team to locate targets in an urban environment. The aerial vehicles have one high resolution camera that is able to view a large area, but only with a 6m accuracy. The g…
Scientists at the University of Nebrask have created a tactile sensor that is just as sensitive as a human fingertip. "The resolution of a human fingertip is about 40 microns, about half the diameter of a human hair." The device works by sandwiching a layer of semicondcuting nano-particl…
