This robotic hand is quite amazingly accurate. By the Ishikawa Komuro laboratory at the University of Tokyo, this hand prototype shows very promising reflexes and speed. With only three fingers, the hand can juggle with a straw, throw then catch a flying object (a cell phone here), hold and move…
It will have taken one year, 4 people and 30 000 dollars worth of LEGO to achieve this giant robotic chess game. 100 000 LEGO and NXT pieces have been used here to carry out this project. The giant chessboard measures about 16 m2, or 4 meters by 4 meters. There are 3 game modes: human against …
The Laboratory of the Institute of Advanced Technology of Chiba in Japan is showing many videos of their prototypes on Youtube. There you can find a strange giant spider which transports a man sitting, a robotic mini crab as well as a flying butterfly species. It's exciting to discover: http:/…
Belvedere the Buttlerbot is a DIY robot based on the iRobot Create platform (Roomba base). It was made by a robotics enthusiast for his family and mainly for his son, Ethan (dancing in the photo above). Belvedare can avoid obstacles, serves food and drinks, talks, tells jokes and plays music. …
Qbo by The Corpora, an open source robot project that we told you about recently now has its own video channel on Youtube. An address to remember: http://www.youtube.com/user/QboRobot As a reminder, the Qbo by Francisco Paz aims to bring artificial intelligence to the home. http://www.youtube.…
An incredible demonstration by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh in the United States: a monkey managed to move an articulated robotic arm by using only its mind. The use of control by the mind with sensors in the brain is not a world first, but it still has an effect. All the more so i…
How do you say hello with a customized LEGO robot? It's what this B3ta forum user has done. Built from scratch, the DIY Lego printer has been connected to an Apple Mac. The creator wishes to clarify that this has nothing to do with Mindstorms and that he built it all by himself with electronic…
Here's a 1.83 m (6 feet) tall robot based on the Terminator film. We don't have much more information on this ultra rare specimen except that the replica with the T-800 is almost perfect. This animated prototype has been built mainly out of steel and aluminum. It uses servos and is controlled …
Steve Norris of Norris Labs has developed a friendly beer serving robot. In fact, there are two separate robots. The first one, Baxter or ButlerBot goes to pick up the beer and brings it to the one who drinks it. When it arrives near the robotic refrigerator, Robofridge opens all by itself and…
Researchers at the University of Michigan in the US have developed a biped robot called MABEL, capable of walking without falling even when faced with improvised obstacles. Most surprisingly, this 57 kg robot has no vision (no video camera) but only sensors (encoders) which measure the angles of…
Scout Lego Robot Here's a prototype of the Lego robot made by Belisario Russefl de la Torre. The young man, aged 28 today, built his first robot when he was 10 years old. Scout is the project of a robotic helicopter with two fans. It still doesn't fly but the foundations of the project …
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…
