The Robust Robotics Group at MIT has created a QuadCopter which can travel about according to vocal instructions. The technician in the video below gives the following order to a helicopter robot: "Go across room 124, then face the windows and go up." This drone carries out the order without di…
At the Expo FC 2010 in Japan, Osaka University presented a pretty mind-blowing prototype of a robotic fish. Its movements in particular are so realistic you could easily mistake it for a real fish. It measures 10 cm in length, is powered by a solid polymer fuel cell (Power Tube) and a polymer l…
The PR2 by Willow Garage is able to autocalibrate on its own with a new ROS (Robot Operating System) software application. This saves a considerable amount of time since the robot is left alone to work in order to calibrate its sensors. And here it is in the video demonstration below. For a remi…
Two web engineers, Tim Heath (Python specialist) and Ryan Hickman (who works for Google Double Click) have developed a mini tank which operates with a mobile phone running on Android. The HTC G1 phone that sits on the tank robot directs the small vehicle which currently possesses limited mobile …
Steve de BotBuilder built a Dalek robot capable of working via the iPhone / iPod by using the Wi-Fi and accelerometer of the Apple device. Simply tilt the iPhone to make the robot move in the desired direction. For those wondering what Dalek is, it is a mutant alien robot from the British telev…
The HUMAVIPS project consists of developing Homanoids with auditory and visual abilities in populated spaces. ("Humanoids with auditory and visual abilities in populated spaces"). European researchers are developing a prototype robotic that will be able to find a particular person amongst a nois…
RoboCar is an autonomous car prototype manufactured in Japan by ZMP, a robotics startup. This car is remote controlled by computer and it avoids any obstacles only using its sensors, lasers, radar, and embedded video cameras. In fact this model is a replica of the robocar toy that already exist…
The firm Peratech, based in North Yorkshire in the United Kingdom, in collaboration with the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA) is taking a step further in humanizing robots. After finding applications for its QTC (quantum tunneling composites) in mobile phones and video games, it …
MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) recently introduced the FlyFire project. An image in space is created using miniature robot helicopters with multicolored LEDs. These helicopters move anywhere in 3D space, then hover in mid-air to create the image of your choice. Flyfire could invol…
The Japanese JO-Zero robot was introduced late in 2009 at the International Robots Exhibition. With twenty degrees of freedom (different movements), including ten in the legs, eight in the arms, and two in size, this mini-robot moves almost like a human. In the future, when a larger version is …
Here is a telepresence prototype, a robot developed to see what the person wearing it is seeing. It wraps around the shoulders like a backpack equipped with an advanced video camera and a microphone. It may be useful for teleconferences, or if you need to talk on behalf of someone far away. This…
You are going to be amazed by this drawing robot who can sketch your portrait just by looking at you. This Aikon2 Skediomata robotic arm was presented at the Kinetica Art Fair in London a few days ago. It uses a video camera to view facial features and then the "hand" reproduces them on a piece o…
Matt Bunting, an electrical engineering student in Tucson, Arizona has developed a particularly successful hexapod robot. This is a robot spider that moves in all directions with incredible flexibility and with legs that are both, joined and independent. The student project is so successful that …
fuRo in Japan has developed a jacket system (WIND) that allows remotely controlling a robot. The vest is equipped with sensors that detect the movements of anyone wearing it and wirelessly sends instructions to the robot, which in turn receives and executes them. It replicates exactly the movem…
What you are about to see in this video may shock you; please take a seat :-) The robot below is comprised of parts from Lego Mindstorms NXT, a programmable kit and a Nokia N95 mobile phone. It can solve a Rubik's Cube with16 small squares per side (4x4 x 6 sides). To begin, the Nokia takes a ph…
Here is the way the robot concept looked in Japan in the early 20th century (1930). And here is what a robot looks like today the 21st century: (Honda's New Asimo) Which do you prefer?
