Read robotic news about Robotshop and the robotics industry.
Carnegie Mellon has announced this year's inductees for the Robot Hall of Fame. The real-life droids include Aibo and Scara. From the fiction category, there is David from AI, Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still, and Maria from Metropolis. "The five robots were formally inducted at a June …
Will Microsoft Go Robotic? The answer: yes. Microsoft is moving several of its pieces into play. Microsoft Research is working with Carnegie Mellon to launch the Center for Innovative Robotics. "Microsoft also has several academic and commercial partners that plan to support its software. Those inc…
Well, we knew something was going to happen, but we weren't sure what. I'm not sure I would have guessed Microsoft would be releasing a software package though. Yes, as of Today, Microsoft is now an official player in the robotics market with the release of its Robotics Studio. The software can…
PleoBot.com has posted a new vide of Pleo the robot dinosaur from Ugobe. You may remember Pleo from our story earlier this year. Pleo was first announced at DEMO2006 and generated a bit of buzz. Since then the news-waves have been relatively quiet.In the video you'll see how Pleo responds to touch…
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is testing the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to patrol the sky over LA. The vehicle, called SkySeer, is built by Octatron Inc., and apparently obscure company from St. Petersburg FL.The vehicle can autonomously navigate using GPS waypoints or be wirele…
Phillip Torrone over at the MakeZine Blog has just posted pictures and video from his trip to iRobot. If you've never gotten a closeup look at the PackBot and its controlls the video is well woth a look-see. The video shows the 'bot in the EOD configuration ( the giant 7" arm ). You also get a…
The European Union has decided it wants to fly fleets of unmanned robotic drones over its borders to cut down on illegal immagration, smuggling, human-trafficking, and terrorism. The vehicles will fly at a height of 2,500 ft and patrol the English Channel and Mediterranean coasts. Belgian already u…
Ever wondered what all is going on inside of ASIMO's head? Honda has a great page listing some of the technology that ASIMO is using and the many cool tricks he can perform.Some examples include ASIMO's ability to recognize where a person is pointing and move there. Looking at the accompanying imag…
Using telepresence robots a hospitalized child can now participate in the classroom. The system, developed by Telbotics Inc., Ryerson U., and the University of Toronto, use two robots, one in the hospital room and one in the classroom, to allow the child to be involved in his class. The child can v…
This year marks the 20th birthday of our favorite corporate walking robot, the Honda ASIMO. Honda has a great site detailing the development and growth of the project over the years. I, for one, didn't even know they'd been working on it for so long. Honda has taken up a new challenge in mobilit…
My favorite online shopping experience just got a whole lot better. Amazon recently released its " Industrial and Scientific " store beta. Need some sheet metal, plastic rod, compression springs, or set screws? Amazon has them now. While I can't vouch for the prices, I do know t…
Via CanadianDriver.com Wipe away those tears robot lovers! The DARPA Grand Challenge is back (pdf), and in case you've grown tired of dangerous mountain passes and arid deserts, this year's race is in da 'hood ... of sorts. The DARPA Urban Challenge will feature autonomous ground vehicles executing…
The LEGO Mindstorms NXT "gag order" is finally up! Now all the privileged few that gained access to the holy grail, Mindstorms Developer Program (MDP), can share the glories of their lifestyle. We're written previously about our favorite NXT site, The NXT Step blog, run by Jim. Jim has ag…
There's been lots of rumors swarming around that Radio Shack was killing the VEX Robotics line of toys. I got some news a month or so ago, but hesitated to post about it since it was totally unconfirmed. However, most of the VEX stock in my area was placed on deep discount and sold within a weekend…
A while back we posted about an interview with Colin Angle, the co-founder and CEO of iRobot. Next up is an interview with Helen Greiner, co-founder and chairman of iRobot. Greiner discusses founding iRobot, her interest in robots (started with R2D2), and iRobot's biggest setback (late night robot…
The NY Times has an excellent article on NASA's foray into the Grand Challenge model of research and development. Instead of paying millions to contractors to develop new technologies, why not sponsor contests and only pay the winners? Folks have fun and NASA gets tons of cheap R&D. [T]he ag…
