Read robotic news about Robotshop and the robotics industry.
In response to our earlier post about the Vex Robotics Programming kit, it seems that they may realy be available this time. Everyone's favorite electronics (cell phone?) store, Radio Shack, now lists the item as "In stock" for website and phone orders. The word I'm getting is that it isn…
This fits squarely into the, "umm ... why?" category of items. ThinkGeek is selling a collection of "static statues of really slick robot designs," with each one being, "around 500 microns in size." That's about 3x the width of your hair. And lest ye be concerned they …
The privately held LiftPort Group Inc. made one of it's milestones in its quest to build a space elevator. A robot has successfully climbed up a 1,000 ft long 'rope' to a teathered baloon. The rope was actually an ultra strong carbon nano-tube ribbon that will eventually be stretched from a platfor…
Note: Lest ye be confused, this is actually a few years old. FYI. I stumbled upon this via Del.icio.us. It's a beautifully rendered short film with this premise: "What if we could build a system to help police in developing nations?" The solution, presented in breathtaki…
Check out this great page, the "Unmanned flight machines for fight & monitoring" Gallery. It's in German, so I've linked to the Google translation. It shows a huge list of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) along with descriptions. A lot of these I've never seen before. Also included are…
Oh man, I want one of these! Unveiled on September 18th at, "An exhibition of major achievements of the national 10th Five-Year program," The "Huitong" robot, "possesses functions including sense of sight, audio dialogue, sense of force and sense of balance. This humanoid r…
A team of folks from across the pond, University of Southampton, claim to have invented the best artificial hand so far. That's quite a claim for the 6 motor device. The, "team has designed a prototype that uses six sets of motors and gears so each of the five fingers can move independently.&q…
A robot has been invented that can weed crops. The robot strolls down crop rows, distinguishing between weeds and the good plants, removing the weeds. It was invented by a Swedish guy from Halmstad University, named Björn Åstrand (the abstract for his PhD thesis is here). In a world whe…
I know I posted recently about the Predator drone killin' some Iraqi baddies, but that was a picnic compared to this! "Robotic warplanes, finding and attacking targets by themselves, have been successfully tested. "In early August, two American Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles (UCAVs)…
I'll resist the temptation to make a joke about just how ironic it is that such a small thing is such big news, but a group of Dartmouth researchers just recently created, what's now dubbed, 'the world's smallest robot." Whether that's actually true or not, it's pretty darn small - measuring 6…
I just heard from a friend about the possibility that Vex has (finally) come out with their programming kit. He says:"Saw a radio shack ad – the Vex SW kit is now available – C based"It's currently listed on Radio Shack's website as "In Store", but for my zip code it…
Continuing with our "robots saving lives" theme, check out the robotic CPR machine that a Staffordshire, UK ambulance service has put in 100 of its ambulances. The Daily Mail says, "In only 20 seconds, the machine can be ready to perform compressions on a sick patient, which ma…
Three cheers for the US Army and for robots! SpaceWar.com recently reported that an unmanned US robotic drone, one of the popular Predators, successfully attacked a group of Iraqui insurgents about to attack a military base in the region. The insurgents were about to launch a morter attack on the b…
Yep, you read that right - it's a robotic pizza vending machine. Wonder's never cease over what you'll find on Delicious. I know it's not terribly related to this site's content, but I couldn't resist. Apparently, Wonder Pizza USA wants to bring "fresh", delicious, and nutritious (?) piz…
PC Magazine has published a review of WowWee toy's latest robotic amusement item - the Robopet. Retailing for $99, the Robotpet is next in the line of robot toys created by Mark Tilden and marketed by Wowwee. First came Robospaien, then Roboraptor, now Robopet, and hopefully before this x-mas, Robo…
Dear God, Katrina raped the gulf coast of the US. Consider a donation to the Red Cross or your favorite aid charity. In related news, MSNBC published a report on robotics and hi-tech gear involved in the rescue process. Mentioned in the article is the University of South Florida's Institute for …
