After ten yeras, the array of creations made with the LEGO's Mindstorms kit is pretty impressive. One of the latest things to amaze me is this NXT 3D scanner created by Philo. The device uses several motors and linear actuators to probe the surface of an object and precisely record its shape. The …
Dvice and SciFi are sponsoring a Steampunk Cylon Contest. Your challenge is to design a steampunk style Cylon and submit a drawing or photo to SciFi before March 20th. Winners will win various Battlestar Galactica prizes. The Cylons were created by the people of the Twelve Colonies. Intelligent…
The LEGO company is producing a special, Limited Edition, version of the Mindstorms NXT brick. The brick will be black, and LEGO will only produce 1998 of them, to commemorate the creation of Mindstorms in 1998. Owners will get special goodies, like bragging rights, and special programs with the p…
Chris Grine claims he can draw 3 robots a week for a full year, thereby creating "165 'Bots With Stuff". His whimsical drawings will put a smile on your face and give you a good chuckle. I especially enjoy #006, "a robot with a warm tender heart" and "a robot with a distinct limp". Good wor…
Riding with Robots brings us a neat story of how NASA has recycled one of their missions, and turned it into another. The EPOXI (Extrasolar Planet Observation and Deep Impact Extended Investigation) mission utilizes the main vehicle from the Deep Impact mission to performan another series of expe…
Boeing reported today that it has successfully destroyed several flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) using a laser weapon mounted on a truck. The weapon was mounted to an Avenger Air Defense vehicle, which normally uses surface-to-air missiles for attacks. The successful test involved the Laser…
 If anyone doubted the US Air Force's commitment to unmanned (read: robots) aircraft, you won't after you hear this: The Air Force plans on acquiring more unmanned than manned aircraft next year. That's a pretty amazing statistic, and amounts to billions of dollars of potential new busine
Shown below is a video of a robot that uses the perceived vanishing point of an image to navigate through a corridor. The robot, based on an iRobot Create, uses a standard webcam and video processing to locate the vanishing point of what it sees, and navigates towards that point. Such navigation wo…
Ok, show of hands, how many of you robot lovers have been watching "Battlestar Galactica" (BSG)? I hope it's all of you, because, if you haven't you've been missing some excellent story-telling. I started watching BSG about year ago because I'd heard lots of good things about it. Now I'm hooked. …
Robot Stock News has an interesting post about a new robot company, SmartMow, and their self titled product, a robotic lawnmower. The mower, which is currently available for preorder, will retail for $999 and features lithium batteries, a self-charger and can supposedly mow 1/3 of an acre on a si…
We've reported on such matter before, but once again a US Military drone (robot) has successfully fired on and killed at least 5 militants (terrorists) on the Pakistani border. It's great to hear that the "bad guys" are getting the due, and that US soldiers are being kept from harm by our roboti…
Ok, so we've heard songs about robots before, but unless you happen to be a fan of Flight of the Conchords, perhaps you haven't heard this one - "The Humans are Dead". Sung from the point-of-view of two conquering robot overlords, it's a clever and distopian view of our future. Oh, and be sure to …
A couple interesting submarine launched UAVs, one by Raytheon and another, VOLANS, built by a German company, are featured in this Register article. The Submarine Over the Horizon Organic Capabilities, or SOTHOC, built by Raytheon, is launched out of the waste disposal lock of a sub…
The Christmas season is upon us, and it's time to whip up your gift lists. Why not put a little robot love on there? Here's some great suggestions for robotic gifts. We've featured 10 great products that will make excellent gift ideas for your robot loving friend or relative. LEGO Mindstorm…
The US Army has decided to move it's Robotics Systems Joint Project Office to Warren, MI, outside of Detroit. In response to this, many large robotics companies are following suit and opening offices in the area. The office is currently hiring engineers and designers to create robots to do “d
 In what is pretty stunning news to me, iRobot has purchased Nekton Research for $10 million USD. The reason this is so stunning, is because Nekton is 30min down the road from me, and I've interviewed there! Nekton is a small business located in Durham North Carolina and specializes in unde
