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…
A couple of notable interviews hit the web today.The first is Astrobiology Magazine's interview with Alex Ellery. Ellery heads the Surrey Space Centre's Robotics group and is taking part in the European Space Agency's ExoMars project. The second comes from BusinessWeek, who interviews Tatsuya Matsu…
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…
Biomimetics is off and looking at practically anything for inspiration. Insects are a particular favorite, of course, particularly those that fly, climb, and perform other gravity-defying tricks.Take the fly, for instance. How does it walk upside down? German researchers recently proved that flies …
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have created a team of unmanned aerial and ground vehicles that work together as a team to locate targets in an urban environment. The aerial vehicles have one high resolution camera that is able to view a large area, but only with a 6m accuracy. The g…
Scientists at the University of Nebrask have created a tactile sensor that is just as sensitive as a human fingertip. "The resolution of a human fingertip is about 40 microns, about half the diameter of a human hair." The device works by sandwiching a layer of semicondcuting nano-particl…
Yesterday the Korean government unveiled two new unmanned robotic millitary vehicles in their continuing effort to roboticize their military. The vehicles, dubbed XAV's, are developed by Korea's Agency for Defense Development and have the capability for remote controlled operation or autonomous. On…
A team of scientists from Italy, Germany, the UK, and Greece have designed a robot that is to be used to maneuver through your intestines. They have a demo video of it crawling its way through a pig's gut and wriggling over sand. The robot is designed to mimic the behavior of a worms, which are…
Lem over at Robots-Dreams has once again brought us some crazy Japanese robot-lovin'. This time it's Japanese American-Style Robot Football! The teams are made up of 4 robot players roughly the size of 3kg sumo-robots. Crazy mayhem ensues. Game play is in 2 3 minute halves. http://www.youtube.com/…
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…
A group of undergraduate students at MIT have constructed a number of spherical droids to operate in the International Space Station. The program, dubbed SPHERES, is run by David Miller and is sponsored by DARPA. The spheres are powered by compressed CO2 thrusters and are about the size of a volley…
Don't forget about the RoboGames coming up June 16-18th in San Franciso, USA. Tickets and pricing information are here. $55/$40 for a three-day pass, and $20/$15 for a one day. Here's a video on YouTube about the games. Should be awesome. Anyone going?
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…
iRobot says that soliders are bonding with their packbots. They give their little silicone bodyguards nicknames and form emotional bonds with them. iRobot Chief Executive Colin Angle said one group of soldiers even named its robot “Scooby Doo” and grieved when it was blown up after com…
