Here's a very special robotics development: Its 4 independent robots but which are capable of regrouping together to move and even fly off. Invented at the Swiss Federal Institute, these robots can communicate amongst themselves and know precisely their positions in relation to each other. Once…
The Laboratory of the Institute of Advanced Technology of Chiba in Japan is showing many videos of their prototypes on Youtube. There you can find a strange giant spider which transports a man sitting, a robotic mini crab as well as a flying butterfly species. It's exciting to discover: http:/…
Belvedere the Buttlerbot is a DIY robot based on the iRobot Create platform (Roomba base). It was made by a robotics enthusiast for his family and mainly for his son, Ethan (dancing in the photo above). Belvedare can avoid obstacles, serves food and drinks, talks, tells jokes and plays music. …
Qbo by The Corpora, an open source robot project that we told you about recently now has its own video channel on Youtube. An address to remember: http://www.youtube.com/user/QboRobot As a reminder, the Qbo by Francisco Paz aims to bring artificial intelligence to the home. http://www.youtube.…
This robotic quadruplet has certainly attracted attention at the Robo-One competition. Four robots attached to each other were the clowns and entertained the audience there. It's rare to see a robot be funny but it's pretty refreshing to watch. Here are the four Kondo humanoid robots. When did …
Emily, for Emergency Integrated Lifesaving Lanyard, is a new life guard robot on Malibu beaches, ready to replace Pamela Anderson. The company Hydronalix specializes in marine robotics and is the manufacturer of it. This life guard robot is able to swim and save people from drowning 6 times fas…
The video is not recent but it is worth watching. This LEGO Mindstorms NXT walks all by itself on two legs like a human being, a little like Petman by Boston Dynamics. It shows once again that with LEGO Mindstorms you can do anything, or almost. Over to your screwdriver and bolts! :-) http://ww…
Here's a terminator police robot that could scare those who want to speed off and try to escape the police. For the moment, it's just an idea. This auto-moto is halfway between Robocop and a beetle. The idea: unmanned inside (so safer), it chases fugitives. It's an idea of Carl Archambault's,…
We've just received in the RobotShop store the Fez Domino microcontroller by GHI Electronics. FEZ stands for "Freaking Easy." It's a microcontroller which can be programmed in Microsoft .NET Micro Framework and is compatible with Arduino Duemilanove shields. One of the differences with Arduino …
Pierre Dupont's team at Boston University is in the process of developing a surgical robot which could be maneuvered in veins whilst also being harder than a catheter. The new technology called a "concentric tube robot" would have the flexibility of a catheter and the stiffness of a needle. The t…
Robotinho is a museum guide robot that talks and gives explanations to groups of children and tourists. But its main feature lies in its means of locomotion: the Roomba QuadDrive, 4 Roomba robot vacuums placed side by side with a Robotis Dynamixel RX-64 servo, which makes it an omnidirectional r…
Asus recently launched the AGAiT E-Clean, a robot vacuum. The robot by Asus also removes soil microbes with its ultraviolet lamp and can even add a touch of perfume. It has a battery life of an hour and a half (it automatically returns to the base) and it takes 3 hours to recharge. The E-Clea…
CTC (Concurrent Technologies Corporation) has won a contract worth 46 million dollars from the Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane (NSWC Crane) (United States). The project aims to develop land robotics systems which will eventually be able to save the lives of American soldiers in combat. The m…
How do you use a LEGO Mindstorms NXT to set off fireworks safely? This video shows you how. The robot is a MINDSTORMS NXT kit which uses two light sensors, one for detecting the lighting of a firework. The prototype also uses an ultrasonic sensor to adjust the height of the lighter in comparison…
Here's a fish robot that can lead an entire school of fish. Researchers at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University has managed to create a robotic fish capable of displaying leadership and being the leader in a school of fish by using mathematics and artificial intelligence. One possib…
Chinese art students have built a Giant Transformers robot. Height: 32 feet, or 9.77 meters. Its weight: 4 tons (4000 kg). The steel and tire monster has been built out of... an old truck (photo below). Their project has cost around 4500 US dollars. Watch the animation video created for …
