There's something extremely unnerving about the thought of a tiny robot (rc controlled) driving around the inside of my abdomen. It seems very akin to the robot that too up residence inside of Neo on The Matrix. Regardless, Dr. Dmitry Oleynikov and colleagues at the University of Nebraska Medical …
The Autonomous Light Air Vehicles (ALAVs), built by Jed Berk and Nihil Mitter, are three helium inflated balloons that roam about their invironment and interact with each other and humans in a very life-like way. The blimps use a new technology from Sun Microsystems called SunSPOTS. The devices si…
If you are near the Museum of Science in Cambridge tonight around 7 PM, stop in for a unique concert. 'Invasion of Technology' is a show featuring a mixture of music and musicians. Playing a blend Western and Balinese, Evan Ziporyn and Christine Southworth will be jamming with machines Bot(i)Cello…
By now, most people have heard of Ken Gracey's amazing 3.5" tall Penguin robots. He wrote an article on them in last month’s Servo magazine. The CNC drawings were published also and some in the robotics community have already built their own (for example, click here).Max Kurz at the Uni…
Dr. Scott Banks, an engineer at The University of Florida has developed a robot that shoots xray videos of moving patients. This will allow doctors to view the bone structure of their patients as they move. This is especially important for persons with orthopedic injuries. “Our goal is come…
The 2005 Engadget Award for "Robot of the Year" is now open! After a rigorous nomination procedure this year's nominees are Albert Hubo, Honda Asimo, iRobot Scooba, Stanford's VW Touareg "Stanley", and Wow Wee Robosapien.The winner of last years competition was the Honda Asimo,…
We have been wondering about what a Robo-one champion does in the off-season. Lem at A Robot's Dreams has brought us the answer: they go skiing! Click here to see the video.This is quite inspiring. Now to find some skis in my Robosapien's size.
Robert from Nurmijarvi Finland has created a robotic allosaurus. There are pictures of the construction on his website, along with an English description of the project. The robot is 8ft (2.5m) long, 5ft (1.6m) tall, and weights 55lb (25kg). It uses 13 motors to move and is wirelessly controlled vi…
Sadly, we roboticists cannot spend every minute of every day building 'bots. No, we need culture, too, and there is no better way to get it than by taking a trip to the museum.To see what, you may ask? Robotic sculptures, of course! This week past, news came in of an exhibit at the Coleman Gallery…
It seems to be pretty self-evident that pets are good for their owners. But, what about robot pets? Some scientists at the Center for the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue's Veterinary school say yes, robot pets do benefit humans. Petting an Aibo caused the human stress hormone cortisol to decrese in pat…
The title is a mouthfull. I've had these three links lying around for a while so I thought I'd get them off my chest.First is Michael Shiloh's linux powered robot at linuxrobots.org. It looks like this site could turn into a good resource for all of you trying to put the penguin on a 'bot.Second, i…
For her PhD thesis, Edurne Barrenechea Tartas developed a new twist on artificial vision: add fuzzy sets or noise. This is somewhat akin to the edge detection used in the Leaf Project, described by Robin Hewitt in Servo a few months back. The noise is used to dither the image, thereby increasi…
Korea's Center for Intelligent Robots is creating a 40 member panel to discuss the feasiblilty of creating robotic security forces for the nation. ``If the robots prove to be viable technically and commercially, we will be able to begin developing them late next year,'' said Lee Ho-gil, head of …
Hospitals in Pennsylvania have purchased several Tug robots. These haul carts to and fro, saving the nurse's time and the administration's dime. The robots are expected to save the hospital "$240,000 over five years."Technically, the Tug is impressive. It hauls up to 500 pounds. It runs …
FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) has announced its 2006 competition: Aim High. Papers all over the country have coverage. Like a strange combination of basketball and soccer, robots score points in Aim High by shooting nerf balls into hoops or rolling them thru goa…
If you, like me, were too busy hob-knobbing with the elite to visit CES2006 this year, have no fear! Google Video has your hook-up for checking out Honda's presentation of Asimo. Close to ten minutes of cheesy dialog and music give you a pretty good idea of how amazing this robot is. He maint…
