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Robots
Poor little Pleo. The innocent and uber-cute robot dinosaur suffered at the hands of your DVICE narrators, sure, but that mild session of humiliation pales by comparison to this ass-whipping Pleo took at Maker Faire last weekend. What could...
POSTED Friday, May 9, 2008
The University of Toronto in Canada has developed a pair of robotic grippers that can apply as little of 20 nanoNewtons of force on an object, using its three-millimeters-long arms to grab cells 10 micrometers across and transport them....
POSTED Thursday, May 8, 2008
The iDeal automatic poker dealer gets rid of all your suspicions that the house is trying to cheat you. It uses infrared sensors, looking for bike reflectors mounted on stands, to determine how many players are at a table...
POSTED Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Here's some creepy news: scientists have created a robot mouth that can chew food into a mash just like people, paving the way for robots of the future to acquire a taste for human flesh. In reality, the device could...
POSTED Wednesday, May 7, 2008
You may remember a bug-eyed little 'bot by the name of HOAP-3, a biped designed by Fujitsu that's taken on all manner of tasks, including playing soccer. Now researcher Sylvain Calinon and company at the Learning Algorithms and Systems...
POSTED Tuesday, May 6, 2008
You can understand the U.S. military’s fascination with insect-like weapon and surveillance designs. If you’re looking to create a smart and sneaky organism from the ground up, why not tap the wisdom of millions of years of evolution, borrowing...
POSTED Friday, May 2, 2008
Now that Iron Man is here, it got us to thinking: Could we build our own Iron Man suit? Not just a costume, but a functioning apparatus that could perform the miracles the spectacular marvel in the movie does?...
POSTED Friday, May 2, 2008
It would be easy to call the Push-kun another lame toy robot if it wasn't for its striking resemblance to the terrifying spider bots of Ghost in the Shell. With a top half that could easily be mistaken for a...
POSTED Wednesday, April 30, 2008
When you hear about robots coming out of Japan, a few thoughts probably come to mind. Security for the future. Jaw-droppingly advanced. Absolutely everywhere. Yet here's one robot strawberry picker from the Land of the Rising Sun that's doesn't...
POSTED Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Whether you reference the insane toys of Akira or the companion bot in A.I., I've always thought the bear was the best form for our robot ambassadors to take. Taking us another step in that direction is Hykim the Robot...
POSTED Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Bigshot Toyworks, a design studio known for its ridiculously high quality action figures, is giving one of Ashley Wood's distinct robots a real world presence. Meet Bertie, one of Wood's pipebomb 'bots from his upcoming World War Robot comic...
POSTED Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The RP-7 robot assistant is designed to enable surgeons and doctors to have a virtual presence with patients. It performed a more sentimental assignment, allowing Army Staff Sergeant Erik Lloyd, currently on tour in Iraq, to interact with his...
POSTED Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Your average autonomous underwater vehicle (or AUV) uses propellers or jets to maneuver underwater, but Finnegan the RoboTurtle, described as an "agile and aggressively maneuvering biomimetic autonomous underwater vehicle," is shaking things up with a new way to get...
POSTED Monday, April 21, 2008
Researchers at Osaka University in Japan aren't kidding around about cyborgs. They are looking into ways for robotic limbs to be controlled in real-time by the power of thought, and one such method is by performing invasive (or open-skull)...
POSTED Thursday, April 17, 2008
3D-R1's destiny isn't among the stars, but deep underground. The lil' robot managed to tread across 1.3 miles of subterranean tunnels of a San Jose silver mine in Mexico in only three and a half days. Its mission was...
POSTED Thursday, April 17, 2008
In America, drinking a lot of whiskey is a good way to mess up your liver. In Japan, it gets you a free robot. America: 0, Japan: 1. Japanese brewing house Suntory is giving away robots to get the...
POSTED Thursday, April 10, 2008
The year is 2025, and more and more of Japan's workforce is becoming too old to carry on their duties. By 2030, a thinktank projects, that workforce may be shrink by 16%, unchallenged by the low fertility rate of...
POSTED Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Half Johnny Appleseed, half doomsday machine, the colorful CV08 "suburb eating" robot is a massive hexapod that'll crawl across the urban landscape, destroying the houses and everything within them in order to replant trees. Each leg fulfills different functions,...
POSTED Monday, April 7, 2008
Outside of medical, military and, yes, sex-bots, the "boy and his dog" relationship will likely be one of the earliest successful human/robot relationships. Pushing us forward into that directrion is HPI's robotic G-Dog. Powered by 7.2 volt nickel hydrogen batteries,...
POSTED Saturday, April 5, 2008
Toshiba is working on a new universal remote that's a little different. It's a robot that'll learn how you interact with your house, rather than force you to program it. Let's say you picked up your remote to turn on...
POSTED Wednesday, March 26, 2008
A robot is currently being employed by Japanese retailer Aeon Co. to entertain children in the play area of its shopping malls in Fukuoka city. The Tmsuk-developed 'bot stands nearly five feet tall and can keep track of kids who...
POSTED Tuesday, March 25, 2008
More proof that Japan fully intends to eventually make every anime character come to life arrives in the form of the Black Ox Robot. The robot's characteristics are based on the anime nemesis of Tetsujin 28 (aka Gigantor), the hero...
POSTED Saturday, March 22, 2008
It’s awfully difficult to build a flying robot with spy gear built in, so why not just implant that paraphernalia in a living bug? Scientists are making progress on the idea of a cyborg butterfly, with a Georgia Tech...
POSTED Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Is this robot pretending to be a child? Or is it an important exercise in balance? Either way we're impressed with how fluidly this 'bot keeps itself in motion by moving its whole body. It'd be interesting to know...
POSTED Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The United States Naval Research Laboratory and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory are fixing to put a telescope on the Moon, placed there by robotic rovers. Called the Dark Ages Lunar Interferometer, the DALI mission is still in its conceptual stages,...
POSTED Monday, March 17, 2008
There goes one more reason why dogs need masters. This tennis ball launcher will keep that mutt entertained for hours, with no effort required from you. Jerry the dachshund appears to be well-trained, not only to place the ball...
POSTED Monday, March 17, 2008
Those mad scientists across the pond are at it again. European scientists have just launched a $9 million project to create a prototype team of self-organizing, self-healing, shape-changing mini robots that can work as a team by 2013. The...
POSTED Thursday, March 13, 2008
The inventors at Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories created the excellent Bristlebot with just a battery, a toothbrush head, and a cell phone vibrator. They also showed us how to make cute bugs out of old computer chips. Now, one...
POSTED Thursday, March 13, 2008
We’ve seen some kooky tape dispensers before, but this one goes overboard with the assistance of gears and wheels. If you’re the laziest guy in the office, you might not mind this $36 tape-dispensing bot on your desk, even...
POSTED Wednesday, March 12, 2008
A scientific study published this month shows that the robotic dog Aibo is as effective as a real dog for treating loneliness in nursing homes. It has long been known that animal-assisted therapy (longhand for bringing a dog to...
POSTED Wednesday, March 12, 2008
We think robot enthusiast Dr. GIY from Japan may have a world-class robot sprinter on his hands with his modified Kyosho MANOI AT01. The robot is slated to compete in the 5 meter dash at the Kyosho Athlete Humanoid...
POSTED Tuesday, March 11, 2008
The C-Bot, by designer Niklas Galler, is a clever way to check a building's structural integrity and perform other vertical tasks. Taking a page from geckos and other wall-climbing lizards, the C-Bot's footpads are covered by tiny nano-hairs that act...
POSTED Thursday, March 6, 2008
Move over, Roomba, there's a new cleaning robot in town, and it's designed to clean up messes a lot bigger than some spilled kitty litter. The OSP robots are designed to swarm out in groups and work together to contain...
POSTED Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Birds and airports don't mix. I mean, yes, both are based around taking to the skies, but birds have a pesky way of splattering on windshields and getting sucked into jet engines that can cause a serious number of problems....
POSTED Tuesday, March 4, 2008
A while back we told you about the LANdroids — tiny remote-control machines designed to extend wireless networks on battlefields. Now those roving robots is a step closer to reality, as the Pentagon has contracted with iRobot Corp. (the...
POSTED Monday, March 3, 2008
Standing three feet tall and graced with a face only a robo-mother could love, the iCub is a fine simulation of a human child for researchers at the University of Plymouth in England. Robotics specialists there are planning a four...
POSTED Friday, February 29, 2008
If the purpose of technology is to make advancements that allow us to get out of doing menial tasks that take up time and provide us with no joy, there are few tasks we can engineer our way out of...
POSTED Thursday, February 28, 2008
Sculptures don't get much creepier than these skull and robot hybrids created by artist Christopher Conte. And these aren't designed solely from the standpoint of an artist: Conte also works making artificial limbs for amputees, so he knows a thing...
POSTED Thursday, February 28, 2008
There's a new show coming out on Japanese television called Ketai Sousakan 7 and, as you might have guess from the massive picture between here and the headline, it features robotic phones as the main characters. The stars of the...
POSTED Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Brain surgery is pretty difficult, I assume. It seems really precise, and if you make a slip up or two you could really screw somebody up for life. There's too much pressure! That's why I'm not a brain surgeon. Yes,...
POSTED Wednesday, February 27, 2008
A breast massaging robot? If you're male and feel inexplicably threatened, see A. If you're male and you're crushing a beer can against your head at this very moment, see B. If you're either of our female readers, see C....
POSTED Tuesday, February 26, 2008
A while back we introduced you to the i-Sobot — a relatively cheap humanoid robot. In addition to being cute as hell, the i-Sobot was equipped with 1 servos, bestowing it with some serious moves. That was all well...
POSTED Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Prowling the booths of New York's Toy Fair, Vanessa discovered that the wares on display go way beyond kid's stuff.
POSTED Friday, February 22, 2008
Google is sponsoring the Lunar X Prize, paying $20 million to the first team that can land a robotic spacecraft on the moon. Once the robot craft arrives at the lunar surface, to win the money it must transmit...
POSTED Friday, February 22, 2008
I may be old fashioned, but when I hear about technology making my life better, I want to be wowed. Take this robot by the DEXMART project, for instance. Known as Justine, the 'bot is agile enough and precise enough...
POSTED Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Bow Shooting Boy Robot is a fully functional archer, pulling an arrow from the fan-shaped quiver beside it, loading it on its bow, aiming and firing. Fashioned in the style of traditional Japanese Karakuri puppets — mechanized dolls dating...
POSTED Wednesday, February 20, 2008
You might think a computer is pretty useless without its keyboard and mouse. That is, unless you’ve met the Wizkid. What looks like a simple computer screen with a robotic neck is a much more complex, emotional creature. Wizkid’s screen...
POSTED Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Kota the Triceratops is just another reminder of that kids today have way cooler toys than you ever did as a youngster. The adorable dino companion stands just over three feet tall and is interactive: it has nine movement sensors...
POSTED Friday, February 15, 2008
When NASA isn't sending shuttles into space, the group apparently loves dunking robots into water. Its Environmentally Non-Disturbing Under-ice Robotic Antarctic Explorer, otherwise called ENDURANCE, is currently running a through a prep course of sorts to get ready for its...
POSTED Friday, February 15, 2008
Weary travelers flying into Japan's Kita Kyushu airport will be pleased to know that they can give their arms a rest — on certain afternoons, Yaskawa Electric will have RoboPorters cruising the airport, ready to serve. Each RoboPorter can haul...
POSTED Thursday, February 14, 2008
A team at Chatten Associates is bridging the gap between remote vehicle and operator by helping the human feel far closer to the action. According to a study by DARPA, a remote operator will react nearly four times slower when...
POSTED Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Matt Denton's fabulous iC Hexapod hobby robot is no stranger to us here at DVICE, and he gave us the scoop on the 'bot's most recent outing to the Monster Mash gallery in London, a collection of personal artwork from...
POSTED Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Artists Golan Levin and Greg Baltus decided to make a work of art that would "invert the condition of spectatorship." The result is the Opto-Isolator, a wall-mounted sculpture with one eyeball that interacts with the person standing in front...
POSTED Monday, February 11, 2008
A robotic underwater glider deployed by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and the Webb Research Corporation keeps itself powered in a way that's bound to make Mother Nature happy while gathering oceanographic information — using changes in water temperature. Known...
POSTED Friday, February 8, 2008
Wish you didn't have to get out of your car to fill it up? Well, you could move to New Jersey, where gas attendants are still commonplace. Or you could head over to the Netherlands, where they use robots....
POSTED Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Any allergy sufferer can tell you that pollen is the bane of their existence during the spring months. In Japan, they're taking a proactive approach to monitoring pollen and letting people know just where and when it's safe to leave...
POSTED Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Next time you find yourself lost in Japan, don't be alarmed if a friendly robot rolls up to you and tries to get you where you want to go. The Robovie, designed by Osaka's Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute, uses...
POSTED Friday, January 25, 2008
Sure, gigantic Gundam robots aren't real, existing mainly in the imaginations of Japanese youths, but what if they were? What if we really could build building-sized robots to do our bidding? How much would such an endeavor cost? Important, heady...
POSTED Thursday, January 24, 2008
At first glance, we've got a winning combo here: Robby the Robot, one of the most famous 'bots around, and his robo-chariot from the science fiction classic, Forbidden Planet. The transport helped Robby ferry characters from the flick to and...
POSTED Thursday, January 24, 2008
LawnBott has been upgraded. When we covered the previous incarnation of the lawnmower robot, we weren’t sure the concept would fly — but we were wrong and congratulations are in order. KA Home Robotics announced a new model, the...
POSTED Wednesday, January 23, 2008
The PeanutBot is a sound-seeking robot that ended up helping a team of three programmers finish their course in microcontrollers at Cornell University. PeanutBot listens to the space around it by using three microphones and, by measuring the amount...
POSTED Tuesday, January 22, 2008
The United Kingdom is taking extreme measures to ensure that the Gulf Stream stays protected. The measures feel a little fictional, but alas, true. An army of underwater robots will be monitoring the Gulf Stream between the Canary Islands...
POSTED Tuesday, January 22, 2008
For people suffering from blindness, a highly trained seeing eye dog is a welcome companion when it comes to getting around. RED the robotic dog, its name an acronym for Reading Eye Dog, seeks to offer the same kind...
POSTED Tuesday, January 22, 2008
It's always fun to experience the language barrier between Asian countries and good 'ole United States and the English language. This cat from toy-giant Sega was introduced at the Tokyo Toy Forum last week. It is named Yume Neko,...
POSTED Monday, January 21, 2008
Have you always wanted a dog but were unable to get one due to an allergy, totally mean parents, or some other completely legitimate excuse to keep a lovable bundle of joy out of your life? Well, good news!...
POSTED Friday, January 18, 2008
All you Aibo fans out there crying your eyes out because the Sony robo-dog has been discontinued can finally dry your tears. A new electronic mutt from Sega called the MIOpup hopes to take up where Aibo left off....
POSTED Thursday, January 17, 2008
The Tokyo Fire Department has begun using a little future technology to combat fires. This yellow robot includes all kinds of cameras and sensors to find and detect fires. It has meters that can read carbon dioxide levels and...
POSTED Thursday, January 10, 2008
To combat its dwindling labor pool caused by a top-heavy, aging workforce, Japan constantly looks for ways to make things more efficient or easier. One such method is by turning all the old people into cyborgs. Pictured to the...
POSTED Wednesday, January 9, 2008
The robot car that drives itself puts Vanessa in the passenger seat.
POSTED Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Vanessa dances with the I-SOBOT, the worlds smallest humanoid robot.
POSTED Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Modeled after a baby harp seal (yes, the ones you always see being clubbed to death in those horrible videos) the Paro Mental Commit Robot is the latest in new category of human therapy robots. Paro first came on...
POSTED Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Tribot is the next-generation Robosapien, and if anything he's goofier than his older (dancing) brother. He's billed as being loaded with personality, and at a short demo WowWee gave me at CES, that definitely came through. Forget protecting humanity,...
POSTED Sunday, January 6, 2008
CES hasn’t even started yet and I already found a must-have toy to buy. It’s the new Rovio by WowWee, and it’s hands down the best of the remote patrolling robots out there.
POSTED Sunday, January 6, 2008
Although the Pirkus-R Type-01 DX from Robot Labs doesn't look particularly huggable, as you can see in the photo above, chicks dig the Pirkus. With a nickname straight out of a college frat movie, the Pirkus is actually a...
POSTED Saturday, January 5, 2008
Some of you were pretty upset when DVICE found ways to get under Pleo's skin, but, hey, we didn't literally get under that skin. We even took Pleo out for a well-deserved walk around town. The video features a...
POSTED Monday, December 31, 2007
The M-TRAN II Self-Reconfigurable Modular Robot looks a lot like an AT-AT (or All-Terrain Armored Transport) from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and the idea of an all-terrain walker is one also applied to the M-TRAN...
POSTED Monday, December 31, 2007
The HOAP-3, a humanoid robot by Fujitsu, is able to redefine the way it interacts with its environment as it learns. It accomplishes this by mimicking movements learned by way of a motion-capture-equipped human companion, watching others move around,...
POSTED Thursday, December 27, 2007
The HOAP-3 is Fujitsu Automation's entry into the 2007 Robot Awards and it can keep track of its soccer ball, kick it and grab it, all while being controlled on a network (though it doesn't appear to be fully...
POSTED Thursday, December 20, 2007
The excellent inventors over at Evil Mad Science Laboratories have done it again. Their newest innovation is a tiny robot made from the head of a toothbrush. They noticed that newfangled toothbrushes with angled bristles want to move in...
POSTED Wednesday, December 19, 2007
When Elvis the cat lost the use of his hind legs because of a run-in with a truck, BattleBot builder Carlo Bertocchini wasn't going to acccept his cat's lost mobility. Instead, he fashioned the robotic carriage you see in...
POSTED Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Ah Rubik's Cube — that mathematical contraption designed to get student thinking was a phenomenon 20 years ago, and it's still finding ways to impress people today. Solving a Rubik's Cube quickly is one way to impress, and Cube-Kun,...
POSTED Monday, December 17, 2007
NEC’s Tasting Robot has been singled out by the 2008 Guinness World Records as the world's very first robot sommelier. Developed by NEC System Technologies Ltd. and professor Atsushi Hashimoto's team at Mie University the robot can accurately assess...
POSTED Saturday, December 15, 2007
Forget about curing cancer and diabetes. The real way I know that we have come a long way as as a civilization is by this saxophone-playing robot. Before you try to think of why the world would need a...
POSTED Thursday, December 13, 2007
For anything light enough like leaves or insects such as a water strider, a body of water's surface tension gives the uppermost areas of the liquid a bit of elasticity. In effect, it becomes a virtual solid that can...
POSTED Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Honda Motor Company's midget-spaceman-robot Asimo went from operating solo to working in a collective. By communicating wirelessly, the Asimo units know what tasks nearby robots are carrying out, how much battery life each one has and who will pick...
POSTED Tuesday, December 11, 2007
The RoboPhilo ("philo" stands for programmable humanoid in lifelike operation) stands 13 inches tall, weighs nearly three pounds and utilizes over 20 servos to mimic whatever actions you can dream up and program. To program it, you can either...
POSTED Tuesday, December 11, 2007
The epic robot museum of Nagoya, Japan, may have closed down, but a new event called The Great Robot Exhibition proves that Nihon’s passion for humanoid machines is still alive and well. Launched by Japan’s National Museum of Nature...
POSTED Tuesday, December 11, 2007
It was almost a year ago that Sony's original Aibo robotic dog was euthanized for the world to see, and now it seems this dog is making quite the return. Stuff Magazine has this little gem, which is being...
POSTED Monday, December 10, 2007
This week, members of the press finally started getting test versions of Pleo, the long-awaited, much-delayed robotic dinosaur. Here at DVICE, we had our own unique take on Pleo's arrival. Others weren't so cruel.
POSTED Sunday, December 9, 2007
Last night, I was surrounded by robots. Sure they were tiny toy robots, and most of them were still in their packaging, but their cold, mechanical eyes stared up at me from everywhere. That's because I was at the...
POSTED Saturday, December 8, 2007
Here's a bit of robotic technology that our poor friend Pleo probably wishes he was designed with: the ability to take the pushing and shoving of a bully without falling down. Developed by researchers at the Advanced Telecommunications Research...
POSTED Thursday, December 6, 2007
Want to tout just how precise your 'bot is? Make it do things your average flesh-and-bones body struggles with, like playing a violin. A robot by Toyota that looks a lot like the company's TPR-Robina did just that at...
POSTED Thursday, December 6, 2007
We’ve already seen robots that are created to help us in the kitchen, play with our children, and keep us safe from harm, but what about the lower species out there? What would happen if a roach, beetle, or...
POSTED Wednesday, December 5, 2007
When the robot overlords take over, we'll have only ourselves and our love of today's current, simplistic robots to blame. But how can you really think about a robocalyptic future when stuff like this Halluc II is around and so...
POSTED Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Sure, you know how adorable Pleo is when you’re being all cute and cuddly with him. But what’s going to happen when someone’s Ritalin-addicted nephew is left alone with the hapless dinosaur for even a few minutes?
POSTED Monday, December 3, 2007
Monty the robot wants to do your dishes. Really, it does. But Monty can't do them on its own yet — its controlled by remote. What Monty can do, however, is look pretty at the Float Center and Gallery art...
POSTED Monday, December 3, 2007
Diamonds can't talk or dance or tell jokes. Why are they so popular, anyway? This Sakura Best Friend Robot, by Toy Quest, does all that and more. Designed to amuse girls, Sakura dispenses fashion tips, compliments and fortunes, and...
POSTED Monday, December 3, 2007
This week the 2007 International Robot Exhibition hit Japan unleashing a wave of shiny new robots on humanity. But there's one robot making the rounds at the event meant to serve man rather than replace him called the SmartPal...
POSTED Saturday, December 1, 2007
You love robots. I love robots. With the dizzying variety of them out there, don't you sometimes get down that you'll never be able to get your hands on one? After all, most of the 'bots we see are for...
POSTED Wednesday, November 28, 2007
We've finally created the robot version of Hell: force one to sit, eternally, in a dentist chair and have it's mouth operated on. Could we make it worse? Why not give the bot sensitive teeth, eh? Unfortunately for the...
POSTED Wednesday, November 28, 2007
The idea of soldiers waging war from inside of performance-enhancing exoskeletons is often dreamed about in science fiction — from the pages of Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers to classic cartoons such as Exosquad. Now it looks like Sarcos, a...
POSTED Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The ultimate goal of our society, it seems, is to eventually be served by robot slaves who will make our lives full of leisure. I mean, some people will still need to work to make the robots and keep them...
POSTED Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Creeping on your neighbors just got a little more intense with the Meade MAX00 Robotic German-Type Equatorial Mount with Tripod. This is a pretty big name for a seemingly simple robotic telescope mount. This mount can hold up to...
POSTED Tuesday, November 27, 2007
The new Amazon Shipping Box Robot (official name: the Revoltech Danboard) is the perfect holiday gift for that mindless consumer friend still recovering from Black Friday and revving up their credit cards for more shopping carnage in December. The...
POSTED Saturday, November 24, 2007
The Hitachi Mechanical Engineering Research Lab has updated its clunky EMIEW (Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence as Workmate) robot with the release of its better looking successor the EMIEW 2. Standing 31 inches tall and weighing just 29 pounds...
POSTED Friday, November 23, 2007
Are ladybug-shaped electronics a new technology trend? A day after we introduced these Ladybug speakers, we learn of Japan's plan to have ladybug-shaped robotic cleaning systems for public restrooms. The three foot tall Lady Bird is in some ways...
POSTED Wednesday, November 21, 2007
A lot like Voltron, these self-configuring stochastic robots developed at the Cornell Computational Synthesis Lab become a lot more effective when they work together. The bots piece themselves into something larger like a series of robotic Lego blocks as...
POSTED Thursday, November 15, 2007
Some of us grew up loving the time traveling Micronauts action figures, but all the movement was in your head. That's why fans of the old translucent androids will likely enjoy the new Cam-10 Mini Perpetual Humanoid Model created...
POSTED Thursday, November 15, 2007
The idea of a Gibson Robot Guitar hits all the right notes with me, what with robot in the title and a ton of snazzy lights and automated bits. All you have to do is strum the strings and...
POSTED Tuesday, November 13, 2007
One of the more annoying aspects of traveling is lugging a heavy suitcase around with you. Fortunately, in the future that burden might be lifted off your shoulders and placed on the capable shoulders of robots. That's because a...
POSTED Tuesday, November 13, 2007
When building a bot, an important question designers face is how they want it to move around. Give it two legs? How about six? Or maybe wheels like a car, or treads like a tank? Instead of picking just...
POSTED Monday, November 12, 2007
Korean scientists wanted to make a realistic Robot pet, but weren't working with motors advanced enough to emulate an active and playful dog. Cats are similarly problematic. They may sleep for a lot of the day, but they are...
POSTED Monday, November 12, 2007
Grassy plains, rocky hills, stairs, water and jagged cliffs — the Rhex conquers each with windmilling enthusiasm. Designed by Boston Dynamics, the Rhex manages to climb over whatever obstacle is before it by inelegantly beating up against it, its...
POSTED Monday, November 12, 2007
The entirely self aware and fully autonomous Black Knight combat walker is a four-legged behemoth of — oh wait, that's tomorrow's headline. This "Unmanned Combat Vehicle," being developed for the US Army by weapons purveyor BAE Systems, is actually...
POSTED Friday, November 9, 2007
Being a green geek can be hard when so many new gadgets throw environmental caution to the wind in favor of pushing the futuristic envelope. For those moments when your massive gadget fetish inspires feelings of guilt you can...
POSTED Thursday, November 8, 2007
If you've ever lived in an old house, you know they need a little love to keep from collapsing. The "Yuka shita Inspection Robot" made by Sanyo won't fix a structure's foundation, but it will fill the very useful...
POSTED Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Losing at gambling really sucks. When you win, you feel like the smartest, luckiest guy in the world, because, hey, free money! But when you lose, you just feel like a jackass who threw perfectly good money away. Or,...
POSTED Friday, November 2, 2007
The Halloween pirates and piracy pirates have nothing on the real-life pirates that are currently roaming the seas trying to plunder and pillage. The United States Navy and Coast Guard know these dangers and are looking into an unmanned...
POSTED Thursday, November 1, 2007
The i-SOBOT robot from toymaker Takara Tomy managed to score an honor upon its release — i-SOBOT is the 2008 Guinness Book of World Record's smallest humanoid robot in production, standing at just six and a half inches tall....
POSTED Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Pictured above is the iconic SCV-70 White Base from the wildly popular Gundam series of Japanese anime. While you might expect such a cool looking ship to do something like fire missiles or hold a few toy mechs, the...
POSTED Tuesday, October 30, 2007
C-3PO might be fluent in over six million forms of communication, but this android, developed by Japan's National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), only needs one. Designed to interact with people who might not normally be comfortable...
POSTED Thursday, October 25, 2007
I know it looks super evil, but you should really give i.C. Hexapod (or IC) a chance. IC tracks any face that is near enough for the robot to see. If stared at long enough, it'll take a picture...
POSTED Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Mobile Robots is reissuing its commercial PatrolBot (showing off its navigation in a video after the jump) with features the company hopes will make its 'bot more attractive to the consumer. Ever wish you had a robot to bring...
POSTED Tuesday, October 23, 2007
Mobile Suit Gundam fans rejoice, your body-interface controlled robot suit is just about ready. Yuta Sugiura (of the robot specialists family the Sugiura Brothers) and Kento Kikuchi of the University of Electro-Communication have created a robot control system called...
POSTED Tuesday, October 23, 2007
The excitement surrounding Honda's human-sized Asimo robot has long since died down but if Asimo could fly like its tiny look-a-like, the Robo Hopper, it might win new fans. Kyosho's Robo Hopper stands just 6-inches tall and operates in...
POSTED Saturday, October 20, 2007
The "Microrobot" may sound like a cute, tiny mech, but you should probably think twice before picking on it. Hint: it'll probably respond by shooting you. The Microrobot is a driverless patrol vehicle designed to guard the Korean Demilitarized...
POSTED Friday, October 19, 2007
On Friday, a firing test using live ammo by the South African National Defense Force went tragically sour, leaving nine dead and 14 seriously injured. Authorities are still looking into what caused the automated Oerlikon GDF-005 anti-aircraft gun to...
POSTED Thursday, October 18, 2007
Giant robot lovers, rejoice! And then buy plane tickets to Japan. Japanese game purveyors Banpresto and Bandai joined forces to release Senjo No Kizuna, which features mechs from the ultra-popular Gundam universe blowing each other up. Sitting inside a...
POSTED Thursday, October 18, 2007
A lot of whispering goes on in museums. Ever wonder what that couple across the room is talking about? Well, whether you have or not, if you're sitting on a Smart Stool you'll get to hear all about it....
POSTED Monday, October 15, 2007
It might appear to be just a guy in a goofy green suit standing there, but that's only half right — there's actually a robot in there. U-Tsu-Shi-O-Mi is being called a "virtual humanoid." Its suit functions as a...
POSTED Friday, October 12, 2007
I've always thought that stuffed animals were one of those things that could never really be updated, and this Interactive Robotic Panda kind of proves me right. While a nice plush stuffed bear never goes out of style, what with...
POSTED Friday, October 12, 2007
Perhaps fed up with transformers that don't transform, three Chinese friends spent $8,000 and countless hours turning a yellow Citroen C2 into a surprisingly lifelike Transformer that they call the Autobot X2. It looks like Bumblebee and weighs over...
POSTED Thursday, October 11, 2007
Yet another job for humans has been co-opted by our soon-to-be robot masters — massages. Tokyo's Waseda University Takanishi Laboratory and Asahi University have developed the WAO-1 robot (Waseda Asahi Oral Rehabilitation Robot 1) for humans in need of...
POSTED Thursday, October 11, 2007
Having a tough time holding a conversation with your Roomba? Yeah, us, too. This Swami-head robot will be able to do what previous robots have failed at — being a friend and scholar. This Swami robot comes loaded with...
POSTED Sunday, October 7, 2007
Last week we looked at two new robots for the home: iRobot's ConnectR and Erector's Skypee. Both do pretty much the same thing, though their stated purposes are a little different. They're both knee-high moving Webcams with VoIP speakerphone...
POSTED Thursday, October 4, 2007
Not all swarming robot vehicles fly through the air like maple tree seeds—some of them creep along the ground on tiny tank tracks, and are so small they're hardly even the size of your high school class ring. This...
POSTED Sunday, September 30, 2007
If there's a dangerous situation at sea, you don't want to just get in a rowboat and go out there to check out what happened. No, you want to send the QinetiQ, an unmanned, semi-autonomous, and swift reconnaissance sentry...
POSTED Tuesday, September 25, 2007
The Climb@Tron R.E.X. — which stands for "Robot EXplorer" — is missing the machine guns and rocket pods its Assault Bot from the Future design begs for. While it won't blow up any of the furniture, it will climb...
POSTED Friday, September 21, 2007
Humans can now scratch museum guide (or 'docent' for you arts buffs) off the list of jobs available as yet another robot has stepped up to put us on the unemployment line. Fujitsu's Enon robot landed a permanent gig...
POSTED Friday, September 21, 2007
This is a sad day in the world of robotics as Nagoya's Robot Museum has announced that the facility will be closing after only one year in operation. The announcement, which expressed embarrassment and offered apologies to fans, appeared...
POSTED Wednesday, September 19, 2007
The WD-2 robot is a pretty amazing piece of technology. It can't walk, talk, compute awesomely complex equations, or carry heavy objects. What it can do, however, is morph to look like anyone's face. Created by researchers at Tokyo...
POSTED Monday, September 17, 2007
The Speecys SPC-101C programmable robot includes a feature you might not have known you were looking for in a robotic companion, as you can teach it to laugh at all of your jokes. Imagine every time you deliver a...
POSTED Monday, September 17, 2007
This is Zeno, a lifelike child robot built by inventor David Hanson. Named and modeled after his own real-life son, Zeno is a mildly-creepy little guy with a "frubber" face that displays a wide range of emotions. It's loaded...
POSTED Saturday, September 15, 2007
Don't be fooled. Sure there's a kid in the picture. Sure it's being promoted as a toy for the young. That won't stop a few of these from colliding into one another as they zip around our halls. The...
POSTED Friday, September 14, 2007
Sony may have discontinued its robot dog Aibo, but that has scarcely diminished Japan's love for strange mechanized pets. The latest addition to the automaton menagerie is the Yume Neko Smile (Dream Cat Smile) from Sega Toys. Although the...
POSTED Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Shocking pretty much nobody, Ugobe, maker of the much-ballyhooed and oft-delayed Pleo dinosaur robot, announced today that the little guy wouldn't make his targeted October release date, due to issues with the battery. Rated to last an hour of...
POSTED Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Robots are finding new ways to get around. The four-legged Roller-Walker has a wheel at the end of each leg, allowing it to switch between its two modes of transportation on the fly — rolling and walking. As it...
POSTED Monday, September 3, 2007
Robots tend to fill jobs humans find monotonous or revolting, this weird alien-looking anteater-thing has a humanitarian mission: "Probo" is designed to provide entertainment and support for sick children. The makers of Probo, the ANTY Foundation, have even caught...
POSTED Thursday, August 30, 2007
South Korea, like Japan, is basically a place in which we can see what our future will be like. Their relatively small sizes allow for newer technologies to be implemented faster, so stuff that's there now will hit our...
POSTED Monday, August 27, 2007
Festo unveiled a really interesting piece of technology at this year's Hannover Fair. Airic's Arm uses fluidic-muscle technology that replaces gears and servos with elastic tubes filled with air or liquid. The tubes are meant to mimic the muscle...
POSTED Friday, August 24, 2007
Seems like every week Japan comes out with a newer, cooler robot. They've got 'bots as receptionists and 'bots to clean apartment buildings — all we've done so far is slap a gun on one and send it to...
POSTED Wednesday, August 22, 2007
One glance at Roboboa and we knew we'd finally found what we've been looking for: a 41-function robot snake that's an alarm clock, disco light, bizarre companion and a whole lot more. Consisting of four motorized segments, this robotic...
POSTED Tuesday, August 7, 2007
There was lots of robot news last week, from 'bots who clean the streets to ones who can laugh at knock-knock jokes, but the most important robot news this week comes from Iraq. That's where the U.S. Army has begun...
POSTED Monday, August 6, 2007
Did you hear about the fire at the circus? The heat was in tents. Did you think that was funny? Neither did we. However, such sophisticated humor might have confused a robot, and that would have been a real...
POSTED Friday, August 3, 2007
In Japan, robots are becoming so commonplace that they aren't getting special treatment anymore. Just like we want to eat, a robot has to pull its weight if it wants to get its joints oiled now and then — and...
POSTED Thursday, August 2, 2007
Before the robot hordes rise up and kill us all, we best get them to do our bidding for a while longer. Instead of going gigantic, scientists have been working to bring automatons down to size, and the researchers...
POSTED Monday, July 30, 2007
The researchers at Carnegie Melon University have constructed a robot whose movements imitate that of the green basilisk lizard, otherwise known as the Jesus lizard for its ability to walk on water. According to the researchers, "a legged robot...
POSTED Thursday, July 19, 2007
The Japanese love their giant robots, whether they be Gundam, Macross, Robotech, Transformers, or the one that started it all — Gigantor. The fine people of Kobe, Japan have decided to honor the robot and its creator Mitsuteru Yokoyama,...
POSTED Monday, July 2, 2007
Way back in my high school days, long before Al Gore claimed he helped invent the Internet, I helped build a robotic insect out of R/C car parts, a light sensor, and a circuit board from the local electronic...
POSTED Saturday, June 30, 2007
What do you get when you combine a robotic vacuum cleaner and a taser? You get automated pain, that's what. Roomba-maker iRobot, Inc. and Taser have been hard at work on a less family-friendly robot for police and the...
POSTED Friday, June 29, 2007
Until we can shrink a submarine full of scientists in skin-tight jumpsuits down to the size of blood vessels, robots will have to do our medical bidding. Dr. Nir Schwalb and Oded Salomon of the College of Judea and...
POSTED Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Attention business owners: Do you find when customers get trapped in the fifth circle of your voicemail hell, they're just not as irate as they used to be? Do you long for a new way to make your company impersonal...
POSTED Friday, June 22, 2007
It's been a while since we heard form our dinosaur-robot pal Pleo, last seeing him back in January at CES. At the time, Pleo manufacturer Ugobe said he'd be available in the summer, which was already a postponement from...
POSTED Thursday, June 21, 2007
As if widespread addiction to online communities like MySpace and EverQuest aren't resulting in enough antisocial misfits in the world, soon children will have the chance to become bereft of real-life friends at a much younger age with the help...
POSTED Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Boeing just tested their latest marvel, a robotic helicopter that can fly around all by itself. The test flight was a mere 12 minutes, but in the future ol' helibot will be able to scoot along at 140 knots...
POSTED Tuesday, June 19, 2007
The Wi-Fi robots are coming! The Wi-Fi robots are coming! Yes, those wacky cats at DARPA, the U.S. military's technology R&D center, are at it again. This time, though, the idea is a little more plausible than some of...
POSTED Sunday, June 17, 2007
Meet Bear. He's a new robot designed for military use. Since sending medics out in the line of fire to rescue wounded soldiers oftentimes results in two downed soldiers rather than just one, Bear is designed to go out...
POSTED Monday, June 11, 2007
If you grew up in the '60s, Robot B9 from the series Lost in Space might have provided your first impression of exactly how a robot is supposed to look. Now you can have a licensed replica of that...
POSTED Thursday, June 7, 2007
While robots certainly come in many shapes and sizes, they tend to be, by and large, masculine. Seeing the lack of representation of the fairer sex, Tomotaka Takahashi took on the task of creating a robot that didn't just...
POSTED Thursday, June 7, 2007
Too lazy to pour your own beers? Well then, moneybags, why don't you spend a few hundred bucks on a robot with a very limited set of functions. This Asahi Bobocco Beerbot will store, bust out, and pour a...
POSTED Thursday, June 7, 2007
At this point, you've got to think that Japan is just trying to creep us out with their robots. Don't believe me? Take a look at this, the CB2. It's designed to be an infant robot, squirming around, looking around...
POSTED Tuesday, June 5, 2007
In They Live, one of the greatest movies of our time, Rowdy Roddy Piper takes a couple of potshots at a flying spy drone designed to keep tabs on the unsuspecting populace. Fiction is soon to turn to reality...
POSTED Monday, May 21, 2007
Undeniably one of the coolest robots we've ever seen, Buildup Co.'s new automaton has such a mundane task that I think it's rather dangerous. After all, if you were this 'bot, loaded with tons of amazing technology — including...
POSTED Saturday, May 19, 2007
I freaked out the first time Abe Lincoln broke down in the Hall of Presidents, and it took the better part of the day before the attraction was reopened. If good ol' Abe had been able to tell his...
POSTED Wednesday, May 16, 2007
The Army is currently developing a huge robot vehicle designed to move around on its own without someone directly controlling it. The Multifunction Utility Logistics and Equipment, or MULE, is a 2.5-ton, six-wheeled monster, loaded up with machine guns and...
POSTED Tuesday, May 1, 2007
Robots take one more tiny step toward world domination with this Roomba that's been converted into a roving weapon. If you call AirSoft plastic pellets anything close to deadly, this laser-equipped Roomba might get you shaking in your boots....
POSTED Friday, April 20, 2007
Hey kids! Feel like messing with your teacher and disrupting the classroom environment? Of course you do, that's half the fun of being a kid. Let me suggest you use this Froggie robotic pen? Yes, it's a pen that's...
POSTED Wednesday, April 4, 2007
Man, I grew up during the wrong decade. While sure, I enjoyed Legos and Tinker Toys and the original Game Boy, I certainly didn't have any toys that involved fighting robots. Sure, Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots were around,...
POSTED Monday, April 2, 2007
No one likes cleaning up after themselves, which is why it's great to be living in a time in which robots are being created for the express purpose of tidying up. It's the golden age of robots, when they're...
POSTED Friday, March 23, 2007
Here's the latest in Japan's obsession with robots: an unmanned rescuebot designed to literally scoop people out of situations where trained rescuers might find themselves at risk as well. The Robokiyu gets near the person needing to be rescued...
POSTED Monday, March 19, 2007
You'd think the genius robotics scientists of the world would focus on developing 'bots to do important tasks first, things such as performing surgery, fighting wars for us, or providing us with erotic services. But no, in Japan they've gone...
POSTED Friday, March 16, 2007
Imagine a day when you can ditch your car and walk to work without breaking a sweat. How is that possible? The HUBO Lab, a humanoid robot research center in South Korea, has the answer: a robot which can literally...
POSTED Thursday, March 15, 2007
Well, it's official. Life is turning into a mediocre science-fiction movie and our remote control is out of batteries. Israeli defense firm VIPeR has developed an army of small cyborgs that can enter combat zones and exchange fire with...
POSTED Thursday, March 8, 2007
Is there anything scarier than the thought of an army of cyborg animals, programmed to rip out your jugular with no fear of death? I say no. Which is why the photo here keeps me up at night. Look at...
POSTED Friday, March 2, 2007
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed this kitchen robot, giving it the ability to pour you tea and then wash the tea set when you're done. I mean, doing those things yourself is nearly unbearable, so I...
POSTED Thursday, March 1, 2007
Did you know that in Mexico there's a sinkhole so deep no one knows where it ends? Sonar doesn't work in a narrow space that far down, and divers have made it a whopping 925 feet down without hitting...
POSTED Thursday, March 1, 2007
It's tough for people to gather lots of good data about the deep sea, as it's really hard for humans to get down there. You know, the pressure and distance and temperature and all that stuff. But hey, robotic...
POSTED Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Microsoft's Next PC Design competition is in full swing, bringing us all sorts of wacky, out-of-the-box PC concepts. One of the strangest and our favorites is the Pussy Cat PC concept. Yeah, it looks like a cat. It also...
POSTED Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Standing about a foot tall, this remote-control robot won't intimidate any intruders while you're not home. But it will provide a live webcam feed to wherever you are in the world so you can see just what those thieves...
POSTED Friday, February 23, 2007
Someday robots will be doing a lot more than just shoveling snow or defusing bombs. Our future robot overlords continue to evolve, and the latest iteration is this SuperBot modular robotic system, created by the Information Sciences Institute at...
POSTED Thursday, February 22, 2007
At first we thought this autonomous snowplow robot was similar to a Roomba robot vacuum cleaner or its worthy competitor, the ROMI. Digging deeper, we realized that Yuki-taro is much more. The 800-pound robot is guided by GPS along...
POSTED Friday, February 9, 2007
iRobot, the company that makes cleaning robots Roomba and Scooba, have also designed robots that don't care how many Dorito crumbs are on your kitchen floor. No, the PackBot has more important things to worry about than how disgusting...
POSTED Friday, February 9, 2007
Ironing sucks. It's just one of those chores that you need to do every once in a while, but is always the last thing you want to do. Well, I assume some people need to do it every once...
POSTED Monday, February 5, 2007
The era of Blade Runner and I, Robot seems to draw ever closer to reality with new robots like Chaos. This guy, though small, looks mean enough to make me run in the other direction crying like a little girl....
POSTED Sunday, February 4, 2007
Okay, we admit it: we've been keeping something from you. The truth is we spotted our dinosaur-robot pal Pleo at CES last month. He's looking pretty good these days, clearly having been to the dermatologist to pick up some better...
POSTED Thursday, February 1, 2007
Are you brave? Do you love danger? Are you a complete idiot? Have I got a ride for you. Some brave, stupid man strapped himself into a seat hanging on the end of an angry, unpredictable robot arm. Smile...
POSTED Tuesday, January 30, 2007
UCLA researcher Chang-Jin Kim has developed a seriously tiny robotic hand. It's a mere 1mm in width, so it's way too small to help you get that stuffed animal for your girlfriend at the arcade. It is, however, also small...
POSTED Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Robots may not yet be sophisticated enough to take over the world, but they're getting there. They've already learned how to get a beer from the fridge and creepily stare at you from across the room, and now our...
POSTED Tuesday, January 23, 2007
In case we forgot where we were here at CES, WowWee — maker of the Roboreptile — reminded us with its Elvis Robot that, yep, we're in Vegas. And believe it or not, the Alive Elvis, as it's called,...
POSTED Sunday, January 7, 2007
The time when friendly robots tend to our every whim is neigh. We already have the Roomba, the vacuuming robot, and now ROMI is coming to kick little Roomba's ass. Standing a bit above knee height, ROMI is a...
POSTED Friday, January 5, 2007
Apparently Sir David King, the U.K. government's chief scientist, has been reading too much Philip K. Dick. He seems to think that within 50 years we'll need to give rights to robots, as they'll be sentient enough to need to...
POSTED Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Meet the Robolobster, designer Joseph Ayers' aptly named robotic lobster. This cute imitation crustacean can't pinch your toes, but in many other ways it acts just like a lobster. It's controlled by an electronic nervous system that mimics that...
POSTED Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Is it time to start worrying about robots taking our jobs and putting us out of work with their mechanical efficiency? If Ubiko, a new robot created by UBIX, is any indicator, I don't think we have anything to...
POSTED Tuesday, November 21, 2006
As promised, we have more stuff to tell you about Ugobe's Pleo dinobot, plus some extra footage of him in action. As noted, one of the most compelling things about Pleo is the robot's "hackability," letting you create your...
POSTED Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Paying the SCI FI Tech lair a visit today was Pleo, the upcoming dinosaur robot from Ugobe. Pleo, you may remember, is an artificial pet that promises to take robot interactivity to a new level. Unlike other dinobots in...
POSTED Tuesday, November 7, 2006
The countdown to the day that you can buy your very own robot exoskeleton for whatever devious uses you can dream up is getting closer and closer. Tsukuba University engineering professor Yoshiyuki Sankai's HAL robot suit is apparently pretty close...
POSTED Monday, October 30, 2006
Tick another development off the list of advances required before robots take over the world: hands that work just like the human variety. Some researchers at Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) have unwittingly brought...
POSTED Friday, October 27, 2006
Is it me, or do we post a lot of items to aid the would-be pervert and peeper? It's not because we support the peeping arts here at SCI FI Tech, no ma'am. We just try to put interesting...
POSTED Thursday, October 19, 2006
This Mobile Surveillance Robot looks like the Mars Rover and has the pretty much the same job: gathering data on its environment and relaying it back to a home base. In this case, though, that home base is your...
POSTED Monday, October 16, 2006
If going out and spraying weed killer on weeds in your yard is too much of a hassle for you, why not get a friendly robot to do the dirty deed for you? Engineers at the University of Illinois...
POSTED Thursday, October 12, 2006
We just saw a robot suit in person at NextFest, but this one here looks even more impressive than the one we checked out. Designed to help nurses pick up and carry the infirm around, the robotic exoskeleton seems like...
POSTED Friday, September 29, 2006