All I can say is… Oops.

VIA [ Danger Room ]

Jose Halloy and some colleagues at the Free University of Brussels have created some tiny robots that act like Pied Pipers and can trick roaches into following them. Even if it means gathering in a brightly lit area, which they hate. Their goal was to understand how roaches make decisions. Generally they act as a group, much like ants. Cockroaches tend to group together. Does that mean they have some kind of Emperor cockroach that leads them? How do they communicate? What kind of information do they pass?

(Read more…)

This isn’t a new video, and HomerSapien isn’t a new product, but I always get a kick out of Shiny Shiny reviews. I mean, girls+robots… Can it get any better? I say no, so enjoy the review:

If you’d like a HomerSapien of your own, he’s available from Amazon UK.

[ Shiny Shiny ]

When it comes to robots, bigger and burlier may be better if you like destruction, disorder, and chaos… But bigger and burlier is also somewhat less to offer in the department of the cute and feminine. Sakura is a robot designed for girls, with a pink color scheme and appropriately girly features like integrated audio fashion tips. She also tells fortunes, answers yes or no questions, tells jokes, sings five songs, and keeps secrets that she’ll only reveal if you plug a special key into her controller. You can drive her around on her Segway with a wireless remote, and she comes with a solar powered key chain that does I know not what. Sakura is just over $100 from Amazon UK.

[ Sakura ] VIA [ Shiny Shiny ]

Created by the The Cube Robot Project, the Cam-10 Mini robots are shockingly cute little robot toys. Simple too. Just stick a battery in their chest and watch them shuffle around. The head swivels from right to left, and its arms move back and forward. They stand 5″ tall so you can have a whole army on your desk if you like and still have room left over. Proof that robot toys don’t have to be all that complicated to be cool. Sometimes it’s just neat to watch a robot shuffle along and take it’s time with world domination.

Park one or more on your desk and turn them on when you’re feeling stressed. These little guys will definitely brighten your day, with several colors available. You can get one for just $15.

[The Cube Robot Project] VIA [SciFi Tech]

Most types self-configuring modular robots (like these and these) divert a substantial amount of time and energy towards figuring out where they are and where they need to go in relation to their other pieces. If you make the modules small enough, though, they can take advantage of the random motions generated by their environment to move around. Give them a little bit of AI, and they’ll be able to build themselves up into large and complex structures simply by selectively attaching themselves to other modules. Although the principle of operation can be observed at macro sizes, stochastic robots get more efficient at smaller scales, since you can throw more of them into close proximity with each other, increasing the chances of a favorable configuration occurring. So, imagine that you need a nanobot to perform microsurgery on your brain… Instead of implanting the robot itself, you could just be injected with a bunch of stochastic modules. As the modules bounced around in your bloodstream, they’d gradually coalesce into a functional robot, which could perform its task, and then disassemble itself for disposal. Quick, clean, and easy.

[ Cornell Computational Synthesis Lab ]

Ann Smith takes recycling to the next level. She creates sculptures from tossed out gadgets and electronics parts, then she uses stop-motion photography to put them in motion. The sculptures have been sold in stores and galleries throughout the US and have been published as illustrations in several magazines and brochures.

She uses all manner of parts and gadgetry, but some parts she shies away from. Sewing machines, for instance stump her, with so many tiny parts and gears. Judging by her work, everything else is fair game. It all creates a kind of Clockwork meets Steampunk look. Seeing them in motion is a beautiful thing. If you want a real treat, you can currently see some of her work at the DeCordova Museum in Massachusetts as well as the Cog & Pearl boutique in Brooklyn.

Check out the links for some cool videos of the art in motion.

[Wired] VIA [BB Gadgets]

It looks like a stealth tank with a digital camera attached, so you might be thinking warfare/spying as soon as you see this jet-black bot. The truth is, Sanyo has a much more mundane job for this crawling cam. It won’t be seeing any military action, but it will be spending some time in the “urban trenches”; think crawlspaces under apartments, office buildings and homes for example. Its job is to check for structural damage. It will crawl around beneath any given building, while being very adept at avoiding any obstacles in its path. A full charge will give it about 2 hours of life while it beams back live video of what it encounters.

The operator can zoom in on any areas of interest and hopefully find any potential problems that need to be fixed. You’ll have to wait until next year to get one. By then, you’ll hopefully have the $8,736 saved up and ready to spend. It’s pricey, but it does beat running into the odd snake or rat beneath your dwelling.

…Or you could mount a cam on a toy tank for a lot less.

[AkihabaraNews] VIA [EnGadget]

Gibson isn’t the first company to develop a robotic guitar tuning system, but their “Robot Guitar” with its sexy blue sunburst finish is undoubtedly the slickest implementation so far. Not only will the guitar tune itself, it’s also able to switch between a variety of different tuning presets depending on what you want to play. Check it out:

Now, it’s certainly a very cool piece of work, but as a musician, I feel like part of the appeal of playing an instrument is the tuning process itself. I find it rewarding to start out with a discordant sound, and then be able to adjust it into harmoniousness. It’s almost like zen or something. ‘Course, I play the bagpipes, so it’s a bit extreme when they’re out of tune, but I still think my point is, uh, sound. Plus, isn’t it kinda cheating to have any instrument tune itself? It’s one of the fundamentals, right? And odds are if you’re serious enough to manage to get your hands on one of these limited edition guitars, you can probably tune the thing in your sleep.

No price has been mentioned officially that I can find, but rumor has it that the limited edition will be about $2200, and the regular production run will be around $1600.

[ Gibson Robot Guitar ] VIA [ Electronista ]

What’s the worst thing about air travel? Besides the ticket prices, I mean. And going through security. And delays, and no legroom, and no food, and- Okay, nevermind. One of the bad things about air travel is having to lug your luggage (funny, right?) all over the place. Robotronic, a Russian company, is developing a robot suitcase which should relieve some of the strain by following you around on wheels. An electronic card in your pocket tells your suitcase where you are and sets its following distance. Mostly, the robot can handle itself, with ultrasonic and infrared circumferential obstacle avoidance sensors, alert lights, and a gyroscope to compensate motor torque for slopes. If you get too far ahead of it, though, the robot will freak out like a lost child (it sets off an alarm, anyway). Internal batteries should power it for 2 hours on a charge, and it’ll come with international plug adapters. With a carrying capacity of 65+ pounds, you’ll incur heavy baggage fees even if you don’t fill it up all the way. Price? 49,000 rubles (about $2000), expected to be available in 2009.

This idea was conceptualized by Peter Yeadon last year, which is where the image comes from. If you want to see the what the real thing is supposed to look like, click here, but I guarantee you’ll be disappointed.

[ Tony (in Russian) ] VIA [ Smart-Machines ]