Yes, RoboSapien can sometimes be pretty badass. But does that mean that it’s a good idea to make him the lead character in a feature film? I’m skeptical. Apparently, WowWee has signed over the rights to produce a “feature-length motion picture inspired by WowWee’s Robosapien robot.” This movie will be called Robosapien: Rebooted (!), and will “combine a compelling live action story with the most advanced computer-generated imagery.” Needless to say, “under the agreement, WowWee will have the exclusive worldwide right to market toy merchandise associated with the film and its characters, and would receive a share of the income from all other merchandising associated with the film.” The movie will be produced by Avi Arad, who has worked on the X-Men series, the Spider-Man series, and Bratz: The Movie.

I don’t mean to sound jaded, but this sounds more like a way for WowWee to market toys than a serious movie effort, and if it ends up being lame (and how many movies inspired by products have actually turned out well?), it’s going to reflect badly on the robots and a company that makes some totally cool stuff. I hope I’ve got it all wrong, I really do… But, the production company (Crystal Sky Pictures) is currently working on the next Rob Schneider movie. ‘Nuff said.

[ CNN Press Release ] VIA [ RSN ]

There’s no more natural control interface than yourself. This robot, developed by engineer Tsuyoshi Horo at Tokyo University, watches you with an array of eight cameras and creates a 3D model of your body. If you point your finger, the cameras will recognize the shape, and send commands to the robot to respond to your gesture. It’s way cool, but it’s not exactly portable, since the cameras are stationary. It’s able to do all kinds of things besides robot control; here’s a video of someone playing Half-Life 2 with body motions:

Like most innovative control systems, it’s way more complicated than it sounds. After the jump, take a look at the 3D figures that the camera array creates; it’s pretty impressive. (Read more…)

Pretty much the entire internet got a kick (heh) out of the BigDog video that we (also) posted about last week. Gizmodo got their hands on another exclusive video yesterday:

I’ll admit it, I was completely fooled at the beginning. The video was created by Seedwell, a viral marketing company, who Boston Dynamics should hire if for no other reason than it would be damn funny to see who does better walking on ice.

[ Seedwell ] VIA [ Gizmodo ]

This little round robot is named ApriPoko. He’s an 11 inch tall, 5 pound prototype under development by Toshiba to be used as a voice-activated universal remote system. Place him somewhere within eyesight of your entertainment system, and whenever you use one of your remotes, ApriPoko will notice the IR signal, perk up, and ask you what you just did. When you tell him “I just kicked my massage chair up to Shiatsu” he’ll remember your voice and the IR code from the remote. Next time, you can speak the command, and ApriPoko will rebroadcast the IR signal back to the device. I imagine that you’ll be able to assign specific voice commands to different combinations of devices, like a preset for “let’s watch a movie” or “hey baby, how ’bout a drink?”

Ultimately, it may just be easier to pick up the remote and push the button, but Toshiba is hoping to have a viable product sometime soon… And I’d like to see a remote that’s as cute as this. Heck, I might even pay for it.

VIA [ Pink Tentacle ]

It’s kinda funny how the Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have spent about four years all alone on a hostile planet a hundred-odd million miles from Earth, and the most dangerous thing to happen to them is a NASA budget cut. Earlier this week CNN reported that NASA was planning to cut $4 million from the $20 million Mars Exploration Rover budget, which would force Spirit to be abandoned and Opportunity to only be able to work every other day. A further $8 million was slated to be cut from the 2009 budget. Fortunately, NASA has new rescinded the directive, which has saved the rovers (for now) but will almost certainly mean cuts from elsewhere in the Mars program. Originally designed to operate for 90 days, the Mars rovers are in surprisingly good shape after about 1500 (!) days, with only a few minor problems that don’t materially effect their science return. There’s no reason to think that they’ll stop being useful anytime soon. But there’s a lot more to these little robots that just science… Just by virtue of being where they are, and doing what they do, they’re inspiring kids and adults all over the world.

Let’s be honest here: how often has the government accomplished something that really, truly inspires people? It’s a fairly rare occurrence, but it’s one of those things that the space program just does. The Apollo program did it. Hubble did it. And now the Mars Rovers are doing it. When you think about what it takes to keep the little robots active (some $20 million or so a year), it’s hard not to consider all of the other things that the government is spending $20 million on. I won’t belabor the obvious, but how many of those things can claim such a purity of mind and spirit as exploring other worlds? Star Trek may have made it a clich├⌐, but historically, it’s the truth: we are explorers. That’s what gives us a thrill. Going to new places, experiencing new things… That’s what it’s all about, and it’s what the space program embodies. Let’s just hope that NASA, and the administration that oversees NASA, doesn’t forget that.

After the jump, I’ve put together some of my favorite pictures from the Mars rovers, including self portraits, sunsets, movies of dust devils, and even a snapshot of home. (Read more…)

Here’s the good news: BattleBots will be returning to ESPN2 and ESPNU this November. This is, of course, awesome for us BotJunkies. I mean, what could possibly be better than robotic goliaths beating the circuitry out of each other in an arena of death? Nothing, of course. But the original BattleBots show had a lot of other, lame stuff going on in the background, including idiotic commentary and (let’s face it) Carmen Electra. Some of that is gone, but at the same time, there’s gotta be some kind of announcer, and whoever they are, they’re going to be carrying a lot of the show. Is it going to be someone who knows about the robots, or someone who has a talent for making snarky remarks?

What I’m most worried about is this quote, from BattleBots CEO Trey Roski: “It’s going to be held like a sports show. We’re going to show the pit, what they really go through. It’s not about the host, or a pretty girl. It’s about the people, what they’re getting out of it.” Wait a sec, isn’t it supposed to be about the ROBOTS? What it sounds like is that it might turn into another horrible pseudo-mechanical reality TV show, like Junkyard Wars or Monster Garage. Those shows had great themes and great creativity and some interesting characters, but I want to see people building stuff, not domestic squabbles. Same with the new BattleBots: I want to see robots being built, fighting each other, and being repaired. I don’t want to see bickering teammates with a dramatic underscore.

Otherwise, some changes are being made for the better. Wedge robots are being essentially outlawed because they “are not going to make a successful TV show.” Yeah, it could have been phrased better (and implemented better), but they did make for some boring competitions. The arena will have new and improved hazards that can actually make a difference in the battle. And there will be a new class of robots, “experimental,” which may include autonomous bots in some form (finally!).

For starters, the competitors will be university teams, and the 150+ registrants have caused the start of the competition to be pushed back from June to November of this year. A professional league will be filmed at the same time and may also be featured on the show. The competitions are supposed to be held in the Bay Area; we’ll keep you updated and you’d better believe we’ll be there when it finally kicks off.

[ BattleBots ] VIA [ Popular Mechanics ]

The Little Woodbot is Mother Nature’s robot soldier and they are currently surveying your world right now! You may not see them around, but they’re not meant to be seen. They are gathering data to determine whether the world is due for another Big Reset, aka Natural Disaster to wipe the world clean. You know, to start a clean slate.

Yep, these little guys are out to get us. Scary, no? Each Woodbot is 2″ tall and handmade by Alexander Shen. Yes, they’re cute, but are you willing to pay $5 for a few wooden blocks illustrated with a fine Sharpie? Enough people said yes that Series 0 is sold out, but Series 1 is due out in May, and will have four different Woodbots: Original, Heartbot, Shadowbot and “SECRET” Woodbot. The one you get is random and the edition is limited to 100. If that doesn’t make you want one, pretty much nothing will.

[ Woodbots ] VIA [ io9 ]

This “Yellow Drum Machine” looks more like a small construction type of bot then an actual drummer, but don’t let his looks fool you. He’s talented. He will more or less wander around your house like a caffeinated teen, searching for “playable” surfaces. It creates and combines samples on the fly into rhythms. One cool feature is that when it hears you making noise or clapping, it will join in after it measures the speed.

Check out a video of it rocking out on a glass of lemonade after the jump.
(Read more…)

The Z-Flyer Hand Command Robot is an interesting take on RC flying bots. It hovers right above the palm of your hand. You can also use your head or feet. It’s a bit like the Wii of RC robots I suppose, since it at least makes you exercise just a tad. No conventional remote control here. The astronaut(it really should be a killer robot) relies on your hand to guide it instead. How well it will work is anybody’s guess, but it’s a novel approach.

For $50 I’d be willing to try it out. If using your hand as the control system doesn’t sell you on the idea, maybe the flashing green LEDs will. You could even pass this around between a group of people for some party fun. You’ll get seven minutes of flying on a ten minute charge, and it docks into a central space station.

[Product Page] VIA [Nerd Approved]

Also at the Human Robot Interaction Conference this year, Japan’s ATR Labs presented the results of a study on how quickly domestic robots respond to verbal commands. The study was designed to test how long it takes for people to get fed up waiting for the robot to do something. Obviously, an instant response is ideal, and the study suggested that any delay longer than about 2 seconds got frustrating. The interesting thing, however, was that if the robot made some kind of ‘filler’ noises (like “well” or “er”), delays of a few seconds went unnoticed. This is how we humans buy ourselves time while we think something through, and if domestic robots need to take a few extra seconds to process a complex verbal command, it looks like the solution is to have them just yammer on for a little while to distract us. If nothing else, it’ll certainly make them seem more human.

VIA [ New Scientist ]