LEGO Robot Becomes First Autonomous Humanoid To Fly Commercial, Get Violated By TSA
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Thursday, 14 of May , 2009 at 4:06 am
Last time the Charles Milby High School robotics team from Huston tried to get LARA, their LEGO Autonomous Robotic Android, to Michigan for the Robofest competition, they used FedEx. Big mistake. LARA arrived two weeks late with a fractured spine. So this year, thinking that it would be easier, they just bought her her own ticket.
“(We) almost did not get her on the plane: sent to two different scanning sites, TSA inspected with x-ray, physical, photos, chemicals, bomb squad, extensive interviews with TSA and FBI and bomb squad…finally we were allowed on since one of the inspectors saw the robot on the news through a story on RoboFest and I was wearing a ST Lawrence RoboFest t-shirt.”
And with that, LARA ended up in seat 5A on Continental Airlines. No, you still can’t bring a bottle of water, but an android? No problem!
LARA is anatomically correct in that she has a skeleton, muscles, and even a nervous system. Although she may not look like it from the pics, she can stand up on her own. She responds to verbal and gestural commands and is made entirely out of LEGOs, and her creators are hoping to make her into a kit that other schools can build and use as an educational tool.
There’s some video of LARA on the Team RoboBuffs YouTube channel, but it’s pretty random and doesn’t seem to involve the robot actually, you know, doing anything.
[ Press Release ] VIA [ GetRobo ]
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Category: Androids, DIY, Educational, Research
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Made Tuesday, 29 of December , 2009 at 11:26 pm
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