It’s a lot simpler than it looks to get a robot to make coffee, at least in this case… As with most humanoid robots, it’s fairly straightforward to program in a set of movements and play them back, which is how this video was made. It’s by no means easy, though, as I can personally attest to. It takes a lot of patience and no small amount of skill, neither of which are traits that I possess. But that’s okay, because I already have a coffee making robot, and you probably do too: it’s called a coffee maker.

[ GetNews (sort of translated) ] VIA [ CrunchGear ]

This is a full size Gundam. Why? Because Japan, that’s why. Now stop asking awkward questions and just marvel at the fact that someone saw fit to cause this thing to exist:

VIA [ Pink Tentacle ] and [ Gizmodo ]

Found this on YouTube. Here’s a translation of the video title and description:

The first fight Martial office robots. Battle with balls

So we have them and entertain. Mortal Combat practicable, should remain only one.

I don’t know much more than that, but it looks like fun… Maybe we’ll see it at RoboGames 2010!

[ Over900Team (In Russian) ]

We wrote about Piskarpaks Psiharkax this robotic rat last week, and he’s just shown up on video. The little guy is cuter than I would have thought, albeit a little slow, and that’s the longest tail on any rat I’ve ever seen. Especially interesting is the visual representation of how the robot uses its whisker input to sense different types of surfaces from touch patterns… It’s an innovative and robust method of sensing, and it’ll be interesting to see how it gets developed.

[ AnimatLab ] VIA [ DVICE ]

Next time you hear some crickets chirping, listen a little bit closer: they could be sending email. The DARPA is already working on cyborg insects, but now the military wants them to be able to form their own ad-hoc wireless networks, using chirps:

Insects will be equipped with embedded MEMS transceivers that pick up modulated calling sounds from nearby insects. Once the information in a call is extracted by the transceiver, the information code is applied to an electromechanical device on board the insect that modulates the insect calls, thereby retransmitting the information to another insect, and so on.

I can’t imagine that a cricket chirp has a super high amount of bandwidth, and the transmission is not exactly going to propagate at the speed of light. But as a covert communication network, it seems like it could be a fairly cheap and robust system, especially if the transceivers are able to use electromagnetic harvesters to power themselves from the muscle movements of the insect. Just release a whole orchestra of crickets where you want a network, and you’ll have a your own little swarm of self sustaining, noisy routers.

VIA [ Danger Room ]

Dean Kamen’s brain controlled cyborg arm, which we first saw over a year ago, has received an additional three years of research funding. This time, it’s not from DARPA, but from the VA’s Prosthetics and Sensory Aids Service. This is a big step; even without knowing all the details, when funding shifts from the crazy world of DARPA to the Veteran’s Administration, actual availability seems and lot closer. And this appears to be the case: “veterans fitted with the arm will provide feedback to guide engineers in refining the prototype, before it is commercialized and also made available through the VA health care system.” So, it’s very possible that in just a few years, and 18 DoF thought controlled cyborg arm will be available to people who need one.

[ Press Release ] VIA [ Robots.net ]

If you’ve been to see Pixar’s Up, you probably noticed that the next Pixar movie (due out on 2010) is Toy Story 3. Even though it’s a year away, apparently Disney (I assume it’s Disney) has unleashed the merchandising hounds and they’ve already come up with this Buzz Lightyear robot toy. It’s voice controlled, which looks to work surprisingly well, and has plenty of sounds and blinky lights and stuff, but the interesting bit is that it’s apparently got some kind of motion capture programming ability. Most humanoid robots have this feature; you basically tell the robot “watch this,” move it around a bunch, and then it can play back the motions. String a bunch of motions together and you can teach the robot to walk, kick a soccer ball, do Kung Fu, or anything else you want.

It’s unclear from this preview video just how far the motion capture option extends, and it’s also unclear whether or not the robot can walk, although I assume it can’t. It’s going to be available this fall for $130 – $150. It might be a good segue into programmable robots if your kid is a huge Toy Story / Pixar / Buzz Lightyear fan, but otherwise I might recommend spending the money on a fully programmable robot, and then taking what’s left and going to see the movie a few extra times.

VIA [ Gizmodo ]

A robot, in its simplest form, arguably consists of some kind of brain coupled with something that lets it interact with the world. This pretty much sums up the RoBe:Do Three, which is a pair of wheels with your netbook stuck to them. The computer talks to the wheels via USB, and you can program your new robot to control them in pretty much whatever programming language your computer can handle. And since the computer is doing all the brainy stuff, you can set it up to work with any sensors that will plug into it. It’s sort of like an iRobot Create; it’s a basic platform that you can do whatever you want with, except that it’s running from a fully featured computer which (I imagine) makes it much easier to program.

The Three costs $399 if you pre-order it before June 30. For that price, you don’t get much in the way of accessories (or even a battery) but most of the cost is in the motors anyway. Also available are battery packs, a navigation sensor array, and a compact gripper arm is in the works. The netbook is sold separately, but they’re dirt cheap nowadays. What’s that? You want me to tell you what the best netbook is? Why, sure, I’d be happy to! It’s this one, and it’s only $250 from these guys.

[ Three Robot ] VIA [ Slashgear ]

Okay, so here’s the good news: the first ever Mech Warfare competition did take place at RoboGames this year. The bad news, however, is that there was no hardcore class and in fact only a couple robots were reliably operational. I know, I know, I can feel your dejection from all the way over here. I’m sad too. But, you have to remember that this was the very first Mech Warfare event in the history of robomanity, so there were bound to be some kinks to work out.

That said, the limited amount of combat that did take place was pretty cool to watch. There were a couple quads that worked well enough to get in the arena and fight each other, and the scoring system was usually registering hits and keeping things lively. Video:

My hope is that this proof-of-concept event will, at the very least, get the idea of Mech Warfare well off the ground. The next step is going to be refining the rules, putting together additional events, and of course getting more robots involved. As always, we’ll keep you posted.

[ Mech Warfare ]

After the jump, I’ve posted a bunch of pics from RoboGames. They’re of no particular thing and in no particular order, and if you have any questions as to what’s what, leave a comment and I’ll do my level best to remember.

Also, I’d just like to take a moment to thank some of the people who made RoboGames happen this year as well as some of the people I got to meet, including the handsome David Calkins and the lovely Simone Davalos for getting me in to all this stuff in the first place, Dan Albert for showing me his robotic wiener dog, Greg Intermaggio for inviting me to sit on his lap, Emerson Malca for being a good cook, Matt Trossen and Andrew Alter for putting up with my awkward rambling, and I-Wei Huang for briefly talking to me about something besides robots.

Anyway, enjoy! (Read more…)