One of the coolest things about snake inspired robots is how they’re in the process of transcending their biological models, as this video from CMU’s biorobotics lab shows. I’m fairly certain that nowhere in nature do snakes leverage their design to, for example, climb up vertical poles with a twisting motion. This may be because real snakes are able to execute a much finer degree of control over their muscles so as to render such a motion unnecessary, but on the other hand, perhaps twisting is actually a primitive emulation of a sidewinder motion. Either way, it’s good to see some wholesome research snakebots again, after the last ones we wrote about, which were decidedly more violent.

[ Modular Snake Robots ]

This little robot was performing tricks at a sci-fi convention in Japan last week. Six legs or not, it’s called “Octopus,” and I have absolutely no idea why it has a ferret (or an otter or a mink or something) on it, or what it wants with those cans of beer. Even without the stuffed animal, it’s capable of some neat little moves:

Not bad for one of the smallest hexapods we’ve seen… It should definitely enter the dance-off.

[ Robot Watch (translated) ] VIA [ New Launches ]

The land shark bot is considered the cleverest of all shark bots. Unlike the great white shark bot, which tends to inhabit the waters and harbors of recreational beach areas, the land shark bot may strike at any place, anytime. It is capable of disguising its voice using its robot circuitry, and generally preys on young, single human women.

You can catch the other two Bots With Stuff from last week over on The Shoebox Blog, including a robot with neptune’s beard and a robot with a handlebar mustache.

[ Bots With Stuff ]

Steven Leckhart from Boing Boing Gadgets found himself this fighting space cockbot mech robot toy thing from 1986 in a junk shop in San Francisco. It’s 12 inches tall, battery operated, and (according to the box) includes the following INCREDIBLY AWESOME features:

– Head with colorful lamp

– Chest with colorful lamp

– Attached with 2 eggs. There are 12 bullets in each egg.

– Walkable feet for advancing

– Wings can wave and shoot the bullet.

– The cock can turn it body for 360

– Never let a child swallow the bullet

Best of all, you can be the wielder of this space cock… All you have to do is come up with some space cock inspired art of some kind and submit it over at BBG. I’m tempted to enter myself, because for whatever reason, I desperately, desperately need this thing. I need it. I NEED IT.

[ BBG ]

Now that anyone can fly Predator drones, there’s no reason why you can’t just build your own to fly around your back yard and fire off rockets. That’s what Cy Brown did, by mounting a first person video system on an R/C aircraft and equipping it with remotely launched weapons. Seriously, it’s got all of the important features that a Predator does, just on a much smaller (and less deadly) scale. Good thing, too, because we all know what happens when you mount real guns on UAVs…

[ Cy Brown ] VIA [ Hacked Gadgets ]

Water has long been a repository for just about anything and everything that humans have ever wanted to get rid of semi-permanently, and it’s starting to show. WatCleaner is a concept robot that’s designed to float around rivers and lakes and oceans cleaning the water as it goes. It can deal with both bulk garbage (by slurping it down and disintegrating it) and suspended pollution like oil (by absorbing it into collection bladders). It’s even, supposedly, smart enough not to ingest and disintegrate narwhals or porpoises or anything.

The bot is fairly small, at only half a meter long, implying that a lot of them will be needed to have any meaningful impact, especially if they need to be emptied and refueled. The concept doesn’t really deal with the operational logistics (most concepts don’t), but at the very least, it’s laudable in what it’s trying to accomplish.

[ IDC Design Competition ] VIA [ Blue Living Ideas ]

My apologies that this video kinda sucks, but it does get better after a little bit… The announcer human moves and the camera human seems to get their spaziness under better control. We posted a video of humans playing against robots of this size about a month ago, and I think you’ll agree that these bots make a much better game of it. Like, check out the defensive skills at 6:20… The robots are shifting between man to man defense and guarding the goal, and are able to anticipate passes and cut them off. And then they score.

They SCORE!

Against some friendly half-assed humans, admittedly, but it was an actual goal nonetheless. I can’t imagine it will be very long at all (a few years, maybe) before robots of this type (i.e. non-humanoids) will be able to give even skilled and determined humans a tough game, especially once someone writes some aggressive tackling software.

[ RoboCup 2009 ]

Nao, the standard class humanoid for Robocup, took some time off from playing soccer at the 2009 competition this week to perform a tribute dance routine to Michael Jackson’s Billie Jean. Say what you want about the guy, but he could sure dance, and he does a more than passable robot, as you can see at the end of an (actual) Billie Jean performance, after the jump. (Read more…)

We couldn’t quite make it to RoboCup 2009 this year… Austria is a bit out of the BotJunkie travel budget when you factor in the first class tickets, five star hotels, and seven course meals that I obviously require. But plenty of other people were there with video cameras, and there’s a bunch of great footage up on YouTube, some of the best of which I’ve got for you here.

As a soccer player, I’ll admit to being vaguely shocked by just how good these robots are. There’s team work, dribbling skills, fake outs, shots to the corners, and even attempts to chip the goalie. At the moment, it’s the non-humanoids who are playing the best game, but progress is being made very, very quickly. And just let me emphasize that these are not remote controlled robots: everything you’re watching is fully autonomous.

More vids after the jump, including more midsize robots as well as some humanoid on humanoid action. (Read more…)

Hideyourarms has a mammoth list of 101 different robot shirts, ranging from the totally awesome to the totally lame… Or as lame a a shirt with a robot on it can get, anyway. The list is by no means comprehensive (we’ve featured many a shirt not on it), but I bet you’ll be able to find at least something you desperately need. A couple of my personal favorites, after the jump… Oh, and if this list of 101 doesn’t do it for you, here’s 45 more. And 50 more. (Read more…)