For better or worse, Japan is where it’s at when it comes to humanoid combat robotics (although we’re working on it over here, too). These are Kondo robots, who take each other on 1v1 trying to knock their opponent over or out of the ring. They’re remote controlled, and what’s interesting (to me, anyway) is how many different designs and fighting styles there are. You can see for yourself with a bunch more videos, after the jump. (Read more…)

Now that the Sony AIBO is, sadly, more or less completely defunct, it’s up to Aldebaran Robotics’ Nao humanoid to compete in RoboCup soccer tournaments. Nao hasn’t had nearly as much experience (i.e. software development time) as the AIBOs, but they’re getting off to a very good start for robots that have to balance themselves on two legs. Well, a fairly good start, anyway. See for yourself:

Bowdoin vs. CMU (3rd Place Match) - First Half

More competition vids, after the jump. (Read more…)

It’s that time of year again! Time to start getting PUMPED for the largest robot competition in the WORLD: RoboGames. Three days of mayhem, featuring 70 different events, from 340 pound R/C combat to autonomous micromice to 11 v 11 robot soccer. And more, so much more. RoboGames runs from June 12-14 at Fort Mason in San Francisco. Advance (i.e. discounted) tickets for RoboGames are already on sale, you can (and should) buy them here.

We had a little taste of some cool bots last night at the California Academy of Science, including some of our old favorites like OrbSwarm and Chapek. We’ve got a couple pics, after the jump. (Read more…)

I’m just gonna go ahead and quote you the Discovery Channel press release on this one, because otherwise you might think that there’s no POSSIBLE way what I’m talking about could actually be on TV:

From the producers that brought you MYTHBUSTERS comes an explosive new series, WEAPONIZERS (3 x 60 min) premiering on Discovery Channel US, May 11, 2009 at 9pm.

This new program combines creativity, military-like strategy and engineering as two teams of master builders — dubbed “Weaponizers” — turn ordinary vehicles into remote-controlled machines of destruction. With the pace and intensity of a video game, the vehicles are completed with live-ammunition machine guns and other seemingly ordinary objects that are transformed into powerful weapons. Building on the teams’ expertise — hot rod restoration, pyrotechnics, special effects, crash engineering and military weaponry — the opponents harness their ingenuity in a competition face off where the goal is to achieve victory by creating an indestructible vehicle.

In each episode, the teams convert regular rides such as a shuttle bus, an ice cream van and muscle cars into vicious vehicles. Using science, special effects, engineering, metal fabrication and a bit of fantasy, they construct and test their vehicles to ensure that they pack the biggest punch and are fully remote-controlled. Once all testing is complete, each team descends into respective underground control bunkers to command their vehicles for the two-round competition.

In round one, the teams undertake a challenge-based phase where the vehicles race to destroy or defend exploding targets such as medieval castles or Mad Max style fuel depots. Then in round two, the “Weaponizers” are thrown into a Carmageddon Round — the rules are… there are no rules. It’s a gloves off test of what expertise these teams can draw on to achieve victory, which in WEAPONIZERS’ terms means there is only one vehicle left standing!

A weaponized ice cream van, you say? I’ve got a picture of what that’s probably gonna look like, after the jump. (Read more…)

The Minos 2009 micromouse competition (more on micromice here) in the UK last weekend also featured a bunch of different presentations on micromouse design theory and practice. Topics included navigation, sensors, control and communications, strategy, and even some updates on a vision-guided mouse, which (and I’m totally going out on a limb here) could be a huge advantage if the mouse was able to see down diagonals or something. Anyway, descriptions and a lot the media (including vids) from these presentations is available online for your edification here.

The picture above, btw, is a neat visual explanation of how a micromouse ‘thinks.’ Click on it for a full size version. I found it on the British Amateur Electronics Club website here.

[ Minos 2009 ] VIA [ Robots-Dreams ]

Last week, SparkFun Electronics hosted the first annual SparkFun Autonomous Vehicle Competition around their headquarters in Colorado. Originally an employee-only event, it was opened up to customers as well, and sixteen teams showed up with both UGVs and UAVs. Only two vehicles managed to complete the entire course (including a UAV), but it looks like a fun time was had by all, and the fire department only had to be called once.

You can read more details about the race at the link below, and the UGV team that successfully finished (that would be, the Deathpod 3000 by Team Mookemobile) has a bunch of details on their build here.

[ SparkFun ] VIA [ Robot Living ]

This is Hagetaka, a Mech Warfare robot. Mech Warfare is going to be one of the new events at RoboGames this year, pitting 1/24 scale 5kg robots with active weapons against each other, without direct operator observation… Each bot will have a small wireless camera, and they have to be controlled using only the view provided by that camera. Full autonomy is also allowed, but my guess is that we won’t see any of those this year, although I certainly hope I’m wrong.

The Mech Warfare event will consist of two separate classes. The first class, of which Hagetaka is a member, uses only airsoft/nerf type weapons. You get points for hitting targets on the enemy mech, but the object is to not do any actual damage. The second class is the hardcore class. Hardcore mechs are allowed to use just about anything, including CO2 powered rifles, micro class rockets, flamethrowers, and of course hand-to-hand weapons. In this class, physical damage IS the objective. It’s going to be very exciting.

Hagetaka is built around a custom aluminum chassis, and its 7 DoF legs use a total of 14 RX-64 servos. You don’t have to know much about servos to know that at nearly $300 each, these servos are extraordinarily fast and powerful. Hagetaka sports dual full-auto airsoft guns, plus WiFi video. We’re certainly looking forward to video of this mech in action, and then seeing it personally beat the crap out of lesser mechs at RoboGames this year.

[ Mech Warfare ]
[ Hagetaka: A Bipedal Combat Robot ]

Thanks Andrew!

It was only about four months ago that we posted about the Austrian Hexapod Dance-Off, but the 4th annual competition (which also includes a beer race) has just been scheduled for April 16th. I’d loooove to be able to say that we’ll be covering the event live from Austria, but, um… The BotJunkie travel budget this year is kinda getting blown on BART tickets to RoboGames.

[ Hexapod Competition (Translated) ]

After a long wait, BattleBots is finally heading back to TV. Maybe. From April 21 - 26, BattleBots will be holding (and taping) Pro, College, and High School events here in San Francisco. While the high school and college events will be 120 pound middleweights, the pros will be fighting with gigantic 220 pound heavyweights, all of which are required to have active weapons systems (i.e. no more wedges).

Beyond a place and time for the competition itself, nobody seems sure exactly what the deal is going to be, especially when it comes to getting BattleBots on TV. When we first reported that the show was going to be resurrected, it was supposed to be coming back to ESPN (according to Popular Mechanics). Now, BattleBots is “currently finalizing negotiations” with an unspecified network, which makes me think that whatever they had going with ESPN probably fell through to some extent. So, although all of the matches are going to be taped for TV, it remains to be seen whether or not you and I are going to be able to actually watch any of them.

Meantime, if you’re looking for combat robots, RoboGames 2009 is open to the public and taking place in San Francisco June 12 - 14. We’ll be bringing you live coverage of the event (of course!), and you can check out our videos from last year here.

[ BattleBots ] VIA [ RFL ]

As DARPA has demonstrated, one of the best (and most fun) ways to foster progress in robotics is through competition. Society of Robots keeps bringing us surprises from the 2009 Singapore Robot Games, including this competition for submarine robots. The video isn’t exactly action-packed, but it’s interesting to skip through and see all the different sub designs:

Part 2 of the sub competition is available here.

[ SRG ] VIA [ Society of Robots ]