It takes some work to combine a bunch of parts into a working anything, but Trossen Robotics is making things easy if you want your own remote control dual axis robotic turret. It’s a cinch to build, and includes a MosquitIO Microcontroller, two HS-322HD Hitec Servos and some software to get you started. Of course, it starts out as just a turret, so it’s up to you to add some of the stuff that makes turrets fun. Like guns.

The kit is $99 from Trossen.

[ Trossen Robotics ]

About a month ago we saw some Robot Survival Game test footage, but the actual competition took place in Japan just last week. Eight robots entered the fray, which is much like Mech Warfare in that the robots are armed (with airsoft guns) and controlled remotely via onboard cameras. The most significant difference between the two competitions seems to be that the Survival Game doesn’t penalize robots for having more legs and allows other mobility systems, leading to some pretty interesting designs.

The hit sensors, by the way, are brilliant in their simplicity and effectiveness: the ‘tinfoil hats’ are covering light sensors, and when holes are shot in the tinfoil, the sensors register more light. When a certain threshold is reached, the robot is declared destroyed.

Some of the robots designed for this contest are pretty sweet… My favorite has to be this one, called ‘Vanga:’

Not only does Vanga have six legs, it’s also got some wheels underneath, which enable it to squad down, lift up its legs, and zip around:

There’s a five legged robot in the mix too, and it’s much more nimble than you might think.

Check out more competition vids at the link below.

[ Biped Robot News ]

It may take a big robot to bring you one bottle of beer, but it takes a little robot to haul around six bottles. Or anyway, that’s the idea of the Bottle Traction event at the Wonderful Robot Carnival in Japan, where hobby robots compete to haul the most bottles over a given distance as fast as possible. The robots can push, pull, jump, or whatever, as long as they get the job done. Sometimes they do manage to the the job done, but as you can see from the video, the rest of the time it’s just funny.

VIA [ Robots Dreams ]

Kondo is releasing a new series of hobby robot kits based on animals, and the first one of the bunch is this cute little turtle. He’s got four legs with two servos each plus a movable head, with his batteries and circuit board packed up neatly inside his shell. It’s not a complicated kit, and Kondo seems to be hoping that people will use it as a base to build onto using additional bolt-on Kondo brackets and servos (sold separately, of course).

The kit goes on sale today in Japan for about $450 USD.

[ Kondo ] VIA [ Robots Dreams ]

Last year, it was a Billie Jean tribute dance. This year, twenty Aldebaran Robotics Naos are kicking it up a notch by dancing in sync to nearly ten minutes worth of music including Maurice Ravel’s Bolero. Never mind the choreography that must have been involved… Consider what ten minutes with no screw ups implies about the precision and repeatability of Nao’s software. Impressive, but until Nao figures out how to do a head spin, I think Manoi can still bust better moves.

VIA [ Wired ]

A big train station seems like a very appropriate place to try for a world record in robot line following, and for a brief period last week, Union Station in Kansas City was (partially) given over to a bunch of little robots following a really, really long line. Over 400 feet of line, to be specific. 50 robots managed to follow the line all at once for a few seconds, setting a new world record which, to be fair, hadn’t officially existed beforehand. Now, though, 50 robots on one line for 2 seconds or 15 robots on one line for 1 minute are the numbers to beat. If you want a part in the challenge, you can build a line following robot for next to nothing (or a lot more than that).

After the jump, a bot’s-eye view of the event. (Read more…)

Geez, is there anything that you can’t do with LEGO Mindstorms? This biped isn’t dynamically balancing itself or anything (it’s held up by string), but that gait looks pretty natural. Plus, if you get bored with it walking, you can just rip it to pieces and then teach it to solve Rubik’s cubes or make a sweet spaceship or something.

[ University of Jena Locomotion Lab ] VIA [ Make ]

Well, it’s official. Crabfu is a Modern Marvel:

Congrats!

[ Crabfu Steamworks ]

In a startling bit of news, Microsoft has just announced that their Robotics Developer Studio (RDS) software will be available to anyone… for free.

In the past, Microsoft RDS has been distributed in several versions, only the most limited of which was free. Now Microsoft intends to open the doors and bring RDS to the masses- a move which could prove hugely successful, or potentially fatal.

Microsoft believes that by opening up their software to the public, they’ll help to spark a revolution in consumer robotics, and begin a new era in technology.

Microsoft RDS is a set of development tools including a visual programming interface and a 3D simulator which, especially when combined with the myriad of tutorials, make for a very easy-to-use piece of development software that is geared towards as broad a user base as possible.

This is a big bit of news from Microsoft, but it’s important to keep things in perspective- there are a growing number of robotic development tools available, many of which are already open-source. One such competing development platform is Willow Garage’s Robot Operating System (ROS). The folks at the Garage have had some impressive results with their software, and given that the market is still developing, it should be interesting to see how it all pans out.

Download RDS here.

Should Microsoft have kept the full version of RDS for purchase, rather than giving it out to the masses? Let us know in comments!

[ Microsoft Robotics ]

Thanks Rich!

Using a combination of a handful of hardware, a bundle of software, and a bucket of brains and ingenuity, one intrepid engineer decided to control his Rovio… with his MIND! Robert Oschler has taken the Rovio to the next level, and is able to control it remotely, hands-free, with nothing but his facial movements and concentration. And, a fancy $300 Emotiv EPOC Neuroheadset, which we had some brains-on time with back at the 2008 Game Developer’s Conference.

Here’s how it works:

• Oschler wears his Emotiv EPOC headset, which has electrodes to detect his brain waves, as well as 2 gyroscopes to detect movement
• The headset communicates with Roboclient, which interprets the signals, and sends them wirelessly over Skype to another computer
• The other computer reads the Skype data, and sends it to the Robodance software
• Robodance turns the signals into robot commands, which are then broadcasted via WiFi to the Rovio
• All the while, Rovio is streaming audio and video back to the remote computer

It’s a very impressive bit of hacking, and we can’t wait to see what’s next… Check out the video below for an awesome in-depth explanation by the creator:

[ Mind Controlled Robot ]

Thanks, Robert!