When you think of a massage robot, you probably think of something that’s humanoid, using hands to give a human a traditional massage. Robots, however, are best at being robots and doing things in robot-y ways, and all you really need for a massage is movement and pressure. WheeMe is a cute little robot that provides both by driving around your body on knobbly rubber wheels.

At only 240 grams, WheeMe isn’t heavy enough to do a painful and fulfilling job, but I can imagine that it probably feels pretty good, at the very least like having someone run their fingers along your back. The especially clever bit about WheeMe is that it somehow knows how not to plunge to its death off of your shoulders… From the sound of things, it uses tilt sensors to keep its center of gravity in a safe place, but otherwise roams around more or less randomly.

WheeMe will be on display at CES in January, and we’ll be there to test it out (extensively) in person. There’s no word yet on price, but I can’t imagine it’ll be very expensive, although I’ve definitely been wrong about this kind of thing before.

[ Dreambots ] VIA [ IEEE ]

Joe wrote in to share the debut of this new robot arcade game (that he designed!) at the international arcade expo in Orlando. It looks pretty fun: two sumo robots with lifters compete to flip each other over and score points. From the look of things, the robots are cleverly constructed so that when they flip, they can reliably self-right without any trouble at all. I’m guessing that there’s a computer vision system watching everything from above, and that’s how the bots are able to dock themselves to recharge.

It might be kinda neat to see something like this outside of an arcade too… As sort of a really simple robot combat game, maybe with accessories to give your bot different capabilities or something. Robotics in general has such a steep learning curve (or that’s the perception, anyway) that anything designed to make the field easily accessible to beginners and kids would be great for the industry in general. And ideally, it would be fun at the same time, which is obviously the most important thing, since non-fun things just plain suck.

Look for Robo Restle sometime in 2011.

[ Robotic Amusements ] VIA [ Arcade Heroes ]

EARL (that would be, Enhanced Automated Robotic Launcher) is a second generation bowling robot. Let me explain to you why a bowling robot is necessary at all: apparently, EARL is “invaluable in the many studies necessary to keep up with the ever-changing bowling ball industry… [EARL is] the future of bowling research.”

Hmm. That’s worth pondering for a minute or two.

Well, I won’t pretend to understand it, but that doesn’t mean I’m not impressed with the fact that EARL can throw bowling balls at 24 MPH and spin them up at 900 RPM, much faster than a human is capable of, which I guess is why people seemed to assume that the robot would win… Does it say something about the state of robotics, or something about the sport? Either way, bowling seems like a game with an extremely limited amount of random variables, and sooner or later (probably sooner) the only thing worthy of a news story will be a robot arm not bowling a perfect 300.

Incidentally, how many points is it worth in bowling if you destroy an RV?

[ Bowlingdigital ] VIA [ CNET ]

R2-D2 was always an eminently practical robot, as long as you lived on a spaceship a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Artoo is keeping up with the times, though, by reconfiguring himself with ten (ten!) different game consoles plus an integrated projector and eight speaker sound system. In this droid you’ll find a Nintendo Entertainment System, a Super NES, A Nintendo 64, a Nintendo GameCube, a Playstation 2, a Sega Genesis, a Sega Dreamcast, an Atari 1800, an XBox 360 and a computer, plus parts of a PS1 and and an XBox 1 (works in progress maybe?) AND a PSP hidden in one of the legs. The coolest part (IMO) is how all of the switches and buttons and ports for controllers and stuff have been distributed all over the case and integrated into the design.

There are lots of people who have built R2s based on the original ILM specifications, but there’s nearly always a compromise between various degrees of functionality. This mostly because it seems to be more or less physically impossible to stuff all of the things that R2 does in the (original) movies inside the case of an R2… The movies cheated by using several different robots. From what I’ve heard, the hardest thing to do is a 3-2-3 conversion, which is getting R2 to extend and retract a functional center wheel. If you’re interesting in building your own R2, there’s tons of information here.

[ BDeVitis ] VIA [ Fort90 ]

Yes. Such a shirt exists. And it’s a good thing, too, what with the assemblage of beer serving robots that we’ve been treated to over the last week. Yours from ThinkGeek for $20.

[ ThinkGeek ]

My only comment on this shirt is that at $14.95, it’s overpriced by about $20.

And since I can’t imagine any other conceivable opportunity which would allow me to post this, after the jump, you can watch Sir Mixalot’s Baby Got Back music video. Just a warning… This video may not be safe for viewing at work, or for viewing anywhere else if you have taste, as it contains (among other things) pieces of fruit shaped like butts.

[ Snorg Tees ] VIA [ UberReview ]

Next time you find yourself in Bangkok and hungry, the Hajime Restaurant should be at the top of your list, since its waitstaff consists of four dancing robots in samurai outfits. Each table has a touchscreen display, and the robots will deliver your orders and then clean up after:

I’m not certain, but the proportions of the arms and the blue coverplates make me think that the robot is a Motoman. If so, it wouldn’t be a surprise, since Motoman robots already have plenty of experience at serving food.

[ DJMICK ] VIA [ DVICE ]

It’s not quite the real thing, but it will run around your desktop, take notes for you, and keep you up to date on the latest news from Honda (um, yay?). It’s a free download over at the Honda website.

[ Honda ]

At RoboExotica in Vienna (it’s the European version of this) one of the most entertaining robots this year was this Adult Mario system, a regular game of Mario hooked up to a booze dispenser that mixes you a drink based on how well you play. Do well, you get rum and coke. Do poorly, and the robot mixes in water. Run out of lives, and the robot throws the drink in your face.

Just kidding.

But there are other cool features, like fans that blow in your face when Mario runs and lighting that matches the background of the level you’re on. You can also swap cartridges (not really) and play Bartris instead:

Of course, the robot can be configured to mix any sort of drink using any sort of game. The possibilities are endless… Contra J├ñgerbombs, here I come.

[ Roboexotica ]
[ Nonpolynomial ] VIA [ DigitalTools ]

It’s not as cool as this shirt, but it is potentially safer to wear out in public. And, you know, it’s better for those of you who love robots but don’t love robots. $15.

[ Neatorama Shop ]