And just what Dexter is planning on doing with that Coke after he pours it, I have no idea. Same goes for the Jello. What I found most amusing, though, is how Coke apparently decided that Dexter’s normal amount of joint noise (i.e. very little) is not sufficiently robot-y for most people (most people in Brazil, anyway), so those smooth quiet noises got replaced by brrZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzz.

[ Motoman ]

We know how good Motoman’s robots are at making okonomiyaki and mixing drinks, but hey guess what, they’ve got work to do too, like smugly assembling chairs. Why smugly? Because they don’t have legs. Puny humans and their need to sit down, on adjustable cushions in primary colors, no less… These robots are so good at chair assembly, that sooner or later they’ll be assembling all chairs everywhere and then all of a sudden they’ll decide to stop and we’ll have to start begging them for the privilege of sitting down, and there you go, we’re slaves.

But I digress.

Motoman’s SDA10 robot is so good at tasks like chair assembly and other stuff thanks to its 15 DoF arms, which, if I just counted correctly, is easily a DoF or two improved over us humans. Have a look at Motoman’s Dexter (no relation), or more specifically his sister Dextrina, sorting mail over on his/her/its Facebook page.

[ Motoman ]

Thanks Erik!

We first covered DLR’s ‘Justin’ robot back in 2007, when he was learning kinematics by practicing how not to hit his own balls. He’s learned a little bit more in the last year or so, and can now dance better than John Travolta:

Oh, and Justin (now that he’s got a wheeled base he goes by Rollin’ Justin) does plenty of other helpful things, too. Ultimately, the hope is that Justin (and robots like him) will be able to assist the elderly and disabled with household tasks. In the following video, I was extremely impressed by Justin’s finger dexterity, starting at about 2:05… Check it out:

[ DLR ] VIA [ Hizook ]