Robots

Sure, it's been done before, but that doesn't make the idea of a robotic arm controlled by a Wiimote any less exciting, especially when the arm is actually responsive. That feat is aided considerably by the fact that this latest setup was developed by an engineer from National Instruments, who made use of some of the company's LabVIEW hardware and a specially-designed Bluetooth adapter to control the arm at the flick of a wrist (or using the Wiimote's buttons). Check it out in action in the vid...

While it doesn't exactly boast all that many robot-like characteristics, this grasshopper-inspired bot from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology is apparently enough of one to lay claim to the robot high-jump record, which it was able to capture handily by jumping 27 times its own height. That was done with the aid of a motor originally designed to power the vibration unit of a pager which, in this case, winds up two metal springs that eventually release and spring the 5-centimeter tall bo...

Most of the bots we've seen recently have either been targeted at performing human-like tasks or simply too adorable to actually fear, but SRI International's wall-climbing robot is doing its best to put some terror back in the bot game, using something called "electro-adhesion" to cling to nearly any building material and climb with surprising alacrity. Electro-adhesion is apparently relatively low-power, and SRI researchers say that the bots can even climb walls that are covered in dust or ot...

Sometimes human awe and incredulity can only be invoked with the help of moving images. A truism related to overzealous police and nanobots alike. We've heard about the RoboCup nanosoccer exhibit since it was first on show back in 2007. However, it took this video of a microbot pushing a football on a field smaller than a grain of rice to fully ratchet our jaws to the floor. See what we mean after the break. Continue reading Video: Nanosoccer... Oh. My. God....

Everybody's favorite dancing robot of questionable utility from Sony is finally making its way across that big wet thing that divides the fair lands of Japan and USA. The Rolly, in case you missed it, is tiny little wheeled bot that can blast some tunes out of its built-in speakers, move its cute little appendages to the music and spin around for that full-on dancing robot experience. The bot comes with pre-choreographed songs ("Also Sprach Zarathustra," Avril Lavigne's "Girlfriend" and Earth W...

Sure, you can get a robot that mows lawns and nothing else, but what about those of us that are holding out for a humanoid robot that'll save all our 20th century tools from the scrap heap? While that possibility is still quite a ways off, we can now at least get a glimpse of our possible future on a comically-sized scale courtesy of the video after the break, which shows the Mega Dynamizer robot doing its thing with reasonable effectiveness -- at least until it runs into a doghouse. Of course,...

Filed under: RobotsThough it's certainly not the first time a robotic surgeon has made news after joining the staff at a Canadian hospital, history has just been made in Calgary. Doctors (the human kind) were able to use remote controls, an imaging screen and the neuroArm in order to successfully remove a brain tumor from a 21-year old woman. Hailed as the first procedure of its kind, the team already has a line of patients waiting to receive similar surgeries, and the mechanical hand is being p...

All your unicellular buddies are just going to love this. The National Institute of Standards and Technology is rallying a trio of student-built nanobot teams to compete at the world's most popular sport, which will be the second time nanosoccer has accompanied the RoboCup Open. The difference with this year's competition is that the public will be invited to watch. Of course, with a playing field the size of a grain of rice, a microscope will be used to show the crazy antics of the remote-cont...

Most bug-inspired robots do a much better job of creeping us out than giving us the warm fuzzies, but this here Swashbot R/C robot from Crabfu is just too cute for words. It kind of looks like he's trying to find his little robot buddies so they can sing a song about slushies before nap time, while simultaneously dragging a cinder block behind him. You know, cute. Video is after the break.Continue reading Swashbot sashays his way into our hearts...

After watching Honda's Asimo conduct the Detroit Symphony, Toyota's distressed team of robots hopped a box car with a jug of wine and wound up leaning in and kicking out a clear harmonic cry to some corporate goons in Japan. The band consists of a couple repurposed DJ Robots and new Partner Robots. While laudable, there's not enough ecstasy for us, not enough life, joy, kicks, darkness, music... not enough night. Video after the break, Jack. Continue reading Video: Toyota's robo-quartet makes ...

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