Tag: Robots

When it comes to wall-climbing robots, most of them rely on vacuum suction to make their way up the side of a building. The trick there is that you need a very smooth surface, like glass or marble in order to get a good grip.

Me in 1988: By 2019 we are going to have flying cars. It’s gonna be so cool! Me in 2019: Looks at water bottle flipping robots in disgust. This is where we put our engineering energy?

A new modular robotics kit was recently launched via Kickstarter and it is called the MIND KIT. It’s an easy-to-use development kit for robotics. The modular robot is designed as an easy click-together system, so you can get down to programming quickly. It’s maker, Vincross describes its capabilities as such: “Cerebrum, Servo Controller and Robot Battery are the core modules of MIND KIT, and then you can easily stack different modules on top of each other.

Liphier Cavalry Robots are robotic toys which are designed for battle. The little robots can be controlled via the accompanying mobile app to defend or attack head-on. These interactive robots are described as self-balancing, but they look like they just spin around on wheels.

AIchan and GONta are the world’s latest comedy duo. These two funny robots were created by a lab at Japan’s Konan University and use an AI program to respond to one another and tell jokes. They do Japanese stand-up comedy routines, which usually involves a “straight man” and a “funny man” who trade jokes back and forth based on misunderstandings, puns, gags, and wordplay.

Bad news for some folks in the robotics business, but great news for mankind. Google is shutting down its SCHAFT robotics unit. This means that humans just got a longer lifespan. The apocalypse may not be canceled, but it is certainly delayed for now. After failing to find a buyer, the SCHAFT robotics unit will be shut down.

Remember a month ago when Disney’s Stickman was the best robotic stuntman technology they had? Good times. Things are about to get way more human and way more creepy. Now the company is working on a series of truly acrobatic, humanoid stunt robots with their Stuntronics project. In the video below, the daredevil robots can be seen doing different acrobatic tricks as they get launched in the air and land in nets.

Drone flying has become the new kite flying, and people of all ages are starting to pick up the hobby. If you’re still new to the game, pick up TRNDLabs’ Fader Stealth Drone, a compact, easy to fly, and bargain-priced drone. This tiny drone is ready to fly as soon as you open the package it came in.

I reviewed a few robot vacuums way back in the day, and they always seemed to get to work in the middle of the night shortly after I forgot they were in the house. These autonomous cleaners can be scary when they kick on and you aren’t expecting it. I can only assume that the home in the video here is the home of the neighborhood cat lady.

Many of us are on the lookout for the impending robot uprising, but once you see this video of skiing robots falling on their butts, you may not be so worried. The footage comes from the Ski Robot Challenge in South Korea outside of PyeongChang.

Every generation’s kids seem to know much more about technology than the prior generation. I grew up as part of the first wave of kids to use desktop computers, and now the little ones are using smartphones and tablets like they were born with them as appendages.

While we await our own downfall in the inevitable robopocalypse, at least we can pit robots against each other and make them fight. More wine! If you like to watch robot battles, YouTuber Robert McGregor put together a great compilation video of Japanese sumo robot fights. These bots have one simple objective: to push their opponents out of the ring.

Japan is doing what Japan does best to give its national volleyball team an edge: using robots. They are using some high-tech training robots to help out. These bizarre-looking ‘bots mimic the opposing team’s defense and are each made up of a pairs of hands and arms attached to a mobile torso. They are mounted to a track and slide up and down to pre-set positions, allowing players to test out their spike shots against many different team formations.

I’ve been through enough harsh winters to know that a snowplowing robot is a great idea. An even better idea is an autonomous snowplowing robot competition to see which bot can clear the most snow. My only question is where can I get one for my driveway? At the ION Autonomous Snowplow Competition, teams build autonomous robots that fight to clear the most snow from a designated area.

Scientists at MIT and Stanford have created a new type of tiny robot called a “roveable”. Basically these compact critters will live on our clothes and travel all around as if they are living on a human planet.

Score another victory for robot-kind. A system which coordinates swarms of robots to avoid colliding with one another has been developed by a team at Georgia Tech’s GRITS Laboratory. The Safe Swarm Robotics system works by adding minimally invasive safety controllers to the robots, and it can prevent collisions in a large groups of robots that are working together.