It’s true, of course, and not just from a Sci-Fi point of view. With robots doing everything from vacuuming our floors to storing our data to performing surgery, there is a growing need for an international body to establish standards. If, as British robotics professor Noel Sharkey says, “decisions about [robots'] application will be left to the military, industry and busy parents,” we run a risk of enabling very risky behavior among robots, indeed.

Who makes the decision of when a surgery is too complicated to be remote-operated? Will robot nannies (don’t laugh, believe me they’re on their way) have a minimum age with which they can interact? How will combat robots be accountable for causing civilian deaths? These are questions which seem fanciful now, but in 10 years you’ll be wondering why we didn’t ask them 10 years ago.

Force fields aren’t just used to obstruct the TMNT, they are actually being used by scientists to improve research. A new gadget called EnviroStat (”Environment”+”Constant”) can hold individual cells in an electric force field, potentially leading to improvements in drug trials or even biofuel production. EnviroStat was developed by Andreas Schmid and his colleagues Lars Blank and Hendrik Kortmann at the Dortmund University of Technology in Germany. With this gadget, researchers will be able to evaluate the individual cell response to a single variable while other conditions are kept stable. According to Schmid, the new gadget could smooth out some of the complexities involved in cell studies of drugs. Click here to see a video of this thing in action.

[Editorial note by Devin: it's only a matter of time before the machines adapt this technology to trap their flesh-based enemies in an electrical bubble. Beware the Robocalypse!]

It won’t be long before the cursed machines turn on us. Already they vacuum our rooms and play our games, can there be any doubt that machines like this automated all-terrain Ripsaw tank will soon grow desirous for the blood of their fleshy oppressors?!

Fools! You will be the first to to be crushed under their brushed-aluminum heel!

Update: More video of its steely might here.

Did anyone else get a little scared when it did its mad face? This little robot is, I imagine, designed to be one of those greeter robots that tells you “welcome” and can respond when you ask it where the elevators are. Unfortunately, I think anyone that sees it will have dreams of the Robocalypse for weeks after. This is how it starts, people. It rolls around on Segway wheels now, but how long before it’s on tank treads, scaling mountains of human skulls?

They also need to get a new lighting guy… futuristic white robots are supposed to be overlit, not in terrifying half-shadow.

[via HardOCP]

After we wrote about TiLR last week, RoboDynamics invited us down to their headquarters to check one out in person. The idea is simple, straight out of countless science fiction flicks: rather than physically going somewhere, you virtually hop into a robot already on site. A camera, mic, and steering system on your end put you in the body of the robot as you roam the location, seeing and hearing things as if you were there.

Even in its beta state, I really enjoyed my time with the TiLR. I was a bit wary at first, completely convinced I was going to break something. When you’re in an office surrounded by a bunch of robots worth thousands each, breaking things is a bad, bad idea.

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What is it about today? First hunter-killers, then Terminator spare parts, and now the machines are infiltrating our armed forces. Actually, it’s not such a big deal; the United States Army is simply continuing to take advantage of its contract with iRobot, which provides the Army with hundreds of Packbots, small robots suited for dirty or dangerous jobs. They’re pumping out about 100 a month with a total of 1800 shipped, which doesn’t seem like a lot unless you see them all together, rushing at you in a body, crushing you under their tiny treads and tearing at you with their tiny arms, as their cold, unblinking eyes look on with a mechanical indifference.

Individually, though, I’m sure they’re very helpful. I’ve heard stories of army engineers who have cried upon seeing their robot destroyed or irreparably damaged by a mine or RPG blast. Noble as it is, it is precisely that kind of emotion that will lead humanity to defeat in the coming Robocalypse.

Update: Yeah, that was autoplaying. Sorry. Video now inside!
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Once again the world of man is threatened by a robot menace. Did we not learn from Terminator and The Matrix that down this road waits crushing oppression under an unyielding steel grip? Or a lightweight aluminum one? While at the moment this leg appears to be shaky, small, and less than deadly, it’s only a matter of time before it joins with its brethren to start their own league (as foretold on the NES) and then their own political party.

Unfortunately, as tech journalists, we’ll be forced to cover our own species’ demise at the hands of the machines, post by post. When they come for our soft flesh, we’ll liveblog it.

More videos and pics below. [via MAKE]
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While I personally am a fan of micro-dirigibles as opposed to the (IMHO) wasteful helicopter-type UAVs, this is certainly an awesome version of the latter. Its multi-rotor setup enables some serious agility, as you can see in the videos. If you’re filming, you might need some serious image stabilization, although it’s easily good enough for recon or aerial photography. There are several cool mounts for popular camera form factors, and I’m sure with a little customization you could have it drop water balloons on the kids across the street.

They start at around $15,000, so they’re not really hobby machines, and add-ons like GPS-aware hovering and a video-enabled controller make it more robust (good). I’m reminded, however, of the Manhacks from Half-Life 2 (bad). Keep your crowbars handy. More pics below.
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Japan’s most prestigious educational institution, the University of Tokyo, and semiconductor company Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic), today unveiled an ultrasensitive sensor for robot use.

The prototype was produced based on MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems) nanotechnology and is as small as a bread crumb. It’s made of silicon and covered with elastic rubber. The scientists involved in the project say their sensor can detect pressure and friction of objects weighing just 1g.

Existing tactile sensors are too large to be implanted into robot hands but this new device can be embedded underneath a robot’s fingers, just like human nerves.

Commercialization of the sensor is scheduled to begin “in a few years”. Matsushita and the university are specifically planning to use their technology in robots engaged in nursing care and household work.

Via Nikkei [registration required, paid subscription]

Not Japanese but German robots have been leased by the Chinese government to uphold the law during the Beijing Olympics. Berlin-based Robowatch Technologies has sent a total of 16 security robots to China. Two years ago, they were successfully deployed in German stadiums during the soccer world cup.

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ZMP, the world’s first venture company focusing on robot technology and – of course – based in Tokyo, is selling the source code [JP] for nuvo, one of its best-selling robots. The humanoid was unveiled in 2004 and ZMP says it’s the first robot for home use.

The company’s aim is to establish a research community centered on the findings derived from doing research with the nuvo source code.

Target customers are educational institutions, companies and individuals. For $2,400, buyers will get one of the nuvo robots, the source code (in C++ and C) and an electrical circuit diagram. 3 days of instruction by ZMP employees (maintenance, system analysis etc.) is included in the price.

By offering their IP to outside parties, ZMP hopes to make a contribution to next-generation robot technology as a whole. However, the number of participants in the “nuvo source code program” is limited to 50, with the first one being a Japanese professor.

I am just wondering how they would treat Non-Japanese customers, given the (better than average) English pages were last updated in 2006.

Via Tech-On

Bet you weren’t expecting that headline when you woke up this morning!

Researchers in China has proposed and prototyped a robot that moves along the inside of pipes by its own power, cleaning as it goes. Currently the way major pipes are cleaned or cleared is through pigging, which is basically shooting a big scrubber down the pipe using pressure and catching it at the other end. However, some pipes are “unpiggable” because of varying widths, difficult bends, and so on. This little robot could go where no pig has gone before and enable more efficient piping where it once was limited by pigs’ limits.

I like that robots are filling these niches in our world. When you think about it, the most useful robots to us won’t be androids or battlebots, but common things like Drobos, Roombas, and soon, the caterpillar that lives in your drain. O brave new world! [via New Scientist]

(video from Diginfo, Inc. with special permission for crunchgear.com)

Robots capable of supporting humans under extreme conditions are not really a new idea. However, now the so-called Kenaf Resuce Robot developed by the Japan’s International Rescue System Institute (IRS) seems to have risen the bar.

The latest version of the robot – presented during an exhibition this month in Tokyo – is highly mobile, can detect humans and automatically maps terrains it’s exploring.

Originally developed to be used after earthquakes, the IRS is now considering to let Kenaf support firefighters, the military and other organizations as well.