In a development being hailed as “the greatest single step forward ever taken by civilization,” Japan has made a pair of wise-cracking robot arms that make and deploy up to 800 perfect bowls of ramen per day. Yes, we saw one like this back in July, but this is a whole other level. It’s like Wall-E vs. the talking toaster from Red Dwarf (admittedly, a solid robot). These truly awesome robo-arms boil the noodles, add flavoring and broth, then top it off with accoutrements like seaweed bits or pork.
If this is what we have to look forward to after they take over, I… I no longer fear the Robocalypse.
Well I’ll be: a fancy robot that has nothing to do with Japan. It’s called Nao, and it was designed by a French company called Aldebaran Robotics; it was just on display in Valencia this past week. It’s one of those “helper robots” whose only goal is to help you out when you’re sick.
This dainty-hoofed droid has the gait of an octogenarian jogger, the face of Asimo, and the recovery ability of BigDog. Yeah, that’s not a scary combination.
Imagine you’re sitting at the dining table reading the latest Wrestling Observer, as you do from time to time. Nothing too crazy, just minding your own business. Then, suddenly—it’s always suddenly—the microwave hops off the counter, wielding a knife, and comes charging after you. Oh, dear!
Baseball is a national sports in Japan and so it was just a matter of time for this baseball- and robot-crazy country to invent (industrial) robots that are able to play baseball. The 2-robot team can’t run around and doesn’t look human, but both machines are able to throw and bat the ball in quite an impressive way.
Hypothetically, say you found a safe in your garage. Maybe left there by the previous owner, maybe part of your wife’s family’s old junk — nobody seems to know. You hear an intriguing rattle inside; what could it be? Gold? Silver? An old stick of gum? Only one way to find out: design a robot to attempt every combination possible on the lock and have it run night and day.
Of course, you could take it to a locksmith, or try to blow it up, but what if it’s filled with Whoppers? You’d break them all and there’d be delicious malt powder filling all over the place.
*Bonus!* Math problem inside having to do with permutations and combinations.
Those of you who follow the Robocalypse tag know that I find the rise of machine-based warfare and biomimetic freakery… troubling. Well, it just got a lot more so. Not content to have robots simply feed on widely available sunlight, or use an versatile diesel engine or something, some robo-pioneers have decided that this new robot should refuel on biomass.
Yes, it can use plants and compost and stuff like that, but let’s be honest. You’re deploying these on a battlefield. These sons of bitches are going to be eating bodies all day long. And you think it’ll stop there?
“Biomimetic miniature flying platforms” appears to be the theme this week. Just a few days ago we saw a hummingbird robot meant to hover in and out of buildings, and now there’s this ro-bat being put together at North Carolina State University.
Here is my question: were there not enough bats in the world already?
I’m concerned that before long, every critter out there will be replaced by a biomimetic robot surrogate. With BigDog, LittleDog, mechafish, swifferbot, and the robo-ant already on the march, it won’t be long before the pleasant tweet and buzz of nature is replaced by the noise of servos and tiny guns.
The latest fiend to come out of DARPA human-extinction research money is this Nano Air Vehicle, which flies like a hummingbird, at least for the few seconds it’s managing to stay up at this stage of research.
I think we adequately covered the life-sizeGundamstatue in Odaiba, but apparently that was just the beginning. Kobe has decided that it needs its own monument to an anime robot (what recession?), and they’ve chosen as the object of their adoration Tetsujin-28, AKA Gigantor. Of a similar height to a Gundam mecha but significantly… more stout, the Gigantor statue will stand 59 feet tall, but will weigh 50 tons (the Gundam was a paltry 35).
Before you get excited, I should probably state for the record that the headline is totally fake. There’s no way to tell whether Jesus actually recommends this robot &mdash he’s just holding it. He might not like it at all. But if that’s the case, I would have to respectfully disagree with him there, because this little robot looks like a lot of fun.
It’s a pretty simple little guy, as robots go: all it does is follow any line you put it on, at a speed of up to 3ft/s. That’s pretty fast for a robot the size of a CD. Read More
Have you ever driven down the highway when there’s construction work going on and wondered who makes all the money from selling the orange barrels used to block off lanes? That’s a lot of barrels. So many barrels, in fact, that a student at NC State in Raleigh, North Carolina helped himself to three of them and constructed this most-excellent Barrel Monster.
The Department of Veterans Affairs is testing a fancy new prosthetic arm developed in conjunction with DARPA, the folks that brought us the Internet, and Deka Research, founded by Dean Kamen, creator of the Segway. Unlike a traditional rigid plastic arm, or God forbid a metal hook, the Luke Arm — a reference to Luke Skywalker’s artificial hand from Empire Strikes Back — allows the wearer to grasp small objects and “perform movements while reaching over their head, a previously impossible maneuver for people with a prosthetic arm.”
Assuming you are European and never have more than a head-sized bag of garbage to throw away, this Dustbot appears to be the perfect trash-related companion. I believe the idea is that an army of these things will lurk in every city and constantly collect garbage, eliminating the need for garbage trucks to come to every home. It navigates via GPS and can be summoned by a text message — sounds like some people I know.
If you’re a stickler for clean floors (note: I am not) but you can’t afford a live-in maid to clean them every day (note: I can not) and you’re not afraid of robots (note: I am, deathly) then perhaps you need a Roomba.
This is pretty old but I thought I’d put it out there in light of recent movements by our future robotic overlords to become autonomous. The Energetically Autonomous Tactical Robot (EATR) by RTI has a built-in foraging system that can harvest biomass as well as fuel like gasoline, propane, coal, and solar energy on the go. It powers itself with a combustion engine and can hunt out and ingest these foodstuffs automatically.
I don’t want to speak for everyone in the entire world, but breakdancing robots will always be welcome to pop and lock anytime, anywhere as far as I’m concerned. While the little guy in the above video shows off some pretty sweet headspins and does the splits, most of his routine consists of a pretty spot-on impression of Bill Cosby dancing in the opening credits of early episodes of The Cosby Show. Now if only Bill had added some headspins and splits to the Cosby Shuffle. That, my friends, would have been Must See TV.
This excellent little critterbot is far smaller than the other robots in use by the military, and is being considered as a way to scout possibly-hostile buildings and areas. I was skeptical of its usability until I saw its little flippers come out and get it up that curb. It looks simple but it was probably very difficult to get the weight and center of gravity right on this little thing. It weighs less than a pound and fits in a big cargo pocket.
Oh god oh god! Household monsters are becoming real! This biomimetic slugbot is meant to pick up dust around the house, but it reminds me more of low-level enemies in NES games than any of its robot helper contemporaries. The Fukitorimushi (”wipe-up bug”) is an autonomous robot like a Roomba, but it moves in a freaky inchworm style. The funny thing is, it would be creepy enough without the microfiber cloth wrapped around it, but with it the thing is absolutely terrifying.
In a development being hailed as “the greatest single step forward ever taken by civilization,” Japan has made a pair of wise-cracking robot arms that make and deploy up to 800 perfect bowls of ramen per day. Yes, we saw one like this back in July, but this is a whole other level. It’s like Wall-E vs. the talking toaster from Red Dwarf (admittedly, a solid robot). These truly awesome robo-arms boil the noodles, add flavoring and broth, then top it off with accoutrements like seaweed bits or pork.
