Tech Digest

Zou Renti and His Robot Clone

Here we have a portrait of Mr. Zou Renti of the Xi'an Supermen Sculpture Institution and his robot clone at the 2006 China Robot Expo at the International Convention Center in Beijing.  They've come by to show off the robot's silica gel skin and lifelike features (and that he's basically a party droid).  He walks, he talks, he bobbles his head sympathetically, he stands still really well.  (If you're still confused about which is the man and which is the robot, there's a hint after the jump.)  [GT]

 

Crazy News via Engadget

Related stories: Actriod DER2 Fembot l Kao + Kelo = feels-like-skin for robots l Spot the robot

Surprise, the man's the one who feels comfortable sticking his finger in the robot's ear. Seriously though, the Japanese are doing crazy stuff with robots these days. If they invent one that can blog, we're all out of luck.

Actriod DER2 Fembot

Kokoro just brought out a brand-new robot, the Actroid DER2, who loves Hello Kitty and has improved movement patterns over the original Actroid DER. She's presently the guide-bot at the Sanrio headquarters in Tokyo. She has more accurate-looking limbs and a wider range of facial expressions making it now even more likely for the uninitiated to confuse her with an actual human being. But don't just take their word for it; you can rent her for £400 per day plus extra fees for technical support, delivery and choreography changes. So if you fall in love with her, I hope you have a good day job. [GT]

Actroid DER2 Fembot (japanese) [via Pink Tentacle]

Related stories: Kao + Kelo = feels-like-skin for robots | Rong Cheng, China's first 'beauty robot' | The Fembot Mystique

Driving Miss Penguinbot

Oddly resembling the good-natured younger brother of HAL 9000, the Pioneer Penguinbot is actually intended to improve your driving by warning you about red lights or speeding, letting you know when you're getting lost or passing by some point of interest, and also be the little avian friend you dreamed of every night since you were a child. Of course it's only in the prototype stage, but if the straw poll is any indication, Pioneer has a palpable hit on its flippers, er, hands. [GT]

The load robot of the pioneer (entertainingly machine-translated from Japanese) [via Engadget]

Related stories: New Japanese robot prototype identifies wine, cheeses | MobilEye corrects your lousy driving | Self driving robotic car

Get your own C-3PO on eBay

He's everyone's favourite camp movie droid, and now C-3PO is available to stand in the corner of your living room. At least, he is if you have $2,500 to spend on a life-size replica that's for sale on eBay. He's grey, as based on the Episode II C-3PO before he went in to a droid garage for his golden respray, and has brand-new LEDs in his eyes. Sounds like a bargain.

Also today on Bayraider: a tribal torch prop from the original 1933 King Kong movie, and a man trying to flog a Steve Irwin doll for six million dollars, yet can't spell 'crikey'.

Kao + Kelo = feels-like-skin for robots

Skin is often the slight flaw in the robotic character, but the Kao Corporation and a team from Kelo University have come up with a false layer that ten out of twelve people (under, they admit, highly unscientific circumstances) felt felt like real skin. It involves a centimeter of silicone with 0.2cm of urethane faux epidermis embossed with tiny hexagons to give it the right texture.

Robot beauty goes skin-deep [via Yomiuri Shimbun (japanese)]

Related stories: New Japanese robot prototype identifies wine, cheeses | Rong Cheng, China's first 'beauty robot'

Robot X Sharpener

The Robot X Sharpener winds up with a key, or by your sharpening your pencil in his back. (We recommend you name him Julius.) He also has special grips to hold your pencil, and the shavings end up in his head, giving you the highly amusing opportunity to decapitate him routinely in the name of cleanliness. Available in blue, black, red, silver and EXTERMINATE. (Well, no, alas.) [GT]

Robot X Sharpener

Related stories: What does Rod Stewart have in common with a rare Radar Robot? | New Japanese robot prototype identifies wine, cheeses | Rong Cheng, China's first 'beauty robot'

Newest from iRobot: the Dirt Dog

Designed to pick up 40% more stuff than the standard Roomba, and with two huge heavy-duty bristles that spin at 1000 rpm in order to grab big debris (nails and woodchips, for example), the iRobot Dirt Dog is something you want to put in your kitchen or your workshop rather than your living room floor throw made from hummingbird beaks. While a regular ShopVac can do the same thing, the ongoing advantage of the Roomba is that it can go places that you can't (or, more likely, just don't want to). $129 USD. [GT]

iRobot Dirt Dog

Related stories: Next gen Roomba - the Scooba - coming to UK | Roomba gets thumbs up | Wany's robot vacuum cleaner

What does Rod Stewart have in common with a rare Radar Robot?

And no, the answer isn't that they both need a good oiling with WD40 before they can get up in the morning. At least, I think that isn't the answer... No, the link is that they've both been spotlighted on Bayraider today. The Radar Robot (pictured) was made by Japanese firm Nomura in the 1950s. Back then, he would've cost you just $2.98, but on eBay he's going for $765 at the time of writing. That's inflation for you.

You'll only have to spend $41 to get your hands on Rod Stewart's smelly old ball – but don't worry, it's been kept well, so isn't sagging at all. It's a football that Rod kicked into the crowd at a gig in Columbus, Ohio, and subsequently signed. I assume whoever caught it then brought it backstage. Rod's arms aren't that long.

Also today on Bayraider: a broken drumstick (musical, not chicken) signed by Led Zep's John Bonham, a Lindsay Lohan handbag hand-made from her Rolling Stone cover, and some Suri Cruise t-shirts.

Grab yourself a Big Loo robot on eBay

And no, that's not a cyborg that helps wipe your bum. The boffins haven't invented that yet. Instead, it's a quirky robot found on eBay by Bayraider. He's mostly green, a bit battered, and clearly didn't clean his teeth properly during his boyhood (bothood?) years, as there's plenty of gaps. Still, he has got his original box, which given he was made in the early 1960s is some achievement.

Today's other crop of cool items on Bayraider includes a Meat Loaf mirror, a Hellraiser-themed edition of Monopoly, and a cuddly alligator toy formerly owned by Her Out Of The Divinyls. You remember, she sang about touching herself. Hopefully not with the alligator.

New Japanese robot prototype identifies wine, cheeses

Not only does this robot recommend the right matches of wine and cheese it can actually learn what new flavours you might be interested in, and it even gives health tips if it thinks you're overindulging. Given three ripe, identical-looking apples to analyze, the robot was able without taking a bite to correctly single out one as sweet and the other two as a bit sour. It also mistook one reporter for ham and another for bacon. It uses a sensor to analyze the 'fingerprint' of the food or beverage, so it can tell how a wine is doing without having to open the bottle - which should prove invaluable once the sensors become affordable. I'd certainly like to know when that big-bodied red I've been cellaring has hit prime drinkability! [GT]

New Robot Can Identify Wines, Cheeses [via Miuro dancing robot takes your iPod for a spin | The Fembot Mystique | Rong Cheng, China's first 'beauty robot'

Miuro dancing robot takes your iPod for a spin

The iPod has a whole range of accessories to plug into these days - speakers and docks of all weird shapes and sizes - so you're never without it. Now there's a Japanese robot called Miuro which turns your iPod into a "dancing boombox-on-wheels".

ZMP have created a robot that looks like a ball coming out of an egg. It has a speaker system by Kenwood, and the iPod locks into the top. It can stream music wirelessly from a PC as well.

"Music Innovation based on Utility RObot technology" responds to a remote control so that you can have it follow you around. On its own, it sounds like it'll just dance about to the music (well, roll about), but with add-on camera and sensors it can map its own position and remember predetermined routes. Whether it will avoid your bemused pets is another matter.

"The robot helps you listen to music wherever you are without even thinking about it. Sometimes I don't even have the energy to put on a CD." said ZMP President Hisashi Taniguchi.

It'll go on sale overseas in the second half of 2007 - no idea on price yet. Just ask yourself whether you want your iPod to follow you round everywhere in a giant egg, bumping into things and grooving to your favourite tunes.

ZMP (Japan) website

Mini robo-tank steamrolls onto eBay

A 10-inch robot tank isn't going to have much luck taking over the world - it'd struggle to even take over your pet hamster. But on eBay, the R1 robo-tank is king of the world this week according to Bayraider, with a starting price of $150 and a cheeky smile on its face. It's got all its original antennae y'know. Also today on Bayraider, grab a vintage Beatles lunch box, Michael Jackson's ultra-bling Swarovski white glove, and Keira Knightley's shoes from Pirates Of The Caribbean. That's booty worth grabbing. The items, I mean. Not Keira.

The Fembot Mystique

All things being equal, there's a half-in-half shot that you, reading this article, are a man, and in my experience, most men have at least once wished for a woman who they could theoretically program in whimsical (and entirely socially acceptable, of course) fashions.  Yet over at Popular Science, Annalee Newitz observes that a preponderance of female robots are overly sexual and incredibly dangerous.  Ranging from the evil Maria robot in Metropolis to Pris in Blade Runner (shown right) to the female Terminator in T3, PopSci has a gallery of fembots and a forum for selecting the People's Choice Fembot.   [GT]

The Fembot Mystique

Related stories: Rong Cheng, China's first 'beauty robot' | Up the Working Robot!

Wheel yourself around in a home-made Dalek

Except it's NOT a Dalek. If it was, the BBC would be chasing the guy selling it on eBay for copyright infringement. So it's a robot called Steven which just happens to resemble the ones you might've seen menacing Billie Piper on a Saturday night.

You sit inside it on a chair and wheel yourself around using your legs. And better still, it's got a voice modulator that converts anything you say into the steely tones of a dal... I mean, a robot. And judging by the photo, it's partial to a Four Cheese with garlic bread too. Expect to pay £1,399 if you want to own it.

Buy Tommy Steele's Mini on eBay

Okay, so this piece of technology found by Bayraider is, ahem, 30 years old. So it's not exactly cutting-edge, although your grandad probably will find it more exciting than an iPod. It's comedian Tommy Steele's old Mini, which is being flogged on eBay with bidding at nearly £2,500.

It's also Robot Tuesday on Bayraider, so they've been hunting down another crop of top bots on eBay. This week's ten includes a $249,000 robot tank, a pair of Rock'em Sock'em bots dressed up like Mr T and Rocky Balboa, and an original AIBO ERS-110 that's had 27 bids already.

10 more eBay robots gunning for your wallet

The world's in danger of being overrun by waves of Japanese tin robots, judging by Bayraider's success in finding 10 new hot bots every week on eBay. This week's bumper crop includes the Weeble-like Mr Atomic, a Rampaging Robot that bursts through your living room wall, and a Robot Commando who looks like Optimus Prime after a fight with a Lego set.

It's not all robots though. Today, Bayraider's also turned up a Mafia Boss' bling ring, Johnny Depp's wedding photos, and Angelina Jolie's used hanky. Nice.

Rong Cheng, China's first 'beauty robot'

Rong Cheng is a Chinese Beauty Robot that debuted at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing a few days ago. She dances, she greets people, she responds to around a thousand words in the Sichuan dialect. She also costs around 300,000 yuan to build, which is a comparatively modest £20,000 pounds, give or take, considering everything she does. Should she get past the prototype phase, economies of scale could easily bring her down to the point where secretaries (pardon me, executive assistants) go entirely out of style. Rong Cheng doesn't need sick days, for instance. [GT]

Beauty Robot [via Gearlog]

Related stories: YouTube video of the day: Japanese Walking Attack Robot | CES 2006: Robosapien RS2 Media | Up the working robot!

Get your own personalized Florida Robitics

Florida Robotics offers handmade robots that "walk, dance, play music / pre-recorded jingles, talk with on-lookers and distribute promotional materials". Ranging from Ursula, who looks a tad like a chromed Bride of Frankenstein, to robot trash cans, each 'bot is available for sale or rent for parties, corporate events and grand openings. European customers are probably better off buying since shipping something this complex and heavy both ways is going to put a big extra hit on the bill, but nonetheless, if you need your very own robot, $4k-$5k USD is likely within your budget. If not, there's always the Star Wars battle droid. [GT]

Florida Robotics [via BornRich]

Related stories: Star Wars battle droid | Tuesday Top Ten: the eBay Robots are back | Ride-Em Robo

Grab yourself a Star Wars battle droid on eBay

It's not surprising they're being sold off - there's thousands of the buggers, and they don't seem good for much except cannon fodder. Anyway, Bayraider has turned up someone who's selling a seven-foot battle droid for just £850, or will swap it for an R2D2.

Bayraider has also found a slinky pink baby doll chemise dress as seen on Eva Longoria - a prize to any reader who buys both and combines them for some hilarious cross-dressing robot minion antics. Or maybe not. Oh, and it's Sport Wednesday on the eBay-fixated blog, with ten hot auctions including Ayrton Senna's helmet, a WWE ringside seat (as in the chair itself, not a ticket) and a defiantly ungadgety pair of 19th century curling stones.

Man in Robot Suit Gives Up on Piggyback Mountain Climb

You couldn’t make it up… Bad weather forced Seiji Uchhida from being piggybacked up Mt Breithorn by physical therapist Takeshi Matsumoto wearing a HAL (Hybrid Assistive Limb) robotic suit. The precise reason for these two attempting the precipitous 4,164 metre climb remains as cloudy as the top of the mountain but had they succeeded it would clearly have been a boost to the technology, which is designed to allow the wearer to lift heavy objects by responding to nerve impulses to control the motorised limbs. Go on admit it, you want one…

Tuesday Top Ten: the eBay Robots are back

I love robots, they're my friends. At least, they are until the batteries run out, or they go on a laser death rampage. Thankfully, the former usually happens before the latter. Anyway, it's Tuesday, so it's time to round up the best robots available to buy on eBay. And this week, I'm upping the number to ten of the tinny fellas, because there's just too many good ones: Sega's freaky cat-bot, Coca Cola's rare Japanese waiter-bot, and Tom Baker's nemesis from Doctor Who and more...

1. Change Man Robot
You want rare robo-fun? Apparently only 12 of these Change Man robots were ever made back in 1968, which explains why this one's currently going for $8,100. It's battery-powered, and was made by Japanese firm Marumiya. It sounds a bit freaky though - check its functions. 'Walking Forward', 'Stop and Go', and 'Space Sound' are fair enough. But 'Monster Head Splits as Boy's Face Emerges'? Yoich!

2. Sega's Scary 'Near Me' cat-bot
Here's a paradox. Sony's AIBO robo-dogs were cute, despite being metallic and hairless. Yet Sega's 'Near Me' robo-cat, which has fur, will send children and adults alike screaming from the room in terror. Well, maybe that's a bit unkind... Anyway, it seems realistic in other ways, given that it doesn't walk around, but just mews and wiggles its ears. And it won't wake you up at 3am proudly clutching a mouse in its jaws. Buy It Now price is $199.

3. Coca Cola 'Happy Can Can' robot
No, I didn't know Coca Cola made robots either. But this is a special one, apparently manufactured specifically for the drinks company's executives in Japan (where else?). It's 8.5 inches tall, and is remote-controlled - I think the idea is that it whizzes around the room carrying your cans of Pepsi Coke when you have a dinner party. Something like that, anyway. Scandalously, it doesn't appear to have the facility to actually dance the Can Can, thus scuppering any plans I had to bid $350 for it.

4. Brown-shoed Frankenstein
This Franken-bot is apparently ultra rare because of its brown shoes - I'm assuming black-shoed versions are ten-a-penny. Anyway, he's remote controlled with what looks like a prototype PlayStation joypad, and is able to walk, bend over, raise and lower his arms, and reach out to grab someone in jerky Frankenstein style. He's had nine bids so far, sending the price to $300 with just under a couple of days to go.

5. Johnny Sokko Giant Robot
Not too much information in this bot's eBay listing, but I think he looks like a blue Egyptian Inspector Gadget. I can't believe he was discontinued! Anyway, he's 22 inches high with 10 moving joints, is made of vinyl, and comes in his box as new. Nobody's yet bitten on the $99.99 starting price, but it's surely only a matter of time.

6. Robo-Pong 2040
The name's nothing to do with its smell - although I can't vouch for its fragrance seeing as eBay have been unaccountably slow to introduce eSmell technology for auctions. Instead, this is a robotic table-tennis trainer, firing balls at you while catching your returns and slinging them back at you. I bet it can't deal with my crafty back-hand top-spin lobs mind. Starting price is $635.99.

7. Horikawa Video Robot
One day, we won't have plasma televisions: we'll just have great big robots that follow us round the house, showing Midsomer Murders on their chest-mounted LCD displays. Maybe. Of course, Japanese toy-makers had the idea decades ago, as shown by this vintage 9.5-inch bot who can walk forward while showing a trippy space slide-show on his chest screen. Mark my words, this is the future. Er, except hopefully a bit bigger. Starting price is $199.

8. Vintage Doctor Who robot
Back in the 1970s, they knew how to merchandise popular timelord-based sci-fi programmes. Forget yer DVDs, they made licensed robots like this one. It was made by Denys Fisher and Mego, and is based on a baddie from the 1974 episode 'Robot' - co-incidentally Tom Baker's first appearance as the Doctor. He's in perfect working condition apart from "a little dust in some of the nooks and crannies". And the same is true of the robot! Ho ho. Current bid is £89.99.

9. 1950s rocket robot
Another vintage Japanese tin robot, this time an SY Rocket 7 which was made in the 1950s. It's a cheeky-faced bot sitting in a rocket, with arms that swing freely in the breeze - the robotic equivalent of dogs who hang their tongues out of car windows. Yes, you do get the box, and the little fella's already got five bids, taking his price to $102.50 with five days to go.

10. Masadaya Robby Robot
I know very little about this bot other than that he's two feet tall, and can talk and blink. But more importantly, he looks bloody scary, eh? Worth paying $95 for just to give your nightmares a fresh injection of robo-fear.

[via Bayraider]

Eeyore joins the cast of Transformers the Movie

80s children will remember the cult that was Transformers, a range of toys / cartoon characters that turned ('transformed', if you will) from alien robots into cars, lorries, helicopters and the like. Well, the age-old battle of Autobots vs Decepticons is coming back to the big screen in April 2007 with the new Transformers movie from Armageddon and Pearl Harbor director Michael Bay, which sees the robots descending on planet Earth. Early trailers don't reveal much about the film itself (though we assume it a live action / cgi combo) but hint at a conspiracy theory surrounding the disappearance of the 'Beagle' Mars probe in 2003. The cast includes John Voight, Bernie Mac and Josh Duhamel, as well as the voice of Peter Cullen, who'll be ditching the day job of playing Eeyore in Winnie The Pooh to voice Optimus Prime.

View the trailer | IMDB Movie Page | Transformers.com

YouTube video of the day: Japanese Walking Attack Robot

$300,000 to make a big massive huge robot that you can drive around and shoot people with. $300,000 just to be able to clunk up to some people and yell "YOU HAVE 20 SECONDS TO COMPLY" convincingly. Practical? Not one bit...  God I love the Japanese sometimes.

Mof Gimmers

Missile Man and other robots taking over eBay

It's Robot Tuesday again over on Bayraider, and they've been hunting down more metal man-machines that are available to buy on eBay. Today sees a couple of cool Japanese toy robots from the 1950s and 1960s, with Bandai's 16-inch Missile Man (pictured), a rare robo-knight made by toy firm Masuyada. However, they've also turned up a robot rubbish bin and two strapping six-foot home-built bots called Robin and, er 'Berzerk'. Click here for more details.

Top Ten Coolest Lego Gadgets

So you thought Lego was just for kids? Wrong! There’s a whole bunch of enthusiasts out there using the plastic building blocks to construct everything from self-balancing robots and fully functional vending machines to CD throwers. Prepare to be amazed at the pictures and videos on at TechEblog, which features a collection of the Top 10 Lego Gadgets

Wednesday interview: Graham Whitehead part 2: why Aibo's descendants will run our world (in a benign way)

Having quizzed BT Exact futurologist Graham Whitehead earlier this week about BT's new IP-based network and intelligent agents, the logical next discussion topic was robots. At least, it seemed that way at the time. Rather than spinning a yarn about bots running amok and taking over the world (with Will Smith unable to do a thing about it), Graham's view is that robots will become part of humans' lives in a more benign way.

“Who’s going to be pushing your wheelchair around the nursing home?” asks Whitehead. “It ain’t the little people, we’re not making enough of them! In Japan, the problem is even more serious, so they’re building machines that can relate to humans on an emotional level. If you bought an Aibo, you were a beta tester of Sony’s machine that emotionally relates to a human.”

Sadly, this doesn’t mean lots of robo-dogs wandering round old people’s homes in the year 2020 carrying cups of tea and custard creams. At least, I don’t think so. Instead, Whitehead’s argument is that the technology within Aibo will find its way into more useful bots in the years to come.

“They’ll be the hospital cleaners and porters, or the intelligent wheelchairs,” he says. Isn’t this bad news for all the people out there who make a living from those jobs now though? “I see people being elevated to the level of jobs where the human intellect is required,” he replies. “They won’t have to do the humdrum stuff.”

Won’t people be a bit scared of having robots around, even if they were sufficiently gadgety (and rich) to grow up with an Aibo? Whitehead thinks not, saying they’ll instead be an extension of their world.

“It would get up your nose if it’s a Dalek, but if it’s a friendly robot that says ‘Good morning John, here’s your pills...’ then it’s on a more emotional level. It’s not some nasty machine telling you what to do, it’s part of your life. People who are bed-ridden accept a human nurse who comes in and turns you over, but that could be better with a machine.”

He’s keen to stress, though, that this doesn’t mean taking all human nursing care out of the equation - there’ll be no fully robotic nursing homes in years to come. “All this technology is ‘as well as’, not ‘instead of’,” as he puts it.

Less potentially-controversial is the idea that in the future, humans will live a lot longer thanks to medical advances. So there’ll be a growing population of octogenarians (and older) who are relatively spry, but a bit... forgetful. BT’s been doing a trial in Liverpool installing various devices in sheltered accomodation for elderly people.

“It’s stuff like a simple little pad under the leg of the bed that can tell if somebody’s in the bed or not,” says Whitehead. “If they are at 3am, that’s good. If they’re still in bed at 11.30am, that’s not so good.” The theory is that some kind of signal could be triggered reminding the sleeper to get up, and if that doesn’t work, the alarm could be raised.

“It’s also about replacing the memory that isn’t there any more,” says Whitehead. “Putting a sensor on the cooker and toilet, so you can tell if it’s been flushed too many times. We all fall into a very strict profile of activity during the day, so our technology can report by exception to a call centre or contact centre.”

Of course, this could all tie back into BT’s new IP-based network (see part 1 of the interview for more info), allowing carers to video-call their clients to check they’re okay, or even tap into a live video feed, assuming the subject has agreed to it. Without wanting to go all ‘OLD PEOPLE FACE BIG BROTHER HELL!’ on him, doesn’t Whitehead think this could be seen as invasive?

“18 months after we started the Liverpool trial, we finished the project and went in to take all the technology out again,” he says. “One 84-year-old woman offered threatened the engineer with GBH with a walking frame if he took it away! They love it, because it’s adding value. It’s about introducing these things, and people accepting them.”

Five of the best robots up for grabs on eBay

It's Robot Tuesday over on Bayraider, and they've picked out five corking robots that are available to buy on eBay right now. For example, there's this wind-up Japanese space elephant toy (pictured). It's made of tin, and will set you back $1,150.

Other bots featured today include a six-foot robot made entirely from Harley Davidson parts, a scary animatronic clown, a nine-foot raygun-firing metal robot made by an eBayer in their home laboratory, and another Japanese toy - a space fireman. Perhaps he rides the elephant. Anyway, click here to read all about them.

Ride-Em Robo

It’s the one we’ve all been waiting for, the first rideable Robot, from the Korean company Robo 3. According to the RealTechNews report the company is also developing a girl robot and a veritable menagerie of animated creatures. The ride-on jobby looks great though. Can’t wait to see a bunch of them in a race and what parking wardens will make of them; those legs look like they could give you a very nasty kick…

CES 2006: Robosapien RS2 Media

Just as I was complaining of the lack of robots at CES there comes word the latest evolution of the increasingly popular Robosapien series. This next-gen version is called the RS2 Media and offers enhanced programming abilities as well as a 320 x 160 LCD display and a removable memory card slot. The robot’s head cam can record 13-15 fps MPEG4 videos which can then be stored on to the SD card and you can teach the device new movements by positioning the limbs as you want them then saving the sequence. The idea is that you’ll be able to give your robot even more of its own personality than before and it comes with a host of software to help achieve that. Removable memory is seen as they key to this latest step.

via engadget

CES 2006: Lego Mindstorms NXT

There hasn’t been that much in the way of toys or robots at the show so it’s nice to see a big name wheeling out some neat robotic accessories. I say accessory because what LEGO has really done, rather than just make a cybernetic companion, is give you the chance to design and build your own. At the heart of it all is the NXT brick (it’s the thing that looks a bit like an iPod) which contains and autonomous 32-bit LEGO processor.

Programs can now be uploaded wirelessly via Bluetooth and the NXT kit has a host of extra features including a new ultrasonic sensor to let you robot see, sound sensor for voice commands and a set of 18 ‘challenges’ to help users from the age of 10 to get to know the system’s abilities so that they can eventually come up with original ideas like some of those shown at CES. The MINDSTORMS NXT is going on sale from August for an RRP of $249.99 or if you can’t wait, you can apply on the website to be among 100 lucky enthusiasts who will get a kit in February.

Read

Up the working robot!

Here at Tech Digest, we've covered the progress of Honda's Asimo robot  with a certain amount of excitement, but courtesy of the excellent inkycircus, we're please to report that our man of the future is now ready to join the rest of us on the 9 to 5.

And just because you're the boss' pet project, that doesn't mean you get any favours. Asimo will have to start at the bottom, carrying trays of coffee for his felow employees and pushing a small trolley of cream cakes around like a char lady of old. There's no truth in the rumour that Honda are looking at replacing the head with an urn.

As well as an improved vision system and voice communication system, the new and improved Asimo can now run in zig-zags, which should come in handy for the dash to the car park at 5pm. Value for money? Well, the cost of hiring Asimo is 20 million yen ($170,000) a year, which is a tad expensive, even if he can produce a nice bit of battenburg for elevenses.

Via inkycircus

More robots
Asimo learns to run
Spot the robot

Next gen Roomba - the Scooba - coming to UK

There's huge excitement here at the Shiny offices as we have discovered that the next version of our beloved pet Roomba robot vacuum cleaner will be winging its way to the UK in January. The Scooba, which has apparently just gone on sale in the US, will be available from online retailer Empire Direct in the New Year and will cost around £300.

The Scooba takes robot cleaning to the next level in that as well as vacuuming the floor it also washes and mops it. It even dries the floor so that when your dog chases after it – as believe me it will - it won’t get wet paws. Genius! Hopefully we’ll have one to play with in the not-too-distant-future. You can see the Scooba in action here.

More robots
Roomba
Evac

Robot Football arrives in UK

Sepp Blatter is right. Proper football is full of over paid wingeing stars who’d rather be warming the sub’s bench at Big Bucks United than playing week in week out for a decent team. Which is why, instead of the Premiership I am focusing all my footballing energies on robot soccer and I am not talking the Chelsea back four. Launching this week on Firebox is the magnificent Mr Soccer Robot Football, the first UK robot footy game which doesn’t cost a Premiership’s players weekly wage to buy. Players use remote controls to manoeuvre the robots (it comes with one for each team, but extra robots can be added) round the pitch to chase and then control the ball. I saw a demo a few weeks back and was blown away. Anyhow if you are not convinced check the video out - the link is at the bottom of the Firebox page. It looks truly addictive.

The basic set of the pitch, two players, remote etc is £34.95, with each additional robot costing £14.95. You can have up to fourteen bots on the pitch. Even better the bots are in the colours of England and Brazil, so you can play the 2006 World Cup Final over and over even before the event happens.

Yeah, but, no but Vicky Pollard arrives

‘Yeah, but no, but yeah, but… You see, me and the other Little Britain dolls are all going on sale this week. Yeah but don’t believe it. Cos Britney told me it and she’s a slapper and she hasn’t got her own doll. Loser! and yeah but we go on sale via Boys Stuff. And if you tickle our tumbs, you slag, then it is like we say really interesting things, but yeah. Like we are having a laugh. And if you like you can do what Melanie did cos she swapped her baby Darius for a Lou and Andy doll and they threw in a Westlife CD. Which is a terrible. Cos Westlife are rubbish and besides everyone knows you can only get pregnant by sitting on the toilet seat in the boys… Anyway Shaddup cos I never done nuthin' nor nuthin' and anyone says I did is well gonna get beatens.’

DIY Soccer Robot on eBay

Perky little sibling blog Bayraider has an ace story on a DIY football (that's soccer not any other type) playing robot. Apparently you whip out the soldering iron and flick a few screws into place and you can conjure up a bot that'll give you Wayne Rooney type skills without the attitude or the credit card frenzied girlfriend. Here's hoping Sven has got his bid ready.

Robosapien V5: the web connected bricklayer

One day you’ll be able to control an internet connected robot that’s on the other side of the planet, so says ex-NASA scientist, controversial roboticist and the man behind the Robosapien, Mark Tilden. Tilden who was in the UK to promote the upcoming launch of the big daddy of toy robots, the Robosapien V2 which debuts for £200 in November, talked of a concept called Telepresence. ‘If you want to find out what the scene is like in say Nicaragua, then why go there yourself? You’ll be able to control your own robot avatar that walks the streets and checks out what’s happening, and if it looks cool off you go and join him.’ Tilden also sketched out his plans for the next generation of Robosapien suggesting that V3 will be able to carry large objects – ‘it will be able to moonlight as bricklayer by V5’ he says not entirely seriously - and will be over a metre high. Tilden also said that his robots were the hottest gadget for girls claming that over 200,000 Robosapiens had been sold to young women. More on the V2 here

Robopet reaches UK

After kicking off 2005 with Roboraptor, which designer Mark Tilden admits is ‘the first toy robot designed to scare the crap out of your cat,’ Wowee goes cuddly this week with the launch of the Robopet. A very very distant cousin of Sony’s AIBO, the Robopet is described by its maker as ‘a futuristic replica of a real pup.’ I reckon though it has a whiff of the Chihuahua about it. Much lower specified than either the Robosapien or the Roboraptor, the Robopet can however sit, perch on its hind legs and jump. Its on board audio sensors also mean it can respond to sounds while its image sensors keep it clear of obstacles. This being Wowee the Robopet also performs the usual array of naughty tricks in that it farts and wees as well as plays dead.

For more details click here.

Robot football game coming to UK

Japanese boffins reckon that their robots will be able to win the football World Cup by 2050. So instead of Arsenal, Chelsea and Moan United ploughing huge sums of money into youth academies maybe they ought to be making big cash bids for the winners of Robot Wars.

You can help in the quest for England's future World Cup glory too by investing in Mr Soccer Robot Football, the first UK robot footy game which is being launched by Firebox in September. Players use remote controls to manoeuvre the robots (it comes with one for each time, but extra robots can be added) round the pitch to chase and then control the ball. Having seen a brief demo at the Firebox Christmas party last week (yes you did read that right) I can say it is absolutely addictive and well worth £30. Anyone for a robot footy league?

Self driving robotic car

Some people’s driving often makes me think that a PS2 would probably make worthy replacement to their navigational and road safety skills but it would take an enormous amount of convincing to make me relinquish control of a fast-moving ton of steel over to a machine. However, that is exactly what Red Team Robot Racing of Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh is striving towards, although admittedly, despite being a Humvee and approximately four times the size of an ordinary car this side of the pond, there doesn’t appear to be much room left for a human anyway.

The amount of essential machinery isn’t the only reason for this choice of vehicle; despite successfully navigating 200 miles of the test track without any human interference, this is just a prelude to a much tougher challenge yet to come. The Grand Challenge is a US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency organised competition to build a self-driving off-road vehicle capable of navigating across the Mojave Deser in  an allotted time. No one managed to make it to the finish line last year but the lure of $2m of prize money will doubtless see some even better efforts from the 20 finalists this year. Something tells me we may not be able to get pics from the final event though...

via BBC News

Spot the robot

I like robots, I like to be afraid of robots and I like to believe that in the future they might live amongst us slowly gaining our trust so that one day they can turn against their human masters causing an apocalyptic conflict spelling the end of everything we recognise as normal life. If you should happen to be in control of formidable cyborg sent from the future to protect your destiny then it might be worth stopping by the Prototype Robot Exposition in Japan; the pics depict not two people engaged in a press conference but one human and one potential enslaver of humanity. This machine is powered by a nearby air-compressor and has a silicon skin that looks alarmingly realistic plus it can perform 31 different articulations such as fluttering eyelids, blocking slaps and pretending to breath. Android creator Hiroshi Ishiguru of Osaka University himself admits "When a robot looks too much like the real thing, it's creepy” but its nice to see that he didn’t let that hold him back.

Akihabara News

Walking Gundam Robot

Seems to be a good day in the world of robotics, first GuardRobo, the crime-fighting champion of mall security, then this 3.4M tall walking gun-platform. Fortunately, unlike its security guard brethren, the Land Walker is controlled directly by a human, is based on the fictitious Gundam cartoon character and only capable of firing foam bullets. Phew. It weighs in at 1 ton and can walk forwards, backwards and sideways at an unthreatening 1.5kph. And if you think the neighbourhood kids are becoming a bit of a pest then Masaaki Nagumo will happily custom build you your very own Land Walker for a the princely sum of 36m yen (about £186,000).

The Japan Times via I4U

GuardRobo security robot

Everyone loves hulking robotic machines, especially while they remain a model of societal compliance, protecting our homes and businesses instead of questioning their subservient status and snapping limbs like kindling. This bulky electronic friend is named GuardRobo and though the picture sees it in a fire fighting capacity the article hints more sinisterly at a security role for use in shopping malls, banks and high security prison facilities (ok, I made that part up). No-one mentioned what GuardRobo will do to deter would-be thieves, but I have a feeling Sohgo Security have something more sinister than CO2 gas in mind…

via Reuters

Robot Wars

Soon your living room could be the scene of a titanic battle between two hulking robotic beasts, armed to the teeth with high-tech suction devices conceived in the most twisted scientific minds! Too long has Roomba enjoyed a comfy rule of the lounge floor; it’s time for SmartCarpet, a tougher, meaner upstart to challenge it for the throne. We'll have a no-holds-barred fight to the death, a maelstrom of twisted metal and spinning shrapnel. To the victor, the carpet, to the loser, total annihilation… Well, it was a nice fantasy for a while but regrettably these robotic vacuum cleaners are a threat to dust bunnies alone and are not likely to be programmed to terminate their rivals on sight.

SmartCarpet promises to improve on Roomba’s hovering efficiency by using RFID technology to ensure that no part of the carpet goes uncleaned. Apparently Roomba can miss small sections as it weaves a crazy dance around the walls and furniture, then you have to go through the whole laborious process of making a cup of tea, putting your feet up and waiting for it start up again – what a pain. Hamlin based company Vorwerk has joined forces with Munich’s Infineon to make a special sensors that the SmartCarpet communicates with to guide its cleaning pattern, but the bad news is you’ll need a new carpet which seems a bit of a conceptual flaw in the idea.

via Gizmodo

And now, a robot power suit

I’ve waited years for something like this to happen. Finally a lab in Japan has managed to develop a robot suit. The suit will augment your own strength to help you lift heavy loads. It weighs about 15kg, and detects muscle movement through the flow of electrical signals over the skin, then amplifies the signal and moves with you. Now the lab needs to be myseriously burnt down, but not before a prototype gets out into the hands of an unsuspecting Japanese schoolboy.

Sorry. I’ve been watching Guyver again.

via The Register

iRobot reveal Scooba

You read it here first, now iRobot has made good on its promise to bring out a counter-part to the much-loved Roomba. The Scooba can tackle surfaces that the Roomba could only dream of – hard floors! Perhaps the technical aspects aren’t the most glamorous and I’m certainly not going to dwell on the merits of the jointly marketed Clorox cleaning solution; suffice to say it’s expensive goop that goes inside the robot.

The Scooba will vacuum, scrub and dry floors for you automatically without requiring any other input from the user than pointing, maniacal laughter and shouts of “clean for me robot minion, clean!” Like its brother Roomba, we expect the Scooba to have the same clever programming, including edge-following to ensure cleaning close to walls, and sensors to avoid both wayward furniture and stairs. Further more you can set up ‘virtual walls’ using infrared beams that confine the robot to the area of your choice.

The Scooba’s arrival is anticipated around Xmas but there is no word yet on price nor specific UK availability.

iRobot

AIBO does Daft Punk competition

No Sony press conference is complete without a dancing robot whether it be digital dog AIBO, or his new upright chum QRIO. Now the company is offering punters the chance to show how clever their robotic canine chum is through a dancing AIBO competition. All users need do is to program their dog to make a few choice moves and film it strutting its stuff  to Technologic the latest single from French techno-funksters Daft Punk. They then upload their footage to the aibo-does-daftpunk.com microsite, and in a few weeks time the owners of the doggie with the smartest moves wins an all expenses paid trip to Japan. Sony says that by harnessing ‘easy-to-use programming tools, owners are able to create an impressive dance routine for their AIBO’s, in time with the Technologic beat.’ Should be easy then. The competition ends on June 12th.

Robots learn to reproduce...

...for a given value of reproduce in any case: looks like scientists at Cornell University are the first develop a robot that can reproduce itself. Now before you start to dig out all your old Demon Seed tapes, the robots are still quite basic, consisting of a series of small plastic cubes. Each cube has a brain that holds blue prints of the towers that the cubes can combine to build. Given new cubes, the brains automatically use them to form copies of themselves, using a combination of magnets and motors. Pretty cool, but not quite Blade Runner yet. If you're on broadband, check out the university page with the video link on it: pretty cool.

Cornell University

The seven metre tall WEEE man

The WEEE man isn’t so wee. What is he? A seven-metre tall tall human figure made of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE, for those of you who hadn’t guessed). The WEEE man, unveiled by Canon Europe and the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts) is built out of three tons of electronic and electrical waste, apparently about what the average consumer will produce in a life time.

He will be on display London City hall for 28 days until the May 27th , when he moves to the Eden project in Cornwall.

Canon, who jointly launched the event, has said in a press release that it will "help promote and encourage better waste management and recycling in the community, in a bid to make the disposal of electrical and electronic goods as widely accepted as the recycling of newspapers, glass bottles and aluminium cans."

James Leipnik, chief of communication and corporate relations at Canon Europe added that "Last year, 1,000 business machines a month were either reused or recycled by Canon‘s UK operation to prevent them being added to landfill sites. This figure represents 100 percent of the machines returned to Canon by UK businesses."

The WEEE man also draws attention to legislation going through the European parliaments at the moment, which would ensure that retailers would have to take back WEEE, inform customers of their WEEE recycling schemes and ensure that that the WEEE is recycled. A joke here would be cheap, so don't even think about it. The UK government has announced that these laws would not come into effect until at least Janaury 2006, postponing it by 5 months.

iRobot's automated mop-bot

Robotics company iRobot originally made every couch-potato's dream come true when the Roomba was unveiled. Now iRobot has set its sights beyond mere vacuum functions in the new automated cleaning device.

Details on the new machine are extremely scarce; Chief Exec, Colin Angle says "It's going to happen this year. You'll see something new from iRobot that's not a vacuum, we're pretty excited about it." Hmm, clear as mud. Industry analysts are anticipating something that borrows heavily from the Roomba but whose forte lies in mopping and cleaning smooth surfaces.

iRobot also specialises in building military grade robots, but before you dream about T-1000 look-a-likes sweeping the kitchen floor, these chaps specialise in bomb disposal and surveillance and are more like those that explode on the surface of Mars than memetic-poly alloy assassins sent from the future. Pity really, I know which one I'd prefer wielding a mop.

We don't even have a name for iRobot's new gadget yet, but we'll keep a look out for more details, price and availability.

Hitachi's talking robot

Hitachi has delivered a talkative new robot Emiew, which will be displayed starting June 9 at the 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan.

The 130cm-tall, 70kg robot is equipped with wheels allowing it to walk at a speed of 6km an hour, about the same pace as a person walking fast. Using sensors, it can also avoid obstacles in its path automatically shifting its centre of gravity to the right or left to keep its balance.  Hitachi envisions using the robot to deliver mail within a company, for example, after further improving its functions, with commercialization targeted in five or six years.

Math Bot

OK, so it's not *actually* a robot as such, but the Robot Calculator is built to look like a retro robo so it gets a mention nevertheless. The solar powered calculator will apparently help you with all your "basic math needs" (or "maths" as we quaintly call it over here), which we assume means adding, subtracting and all those other sums type things. On reading that the "Robot Calculator is 7” tall and can stand upright" we had a Spinal Tap moment and thought it was 7 feet tall. Now that really would be good... $8.19 from Buy Cybie

Sega iDog

I4U has got more details of the cute looking Sega iDog up on its site. The Soroban Geeks lot said that it was basically a glorified speaker that could play tunes and hook up to an MP3 player. I4U has elaborated with the additional information that the Sega robot can store about 70 children's songs (damn, so it's only for the kids then) and can mimic your voice. It does this by playing sounds that are in a similar wavelength to your voice. Apparently the iDog is set to get a US distribution so we're hoping to see the little fella over here sometime in the future. For the children in our lives, naturally....

Soroban Geeks
I4U