Microbe Powered Robot

Posted on December 19, 2015 by

A new robot created by researchers at the University of Bristol has the mission of cleaning ponds and lakes. Powered by the microbes it scoops up from the water and digests, it doesn't need any recharging to keep going. The Row-bot is inspired by the water boatman insect and uses a similar mechanism to glide across the surface of water, in the robot's case, a paddle powered by a 0.75 Watt DC motor. Both bug and robot maximize surface area when making a power stroke and then minimize surface area...

Walk-Man – The Humanoid Search and Rescue Robot

Posted on December 15, 2015 by

Scientists from the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (Italian Institute of Technology) and University of Pisa in Italy have developed an anthropomorphic robot that can use human tools and interact with its surrounding environment in the same way as a human. The researchers hope that the robot, colloquially known as Walk-Man, will find use in search and rescue situations that are too dangerous for humans to engage in. Lead researcher Nikos Tsagarakis believes Walk-Man will be well accommodated in ...

Hardware store robot gives customers high-tech help

Posted on December 1, 2015 by

Robotics technology benefits the customers and employees in many ways. San Jose's Orchard Supply Hardware, a subsidiary of Lowe's has brought in the Oshbot robot. About the size of small refrigerator, the talking robot can guide you through the aisles to the item you want. It even uses its 3D camera to determine the make and model of that rusty hinge you brought from home. "There's no way that every sales associate could know the exact number and location of every single item we sell," Kyle Nel,...

How robots can fall gracefully

Posted on October 22, 2015 by

Researchers at Georgia Tech have identified a way to teach robots how to fall with grace and without serious damage. The work is important as costly robots become more common in manufacturing alongside humans. The skill becomes especially important, too, as robots are sought for health care or domestic tasks working near the elderly, injured, children or pets. These machines are expensive to make and typically take months, if not years, to complete meaning every time they fall they can become da...

Robot That Builds Its Own Children

Posted on October 15, 2015 by

Scientists at the University of Cambridge in England have created a mother robot that not only constructs its own children but mimics the process of natural selection to improve their capabilities with each generation. It's a robotic version of nature's survival of the fittest. The mother robot analyzes the performance of each of the “children” it creates, and incorporates preferential traits into the next generation. The Mother robot makes each child better than the last. "As the mother creates...

Nasa’s self morphing artificial intelligence driven robot

Posted on September 22, 2015 by 41629066

Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, engineers have built robot RoboSimian which can take different 'avatar'. It can be a mechanical monkey that can morph between different postures so it can either stand or crawl or roll along on wheels. RoboSimian, nicknamed "Clyde," was built to cross tough terrain and use hand-like manipulators so as to be able to assist with disaster-response This self morphing artificial intelligence driven RoboSimian uses deliber...

Mint: the automatic floor cleaner robot

Posted on September 15, 2015 by

Mint, is the latest robot that uses GPS to clean your house. Robotic vacuum cleaners are gaining popularity quickly. Roomba isn’t the only robotic cleaning device on the scene now. The latest Mint Automatic Floor Cleaner from Evolution Robotics is designed exclusively for sweeping and mopping hard surface floors. The new Mint is easy to use. It uses disposable cleaning cloth and reusable microfiber cloth for dry sweeping and wet mopping of floors. Simply attach the cleaning cloth of choice...

MIT’s Cheetah Robot Leaps to New Heights

Posted on June 3, 2015July 6, 2015 by 41629066

MIT has created a robot cheetah that is futuristic, innovative, and is pushing the boundaries in robotics. Technology is evolving at a rapid pace. Robotics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a particularly interesting field. Many important innovations and breakthroughs arguably are in this area. MIT researchers have created a robot cheetah which has the ability to jump over obstacles (almost like humans jump over hurdles for track and field). "I really wanted to... The cheetah uses a sy...

Human like Robot from Osaka university

Posted on February 1, 2015 by 41629066

The robots Osaka university has built have all been along a variety of different themes, leading to a lot of new robots being built to test new hypotheses. Cognitive Neuroscience Robotics has, as its goal, the development of information and robot technology systems that are human-friendly, and so, working from the notion that the human brain is essentially for human communication, the first thing we did was to build an android, a robot highly resembling a human. We learned a lot through this, bu...

Gesture Controlled Gyrobot

Posted on January 18, 2015 by 41629066

The Gesture Controlled Gyrobot is a unique robot because it balances on two wheels. Looking at it for the first time and you would think that it will fall down. But the built-in gyroscope keeps the small robot upright all the time. This is not the only feature that makes this robot interesting. The Gesture Controlled Gyrobot also comes with infrared sensors that enable the robot to respond to a user’s movements. Putting your palm in front of the light sensor will enable you to control the rob...

Controlling a UFO Using Only Your Mind

Posted on January 17, 2015January 17, 2015 by

The first remote control car from 1966 astonished many kids at the time. Nowadays, the remote control is something we all just shrug off. What if we had another unique and innovative method of controlling things. Currently there are many solutions, but one of these solutions is a toy that can be controlled by using your mind. The Mind Controlled UFO is a unique toy that not many kids are too familiar with yet. It is a unique take to a remote controlled flying machine. This toy does not have t...

Thousand Kilobots Self-Assemble robots that can build Complex Shapes

Posted on January 3, 2015January 4, 2015 by 41629066

A thousand-robot swarm created by Harvard researchers can self-assemble into different shapes. Harvard roboticists created Kilobots which are small robots that are the size of a penny and traverse themselves by measuring the distance from each other to coordinate and form complex shapes. With the Kilobots, the algorithm that they use to create shapes are based on a similarly simple set of capabilities: Edge-following, where a robot can move along the edge of a group by measuring distances...

Alpha Dog – New robot that can traverse rough terrain, plow through underbrush, follow soldiers in the field, act as a charging station for radios…

Posted on December 22, 2014December 22, 2014 by 41629066

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency released new footage of its AlphaDog, a technological marvel of emerging technology that could turn the tide of battle, or at least carry a lot of heavy gear for soldiers. Technically designated the Legged Squad Support System (L3), the AlphaDog can traverse rough terrain, plow through underbrush, follow soldiers in the field, act as a charging station for radios, and generally scare the hell out of any enemy soldier it comes across. Its original conc...

Drones that can communicate with each other and dynamically coordinate an action

Posted on December 17, 2014December 17, 2014 by 41629066

Professor Vijay Kumar and his team at the UPenn have created autonomous ground and aerial robots, designing bio-inspired algorithms for collective behaviors, and on robot swarms. In short, drones that can communicate with each other and dynamically coordinate an action. Mechanical birds, aluminum snakes, dragonfly helicopters that sound like buzzing bees, remote controlled manta rays. They may look like toys, but they are incredible robots that may change the world. Autonomous Aerial Vehic...

Homemade humanoid robot made from recycled electrical equipment.

Posted on October 10, 2014October 12, 2014 by 41629066

Former Baltimore City Cop Builds Full-Size Robot Mark Haygood, an ex-cop build a four foot, three-inch tall humanoid robot with hi-fi home speakers, an old radio, a couple of DVD players and other household appliances. For details, check out his facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/HexHumanoidRoboticPlatformToy