Neat, check this out:
I wonder how they react though, when they crash into something or get stuck? And they don’t really seem comfy, but that’s probably intentional, as it is only temporary sitting (we hope)! Worthy of a blog, anyway. 
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Archive for December, 2007
LOL, This is so cute. Somehow, I can see something bizarre happening with these on April Fools Day!
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Tags: robot, bristlebot
 
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) 2007 Robot of tthe work-horse, industrial robot from Fanuc Ltd. called M-430iA. The multi-axis, greaseless (read: sanitary) robot is part of a food and pharmaceutical handling system. Unlike your unemployed uncle with his GED, this bot can work non-stop, 24 hours a day, accurately picking up 120 items per minute as they roll down a conveyor belt.
That’s cool, they have an annual ROBOT AWARD! I would get a kick out of it if it was named Yeti though. All jokes aside, a greaseless food handling system sounds great. Yet, with these robots comes unemployment issues. As the article mentions, "Unlike your unemployed uncle with his GED, this bot can work non-stop, 24 hours a day, accurately picking up 120 items per minute as they roll down a conveyor belt." that is great, but there should be a limit. Unemployment sucks, and many small towns depend on their local manufacturing plants to keep a steady payroll. I’m all for innovation, within limits.
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For those that don’t understand how to solve Rubiks cubes, now there is a robot to help you out!
The robot "Cube kun", manufactured by Japan’s Kawasaki Heavy Industries can solve a Rubik’s Cube in less than three minutes on an average.
I remember at MIT Splash there was a class on how to solve Rubiks cubes, and they gave everyone that attended a sheet with simple steps on how to solve it, then they were Rubiks solving champs! I suppose the robot has those steps as algorithms imbedded in its program. Sweet! It would be neat to build one of these over the summer with an Arduino
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Yay! Wishing everyone a great holiday!
Did you know Newton was born today too?
Food for thought!
A lot of times when I am playing with my mini tripod on my desk, I begin brainstorming of ways that a three legged robot would be possible. Triangles are generally the strongest shape when it comes to architecture, which is great. Standing still, the robot would be very steady, kind of like a bowling ball with three legs on it. It would take a lot to be able to push it down (if it was resisting your force). There would be many gyros for easy stabilization.
Inside of this giant bowling ball could be items for home assistance. This could include an instant warmer for your cocoa, an eating tray that pops out, a printer that could be set up to print whatever you would please, a surveillance system, local weather reports (on a bright LCD screen on its front), VoIP, and pong. It can be powered by solar and by battery.
In one of its legs will be a vacuum cleaner, to clean. However, that might be difficult to balance since there would be two legs stable, and one moving back and forth. Perhaps some sort of Heelys would be useful. And, the holder which holds the cocoa or coffee would have to tilt accordingly when the ‘bowling ball’ moves in order to not spill it all over its interiors. (Blech!)
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Another idea I have had as of late is whether tiny animals, such as ants, emit any noises/vibrations. This could potentially be surveyed by creating nanobots that have sound sensors. A tiny fibre-optic cable could be attached to this bot, and into your computer to analyze the sounds. Considerations would have to be made for the vibrations that the nanobot emits itself. We already know that elephants make noise, and communicate, so why can’t ants?