Japan’s Robot of the Year

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Thursday, December 27th, 2007

 

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.

Link.

Posted in: News, Robot News, Tech News.

Nice Bookshelf

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Saturday, December 22nd, 2007

We all know the Christmas lights controlled by music on a garage radio station that annoy neighbours to the extreme, but this is a different approach. I like it a ton since it is useful all year round.

Maybe during summer I could make things like this! That would be cool!

Link.

Posted in: News, Other News, Tech News.

Happy Birthday, Transistor!

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Sunday, December 16th, 2007

Here’s to the transistor turning a big ol’ 60 today. I hope they eat lots of cake… or not.
Link.

Posted in: News, Tech News.

NanoQuébec to receive $11 million in Quebec government funding

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Friday, November 30th, 2007

Today at a major gathering of businesspeople and scientists, NanoQuébec it to be awarded significant Quebec government funding, to the tune of $11 million over the next three years. The announcement will be made by Mr. Raymond Bachand, minister of economic development, innovation and export trade, tourism minister and minister responsible for the Montreal region. The occasion is the official launch of NanoQuébec’s funding program for key research facilities selected through a recent competition.
In the long run, this funding will help consolidate Quebec’s leadership position in Canadian nanotechnology and create wealth in Quebec by accelerating the development and adoption of nanotechnology in the province’s industrial sector.

This is great news, but how is Quebec affording everything?? They are making a huge, extravoguent park with waterfountains and glorious gardens in the middle of new huge boulevards. Also, they are going to be spending gazillions on roads and overpasses. And, what happened to the new two hospitals they are going to build? Something doesn’t sound right…
Link.

Posted in: News, Tech News.

Arduino Sketchup model!

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Friday, November 30th, 2007

w00t w00t! This is awesome!

Link.

Posted in: News, Robot News, Tech News.

Arduino NES

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Friday, November 30th, 2007

This is really cool.

Link.

Posted in: News, Robot News, Tech News.

CARNEGIE MELLON WINS!!

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Sunday, November 4th, 2007

The Carnegie Mellon University-based Tartan Racing team walked away with a $2 million prize for coming in first in this year’s Pentagon-sponsored robot race held at a former Air Force base in Victorville, Calif. The team’s robotic vehicle, “Boss,” turned in the top performance as it navigated itself through the Urban Challenge course at the former George Air Force Base. It and the eleven other finalist robot-vehicles had to merge into moving traffic, navigate traffic circles and avoid obstacles without human intervention. Stanford Racings “Junior” of Stanford, Calif., won the $1 million second place prize, while Victor Tangos “Odin” of Blacksburg, Va., received $500,000 for finishing third.

Woohoo! Congrats Carnegie! That’s pretty awesome. I’m actually very happy that they won, because I recently watched a show that showed all of the robots they created for Mars and such. Furthermore, KEEPON ROCKS!!! Who doesn’t love the Keepon?!

Wooohooo!

Link.

Posted in: News, Robot News, Tech News.

Nanotube Radio

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Monday, October 29th, 2007

This is pretty slick, it’s a nanotube radio! Maybe one day we will all have iPod fleas..

Apparently

The audio-quality of the signal demodulated by the CNT was very clear and indistinguishable to the human ear from listening to the music directly

Nanotech is pretty kewl!

Link.

Posted in: News, Tech News.

Robo Developer Conference

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Saturday, October 27th, 2007

Check out the pictures HERE (click) from the Robo Developers Conference in sunny San Jose.

Posted in: News, Robot News, Tech News.

MIT DARPA Vehicle

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Thursday, October 25th, 2007

MIT has seriously modified the LR3 so that it can drive itself and perform basic tasks like avoiding obstacles and merging into moving traffic. It utilises state-of-the-art hardware like LIDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) range finders and vision sensors to view its surrounds and avoid anything that gets in the way.

We’ll see how it does! Link.

Posted in: News, Other News, Robot News, Tech News.