Really OLD Robot Roundup

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Sunday, October 21st, 2007

Here are the articles lingering around in my Vienna (a feedreader for macs) which are beginning to lag the app.
A robot invasion - DARPA
NASA Tests Robot Surgeon for Missions to Moon, Mars
Robo-doctors arrive in Canada
Anybots: Building your robot army
JAPAN’S TOMY DEVELOPS TINY PITCH-SENSITIVE DANCING TURTLE ROBOT
RoboFest Hawaii
Yoky Matsuoka Wins $500k Genius Grant
Sensing Squeeze
She’s Geeky: Women-in-tech (un)conference
Bryn Mawr Computer Scientist Is a P.I. in $2.5 Million Humanoid-Robot Project
Honda’s ASIMO Humanoid Robot Is On His Way
Young minds make machines talk the walk at robot show
Predicting the future of the past tense
Blog Action Day 2007
Contest asks kids to craft a lunar rover
Electronic Breadboard Templates
Exclusive: First Look At RoboPhilo In Action (Video)
Students Simulate Evolution of Thinking Robots
Robot Cannon Kills 9, Wounds 14
Robots show off their mettle
Mentor steers team building robot car
Sugiura Brothers: Growing Up With Robots (Video)
Long-lived Mars Rovers to Keep on Roving
iHobby Expo: Early RoboPhilo Photos

That’s all!

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

Elevator Challenge

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Sunday, October 21st, 2007

I remember hearing about this a few years back, and now, finally, I have seen it on the web! Basically, teams have to create a robot that will be able to go up and down, like an elevator. What really caught my eye was… University of Saskatchewan won this year! It’s always great when Canadians win…
Actually, the way they built their robot is similar to the way I would build mine. Other teams has solar panels sticking out, literally. Small and concise is the way to go for this type of competition…

Here are some photos:

Spiffy!

Check it out here.

Posted in: News, Robot News, Tech News.

Wind to Light

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Monday, October 15th, 2007

Meant for the urban environment, “Wind to Light”, an installation by Jason Bruges Studio utilizes 500 mini wind turbines to generate power to illuminate mounted LEDs on the top of the turbines. The result is a cloud of light that emanates from the ground as weather and wind patterns shift over time.

Jason Bruges Studio - Link

I’ve always wanted to do something like this! I’m going to look around more to see if they explain how to make one of these… if they do, I’m going to make REALLY awesome ones with prettyful designs!

Link.

Posted in: News, Tech News.

Hallowe’en Themed Thingamaboops!

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Sunday, October 14th, 2007

Bleep Labs has created a special line of their Thingamagoop analog synth critters for Halloween. They have (l-r) a robot, pumpkin, vampire and ghost. The devices sell for $110.

Woo! They are pretty cute. I’m thinking about making something like this, however it would be a lamp, and the switch would control the brightness of the lamp. Don’tcha think that would be cool?
Link.

Posted in: News, Robot News, Tech News.

Steve Wozniak on Robotics and AI

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Wednesday, September 26th, 2007

A (very) short eWeek article offers some insight into what Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak thinks about the future of robotics and AI. He hopes that the future holds robots that follow the lead of personal computers by becoming general-purpose, programmable devices instead of become function-specific devices. He also makes some tech predictions of a more common variety - terabyte-sized RAM chips that eliminate the need for hard disks and more advanced display devices. In particular he’d like to see a desktop globe that displays Google Map data.

I agree! A Google map globe would be quite awesome! Woohoo!

Link.

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

OOOOPIC.

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Monday, September 24th, 2007

Hmm, found this microcontroller, called an OOPIC. I like the name!

But I think I’m gonna go with an Arduino, the bluetooth one.

Arrrrrr-duino! hahaha

Link.

Posted in: News, Programming, Projects, Robot, Tech News.

DON’T wear electronics to the airport

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

Yesterday at Logan Airport, Star Simpson, a 19 year old at MIT, was going to meet her boyfriend, while wearing a device on her shirt that was mistaken for an IED. She was almost shot by the police, and is lucky to be alive. She was arrested, and released on $750 bail.

I think the lesson to be learned here is that this type of clothing is okay at home, but not in public places. THe general public will think it’s a bomb, and thus panic. However, what I still don’t understand, was why she was holding play-doh, which is like that bomb-dough stuff. She’s not stupid, surely she must have thought of this? But why would one risk everything that she has? I’m wondering what the university will do in cases like this…

And, in the end of it all, her boyfriend didn’t stick around while she was being arrested.

Moral of the story: DON’T wear electronics to the airport.

Link.

Posted in: News, Tech News.

Head-mounted device is the cat’s whiskers

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Wednesday, September 19th, 2007

A series of infrared sensors positioned around the device act as invisible whisker or antenna sensors. When these detect an object, a small motor vibrates on the appropriate side of the wearer’s head to alert them.

Sounds interesting! But will anyone wear it?

Link.

Posted in: News, Tech News.

News Backlog

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Saturday, September 15th, 2007

Here are all the robot newsies that I will be making into real blog posts soon, but I have to clean up my Vienna RSS reader, heheh.

Speecys SPC-101C Humanoid Robot: A First Look (Video)
Armed Robots Go Into Action
Exclusive Photos - i-SOBOT & the Guinness World Records 2008 Book
VGH unveils surgical robot
ROBO-ONE 12 About To Kick Off
Robots Spur Interest in Science and Engineering
Spooky robot cat from Japan won’t scratch your eyes out
FANUC Robotics’ SMART Center Southeast To Host Intelligent Robotic Applications Forum
When Ethics and IT Collide
Opportunity Takes a Dip Into Victoria Crater
Nextfest Robot Roundup
Cassini’s Iapetus Flyby
Experimental Device for Performance - Wearables Project.03
Stars caught in bizarre death-dance
AIBO’s open-source successor?
Robot can now run 6km/hour
One big, happy robot
MikroKopter

Hope you enjoy!

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

Lunar X Prize - Web 2.0

Posted by Erin, the RobotGrrl on Friday, September 14th, 2007

Okay, so most robot news for the past couple of days has been surrounding the Google ‘contest’ to land a robot on the moon, AND get it back.

It’s pretty complex! Best to check it out here.

Posted in: News, Robot News, Tech News.