Tag: ROBOTICS

We already knew that the PR2 robot could fold a mean basket of laundry. But we had no idea it could also play a mean game of billiards. In the matter of a week, the Willow Garage team that developed the PR2 has taught its brainchild how to play pool -- although, as Gizmodo reports, it certainly wasn't easy. Willow Garage had to create a special bridge and grip to enable its bot to hold a cue, ...

Well, those crazy kids at MIT have done it again. We're pretty floored by this video (after the jump) of student Natan Linder's LuminAR robotic assistant, which looks like a desk lamp married to the Terminator's exoskeleton. And a task lamp was, in fact, Linder's inspiration for this gesture-driven droid, as he essentially replaced the traditional incandescent bulb with a state-of-the-art ...

Tiny spiders incite more fear and paranoia in humans than arguably any other insect animal (except @$&#! roaches). So, without fail, depraved and merciless humans frequently construct massive spiderbots capable of wreaking wanton destruction and paralyzing poor arachnophobes. Even though the annual Burning Man freak festival claims to enforce "rules that serve to protect the health, safety, ...

In 2008, a team of scientists from the University of Pittsburgh demonstrated technology which effectively allowed a monkey to control a robotic arm with its brain. The researchers, directed by Dr. Andrew Schwartz, implanted microelectrodes into the simian's noggin that enabled the primate to manipulate a mechanical system composed of a "hand," an arm, an elbow and a shoulder joint. At the time, ...

When demonstrating innovative concepts in robotics, engineers are inevitably subjected to a good-natured Skynet-ribbing about contributing to the wholesale extinction of the human race. It really doesn't help the scientists' cause, though, when language like "precise aggressive maneuvers" is used to describe an autonomous and intimidating flying object -- particularly one with deadly, twirling ...

Robotic engineers seem to focus an inordinate amount of time constructing cute, little doggy-bots, perhaps because no one expects man's best friend to lead the apocalyptic rebellion. Robo-dogs keep the elderly company, perform in orchestras and dance to Outkast. Some wack-jobs have even suggested that universities adopt cyber-mutts as their official mascots. Creators from the increasingly ...

Engineers Hiroto Tanaka of Harvard University and Isao Shimoyama of the University of Tokyo have created an artificial butterfly that approximates the flight patterns of their fluttering brethren. But one of the co-authors of their research, U.C. Berkeley physiologist Robert Dudley, doesn't seem to think that the butterfly bots contribute any new information to the study of biology. Check out a ...

Share It's your wedding day, the single most important 24 hours of your life. You've made the arrangements, you've hired the band, the caterers and the belly dancers. You've even managed to shed 10 pounds in two weeks by eating nothing but Tabasco sauce and topsoil. But you're still worried that something could go wrong. Luckily, reliable Japanese robots are here to help. Yesterday in Tokyo, ...

As copious amounts of oil continue to hemorrhage from the seafloor of the Gulf of Mexico, the hopes of millions now hinge on the deepwater exploits of robots. Desperate for a solution, an overwhelmingly underprepared BP has been preparing a massive 100-ton structure that it hopes can effectively cover and contain the ruptured well 5,000 feet below sea level. Photos have now surfaced of the ...

Share Ever wonder what would happen if you suddenly bought a robotic maid, gave it a bunch of sharp objects, and let it run wild? Sure you have. Well now, the world finally has an answer to this eternally burning question, thanks to a trio of insane German scientists who decided to take the conversation beyond the realm of stoner circles and into the laboratory. To find out what would happen ...

Taking inspiration from an elephant's trunk (or maybe Dr. Octopus), a German company has built a set of robotic arms that could make it safer for humans and machines to interact. According to Engadget, Festo's Bionic Handling Assistant (BHA) is equipped with gentle and agile pincers that can safely grab something from a human without ripping off an entire limb with it. For example, if the BHA ...

According to the Telegraph, a team of Japanese researchers have created a robotic suit that reduces physical effort and pain. (Unfortunately, it doesn't look nearly as cool as the suit worn by Iron Man or even Robo-Cop.) Developed at Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, the suit has eight electric motors that enhance the power of the arms and legs, and sensors that respond to movements ...

Muscles aren't exactly the most complex machines in the world, even if they do happen to reside within the most complex machine. As giant rubber bands, our muscles simply expand and contract to create locomotion. And yet we've relied, for the most part, on a different kind of physics for the artificial machines that we create -- typically based on simple machines (pulleys, levers, wheels and ...

A few weeks ago, we told you about the Air Force's mysterious plans to launch the robotic, unmanned X37B shuttle into orbit. Now, less than a month later, the launch is going forward as planned, but the Force is still being strangely silent on details. After nearly a decade of arduous and expensive development, the X37B is slated to take off from Cape Canaveral on April 19, but, as FOXNews ...

We've seen LEGO creations pour beer and solve Rubik's Cubes, so the fact that an enthusiast tried to build a fully articulating robotic arm is not particularly surprising. What is shocking, though, is the level of success that Polish brick-builder Paul (who goes by the handle Sariel) attained, let alone that he threw it together in only two days. Sariel's LEGO arm is capable of rotating 360 ...