Posts tagged Robots at Switched

Posts with tag robots

Robot Bartender Serves Drinks In Less Than Two Minutes

by Donald Melanson, posted Jul 5th 2008 at 3:10PM

Asahi Beer has experimented with robot bartenders in the past, but it looks to have really outdone itself with its new Mr. Asahi bot, which just made its public debut at Selfridges in the UK. Apparently, the robot was built in about 200 hours and spent a full six months fine-tuning its bartending skills, which includes being able to serve customers in less than two minutes. That's done with the aid of a discreetly-hidden PC that controls the compressed air and the robot's various switching mechanisms, not to mention its pleasant demeanor.

Be sure to head on past the break for a video of the bot in action courtesy of Channel Flip.

[Via Tech Digest, image courtesy of Asahi Beer]

Continue reading Robot Bartender Serves Drinks In Less Than Two Minutes

Shape-Shifting, Organ-Probing Chembots Coming Soon

by Tim Stevens, posted Jul 1st 2008 at 5:12PM

The current generation of robots, whether they're the gun-carrying or child-coddling variety, come in all sorts of shapes and sizes to suit their intended purpose. But if research going on at Tufts University comes to fruition, future robots might feature designs that are rather more flexible.

Scientists at the school are working on so-called "chemical robots" with no solid parts. Chembots could squeeze under doors, slither through cracks in walls, and even squirm into your orifices, performing internal diagnoses before slowly dissolving away, leaving nothing more than a feeling of creepy violation behind. What about assuming the shape and voice of John Connor's adopted mother? We're hoping that's still a few years off. [Source: PhysOrg]

Zappos.com Brings Robots to Online Retail

by Thomas Houston, posted Jun 27th 2008 at 5:01PM

Zappos.com, online retailer extraordinaire of shoes -- and now gadgets -- recently made headlines for innovative hiring practices. After a week on the job, new employees are given the chance to leave the company with a $1,000 bonus if they feel that Zappos isn't the place for them. The company appears to be looking to the future with its recent hiring decision.

Zappos tapped into the productive capabilities of robots by hiring a fleet of automated warehouse workers to 'man' the stocking and delivery side of the shoe business. They worked with Kiva Systems to install the Kiva Mobile Fulfillment System, which promises to increase speed and efficiency in the Zappos' warehouse. The building is outfitted with a system of movable shelves, or 'pods,' instead of the traditional shelving units.

So how does it work? You log in to Zappos, order your shoes, and a signal is sent via Wi-Fi to the orange bots. Once the message is received, a pod will automatically whip around the warehouse, navigate to the correct pod, pick up your order, and hand it off to a worker to prepare your shiny new kicks for delivery. [Source: c|net]

Facial Expression Recognition Used to Control Robots

by Thomas Ricker, posted Jun 26th 2008 at 6:36PM

Jacob Whitehill at UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering has demonstrated a proof of concept that allows his facial expressions to speed-up and slow-down video playback. Pretty sweet. But we're more interested to hear that his project is part of a larger effort at the UCSD Machine Perception Lab (gulp) to use automated face recognition to "make robots more effective teachers." We can see the future now...

Human: (frowning)
Robot: Aw, my meat bag is sad, I will now give it a hamburger and turn on 'Golden Girls.'

Fortunately, human teachers who've somehow missed out on the billions of years of biologically evolution required to recognize the "oh face" can take advantage of this research as well. See a video demonstration of that after the break, face-controlled video here. [Source: PhysOrg]

Continue reading Facial Expression Recognition Used to Control Robots

Robots to Be Our Lovers By 2050, Not Just in Massachusetts

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted Jun 23rd 2008 at 6:09PM

Remember when you were a kid and you told your friends that you totally loved your new computer, and some little luddite looked at you and said, "So why don't you marry it?" There was that brief moment when you thought your Commodore 64 (C64) could, in fact, make a nice spouse. If not, move along.

If so, David Levy told participants at a conference last week that we will all be having loving relationships with robots by 2050, not just trysts in Massachusetts. He predicts that we'll have robots as sex toys within five years and true, deep relationships later on. Some robots already kiss, some seem to hate, but Levy says we'll have emotional relationships based on conversation by mid-century. Until that time, remember your C64, your first true love. She / he remembers you, you selfish jerk. [Source: Times of India]

Video: Meet Hasbro's Ampbot, the Mother of All Rollys

by Thomas Ricker, posted Jun 20th 2008 at 11:50AM

Cross a Segway with a Rolly and Miuro and out pops this A.M.P. soaked in a grey-goo afterbirth of Robotic procreation. The two-wheeled, dancing A.M.P. (Automated Music Personality or Ampbot) from Sega-Hasbro stands 2.4-feet tall and features a MP3 or iPod cradle on its back, stereo speakers, and the ability to follow and interact with its owner. There's a 5-inch mid-range speaker in the chest and a pair of smaller tweeters in the shoulders for a total output of 12 watts.

Osamu Takeuchi of Sega Toys says, "The owner can also enjoy being chased around the house by the robot." Uh, yippee? The Ampbot and controller require 6x D and 3x AAA batteries for about 10-hours of continuous music. The stalking begins November for ~~$745~~ $500 in the US and Japan.

Update: Embedded video courtesy of Impress now available after the break. Be warned: the price tag is starting to look modest even at the cost of our own destruction.

[Via Physorg and Impress]

Continue reading Video: Meet Hasbro's Ampbot, the Mother of All Rollys

Australian Researchers Developing Shape-Shifting Robots?

by Darren Murph, posted Jun 9th 2008 at 8:10AM

There's no shame in admitting that shape-shifting creatures are a touch frightening, but we'll go ahead and warn you -- those spooked by petite bots will be utterly terrified by this. The SkinForm Project has arisen from the University of Technology Sydney, and while there aren't any elaborate details available just yet, it's described as an "intelligent pneumatic structure that transforms dynamically in response to socio-physical context." In other words, it's some sort of shape-shifting, chameleon-like robo-creature.

Additionally, it seems to utilize a plethora of sensors and rely on a good bit of software programing in order to become the transforming architecture that it is. If all goes as planned, the initiative will be completed on June 12th, but you can take a look at a number of in-progress videos right down there in the read link below.

Video of Toyota Robot Quartet Playing Music

by Thomas Ricker, posted May 16th 2008 at 4:15PM

After watching Honda's Asimo conduct the Detroit Symphony, Toyota's distressed team of robots hopped a box car with a jug of wine and wound up leaning in and kicking out a clear harmonic cry to some corporate goons in Japan. The band consists of a couple repurposed DJ Robots and new Partner Robots. While laudable, there's not enough ecstasy for us, not enough life, joy, kicks, darkness, music... not enough night. Video after the break, Jack. [Source: Robot Watch]

Continue reading Video of Toyota Robot Quartet Playing Music

Robo-Doc Makes Surgery Safe, Quick, and Less Painful

by Terrence O'Brien, posted May 15th 2008 at 5:16PM

Robo-Doc Make Surgery Safer, Quicker, Less Painful

Most of us are nervous enough having a human open us up and play around with our inside parts, but the thought of letting our mortal enemies, the robots, do it is just unthinkable. David Roughly decided to trust his prostate cancer surgery to a four armed metallic doc anyway, and was pleasantly surprised with the results.

Because of the agility and precision of the robo-doc, Roughly suffered less discomfort and recovered more quickly than he would have from traditional surgery to remove his prostate. Instead of being laid up in bed for 10 days hopped up on morphine, Roughly was up on his own and out of the hospital in just two days, and needed only paracetamol for the pain.

The procedures performed by the robot surgeon also require less anesthetic and reduce the risk for infection in patients. Maybe there's a bright side to our new robot overlords. [Source: Daily Mail]

RINGBO the Riding Robot is for Kids, the Song is for Everyone

by Joshua Fruhlinger, posted May 14th 2008 at 4:58PM

Why is this child so happy? It's because he's taking RINGBO the riding robot by the horns! See his glee as he cruises around for an entire hour at a blazing 2MPH? Hey, it only took six hours to charge up. RINGBO is controlled by those horn-like joysticks, and we can only hope that front panel contains an IR receiver -- one that might give parents hours of pleasure as they override their kids' intended direction. RINGBO will be shown by Airrobot at this week's Koreannovation Trade Show in NYC, so we'll be sure to bring our offspring, as it's meant for children aged 2-3 and up to 66lbs. We just want to know two things: how much, and can we cheat the 66lb weight limit? Maybe just a little? C'mon. Want to have your mind totally blown? Please watch the video after the break. Please.

[Source: Koreannovation via OhGizmo!]

Continue reading RINGBO the Riding Robot is for Kids, the Song is for Everyone

Video: Honda Robot ASIMO Conducts Detroit Symphony Orchestra

by Thomas Ricker, posted May 14th 2008 at 10:04AM

Stand down oh gentle readers and defenders of the flesh, we're getting reports from Detroit that the baton wielding ASIMO did not direct the human race to its doom. Instead, Yo-Yo Ma is safe and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra concert went off without a hitch while netting the DSO a cool million for the musical education of Grosse Pointe's children. Of course, the Honda-built robot wasn't so lucky as he got "keyed" on his walk back through the parking lot. We kid, we kid. [Source: Business Wire]

Update: Video added after the break.

[Thanks, Funke]

Continue reading Video: Honda Robot ASIMO Conducts Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Grand Challenge Seeks to Boost Robotic Prowess of British Military

by Darren Murph, posted May 9th 2008 at 3:51PM

From what we've seen, the British military is pretty savvy on its robotics. Apparently mechanical beings aren't integrated enough, however, as the British Ministry of Defense has launched its first ever Grand Challenge, which "encourages participants to turn their ideas into prototypes for machines the army can use in urban environments."

The six finalists that were chosen each received around $600,000 in order to construct their contraptions, and this August, we'll see an unmanned buggy that can analyze a gunman's movements, a self-propelled, remote-controlled camera and minuscule helicopters used for reconnaissance missions. Best of all, these creations won't just be propped up on some shiny display -- oh no, they'll be taking part in a mock battle in Copehill Down, with even more loot and an enviable trophy on the line. [Source: PhysOrg]

Disney and WowWee Team Up on Cute, Killer Bots for the Ironic Uprising

by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 30th 2008 at 4:36PM

Need some irony with your angst-battered diet this morning? Swell, try some of this. Disney and Pixar are set to release their latest animated blockbuster, WALL-E, this summer. The premise of the film finds WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth-Class) cleaning up the Earth's trash after rampant, unchecked consumerism made the planet uninhabitable. So how do they promote the film? You got it, they launch a new line of plastic WALL-E robots developed in partnership with WowWee and Thinkway Toys which no child could possibly live without.

Ultimate WALL-E will list for $190 when launched sometime this summer and feature 10 motors, a remote control, and plenty of sensors to avoid obstacles, respond to touch, and feel the mocking satire of its own existence. The bot will be joined by a $25 iDance WALL-E (think i-Species) and a $40 FlyTech Tinker Bell when they make their May 29th debut in San Mateo at the Maker Faire. [Source: Gearlog]

Video: Urinal Elephants Invade Japan

by Thomas Ricker, posted Apr 22nd 2008 at 4:39PM

Uh oh. Best hide the nuts and urinal cakes 'cause a herd of baby blue elephants with little yellow hats are on the loose in Japan. Meet the Urinal Elephant, otherwise known as the Dasubee toilet scrubbing robot. Back 'er up to a ceramic throne of human effluence and watch big blue wipe down your man-stew with the lumbering grace of a robotic elephant. Video? You betcha, right after the break. [Source: Robot Watch]

Continue reading Video: Urinal Elephants Invade Japan

Tokyo's Kasai Station Gets Robotic Bicycle-Parking Contraption

by Donald Melanson, posted Apr 22nd 2008 at 1:51PM

We've seen a couple of robotic car parking garages in the past, but Tokyo's Kasai Station seems to have found another use for the same idea, with it now employing the services of an enormous bicycle-parking contraption that can store some 9,400 bikes. As you can see for yourself in the video after the break, the system is able to gobble up your bike and pull it down into the bowels of the garage with slightly terrifying efficiency, and at a cost of just ¥100 (about a buck) no less -- or ¥1,800 for a monthly pass. No word if they've had anyone try to stay on their bike and take a ride into the beast, although we'd assume there are some sort of safeguards in place to prevent those sorts of shenanigans. [Source: Japan Probe]

Continue reading Tokyo's Kasai Station Gets Robotic Bicycle-Parking Contraption

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Robot Bartender Serves Drinks In Less Than Two Minutes

Shape-Shifting, Organ-Probing Chembots Coming Soon

Zappos.com Brings Robots to Online Retail

Facial Expression Recognition Used to Control Robots

Robots to Be Our Lovers By 2050, Not Just in Massachusetts

Video: Meet Hasbro's Ampbot, the Mother of All Rollys

Australian Researchers Developing Shape-Shifting Robots?

Video of Toyota Robot Quartet Playing Music

Robo-Doc Makes Surgery Safe, Quick, and Less Painful

RINGBO the Riding Robot is for Kids, the Song is for Everyone

Video: Honda Robot ASIMO Conducts Detroit Symphony Orchestra

Grand Challenge Seeks to Boost Robotic Prowess of British Military

Disney and WowWee Team Up on Cute, Killer Bots for the Ironic Uprising

Video: Urinal Elephants Invade Japan

Tokyo's Kasai Station Gets Robotic Bicycle-Parking Contraption

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