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Phasma the terrifyingly adorable, six-legged insectoid bot
Is it possible for something to scamper into our heart and our nightmares simultaneously? Phasma is making a bid for that distinction. The hexapedal running robot, built by Takram Design Engineering, relies on Stanford's cockroach-inspired iSprawl, and is built to appear all cold and mechanical at rest, but to head greatly like an insect, churning ...
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ROCR Bot Swings Up Walls Like a Monkey [Robot]
![ROCR Bot Swings Up Walls Like a Monkey [Robot]](http://nexgadget.com/images/ROCR-Bot-Swings-Up-Walls-Like-a-Monkey-Robot_p-SR-_0.jpg)
The list of places we will be able to be safe from robot attack continues to shrink, as the ROCR robot, courtesy of the University of Utah, can now efficiently scale walls. The diminutive bot can climb over six inches per second. The ROCR is far from the first robot to tug off a wall climb, ...
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Lego bipedal bot takes several small stairs for man, one big fall for robotkind (video)
Climbing stairs is among the hardest physical tasks for a bipedal collection of motors and circuits, as Honda\'s ASIMO can relate, but one man\'s managed to realize just that with this head-banging Lego Mindstorms NXT robot. After spending years tinkering with the plastic blocks, 222Doc\'s X-2 Chicken Walking Biped can autonomously walk up and down ...
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Lizard-style bot ‘swims’ through sand, straight into your worst nightmare
While robots still struggle to do basic things like hang out with us or bring us cookies, it’s comforting to know that the variety of locomotion methods for this burgeoning race shows no sign of slowing. The latest of these “this would be a cool way for a robot to make its way through a disaster site and rescue people” solutions is a robot from a team at the Georgia Institute of Technology that can “swim” through sand, much like a lizard. Sand’s a bit of a toughie, in case you’ve never found out for yourself in an ill-fated game of sand volleyball, thanks to its combo of solid and fluid dynamics. The spandex-clad, squirmy solution uncovered by Georgia Tech gets along nicely, however, going mainly with the fluid approach. Check it creeping creepily on video after the break.
Continue reading Lizard-style bot ‘swims’ through sand, straight into your worst nightmare
Lizard-style bot ‘swims’ through sand, straight into your worst nightmare originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 26 Jun 2010 23:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Robots to invade Scottish hospital, pose as ‘workers’
A new £300 million ($445 million) hospital is set to open up soon in Stirlingshire, Scotland. Why would you care about that? Maybe because laser-guided robots will play a fundamental role in the facility’s daily running, including the disposal of waste, delivery of meals, cleaning of operating theaters, and (gulp!) drug dispensation. We’re told they’ll have their own underground lair corridors and dedicated lifts, with humanoid employees able to call them up via a PDA. It’s believed that using robots to perform the dirty work will be more sanitary than current methods, but we have to question the sanity of anyone who believes this isn’t the first step toward the robot rebellion. Well, it’s been nice knowing you guys.
Robots to invade Scottish hospital, pose as ‘workers’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 21 Jun 2010 04:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Monster Chess supersizes lego robots for ultimate geek synergy
This is like an Andre 3000 song. What’s cooler than robots? Lego robots. And what’s even cooler than that? Supersized lego robots playing chess. Ice cold, baby. Composed of more than 100,000 Lego Mindstorms parts, the above chess set occupies a 156-square foot playing area and took a four-person team “about a year” to create. Total retail cost is tallied up at $30,000, though you won’t be surprised to hear there are no plans to make it available for purchase — presumably because of its priceless awesomeness. See a game played out on video after the break.
Continue reading Monster Chess supersizes lego robots for ultimate geek synergy
Monster Chess supersizes lego robots for ultimate geek synergy originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Japan building a robot moon base in 2020, and you’re not invited
Not content with the sheer badassery of sending a humanoid robot to the moon in 2015, Japan has just unveiled a mission for 2020 that will involve setting up a whole robotic moon base. It will be unmanned in the flesh-and-blood sense, but will be populated with a 660 pound rolling bot. The station will be self-powered, and will let its citizen roam over 60+ miles of terrain, gathering scientific samples that can be sent back to earth. While rocks are great, we’re even more excited about the HDTV the station will be beaming back as well. The whole project will run somewhere in the ballpark of $2.2, and will be developed simultaneously with Japan’s manned moon program. We’re going to get working on our “I’m 660 pound a scientific exploration robot” costume right away.
Japan building a robot moon base in 2020, and you’re not invited originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 May 2010 21:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Pioneer’s Navi Robo waves you in the right direction (video)
Before you dismiss this as just another crazy idea out of Japan, hear us out. The newly developed, crab-simulating Navi Robo is designed to give drivers visual navigating assistance as a supplement to their GPS device. Its primary benefit, aside from helping the hearing impaired, will be in conveying instructions without requiring the driver to focus on it, as its eyes light up for attention and its “claws” vibrate urgently when an upcoming turn is imminent. Frankly, it looks both cute and functional, and we think kudos are in order for both Pioneer and iXs Research for coming up with the idea. They’ll be taking their usual good time (read: a couple of years) to refine and develop the idea, but we’ve got video of the robot doing its thing right now — you know where to find it.
Continue reading Pioneer’s Navi Robo waves you in the right direction (video)
Pioneer’s Navi Robo waves you in the right direction (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 May 2010 06:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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I-Fairy weds a couple of Japanese robot geeks (video)
Don’t act surprised. Japan, the land that just can’t get enough of robots — whether it’s for cooking, entertainment or interstellar warfare — now also conducts its weddings with the help of a ceremonial drone. Tomohiro Shibata and Satoko Inoue, who met in the course of their work in robotics, decided that getting married with the help of the I-Fairy bot you see above was a “natural choice.” We’ll just assume that’s a translational quirk and not an ultra-ironic statement from the happy couple. The I-Fairy isn’t quite as realistic as some of Kokoro‘s other humanoids, but it does come with flashing, anime-sized eyes, which we’re gonna go ahead and assume are popular over in Nippon. Video after the break.
Continue reading I-Fairy weds a couple of Japanese robot geeks (video)
I-Fairy weds a couple of Japanese robot geeks (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 May 2010 05:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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High school senior builds walking robot, the VSR-2: Talos FG (video)
Update: The awards are in, and though Talos FG’s grippers didn’t manage to pull down that $75,000 grand prize, they did manage to net Halverson $5,500 in cash and savings bonds from Intel, the Cade Museum Foundation and the U.S. Army.
Gallery: VSR-2: Talos FG at Intel ISEF 2010
Continue reading High school senior builds walking robot, the VSR-2: Talos FG (video)
High school senior builds walking robot, the VSR-2: Talos FG (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 14 May 2010 07:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Bunk Bot plushies appeal to the inner kid in you
Let us take a short break from all the serious tech stuff that you have read so far. Jason Hilbourne has come up with this extremely cute and soft robot plushies known as Bunk Bots, where each $25 purchase will also come with a well illustrated, entertaining book written by roboticist Daniel Wilson concerning the soon-to-come end-of-the-world scenario, where Otto the Bunk Bot will be accompanied by How to Build A Robot Army and Ninja Servo comes with How to Survive a Robot Uprising. Here’s one robot that you can get for your little one without having you purchase a new set of batteries oh-so-often.
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Robovie R3 all set to assist, freak out elderly and handicapped shoppers this November (video)
The Robovie R3 is the latest in a distinguished line of humanoid bots developed for the purposes of research, discovery, and (a tiny bit of) geeky fun. Following its predecessor’s footsteps — the R2 secured employment as a guide to lost shoppers — the R3 will be making its mall debut in November of this year, where it’ll assist people by carrying their shopping, providing information about nearby products, and holding their hand as it guides them through the crowds. Intended as a way to get elderly and handicapped people back out into the community, this is part of a viability study for the robot’s usefulness, and if it finds success maybe its anime eyes and dalek form factor will find their way outside Japan as well. Video of the R3 after the break.
Robovie R3 all set to assist, freak out elderly and handicapped shoppers this November (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 May 2010 09:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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![Walkman Outsold iPod in Japan During August [Apple]](http://nexgadget.com/images/Walkman-Outsold-iPod-in-Japan-During-August-Apple_i-odu_0.jpg)
Walkman Outsold iPod in Japan During August [Apple]It's party time for Sony, as the planets of consumerism aligned to earn it a unprecedented win over Apple's iPod music-playing range. It's the first time Walkman has outsold Apple's music players inside the region since iPod arrived in 2001. Sony had to make a number of sacrifices with the intention to win back musical market share, though, aggressively under-cutting the cost of its rival.![A Dual-Booting Tablet Running Android 1.6 Sounds Barmy, Viewsonic [Tablets]](http://nexgadget.com/images/A-DualBooting-Tablet-Running-Android-Sounds-Barmy-Viewsonic-Tablets_tuTo-_0.jpg)
A Dual-Booting Tablet Running Android 1.6 Sounds Barmy, Viewsonic [Tablets]After warning us last week of their impending dual-booting tablet, ViewSonic has now spilled the beans on the ViewPad 100 's specs. I don't think anyone shall be impressed by the Android 1.6 flavor, even supposing Windows 7 's also there too. I can't consider many the explanation why someone would need a dual-booting tablet, but obviously dual-booting laptops (running something like