Robots

Insect-inspired flying robot smacks panes sans pain

When watching a fly smack into a window over and over -- buzzing and falling and climbing again -- most people probably wind up doing one of two things: reach for a flyswatter, or, if they're a bit more compassionate, open the window.

Members of a robotics team at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems at Switzerland's Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne did a third thing: they got inspired.

"We were looking at insects and how they fly and how even though they manage to avoid most obstacles, they still manage to fly into windows and fly into walls, yet it's OK. They don't break..." team member Adam Klaptocz says in the video embedded below. "So we thought instead of making robots that just avoid obstacles, why don't we make a robot that can crash into things, get back up again, and keep flying?"… Read more

Bosch robot lawn mower gives you more hammock time

Why waste your summer cutting grass yourself? Get a machine to do it. Robot lawn mowers are nothing new, but Bosch is introducing one that's apparently more automated than competitors.

The Bosch Indego is an electric, autonomous mower that can cut up to 10,700 square feet of grass with little supervision, according to IEEE Spectrum.

All you need to do is install a guide wire on the edge of your lawn to keep the Indego in. It will automatically skirt all obstacles on your lawn including your pink flamingos, croquet mallets, and flower beds. … Read more

DASH robot learns cockroach escape trick

Cockroaches are way faster than you and me. Relative to their body weight, they can flee at the equivalent of hundreds of miles per hour and are gone long before your newspaper hits the floor.

But researchers from the University of California at Berkeley recently described how cockroaches can also run toward a ledge and then flip around to its underside in the blink of an eye, effectively disappearing from predators. Now they're working on robots that can do the same. … Read more

Swimming robot sends Crave off the deep end

You know we here at Crave love a nice robot nightmare breakthrough, and this one's definitely a goodie.

Two researchers at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Chung Changhyun and Motomu Nakashima, have created a 3D-printed 'bot that can do the crawl stroke like nobody's business.… Read more

Crush enemy bottles with this power glove

I bet New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg would like to teach sugary drinks a thing or two with this power glove.

Actually, Canadian designer J.P. Rishea's device is a gauntlet -- the Exo Gauntlet 2.0 to be precise -- which makes it all the more badass. It's billed as having a grip strength "strong enough to break hard plastic cups and crush empty cans."

Rishea's Bionic Concepts Web site is offering this exoskeleton accessory to would-be cyborgs for roughly $3,200. … Read more

Last Moment Robot: 'End of life detected'

As a woman lies on a mattress on the floor, a small white machine attached to her outstretched right arm offers the following words:

I am the Last Moment Robot. I am here to help you and guide you through your last moment on Earth. I am sorry that your family and friends can't be with you right now, but don't be afraid. I am here to comfort you. You are not alone, you are with me. Your family and friends love you very much, they will remember you after you are gone.

Jarred by the notion of someone dying in the company of a machine instead of loved ones (or at least other humans)? That's partly the point. … Read more

You won't be the life of the party with this shoulder robot

Got a chip on your shoulder, pal? Or is that just a 20-axis humanoid telepresence robot?

For cyber-boffins from Japan's Yamagata University, it's the latter. It seems this creepy little golem has been riding around on shoulders in northern Japan, probably freaking citizens out.

The project, dubbed the MH-2 wearable communication robot, was recently presented at the 2012 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in St. Paul, Minn., where it turned some heads.

As IEEE Spectrum tells us, the MH-2 is a telepresence robot that acts as an avatar for your friends around the world. With its intricate parallel wire mechanisms and 20 axes of motion, it can reproduce their movements in a realistic fashion. … Read more

Sexy, six-legged robot Hexy wants to get friendly

You'd be surprised at the number of people who crave spider-like robots.

Boston-based ArcBotics is gathering funds for its Hexy kit robot, billed as a low-cost, completely open-source critter that is easy to program.

It has six legs instead of eight, but Hexy can walk, dance, bang some keyboard keys, and do whatever else you can imagine.

It comes with a few installed moves, too. It's so cool, it even plays electric guitar. … Read more

Meet Qumarion, an animation supermodel

Getting the hang of 3D animation would probably overwhelm most folks, but the foot-tall Qumarion mannequin could radically simplify the process of creating realistic movement in 3D computer-generated models.

The 67,800 yen ($850) Qumarion, set to debut in Japan in a few months, features a robust array of sensors to assist with creating realistic 3D animation. Developed by Japan's University of Tsukuba and University of Electro-communications, Qumarion can pose, flex, sit, stand, or assume nearly any other position imaginable. … Read more