Robots

Congrats to Gary M. of Las Vegas for winning a pair of Pick-Pocket Proof Pants from Clothing Arts in last week's giveaway. This week's prize is for the young tinkerers out there.

We're giving away a Boe-Bot Robot Kit from Parallax, a company that specializes in DIY robotics. CNET's Donald Bell and Seth Rosenblatt visited the Rocklin, Calif., electronics manufacturer earlier this month, and returned bearing this gift and others (stay tuned for another Parallax giveaway soon).

The Boe-Bot kit, recommended for ages 14 and up (and that includes you geeky grown-ups) lets you build and program your own rolling robot with a BASIC Stamp 2 microcontroller for a brain. The bot uses touch, light, and infrared sensors to independently navigate its environment. … Read more

Astronauts and robot sidekicks go together like Dave and HAL 9000, like Will Robinson and B9, like Doctor Who and K9. Soon, that illustrious list will grow longer with the addition of a Japanese astronaut and Kirobo, a conversational robot companion.

Kirobo looks like a cross between Astro Boy and a Power Ranger, all rendered in miniature. Since the bot's job is to be a companion, not a worker. It's very compact in size, just 13 inches tall and a little over 2 pounds in weight.… Read more

Here's something I would totally sic my BigDog on, were I lucky enough to own one: a robot ape that can walk around on four legs and may one day stand up on two.

Researchers at Germany's DFKI, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, have been working on what they call the iStruct Demonstrator.

Its purpose is unclear, but with backing from Germany's Space Agency and its application being described as "space robotics," I can only speculate. Planet of the robot apes, perhaps? … Read more

We've seen some very sophisticated 3D-printed objects recently, but never a tiny 3D-printed battery -- one that's as small as a grain of sand, no less.

A group of U.S. and Korean researchers has managed to print a lithium-ion microbattery that can fit on the head of a pin.

Although it weighs less than 100 micrograms, it can store as much power per gram as larger Li-ion batteries used in laptops or electric vehicles. It could even power tiny robots or medical devices. … Read more

Remember the robotic Transformer shown off by Brave Robotics at last year's Tokyo Maker Faire? It seems the toy caught the eye of official Transformers toy maker Tomy, which is now working with Brave Robotics to create a commercial line, according to Italian hobby news Web site Hobby Media.

Tomy, which hit robotic success in the 1980s with its Omnibots line, is seeking to get up to date with current technologies to make a dream come true for Transformers fans everywhere. … Read more

When Apple turns over part of its oh-so-important Worldwide Developers Conference keynote address to an unknown startup, you can be sure Tim Cook and Co. think they're dealing with some very cool technology.

That was very much the case with Anki, which was handpicked for a coveted slot as the poster child for what unknown developers can do with iOS. During its time onstage, Anki showed off what at first appears to be a simple toy car racing game, but what in reality might be the most advanced intersection of consumer-grade artificial intelligence and robotics ever.… Read more

Animals can do amazing things, and their behaviors and physical properties have inspired some groundbreaking tech. But what if we could do more with what animals make? Spider silk, for instance, has a tensile strength similar to that of alloyed steel -- and some fascinating potential uses.

But the silkworm is by far one of the most productive animals we rely upon. The silk it produces is strong, lightweight, soft, and beautiful -- and perhaps there are ways to use the creatures in new ways.

To explore the potential relationship between digital and biological fabrication, MIT Media Lab's Mediated Matter research group has created the Silk Pavilion -- a 12-foot-diameter dome that's a collaboration between human designers, machines, and grubs. … Read more

iRobot wants to help you stay away from work meetings, a sentiment we can all applaud.

Trundling along on the heels -- or wheels -- of its RP-VITA medical robot, the AVA 500 was introduced Monday by the company as an enterprise-grade telepresence robot.

Developed with Cisco's TelePresence technology, the autonomously navigating machine is like a large, rolling webcam that lets remote users take part in "meetings and presentations where movement and location spontaneity are important." … Read more

It's only a matter of time, really. Google Glass, Epson's Movierio, the Oculus Rift, and similar technologies are at the cutting edge of wearable technologies. Sci-fi has certainly given us a glimpse at the potential future: internal links to the Internet, augmented eyesight and hearing, perhaps even full cybernetic bodies to house our minds.

We'll have the technology, we will build it. The question is, presuming it's safe, would you embed yourself with technology?… Read more