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Bike with no brakes no prob for mini robot

A showdown is brewing in the realm of bicycle-riding robots. Murata Boy, the balance-beam daredevil, has competition in the form of a brash young upstart.

Primer-V2 is the brainchild of Masahiko Yamaguchi, aka Dr. Guero, a hobbyist who thrilled visitors to the recent iRex 2011 robot trade show here in Tokyo.

The bot is being touted as the first cyber-cyclist that can maintain its balance simply by moving the handlebars. … Read more

Spider robot great for scaring arachnophobes

Japan's Kondo Kagaku has a new spider robot with six legs and a palpable creep factor, especially when it drums on a table like in this video.

The KMR-M6 is targeted at hobbyists, researchers, and people who want to scare others.

Each of its legs has two Kondo KRS-2552HV ICS servo motors--one for the horizontal rotation and another for the vertical movement. The bot seems to have a maximum ground clearance of about 4 inches.

The Kondo RCB-4HV control board directs the leg movements, and a 10.8V 800mAh Ni-MH battery supplies the power. Users can add additional leg assemblies to make even creepier spider-bots.

Shipping in May for about $880, it will probably find lots of fans among Kondo's KHR humanoid kit robot users. Or aspiring Doctor Octopuses out there. … Read more

A backflipping fighting machine

Remember when the Robosapien was everywhere you turned, in any mall or shopping catalog? If only we had the KONDO KHR-2HV back then, we could have driven him into the ground like a thumbtack. OhGizmo says this roid-bot can do backflips and cartwheels with its 17 adjustable joints and "has a bigger chest for a muscular look which is sure to strike fear into the stickers used to represent their opponents eyes." Not to mention the neighbor's annoying yap dog. It's almost worth the $1,200 price for the kit.

(Photos: OhGizmo)