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Hockey robot's slapshot can reach 110 mph

Boston Bruins Captain Zdeno Chara probably has enough to worry about during the Stanley Cup finals against the Vancouver Canucks to care that his fastest slapshot record can be broken by a robot.

The SlapShot XT can apparently beat Chara's world record of 105.9 mph. Developed by Hockey Robotics, a spinoff of the University of Waterloo in Ontario, the two-armed robot can repeatedly send pucks flying through the air at 110 mph.

The start-up developed the puck smasher as a method of testing the strength of hockey sticks. Since the introduction of composite sticks some years ago, broken sticks have been a problem in NHL and amateur games alike.

Golf club makers have used similar robots to test their product, but the XT is more complex because it uses two arms to wield a stick. It uses a gear, sprocket, and belt system to whack pucks into the net (see the vid below). … Read more

Console hockey on your iPhone

2K Sports NHL 2K11 brings console-like hockey gameplay to your touch screen and manages to pull it off well, with only a few minor annoyances. If you've played console hockey games, you'll feel right at home; pick from any of the NHL licensed teams (with all your favorite players) and hit the ice for an Exhibition game, play an entire 82 game season, or you can practice in the Free skate and Shootout modes. There is no multiplayer option in NHL 2K11 (Wi-Fi or otherwise), but hopefully that's slated for later versions.

The control system consists of … Read more