Archive for the ‘robot’ Category

Japan Gets A Gundam Phone With Most Awesome Dock Ever [Robots]

Just in case you weren’t aware that this year marks the 30th anniversary of the Gundam figurines, Bandai has teamed up with Japanese network Softbank for a limited edition Gunpla phone. More »










Gundam – Bandai – Anime – Japan – Model

Robots perform in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ said to outdo the cast of New Moon

Shakespeare’s plays have a long, long history of being modded to fit the times. We’ve seen Macbeths do the running man, and Cordelias dressed like Susie Sioux — and we’ve also seen Forbidden Planet, so we know that Robby was just a tinned up Ariel. So robots in Shakespeare? Sure, we’ve seen that before, but what haven’t we seen intertwined into bad theatre? Well, Texas A&M’s just staged A Midsummer Night’s Dream to include robotic cast members. Working with Professor Robin Murphy, who heads up the Center for Robot-Assisted Search and Rescue, director Amy Hopper hacked the script a bit to include an air robot — which is about the size of a pizza, and has been used in military operations — playing a fairy, and six small radio controlled helicopters. The robotics team used the opportunity to observe how cast and audience members reacted to the robots, and we’re pretty sure the audience warmed to them far more quickly than they would to Christian Bale or Sean Penn.

Robots perform in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ said to outdo the cast of New Moon originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Digital Contents Expo Tokyo: Giant squid robot Ikabo (video)

The Future University (cool name) in Hakodate, Northern Japan, presented the Ikabo, a giant squid robot at the Digital Contents Expo in Tokyo (that ended on Sunday). Not only is the robot tall (2.2m), cute and pretty heavy (weight: 200kg), but it also mimics your hand movements via Wii motion controllers.

Ikabo is based on an air servo system, and you can also move his head and even his eyes with the Wii controllers. It makes noises to scare potential alien invaders away (the robot was actually part of a promotional campaign that used this scenario to boost the numbers of tourists in Hakodate). Ikabo has a total of 12 joints that make him move like a real squid (well, kind of).

Here’s a short video I took at the expo that shows how Ikabo works:

Ropid: New robot runs, jumps 8 centimeters high (2 videos)

Japan has produced many humanoids in the past years, but making them move in one way or the other is usually a challenge. Kyoto-based Robo Garage has unveiled Ropid [JP] today, a mini robot that runs on two legs and can jump as high as 8cm.

Ropid stands 38cm tall and at 16kg, it’s pretty heavy. The little guy has 29 joints and four gyro-sensors in the body and is powered by a lithium-ion battery. He can react to voice commands, so if you tell him to jump, he will do so. His movements aren’t really elegant but OK.

Ropid (the name is  a mix between “robot” and rapid”) is currently just a prototype, with Robo Garage saying there isn’t a release date set yet.

This video shows how he runs:

This video shows how he jumps:

Via Robot Watch [JP]

With Robot-Performed Virtual Autopsies It’s Like You’ve Got A Stunt Double Corpse [Robots]

Virtual autopsies create 3D images of the deceased’s bodies to be used for examination. Save for having robots make micro-incisions for tissue samples, real bodies can rest at peace while the virtual stunt corpses are chopped apart. Goodbye, CSI-induced nightmares!

Basically a bunch of stereo cameras are used to record the external structure of a body while a CT scan takes care of the innards. A 3D image is created from the images and the pathologists can get to work without worrying about deforming a deceased body. If need be, minor incisions into the real body can be made by robots while still keeping damage minimal.

Aside from being far neater than a traditional autopsy, virtual autopsies allow for archiving of the 3D bodies for later medical analysis or case comparison in the event of criminal trials. Not to mention that there’d never be an “Oops. I didn’t mean to make that incision” again. [New Scientist via Pop Sci]

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