In a demonstration this week, a humanoid with camera eyes made by Kawada Industries Inc. poured tea from a bottle into a cup. Then another robot on wheels delivered the cup of tea in an experimental room that has sensors embedded in the floor and sofa as well as cameras on the ceiling, to simulate life with robot technology.
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For a pretty penny, you can get Plen, the skateboarding robot, to stave off boredom when you're snowed in or to wake you up when you're dozing off in front of your computer. Tiny Plen skates around on your desk, and can even use its balancing skills to skateboard. This little guy's movements are impressive, if a tad expensive at over $2,000.
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Toymaker Takara Tomy announced today that they're releasing the world's smallest 2-legged robot in July.
The Omnibo2007 i-SOBOT will be sold for 31,290 yen. It's dimensions are just 96x67x165mm, plus it weighs only 350g. But it still does all kinds of cool shit. An internal gyro-sensor gives is maximum flexibility while an attached IR remote control has voice command features and pre-programming capabilities. If you clap or play music, the i-SOBOT will dance to the beat.
The company also announced that they will be releasing the big...
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Japan's Matsushita company unveiled a robotic suit, eyed to be marketed in two years, that will help people who are partially paralyzed rehabilitate the rest of their bodies.
When a person who suffered a stroke moves his or her active arm while wearing the suit, the paralyzed other arm will make the same motion by stretching and bending compressors that act as muscles.
By repeating the arm movements, the person wearing the robotic suit can train to regain use of his or her limbs, the designer said.
The robotic suit, which slips over a...
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Everyone loves soccer, and everyone loves robots. So, a mash-up involving robots playing soccer has got to be really exciting and popular...
The result is a rather entertaining game, and though the contestants are currently remote-controlled, we're sure these little bots will figure out the necessary maliciousness on their own before long.
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No one at the Pentagon has plans to stick G.I.s in giant, six-legged, super-strong robots. Yet. But you've got to figure it's only a matter of time, now that a Finnish subsidiary of John Deere is building the machines for new-jack lumberjacks.
In the works for a decade and a half, the Plustech Oy Walking Machine is supposed to be an eco-friendly, log-hauling monstrosity; its six massive legs spreads the weight of the machine evenly, the company claims, to minimize any impact on the forest soil.
"Depending on the terrain, the ground...
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Trower heads the Microsoft Robotics Group, a nine-person operation with the modest trappings of a start-up company but grand ambitions befitting a $44 billion software giant.
Microsoft aims to bring robotics technology to the masses with programming software to ease the development of new applications, replicating an approach it adopted in the early days of the personal computer industry.
"It really is like a little bit of deja vu," said Trower, a 24-year veteran at Microsoft. "The thing that sounds very familiar (with the PC) is you had...
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