Robotics - SlashGear

‘Robotics’ Stories

HRP4 Helper Robot was Created to Serve You [Video]

Evan Selleck, Sep 17th 2010 Discuss [0]

At this point, robots run the full gamut of the spectrum: designed to help the military, to little do-it-yourself (DIY) projects, you can find a robot basically for anything you might need. For one category, the helper market, there doesn't seem to be quite the excitement. However, when we see things like the HRP4, we can't help but wonder why. It may not be as powerful or sturdy as, say, Core, but this 86-pound robot is all about you, and that has to count for something. Read The Full Story

Core Prototype Robot is All Legs, Can Lift up to 220 Pounds [Video]

Evan Selleck, Sep 16th 2010 Discuss [0]

Robots come in all shapes and sizes. And more often than not, prototypes are the main focus for most researchers for quite some time. Even when a robot is, for all intents and purposes just a pair of movable legs, the prototype stage is a necessity for developing it further, so that it can be utilized within any particular market. Researchers at fuRo, which is a division within the Chiba Institute of Technology in Japan, have put together a prototype called Core, which is designed to be able to carry, and move, a lot of weight. Read The Full Story

Carnegie Mellon’s Modular Snake Robot Can Climb Trees, Pipes, and Your Body

Evan Selleck, Sep 3rd 2010 Discuss [1]

When robots take over the world, it's always because a certain robot was created to help mankind, or at least a facet of mankind's life. That's what it seems like, anyway, in those Sci-Fi movies that seem more like future told than fictional creation. In the case of Carnegie Mellon's modular snake robots, which are being create to be helpful to the human race, we're wondering if creating a(n) (evil) snake robot that can climb up our torso and peer into our soul is a good idea. Read The Full Story

Skitterbot Electronic Cockroach Will Battle Other Electronic Cockroaches [Video]

Evan Selleck, Aug 31st 2010 Discuss [0]

Have you ever been sitting at your computer, looking for stuff to do, when you thought, "Hey, it would be really cool if I had a little electronic cockroach I could control, to fight other electronic cockroaches!" Well! Today is your lucky day! Because here we have just what you've been waiting for! These little guys are called Skitterbots, and they're meant to give your day a little bit of cockroach fun. Read The Full Story

Robotic Wheelchair Uses Distance Sensor to Follow People

Evan Selleck, Aug 12th 2010 Discuss [1]

Robotics such as this, which showcase the idea that robots can be explicitly utilized to help humans, has us eagerly anticipating the future. Just watching the video below, which shows how easy the wheelchair handles following a human companion around, makes us realize how helpful robots will be the more advanced they become. That whole "self-aware" thing aside, this robotic chair from the Human-Robot Interaction Center in Saitama University, in Japan, is a great way for helpers to help those confined to a wheelchair. Read The Full Story

Robot Sentry Peppers Targets with Paintball Gun [Video]

Evan Selleck, Aug 11th 2010 Discuss [0]

We've all heard (and seen) the Doomsday scenarios: we make advanced robots, they become self-aware, and then the end of all humanity happens. Science-fiction to most, but a real worry for others out there in the world. In the case of this little robot sentry, which doesn't actually walk around in the video, we can see where some paranoid folks would get the wrong idea, especially if it were to get some kind of glowing red eye, and start referring to itself in the first person. Read The Full Story

Telenoid R1 remote presence robot is creepy and expensive [Video]

Chris Davies, Aug 2nd 2010 Discuss [0]

Let's get it out the way early, shall we? Osaka University and the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute's new Telenoid R1 humanoid robot may be designed with vague androgyny in mind, so as to provide a blank slate onto which your remote contact can better be represented, but it doesn't half look creepy. Video demo after the cut Read The Full Story

WowWee Roboscooper channels Wall-E

Chris Davies, Aug 1st 2010 Discuss [0]

Robotics company WowWee has outed its latest domestic 'bot offering, and they've looked to Wall-E for their inspiration. The WowWee Roboscooper is a six-wheeled remote-controlled robot with a big set of grabbing hands that can pick up objects and deposit them in the cargo bay at the back. Read The Full Story

BeBionic Bionic Hand Set for Worldwide Distribution in June [Video]

Evan Selleck, May 24th 2010 Discuss [0]

Bionic hands. Sometimes linked with some pretty heavy-duty bionic arms, are the thing of the future. And, while some people probably think they're still a few years out, it looks like a company called BeBionic wants to make it happen now. Not this week or anything, but much sooner than later. And, if anything else, you need to watch the video after the break. It's worth it. Read The Full Story

iRobiQ karaoke companion robot arrives in North America [Video]

Chris Davies, May 24th 2010 Discuss [1]

If you're desperate for a robot companion and can't wait for the open-source Qbo to be detailed to the point where you can build one yourself, muster together $4,600 and you can have an off-the-shelf iRobiQ. RobotShop are now selling the previously Japan-only Yujin Robot 'bot in North America; as well as voice recognition, the iRobiQ hooks up to your wireless network and can use its 1.3-megapixel camera to snap and email photos and video. Video demo after the cut Read The Full Story

Qbo adorable open-source robot detailed

Chris Davies, May 20th 2010 Discuss [2]

Could it be love at first sight? As soon as I saw his tubby little body and wide eyes, I knew I had to make him mine. No, not my clandestine and short-lived love affair with Elton John, but the Qbo robot. Having teased us with an open-source ethos and design schematics, project lead TheCorpora have followed up with some proper details about what this DIY 'bot should do. Read The Full Story

I-Fairy Robot leads Japanese wedding

Chris Davies, May 17th 2010 Discuss [0]

Most of the surprise over this Japanese wedding ceremony performed by a four foot tall robot called I-Fairy is centered on the unusual officiator; I'm more surprised that a bride allowed herself to be overshadowed on her "special day". On a day where people have been maimed for wearing nicer shoes than the bride herself, Kokoro - the company who produce the robot - were brave to put the roughly $70k 'bot into such danger. Read The Full Story