It must be a week for Wiimote hacks, as there are two interesting implementations of Nintendo’s wireless motion-sensitive controller on offer today. First up comes a hack using DarwiinRemote, that allows you to play World of Warcraft using the Wiimote; then, there’s a self-balancing robot made of LEGO NXT, that can be remotely controlled with it.
Video demos of both projects after the cut
Crafted lovingly from the guts of an old boombox, this Tapescape robot is intended to snuffle about your desk, following a strip of tape. The handiwork of Michael Colombo, the Tapescape ‘bot is able to track forward, backward and turn, while playing music.
Robot dinosaur maker Ugobe have confirmed that they are filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy, as rumored earlier this month. The company, responsible for the Pleo dinosaur toy, dismissed all employees on Friday, but still owes $353,500 in unpaid royalties to the Pleo and Furby creator.
Sony are looking to patent a robot gaming peripheral that would interact with both a game and the user. The patent, submitted in June 2008, describes a mobile robot equipped with a camera, microphone and speakers, together with a display.
WowWee’s RoboReptile design is all well and good if you like, well, robotic reptiles, but what if you long for a real lizard? Turning the WowWee robot into a more realistic animal was the challenge taken on over at RoboCommunity, and the re-dressed results look pretty impressive.
Video after the cut
A netbook might not be much cop for video editing, but it’s certainly clever enough to act as the brain of a robot. That’s the attitude robo-makers RoBe:Do have taken, with their first two software-ready autonomous robots, each delivered full-assembled and just waiting for your Eee PC (or similar) to drop in and control things.
Video demo after the cut
According to Takara Tomy, their RoBo-Q is the world’s smallest remote controlled walking robot. At just 1.3-inches tall I can well believe that, but I’m far more interested in Akihabara’s video review (which you can see after the cut) and the DIY maze they built for the dinky robots to wander around.
Right now WowWee might be the name most associated with domestic “toy” robots, but rival Bossa Nova is looking to steal some of that market share. The company has been demonstrating the Bossa Nova Prime-8, an ape-themed ‘bot that they claim is the fastest bi-ped robot to date. How fast? Well, potentially faster than a small child.
Oh, what utter fools we’ve been. While everyone was expecting the robot invasion to come from the skies, wiping us out in sleets of laser beams (or maybe just nets) , in actual fact they’re planning on taking us one piece at a time. A Japanese 3-year-old has lost the tip of a finger in the deadly transforming limbs of a TV tie-in toy robot; apparently he’s one of several young people affected by the finger-feasting monster.
When the robots come for you, first they try nets and then it’s the lasers. Thankfully the Tmsuk T-34 only comes equipped with the former – at least for the moment – being in effect a remote-controlled car with an integrated net launcher. Designed by a Japanese robotics company in conjunction with a security firm, the Tmsuk T-34 is operated via a cellphone with live video feedback.
Video demo of the net-firing T-34 robot after the cut
SlashGear Japan
