Archive for Robots – Page 2

Rovio – A WiFi Enabled Robotic Webcam

If you have a wireless [Wi-Fi] network in your house, then you might want to consider getting a Wi-Fi enabled webcam, so that you can keep an eye on things while you’re out. Here’s a spy gadget that you might want to have. rovior_lgIts name is Rovio! Rovio will let you experience how it feels to be in two places at the same time. It will let you see, hear, and interact with its environment through streaming video and audio – wherever you are. Thanks to its head-mounted moveable camera and wide range of vision.

Rovios’ base is equipped with three omni-directional wheels that easily move in any direction. It has also a built-in speaker and microphone for 2-way audio. Integrated LED headlight also means Rovio can be used at night without leaving the house lights on.

And to make sure that Rovio never runs out of power while you’re out of the house, the designers blessed it with the power of self-docking. One click of a button on your web browser sends Rovio back to the charging dock to recharge and get ready for the next house exploration mission.

Rovio is not only a cool gadget; it is also a cost-effective addition to your home security. It can be used in any web-enabled device: PC or Mac, cellular phone, PDA, or even your video game console. It detects your computer settings and guides you through the set up process.

You can get the Rovio here! or other WowWee robots at nahx.com

RoboCar – Autobots Roll Out!

If by some unexplained cosmic phenomena (let us say – ZMP) mystically managed to cross an open sourced Knight Industries Two Thousand (KITT) from Knight Rider with a crash test dummy, then RoboCar will be the product. This cute little intelligent Linux based bugger is designed and made by ZMP – a renowned robotics company based in Tokyo, Japan, to test autonomous auto technologies. It means that before putting untested AI or automations on a 3 digit horsepower vehicle, it is better to test their algorithms and program instruction on this adorable 6 pound little model. It is probably safer and least expensive too. Although it would be fun putting a “brain” on a Dodge Viper and watch it say “I am Cobra, I have horsepower!” in an Austrian oak like voice.

linux robocar

This 17 inches robot car, albeit small, has features that only you can dream of for your own automobile. Say for instance a top of the line CPU in the form of AMD Geode LX800 processor. Now for what is “under the hood”, RoboCar has WiFi 802.11b/g/n, stereo CCD cameras, eight infrared sensors, three accelerometers, a gyroscope, and a laser range finder. Basically, all the toppings and trimmings you would need in a robotic test car. Initial price is around $7000 and is limited to only 200 units this year. If cars, AI and David Hasselhoff is your thing then save up and get in the line early.

For more about robots and other related products, visit this website.

Dan Roe’s Solar-Powered Trilobot

Most robots today are used to do repetitive actions or jobs considered too dangerous for humans. They can explore inside gas tanks, volcanoes, Mars and other places too unsafe for humans to go. They never get sick, don’t need to take a day off, and they don’t ever complain. They can do one thing over and over again without getting bored – is that something you could do? Think about it – standing in one place doing the same thing all day and night would get pretty boring.

And now, here’s something that pays tribute to life forms from the olden days – the Trilobot that is solar-powered and fully autonomous, being smart to search out for its own juice to make sure the no human master will ever need to place it under sunlight whenever it “dies” when hiding under a couch for too long a period of time.

trilobot

Designed by Dan Roe as a “kinetic art” project, this minimally designed sculptural robot is autonomous in control since its compound eyes differentially control rostral and caudal legs a weak phototropism, while its sensitive motors respond unpredictably to one another and to the surface that are moving over. This sculpture is designed with open source circuits and off the shelf technologies, including o-rings and hose clamps. Made of steel including its solar engine, it measures 10” x 7-1/2” x 3-1/2”.

Surf’s Up For These Robo-Penguins

robot-penguin_festo

So surfing dude penguins are not far off after all.

AquaPenguins were unveiled this week in Germany during the Hannover Messe Trade Exhibition. Festo Bionic created these robots using flexible fiberglass to mimic the real animals’ swimming movements. A sonar-type system allows these robo-animals to swim around autonomously. Quite a feat for mechanical animals I must say.Though ultrasonic transmitters are the ones that direct the AquaPenguins around the space they swim in.

Are we seeing a sequel entitled, March of the Robo-Emperor?

To see these arctic machines in action, click video below.

MIT Introduces Horticultural Robots

Robot teachers that speak various languages, take roll call, assign basic tasks to students, and express her current mood using facial expressions powered by 18 motors. Now, here come the robot gardeners.

horticultural-robots2

Students and researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory have created robots that tend to tomato plants. Take note! No human intervention is required for this gardening operation. These robots perform specific plant maintenance just based on the sensor feedback from plants. The plants themselves have soil sensors and can network with the robots, letting the robots know when they need water and nutrients or keep track of how many tomato fruits they’ve grown.

Meanwhile, the robots are equipped with watering pumps and robotic arms that are gentle enough to pick cherry tomatoes. The goal of this project, according to MIT, is to develop a fully autonomous greenhouse, complete with robots, pots, and plants connected through computation, sensing, and communication.

Now, do you believe this is the beginning of robots gardening for us? For me, there are certain things that robots are limited in doing when it comes to agricultural work. So I’d still prefer nurturing my plants using my own hands. Still, this technological advancement in robotics may prove to be very advantageous to large-scale environmental projects and agricultural endeavors.