We dropped by Wired's Nextfest down in LA today, and were, shall we say, pleasantly pleased by the inordinate number of robots we'd written about but never actually seen in person before. Although we didn't see KillaCycle try to assassinate its master, there were plenty of other highlights:
Keepon (pictures here) somehow manages to be even [...]
The Sony Rolly SEP-10BT "Sound Entertainment Player" is here, people, and yet we're still just as unclear as ever as to exactly what it's utility is. Not quite a domestic robot, not quite a portable audio player, not quite a boombox, the Rolly flutters about, dancing and playing MP3, ATRAC, or AAC tunes via either [...]
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, no strangers to reaching for seemingly unattainable goals in medical science, have set their sights on what some consider to be the ultimate pursuit of modern prosthetics: a bionic arm that moves, looks and feels like its human counterpart. And they want to do it by [...]
We know there's a Transformers video game out for the 360 right now, but did anyone see that brief shot of the Xbox 360 transforming into a Decepticon? We definitely saw the Mountain Dew dispenser change over and start shooting crazy missile and what have you, but we missed the 360 --- perhaps because we're [...]
Imagine if someone, somewhere managed to find the exact formula for producing the most perfectly awful example of the uncanny valley (say, for a horror movie or something). Now, accept the fact that this organization is the Japanese Science and Technology Agency, and that they managed to produce the most disturbing machine you've ever seen, [...]
Well this is just great. One of our few remaining advantages over the robots who wish to enslave us --- the ability to run away and cower in an inaccessible location --- may soon be gone forever, if DARPA's bid for softball-sized, morphing 'ChemBots' proves successful. The government's mad scientist wing wants proposals for a [...]
These collaborative robots remind us a lot of NASA's SuperBot, only with a clear mission to search and rescue (and minus the crazy acrobatics). These modular bots, currently being developed in Germany, work both independently and as a group and are designed for use in applications such as military reconnaissance, surveillance, and even space exploration. [...]
We've heard of using a Wiimote to handle home automation tasks, but building a device in order to create an automated Xbox 360 controller is another animal entirely. An intrigued and efficiency-minded individual set out to to achieve an additional 60 Xbox Live gamer points by trudging through 1,000 Death Matches and 1,000 Dark Ops [...]
With the slow vehicle passing and a 50mph speed limit, the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge didn't entirely seem to set the stage technologically for the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge, but get ready, Stanford's already prepping, their entrant: Junior. The Volkswagen Passat wagon will be equipped with a 360-degree laser rangefinder, bumper mounted lasers, RADAR, GPS, [...]
If pimping out your Roomba to sing, dance, or flash doesn't really interest you, or you'd simply feel more comfortable still holding the reins of your trusty vacuum cleaner, Track Vac's NASCAR-inspired vacuum is just the thing. Officially licensed and laced with decals, this RF-controlled device burns out around your hardwoods and carpet to suck [...]
