Jul 31, 2012 by itnnews
Twenty-nine teams from China, Mexico, Russia and South Korea take part in a robot dancing competition in China.
From: Tech Crunch
By:John Briggs
July 30, 2012
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Real Life Japanese Mech Robot Fires BBs With A Smile
John Biggs
posted 4 hours ago
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The Kuratas Mecha robot is an art/aspirational nerd project by Suidobashi Heavy Industry. This full-sized Mech robot features a ride-in cockpit, “rocket” launchers, and a “smile controlled” BB Gatling gun. That’s right: when you smile, this thing unleashes thousands of tiny plastic BBs.
Unveiled at Wonder Fest 2012 in Tokyo, you can control the robot with either a set of master-slave joysticks or using a more fluid Kinect interface. It runs something called the V-SIDO (Bushido) OS and includes touchscreen support inside the cockpit as well as 3G wireless connectivity so you can control it via phone.
You can “price out” your own Mech here but rest-assured you won’t be able to drive one of these off the lot any time soon. It’s a one-off project and, as cool as it is, it only moves at about 10KM per hour.
There are some who are suggesting this is CG but considering the AFP/Getty picked up some photos of it, it looks about as real as you can get.
This is the 2012 Game Teaser for BEST Robotics:
Today Davis Fortenberry (who I told you about in March [See Post]) was on Nickelodeon’s “Figure It Out” trying to stump the panel and also demonstrating his robot. Not only did a 10 year old beat college students in a robotics competition, he was on national TV and GOT SLIMED!
Here is the episode (he is in the 2nd half):
Figure it Out: "Pedal Pull & Robotics" S1
Get More: Figure It Out Episodes,Figure It Out,Figure It Out Games
The Memphis area now has a registered First Tech Challenge team! FTC Team 5952 “Reapers Robotics” is associated with Boy Scout Troop 45 up in Arlington. For more info, see their website at https://sites.google.com/site/reapersrobotics5952/.
So now Memphis has teams in all 3 robotics competitions held by US First
from: IEEE Spectrum
Posted Tue, Aug 16, 2011
by Evan Ackerman
It was only a year ago that the University of Michigan’s MABEL biped robot was breaking its ankles trying to walk over rough terrain. Now the robot is defying death once again by becoming the world’s fastest bipedal robot, with the ability to sprint at up to 10.9 kph. More specifically, MABEL is the world’s fastest “kneed” bipedal robot, which just means that it’s the fastest robot that can run in a similar manner to us humans, leaving those Toyota robots (4.3 kph) and ASIMO (3.7 kph) in the dust.
MABEL is capable of such blistering speeds thanks to an innovative mechanical design which, although it may not look like it, incorporates a lot of the characteristics of a human runner. For example, MABEL has a torso that’s substantially heavier than its legs, just like a human, and it’s also got a system of springs that act like tendons. This gives MABEL a very human-like, bouncing gait, and the robot spends 40% of its time running in a “flight phase” with both feet off the ground, similar to humans:
For reference, MABEL’s top speed of 3 meters per second probably isn’t enough to catch a tolerably in-shape human, as Olympic sprinters can run at up to 10 meters per second over short distances. But the thing about robots is that they’re determined, so in the end, it’s a good thing that MABEL is tethered to that pole. And that it doesn’t have any arms to grab you with. Or any vision sensors, either. So even if you can’t run, at least you can hide.
For now.
From IEEE Spectrum
Posted by Evan Ackerman
Wen July 11, 2012
Robots are intimidating, and starting from scratch with them is hard, no matter what age you are. You usually have to learn both hardware and software at the same time to get a robot to do anything cool, and for people without a background in either of these things, surmounting that initial learning curve can be scary. BirdBrain Technologies, a spinoff from Carnegie Mellon’s Robotics Institute, has just released a new DIY kit called Hummingbird that promises to make building a robot as easy (and affordable) as possible.
As you’d expect, the Hummingbird kit involves both a hardware component and a software component. Let’s take a look at the hardware first:
We really like the fact that everything’s included here, with a clearly marked board and color coded wiring. It’s also nifty that the wires just snap in and out, no soldering required, although (to be honest) soldering is not that hard and building simple robots is a great excuse to learn how. But you know, for kids (or clumsy adults), soldering might not always be the safest way to go.
On the software side, the kit comes with a Java-based drag-and-drop visual programming interface that doesn’t require any previous experience at all, and anyone with a passing obsession with their iPhone should be able to get it working in no time. There’s a demo video here.
Now, although this is called a “kit,” it’s not like there’s instructions that tell you what to build. It’s the best kind of robot kit: the kind where you use your imagination and some creativity to build a robot of your very own. You might need some additional structural components (like cardboard), but beyond that, all it takes is a good idea to make whatever you want, which (in essence) is what’s so great about robots in general. Take a kit like this, come up with an idea, and make it real. Here’s just one example of what you can do:
The Hummingbird kit is intended for kids of ages 10 and up, although it’s not a bad way for people of any age to get familiar with getting hardware and software to work together. At $199 each, it might be a little more realistic to see the kit become part of an educational curriculum as opposed to something that kids will be able to buy for themselves, but if you’ve got a budding roboticist in your family who you’d like to foster, we’d say that this would be a pretty good investment.
To get one click HERE
In the past I have written about the MidSouthMakers, a group I belong to (you know Make Magazine right?) Well they are in the process of moving to a new and improved space in Bartlett. If you loved the idea of a MakerSpace but didn’t like the old location, come check out the new space.
Big advantages of the new space:
1. Location Location Location (nicer area, food / restaurants near by and much much more)
2. A/C in the shop
3. Larger communal area
We are still in the process of getting moved in and set up, but I think it will be a nice improvement.
Check out MidSouthMakers for more info on the new space and the group.
Did you know that their is a “Congressional Robotics Caucus”? I didn’t but I just found this youtube video showing a briefing:
The video also includes a presentation by a FRC Team…..
IEEE Spectrum Online
POSTED BY: Evan Ackerman / Fri, June 01, 2012
Pleo hasn’t looked this poorly since we saw one get shredded by a Combot back in 2008, but it’s possible that this little movie is all special effects and make-up and that no Pleos were actually harmed. Let’s hope so!
