Posts Tagged robot
Diego-san: The working robot with the freaky baby head
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on January 15th, 2010
You want to hear what freaks me out the most? Babies. I’m not talking about real babies that crawl, coo, and you have to change every once in a while. In fact, I think these babies are cute.
I’m talking about every time someone makes a baby’s head and puts it on something like a doll, or in this case, a robot. This is Diego-san, a four-foot tall robot with the head of a baby.
Why they used a baby’s head instead of a some sort of artificial face, I will never know. I mean, Number Five, C3PO, and Wall-E looked cuter. However, Diego-san’s face is made up of 20 moving parts, and it is designed to communicate via facial expression rather than talk.
This baby has already learned how to stand up from a chair on its own, and it can hold a water bottle. I’m guessing it can’t drink the water, as it would probably rust. Maybe the creator should feed it baby oil. Yes, that was a bad joke, and there is no way that I can call the Diego-san anything but “it”.
I’m guessing that Diego-san was designed as some baby simulator or something. Perhaps he is another stepping stone for the advancing science of robotics. I think that it is weird that we have the technology to create this baby’s robot body, but we just don’t have the technology to make an artificial baby head that doesn’t look freaky. Honestly, I feel like this robot should have appeared in the movie Brazil.
Cool Gift Idea: Digital Picture Frames, check out our reviews.
[ Diego-san: The working robot with the freaky baby head copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Read the original:
Diego-san: The working robot with the freaky baby head
Learn and Grow Robot
Posted by admin in Kids Gadgets on November 20th, 2009
Kids just want to have fun, and what better way to learn than through toys and play? After all, don’t deprive your little one of his/her childhood with just books and more books – let them run wild at some point in order to go through the school of hard knocks. In the meantime, the Learn and Grow Robot might be just the thing to help them develop their mental faculties.
The Learn and Grow-Bot is soft and cuddly and packed with features for baby to explore. Each of the four buttons on his chest emits a different silly robot sound. Your geekling will learn cause and effect every time he presses a button and activates a wacky sound. His legs are hinged and attach with Velcro, so they can move back and forth or hold the robot upright. Yes, unlike lesser plushies, this one actually can stand on his own two feet! But we’re not done with awesome robot features. This robot’s arms and collar spin and the lace-up doors on his back reveal a panel of shiny, crinkly material. Got a genius on your hands? He can learn to tie his own shoes with the Learn and Grow-Bot!
Retailing for $19.95, the Learn and Grow Robot will develop sensory, motor, cognitive and social skills. Good only for babies aged 9 months and older – admit it, as a 32 year old you still can’t resist having a go at that crinkly materials plastered all over.
Check out the Coolest Gadgets 2008 Gift Guides, Christmas shopping made easy.
[ Learn and Grow Robot copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Original post:
Learn and Grow Robot
Bloodbot combines your worst vampire and robot fears
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on September 16th, 2009
There are a lot of people who faint at the sight of a needle, as well as those that swoon at the sight of blood.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was some machine like this Bloodbot that could draw your blood, without a human ever being present?
Some of you might faint at the very idea of that, but haven’t you ever had a doctor who had a hard time finding the vein while you were donating blood? Apparently, this bloodbot has an accuracy rate of seventy-eight percent. Normally, I would say that is good, but I would like to see the average accuracy rate for a doctor.
When I first saw this Bloodbot, I thought of that line from The Matrix when Morpheus is telling Neo he saw the evil machines “liquefy the dead so they could be fed intravenously to the living”.
Yes, I suppose that we will create the Bloodbots for good, like blood drives, but what happens when the bloodbots decide they don’t have enough? Then comes one of the worst premises for a science-fiction film I ever heard entitled: Attack of the Bloodbots.
That’s right, vampire robots. Now you know that Hollywood is officially out of ideas.
Introducing Foolish Gadgets because not all gadgets are cool
[ Bloodbot combines your worst vampire and robot fears copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Read the original:
Bloodbot combines your worst vampire and robot fears
ACE: The robot who needs directions
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on May 15th, 2009
Since I am male, I have this thing about not wanting to ask for directions. It would appear that a German research group known as the Institute of Automatic Control Engineering has created a robot that asks directions for them.
In fact, the Autonomous City Explorer, or ACE, is completely dependent on directions to get to where it needed to go. This robot was recently let loose off campus from a University in Munich, and it was programmed to get to a landmark 1.5 kilometers away. Check out the video after this jump.
ACE used no remote control or GPS navigation, but literally followed people’s pointing gestures. The robot would approach a pedestrian, and then display a touchscreen asking if he or she was willing to help. If the pedestrian agreed, then he or she could point, and even select a path for ACE from a list of options.
It took 5 hours and 38 interactions with people before ACE finally arrived at its destination. Granted, that time wouldn’t win The Amazing Race, but this direction-taking robot, slow as it may be, is one small step that could help robots “interact with humans more naturally”.
Well, as you can see by the balloons that I put on the source photo, you know where I think this is going. Let’s just hope no one gives Ah-nold or the T-1000 directions when they show up and start asking about Sara or John.
Coolest Gadgets UK - For all your UK centric tech and gadget news.
[ ACE: The robot who needs directions copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Read the rest here:
ACE: The robot who needs directions
Muecke Personal Commuter Helicopter
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on May 14th, 2009
I remember reading Brave New World in high school, and the mode of transportation in the future was helicopters. I remember thinking that the writer Aldous Huxley had a pretty unenlightened point of the world of tomorrow, because most modern science fiction writers picture the future skies full of rotorless flying cars.
It would appear that the “Muecke” single seater lightweight sport helicopter concept could prove Mr. Huxley right, especially since he was right on many other things. Read the book if you don’t believe me.
As you can see, this helicopter has no tail rotor, but has two rotating blades. Apparently, the blades rotating in opposite directions are enough to give the mini-copter lift and balance.
You might notice how easily portable the Muecke is. All the user needs to do is grab one end and lift, then push it like it was on a wheelbarrow. Hopefully you have some ramps to wheel it into the back of a pickup. Or, if you are really daring, just land it in the bed.
Of course, an age of flying transportation raises a lot of questions. For example, how will people receive their pilots/drivers licenses? Is it possible for every person to get the hours of flight time required? Time will tell if the future will be full of these, I suppose.
Cool Gift Idea: Digital Picture Frames, check out our reviews.
[ Muecke Personal Commuter Helicopter copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Go here to read the rest:
Muecke Personal Commuter Helicopter
The Dynamic Lamp is spin powered
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on May 13th, 2009
I’ve seen numerous lights that utilize the winding of a handle in order to give the light power. They work, but they aren’t in the least bit creative, it’s been done time and time again. This globe shaped light will shine on your work and books all night long, just as long as you keep it charged. To do that, you just spin the globe round and round just as if you would a normal globe.
Of course, there is no exact amount you spin it to get a certain amount of light since this is still a working progress. Although it is a concept, they have actually created a real live version. So now all they would have to do is find a way to mass produce these cool globes. Although odds are if they ever reached the point that you could purchase them, it might be a bit out of your price range. It’s rare that something this innovative is also affordable.
Source: Gizmodiva
Check out the Coolest Gadgets 2008 Gift Guides, Christmas shopping made easy.
[ The Dynamic Lamp is spin powered copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Read more from the original source:
The Dynamic Lamp is spin powered
Painting Robots? Oh my!
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on May 11th, 2009
I’m sure we have all heard stereotypical comment by those viewing modern art paintings: “My kid can paint that”. Well, we might be entering a new age where people will be saying: “my robot can paint that”.
In fact, graduate student Oscar G. Torres is trying to figure out a way to make a robot paint with Jackoon. Jackoon is a robot that is connected to a camera that allows it to “see” what it is painting.
In other words, the Jackoon isn’t just randomly splattering paint, it “knows” what it is doing, in theory. Now, does this make paint better than abstract expressionist artists like Jackson Pollack and Willem de Kooning (who serve as namesake of the Jackoon)? Well, take a look at the picture here and judge for yourself. While you are at it, you might want to see the robo-artist at work in this video after the jump.
I remember hearing in Art class that some artists killed themselves after photography was perfected. Of course, art has survived long after the age of digital photography, and photographs can be works of art in and of themselves. This example, like the Jackoon, makes people think about mixing art and technology.
Well, let’s put it this way. If a robot painted a realistic picture from a digital camera, you know what we would call it? A printer. That sort of puts it in perspective, doesn’t it?
Jackoon Painting from Oscar G. Torres on Vimeo.
Conference Calendar - The global conference and expo finder.
[ Painting Robots? Oh my! copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Read more here:
Painting Robots? Oh my!
The pizza box goes green
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on May 8th, 2009
According to recent studies, Pizza is a $30 billion dollar industry. That’s a heck of a lot of cardboard boxes in our landfills. But a Pizza box company has come up with a very simple pizza box design which recycles and reuses the box the pizza comes in with a simple tear along the serrated lines. Bet you didn’t think a simple square box could be redesigned, did you?
Dubbed the Green Box, the topbreaks down into 4 serving plates, while the bottom of the box folds into a convenient storage container to keep leftover pizza warm, or for storing into the refrigerator for later.
Cool video here -
This is a fantastic idea which shows what one an do just by asking the question, what can do I to this to make it better for Mother Earth? No real raise in price or quality control, just a few serrated lines and folds in the right spot and you have a multi-tasking box that not only cuts down on paper plates in our landfills, but becomes even more efficient in keeping the heat in for what’s leftover.
Just don’t forget to recycle it when you’re done.
Hat Tip - Asylum
Conference Calendar - The global conference and expo finder.
[ The pizza box goes green copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Excerpt from:
The pizza box goes green
Robot Spiders Prepare to Explore the Sea
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on May 7th, 2009
Every once in a while, somebody envisions a robot that feels plucked from a science-fiction movie or novel. Take this undersea robot concept from the Fraunhofer Institute, for example.
Believe it or not, this robot is designed to work independently and underwater. As you can see, the apparatus has four propellers for stabilization, and some arms too.I’m not certain what sort of projects that they have in mind for them, but deep sea exploration would be a good job, if it wasn’t for the pressures of deep water.
Many other blogs have compared its look to a certain robot that Neo wakes up to in The Matrix. Considering that these robots are programmed to act independently, how long will it be before they build more of themselves, and invade like the machines in The Matrix? The movie of that would be a combination of I, Robot and the 1977 William Shatner classic Kingdom of the Spiders.
The shape reminds me of this episode of GI Joe that takes place underwater. On this show, the evil Destro pulls out a ball that he calls a robot-opus and throws it at the good guys. Don’t ask me how he throws this underwater, but this tiny robot-opus ball opens up like an eye and sprouts eight tentacles to attack.
Well, time will tell if this concept robot becomes reality.
Coolest Gadgets UK - For all your UK centric tech and gadget news.
[ Robot Spiders Prepare to Explore the Sea copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Originally posted here:
Robot Spiders Prepare to Explore the Sea
ApriAttenda Robot Assistant
Posted by admin in Future Concepts on March 26th, 2009
A while ago, I reported on the Oboe, a concept robot that does nothing but stand and record the experiences of someone you love with its fancy spherical hard drive. I remember thinking that someone should make a robot that should assist the elderly now, and not just preserve their memories for later.
Someone has apparently heard my wishes and created the ApriAttenda robot, which is intended to assist the elderly. This little one-meter tall robot has the astromech droid appearance of R2D2, but with the arms of C3PO.
Its arms are versatile, and can open doors and refrigerators, as well as handle things that senior citizens might not be able to lift anymore. You have to wonder if you are looking at an age where the elderly are being cared for by robots.
Of course, why stop with having robots take care of the elderly? I mean, couldn’t these guys be nanny-bots as well? Is it possible that these robot arms could gently lift and cuddle newborn babies? I don’t know if I would want to offer my children to this ApriAttenda for their care.
Well, we are obviously looking at a robot age, where the robots will do all the jobs that no one else really wants to do. Does anyone want to know the repercussions of that era? Leave that to science-fiction writers.
Tech Cult - We cover the latest tech news, but always with a funny twist.
[ ApriAttenda Robot Assistant copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
See the original post:
ApriAttenda Robot Assistant