“David Hanson’s robot faces look and act like yours: They recognize and respond to emotion, and make expressions of their own. Here, an “emotional” live demo of the Einstein robot offers a peek at a future where robots truly mimic humans.
Via BotJunkie | Posted on 2009.11.04 at 06:01
I love the inhuman speed of pick and place robots. We’ve seen a lot of incredible examples from ABB, but Adept Technology has just broken the “300 cycle per minute barrier” with their Quattro robot.
Via BotJunkie | Posted on 2009.11.03 at 02:37
Late nineties is fairly prehistoric when it comes to robots with fast reaction times. I mean, I was in high school in the late nineties! But while I was busy being a miserably outcast geek, Toshiba was demonstrating a robot that could (sort of) play volleyball.
Via BotJunkie | Posted on 2009.11.03 at 02:28
Robots are slowly learning to take advantage of nonverbal cues, which are an integral part of natural human communication. Things like eyebrow movement can be used to convey information about emotional states, but subtle nonverbal cues can also provide more pointed information… Think about how much can be said with a quick glance.
Via BotJunkie | Posted on 2009.11.03 at 02:13
The video that includes Boston Dynamics’ BigDog getting kicked and slipping on ice is nothing new, and it’s still one of the best robot videos I’ve ever seen.
Via BotJunkie | Posted on 2009.11.02 at 04:47
Some robots are, granted, awesome dancers, but most are just too robot-y. If you think about it, it’s a lot like early computer animation… It’s hard to convincingly mimic all of the subtle movements that humans use when dancing (or doing pretty much anything else).
Via BotJunkie | Posted on 2009.11.02 at 03:26
As if you don’t have enough distractions while driving, the Personal Robots Group at the MIT Media Lab and MIT’s SENSEable City Lab have teamed up to create AIDA, a robot that lives in your dashboard, is way smarter than you, and has no compunctions about letting you know it:
AIDA is actually watching you while you drive, paying attention to your expressions and even measuring your galvanic skin response through the steering wheel.
Via BotJunkie | Posted on 2009.10.30 at 04:50
iRobot may have a virtual monopoly on the robot vacuum cleaner market, but unfortunately, there’s not a whole heck of a lot of money there yet.
Via BotJunkie | Posted on 2009.10.30 at 03:46
We make it to some robot competitions in person here on BotJunkie, most of which are within 5 bucks worth of gas money from our world headquarters on my sofa here in Berkeley California.
Via BotJunkie | Posted on 2009.10.29 at 04:24
Industrial and military robots spend most of their time doing industrial and military type things. It’s what they’re for, after all. But if someone gives you a robot, it’s hard to resist playing with it, especially if it’s an expensive (and cute) piece of military hardware like an iRobot SUGV (Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle):
Aww! I want one! If you’re actually in the army, you’ll have better luck getting one of these than I will… All brigade combat teams should have their own robot by 2025.
Via BotJunkie | Posted on 2009.10.29 at 03:27