It seems like just yesterday that iRobot unveiled the new 700 series Roombas, but apparently it was waaay back at CES 2011, so it’s time for a refresh! Or rather, it’s some for a newer and more expensive robot with newer and more expensive features, and the 790 doesn’t fail to provide, since it’s gone wireless! Sort of!
OpenRelief’s semi-autonomous planes can fly into affected areas and relay information—about survivors or conditions—back to rescuers. Instead of bringing death from above, these drones could save lives.
Robotics today is like the Internet in the 1990s: Fuel it with the right combination of technology, people, and money, and it will explode into a formidable new industry that will profoundly reshape people’s lives.
So this guy at NYU made something special. Are you listening? Put down your phone. Listen. So they made a machine that prints… no, don’t check Twitter. They made a machine that prints burritos.
Ken Goldberg - Can Robots Inspire Us To Be Better Humans?
We got a tip over the weekend that Bosch is introducing (or, has just introduced) what a press release (machine translated from Swedish) calls the “world’s first intelligent robot lawn mower,” the Bosch Indego. Well, we’re not entirely sure about the world’s first bit, but from what we can tell, there are definitely some features here that will make the Indego more intelligent than some of its competitors.
You have plenty of machines in your life that require more work from you — the coffee machine, your washer and dryer, etc. — so why not spend your money on one that works for you? The John Deere Tango E5 Autonomous Mower ($TBA) is designed to give you back your weekends by keeping your grass a reasonable length automatically, automatically returning to its charging station when it’s low on juice and staying out of your koi pond thanks to some help from a preset boundary wire. So go ahead and spend your grass-mowing time perfecting your martini — your secret is safe with us.
The robotics industry is on the cusp of a major transformation. Today’s factory robots are solitary precision instruments, mimicking the repertoire of capabilities of skilled craftsmen while repeating a handful of tasks thousands of times over. But future factory robots will likely have to be capable of thousands of tasks, performing each only several times, and they will work in collaboration with humans.
Personally, I’ve never understood jogging. You dress in funny clothes, run in either a bunch of small circles or one big circle or in place on a treadmill until you exhaust yourself, and then end up back where you started all sweaty and gross. But, whatever. You can make nearly any activity 100 percent better by involving a robot, which is why this robotic jogging partner is such a good idea.
Ben Miller’s drones are some of the latest bots to fly in American skies.
The manager for the drone program at the sheriff’s office in Mesa County, Colo., Miller uses his machines — small enough to fit in the back of an SUV — to track bad guys and rescue lost hikers.
Robots flying in swarms could keep from colliding with one another via new electronic eyes that help them see in 3D.
Nobody likes being alone, and Japanese researchers from Yamagata University are developing a robot to make sure you’ll never have to be alone again: the MH-2 wearable miniature humanoid lives on your shoulder and can be remotely inhabited by your friends from anywhere in the world.
Spiders, scorpions, feelings of regret — I venture to guess these are all things most people don’t want crawling up their leg. But what about Clothbot?
For me, its name evokes the unpleasantries of moth balls and blood clots, but I promise, this itsy-bitsy bot is so adorable you’ll be happy to see it climbing up your trousers.
Paralyzed woman uses thoughts to sip coffee
Clearing the muck from an oil spill is tough enough without having to worry about collateral damage, but designer Hsu Sean is looking to create a Roomba-like Bio-Cleaner drone that degrades oil while keeping animals out of harm’s way.
