Hot Robotics Posts

News: A Pet Butterfly That Lives Forever

Everybody loves butterflies. What's not to love? They're beautiful. But extremely fragile. Touch a wing, and the butterfly is immediately weakened, if not rendered completely flightless (BTW, if you happen upon this situation, we have just the HowTo for you).

How To: How About a Ride on My Robo-Insect?

This simple yet odd robot moves like a four-legged, single unit of a centipede, which unfortunately makes me think of the Human Centipede (shudder, don't click on the second video in the gallery below if you're faint of heart... or at work).

News: Giant Madagascan Hissing Cockroach Pilots Robot

This project has been posted on Vimeo for the past two years, and somehow has just entered my radar now. Get this: A robot is manned by a Madagascan hissing cockroach. Each movement the roach makes (perched atop a trackball type ping-pong ball) controls the movement of the robot.

News: Hello Emily. Goodbye Pamela Anderson.

There is little design artifice to this device. This EMILY (Emergency Integrated Lifesaving LanYard is a $3500 robot-lifeguard purchased for Malibu lifeguards. Remote-controlled and capable of 28 mph, product testing confirms that EMILY just might be smarter than David Hasselhoff and more buoyant than Pamela Anderson.

Legs o' LEGO: Pinocchio, the Amazing Bipedal Android

This Mindstorms NXT-based 'droid may be able to walk upright like a human being — but can he do the robot? Not without a torso, he can't! Better luck next time, Biomechanics Department of the Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena.

News: Pet Dragon Breathes 8-Foot Fireballs!

This year's fifth annual Maker Faire featured a fully articulated, fire-breathing animatronic dragon named Saphira (after the dragon from the book Eragon).

News: First Ever Marriage to be Blessed by Robot Priest

The first marriage to be officiated by a robot took place in Japan this past Sunday. A humanoid robot named I-Fairy stood in as witness at the ceremony between Tomohiro Shibata and Satoko Inoue of Tokyo.

News: Robo-Elephant Tentacle Moves Just Like a Real Trunk

Robotics company Festo Bionics has released footage of a robotic manipulator arm modeled after an elephant's trunk. The first video in the gallery below is the concept animation; click on the second video to see the real thing in action. (Love how the grabbers hand off "giant peanuts" in the second video).

How To: Make a Lego Optimus Prime head

This is a video tutorial describing how to make a lego optimus prime head. The first step is to get all of the LEGO pieces that you will need. You will need tiles, plates, connector pieces, translucent pieces, technique pieces, and a few speciality pieces. First start by taking your plate and adding 2x2 piece, then add two 1x2 tiles, one on each side. Then add a 1x2 plate. Then add two connector pieces to hold on the chin of the head. Then add the 1x1 pieces. Then add two translucent pieces. ...

HowTo: Take Photos in the Wild Without Getting Mauled

Robots are great for performing tasks that are otherwise too dangerous for man (e.g. dead body extraction bot). BeetleCam is a cute little bot that takes all the danger out of wild life photography. Controlled remotely from a Range Rover about 50 yards away, BeetleCam ventures where no sane photographer dares to go (at the feet of a charging elephant, say). "We thought that Elephants would be an easy subject for BeetleCam’s first outing. We were wrong… we quickly learned that Elephants are wa...

News: Hot Android Chick is Even Creepier on the Inside

IEEE Spectrum has posted new pictures of Geminoid F, and yes indeed, underneath that smiley, soft, convincing exterior is a stone cold, emotionless robot.

News: PAARRRTY! Robo-Drummers and Pole Dancing Stripper Bots

Artist Giles Walker's robot peep show/DJ installation piece gives us a little glimpse of what strip clubs could look like in the future (well, let's really hope not, guys). Walker also teams up with Frank Barnes and his robot drummers (second video in the gallery below, check it out - pretty sweet). Previously, Sexxxy Roxxy: World's First Sex Bot (NSFW).

News: Meet the Human-Spined Robot, Kojiro

Kojiro the robot has muscles, tendons and a flexible spine- just like you! Combine Kojiro with the doppelganger bot and you'll have something supremely sci-fi freaky.

News: Help! Child Swarmed by Bots

This kid looks less than pleased (skip to 2:37). The goal of  Swarm-bots is to show how many small robots can work together to achieve a larger task (such as dragging a little girl's body across the floor):

News: Slithery Snake Bot Scales, Sidewinds & Rolls

CMU’s Biorobotics Laboratory modular snake robot slithers in all sorts of different ways. Check out the three videos in the gallery below.

How To: Make a talking robot mask using an iPhone

This video describes how to make a talking robot mask using iPhone. For that you need Reading scale, Cutter scissor, Box to fix into head, Cutter Knife, Screw Driver, Glue, Cello tape, Aluminum Foil, Pen, 2 Bottle caps, used paper and an iPhone with mouth analysis software. First take together, now take that Box and have to two parts for make it convenient to wear into head by sticking both using Cello tape, now we have to make the mouth with size of "50mm by 75mm" which will fit with iPhone’...

News: Humanoid Robots To Take Over the World

Don't worry, the robot apocalypse is not upon us...yet. Wired reports it may be closer than you think:

How To: Make a working "robot" model hand

In this four-part science tutorial, learn how to make a model of a hand that works like a real hand: with tendons that move the fingers. This is a great tool to teach kids the body's inner workings. Part 1 includes an introduction and parts 2-4 include the step-by-step instructions to contruct this learning tool.

News: Creepy Baby-Bots

OK, first thing's first: need to get this insane picture out of the way. I think this might classify as horror movie creepy.

News: Ceiling Robot Pranks From Above

Office workers beware, or a snarky robot may unleash a barrage of ping pong balls upon you. A somewhat sinister individual from the CKBot group at UPenn’s Modlab concocted the prank.

News: Merry Christmas Bots Play You a Song

A Merry Christmas robot medley of song and dance, courtesy of Bot Junkie.

How To: Build a DIY combat robot

In this episode of the popular web series Systm, RoboGames founder and SFSU School of Engineering instructor David Calkins shows you how to create your own combat robot using a kit from RoboGames.

News: Get Yourself a Doppelganger Robot This Christmas (Just $225K)

This holiday season, two lucky consumers will have the opportunity to purchase a robot twin, specially made by Japanese robotics firm Kokoro.

News: I Want a Robo-Chef in My Kitchen

This year's FOOMA International Food Machinery and Technology Exhibition had a few robots I wouldn't mind hanging around my kitchen. The sushi-bot's hand is amazing... if only it could make the sushi, not just transport it. Oh well. There's always next year.

News: Super Robot Has Powers of Levitation

This robot hasn't levitated any humans yet (especially not pictured Days of Our Lives star Deidre Hall), but it looks like the sky may be the limit with the Robo-Air Jet System.

News: Robot Dance Off Gets Creepy

As November was coming to an end this year, the "6th Robo-One Gate in International Robot Exhibition 2009" dance competition took place. The contenders are just a little bit creepy, to say the least. Particularly exhibit A, Britney Spears wannabe,  "LOVE & JOY, Yuhi Kimura", by Doka Harumi.

News: Creepy Crawler Ant Robot

Wow, this robot has incredible movement. "A-Pod is an ant inspired hexapod robot with a 2 DOF abdomen (tail), a 3 DOF head with large mandibles. 6 legs with 3 DOF each. Total 25 servos. This video demonstrates body movement and mandible control... The robot are remotely controlled with a custom 2,4 GHz RC transmitter."

News: Master Nerd Births Perfect Copy Cat Bot

Can't help but smile at this goofy, endearing nerd "master" (Vitalijus Rodnovas) guiding his copy-cat protege robot (coined Waldo). The rig allows Waldo to mimic Rodnovas' body movements in actual real time.

How To: How Iron Man Shoulda Looked (if he wasn't all CGI)

Kogoro Kurata, master ironsmith, known for his massive, impressive metalworking. His creations are awe-inspiring. Any blacksmith or engineer would agree.

News: Dexterous Bot Kicks Human-Butt at Pen Spinning

You can try and try, but all the practice in the world can't compete with this robotic hand's pen spinning skills.

News: Just Released! Freaky Human-Soldier-Bot: PETMAN

Remember Big Dog? Or Big Dog's counterpart, Little Dog? Well, Boston Dynamics has added a new member to their creepily-moving-calvary.

News: Battling Wii Soccer Robots

These soccer playing robots from TU Freiberg Robotics are programmed using Knesthetic Bootstrapping, which control the Bioloid's motions. Players can send commands to the soccer bots via Wii Remotes, and users abroad can control them directly online.  If soccer's not your game, robots can play chess, too.

How To: Build an android animatronic

Systm is the Do It Yourself show designed for the common geek who wants to quickly and easily learn how to dive into the latest and hottest tech projects. We will help you avoid pitfalls and get your project up and running fast.

News: Play Robot Chess Via Twitter

With Facebook and Twitter dominating the world, playing chess opposite a real, touchable person is no longer necessary. With the ChessBot, you can now play on a real chessboard remotely - the next best thing to in-person play.

News: MLB Robot

University of Tokyo and MIT join forces to create a high speed, three fingered, robot pitcher. From Pink Tentacle:

Just Released: Blob Morphing 'Bot

iRobot released their new soft blob morphing robot this past Tuesday. The amazing shape-shifter has the ability to squeeze

News: Real Life Transformer Caresses Derrière of Japanese Boy

Real life transformer, OmniZero, can climb a ladder, perform somersaults, jump rope, crack eggs, battle other robots, and best of all, carry a person. Witness all of these actions of the various OmniZero prototypes in the video gallery below.

News: No-Fail Robot Catcher Astounds

This amazing ball catching robot named TOTO (Tracking of Thrown Objects) has been built to speed up "fully automated production systems...where parts will be transported between workstations by robotic throwing and catching".

News: Self Healing Chair Picks Itself Up Off the Floor... Literally

For some reason I find this hilarious. This chair's got perseverance. Sure, he's slow, but it's worth the wait. More information at Robotic Chair.

News: Robot Rickshaw Chauffeurs Chinese Peasant

Wu Yulu's life story belongs in a Disney movie. The 46-year-old Chinese farmer has built 26 robots over the past 30 years, with no education beyond high school. He says he loves his robots more dearly than his own sons and rides around his village in a robot powered rickshaw.