Boston Dynamics released a new video of BigDog the other day. The improvements since last year’s demo are absolutely incredible. BigDog can now maneuver up and down rugged hills, balance on ice and jump. I’m not an avid fan of exclamation marks, but wow! In my honest opinion this quadruped is the most life-like robot made to date. Must-see video after the jump.
By all likelihood you’ve heard of the vodka company’s Absolut campaigns. Recently they launched Absolut Machines, a new campaign that’ll be running for a year and centers around two artificial creativity projects; AI systems that compose music on accompanying mechanical instruments and can be watched & interacted with via live video feeds.
Snake robots are always incredible to watch, and CMUs modular snake robots are no exception. They are incredibly versatile - being able to crawl, climb, swim and scale flights of stars. The video shows all — and I was really impressed when it crawled up and down the leg of one of its creator … fast!
Sleep Waking is an art project that uses EEG and EKG to record brainwaves and heart activity of a sleeping person and feeds them into a humanoid robot (a Kondo KHR-2HV). The robot turns the data into an interpretive dance. In short, the robot dances your dreams. In addition, rapid eye movement is used to control the head of the robot, so if the sleeper’s eye looks left - the robots head looks left.
Last year I had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Miguel A. L. Nicolelis do a lecture at Reykjavik University about his research on mind-controlled robotics. His previous efforts have put him in the spotlight more than once which include enabling a monkey to control a robotic arm with his mind. Now Nicolelis and his team has pushed the bar by enabling a monkey to move robotic legs in a walking pattern.
As usual, the Consumer Electronics Show 2008 has brought an onslaught of hot gadgets. Here are a few videos of new robotic products expected to hit the market this year. A special star goes to WowWee for their Rovio telepresence bot which sounds and looks truly fantastic.
Bring out your robot; your Roomba, your Robosapien, your Pleo, your AIBO, they’re going to want to see this. A new report states that personal robotics industry is expected to reach USD$15 billion in 2015. If we compare this to previous predictions, they all bode massive growth like a choir of singing synthesizers.
Toyota recently unveiled their latest musical robot; a violinist. This latest type joins the band of trumpet and drum players, the violinist being the most graceful in my honest opinion. In its public debut, the robot showed its ability to play Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance which, although it’s not human quality, is a delight to watch. Video after the jump.
In the market for a geeky Christmas present? Or perhaps the world’s smallest humanoid robot? Well, here’s the answer to both. ThinkGeek is selling Tomy’s iSobot for $299.99 — the smallest humanoid in production. (And don’t think smallest equals junk).
With final exams upon me I don’t have much time to write so the next few entries will be quickies, starting with the world’s first guitar integration with robotic technologies. The Gibson Robot Guitar automates several processes, including tuning. Party on Wayne!
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