Developages - Development and Technology Blog

justechn writes “Many of us have seen robots in the movies and wondered how long it would take for them to become a reality. Some of my favorites when I was a kid were Short Circut and Runaway. iRobot is a company that is striving to bring some of that technology home today. Their most popular and well known product is the Roomba vacuuming robot. The Roomba is great, after I finished my review of it and sent it back I went out and bought one. It does its best work picking up pet hair. They just came out with another robot called the Looj. The Looj is used to clean the rain gutters that go around your roof. If you have ever had to do this by hand you know how much of a pain it is. This robot uses a 3 stage auger to break up clogs and sweep all the debris out of your gutter. It is also water proof so you don’t have to worry if you have water in your gutter, just don’t stand below it when it is cleaning or you will get sprayed.” Read on for the rest of justechn’s review.

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Original post by timothy

Filed under: Robots

Just think — Zappos has been shipping out shoes .9284 minutes after you order them for years with mere humans running the show. Now, your new kicks will likely be at your doorstep moments after you think of ordering them. Said e-tailer has just completed implementation of Kiva Systems′ Mobile Fulfillment System, which will see “a fleet of Kiva’s mobile robotic drive units and inventory storage pods″ hit the company′s Shepherdsville, Kentucky facility. The move is being made to keep its distribution system in tip-top shape even with the addition of new products outside of just footwear, and unless some of those mechs grow a mind of their own, we’d say things should pan out just fine.

[Via CNET]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Cowards Anonymous writes “The Sintef Group, a research company based in Trondheim, Norway, announced that it’s designing a robot based on snakes. The 1.5-meter long robots, which are made of aluminum, are being designed to inspect and clean complicated industrial pipe systems that are typically narrow and inaccessible to humans. The intelligent robots have multiple joints to enable them to twist vertically and climb up through pipe systems to locate leaks in water systems, inspect oil and gas pipelines and clean ventilation systems.”

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Original post by samzenpus

Filed under: Robots

We’ll be straight with you: it’s pretty hard to imagine what all will go down at ICA London just weeks from now. Apparently a host of bebopping robots will be on hand to pogo up and down to the melodic sounds of the Punk Voice Choir. Additionally, each night of Neurotic will see a pair of punk bands from across the UK, and the robots in question will reportedly be controlled by “a Neural Network modeled on the neurology of the human brain and educated in punk music.” So yeah, if you’re in the area July 3rd through 5th and feel like getting your face rocked by a bunch of bobbing bots, let us know just how radically it changes your life.

[Via MAKE]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Robots

AiKo, Anna Konda — you two had a good run, but it’s time to pass the torch onto something that slithers a bit better. Cybernetics and optical measurement scientists at SINTEF are currently creating a wheeled pipe inspection robot that would “be able to climb, navigate intersections and at any given time know its location in the pipe system.” Currently, the project is still stuck in the design phase (that’s the Pneumosnake pictured), with some members working on a propulsion solution while others munch on snacks develop a new visual system. Just what the world needs… robots that can maneuver out of whatever holding cell we desperate humans encage them in.

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Original post by Darren Murph

stinkymountain writes to tell us NetworkWorld’s James Gaskin has an interesting take on Artificial Intelligence research and how the term AI is diverging from the actual implementation. “If you define artificial intelligence as self-aware, self-learning, mobile systems, then artificial intelligence has been a huge disappointment. On the other hand, every time you search the Web, get a movie recommendation from NetFlix, or speak to a telephone voice recognition system, tools developed chasing the great promise of intelligent machines do the work.”

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Original post by ScuttleMonkey

Filed under: Robots

While they may be lacking in technical prowess, Crabfu bots never are lacking in charm, and this here remote controlled Tortoise bot charmed our very pants off. Video is after to the break, but be sure to be on your guard for Tortoise bot’s war of attrition with an indifferent kitty — you may just end up trouserless, and we can’t be held responsible. Hrm, that didn’t come out right.

[Via technabob]

Continue reading Crabfu strikes again with Tortoise RC bot

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Original post by Paul Miller

Sasha writes “The Australian designed robotic clarinet beat out Dutch and Finnish entries this year at the robotic orchestra competition. The researchers don′t expect to replace human musicians, but are instead interested in what makes the difference between playing music well and playing music poorly. There is also a video available of the performance.”

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Original post by ScuttleMonkey

Cowards Anonymous writes “PC World reports on a prototype driverless aircraft designed to shuttle hundreds of pounds of supplies to soldiers in war zones. Dubbed a flying Humvee by Frontline Aerospace’s CEO, the robotic vehicle can fly 600 to 1,000 miles carrying a full cargo of 400 pounds. It’s about the size of a large SUV, weighing in at 2,400 pounds and measuring 21 feet long and up to 26 feet wide.”

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Original post by samzenpus

Filed under: Robots

We’ve seen plenty of robots that attempt to display emotions, but none quite like this Pomi penguin bot developed by Korea’s Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, which can emit two unspecified smells in addition to employing some more common means of letting you know how it feels. Those other options include a “heart box” on its chest that changes its heartbeat based on its mood, and movable lips, eyebrows and pupils that’ll let it make faces at you, along with the usual sensors to follow you around, and voice recognition to help it recite some pre-programmed answers. Unlike some other similar bots, however, this one is apparently going to actually be commercially available by the end of next month, although there′s no word on a price tag just yet.

[Via The Raw Feed]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Robots

As if you had any reason to believe that killbots weren′t multiplying by the minute, here’s yet another case to strike fear in your heart. Project A.R.E.S. was designed with a few key goals in mind: to replace human soldiers and to demonstrate that a weapons system could be controlled wirelessly / remotely. The designers also set out to “provide a form of feedback so that the user could navigate the robot without actually being present,” and the current version has been equipped with a semi-automatic turret and a wireless camera to give the controller a good view of the surroundings. We don′t get the idea that this bugger has enlisted just yet (boot camp is a chore, you know), but be sure and check out the video of it prancing about after the jump.

[Via Hacked-Gadgets]

Continue reading A.R.E.S. Telepresence Tank gets kill commands via WiFi

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Original post by Darren Murph

Roland Piquepaille writes “Many of today’s underwater robots need to periodically come up to the surface to communicate with their human supervisors. But researchers at the University of Washington (UW) have developed a new kind of underwater vehicle. The ‘Robofish’ can work cooperatively with each other. ‘The Robofish, which are roughly the size of a 10-pound salmon, look a bit like fish because they use fins rather than propellers.’ According to the researchers, such robots ‘could cooperatively track moving targets underwater, such as groups of whales or spreading plumes of pollution, or explore caves, underneath ice-covered waters, or in dangerous environments where surfacing might not be possible.’ Further information and more pictures are also available for these autonomous fin-actuated underwater vehicles.”

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Original post by Soulskill

Filed under: Robots

Look at that little guy. No, seriously, look at him. You know why he’s sad? He’s sad because you haven′t built him yet. He’s thinking: “Oh, sure, life is grand on this work bench, picking up nuts and bolts, but I want to explore the big wide open. I want to be built by that person, reading this post right now on Engadget, so we can be friends forever and ever.” Now, how can you resist a face like that? This particular DIY Wall-E’s creator wrote up a 50 step tutorial so you can get to work right this very moment bringing this robotic little fuzzball to life. Don’t delay. Video is after the break.

[Thanks, Joe]

Continue reading DIY Wall-E bot sweeps our heart up into his cute little storage compartment

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Original post by Paul Miller

Filed under: Robots, Transportation

You’re looking at a very Futurama looking man-robot from the latest mashup to hit the industry. This one has a brain. It’s the result of research from Riken and BSI-Toyota whose goal is to develop robots and automotive systems driven by neurotechnology akin to that of our carbon-based brains. The research is expected to result in more sophisticated auto-safety technology, mind-controlled machinery, and a new breed of baby-shoe wearing robots for domestic friendship and health care. Fortunately, this wobbly tyke has a long way to go before he begins bending the steel girders required to produce the forced-suicide booths of our doom. First steps after break.

[Via Impress]

Continue reading Video: Riken and BSI-Toyota robot goes on a neural bender

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Robots

It’s been a few years since we checked in on Navirobo. The iXs developed bot is now fully grown and fettered to Fujitsu and Kawasaki on a Japanese press tour. The bot features an impressive bag of tricks including an accelerometer (”ooo, it’s bumpy”), light sensor (”don’t forget to turn on the lights”), and voice guided navigation with the ability to point the way and describe nearby points of interest (read: honey pots). It′ll even detect alcohol on your breath and presumably take a swipe at your jugular in just retribution. See for yourself in the videos over at Impress or check the few posted after the break.

Continue reading Video: Fujitsu’s NaviRobo smells beer, tells you where to find more

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Original post by Thomas Ricker