Next Generation NAO Robots Ready to Take Over the World

The French company Aldebaran Roboticsjust released their next generation NAO mini-humanoid robot, which boasts a bunch of new features that will make it quite formidable. The compact ‘bot stands 1′ 10″ high, and “sees” using high-resolution cameras. It can understand both visual and audio input, and communicates in eight different languages.

Apparently, NAO can also walk and learn to handle different surfaces via its built-in algorithms. The new model has a 1.6 GHz Intel processor (located in its head) and a secondary CPU in its torso. It has four microphones to track sounds and runs speech recognition software as well. Its two 30fps HD cameras will scan its environment for obstacles and also recognize faces and shapes. In addition, the robot’s movements have also been optimized so that it can avoid collisions. There are also capacitive sensors on the top of the robot’s head, allowing users to provide stimuli for Nao to react to.

NAO has prehensile hands, allowing it to grasp objects. It can walk on a variety of different surfaces and it has a ‘fall manager’, which protects the bot when it does fall to the ground. It supports Wi-Fi and is completely programmable. NAO’s built in 27.6 watt-hour battery should keep it running for as much as 90 minutes on a charge.

There’s no word on how much the latest NAO will sell for, but the last-gen model sold for a whopping $15,999 (USD) over at RobotShop. This isn’t surprising given the amount of technology in this little robot – it’s clearly not a toy. At this point NAO is only available for educational and research customers, but there are plans to make it available to (very wealthy) consumers in 2012.

Iron Man Mk. II Autopsy Movie Suit Up for Auction

Proof that even robotic suits have a corpse: a dismantled Iron Man Mk. II suit. I’m sure most of you who’ve seen Iron Man 2 can still remember the scene where James Rhodes (played by Don Cheadle) took one of Tony Stark’s armor to a military base and tore it down to see how it works. This is the prop used in that scene, and Marvel’s going to auction it off.

The suit stands 6’3″ tall and was handcrafted using “vacuum metalized fiberglass resin.”  Sounds fancy, but obviously fiberglass is weaker than whatever high-tech material Stark used in the movies and comics. As you can see some of the armor plates have been detached from the suit, exposing cables, circuitry and other fake electronics.

The auction will be held at the upcoming Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo on April 14; online bidding will also be possible. The minimum bid for the suit is $60,000(USD). Hopefully whoever gets this turns it into a wearable suit.

Kuratas Mech: Real or Fake, It’s Still Awesome

I’m going to start saying that I’m taking this with a huge grain of salt. This robot looks very realistic, yet has a somewhat cheesy and viral attempt feel to it at the same time. Watch the video for yourself and see what you think. The video is supposed to be a how-to video from a company calledSuidobashi Heavy Industry.

The video goes over how to ride a robot called the Kuratas. The 13-foot-tall wheeled robot is clearly a nod at the Mechwarrior series of video games and any number of Japanese animated shows. In the video, you can see petite Japanese woman climbing into the chest cockpit cavity of the robot and going over the controls, including a remote smartphone-operated mode.

The controls look easy-to-use and seem realistic. You’ll note on the left arm there are twin multi-barreled cannons. How scary would it be as a soldier on about film to have one of these massive robots come walking up? The video claims the top speed of the bot, which has a torso and two arms but rolls on wheels, is 10 km/h. The bot uses a diesel engine and can be driven in high or low modes. The missile launcher appears to be packed with water bottles and will “from time to time” hit its target.

If this is just a fake viral video, it’s extremely well done. If it’s real, we could soon have mechs walking the streets of Tokyo.

Transformer Wine Rack: Merlot in Disguise

Transformers should always carry their own alcoholic beverages. That way they could drink a toast with Shia LaBeouf after they kick each others asses and wreck our cities with their huge bodies. If Transformers did carry wine with them, I imagine they would look just like this.

 This guy is locked and loaded and ready to dispense with the booze. This half-ton wine rack was built using junk auto transmission parts from cars and motorcycles. It even lights up.
If you want to get drunk with this guy you can buy him for $7000(USD). Of course, if you part with that kind of money in this economy, you are probably already drinking in large quantities.

Autonomous Robot Plane is the R/C Toy You’ve Dreamed of

I’ve always wanted to play with R/C aircrafts, but even with my “easy to fly” AR.Drone 2.0, I find myself crashing the thing into walls and the ceiling indoors. Thanks to some impressive work by MIT’s Robust Robotics Group, we might someday be able to fly autonomous planes that are so smart that they can avoid obstacles on their own.

By using a special set of algorithms to calculate the plane’s trajectory, as well as its state (i.e. location, orientation, velocity and acceleration), the fixed-wing plane is able to fly quickly through cramped quarters, avoiding obstacles with ease. In fact, this plane can fly within centimeters of obstacles at a high rate of speed without crashing. The plane uses a laser rangefinder, accelerometers and gyroscopes to figure out its state, and a hugely complex series of computations to navigate through its environment.

While autonomous helicopters and quadrotors have been around for a while, a 2-meter-wide plane that can negotiate confined spaces with aplomb poses a much greater challenge, as it cannot hover, go sideways or make up arbitrary motions like those other aircraft. At this point, it appears that the system requires at least a rough, pre-existing 3-D map of its environment to work properly, but I’m sure with time they can figure out a way for the environment to be mapped in real-time as well. Kinect, anyone?
At this point, MIT isn’t specifying the exact applications for their design, but beyond military and rescue operations, I REALLY want to see a consumer version so I can stop crashing my AR.Drone.

X1 Robotic Exoskeleton Helps Astronauts Exercise and Could Benefit Paraplegics on Earth

A lot of the technology we enjoy here on Earth started out as tech created for the space program. NASA has a very cool robot working on the International Space Station right now called Robonaut 2. New technology that has spun off from the Robonaut 2 program has been unveiled that could help astronauts exercise while in the weightlessness of space – and could possibly help paraplegics on Earth to walk again.

The technology is called the X1 robotic exoskeleton and was developed in cooperation with NASA and the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition. The exoskeleton weighs 57 pounds and can be worn by humans to help assist or inhibit the movement of leg joints. By inhibiting movement, the exoskeleton could also provide resistive exercise.
The exoskeleton is worn over the legs with a harness that reaches up the back and around the shoulders. It offers 10° of freedom in the joints with four motorized joints at the hips and knees along with six passive joints that allow for sidestepping, turning, pointing, and flexing the foot. The system offers multiple adjustment points allowing the X1 to be used in a variety of ways. For instance, the exoskeleton could be used to help astronauts carry heavy gear on the surface of other planets and could possibly be adapted to military transport use here on Earth.

Alpha Dog Robot Can Move More Quietly (But You Can Still Escape It)

So we recently saw Boston Dynamics updated Cheetah robot which is now capable of outrunning humans, and now we have video of the latest improvements to their DARPA funded Alpha Dog robot. Alpha Dog is slower than Cheetah because it is built for different tasks. For one thing, it will carry a soldier’s load on just about any difficult terrain.

The latest updates to the robotic mule include reducing the noise it produces to just 10% of past models. It’s still not quiet at all, really, but it’s an improvement. It won’t be doing anything stealthy any time soon.

The robots are designed to work as a sort of mechanical herd, so they have improved their ability to work together. Now the herd will follow in the designated leader’s footsteps better than ever.

PR2 Learns How To Be a Robobutler Without Destroying Things

While IEEE Spectrum has not yet seen fit to hire me my own butler (like most bloggers tend to expect), as far as I can tell (and let me just clarify that I have absolutely no idea about this whatsoever) being a butler requires mastery of three things: looking good in a tux, having a butler-y attitude, and not spilling things on trays. PR2 might be able to cover those first two, but we now have video proof that it's nailed the third one: PR2 is officially a traymaster.
The deal with moving things around on trays, if you've ever tried it, is that your goal should be to minimize the lateral force on whatever is on the tray, because lateral forces make things fly off and crash to the ground and then your mom yells at you and you don't get to play butler anymore. Sigh. This involves tilting the tray in just the right way, and Tobias Kunz, a PhD student from Georgia Tech, has taught PR2 how do pull it off during his internship at Willow Garage:

And somebody from Willow had better comment and let us know what's going on at the very end there: it looks like some sort of mechanical bull surfing thing with only a questionable relationship to robotics, but maybe they're going to stick a PR2 on there at some point? I'll tell you what: I'd pay money to see that. Good money.

Robots in Bristol for FIRA RoboWorld Cup

More than 200 robots are heading to Bristol for the first FIRA RoboWorld Cup to be held in the UK.

Twenty-seven teams will take part in football, basketball and weightlifting events in the At-Bristol science centre over six days, starting on Monday.

Advanced robots and their creators are travelling from Mexico, Canada, India and China for the competition.

The UK has a team from the Bristol Robotics Laboratory and another from the University of Plymouth taking part.

The city won the chance to host the event due to the work of the Bristol Robotics Laboratory (BRL), a joint research project between the University of Bristol and UWE Bristol.

Guido Herrmann, who led the BRL bid, said: "We are looking forward to welcoming teams from around the world to Bristol.

"The competition promises to be both exciting and insightful, pushing the boundaries of robotics to the limit.

"This will be a fantastic opportunity for the public to see just what autonomous robots are capable of.

"Although very different to the Olympics, it's another opportunity to show the world just what Great Britain is capable of, both as event hosts and being pioneers of engineering."

The FIRA RoboWorld Cup was founded in 1996.

Mr. Iron Robot Theme Park in Jiaxing, China

Artist Zhu Kefeng checks a metallic "dragon head" at his studio at the Mr. Iron Robot Theme Park in Jiaxing, east China's Zhejiang Province, March 24, 2012. The theme park is set up in a deserted factory, featuring some 600 robot-shaped sculptures assembled by parts salvaged from old vehicles and machine tools. (Xinhua/Xu Yu)

Pupils are attracted by a steel artwork at the Mr. Iron Robot Theme Park in Jiaxing, east China's Zhejiang Province, March 24, 2012. The theme park is set up in a deserted factory, featuring some 600 robot-shaped sculptures assembled by parts salvaged from old vehicles and machine tools. (Xinhua/Xu Yu) 

Tell Us the One About the Robots, Mr. President

Call me a geek, but Monday's foreign-policy debate between President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney was exciting not only for the new attention it brought to "horses and bayonets," but also as a sort of coming-out party for the world of robotics. Four years ago, this field that was once the province of science-fiction writers but now covers everything from self-driving vacuum cleaners to military drones did not merit any mention on the campaign trail. Neither Obama nor Sen. John McCain was asked about it in their debates. But in Boca Raton this week, robotics finally made the list, joining such primetime issues as China, Iran, and the economy.

But while the candidates were asked what they thought about drones, unfortunately Americans still don't know much about their answers. Obama literally didn't have to respond to Bob Schieffer's question because, as the moderator put it, "we know President Obama's position on this" -- a very odd way for a moderator to pose a question, especially on a topic on which government policy has been far from transparent. Romney, meanwhile, provided the deep insight that "drones are being used in drone strikes" before swinging far to Obama's left with a call to counter extremism, channeling the new UNDP wing of the Republican Party.

This is a shame because, like it or not, robotics -- and not just the ubiquitous drone -- has become a signature part of the 21st century presidency and its use of power. The U.S. military now has more than 8,000 unmanned systems in the air and another 12,000 or so on the ground in its inventory, and they are used every day to protect soldiers in places like Afghanistan. More controversially, agrowing civilian intelligence agency fleet is also used not-so-covertly in places like Pakistan and Yemen, where the United States has reportedly carried out more than 375 air strikes, despite the fact that there has been no specific congressional vote on the matter. The technology's use in the last few years has arguably set a weighty precedent for the presidency, blurring civilian and military roles in war and potentially even circumventing the original intent of the Constitution's division of powers.

But the story is even bigger. Robotics is akin to gunpowder, the steam engine, or the computer. It's a game-changing technology not merely because of its power, but because of its impact both on and off the battlefield. While modern unmanned systems are still in the first generation of use -- the Model T Ford stage, so to speak -- operators for these systems are already the fastest-growinggroup in the U.S. Air Force, potentially reshaping its long-term identity as more and more pilots never leave the ground

And the push forward is only going to continue. A few weeks ago, the Defense Science Boardunveiled plans to widen the range of tasks taken on by robots in the U.S. military and to enhance their automation so that these robots can do more of these tasks on their own. Whether it's Obama or Romney, the next American president is going to be wrestling with a series of questions that will determine the future contours of this robotics revolution.

Take, for example, the areas of military purchasing and research. In a time of tight Pentagon budgets, should we continue the current planned trillion-dollar purchase of F-35 manned fighter jets, or invest some portion in the next generation of unmanned jets -- like the X-47 UCAS that the Navy is testing out on Maryland's western shore? Similarly, the next commander in chief will preside over the purchase of the Air Force's next generation of strategic nuclear bombers. It would be fascinating to know whether Obama and Romney thinks that planes carrying nuclear weapons should be manned, unmanned, or, as presently planned, convertible?

Robot Dances “Gangnam Style”

Sometimes a pop phenomenon makes a bigger splash than ever anticipated — this robot, designed for firefighting fighting on US Navy vessels, has picked up the “Gangnam Style” dance craze.

Read the full article on the military capabilities of this dancing king at NBCNews.com.

Russian robots won Olympic gold in China

If you thought the London Olympics was the only major international competition on this summer, you would be wrong: in the city of Fujin, in China’s Northeastern Heilongjiang province, robots were in a heated dancing competition.

29 teams from countries including China, Russia, Mexico and Korea competed in nine categories, including solo dance, pas de deux, group dance, ballet, yangge, street dance and folk dance. A pair of giant panda-shaped robots drew attention as they had to move over 20 joints in costumes when they were dancing.

Chinese microbot walks on water, skims the surface of insect-inspired design

Bugs are creepy. You don't need to be an entomophobe to empathize with that sentiment. But bugs are also inspiring -- to researchers in China, that is. Taking a cue from nature, a team of engineers from the country's School of Chemical Engineering and Technology have devised a microbot weighing just 0.02 lbs (11 grams) that can repeatedly jump across the surface of water without tanking. How'd they do it? Well, by using a highly repellent foam coating, the strider-like bot's legs are able to stay afloat with every 5.5 inch (14 cm) leap it makes, buffering the force that would normally plunge it below the H20. The creation of this hydrophobic mini-insectoborg isn't exactly the first of its kind, other aquatic gliders have come before, but this itty bitty fella's the first to successfully and repeatedly hop along an aqueous top. Unfortunately, there's no video demo for you to feast your eyes upon, so you'll just have to take our word for it.

PRESS RELEASE

"Why Superhydrophobicity Is Crucial for a Water−Jumping Microrobot? Experimental and Theoretical Investigations"
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
The first bio-inspired microrobot capable of not just walking on water like the water strider – but continuously jumping up and down like a real water strider – now is a reality. Scientists reported development of the agile microrobot, which could use its jumping ability to avoid obstacles on reconnaissance or other missions, in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.
Qinmin Pan and colleagues explain that scientists have reported a number of advances toward tiny robots that can walk on water. Such robots could skim across lakes and other bodies of water to monitor water quality or act as tiny spies. However, even the most advanced designs – including one from Pan's team last year – can only walk on water. Pan notes that real water striders actually leap. Making a jumping robot is difficult because the downward force needed to propel it into the air usually pushes the legs through the water's surface. Pan's group looked for novel mechanisms and materials to build a true water-striding robot.
Using porous, super water-repellant nickel foam to fabricate the three supporting and two jumping legs, the group made a robot that could leap more than 5.5 inches, despite weighing as much as 1,100 water striders. In experiments, the robot could jump nearly 14 inches forward – more than twice its own length – leaving the water at about 3.6 miles per hour. The authors report that the ability to leap will make the bio-inspired microrobot more agile and better able to avoid obstacles it encounters on the water's surface.
The authors acknowledge funding from the State Key Laboratory of Robotics and System of Harbin Institute of Technology and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

China Is Building an Army of Noodle-Making Robots

In the face of rising labor costs, Chinese restaurateur Cui Runguan is selling thousands of robots that can hand slice noodles into a pot of boiling water called the Chef Cui. Runguan says in the report below that just like robots replacing workers in factories, "it is certainly going to happen in sliced noodle restaurants." The robots costs $2,000 each, as compared to a chef, who would cost $4,700 a year. According to one chef, "The robot chef can slice noodlesbetter than human chefs." News of Runguan's invention hit the internet in March of 2011, but they've since gone into production and are starting to catch on: 3,000 of them have already been sold. But why do their eyes glow, and why do they look so angry? Here's video of this nascent robot army

All-Robot Staff Serves, Cooks at China's Robot Restaurant

The robot overlords continue their steady ascension to the top of the food chain: Haohai Robot Restaurant in Harbin, China is staffed entirely by robots. 18 robots cook, serve, and even entertain diners (there's a singing robot), all the while addressing them as "Earth Person." Wait, so these aren't just robots, they're alien robots?

The robots serve up dumplings and noodles, and menu items cost between 40 and 50 yuan (US$6.30 to $7.90). Not too bad, considering the robots themselves cost about 200,000 yuan each (US$32,000) and can only work for five hours before they need a two hour battery recharge.

Not terrified of the impending robot takeover yet? Keep in mind this is China'sfourth robot restaurant.. For now they're waiting on humans, but how soon before the roles are reversed?