Fido conked out for the evening? Your youngster not really into “playing catch” at age 14? Enter TOTO — a brilliant robotic contraption conceived at Reinhold-W

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Amazon is selling the SentrySafe QA0121 Fire-Safe Waterproof Data Storage Chest for just $79.95 shipped, originally priced at $250. It’s “perfect for users who already have their own storage devices (2-1/2-Inch USB bus-powered hard drives, flash drives, MP3 players and small digital cameras).” Product page.

Allows users to backup data using their own storage devices (devices sold separately). Protects up to 60 CDs and DVDs (in 30 double-sided sleeves). Users connect their laptop or desktop computer via the internal USB port.

[via Amazon]

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Just one day after Capcom’s official Super Street Fighter 4 announcement — slated for release in spring 2010 on the PS3 and Xbox 360, comes the first gameplay footage showing T. Hawk and Juri battling it out. Continue reading to watch.

[via Kotaku]

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Mmm, pancakes. While moms might be responsible for giving us our first taste, it’s the humble robot that makes these golden-brown discs of battered splendor available for mass market binging. A promotional video from ABB Robotics shows how its FlexPicker robots installed at a HoneyTop foods facility can accelerate production while simultaneously improving hygienic conditions. Four gigabit Ethernet cameras are mounted in front of each robot to locate the pancakes running down the conveyor belt. Software allows the bots to recognize and grab overlapping pancakes and then stack the ‘cakes for easy packing. A software reconfig allows for swift production changes from pancakes to pretty much anything the robot can grasp including Soylent Green ration wafers. The video starts slow, but delivers with an impressive 400 pancakes per minute sorting routine — see it after the break.

[Via Make:]

Continue reading Video: ABB FlexPicker replaces human pancake pickers with extraordinary effect

Filed under: Robots

Video: ABB FlexPicker replaces human pancake pickers with breathtaking effect originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Accordions and robots don’t seem to have much in common — although an accordion-playing robot would make for a killer Weird Al song. Nevertheless, the RAPHaEL hand showed that push-box tech can make for some impressively limber fingers. Now the Virginia Tech College of Engineering Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory has created its successor, the RAPHaEL 2, and it too has already won an award. This time it grabbed top honors at the ASME Student Mechanism and Robot Design Competition with its air-powered digits, which now use a shut loop control mechanism and more advanced data acquisition hardware from National Instruments, enabling it to better sense what it’s groping and to adjust pressure accordingly. It’s also made of a more durable polycarbonate, but a carbon fiber version is stated to be in the works, which should look completely awesome.

Filed under: Robots

Second-generation air-powered robot hand gets more sensitive originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Powered by a Honeywell LT 101 gas turbine rather than a traditional piston engine, Jay Leno’s EcoJet concept was designed specifically to run on biodiesel fuel. On the inside, you’ll find a Vista-powered Computer and even a speech recognition system. Video after the break.

Naturally, special carbon fiber brake discs from Brembo paired up with aluminum six-piston calipers were necessary to hold back the engine’s 200 horsepower at idle.

[via Autoblog]

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Upstart toymaker Robonica has been making promises about its Robini-i programmable robot for a little while now, but it looks like it’s now not only managed to get the bot out the door, but land it on the cover of the new Hammacher Schlemmer holiday catalog as well. Headed up by a former Hasbro exec, the company is clearly taking aim at the likes of WowWee, but hopes to one-up them by also letting its robot with a “serious attitude” become an avatar in an MMO of sorts when it’s not tormenting your pets. What’s more, the Robini-i can also apparently interact with other bots both online and in person, and the more adventuresome folks out there can also take advantage of some basic programming abilities provided by the included software (Windows only, for the time being). Slightly less entry-level, however, is the $299.95 that Hammacher Schlemmer is charging for the kit, although it appears that could drop to $250 as it rolls out to other retailers.

Read - Hammacher Schlemmer
Read - Xconomy, “Robonica President, an Ex-Hasbro Exec, Hopes to Put Boston Back on Toy Industry Map with Rolling Robots”

[Via IEEE Spectrum, thanks Ken R.]

Filed under: Robots

Robonica Roboni-i rolling robot takes aim at WowWee, holiday shoppers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Remember the cartoon Turbo Teen where a kid could turn himself into that most desirable of ’80s vehicles, a red Firebird? That was pretty terrible, but we promise the video below of a robot turning itself into a red vehicle is rather more compelling. It’s OmniZero.9, the latest creation from Takeshi Maeda who earlier brought us the OmniZero.4. The ninth iteration is a humanoid looking bot with wheeled shoulders and knees that grants it to motor along the ground. Its head also flips back to create a seat just massive enough for its creator, who jumps on for a short ride around the demonstration stage. The bot competed at ROBO-ONE in a few different categories and was captured on video doing its stuff solo and also shamelessly knocking an under-sized competitor out of the ring. Go ahead, click on through. You won’t want to miss this.

Continue reading Video: Takeshi Maeda’s OmniZero.9 robot transforms, carries creator, blows minds

Filed under: Robots

Video: Takeshi Maeda’s OmniZero.9 robot transforms, carries creator, blows minds originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 28 Sep 2009 09:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

Amazon isn’t only offering the Nintendo Wii system for $199.99 shipped, but throwing in a $25 gift card as well. This bundle comes with: a Nintendo Wii console, one Wiimote controller, one Nunchuk controller, and Wii Sports. Product page.

[via Amazon]

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This

So you’ve seen the real-life Paperboy parody, now check out the movie trailer. It was produced by “jondw82″ for “a submission into the 2009 Completely Awesome Video Game Motion picture frenzy competition.” Video after the break.

Share This

Popularity: 1% [?]

Share This