Robotic Blogs

The Swarmanoid Project will be launched in October, led by Dr. Marco Dorigo of the Universite Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium and sponsored by the EU.A Swarmanoid robot is a robot that is able to function in a human environment, like a humanoid robot, but it is made up of seperate...

The American Museum of Natural History in New York City has hired a robot artist for a performance display starting October 10.The robot is RAP, the Robot Action Painter, from Portuguese artist Leonel Moura. It creates art using multichromatic sensors and an 'Artificial Aesthetic'...

The border between North and South Korea may become automated on the south side.South Korea's Minister of Commerce Industry and Energy, Chung Sye-kyun, announced that they are opening a new era by replacing human soldiers with armed robots along the militarized border with the North.The...

F Minus By Tony CarrilloF Mi...

How do you control the natural instinct to knock the crap out of your friends?People nowadays take out their competitive energies through video games.But when battling in the virtual world on a computer or tv screen just isn't enough anymore...Use battle robots, of course! Battle...

Minnesota company VeraTech Aero Corporation makes the Phantom Sentinel, a powered unmanned flying vehicle for surveillance that is invisible in flight."Invisible," you say?The UAV is sort of like a powered boomerrang. The whole aircraft spins so fast that it simply disappears from...

The Swedish microelectronics company Angstrom Aerospace has taken an equity stake in the rolling robot venture Rotundus.Angstrom Aerospace was founded to commercialize the micro and nano technology electronics and MEMS from the Angstrom Space Technology Center at Uppsala University...

Taiwan's Industrial Development Bureau (IDB), part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, predicts huge growth in their robot industry.The bureau said that while Japan and South Korea are focusing research on "housekeeping robots", Taiwan would concentrate on "security robots". Security...

Scientists recently met at the University of Hertfordshire in the UK for RO-MAN 2006, an International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication. This is the 15th year for the meet-up and the theme for this year's conference was "Getting to Know Socially Intelligent...

Earlier this year I posted an article about a robot project at Carnegie Mellon University to make a robot that could walk on water. I am sure that everyone is still puzzling over exactly how it is possible to get such a robot to work. Well here is your answer, sort of. John Palmisano,...

If we want robots to live with us in our homes then they are going to have to do something about their creepy rubber skin.(Ripliee getting comfortable)Professor Takashi Maeno at Keio University has teamed up with the Japanese cosmetics company Kao Corporation to solve the problem...

It seems that robot assisted surgery is proving to be quite an advantage over old unassisted shaky human hand.Here is another entry into the operating room:MAKO is a privately held 2004 startup that makes a surgical robot with their patented Haptic Guidance System to make quick work...

A new patent application was published for a robot pest exterminator system. The system is made up of a location that attracts pests - fleas, ticks and their ilk - and a robot that goes to the attractant areas and catches or kills the bugs.It might work like this:You string a plastic...

The snake robots from OC Robotics can work their way into almost any nook or cranny you can think of. OC Robotics makes models that enter tight areas ranging from squirming up the intestines to crawling around inside a nuclear reactor.But they still have not been able to perfect...

Can't afford one of those $1000 Japanese robots?Try one of these...

The automation of the inspection of structures will reduce the cost, improve safety and prevent catastrophic failures. It will also allow the inspection of areas that are too hazardous for human inspectors, like inside a nuclear reactor.Professor Gordon Hayward at the Centre for...

Hitachi (NYSE:HIT)had fun showing off the latest version of their service robot EMIEW to the fascination of shareholders. EMIEW , which stands for Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence, has an array of sensors to track people moving through a room to plan his path accordingly....

The US Air force chief of Staff, Gen. T. Michael Moseley, announced that the UAV Predator MQ-9 has been named the "Reaper"Says the general, "It's fitting as it captures the lethal nature of this new weapon system."The Predator MQ-1 was originally designed for unmanned aerial surveillance...

Excitement is already building for the appearance of Asimo at Auto Africa 2006 in Johannesburg from October 26 to November 5.Says Hiroaki Shibata, Managing Director of Honda SA, "Getting ASIMO to come to Auto Africa is a real coup for Honda South Africa. Our reasoning in bringing...

Toyota has announced that they have developed a robot leg that can jump.The leg is 1 meter tall and can jump up to 4 cm (1.6 inches) in the air.This marvel of acrobatics is made possible by an active joint in the toe in addition to the regular knee and hip. One day they will make...

Speecys Corp., a venture firm launched by robot engineer Tomoaki Kasuga, the creator of Sony Corp.'s AIBO robot dog, said Tuesday it will start selling a small humanoid robot that can sing, dance, read the news and give English language lessons, among other things.Sony cancelled...

"Australia may end up being one of the biggest users of robotics in the world," says Professor Durrant-Whyte, director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Autonomous Systems - at the University of Sydney - who leads a team of 200 researchers - the world's...

The post last year about the Asahi Beer robot has been the second most popular post on Robot Gossip ever."What better application of robot technology can there be than to serve man a beer?"(It is second only to the Andy sex robot post which gets many many many google hits.)I was...

Japan is once again leading the rest of the world in embracing robots.If your robot gets sick, broken or you want to get it upgraded, you can now send it to the robot hospital.Or maybe you bought one of those $1000+ robot kits and you are having a bit of trouble.The doctor is in.Azakawa...

Soon you will be able to battle it out with cute little robots for pocket change.Robo Basho, invented by two former automotive engineers and their start-up Robotic Amusements is an arcade version of robot Sumo.The game works like this: you have 4 ladybug-like robots safely inside...

European cities are plagued with problems from too many cars and trucks cloggging their narrow streets. The crowd of vehicles causes pollution, excess noise, loss of life and overall reduction in the quality of life.So how do you get rid of all the cars in cities? Get rid of the...

After countless requests I have finally opened an online store where you can buy your robots, robot books, robot toys and miscellaneous robot sundries.It may also help me to pay my rent.Visit the Robot Gossip Roboteria and check out the cool stuff. How it works, right now, is that I get to choose 9 ultra-needed items from Amazon to feature on the...

There are quite a few automated hospital pharmacy machines that count pills and keep track of inventory. The RIVA (Robotic IV Automation) robot made by Intelligent Hospital Systems of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada goes one step farther by automating the process of preparing syringes...

Australian company Floorbotics won $64,000 funding from the Australian government to commercialize their new iVac machine.The grant is from the Australian COMET fund for Commercialising Emerging Technologies. In addition to the grant, Floorbotics will get business advice on market...

Aberporth, Wales."Non-violent direct action" are planned for the site of a UK national UAV center. The West Wales UAV Centre is a partnership of West Wales Airport and defense corporation QinetiQ for testing and coordinating unmanned and autonomous flying machines. The center is...

Robots are moving into the operating room as nurses as well as surgeons.Robotic Surgical Tech, Inc. offers their operating room robot - or surgical instrument server - Penelope.Penelope is voice controlled by the surgeon and has camera eyesight to locate and identify each surgical...

Don't you hate it when your boxing partner just stands there like a punching bag?To get a real workout you need to exercise your reflexes and coordination as well as your punching skills.Here is a solution to the problem of the boring punching bag. This practice partner moves in...