Robots
Dan Nosowitz
at 08:56 AM December 1 2011
Qbo Sees Himself
IMAGE BY TheCorpora
Robots // 

Qbo (pronounced "cue-bee-oh") is a new(ish) robot designed by TheCorpora, which in addition to general cuteness boasts some impressive speech and object recognition abilities. But what happens if you put an object recognition robot in a position to see...itself?

Clay Dillow
at 11:06 AM November 30 2011
FRAC's Quadcopter Robosculptors
IMAGE BY Raffaello D'Andrea
Robots // 

Regular readers of PopSci are no strangers to robotic quadcopters, or even to quadcopters that work together to build things. But now, the quadcopters are out of the lab. A new art installation opening this weekend at the FRAC Centre in Orléans, France, will be built entirely by quadcopter robots, marking the first time such an exhibition has been constructed by flying robots.

Clay Dillow
at 12:11 PM November 29 2011
The SoftBot
IMAGE BY PNAS
Robots // 

Most robots are built rigid and will break under strain - their durability and resilience is more or less dictated by the amount of stress their material components can withstand before breaking down. But a soft robot - one that lacks a rigid structure - could do all sorts of things, like change its shape and method of movement or survive unique kinds of stresses. And to that end, researchers have built a flexible, pneumatic robot that is exactly that: soft.

Rebecca Boyle
at 10:00 AM November 29 2011
Korean Robot Guard Prototypes of a prison guard robot are set to begin a test run in March, according to the South Korean news agency.
IMAGE BY Yonhap News Agency
Robots // 

The possibility of robot workers raises a certain type of futurey allure combined with a sense of danger - in a variety of settings, they could help humans work better and faster, but they could also replace us, or worse, maim us. So how are we supposed to feel about the news of a new troupe of robot prison guards? It's awesome. And terrifying.

Rebecca Boyle
at 06:17 AM November 24 2011
The Ant-Roach is inflatable and rideable
IMAGE BY Otherlab
Robots // 

Meet Ant-Roach, an inflatable clackety six-legged robot with a protruding proboscis. It's made of fabric inflatable actuators and pneumatic piping, and its limbs are driven by central manifolds that dispense compressed air. It's tough enough that you can ride it, which is undeniably awesome.

Rebecca Boyle
at 12:47 PM November 23 2011
Kinect-Controlled Robo Maid A Kinect-controlled teleoperated robot can serve as a remotely controlled household servant.
IMAGE BY DigInfo TV
Robots // 

A new household servant robot made by the world's largest manufacturer of industrial ‘bots can help people with disabilities or limited mobility move things around. It's controlled via Kinect, with the robot aping the Kinect user's body gestures.

Rebecca Boyle
at 04:41 PM November 22 2011
Wave Glider A Wave Glider in smooth seas. The surface float collects energy from sunlight, and tows a small glider equipped with a variety of sensors.
IMAGE BY Liquid Robotics
Robots // 

Two pairs of self-propelled oceangoing robots have begun slowly making their way across the Pacific Ocean, setting off Nov. 17 from San Francisco on an epic journey covering 61,000 kilometres. During their 300-day trip, the robots will collect 2.25 million pieces of data, and attempt to break a world record for the longest distance ever traversed by an unmanned vehicle.

 
 
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