Real Life Japanese Mech Robot Fires BBs With A Smile The Kuratas Mecha robot is an art/aspirational nerd project by Suidobashi Heavy Industry. This full-sized Mech robot features a ride-in cockpit, “rocket” launchers, and a “smile controlled” BB Gatling gun. That’s right: when you smile, this thing unleashes thousands of tiny plastic BBs. Unveiled at Wonder Fest 2012 in Tokyo, you can control the robot with either a set of master-slave joysticks or using a more fluid Kinect interface. You can “price out” your own Mech here but rest-assured you won’t be able to drive one of these off the lot any time soon. There are some who are suggesting this is CG but considering the AFP/Getty picked up some photos of it, it looks about as real as you can get. via plasticpals
Protei >> 2013/04/25, 08:00 : Barcelona, Spain>> 2013/04/18, 08:00 - April 21, 20:00 : Casablanca, Morroco>> 2012/04/06, 08:00 - April 10, 20:00 Tema (Accra), Ghana>> 2013/03/25, 08:00 - March 30, 20:00 : CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA>> 2013/03/08, 08:00 - March 18, 20:00 : Port Louis, Mauritanie>> 2013/03/06 08:00 - March 11, 20:00 : Cochin, India>> 2013/03/01, 20:00 - Feb 25, 08:00 : Rangoon, Burma>> 2013/02/20, 08:00 - Feb 21, 20:00 : Singapore>> 2013/02/12, 08:00 - February 18, 16:00 : Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam>> 2013/02/07, 08:00 - Feb 8, 20:00 : Hong Kong>> 2013/02/03 : 08:00 - Feb 4, 20:00 : Shanghai, China>> 2013/01/30, 08:00 - Jan 31, 20:00 : Kobe, Japan>> 2013/01/27, 08:00 - Jan 28, 23:00 : Yokohama, Japan >> 2013/01/15, 08:00 - 16, 20:00 : Hilo, Hawaii, USA>> 2013/01/9, 17:00 : departure from San Diego, CA, USA >> 2012/11/29 : TEDxVilaMada "Nosso Planeta Agua" Sao Paolo, Brasil >> 2012/10/18 - 28 : Protei at Lodz Design Festival, Poland. Blog Origin of the name & Biomimicry Protei Community
Justin - Humanoid Robot Catches with Two Hands German researchers developed a robot that can perform complex tasks such as catching a ball in mid flight. The new robot called “Justin” is described as a two-arm-system for investigation of two handed manipulation. The development of humanoid robots has made significant progress in recent years. Although several systems have impressive walking abilities, when it comes to their abilities to manipulate objects or interact with their surrounding they are quite limited. To overcome this limitation, researchers from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Robotics and Mathematics developed a human-like torso with two arms and two hands. Justin is used to test programming and control concepts for two-handed mobile manipulation, and in a recent demonstration was able to show impressive abilities including catching two balls in mid air just like a skilled human would do. The researchers see the future of humanoid robots in household assistance as well as in space environments.
» DARPA “Emergency Response” Robot Runs Faster Than Usain Bolt Alex Jones Machines to be used for “defense missions” Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com Thursday, September 6, 2012 One of the robots under development by DARPA for the purpose of “emergency response” and humanitarian missions has beaten the human world speed record set in 2009 by athlete Usain Bolt. “The Defense Advanced Research Project’s (DARPA) Cheetah managed to reach 28.3 mph, said the agency on Sept. 5. Cheetah’s advantage versus other robots when it comes to emergency response, humanitarian missions and “other defense missions,” is that it legs enable it to handle difficult terrain, unlike wheeled and tracked robots. Cheetah was able to beat its previous speed record with the aid of improved control algorithms and a more powerful pump. Boston Dynamics Inc. is also working on a separate project for DARPA to produce humanoid robots that can act intelligently without supervision. “…how long before we see packs of droids hunting down pesky demonstrators with paralysing weapons? Print this page.
» New DARPA Robot Can Autonomously Track People Alex Jones Professor warns machines will be used to “kill people” Paul Joseph Watson Infowars.com Wednesday, September 12, 2012 Following Professor Noel Sharkey’s warning that the fleet of robots being developed for DARPA will ultimately be used to “kill people,” Boston Dynamics has released a new video showcasing how its LS3 robot is able to autonomously track humans over rugged terrain. The video clip shows a field test of the DARPA Legged Squad Support System autonomously following a man through a forest. “We’ve refined the LS3 platform and have begun field testing against requirements of the Marine Corps,” Army Lt. Although Boston Dynamics and DARPA claim the robots are ostensibly being designed to help conduct humanitarian and relief missions, Noel Sharkey, professor of artificial intelligence and robotics at the University of Sheffield, recently warned that the true purpose of the machines is less benign. “It’s going to be used for chasing people across the desert, I would imagine. BREAKING!
The RoboEarth Cloud Engine RoboEarth [Artificial Intelligence] Knowledge-Exchange between Robots The purpose of the RoboEarth project is to create a giant network through which robots and their programmers can easily share information about actions and the world. Similar to what the World Wide Web has done for humans, RoboEarth will enable robotic systems to benefit from the experience of other robots in a way that can be easily translated to their own case. Data stored in RoboEarth include software components, environment maps, task knowledge, and object recognition models. Our role in the RoboEarth consortium is to investigate knowledge representation and mechanisms for uploading, exchanging and applying action recipes. For more information and news, visit www.roboearth.org Partners: This project has received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2007-2013 under grant agreement number 248942 RoboEarth.
DIY Drones: The Future is Now | Think Tank What's the Big Idea? "Hacking the physical" is how Dale Dougherty described the burgeoning DIY Drone movement to Peter Daimandis in his book Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think. Dougherty, the founder and publisher of Make magazine, was describing the broad trend that has enabled individuals to construct homebrew versions of sophisticated machines at a fraction of the cost. In the case of unmanned air vehicles (or UAVs), 90 percent of the functionality of a military drone was accomplished for just 1 percent of the military's price. This rapid cost reduction, or demonitization, has led to breathtaking innovation in this field, and UAV advocates see the FAA issuing personal and commercial licenses by 2015. What's the Latest Development? Jerry LeMeiux, a retired colonel with an engineering PhD and "10,000 hours of aviation experience," has just launched the so-called Unmanned Vehicle University. Here is a sample of LeMeiux's course that is available on Youtube:
Pentagon Seeks Robotic Hand With Soft Touch - Government - Enterprise DARPA invests in technology to develop more human-like robotic hands; iRobot demonstration shows promise. Spy Tech: 10 CIA-Backed Investments (click image for larger view and for slideshow) The Department of Defense has demonstrated a robotic hand with finger movements that are closer to those of a human hand than the claw-like hands of earlier robots. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM) program released a video showing the prototype hand picking up a key, turning it in a door lock, and opening a door, among other tasks. The purpose of the ARM program is to develop autonomous manipulation devices that are able to grasp and manipulate objects of various sizes in a real-world environment, receiving only high-level direction from human operators. [ What other innovations has DARPA been investing in? Uncle Sam's taken the lead on secure use of cloud services. More Insights