"You Had One Job" => Go here to listen to the podcast.


Recently a friend shared this podcast with me. The 3rd act is the reading of a story titled "You had one job", by "Scott Brown". The story is being told by a police bomb disposal robot named Miles, who ends up being ordered to blow up a criminal. It's a brilliant, thought provoking, sad, cute, melancholic story and definitely worth listening to.
This has been inspired by real life events that took place some months ago in Dallas, where an "Remotec Andros Mark V-A1 [5-A1]" was apparently for the first time used to do away with a shooter that had killed several cops.

Labels: Artificial Intelligence, Food For Thought, Robotics, Short Stories, Technology

EPFL's "Salamandra Robotica II", pretty cool design! More about it here.

Labels: Design, Electronics, Engineering, Mechanics, Mechatronics, Robotics, Switzerland, Technology

Few days ago I watched "Robot & Frank". One of the better Robot movies I've seen. I guess I mostly liked the fact that this movie, unlike many sci-fi/futuristic movies I've seen, is not trying to decide or state whether this kind of technological advancement has positive implications or negative ones. Instead, it's simply showing that it can have  pretty serious effects on the most private aspects of our lives, and our relationships, with others and even with ourselves.

Oh, and I loved the soundtrack! =)

Labels: Entertainment, Motion Picture, Movies, Robotics, Sci-Fi, Technology

Labels: Electronics, Entertainment, Fun, Robotics, Technology

I could totally use one of these in the kitchen. Although it appears that the robot's ability to properly cut stuff in equal sizes still requires some improvements, I'm pretty convinced that he still has better developed culinary skills than me. Related article here.

Labels: Artificial Intelligence, Electronics, Mechanics, Mechatronics, Robotics, Technology

Pretty cool. Related article here.

Labels: Artificial Intelligence, Coding, Electronics, Robotics, Swarm Robotics, Technology

One more for the list of pretty awesome:

"Many robotic designs take nature as their muse: sticking to walls like geckos, swimming through water like tuna, sprinting across terrain like cheetahs. Such designs borrow properties from nature, using engineered materials and hardware to mimic animals’ behaviour.

Scientists at MIT and the University of Pennsylvania have genetically engineered muscle cells to flex in response to light, and are using the light-sensitive tissue to build highly articulated robots."

Check out the full article here.

Labels: Biotech, Electronics, Engineering, Kool, Robotics, Technology

A friend of mine with an awesome taste in both music and visuals just shared this piece of perfection on my Facebook wall. =) The clip totally blew my mind, mainly due to the brilliant effect of the right combination of audio and visuals. The track is called "Fear" by µ-Ziq. I completely love it. This is the fist time I hear the name of this musician, and now I'm surely going to get my hands on his albums.

The video, seems to be a part of the process of building a robot that can simulate emotional responses among other things. I have a feeling that I've come across this team's work before... I have to dig it out of my archives. It's pretty fascinating work.

Labels: Amazing, Art, Electronic Music, Electronics, Mechanics, Mechatronics, Music, Robotics, Technology

Oh my God I don't like this... I don't like this... I don't like this one bit! =P Arrrrrrrrgh... I don't like this!!! I do however still find it very much worth watching, specially with the nice concept robot and everything... but I DO NOT LIKE THIS! xP

A short film about a helper robot who doesn't prove as helpful as the advertisement claims. Written and directed by Ruairi Robinson.

Labels: Entertainment, Grotesque, Horror, Movies, Robotics, Short Films, Technology

October 29th is a very special day. It's ASIMO's birthday! Yes, ASIMO turned 10 years old a few days ago! Below is an awesome video by Honda, showing a timeline of the development of ASIMO.

It's hard to believe that ASIMO has been around for 10 years already! In the first 7-8 years, the improvements and new capabilities that were added to ASIMO were rather frequent and pretty impressive. However I'm afraid that I haven't read anything on the ASIMO website in the past couple of years to really WOW me! And now with some serious competitors [like NASA's R2], I think ASIMO has some catching up to do! So happy birthday ASIMO, and whatever you're doing, hurry it up! =P

You can read about ASIMO's birthday here,  and here's a story released by Honda about development of ASIMO.

Labels: Artificial Intelligence, Mechanics, Mechatronics, Robotics, Technology

I guess for anyone who's into both robots and J.J. Abrams, this is definitely big news. And it's not all that new, so I don't even know how I didn't know about it already! =P A good friend of mine just sent me the link to an article, about J.J. Abrams latest movie project, called "Boilerplate". 

Supposedly, this movie is based on a graphic novel which is the story of world's first robot, and his adventures along side some interesting characters and mixing with certain historical events. Here's the article, check it out!

So now I'm very much looking forwards to seeing the movie. =) I think it will probably turn out to be pretty darn fantastic! Can't wait... can't wait.... =D

Labels: Books, Comics, Entertainment, Literature, Motion Picture, Movies, Robotics, Sci-Fi, Weeee =D

I just saw this on IEEE Spectrum. It's a nice one, see for yourself!

"Dennis Hong, a professor of mechanical engineering and director of Virginia Tech's Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory, or RoMeLa, has created robots with the most unusual shapes and sizes -- from strange multi-legged robots to amoeba-like robots with no legs at all. Now he's unveiling a new robot with a more conventional shape: a full-sized humanoid robot called CHARLI, or Cognitive Humanoid Autonomous Robot with Learning Intelligence. The robot is 5-foot tall (1.52 meter), untethered and autonomous, capable of walking and gesturing. But its biggest innovation is that it does not use rotational joints."

Labels: Artificial Intelligence, Electronics, Engineering, Mechanics, Mechatronics, Robotics, Technology

Oh wow, would you look at this? Yesterday I came across the coolest news here in this article. Apparently the first robotic amusement park of Europe is being built in Neuchatel [I've actually been there! ;)]. Check out the article for more info.

So you can imagine how excited I was to read about this. I feel like a million box... I'm actually going to be there! =D I now have to go see where I can find more information about this. This is absolutely AWESOME, WOOOOOHOOOOOOOWWW! =D

Labels: Fun, Robotics, Switzerland, Technology, Weeee =D

Here's another serious competitor for ASIMO. I just came across this article on IEEE Spectrum and was pretty amazed by how natural some of this robot's moves are. And it actually looks pretty neat too! The wrist + finger movements / control impressed me the most.

Labels: Artificial Intelligence, Electronics, Engineering, Kool, Mechanics, Mechatronics, Robotics, Technology

This is something that I'm very much looking forwards to getting my hands on. It could very well be a life saver for me.

"On Monday, National Instruments announced one such platform. It's called LabView Robotics. In addition to LabView, the popular data-acquisition application, the package includes a bunch of tools specific to robotics. It can import codes in various formats (C, C++, Matlab, VHDL), offers a library of drivers for a wide variety of sensors and actuators, and has modules for implementation of real-time and embedded hardware. NI says engineers could use the package to both design and run their robotic systems."

IEEE Spectrum: National Instruments Introduces LabVIEW Package for Robotics Design

Labels: Coding, Electronics, Engineering, Programming, Robotics, Software, Technology

Ok, I want one of these.... =P

"The AR Drone is one of the first consumer products to combine robotics with augmented reality. The quad-rotor vehicle carries two cameras and can stream video to an iPhone via Wi-Fi. On the phone, the live video is overlaid with flight controls and additional graphics for a variety of games."

IEEE Spectrum: Augmented Reality Robots Take Flight

Labels: Amazing, Augmented Reality, Electronics, Kool, Robotics, Technology, Toys

Well this is just amazing! The possibilities of what can be done with this type of robot are infinite…

Apparently the blob design is about a year old… they have improved designs now that are a bit different, going towards the ability to include sensors… some are palms sized. This blew my mind….

Labels: Amazing, Chemistry, Electronics, Engineering, Mechanics, Robotics, Technology

I was just checking the latest ASIMO news when I came across U3-X, Honda’s new personal mobility device. Neat little device that you can comfortably sit on and move around, with adjustable speed and easy navigation through body gestures. Looks pretty kool to me!

Labels: ASIMO, Electronics, Engineering, Interesting, Kool, Robotics, Technology

I just came across a couple of very interesting videos on this article on BotJunkies. Both videos display pretty amazing navigation capabilities in robots, and the ability to recognize and avoid the obstacles, even moving ones. Most of the processing equipment for the HRP-2 robot are off board though, which is why I find ASIMO still a lot cooler. ;)

Labels: Amazing, Artificial Intelligence, ASIMO, Electronics, Engineering, Kool, Robotics, Technology, Weeee =D

Well well, it appears Honda’s ASIMO has a serious competitor! While ASIMO’s fastest running speed has been 6km/h so far, this new Toyota humanoid is running at 7km/h. Also as seen in this video, this robot can do a nice job re-balancing itself when pushed slightly. This new Toyota robot’s stunningly natural running really amazes me. however, while standing, the legs look all things but natural. ;) Which is why I still like ASIMO better. =)