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Archive for the ‘Robotics’ Category

postheadericon In Japan, the robots serve you ice cream

Yaskawa-kun is a Japanese robot that serves ice cream, and even has a twitter account. Now I'm hungry! [via Laughing Squid]

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postheadericon Multitouch robot swarm controller

Got an unruly swarm of robots that needs taming? Whip them into shape with this multitouch control interface by Mark Micire of UMass Lowell. [via BotJunkie]

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postheadericon ROV to penetrate ancient "door" in Great Pyramid

pyramid-robot_0.jpg

As implausible as it may seem, even 4500 years after it was completed, there are passages in the Great Pyramid of Khufu that remain unexplored.

Before you reach for your incredulous hat, however, understand that the "passages" in question are really more like pipes. Approximately 20 cm square and winding upwards through the massive stone structure along a series of sharp corners, the two shafts in question connect to the so-called "Queen's Chamber" in the middle of the pyramid, and were hidden until the late 19th century when a British explorer, reasoning by analogy to the two well-known shafts in the upper "King's Chamber," dug into the walls and discovered them. Unlike the shafts in the King's Chamber, however, the Queen's Chamber shafts do not connect to the outside of the pyramid. Starting in 1992, a series of ROVs have discovered that their distant ends are sealed by limestone "doors" incorporating copper fittings probably used as pulls. The implication seems to be that the shafts were sealed by the original builders by pulling the "doors" into place, from inside the Queen's Chamber, using lines run down the shafts. Which raises some intriguing questions about what might be behind them.

Now, a team from Leeds University is preparing an ROV, called Djedi, designed to navigate the narrow, torturous length of the stone shafts and penetrate the doors at their far ends without causing undue damage. [via Bot Junkie]

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postheadericon Flobi robot head realistic enough to convey emotions, not realistic enough to give children nightmares (hopefully)


We've seen our fair share of robots meant to convey emotions, and they somehow never fail to creep us out on some level. At least Flobi, the handiwork of engineers at Bielefeld University in Germany, eschews "realism" for cartoon cuteness. But don't let it fool you, this is a complicated device: about the size of a human head, it features a number of actuators, microscopes, gyroscopes, and cameras, and has the ability to exhibit a wide range of facial expressions by moving its eyes, eyebrows and mouth. The thing can even blush via its cheek-mounted LEDs, and it can either take on the appearance of a male or female with swappable hair and facial features. And the cartoonish quality of the visage is deliberate. According to a paper submitted by the group to the ICRA 2010 conference, the head is "far enough from realistic not to trigger unwanted reactions, but close enough that we can take advantage of familiarity with human faces." Works for us! Video after the break.

[Thanks, Simon]

Continue reading Flobi robot head realistic enough to convey emotions, not realistic enough to give children nightmares (hopefully)

Flobi robot head realistic enough to convey emotions, not realistic enough to give children nightmares (hopefully) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Aug 2010 18:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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