Tag Archives: robotics

iRobot and Texas Instruments announce plans for a future full of OMAP-packing ‘bots

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iRobot, the Massachusetts-based maker of consumer and battlefield ‘bots, announced a team up with TI this week. The partnership, sadly, doesn’t mean we’ll be seeing an army of autotuned DJ Roombas — we will, however, likely be getting a slew of “inte…


PlayBook controlled robo-buggy can see you smiling at it (video)

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If iRobot tickled your fancy, but you don’t have the budget for military-grade technology, how about this fella? So, it’s not officially called PlayRobot, but if there was a naming convention, we guess that would be it. The buggy has a mounted camera,…


Microsoft releases Robotics Developer Studio 4, bring your own Kinect

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It’s been available in beta for a few months, but Microsoft has now made the final version of its Robotics Developer Studio 4 toolkit available for download. As before, it remains completely free, and it’s also now compatible with the release version…


iRobot 110 FirstLook hands-on (video)

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iRobot’s Bedford, Massachusetts headquarters is literally crawling (well, rolling) with robots of all shapes and sizes, from friendlier household fare like Scoobas and Roombas, to the 450-pound Warrior battlefield ‘bot, which patrols the perimeter, l…


iRobot reorganizes, forms new unit focused on Ava and other emerging technologies

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iRobot has been branching out from its traditional household and military robots for quite a while, and it looks like it’s now officially embracing those activities as a core part of its business. The company announced a reorganization (or “strategic …


Drexel University turns to 3D scanners, printers to build robotic dinosaurs

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3D printers, 3D scanners and robotics are usually more than enough on their own to get us interested in something, but a team of researchers at Drexel University have played one other big trump card with their latest project — they’ve thrown dinosau…


RB3D develops Hercule robotic exoskeleton, boosts strength without P90X

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Sure, some folks could use a little extra help maneuvering in order to complete daily chores. But what about help with all of that heavy lifting? The folks at RB3D in France have been working with the French Directorate General of Armaments (DGA), ES…


Lego-built robotic arm will pour you a drink, collapse under pressure (video)

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We’ve seen countless robotics projects made either partly or entirely out of Lego, but this pneumatic arm built by Max Sheppard has to rank among the most impressive. As you can see in the video above, while it may be a bit on the slow side, the arm…


Hiroshi Ishiguro’s android mannequin creeps out Japanese shoppers (video)

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If you didn’t think mannequins were creepy enough already, maybe this will change your mind. In an attempt to lure shoppers, Japanese department store Takashimiya installed an eerily lifelike interactive robot for its Valentine’s window display. The r…


Rollin’ Justin learns to throw like a robot

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Our pal Rollin’ Justin proved the old adage about teaching old robots new robo tricks wrong back in April, when he learned to catch balls by tracking moving objects, calculating their flight paths and then snapping shut his cold metal claws at the mo…