Robot Living

Groundbot from German firm Rotundus can be remote controlled or programmed to navigate by GPS.
Groundbot can also travel at  up to 6 miles per hour and last between 8 and 16 hours depending on the mission. The rechargeable Li-Ion battery can be completely recharged in 3-4 hours.

Containing two pan-tilt-zoom cameras, Groundbot can stream high quality video.

The round sphere housing the robot is sealed and can float on water.  The robot is also virtually silent and would probably make a good surveillance robot.  This is probably due to it’s pendulum driving mechanism.  Groundbot can also be outfitted with a variety of sensors such as gas, heat, radioactivity, humidity.

This robot looks like it was designed by Braun or Dieter Rams.

No word on price, but you can contact Rotundus through their website.

Link via (Adafruit)

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Tags: Groundbot, Rotundus

Engineers at Raytheon-Sarcos have built a robot that is basically a tele operated arm attached to a modified Ditch Witch.

This robot allows the operator to move heavy objects with ease.

The operator can either stand on the machine and move his arms to operate the machine or the machine can be remotely operated up to 5 miles away.

The operator receives force reflection feedback and can feel what the giant arms are actually doing.

We have seen similar things from Raytheon before, specifically the XOS Exoskeleton that allows the wearer to lift up to 200 pounds.

via  KSL.com

Tags: Ditch Witch, Raytheon

An associate professor from the Tokyo Insitute of Technology named Osamu Hasegawa has created a thinking robot.  Osamu has made the robot think like a human by reacting to the environment and doing research on the internet.

Using the Hiro robot from Kawada Industries as a base and The Self-Organizing Incremental Neural Network or SOINN algorithm, Osamu has created a robot that is able to put together different tasks and even make assumptions on how to complete them.  Just like us humans, the robot is also connected to the internet to look up stuff it does not know.

In one example the robot was asked to pour a cup of water.  The robot takes these instructions apart into things it already knows, like holding a cup, and can then complete the task.  Check out the video of this below.

Link via (MySinchew.com)
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Tags: japan

Wildlife officials in Utah have beefed up the war on poachers and are now using robotic deer to help catch the poachers.

In Utah, hunting is not allowed after dark.  To catch the poachers, officials place the deer near the side of the road and then hide nearby.  A remote is then used to make the deer’s head and tail move in a lifelike manner.

Sargent Briggs from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources states:

I’ve seen an individual shoot it with a 30-06 (rifle) and couldn’t figure out why it didn’t go down after he hit it five or six times.  It can be really entertaining.

Those caught hunting after night fall in Utah can get up to 6 months in jail and or a $1,000 fine.

Get your own robotic deer from Custom Robotic Wildlife for only $1400.  Other robotic animals such as elk, turkeys and foxes are also available.

Check out the video below as wildlife officials try to catch poachers.

Link via (Boston.com)

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Tags: deer, hunting, robots, Utah

Fall is upon us and winter is almost here.  Along with that come the holidays and lots of eating and drinking.  A time when most people put on an extra pound or two.  Well, along comes Autom, your personal diet and eating coach robot to help out from Intuitive Automata.

Autom is a diet and weight loss coach with nothing negative to say.  By having daily conversations and inputting diet and exercise information Autom helps you lose weight.

Autom is available for pre order now.  The pricing is a tad confusing, but it looks like you pay $195 down as a deposit, plus a balance of $668.46 plus a monthly fee.  Autom also comes with a book called Diet Companion: Simple behaviors to lose weight and gain more energy and vitality for life  if ordered by 9/25, otherwise the book is $14.95

See our previous post on Autom.

Check out the entire email/press release Autom now available for  pre order.

Click through for a quick clip of Autom.

Link

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Tags: autom, coach, diet, intuitive automata, MIT