Honda has invented robot legs.  As you can see, this assistive device is designed to help handicapped, elderly or people who stand for a long time, such as factory workers.

The device is designed to reduce stress and make you feel less tired.

Engineer Jun Ashihara said,

This should be as easy to use as a bicycle.

It is still not yet commercially available and no price has been set.

This seems similar to HAL.  We are just waiting for day an entire body suit is invented so we can become a cyborg.

Link via (TVNZ)

Video after the break.

Continue reading ‘Honda’s Robot Legs’

Folks at Carnegie Mellon have teamed up with Caterpillar to create the world’s largest robotic truck.

You may recall Carnegie Mellon won the DARPA Urban challenge with a vehicle named BOSS.  They will use some of this software and other technology such as laser range finders, GPS and video cameras in the new trucks.

The truck will sport a 3,550-horsepower, 24-valve engine and travel at at up to 42 miles per hour.

The main idea behind this project is to remove humans from dangerous jobs such as mining.

If you like big trucks, watch this video from Caterpillar.

Link via (ZDNET)

At Georgia Tech, assistant professor Charlie Kemp has been developing a robotic dog of sorts.

This robot named El-E (pronounced “Ellie”), is designed to do everything a service dog would do like open doors, open cabinets and fetch objects.

It takes over two years and $17,000 to properly train a service dog.  The waiting list for these dogs is so long it can take up to 5 years to actually get one.

Kemp and his team studied over 71 commands used with service dogs, but have only put 10 into El-E so far.  El-E can be controlled  with voice commands or a laser.

Kemp hopes to see this technology in homes in about within 10 years.

Pretty cool. Hey Spot, fetch me a beer.

Check out a this press release with a video from Georgia Tech.

See our previous post about El-E here.

Link via (Statesman)

Some creative soul has jailbroken an iPhone , combined it with an Arduino and made it into a robot.

The user is able to control the robot via WiFi from a computer and the robot is powered with 4 AA batteries.

Video after the break.

Link via (Engadget)

Continue reading ‘iPhone Robot’

We wrote about the store Robot Galaxy opening last year.  See our previous post here.

Robot Galaxy has just opened a third 600 square foot store inside the Times Square Toys “R” Us.

The basic premise is you select different parts to build your custom robot.  Then you go to a workstation and put together your robot.  Once you get the robot home you can connect him to your computer and do things online in the same manner as Webkins.

The robots are popular with young boys and for birthday parties.  They cost anywhere from $27 - $70.  Shown here is the robot Carson.

See a video about the store here or another one here.

Send us photos of your robot and we will post them here!

Finally, some amusing quotes from the Robot Galaxy website of people who have visited one of the stores.

My son won’t go to bed without his robot!

West Nyack, NY

Finally, a place for boys!

Freehold, NJ

Link via (Crain’s)