This robot over here can give every other professional saxophone player a hot competition. This superbot plays an alto saxophone like a professional and will entertain you whenever you feel down, this one is quite a cool Robot . It may find its place at bars and restaurants so that it can entertain the crowd.
Today robots are growing in complexity and are playing a vital role in the ever-growing lethargic community and it will not be surprising to see at least one robot in every home in the near future. Robots not only make our life easier but they also provide entertainment to us in diverse ways, like these robot pets I’ve discussed below. 12. Talking Robot Parrot Price: $39.96 Chain Fong created this talking Robot Parrot who records and repeats your words. Moreover, it flaps its wings, sings songs, giggles and plays music. Don’t try and act cocky with the talking robot parrot as it repeats your words. 11. Essex Robotic Fish This robotic fish is not pre-programmed; instead, it has sensors-based controls, which let the fish move around the aquarium avoiding objects and other fishes. Robotic fish was under vigil of robotics experts from Essex University, east of London for the last 10 years.
Robots , no doubt, like other technologies, have imbibed into our lives, especially Japan’s robot stores and museums have whet our appetites like never before and also have triggered the phenomenon beyond limits. The spread of this artificial intelligence technique has lured quite a number of DIY enthusiasts to try their hands on these machines. If you are one of those who are interested in making some strange innovative robots, PCMag has compiled a cool list of ‘Top 10 strange DIY robots’ just for you. Believe me, it’s not that tough to make a robot on your own. How about turning a plastic soda bottle into a walking bot? Seems to be a great idea! Even then if you think that it’s not that easy, you really need to checkout the PCMag’s compilation. Moreover, there are some robot kits such as Lego Mindstorms to help you out if you don’t want to start from the ground. All the listed strange DIY robots are interesting but I really liked some of the concepts. Take an example of the Weird-7 robot kit that looks like a undernourished bird, which is made of wood, equipped with googly eyes, kicks its feet together and uses its beak to combat other robots. The other in the list called Owi Roly Poly robot kit might sound like some playing ball but once you assemble its 20 parts this robot can collapse, stumble and fall to entertain your naughty kids. One can even draw a picture of someone you love or hate by inserting it in the robot’s dome. The Mechanical Ostrich is a two-legged walking robot made of ABS resin. This prototype model can walk at two different speeds with just one AA battery and comprises gearbox, motor, and reverse switch and all for just $14.95. Do check out the complete list. Via: PCMag
This is a ‘Cool’ robot with a ‘Hot’ name; Kondo’s KHR-2HV ROBO looks as if it is here to prove its mettle. Every ROBO kit in the market scenario would feel down in front of this marvel. From my point of view it is probably the best looking robot after Robocop. The manufacturers have proposed to upgrade this one with the A-621 GENEX suit that will in fact make it the ‘most eligible robot’ up till date. It also comes with some sports add-ons which make it one of the first ‘sporty robots’ in the world. Does this mean that it is all set for the next RoboCup? It is destined to be launched in the Japanese market. The GENEX suit will go for �18,000 ($152) and the soccer uniform carries a price tag of �1,260, not too expensive for such a ‘mean machine’! Via: Engadget
Alderbaran, a French Robotics company, has recently boasted of debuting a bipedal robot named Nau. It shows an immense feat of maintaining itself in equilibrium and can walk just like a human. Now this is seriously some ‘stuff’. The company has also shown off a video which reveals Nau’s first steps. Though it seems that this magnificent robot finds it hard to stay in balance but the manufacturers claim that it will be soon running like a pro. Will it give a tough competition to the Kondo’s KHR-2HV ROBO? Best of luck, way to go Nau! Via: Nextlust
Robop is a mechanical bird that will soon be perched on the rooftops around the British city of Liverpool. The mission is to scare away the obese lot of pigeons who are considered a nuisance in the city. The Robop is the brain child of a Scottish company and resembles a Peregrine Falcon – which is a natural predator of pigeons. The Robops will flap their wings and squawk loudly to scare the pigeons away. The pigeons have become obese as a result of unbalanced food and have been a nuisance for the city with their continuous droppings and badgering for food, and the credit goes to the residents. The Liverpool city council has urged the residents of Liverpool to refrain from feeding the pigeons with take-away leftovers which include sausages and burgers. The council feels that the hungry pigeons who are already being subjected to the scaring techniques will leave the city and settle in the parks and green spaces where they will get a natural diet. But many experts feel that the pigeons are a highly intelligent bird and will not fall prey to this trick. Lets see who wins in this game of nature versus machine. source. Read more.
Boeing and iRobot Corp. have joined hands to build up a novel, next-generation small unmanned ground vehicle (SUGV) for militia, civilian and commercial usage. Weighing less than 30 pounds, the SUGV Early is much smaller than those Packbots, which are currently deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan to detect mines and dig out roadside and car bombs. The SUGV Early will boast a video camera and commercial electro-optics, infrared sensors, and a track-driven chassis that will allow it to withstand rough locations. It will be employed for bomb disposal and disaster relief operations. The new SUGV Early is expected to be ready to hit the battlefield in 2008. Via: Crave
A government report that supported a debate on granting human-like rights to super-intelligent robots in the near future as ‘a distraction’ is allegedly condemned by the scientists and other critics. Scientists believe that before granting any rights to these super-intelligent robots, a detailed public debate should be called, over the use of robots by the military, police or as a supporter for the elderly and as sex toys. Till now robots are regarded as carers and sex toys and this image will stay with them till the time any major development in the field of artificial intelligence comes in. There is little possibility that robots will be as intelligent as humans are in the near future as till now artificial intelligence technology is still in its infancy and researchers still have to do a lot of work if they want to develop a robot whose intelligence is anywhere near to the human brain. Any research that would make robots realize that they are much more powerful than humans will require a major technological breakthrough and we are still about many decades away from such a breakthrough and it should not be treated as anything more than science fiction. “It’s really premature I think to discuss robot rights,” said Owen Holland, a computer scientist and expert on machine consciousness at Essex University. “[This report] is certainly not based on science and it is not realistic.” Noel Sharkey, a roboticist at the University of Sheffield who is a regular contributor to the BBC’s Robot Wars, agreed, but he said there were more immediate concerns. He further stated that: “The idea of machine consciousness and rights is … a bit of a fairy tale as far as I’m concerned; my concern is about public safety. I think we need proper, informed, public debate about where we are going with robotics at the moment. We need to tell the public about what’s going on in robotics and ask them what they want.” Researchers from all over the world are busy developing more intelligent machines that can mimic human intelligence. Samsung has developed a robot border guard for the South Korean military that can shoot targets up to 500 meters away. They also stated that the robot is intelligent enough to shoot at pre-programmed basis, but still these machines require a program that has to be fed into it according to the mission, so we cannot regard them as truly intelligent machines. In order to regard robots as highly intelligent machines they should be the one who should go to the battlefield in case of war and humans should be kept away from this, but till now this is not the case. Even if robots become more common in wars then also they will be used for different tasks such as surveillance. Till now we have achieved enough technology to use robots as watch dogs and nothing more than that, researchers have also predicted that with subsequent research, robot scientists will be able to develop robots that can be used as carers for the elderly and as sex toys. Although, we haven’t developed any super -intelligent robots yet, but we cannot deny its possibility in the near future. And if the dream (some might call it a nightmare) comes true, these robots might demand all the rights that nest with humans as they will be able to perform all the tasks that are done by us with same sanity. I doubt people would like to share the space in their lives with these super-intelligent machines. What do you say? Image: Smartmobs via: Guardian
Earlier we introduced you a detailed debate on granting human-like rights to super-intelligent robots those are not yet developed. Now, Scientists in Dundee have unveiled their plans to form a ‘robot village’ in an attempt to study how diverse robots will behave in this society. After undergoing four-years of detailed study, University of Abertays will feature approximately 60 miniature robots already programmed to intermingle in an organized groups. To study how these machines behave together the university will also undertake some other institutions that include: University of Exeter, Warwick, Manchester and Leeds Metropolitan University. Scientists also believe that when one robot will copy the behavior of another it will be quite different and will help the project team to observe capricious results of their behaviors in different situations. Roboticist Professor Alan Winfield, the leader of this team said: Of course the behaviors which emerge and evolve will not be human but decidedly robotic. It is also said that once these smart machines will start interacting together for some period of time their experimental conditions will be altered to get more detailed results about their adaptability in new conditions. The experiment will also be altered several times over a period of month in an attempt to record robots new learning and copying behaviors. The bottom line of this research which is estimated to cost more than £700,000 and is funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, is to identify and interpret their behavior patterns as a proof of an emerging robot culture. via: BBC
This may sound odd to you but it is true. An underwater robot that can hear the calls of whales, and so help ships to avoid them, has just been successfully trialled in the Bahamas. The system is very efficiently designed to eliminate all the flaws present in the previous systems. The robot’s batteries last a month per charge, but they’re working on a robot that can swim autonomously for five years. It has a microphone attached to the bottom of the glider that can pick up calls from all kind of whales including the including the high frequency call of the beaked whale. The system is so sophisticated that it can process the data collected at its level and even help differentiate between the species. The biggest advantage of this system is that it can transfer the data to the satellite or via a radio link across the world when it comes back to the surface and therefore eliminating the need of any system to track the glider. The system will be subjected to another test in July. The Theriault’s system will help in saving whales as it will inform the ships about the exact location of the whales so that these ships can be avoided from entering that area. The Australian government is also going to use Theriault’s system this June to look for whales in an area where none have been spotted by eye. Via: therawfeed