Toyota Humanoid Robot Gives Asimo a Run For Its Money

via Gizmodo by Jack Loftus on 8/2/09

Shown here is Toyota's running robot. At 7 km/h it's not going to win any wind sprints in the Olympics, but nevertheless this thing is airborne for 100ms between strides as it skirts across the floor (i.e. genuine running).

For comparison's sake, Honda's ASIMO robot can only manage a meager 6 km/h. We assume Toyota was able to squeeze the extra kilometer per hour out of their robot with a strict training regimen and what can only be described as a mild dose of physical abuse�their robot can re-balance itself when pushed lightly, as you can see in the video.

Iowa State robot learns with baby steps

via DVICE by Kevin Hall on 7/27/09

The way that we figure things out as wee ankle-biters is usually referred to as procedural learning, or the process by which we interact with our surroundings in a pre-verbal manner. In other words, imagine a baby figuring out it enjoys to play with a rattle while it rolls on the floor and drools all over itself.

A group of researchers from the Developmental Robotics Laboratory at Iowa State University are hoping their own robot � which has yet to be named � could learn in much the same way, without all the drooling. Rather than pre-program it to perform a set of tasks, the team believes that robots need to experience the same kind of development that humans and animals do.

To that end, their 'bot is equipped with two long arms and a pair of webcam-looking eyes. It can hear and see, and learns to identify objects by picking them up and performing different tests, such as shaking or dropping them. Another trick it's figured out is learning if a surface is markable or not by writing on it, such as running a pencil over paper and then looking for lead marks.

Idiots Want to Draw Ads On the Moon

via Gizmodo by Jesus Diaz on 7/20/09

A company wants to "license a technology" to draw advertisements on the Moon's surface, which according to them could be watched from Earth. If nobody shuts them down, I'll be there at the launch. With my land-to-air rocket launcher ready.

I thought this was a joke, but apparently this deranged people are serious enough about it to put out a press release and a 3D animation.

Robots to Advertise on the Moon

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah, July 20 /PRNewswire/ � It's one giant leap for robot-kind. New Shadow Shaping technology creates images on the Moon that can be seen from Earth. Robots are used to create several small ridges in the lunar dust over large areas that capture shadows and shape them to form logos, domains names, memorials or even portraits. Talk about the Man in the Moon! You can even carve your initials in a heart to impress your sweetheart.

The advertising potential is mind-boggling. Never in history have companies been able to penetrate every market on Earth, reach every person on the planet, and touch them at an emotional level only possible with the beauty of the Moon on a starlit night. Twelve billion eyeballs looking at your logo in the sky for several days every month. And since there is no atmosphere on the Moon, the images last for thousands of years.

"Finally dependency on government to travel beyond Earth is over," says inventor David Kent Jones. "This new commercial incentive will turbo charge space technology development. Shadows are just the beginning; eventually robots will be planting crops on other planets."

Beginning July 20, 2009, the fortieth anniversary of man's first step on the Moon, exclusive licensing for this patent pending technology is publicly available. Moon Publicity is accepting bids from accredited investors and companies for 44 lunar regions until October 20, 2009. You could license moon-imaging technology potentially worth a fortune in advertising value for about the cost of an SUV. Minimum bids start as low as $46,000. For more information visit MoonPublicity.com.

Of course, anybody can do this. The whole things sounds like a scheme to get easy money, yes. I have a hard time thinking someone may take them seriously, but it's a matter of time before some idiots actually manage to pull it off.

Project Nomad's Robotic Animal Vehicles

via Gizmodo by Adam Frucci on 7/6/09

As far as concepts go, Jason Battersby's Project Nomad is pretty out there. It's a series of rideable robo-vehicles that look like animals, getting their energy from plants. Yeah, let us know when these become feasible, Jason.

Robot Parkour Ad by Nike

via Gizmodo by Dan Nosowitz on 6/29/09

Without the limitations of, you know, human bodies and gravity and all that junk, the already-crazy sport of parkour (or "extreme running") becomes even more amazing. This bit is from a Nike ad and features a computer-animated, hoodie-wearing robot.

Then again, its much harder to actually run up a wall in real life than it is to draw someone doing it.

Activated Full Size Gundam Robot

via Gizmodo by Jesus Diaz on 6/13/09

[full size]

Holy frak. If you thought the 59-foot-tall Gundam in Tokyo was impressive when it was finished, you haven't seen it fully armed and operative at night. Beautiful and actually scary. Check the impressive close up:

[full size]

Come on people, let's start building these robots now. I'm sure the bad aliens are going to come any second now, so better hurry up. Don't forget to check the rest of the beautiful shots at Pink Tentacle.

Tokyo's Life-Sized Gundam is Just About Finished

via�Gizmodo�by Adam Frucci on 6/9/09

We've seen�just the legs awkwardly standing there, but now we can witness the full scope of Tokyo's new 59-foot-tall Gundam statue. And it is awesome.

This RX-78 Gundam will be hanging out in Odaiba for about two months until its robot powers are needed in North Korea. So look out for that. And head over to�Danny Choo's site�for loads of high-res pics of this thing.

X Prize Team to Send Swarm of Spiders to the Moon

via�Gizmodo�by Jesus Diaz on 5/13/09

Team Italia, one of the organizations competing to land a robot on the moon by 2012, is planning to launch a swarm of spiders designed to move fast and collect data through sensors and cameras.

Team Italia still has a long way to go to win the�Google X Prize�which will award to $20 million to the first team to land a robot, have it move half a kilometer, and send high definition images back to Earth by 2012. They are now in the design phase, which looking at the image, apparently revolves around the idea of freaking out any astronaut coming later in an Orion spacecraft. [Space.com]

Japanese lab creates self-propelling chemical material for future Terminators

via�DVICE�by Adario Strange on 4/30/09

If you were hoping that our future robot masters would be of the readily identifiableTransformers�breed, or at least of the fetching�Summer Glau�variety, you may be in for a disappointment. A group of Japanese roboticists, led by�Shingo Maeda�at the Shuji Hashimoto applied physics laboratory at�Waseda University, have created�a chemical gel�capable of independent motion, similar to that of a caterpillar.

Using a process that combines polymers, the material not only moves on its own, but also can change colors and can be used to perform calculations. According to the scientists involved in the project the morphable material could even one day be used as components of a future robot, thus making the notion of the incredibly scaryTerminator T-1000�a real possibility. You can check out video of the terrifying "baby steps" of this new material�here.

Via�New Scientist

Bionic Penguins from Water and Air

via�Gizmodo�by Jesus Diaz on 4/20/09

Bionic penguins�that travel underwater independently. Bionic�flying penguins. Robotic arms made of fiberglass rods with free will.�Molecubes�that assemble into infinite-growing robots. All for real, as this video shows. I'm leaving the planet.

Sure, it's an infomercial about this company called Festo, but it's impressive nonetheless. Like other tech companies, they are getting its inspiration from nature to create new robotic concepts, working relentlessly to create the robots that will kill us all one day. Good. [Geeks Are Sexy]

Happy Birthday, Horrifying Japanese Child Bot: You're Two

via�Gizmodo�by John Mahoney on 4/6/09

Since�we first met�Child Robot with Biomimetic Body�(CB2), he's been taking a lot in through the black pools of terror he uses for eyes: The little guy's�taught himself to walk. Yikes.

CB2 is one of Japan's most advanced robotics projects�using 197 sensors under its pallid gray skin, eye-cameras, 51 pneumatic "muscles" and the high-end processing power to drive it all, it has learned to recognize facial expressions, follow the gaze of its "mother" and even teach itself to walk. Says�PhysOrg:

[Osaka University professor Minoru Asada], also a member of the Japanese Society of Baby Science, said his team has made progress on other fronts since first presenting CB2 to the world in 2007.

In the two years since then, he said, CB2 has taught itself how to walk with the aid of a human and can now move its body through a room quite smoothly, using 51 "muscles" driven by air pressure.

In coming decades, Asada expects science will come up with a "robo species" that has learning abilities somewhere between those of a human and other primate species such as the chimpanzee.

It also talks:

Thank goodness Christian Bale will be able to protect us in the future. Until then I'll be hiding in an underground bunker. [PhysOrg]