Category: Robots
CES 2008: WowWee's friendly Mr Personality robot
Third WowWee bot of the night is Mr Personality, who isn’t as ugly as his name might lead you to believe. Well, that’s if you don’t mind robots with full-colour LCD screens for faces.
CES 2008: WowWee's Rovio is a Wi-Fi robo-webcam with micro-GPS
You can rely on WowWee to storm CES with a battalion of new robots – tonight, several were on show at the show press preview. Pick of the bunch was Rovio, which the company describes as a ‘Wi-Fi enabled robotic webcam’.
Make a (RUBBISH) android for less than $30
Sounds like a bargain – until you see what your $30 actually buys you. You get a sort of disembodied pink head with a big hole in its forehead.
Apparently it can… well, we’re not entirely sure. It was made by a foreign man who doesn’t go into very much detail. But if you watch his ‘Making Of’ video you can just about make out things like VGA leads and other cables connecting it to a PC…
Cube-Kun robot can solve Rubik's Cube faster than you can
We were impressed recently by student Daniele Benedettelli’s Lego Mindstorms robot that could solve Rubik’s Cubes. But it pales in comparison to Cube-Kun, a bot created by Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
Life-sized beer-brewing Bender robot from Futurama
Pedant’s note: How can you have a life-sized model of a cartoon character? Doesn’t their size depend on the size of your telly? That aside, this is genius. It’s a big Bender (out of Futurama) robot, except with beer brewing mechanisms built into his stomach.
Video: See Honda's Asimo robot serve coffee
This is what consumer robotics is all about: humanoid waiters that serve us hot beverages. I’ve just been writing about the new features for Honda Asimo, but there’s also a video showing the bot flaunting his new barista skills. Watch it above.
Honda Asimo gets smarter, eyes world domination
That headline’s a bit harsh: Asimo is a friendly robot really, keen to help humankind while playing the odd spot of football. So when Honda introduces new features to make him smarter, it’s not something we should worry about. Really.
RoboPhilo – the programmable home robot
It’s a programmable humanoid, which brings approximately one billion possibilities flashing into mind. Although this one won’t be much help as a personal bodyguard or shopping-home-carrier – it’s only 13 inches tall.
RoboPhilo comes in kit form you can assemble yourself for $400 or why not just admit defeat beforehand and buy a fully-assembled…
Toyota's robot army will be in the home by 2010
Toyota, no doubt still laughing at the Honda Asimo stair malfunction videos, is boosting its own robot production – and reckons it’ll have two models ready for consumers to consume by 2010.
Robot one is essentially useless – it can play the violin. That’s going to be more of an annoyance than a help around the home…
The Simroid dental robot is the new star of YouTube
Every once in a while, something appears on the internet that's so sensational and bewildering everyone simply has to see it. Usually it's some sort of odd pornography – but not today. Today it is the Simroid. Even your dad…
