wall-e robot toy this June!

ZOMG! Disney and WowWee are developing a programmable Wall-E robot for retail...

The "Ultimate WALL·E robotic toy" is due out in June of 08, and has 10 motors for lifelike movement. With voice activation and a follow-me mode, WALL·E can follow the sound of a human voice and detect someone entering a room. The robot has a variety of sensors that let it hear, navigate, and detect obstacles. It will sell for $189.99.

They are also developing the iDance Wall·E dancing boombox which has USB ports, can play MP3 music, and has an audio in-jack that works with any iPod or MP3 player. It will sell for $24.99. They're also working with WowWee to make a flying Tinkerbell toy. The whole story can be found here at Venturebeat who broke the news from Maker: Faire two days ago.

swashbot 2

I-Wei Huang aka Crab Fu steam roboticist (...and close personal friend) has made another three-legged robot from spare RC helicopter parts. This one has been aptly named Swashbot 2 (scroll down past Swashbot 1).

tachikoma madness!

Tachikona madness indeedy. Lots of vids on YouTube lately, here's the good ones:

upgrades for manoi bipeds

Our friend Lem from Robots-Dreams has posted photos of a new skin/body shell for the Manoi AT01 biped that gives it a totally different look- a lot more menacing than the original skin IMHO.

Also posted from Robots-Dreams Lem writes about the new robotic hand for the Manoi biped developed by Kyosho. This fascinating little video shows the hand in action playing a game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.




Pretty cool indeed! Two servos control guide wires that open and close the jointed fingers and thumb. No info on the prices yet, nor what the final product will look like.

And ending on a sillier note, here's a couple of Cat-Manoi's aerobic-team-dancing to a catchy J-Pop tune. Again thanks to my hero, Lem at Robots-Dreams.

control your robot via nintendo ds!!!

Last month some French engineering students wrote software to control a Pekee bot through their Nintendo DS wi-fi. The coolest part is they're using the MarioKart steering interface!!! I am so going to try this and post my results. You can download the .nds file posted here.

swashbot: four servos=fun

I-Wei Huang, the master of steam powered robotics- see CrabFu.com and all-around great guy (we met at Maker: Faire) has fallen off the steam-powered wagon this time, but still managed to create a very cool three-legged RC robot he is calling Swashbot.

The principle of the movement and control is based on an RC helicopter's swash plate hence the name, and is controlled via an ECCPM helicopter transmitter. All spare parts he had lying around. Read all about it at his website but first watch this awesome video...

segway robot mobility platform

Make Magazine posted a really intriguing video (see below) of the Segway RMP robot mobility platform that was taken today at the Robot Business 2008 event. It's capable of transporting a 400 pound payload, carrying a full grown man with ease (see video). The most interesting thing about this platform are the omnidirectional wheels allowing it to move in any direction and change directions instantaneously. Very cool to see in action. Cost estimates so far are predicted to be as high as $50,000.

spiderbot draws!

I came across a video of Mat Denton's hexapod "spiderbot" on the MAKE: Blog and had to post this immediately for your viewing pleasure. My mind is reeling at the possibilities.

little dog video

Hmmmm. Aparently Boston Dynamics is working on a smaller version of the Big Dog aptly named Little Dog. A CMU/DARPA locomotion program describes the project and has lots of videos. Very cool indeed!

robo-one 13 combat video

Lem from ROBOTS DREAMS posted this one, a truly awesome bit of combat from the 13th Robo-One Tourney in Tokyo. This is the final bout between Garoo (right) and Taekwon-V to determine the Lightweight Championship.