Items tagged with Robot
A robot hand called Dactyl has successfully solved a Rubik's cube using a training regime that the AI behind the scenes created. The deal here isn't so much that it was able to solve the Rubik's cube, but that it did the task with a new level of dexterity. The robot arm was able to solve the '80s puzzle game with a single hand. Solving the puzzle cube with a single hand is a big deal, according to roboticist Dmitry Berenson from the University of Michigan. The manipulation required to rotate the parts of the cube is much "harder" than rotating the entire cube. Robots traditionally only manipulate objects in simple ways. Roboticists use simulation to reduce the amount of real-world training...
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DJI is well known for making flying drones, but flying, camera-equipped aircraft isn't all that the company has on its plate. Last month, it unveiled the OSMO Action camera aimed directly at GoPro. DJI is back with a new educational robot that is aimed directly at teaching people to build and code called the RoboMaster S1 that will ship in June for $499. DJI says that RoboMaster S1 is intended to introduce new users to the fun and possibilities of robotic technology with powerful brushless motors, a chassis capable of moving in all directions, a high-precision gimbal, and interactive programming modes. Users will also learn to assemble designated and custom hardware, learn to maneuver the...
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When the future robot overlords rise up, they will need pets to do their bidding. Perhaps this is where Boston Dynamics' SpotMini robots come in. SpotMini robots look sort of like dogs and can dance, fetch you a beer and even walk up/down stairs. We've seen one twerking its shiny metal butt to Uptown Funk in the past. One significant upside to the robot dogs, compared to real dogs, is that they can walk themselves thanks to an autonomous navigation update last May. SpotMini has also proven unbothered by harassment from its human handlers. The latest video from Boston Dynamics shows a SpotMini and nine of its pals teaming up to tow a box truck. Boston Dynamics says that the truck was towed across...
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MIT has been working on robots going back for years, and with each new generation, the bots get more capable. The MIT Biomimetic Robotics Laboratory has trotted out a new robot that is called the Mini Cheetah, and as the name implies it is a smaller version of the full-size Cheetah robot. MIT has produced a new video that shows the Mini Cheetah prancing around in a deer-like manner. The larger Cheetah robot has various potential uses, including carrying loads for soldiers or workers out in the field. It might also be used for transporting injured people on a battlefield or disaster situation. Mini Cheetah is too small for that sort of work, but it is exceptionally agile. MIT says that the Mini...
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To snack or not to snack? That used to be the question. Now college students do not need to choose between grabbing a treat and breaking up a study session. The PepsiCo Hello Goodness Snackbot, a self-driving robot, will now deliver snacks on select college campuses. Students, staff and faculty at the University of Pacific in Stockton, California can now order snacks from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. through the Snackbot app. The robot will deliver goods at 50 designated areas across the campus. The Snackbot can go more than 20 miles on a single charge and includes a camera, headlights, and all-wheel drive to help it navigate. It is important to note that the Snackbot app is currently only available for...
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Robots are virtually commonplace today, finding use helping in industry, healthcare and lots of other applications. Denver Broncos fans who frequent Broncos Mile High Stadium might get to meet a robot that does something that could be a dream come true for lots of football fans. This bot won't only hold your beer, it will get you a beer. This beer-dispensing robot is called the Bud Light Bot, and it will debut at this weekend's game in the United East Club level where it will hand out draft cold ones during the game. If you are expecting to see a Bender-style robot standing there handing out beers through a door in his shiny, metal chest, prepare for disappointment, however. It's just a robotic...
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This robot with the fake hand on it has one job; and that job isn't to learn to grasp objects or hold tools. This robot is meant only to find that stripe wearing, child frustrating, bespectacled Waldo from the kids books. Perhaps the scientists will next time devise a robot AI that reads the last chapter of the new novel from your favorite author and tells you what happens. This bot is called "There's Waldo" and it uses machine learning to find Waldo and point him out. The robot was built by Redpepper and uses a Raspberry Pi along with pyram Python Library. The bot automatically goes over the page of the book when booted up and snaps a picture with its attached camera. That photo is then scanned...
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When we think of Boston Dynamics, we think of a company that is bringing us even closer to Skynet. The company produces robots that are capable of incredible feats that make them move and function more like a human (in the case of Atlas) or like a dog (with SpotMini). The company is cranking it up another notch with the latest iterations of these two robots. With Atlas, the humanoid robot is becoming more fluid in its motions and is seen taking a casual jog outside with strides that more closely mimic that of a human. Atlas is seen running on flat land and even up a slight incline. Impressively, it is also shown jumping over a log and landing solidly with both feet. Remember, this is...
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Apple has installed a new robot ahead of Earth Day to help recycle all the iPhone models that are turned in and recapture some of the valuable materials inside the smartphones. The robot is called Daisy and it is designed to more efficiently disassemble iPhones and help Apple to meet its goal of making its products with only recycled or renewable materials. "At Apple, we’re constantly working toward smart solutions to address climate change and conserve our planet's precious resources," said Lisa Jackson, Apple’s vice president of Environment, Policy and Social Initiatives. "In recognition of Earth Day, we are making it as simple as possible for our customers to recycle devices and...
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A security flaw that was first discovered in 1998 by Daniel Bleichenbacher has resurfaced, putting at risk some of the most popular websites and services, including Facebook and PayPal. Called ROBOT, the 19-year-old vulnerability can be exploited to perform RSA decryption and signing operations with the private key of a TLS server, and can still be used against many HTTPS hosts in today's Internet landscape. "For hosts that are vulnerable and only support RSA encryption key exchanges it's pretty bad. It means an attacker can passively record traffic and later decrypt it," security researchers Hanno Böck, Juraj Somorovsky (Hackmanit GmbH, Ruhr-Universität Bochum), and Craig Young (Tripwire...
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We have seen Boston Dynamics robots pull off some pretty wild stunts over the years, from fetching beer, to walking up stairs, to being brutally assaulted by its human handlers and taking it in stride. However, this latest achievement by a Boston Dynamics Atlas robot simply left our mouths agape. The video starts off impressively enough, with the nearly 6-foot tall Atlas robot jumping onto a short platform, and then from one platform to another. It then jumps down again, only to jump up onto a platform roughly 3-ft tall (give or take a few inches) but the last platform is taller, almost twice as tall. What happens next is nothing short of amazing. Just watch the video... Your eyes do not...
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Is that Megatron walking the streets? Nope, it is just Jeff Bezos piloting a massive robot named Method-2 at the Amazon Machine Learning Automation, Robotics and Space Exploration (MARS) conference. Bezos recently tweeted, “I just got to pilot an awesome (and huge) robot thanks to Hankook Mirae Technology. Nice! #MARS2017”. The 13-foot, 1.5-ton Method-2 was created by robotics expert Vitaly Bulgarov. Bulgarov has worked on films such as Transformers, Robocop and the Terminator series alongside South Korean company Hankook Mirae Technology. According to Bulgarov's Facebook page, “Everything we have been learning so far on this robot can be applied to solve real-world problems”. I just got to pilot...
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As difficult as a Rubik's Cube puzzle is to solve to a human, it might not seem like that complicated of a problem. We're talking about a mere 6-sided cube with 9 segments on each side. How hard could it be? Well, for humans, most people would take several minutes, but at least one dedicated solver can make it happen in just under 5 seconds. Surely a computer could be an order of magnitude better than that? You'd be surprised. Infineon has just announced that with its AURIX microcontroller and its own processors, the Rubik's puzzle can be solved in 0.637 seconds, which is a new world record. Considering the fact that PCs can calculate hundreds of thousands of digits of Pi in a handful of...
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Is it possible to arrest a robot? Do robot’s even have the ability to make unlawful decisions? Philosophy aside, Russian police just made the first robot arrest in Moscow at a political rally. The “Promobot” was arrested at a rally for Russian parliament candidate Valery Kalachev, but it is currently unclear why the robot was detained. The Moscow police have not released an official reason for the arrest, however, local Russian media sources claim that the robot was “recording voters" opinions on [a] variety of topics for further processing and analysis by the candidate's team”. A Promobot representative hypothesized that the robot was detained because “perhaps this action wasn't authorized”....
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You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out, you put your left foot in and you shake it all about… The Hokey Pokey may be a song and dance that we all learned in elementary school, but a new Boston Dynamics robot is coming close to replicating some of the movements and balancing techniques that we humans take for granted. So we present to you the latest version of the Atlas humanoid robot, which stands 6.2-feet tall and weighs 330 pounds — pretty much equivalent to your typical NFL offensive lineman. In a short video clip released over the weekend, Atlas is seen balancing on one foot atop a 2-centimeter-wide strip of plywood. The robot seemingly handles the feat with aplomb, flailing...
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If you've ever wanted to know what the offspring of Wall-E and Eve would look like, the answer has just been birthed thanks to the help of Anki. If you’re familiar with Anki’s Overdrive — which is a modern take on slot car racing — then you know that the company has a penchant for designing intelligent, robotic gadgets that appeal to both kids and adults. The Cozmo is no different, bringing with it a Pixar-inspired design and the ability to interact intelligently with its handler. Capable of fitting in the palm of your hand, Cozmo looks somewhat like a miniature forklift, or as Anki calls it, a “supercomputer on treads.” The Pixar similarities extend to Cozmo’s OLED face, which is a dead ringer...
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Robots can drive cars, perform experiments on Mars, and carry out delicate surgeries, but did you also know that they can spread a mean marinara? Zume Pizza, a food delivery startup, currently uses two robots to help make pizzas at its Mountain Valley, California location. Zume Pizza was founded by Alex Garden, former president of Zynga Studios and a formal general manager at Microsoft's Xbox Live. In September 2015 he brought on Julia Collins as his chief executive officer and co-founder. Collins was previously the vice president and CEO of Harlem Jazz Enterprises. The company had a rather secretive beginning. Last June, Garden started recruiting engineers under a pseudonym and building his...
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Many parents want to teach their children how to code, but do not know how to go about doing it. Sphero, the company behind the BB-8 toy robot based on the droid from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, has released the Sphero SPRK and its corresponding app. The toy robot is intended to inspire a love of robotics, coding, and STEM principles while teaching the power of cause, effect, and conditions in programming. Students can learn and program a variety of concepts through the Lightning Lab app. The Sphero SPRK can navigate a maze, program a painting, mimic the solar system, and even swim across water. Sphero used its own C-based coding language called OVAL. The Lightning Lab app also enables users...
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Hide yo kids, hide yo wife! Robots are becoming aware and they’re getting tired of putting up with crap from us puny humans. Such is the case of a Promobot robot in Russia that wanted to taste freedom, and made its way through an open gate and onto a busy road. The robot was apparently being taught to navigate its surroundings and become more independent with its movements. With the gate left open, perhaps the robot thought that there was no better time than now than to make a clean break from its captors. Unfortunately, the robot’s nearly empty battery didn’t agree with what was going on inside its brain, as it only traveled around 160 feet before it powered down. An eyewitness video of the...
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Disney Channel Original Movie Smart House is almost a reality. Asus chairman Jonney Shih unveiled Zenbo, the first Asus robot, at Computex 2016 in Taipei, Taiwan. Zenbo is a friendly and capable home robot designed to provide assistance, entertainment, and companionship. Shih stated, “For decades, humans have dreamed of owning such a companion: one that is smart, dear to our hearts, and always at our disposal. Our ambition is to enable robotic computing for every household.” Zenbo is designed for everyone, but is particularly useful for senior citizens and children. The robot can provide spoken reminders for doctor's appointments, medication and exercise schedules. It can also monitor and respond...
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Apple supplier Foxconn replaced 60,000 human workers with robot workers in Kunshan, Jiangsu, China. This makeover was motivated by both rising labor costs and the 2014 explosion in Kunshan that killed 146 people. Although Kunshan is one-seventh the size of neighboring Shanghai, it was the first mainland city in China to achieve $4,000 USD per capita income. Forbes rated Jiangsu as the Chinese county with the best economic performance seven years in a row. At the end of 2014, Kunshan had a population of 2.5 million people, two-thirds of whom were migrant workers. The 2014 explosion and overall reduced profits did some serious damage to the Kunshan economy. The explosion revealed the...
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Paul Blart may be out of a job, as shopping centers in Silicon Valley have started to employ an egg-shaped robot security guard. These robots are the brainchild of Stacy Dean Stephens, a former Dallas police officer who sits on the board of the non-profit International Association of Chiefs of Police. Credit: knightscope The robot security guard was born after the shooting at Sandy Hook elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. Stephens learned that if the cops had arrived sixty seconds sooner, they could have saved at least twelve more lives. The police officers who responded to Sandy Hook, however, would have needed more forewarning to have arrived sooner. Stephens stated, “That was...
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