Paralysed woman moves robot with her mind

Cathy Hutchinson has been unable to move her own arms or legs for 15 years. But using the most advanced brain-machine interface ever developed, she can steer a robotic arm towards a bottle, pick it up, and drink her morning coffee. The interface includes a sensor implanted in Cathy's brain, which 'reads' her thoughts, and a decoder, which turns her thoughts into instructions for the robotic arm. In this video, watch Cathy control the arm and hear from the team behind the pioneering study.
LINK: Youtube

Robot Transforming

Robot transforming. LINK: Youtube

Toshiba Volley Ball Robot

LINK: Youtube "Tomorrow-kun", Toshiba's Volley Ball Robot from 1997.
http://www.plasticpals.com

RuBot II - The Rubik's cube solving robot

This is the new version of RuBot by Pete Redmond from Dublin, Ireland. It's very different to the prototype but it has to be the coolest looking robot solver ever. RuBot II set a new Guinness world Record in Jan 2009.

There are cameras in the eyes of the head that scan the cube before the pneumatic arms solve it. It usually solves the Cube in about 35 seconds (not including the scan) no matter how much it is mixed up. LINK: Youtube

There is another video I liked but there was no embed for it. Here is the LINK: Youtube

Singing, Dancing Robot

(Video Link)
AIST’s new HRP-4C robot does a fairly good impersonation of human body movements. This 5′2″ fembot was unveiled at the Digital Contents Expo in Tokyo. The only thing that it needs is a steady energy supply.

Link, Via: Neatorama

Larger Than Life R2D2 is Driveable

(Video Link)

YouTube user dmalford1 built a R2D2 simulator that is large enough for an adult human to fit inside and drive it around. It makes appropriate light flashes, sound effects, and has a rotating dome.

Via: Geekologie, Via: Neatorama

Cool Robot Snake

Dr. Gavin Miller works by day as a researcher in computer graphics. LINK: Youtube

ROBOTS PLAY SOCCER TOO

“Can a team of soccer-playing robots beat the human world champions by 2050? That’s the ultimate goal of RoboCup, an international tournament where teams of soccer robots compete in various categories, from small wheeled bots to adult-size humanoids.” LINK, Via: Youtube

THE BIRCH PLYWOOD ROBOT DRUMMER

Robot Drummer, made from birch plywood and HiTec Servo's.
Utilizes Highly Liquid MD24 midi to servo controller.
Created by Steve Averill
VIdeo produced by RakerShine

Utilizes the famous CamRaker. LINK: Youtube

Brian Marshall's Adopt-A-Bot

Photo: adopt-a-bot [Flickr]

I love, love, love Brian Marshall’s robot sculptures assembled from found objects. Brian has got a huge gallery of various bots you can adopt (over at his Etsy shop).

The dog bots. LINK: Neatorama

PR2 Robot Plays Pool

“This is very impressive. The bridge on the wrist was a great idea and I can’t imagine how detailed everything was in this project. Nice work.” — ms2Tech. LINK, Via: Youtube

Robot Mouth Simulates the Human Voice

(YouTube Link)

Engineers at Kagawa University in Japan are developing a talking robotic version of the human mouth:

To enable the robot’s speaking abilities, engineers at Japan’s Kagawa University used an air pump, artificial vocal chords, a resonance tube, a nasal cavity, and a microphone attached to a sound analyzer as substitutes for human vocal organs. The robot not only talks, but it uses a learning algorithm to mimic the sounds of human speech. By inputting the voices of both hearing-impaired and non-hearing-impaired people into the microphone, researchers were able to plot the differences in sound on a map. During speech training, the robot “listens” to the subjects talk while comparing their pronunciation to that of subjects who are not hearing-impaired. The robot then generates a personalized visualization that allows subjects to adjust their pronunciation according to the target points on the speech map.

This video has already been used to create mashups currently circulating YouTube. In the links, you’ll find one that presents the robot mouth as Eduard Khil, the Trolololo guy.

Link | Robot Mouth as Trolololo Guy, Via: Neatorama

ROBOPLOW

SNOW PLOWING ROBOT, LINK: Youtube

Robotagger: GML + ABB4400

GML (Graffiti Markup Language) drawings from 000000book.com are converted into DXF via a small Processing utility. Motion paths for a robot arm are planned from this DXF using Rhino and MasterCam. The ABB 4400 series arm is wielding a 2" Montana Hardcore marker. LINK: Vimeo

A Robot That Moves Like A Snake

(YouTube Link)

The OmniTread robot was built by engineering students at the University of Michigan. Its body consists of seven segments connected by pneumatic bellows. Treads on all four sides of the segments give it traction against surfaces, and the connecting bellows can inflate or deflate to provide stiffness or flexibility as needed. The robot can squeeze through a four-inch hole or ascend a vertical tube.

Link, Via: CrunchGear, Via: Neatorama

Joules, The Bicycle-Riding Robot

(YouTube Link)

Engineer Carl Morgan’s son complained that a certain hill was too hard to climb on his bicycle. Could his dad invent a machine to help him power over these inclines? The answer came in “Joules”, an electrically-powered robot that rides in the back seat of a tandem bicycle:

Morgan spent months modeling how to transform a motor’s spin into pedal-pushing legs. The motor inside Joules’s torso turns a series of linked belts and chains that transfer power from one area of the robot to the next. Each upper leg pivots at the hip, raising and lowering its knee and forcing the lower legs to turn the pedals. He also added “bones” (rods on the outside) for needed stiffness.

Morgan was nervous when he climbed in front for the final test, but Joules easily cruised to the top of the hill. The bike could probably do more, even hit 30 mph, but Morgan says he doesn’t plan to find out: “Abject cowardice on my part means we’ll never know for sure.”

Link | Official Website, Via: Neatorama

Exobotics

Rock the Robo Factory, build your bot, and then computate mad booty shake. LINK

Junkbots made from old hard-drives

On Wired's Gadget Lab, a gallery of sculptures made from dead hard-drives made by sysadmin Miguel Rivera, including this wonderful junkbot.

Old Hard Drives Get Sculpted Into Cars, Bikes, Robots | Via: Boingboing

CEATEC: The HRP-4C robot sings a song with Yamaha's Vocaloid

The HRP-4C prototype humanoid robot demonstrated singing skills at Ceatec in Japan. LINK: Youtube

Brian Despain's new show of robot paintings

BB's favorite robot painter, er rather... painter of robots Brian Despain has a show of new paintings opened tonight, November 13, at Seattle's Roq La Rue Gallery. Above, "The Prodigal Son" (oil on panel, 15" x 19").Also showing is John Brophy, whose paintings mixes up iconography from various cultures and religions in a bowl of consumer culture. The full show is viewable online. Brian Despain and John Brophy. LINK