The makers of the Actroid robot developed a similarly applied, yet less spooky robot. Kokoro Co. Ltd.’s I-FAIRY robot was unveiled at CES 2010 in Las Vegas last weekend. The “i” in its name stands for intelligent-information-icon, and as its name suggests, it’s an information robot based on the image of a fairy. Unlike the Actroid… »
Contrary to the popular opinion, Karel Capek, the author of RUR is not the inventor of the word robot. The word which is derived from the Czech noun “robota” meaning “labor” is an accomplishement of Capek’s older brother, the cubist painter and writer Josef Capek. Today, robots are becoming widely applied for medical, military, exploring,… »
After writing about biomimicry of penguins, sharks, butterflies and bats, we’re going to write about cockroach biomimicry. Although the sight of a crawling cockroach dashing for cover may be repulsive, the insect is also a biological and engineering marvel. Cockroaches and guinea hens serve as bioinspiration to the researchers at Oregon State University where they… »
After writing about E-Cleaner EC01 and Neato XV-11 we’re going to write about robotic vacuum cleaner(s) from LG Electronics. After the big failure of their too expensive (yet not more functional) first version of RoboKing, they decided to develop a better and cheaper robot that could compete with Roomba. Although the new RoboKing isn’t available… »
In our last article we started a mini-series named “Is Roomba’s throne at risk?” where we wrote about AGAiT Technology E-Cleaner EC01. Neato Robotics, a Silicon Valley startup, is pioneering new products to free people from household chores, introduced a new home robot vacuum cleaner that raises the bar for automated floor cleaning. The Neato… »
There were many contenders who wanted to take iRobot’s throne of small cleaning robots. We wrote about Panasonic’s attempt to introduce floor scrubbing robots, but they aimed to a different part of the market. Nowadays, there is a growing number of rivals pretending on iRobot’s most popular vacuuming robot Roomba. In this article and a… »
We’re glad the development of humanoid robots made for help or entertainment hasn’t ceased yet. Nippon Institute of Technology (NIT), Harada Vehicle Design, ZMP, and ZNUG Design have developed a humanoid robot for educational purposes in order to offer their students a better access to robot development. The university adopted 35 of ZMP’s e-nuvo WALK… »
When we started this website we wanted to focus on robots made to aid us in various circumstances. Assisting the elderly is certainly one of the more noble jobs they can be given, and that’s just what Robovie-II, the creation of the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR) has been programmed to do. For the… »
