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Spot

By Owen Li | Published: March 17, 2015

You all remember Spot, that cute and adorable yellow dog from those children’s books, right?

You want to see this cute puppy as a mangled red mess on the ground?

Well this Spot will turn that Spot into a red spot on the ground.

This is some major robot abuse

Developed by Boston Dynamics, Spot is Big Dog’s younger sibling, has 4 hydraulic legs, a sensor for a head, and some crazy ability to take abuse from its developers.

Just watch out; when Spot comes for you, you better be 100% sure you didn’t do anything wrong, because this robot can reach you from any terrain, whether it be mountainous, hilly, wet, or dry.

Let’s just hope that Google, the parent of Boston Dynamics, already gave Spot the “Don’t be evil” lecture.

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Row-Bow

By Owen Li | Published: March 11, 2015
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In the world of evolving and growing technology, it seems that robots can now take over what has long been regarded as a human skill; playing the violin.

Designed by Seth Goldstein, RO-BOW converts a computer program into instructions for its actuators, allowing it to play any note. However, it cannot move as quickly or as subtly as a human can.

I guess humans are safe for now…just for a while.

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Robot Helps Kids During Treatments

By Owen Li | Published: January 18, 2015

Going to the hospital may be scary for some, especially kids. Now there’s a way for kids to reduce that fear, through interaction with RxRobot’s MEDi.

MEDi stands 23 inches tall, has 25 degrees of freedom, and is equipped with cognitive behavioral skills. The robot talks to kids about the procedures that they’re about to undergo, and helps them understand and anticipate what’s coming next, effectively calming them.

Studies have shown that kids who interact with MEDi have felt up to 50% less pain. As the robot itself says, “It’s easier with a friend.”

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Robot Bartender

By Owen Li | Published: January 17, 2015

Admit it. You’ve always wanted a bartender in your home to serve you drinks in your free time. But having someone to be in your home all day might get a bit awkward. Fear no more, alcoholic introverts, for this is the robot for you!!!

The Somabar, which just sits on your counter-top, can mix 6 different ingredients to make the drink that you asked for. All you have to do is fill up the 6 reservoirs, or “Soma pods”, and use the app to tell the machine which drink is in which pod, and it creates a list of drinks you can make with them.

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Beer Pong Bot

By Owen Li | Published: January 12, 2015

Want to ensure the inebriation of your friends? Well this is the bot for you!

Instead of fingers, this bot uses balls filled with sand-like material, and tightens/loosens the grains to grip/release the ball by pumping/sucking out air.

Be sure in your opponent’s ultimate drunken demise; this robot does not miss.

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Beach Bot

By Owen Li | Published: January 9, 2015

Disney sure does have the nicest stuff.

And now they’ve added to their arsenal of cute machines, coming out with the BeachBot, a fully autonomous robot used for drawing pictures in the sand.

It works by using a series of actuated pins that dig into the sand; the more pins extended, the thicker the line. The artist places cones down in the sand to mark the canvas, and the robot reads some markers to calculate its position in that canvas. It can then be fed an digital image and is off, carving up the sand.

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Robotic Turtles

By Owen Li | Published: January 1, 2015
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Since the dawn of the technological age, and even before that, researchers have been fascinated with trying to mimic nature and natural behaviors. In the underwater robotics world, the robot of choice would be a small autonomous bot that can sink and dive quickly, without a ballast system.

Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) say that the robot they’d choose is the robotic turtle that can think for itself and has the same behavior of a real turtle – diving, swimming, and swarming.

Scientists want to be able to create swarms of tiny autonomous robotic sea turtles that can tackle huge underwater problems like nuclear waste detection, missions often too dangerous for humans.

Wow, it’s 2015 already! Enjoy your new year celebrations, and be ready for a great year in technological innovations! Why? Well…because robots!

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