Robotics

This is totally cool with me. I get sick and tired of looking up my stylist’s nose and listen to her gum-chomping directly in my ear anyway. What long nose hairs you have! Panasonic’s new hair-washing robotic prototype removes the need for hand-to-wet-hair contact. The prototype utilizes 3D scanning technology to replicate the feel of the human hand, massaging your ...

Hands down, the most convenient way to build a robot in your own home is LEGO’s Mindstorm NXT set, which fuses robotics and LEGO bricks in a combination of geeky and nostalgic joy. LEGO just released MindDroid, an Android app which lets you remotely control your Mindstorm creations from your Android device. MindDroid uses Bluetooth to wirelessly connect to the ...

Geminoid F might not be ready to give Meryl Streep a run for her money, but the female humanoid robot was designed for the stage. Created by ART Intelligent Robotics and Communications Laboratories under the direction of Professor Ishiguro Hiroshi, Geminoid was designed to replicate the appearance of a twenty-something woman, with the exception that she is controlled via remote ...

Now PR2 doesn’t only fold your socks, but also doesn’t crush your bones when you shake its hand. PR2 by Willow Garage has been a robot in the spotlight since its creation in late-2006 by ex-Google employee Scot Hassan. PR2 has pooped up in the media a few time throughout the years, and he finds himself the subject of headlines ...

“Have you filled out your robot census? No? You know that’s illegal right?” We’re not quite there yet, nor do we really have the need, but eventually, robots might have a census of their own. In fact, a small scale version is already underway. Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University launched a robot census to determine how many robots existed on the ...

The Hawthorne Army Depot, a 600,000 sq. ft. storage facility in western Nevada, has employed a new race of guards to protect the security of their weaponry and nuclear waste. The MDARS (Mobile Detection Assessment Response Systems) robots patrol the outskirts of the military installation with expert precision only a machine can provide. With a top speed of 20 mph, ...

It’s not that I’m against over-working geriatrics, but I’m very pro-properly decorated baked goods. And a tired grandma is an unmotivated grandma. Which is where the Automatic Cake Decorator comes into play. Grandma has spent about 45 minutes on her feet, icing and assembling the cake that I demanded for my birthday with the threat of a hellish tantrum if ...

An unnamed teenage boy sat in his hospital bed, awaiting death as his muscles slowly degenerated into oblivion. He was perhaps days away from death when doctors decided on a radical procedure. The 15-year-old in question suffered from Duchenne syndrome, a disease which causes rapid muscle degeneration but does not provide eligibility for a heart transplant. That’s just the way ...

…and I don’t blame them. If I was designed to look like a robotic, extermination Hello Kitty, I wouldn’t want to show my face (wait, do Daleks have faces) outdoors either. Designer Joseph Senior created this Hello Kitty Dalek rendering using an artistic eye, good design software and plenty of rainbows and sugar plum fairies. Luckily for them, female Daleks ...

Thankfully not starring Bill Paxton or Helen Hunt, this tornado of rock barrels through anything in its path – especially disco. German artist Trimpin created the Guitar Tornado for the Experience Music Project in Seattle. But this tornado has more than form. It has function. Intermingled within the tornado is guitars connected to robotic musicians which play the guitar on ...