A Honda humanoid, a heard of wind powered beach walkers, a robotic Jedi arm--these robots are truly amazing!
A Honda humanoid, a heard of wind powered beach walkers, a robotic Jedi arm, these robots are truly amazing!
Sony Aibo
Introduced in 1999 these pet like robots are far from toys. Able to walk, see and hear commands, they are described by Sony to be completely autonomous because of their ability to learn from external stimuli.
Swarm Bots
A single ant is nothing on it's own but by working together ants can build elaborate nests and accomplish feats that are unfathomable by individuals. This idea of swarm intelligence is being used by engineers to produce robots that can save lives. These robots, each equipped with their own sensors and wireless receivers, can communicate with the rest of the swarm in order to tackle a much greater task than any one robot could accomplish on it's own.
Nexi - MDS (Mobile Dexterous Social)
Nexi is a humanoid robot, built in collaboration with MIT, whose facial expressions are so real it is scary. Part of a project to understand how humans communicate, it has no problem raising an eyebrow to science and telling you how it feels about it.
Wind Powered Beach Walker
Theo Jansen has created an army of weird, beautiful and amazing wind powered walking machines. He calls himself a kinetic sculptor claiming to be part engineer and part artist, and what he has created certainly borders the line between art and science. He dreams of one day setting free herds of these creatures so that they can live their own lives.
MTRAN2 Modular Robot
Each module is a robot by itself. Equipped with a battery, a motor, a computer, a wireless receiver and different types of sensors these modules, when connected together, can communicate and change shape to tackle any obstacle.
KHR - 1 KONDO
These amazing humanoid robot kits put LEGO Mindstorms to shame. Having been used in Japanese high schools for years these kits are finally coming to us non-Japanese speakers for the relatively small price of $1,199, a steal when you consider the capabilities of this Optimus Prime look alike.
Robotic “Luke” Arm
Spearheaded by the inventor of the Segway, Dean Kamen and his team at DEKA research labs set out to produce the best prosthetic arm ever. Inspired by Luke Skywalker's prosthetic in the famous Star Wars movies, they are well on their way to creating an arm that is worthy of a Jedi.
Honda Asimo
In 1986 Honda set out to produce a humanoid robot capable of walking. Today Asimo can run, climb stairs and shake hands. He can even interpret your body language and respond accordingly. This robot is so amazing I have a hard time convincing myself that there is not someone secretly hidden in his backpack controlling him.
Boston Dynamics Big Dog
Funded by DARPA, Boston Dynamics has created the most lifelike robot I have ever seen. With sophisticated sensors in its legs and a revolutionary computer system this robot nicknamed “Big Dog” seems to whimper like a wounded animal as it is kicked over during tests. Just watch the video it is incredible.
