Well, this is just fantastic. We’re all for the advancement of robot technology so that one day they can cater to our every beck and call. But researchers at ETH Zurich have foolishly designed a robot that can create its own custom tools to complete tasks.
Starting with a rare vinyl model of the T-800 that was released in limited numbers after Terminator 2 hit theatres, Japanese artists at T-Studios created these wonderfully detailed chrome terminator busts, complete with light-up eyes and animated features. It’s the perfect reminder that mankind’s days are numbered.
DARPA may be the Big Dog of robotic cargo transport for now, but that doesn’t mean it’s the only game in town. A new design from the Italian Institute of Technology may look like the US Army’s pack-bot but it runs like a Ferarri — or at least a skittering, mechanical Ibex.
Marvel’s web-slinger is able to scale tall buildings thanks to a set of spiny hairs on his fingers. And NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory thinks the same approach could make it easy for spacecraft to latch onto asteroids, comets and other irregularly shaped rocks.
Everyone stop everything. Listen, we’re all going to die at some point, but in the meantime a group called Russia-2045 is working to avoid this certain fate, and they’re building a robot to do so.
Our Ghost in the Shell dystopian future will be here sooner than you think. A new study published in Nature today demonstrates for the first time that robotic limbs can successfully be controlled with just the power of the user’s mind.
In today’s tough economic climate even industrial robots are having a hard time finding work. So it’s nice to see that researchers at Chiba University in Japan have successfully taught a robot arm how to juggle. An important skill that will let robots continue to earn a living by busking on the streets.
We live in an age of 3D models of just about everything, but they can be tough to manipulate with existing software tools. This Qumarion is a “mannequin input device” that allows 3D modellers to modify existing human models in real time.
In the never-ending quest to bridge the uncanny valley, Japanese scientists have turned to one area of research that has, so far, gone ignored: the robotic arse.
