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Honda's Groin-Threatening Robo-Legs Demonstrated On Video
Posted by John Herrman at 8:18 PM on November 10, 2008
Why Honda took a few days to seed a video of their potentially emasculating robotic legs is beyond me, but here it is: a faceless man running the "Walking Assist Device" through its strides (ha, ha). My fears of testicular danger are only partially mitigated, and the fact that the legs have a hilariously feminine gait doesn't offer much comfort. That said, they do seem to work: the demonstrator never falls down, and appears to exert very little energy, even during deep squats. [Akihabara]
Martin Montesano's giant "Walking Beast" isn't the first robot spider ever made, but it is the only one I can recall that is this enormous and has the ability to take on passengers. His 6 tonne, 23-foot-long creation was built over the course of three years at an expense of US$50,000--and it can carry up to six passengers in its steel belly and two (including the driver) in the head.
A walking stick, with a catch. Well, potentially a catch anyway: with a reel and fishing line, this mashup gadget enables you to combined fishing with your countryside strolls. It's 89cm high, with a rubber foot and metal/plastic reel, and is available now for US$39.95. On second thoughts, House wouldn't so much use this for fishing for fish, as much as for views up nurse's skirts. The advertising doesn't suggest that though. [
Next Friday, a Dutch robotics researcher named Daan Hobbelen at TU Delft will be getting his PhD for building a robot named Flame. What's the big deal? you robo-saturated Giz readers ask. Flame has been built to walk like a man, using human-based principles that strike fear in the hearts of other robotics experts. UPDATE and BONUS VIDEO BELOW!!
Not quite as high-tech as the 
Autoliv's new Pedestrian Protection System combines a hood that opens to cushion impact and a pair of hood mounted airbags to reduce the risk of serious injury when a car comes into contact with an unfortunate pedestrian, cyclist or motorcyclist. The tech's safety specs are impressive: "From almost certain death to less than a 15% risk of life-threatening injuries in a car-to-pedestrian impact at 40 km/h." [
Honda has developed a gadget that they say could make walking easier for the elderly and others with weak leg muscles. The aptly named Walking Assist Device is a 2.7 kg motorised belt with hip sensors that gauge how much help the wearer will need. The motor then gives the wearer an appropriate boost, lengthening his or her stride enough to make walking easier on the legs.
When a team of Cornell students put Ranger to work tottering around the running track it just kept on walking, eventually achieving 45 laps before its batteries died and the poor thing toppled backwards. This 9 km hike smashed the previous 20-lap record. The kneeless Ranger is designed to investigate aspects of locomotion so that robot walking can be improved, and hopefully prosthetics for humans too.
We're not going to oversell this one. It's a bike. And it's had the wheels replaced by spokes tipped with shoes. In other words, it's quite possible the greatest invention ever. 
