New Autonomous Military Aircraft Makes Pilots Obsolete And Raises Ethical Questions
Historically, mankind has developed new weapons, deployed them, observed the damage, and then debated the ethics and morality of the weapons after the fact. That pattern seems to have held true from the time of the first crude clubs, spears, bows and arrows, and even the atomic bomb.
The latest development in that same series is the X-47B fully autonomous drone, currently being tested by the US Navy. The new robotic drone is so advanced that it can take off and land on an aircraft carrier at sea without human intervention.
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Smooth Analog Mixing Enabled In Latest Robot Software (Video)
Kondo just released the latest version of their robot motion creation software, HeartToHeart 4 (HTH4). While the software was originally designed to support the KHR-1, the world's first humanoid robot kit, its functionality and power has increased tremendously over the years.
Version 4 of the software includes many features that make it easy to take advantage of all the power and flexibility designed into a wide range of robot configurations including all of the Kondo multi-legged robots.
A good example is the CraftHouse demonstration video below featuring the Kondo KMR-M6 hexapod robot showing how HTH4 enables smooth analog mixing driving the robots motions from the remote control joystick.
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Innovation First & UK Government Stem Robot Invasion
Innovation First and UK Customs officials had nearly 7,000 robot clones seized and destroyed as they attempted to invade Southampton.
The mini robot toy insects were unauthorized copies of Innovation First's popular Hexbug product line. According to the report, the robots were manufactured in China and intended for sale online in the UK.
23rd All Japan Robot Sumo Tournament Official Video (Video)
Rodman777, a top class sumo robot builder in his own right, posted the 23rd All Japan Robot Sumo Tournament official video below. For those not familiar with robot sumo, Rodman is one of the key organizers of the Baltic Robot Sumo and European Robot League events, and competes regularly at RoboGames in the US.
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Wipeout Quantum Levitation Hoax Revealed (Video)
It turns out, as suspected, that the awesome "Controlled Quantum Levitation on a Wipeout Track" demonstration was a very elaborate hoax perpetrated at the NAD Centre in Montreal Quebec. The video grabbed over 2.7 million views and was featured on numerous websites. Many people thought, myself included, that the whole production was purely a marketing ploy by Sony to promote the latest version of Wipeout. But that doesn't appear to be the case.
Take a look at the Reveal video below to see how they did it.
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Building a life-size Stormtrooper – kind of…
Ever wonder why it was so easy for Darth Vader to control the Storm Troopers, and why Luke & Company easily ate them up for lunch? Simple - the Storm Troopers had sponge cake for brains.
Don't believe me? Check out the Tech Republic photoset to see how they constructed a life sized edible Storm Trooper, complete in every detail. The last photo in the set is my personal favorite. Now I'm seriously starting to think about cooking up a human sized Gundam.
Via: Building a life-size Stormtrooper cake (photos) | TechRepublic
20th ROBO-ONE Humanoid Robot Competition Scheduled
The ROBO-ONE organizing committee officially announced the dates for the 20th ROBO-ONE Humanoid Robot Competition. The event, which marks the 10 year anniversary of the popular movement, will be held at the Kawasaki City Industrial Promotion Hall on March 24th and 25th, 2012.
While the exact time schedule hasn't been released for each day yet, we do know that the 24th (Saturday) will feature the 9 meter qualifying speed trials, and the primary attraction on the 25th (Sunday) will be the traditional ROBO-ONE humanoid robot battles for the championship.
I'll post more information about the event as it becomes available.
Unique Multi-link Leg Design Enables True Robot Running (Video)
One of the most active debates about robots running ability has always centered around whether or not both of the robots feet leave the ground at the same time. When Honda's ASIMO humanoid robot was first demonstrated running, lots of critics immediately questioned if it had actually achieved "running" to that point or not. Eventually videos surfaced showing that indeed, for a fraction of a second, both of ASIMO's feet were in the air.
That being said, ASIMO is a multi million dollar, multi-decade research project backed with a staff of engineers and developers from one of the world's most well known automobile manufacturers. Could the same performance, at least as far as running is concerned, be achieved by a hobbyist working essentially alone in his workshop?
Apparently so...
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ROBOT JAPAN 3 Event Videos (Video)
I've created a playlist (below) with eight videos of the Robot Japan 3 event held January 8, 2012 here in Tokyo. The videos include the final matches and playoffs in both the Middle Weight and Bantam Weight humanoid robot fights, the robot dance performances, and some of the robot demonstrations.
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Robot Competition Spawns Unique New Designs (Video)
Iketomu-san, who publishes the great Biped Robot News Japan blog, was able to participate in the 5th KondoLand Multi-Legged Robot Obstacle Race competition held January 8th in Akihabara. The unusual competition features hazards including a large seesaw, moving wall robots that attempt to block or push the competitor off the course, a conveyor belt running against the direction the competitor needs to go, and a swirling whirlpool of styrofoam packing peanuts.
The competition has been going for long enough that some of the builders have started to optimize their robot designs to deliver the best performance over the obstacle course. One that really stood out to me was Amino-san's new TicTac6 robot.
’Robot Competition Spawns Unique New Designs (Video)’ continues
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