ROBO-ONE 10: Grand Prix Demo by Dynamizer (Video)
We've been exchanging a long series of emails, files, and videos with humanoid robot owners overseas recently, and the discussion always comes back to creating more fluid and realistic movement.
To give them a good idea of what's possible, even with the limited DOF of a ROBO-ONE style robot, we typically show them the Grand Prix demonstration put on by Dynamizer last fall during a break at the ROBO-ONE 10 competition. Dynamizer's creator, Sugiura-san, is a strong believer in natural movement, good design, and being gentle to servos just as if his robot was actually alive.
We think you can easily see what we mean from the short video below.
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RoboGames 2007: Gold Metal Robot Builder Interview – Chris Farrell (Video)
We're always fascinated by the way that people are motivated and excited by robotics, so when we recently had the opportunity to interview double RoboGames metal winner, Chris Farrell of Farrell Robotics, we immediately jumped at the chance.
Chris, and his dad - Rob, have done some surprising work developing Oro and Zog - their competitive robots - completely from scratch, to the point that between them they won a total of four metals at RoboGames 2007 in San Francisco last month - Gold and Silver in Wrestling along with Silver and Bronze in the Biped Race.
Chris was kind enough to share their story with us, along with a lot of insight into their motivation and dreams.
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i-SOBOT Robot Self-Introduction (Video)
There's a lot of buzz around the internet centering on the new i-SOBOT humanoid robot. And, as you might expect, some of the information gets distorted, or is way off base. Rather than have people rely exclusively on second hand information, we decided to take the bull by the horns, and asked i-SOBOT to introduce himself to you and give a little background (see video below.)
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RoboGames 2007: Making New Friends
There are many benefits to attending, or participating, in events like RoboGames. Of course there's the chance to experience exciting robot competitions up-close and personal, and to be inspired by robots that you could never begin to imagine sitting in your easy chair at home. But, in our opinion, the most important and valuable benefit is the opportunity to meet others that are just as passionate about robotics - to make new friends, share opinions, laugh at each other's jokes, exchange experiences and information, and establish strong lasting relationships.
RoboGames 2007 last month was no exception. Finally we got to put faces with the names, and forum nicknames/handles, of people we knew from online robot forums like RoboSavvy. And, we got to make a lot new friends that are as devoted to advancing and promoting robotics as a hobby, and as a career, as we are. A great example is Johnny Williams from Boss Robot Hobby. Johnny was kind enough to explain why he's so dedicated to robots, and to his customers.
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Transformer Robot/Famous Toy Mash-up
After they released "Darth Tater" it was only a matter of time before Hasbro would get around to making a Mr. Potato Head and Optimius Prime transformer robot mash-up. And in their typical punny style, the new toy is named "Optimash Prime". It looks pretty cute, but we really yearn for the old days when we actually used a real potato body.
By the way, on restaurant menus translated into English here in Japan we sometimes see a "smashed potatos" side dish. We're sure Optimash Prime would do exactly that to any of his opponents in very short order.
We're surprised they didn't do something with the "Transformers, more than meets the 'eye'..." angle though.
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