How To Impress Japanese Robot Fans (Video)
The Japanese robot builders are definitely World-Class, even at the hobby level. Their intense focus on the technology, craftsmanship, and quality makes them tough competitors in almost every sector of robotics, except for military/defense applications where the US holds a unique position.
So, if you were an American robot builder who happened to be living here and had the opportunity to compete head to head with the local talent, what could you possibly do to impress them and improve your odds of winning one of the top positions?
’How To Impress Japanese Robot Fans (Video)’ continues
Jumping Robots! Exciting and Cute New Designs On The Way.
Thomas Barse and Dino Ushida recently formed the Xodiac Design Project to develop, promote, and actively market some amazingly cute robotic characters that we believe will turn out to be extremely popular.
’Jumping Robots! Exciting and Cute New Designs On The Way.’ continues
Mini-Documentary From KQED on Hackerspaces (Video)
KQED in San Francisco put together an excellent 5 minute mini-documentary on the hackerspace movement featuring Mitch Altman, one of the founders of the Noisebridge hackerspace:
Search out a hackerspace in your community. They are popping up all over the world. Over here, Tokyo Hackerspace is well over a year old and has established a real presence in the community along with serving as a nucleus and gathering point for crafter's, experimenters, and robot geeks. If there isn't a local hackerspace near you already, then seriously consider starting one.
ROBO-ONE Pre-Qualification Method Changes (Video)
In the early ROBO-ONE competitions the first day was entirely devoted to 2 minute autonomous demonstrations where each builder's robot had to perform, and be scored by a panel of expert judges. The competition was intense and the pressure extreme. There could easily be as many as 100 humanoid robots lined up to try and impress the judges enough so that they could grab one of the 32 slots to return the next day and battle in the ring.
’ROBO-ONE Pre-Qualification Method Changes (Video)’ continues
Humanoid Robot Navigation Teleoperation Using NAO and Kinect (Video)
We've been following Taylor Veltrop's work integrating the Kinect with humanoid robots utilizing the Willow Garage ROS system closely, and we weren't surprised when he mentioned last night that he had just finished a new “killer video.”
You may be aware that Taylor was one of the lucky, and extremely capable, developers that were selected to participate in the NAO Developer Program via Robots Dreams. So, it was natural for Taylor to implement his Kinect based master/slave control system with the NAO robot.
But he wasn't satisfied with just to get the basic remote control functions working, he also added a great deal of autonomous operation, to the point that his NAO can act as a remote avatar capable of maneuvering around the room, picking up items from a table, and transferring them to another table across the room. Very, very cool. 
How did he accomplish it? Here's the background and details, plus some mind blowing demos like slicing a banana, cutting an onion, playing chess, hammering nails, and getting a tissue out of the box:
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