ROBOTS DREAMS

Ramp-up To RoboGames 2008

It's hard to believe, but the premier robot event of the year, RoboGames 2008, is less than two months away. With close to a thousand robots, hundreds of teams from all over the world, and the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the top competitive robot builders the planet has to offer, you can bet we'll be there with bells on.

We haven't nailed down our exact travel schedule yet, but plan on spending a week to 10 days in the San Francisco area, either arriving a little before RoboGames, or staying for several days after the action. We're definitely interested in meeting, and possibly interviewing, people or companies in the area that happen to be as hooked on robotics as we are - so drop us a line.

To help all of us get in the spirit, we hacked together the short little RoboGames promo video clip below. Enjoy!

Roaming Robots Goes All Out

Are you feeling down in the dumps because you don't get your regular dose of robot madness and violence? Depressed ever since the TV networks stopped broadcasting combat robot battles? Have the urge to check out massive, pounding, flipping, fire-breathing robot destruction?

Well, look no further! Our friends in the UK at Roaming Robots have decided they want to become "Europe's leading Robotic Entertainment company, and they are pulling out the stops to make it happen. And, they are making a lot of their action available online...

The "Summer of Love" Redux - Robot Style!

It was 1967, San Francisco, and suddenly 100,000 young people flocked to the Haight Ashbury district creating an unbelievably powerful mix of music, freedom, creative expression, and new political thinking. It was Ground Zero for the hippie revolution, and the world will never be the same.

This summer, echoes of that unforgettable "Summer of Love" will rebound through the streets of San Francisco as robot enthusiasts from all over the globe gather to participate in three landmark events. The "Robot Summer of Love" gets off to a roaring start with the Combots Cup III event on May 3-4. Just one week later, on May 10th, and totally in keeping with the hippie "Make love, not war", the ROBOEXOTICA USA event comes to San Francisco. Then, mid-June, the worlds largest (and most exciting) robot competition - RoboGames 2008  is going to rock the walls, and probably the San Francisco Bay itself, with hundred of robots fighting it out in over 70 different events.

Robot Championship BRAVE Expands to Larger Robots (Video)

At first glance, the Robot Championship "BRAVE" might look very similar to the battle robot competitions that are so popular in the US and the UK. Yet, look a little closer and some significant differences become obvious.

Most obvious, in the BRAVE competitions there is no intent to do damage, or disable, your opponents. The goal, purely and simply, is to flip the opposing robot over, scoring points in the process. Once a robot is tipped or flipped over, and is unable to right themselves within the time allowed, they are repositioned to the entryway, and the competition continues.

ROBO-ONE 12: Robot Lunch Break (Video)

Months of hard work and preparation, followed by two days of really intense competition against the best competitive robot builders in Japan. The pressure and stress has to be tremendous. So, what do you do to relax and let off some steam?

If you're one of the top ROBO-ONE competitors what you do is to drop a new battery pack in your robot and spend almost your entire lunch break battling it out with one of your friends robots.

RoboGames 2007 - Combot Mayhem (Video)

It's been a long weekend, and we've managed to get a lot done, including a couple of long mid-day naps to try and get over the last vestiges of our RoboGames induced jet lag.

So, to celebrate, and to get one more 'to-do' off our long, long list, we thought we would share an other exciting moment of Combot Mayhem and destruction with you.

 We hope you enjoy it. There is nothing like it in Japan, or in most of the world for that matter. We won't see another battle like that until next summer when we go back over to San Francisco for RoboGames 2008.

RoboGames 2007 - The Red Barron in a Robot Dog-Fight!

The combat robot builders devote endless hours and considerable budgets to their battling creations. Some of them do it to win. Others do it to show off. Some do it for the opportunity to share time and a sense of community with other builders that have the same passion. And some appear to do it for the pure pleasure and fun.

Imagine Snoopy, dressed in his Red Barron costume, zooming around the combat ring on his bright red doghouse airplane, dog fighting with a really aggressive opponent. What would happen? Would he shoot down his opponent, or would the Red Barron crash and burn, going down in flames?

RoboGames 2007 - Bot Hockey (Video)

One of the great aspects of participating in RoboGames was that we were exposed to many new and different robot sports, and, of course, got to make lots of new friends in the robot community. As it turned out, the table we were assigned in the open pit area was right next to a group of 'Bot Hockey' players.

Don't know what Bot Hockey is? Don't feel bad. We didn't either, but now we do, and we're definitely impressed. The action is fast and furious, but unlike their combat robot cousins, the bot hockey players aren't out to mangle or destroy each other - though that could certain happen accidentally as you can see in the video below as one player gets stuffed into the goal box instead of the puck.

RoboGames Here We Come!

Well, we made the first 5,000+ miles okay - all the way from our home in Chiba, out to the Narita airport, and then a little over nine hours on the plane to San Francisco.

The weather here is fantastic. Bright, sunny, but not too hot - at least not downtown where we're staying. Right know we're waiting for some of the other team members to arrive, then we'll go over to check out the venue.

According to the map, we should actually be able to walk it - a little under three miles one way, or take one of the famous San Francisco Cable Cars almost all the way to Fort Mason. Of course when we take all of our robots and equipment over, we'll probably stretch the budget a bit and make some taxi driver very happy.

We haven't seen the detailed schedule yet. Hopefully they will provide one when we check in. Until we know the exact times for the events we'll just have to play it by ear. Our game plan that in addition to trying to run around and take photos of everything in sight (which I'm sure our team will), most of tonight and tomorrow will be spent getting our robots setup, fine tuned, and the motion files finalized.

We did do a quick damage survey as soon as we got to the hotel, and everything looks like it survived the flight and baggage handlers okay - knock on wood.

More to come soon ....

Simple, Cheap Robot (Video)

 
Okay, we want to buy or build a humanoid robot with movable hips, body, shoulders, and elbows. In terms of our design budget, how many degrees of freedom and servos, how sophisticated a controller, and how much money should we budget?

Would you believe zero servos, no controller, and a total budget of just under two dollars?

About a week ago we were wandering the back streets of "AKIBA" - the well known Akihabara district of Tokyo, and happened to pop into a small, hole-in-the-wall, recycle toy shop. Of course, we're a total sucker for anything that even faintly resembles a robot, and two small toys immediately caught our eye. 

The Coolest Transformer Robot We've Ever Seen (Video)

 
Some combinations work really, really well - like peanut butter and chocolate (Reese's) and others are a total turnoff (pickles and ice cream), but every once in a great while we run across a combination that is so totally awesome that our jaw just drops.

Leave it to Takara/Tomy, the originators of the popular Transformers line of robots, and Nike, the world's best known sports shoe company, to come up with the absolutely coolest Transformer robot set we have ever seen, and we've seen plenty.

3rd RCS BRAVE Robot Competition - Part 1 (Video)

Sometimes the simplest approaches to a problem turn out to be the best. That's certainly true of the RCS BRAVE Robot competitions, held regularly in Kawasaki, Japan.  The event organizers have gone to great lengths to keep the rules as simple and straight forward as possible, and to encourage active participation by robot builders of all ages and experience levels.

RCS BRAVE Robot Competition Rocks!

Words can't explain it, and the photos don't really do it justice. You really have to see the videos, or better yet attend in person, or even better - compete yourself. The RCS BRAVE robot competition is totally 'over the top'. Fast, furious, and a tremendous amount of fun.

The 3rd RCS BRAVE Robot competition was held today in Kawasaki, and we had the opportunity to watch and record the action. Today's photo set from the competition has been uploaded and is viewable now. Over the next couple of days we'll process the video clips, review our notes, write up a report and post them as soon as possible here on Robots Dreams. We're sure you'll be just as amazed and delighted as we were.

RoboGames 2007 Adds Some Awesome Humanoid Events

The ROBO-ONE style humanoid robot events have always been an interesting part of the annual RoboGames competitions held in San Francisco early every summer. But most of the focus has been on the massive combat robot battles where teams dedicate themselves to building some of the most aggressive and destructive robots known to man.

But, this time around it looks like the humanoids are set to gain a lot more attention, have more competitive events, and more robot teams competing than any RoboGames in the past. According to David Calkins, the guiding force behind the popular robot competition, a whole raft of new "Humanoid Challenges" are scheduled for RoboGames 2007.

In addition to the existing ROBO-ONE events, that are loosely based on the well known Japanese competitions, the new events will include robot Basketball, Lift and Carry, Marathon, Obstacle Run, Penalty Kick, Dash, 3:3 Autonomous Soccer, and Weight Lifting. David also stated, "We've got 17 teams already registered on the University side", which should ensure that the new events get off to a successful, and exciting start.

We've included links to the rules for all the new Humanoid Challenges below. And, we've already got our vacation time scheduled to make the long trek from Japan to partcipate in RoboGames 2007. This is one event we wouldn't want to miss.

Countdown: Coming Up - The Most Exciting Robot Event Ever!

ROBO-ONE 11 is just a few weeks away, and the excitement is really ramping up here in Japan. Several of the major television networks, including NHK and NTV,  have started broadcasting program segments featuring some of the top robots, and hobby robot articles are popping up in many popular Japanese magazines,

When entries to compete in the event closed last night, there were a total of 186 robots signed up, which we believe to be an all time record. Advance sale tickets to the March 24th/25th event are available online via the Lawsons Ticket system [code: 31716] for 1,500 yen versus 2,000 yen for purchase at the event itself.

2nd Annual All Japan Robot American Football Competition (Video)

Living here in Japan we get to attend a lot of robot, and robot related events. Some of them are fun, others are educational, and a few of them are... well, a little boring. But there is one competition that is always a blast, extremely educational, and never ever boring in the slightest - the All Japan Robot American Football competition.

The robot football event is organized by Fuji Soft (FSI), the same company that developed and sponsors the annual Japanese Robot Sumo competitions. As you might expect, the teams build their robots based, in large part, on the same types of chassis and principles they use for robot sumo. But there are some major differences.

Playing Hookey With GUNDAM

 
We were originally scheduled to be at RT in Akihabara this afternoon to take part in a ROBO-ONE practice session. But when we heard that Bandai is closing their Character and GUNDAM museum in Matsudo, we immediately knew where to put our priorities. Participation in the practice match was important, of course, but GUNDAM immediately outranks any other kind of robot activity hands down.

Battle Robot Photo Album

Battle Beach I, March 2003
Originally uploaded by mr_tentacle.

For readers that are devoted fans of combat robots created to tear each other apart in battle, "Mr. Tentacle" has a fantastic robot event photo set posted on Flickr.

The unique set includes hundreds of behind the scenes photos from several years of robot battle events. He's even gone to the trouble of captioning the photos, which we really appreciate.


For some people it's a rare chance to see what these events are like from a competitors perspective, and for others it will be a great trip down memory lane.

ROBO-ONE J Photo Gallery

ROBO-ONE-J-522
Originally uploaded by Tempusmaster.

All the photos from Saturday's event are online in the ROBO-ONE J Photo Gallery.

Massively Unexpected Consequences - Robot Style (Video)

Most modern designers and engineers are very familiar with the law of unexpected consequences. You set off to design something with all of the best intentions in the world, but suddenly you find that your creation seems to have taken its destiny into its own hands and is doing something totally unexpected. Sometimes that's good. Sometimes it's bad. Sometimes it's just funny or stupid. But when the creation happens to be a 350 pound battle robot that spins like crazy, the results turn out to be a giant physics lesson. 

The Battling Robot Spirit Lives On (Video)

The Rock Em Sock Em robots were first introduced 40 years ago in 1966 and seemed to have had a significant impact on the kids, primarily young boys, that played with them for hours on end. Although most of those robotic toys were probably consigned to municipal land fills ages ago, their combative robot spirit lives on in the hearts, and minds of those boys who have grown up to be parents with children of their own. So, what do they do in their free time? Why they fight robots, of course!

Who Were The World's First Fighting Robots? (Video)

Long, long before ROBO-ONE was even dreamed of, and long before most of the ROBO-ONE players were even born, probably about the time that their parents were graduating from high school and worried about finding a job and raising a family, humanoid robots were already busy battling it out in the ring. 

ComBots In Action At RoboGames In June! (Video)

You've probably seen combat robots trying to tear each other apart on television. This June at RoboGames in San Francisco you'll have the chance to see them in action 'up-close and personal', and to mingle with the robot crazy folks that create those metal eating, fire breathing monsters. For a quick taste of what you're in for, check out the video clip below, then visit the RoboGames website for all the event details.

More Humanoid Robots On The Way?

One of our regular readers pointed us to a report published by RC Universe Magazine covering the RCX 2006 Exposition held early this month in Anaheim, California. Along with the latest R/C and diecast models a number of companies were showing off bipedal robots including a new anime/manga style battle robot from a previously unknown company named "MechRC".

Robot Rumble Lasts All Evening (Video)

People kept telling us, "Robots in Osaka are different." When we would press them to explain they would say, "They are so different, you have to go see for yourself." Earlier this month our curiousity got the best of us, so we boarded the bullet train for the two and a half hour journey to Osaka to attend Robo-Fight 3. What we found was totally amazing. Instead of just telling you that the robots, and their builders are "different", we put together the video below.

All Japan Robot Sumo Tournament - Interviews (Part 2) (Video)

In this second part of the All Japan Robot Sumo Tournament interview series we explore some of the technical background behind the sumo robots and the strategies and tactics used by some of the top Japanese competitors. In addition to patiently answering all of our endless questions, the officials provided us with video clips from the 2005 competitions (see video below) that clearly, and dramatically, illustrate many of the topics they touched upon.

All Japan Robot Sumo Tournament - Interviews (Part 1)

We recently had the opportunity to visit the All Japan Robot Sumo Tournament Office and meet with Takeshi Kanai (Secretary General), Masaru Ishikawa (Vice Secretary General - Chief Judges), and Akiko Tsuda (Public Relations Section). They were kind enough to share a lot of the Japanese Robot Sumo history, and gave us some surprising insights into what is actually involved.

Robo-Fight 3 - Osaka: Getting Ready

We’ve been told for a long time that robotics in Osaka is very different from what we are used to seeing in the Tokyo area where we live. With the “Golden Week” holiday basically giving us a week’s vacation, we decided to put the time to good use, so this morning we caught the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka to attend Robo-Fight 3.

Robot Sumo Drama (Video)

We were lucky enough to be able to attend the 17th Japan Robot Sumo Competition for the 10 kg. class last weekend. Like real sumo, some of the matches were over in a fraction of a second with one massive, or skillful robot rapidly pushing its opponent out of the ring. And, just like real sumo, every once in a while there was a match packed full of tension, energy, excitement, and drama.

You Know That The Robot Wave Is Gathering Steam (Video)

We’re all convinced that the ‘robot wave’ is gathering momentum and is about to hit the civilized world like a ton of bricks or some sort of robotic tsunami. However, we’re all dyed in the wool robot lovers, so it may be hard for us to look at the situation objectively. But, there is at least one major piece of evidence that seems to indicate that we’re right on target. Robots are invading, and taking over, television commercials…

Robo Fight 3 Scheduled For May in Osaka

Most robot fans outside of Japan know about the ‘Robo-One’ competitions, but haven’t heard anything about the Robo Fight and Robo Gong events. That’s a shame, because in many ways the Osaka based Robo Fight and Robo Gong competitions tend to be more fun, draw a wider range of competitors, and are often much  more interesting than their Robo-One counterparts.

Robo-One Robots: Banshee from Team Lilac

With the next major Robo-One competition coming up soon (March 17,18, 19 in Tokyo), all the battle robot competitors are rushing to finish and test their latest designs and fighting strategies. We’ve been keeping an eye on the blogs to see how they stack up, and thought it might be interesting to introduce a few of the less well-known Robo-One participants – like Team Lilac.

How big, how fast, how deadly?

How big is a “robot”? Does size really matter in classifying something as a robot, or can it be truely humongous and still qualify? Suppose it was big, really big, like about 18,000 pounds – still a robot? What if it could fly, drop bombs, and operate autonomously. . . ?

Robot Builder Profile: Team Cosmos - Champion Robot Builders

We're kicking off a series of Robot Builder Profile articles featuring - guess what? Robot Builders!

The first profile features Team Cosmos, responsible for combat robots that have stacked up an unbelievable string of competition wins, and consistently bring home the bacon, and the trophies.