bots

Time's running out. The holidays are almost here, and you need ideas to get a rise out of your boring relatives, who will already be on the lookout for the RC tarantula you unleashed on the last family gathering. That 44-pound roach bot would be ideal, but it's not for sale.

Enter the "Roboscorpion." This beast's motions have been pattered after the poisonous desert dweller, according to Gizmowatch, with independently moving head, tail, and claws that look sharp enough to make it the robotic equivalent of Edward Scissorhands. It's the closest thing we've … Read more

The company that ate the robot market, iRobot, has just received an order from the U.S. Army for 40 more PackBots, which means that will soon be more than 1,000 of these robots on active duty around the world.

Units ordered include some equipped with the ICx Fido Explosives Detector. Fido allows an operator to detect explosive vapors and particulates from munitions or IEDs from a safe distance using a game-style controller.

The 510 model was also included. It can lift 30 pounds and scoot around at almost 6 mph, climbs stairs, roll over rubble, rocks, mud and … Read more

AUSTIN, Texas--If you've never seen a machine that makes 3D models out of sugar, you should.

But unless you're part of a relatively small group of people who went to the Maker Faire in California in May, or are one of a few other people who know the machine's creator, you probably have never even heard of the device.

Similarly, you may not be aware--or at least the general public probably isn't--that there is a whole movement going on right now to build advanced, digital, relatively inexpensive personal fabrication and robotics tools that can do or … Read more

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--The Boston area has become a leading robotics hub, with a larger cluster of related companies than any other area in the U.S., according to a group of panelists assembled for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Enterprise Forum on Robotics Wednesday night.

The group, which consisted of executives from ABB Robotics, Brooks Automation, iRobot, Kiva Systems, North End Technologies and Vecna Technologies, said robotics companies are drawn to the university-rich New England area because of their unique need for highly educated employees from a multitude of disciplines.

While there are some great robots, the panelists said, they … Read more

The court case continues over the Negotiator military robot built by a former iRobot employee.

Jameel Ahed, who has garnered a $280 million contract to sell military robots to the government through his company Robotic FX, testified in a U.S. District Court of Massachusetts on Wednesday.

The Robotic FX president said that his robot was built from his own work while an undergraduate student at the University of Illinois, not trade secrets stolen from iRobot while he worked there, The Boston Globe has reported.

Neither iRobot nor Robotic FX were immediately available for comment.

iRobot has alleged in two separate suits that Robotic FX is infringing on U.S. Patent … Read more

Robotics company iRobot announced Monday that it has filed two lawsuits concerning its PackBot military robot and former employee Jameel Ahed, the founder and president of Robotic FX.

Ahed's Illinois-based company sells the Negotiator, a tactical surveillance robot that has been purchased by Illinois state police.

Robotic FX's Negotiator is "a knock-off version of the combat-proven iRobot PackBot robot," said an iRobot statement on the matter.

"We are currently reviewing our legal options and intend to aggressively defend our position," Ahed said in an e-mailed statement.

"Robotic FX sold its first Negotiator Tactical … Read more

Here's the perfect answer to your prankster friend and his RC tarantula or that irritating co-worker who won't stop playing with the toy bug bot or "Solar Cricket" on his desk.

Relish the look on their loaf-of-bread faces when you summon all 44 pounds of the "Halluc II" beast-roach. Developed by Japanese scientists, this 32-inch, eight-legged robotic bug runs on Linux software and an 800MHz AMD processor, technology that Engadget says allows it to "walk or roll via a simple rotation of its jointed appendages." What's unclear to us is why … Read more

It's good to see that the Japanese haven't forgotten about cultural entertainment in their apparent quest for a human-free society. At least their robots haven't, anyway.

The recently unveiled "Motoman" was initially assigned to such mundane tasks as sorting mail, for example, but it's already showing that it's got rhythm too. Four of them, to be exact--two twin-armed models and two welding versions.

The robots displayed their prowess on the taiko drums at the Kokura Gion Daiko Festival, an event that Pink Tentacle says is almost 400 years old and is known for … Read more

As we've been warning for ages, we knew it would happen eventually--we just didn't know exactly how. But now the diabolical plan for world domination by the dreaded Hello Kitty is becoming frighteningly clear, and it makes perfect sense: as part of the robotic trend toward a human-free society in Japan, the homeland of creator Sanrio.

Yes, we're talking about the "Hello Kitty Robot." The 20.5-inch tall, 13.7-pound cat-bot, which is equipped with face and voice recognition, can move its head and appendages while "chatting with you in three different situations: 1. … Read more