robot

YEOSU, South Korea--I'm a sucker for world fairs. They sell dreams and I'm ready to buy.

In 2005, the Aichi Expo in Japan sucked me in like a giant Roomba and I became hooked on its fantasy of a greener, robot-filled future.

That dream hasn't come true, but I still couldn't keep away from this year's small-scale expo here in Yeosu, South Korea, where robots are also reeling in the masses. … Read more

Radiation exposure is an occupational hazard for cardiologists performing a procedure called percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI -- better known as angioplasty), which helps restore blood flow to blocked arteries in patients with coronary artery disease. Lead aprons help, but they're not perfect, and they're heavy enough to take a toll.

Now a new system that employs robot-assisted stent and balloon placements to restore blood flow has received FDA clearance this week. Called CorPath 200, it allows cardiologists to work from inside a lead-lined cockpit, not only minimizing their radiation exposure but also improving their view of the angiography … Read more

With each passing year, it seems robots evolve faster than humans do. Last week, a group of students at the University of Freiburg's humanoid robots lab in Germany detailed how they gave robots the ability to maneuver extremely difficult obstacles, such as stairs and ramps, without assistance.

To achieve this relatively new level of robotic maneuverability, the researchers implemented a "2D laser scanner, a monocular camera, an inertial measurement unit, and joint encoders" into a Nao robot, according to a research document (PDF). … Read more

Kids, meet Kate the robot. She wants to play with you, help you do your homework, or just give you a big metallic hug while Mom or Dad are deployed overseas. She can't replace your parent, but with her smiling ET-ish visage and gift for gab, she might be able to ease the distance a bit.

Dan Mathias of the Florida-based one-man FutureBots Lab thought up the humanoid telepresence robot specifically as a companion and communication device for kids of remote military service members.

He also thinks Kate (Kids Avatar Teacher and Entertainer) could, like Kaspar the friendly robot, help autistic children improve their social and communication skills or maybe be used in nursing homes to assist Alzheimer's patients. … Read more

A Japanese inventor appears to have put an awful lot of effort into enabling laziness. A modder going by the handle of "FRP" looks to have designed a mobile wastebasket that can ambulate around to catch any falling (preferably with a high arc) trash you toss in its general direction.

FRP replaced the bottom of the can with some wheels attached to something similar to an Arduino board. On the other end of the system is a wall-mounted Kinect that watches for flying debris, calculates the landing spot, and then sends the can to catch the garbage like an outfielder going after some rookie's pop-up.… Read more

Almost a year ago to the day, we wrote about a water-walking microrobot inspired by insects. Now the Jesus bug has ascended over the waves, as it were, at speeds up to 3.6 mph.

Qinmin Pan and colleagues from the Harbin Institute of Technology in China have redesigned their critter so that it jumps up and down like a real water strider, according to research published in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

The team wanted to improve the Jesus bug-bot so that its legs would not break the surface of the water when leaping. … Read more

A new robot arm extends its manipulator in a gesture of friendship. Will you shake it?

Philadelphia-based robotics firm Robai hopes so. The latest of its Cyton robot arms is the Cyton Gamma, and it's designed to work with us meatsacks.

The Gamma's seven joints are "kinematically redundant," Robai says in a release, meaning it can move various ways to position itself. This gives it more dexterity. … Read more

The art of humorous storytelling in Japan, known as rakugo, isn't as popular as it once was. But now an android has joined the ranks of comics who kneel on cushions while spinning out jokes.

The narrative droid is a copy of Beicho Katsura III, an 86-year-old rakugo comic recognized by the government as a Living National Treasure.

The Beicho Android, as it's known, is the work of Osaka University professor Hiroshi Ishiguro, creator of the Geminoid series of lifelike androids, and makeup artist Shinya Endo. … Read more

If you're driving around in a 2013 Ford Fusion and think to yourself, "My, but this seat is comfortable," there's a good chance you have RUTH the robot to thank.

Ford's Robotized Unit for Tactility and Haptics -- a modified consumer packaging arm that tests interiors for quality and comfort -- has crossed the Atlantic from Europe to bring her touchy-feely testing skills to North America.

The robot simulates human motor skills to measure parameters like roughness, hardness, and temperature on points such as the steering wheel, knobs, and armrests. RUTH has already been used for several years at the automaker's European Research Center in Aachen, Germany, to poke and prod European versions of the Focus and Fiesta.

RUTH 2.0, located at Ford's Product Development Center in Dearborn, Mich., measures seat comfort too. She has extended her six-jointed arm all over the seats of the 2013 Fusion, the first North American car headed to production that she's had a major hand (or arm, we should say) in testing. … Read more