robots

SAN FRANCISCO--At the current rate of technological change, people in 2025 should be able to spend $400 for an Apple iPod with 40 million gigabytes, more than enough room to hold every desirable movie or book.

That's the prediction of Rodney Brooks, professor of robotics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and CTO of iRobot. He cited the iPod as an example of exponential change in technology advancement--a subject of Moore's law--based on the iPod's storage leaps.

"So much for the RIAA and DRM," he joked.

Brooks gave the opening keynote here at the … Read more

If nothing else here at Crave, we're all about finding new ways to disrupt your workplace with various toys and robots, especially on a Friday afternoon. And though we generally prefer items that can fly, crawl or jump on command, there are a few more traditional forms of juvenile gadgetry that can draw equally amusing results. To wit: the "Animated Robotic Power Trio."

Armed with a tiny guitar, keyboard and drums, your own personal band will play in sync with any MP3 player to the certain dread of any cubicle mate within earshot if its product literature … Read more

Correction: In an earlier version of this item, Ivan Bowman was credited as the inventor of the IvanAnywhere robot. Ian McHardy, a co-worker of Bowman's at Sybase iAnywhere in Waterloo, Canada, is the actual creator of the robot. Thanks to FromWaterloo in the Crave TalkBack section for pointing it out.

Telecommuting is nothing new. Nor is Web conferencing. But building a robot to come into the office while you work at home? That's both new and awesome.

Ian McHardy created IvanAnywhere to cruise around the office and establish a physical presence for his co-worker, Ivan Bowman, as Bowman … Read more

Voting is now closed for this round. See the results of these battles here and vote on the Sweet Sixteen matchups here.

These robots don't want to fight. That's why you have to pick the winners. Here's part two of the first round of our grand tournament, featuring robots from the movies and TV. All you have to do is vote for the winners.

Voting is open from now until next Monday, September 10. Check back then for the results of this round, exciting second-round matchups, and a couple of surprises.

It's the Sony Rolly, the product that nobody understands WTF it is! Of all the rumors, the one I like best (and sounds somewhat plausible), is that it's another Aibo-esque Sony robotic-pet product. This time, however, it looks like a little beer keg and possibly uses cameras and mirrors enclosed under its little animated hinged flaps to look around and interact with you. Sony's not offering up many clues here, but I think the theories on what this thing is are probably more interesting than the reality.

Anybody else want to take a guess? Music player? … Read more

The company that dispatches robots to clean your floors now wants to scour America's gutters.

Next up from iRobot is a gutter-cleaning machine, according to recently filed photos, diagrams and documents that were discovered by Engadget on an FCC Web site.

The new robot is called the Looj, according to a confidentiality request filed on August 28, which seems to have been granted on August 29.

All the photos and diagrams on the Federal Communications Commission site have been made confidential until October 13, but not before Engadget was able to snag one diagram and one photo of the Looj.… Read more

Resident robot expert Tim Moynihan is too busy pitting robots against each other in the ultimate head-to-head battle, so it falls upon me to warn tell you about Robot Land, a proposed industrial park in South Korea. Intended to be the locus of the country's robotics industry, Robot Land will house robotics manufacturers, suppliers, and research centers, plus exhibition halls and a stadium for robotic competitions. On the one hand, that sounds awesome--all kinds of robotic goodness in one place for our edification and (more important) entertainment. On the other hand, Delos.

South Korean officials are expected to announce … Read more

Voting is now closed for this round. See the results of the battles here and vote on eight more first round battles here.

Complex as they are, most robots solve dilemmas in a basic way: they fight each other. Then Michael Bay films it, charges $10 a ticket, and everyone enjoys the marvelous robots-kicking-the-crap-out-of-each-other show.

But there are plenty of robots that have no appetite for destruction. What about these robots, ones that have to rely on personality, artifical wits, social skills, and dance moves in order to survive?

Even if they banded together, these robots couldn't fight their … Read more

It swallowed a pit from a plum.

And over the course of three test drives through our house, the Roomba 560, the new top-of-the-line Roomba robotic vacuum cleaner cleaner from Burlington, Mass.-based iRobot, also gobbled up three rubber bands, two stray edamame, seven coins, a couple of beads and a grapefruit-size wad of pet hair.

And that was just what I found in the dust bin. An additional chamber that captures fine particles and sits next to the air filter captured a disc of dust that would cover a butter dish. The house was dirtied on purpose for this … Read more