micro-robots

Skitterbot creeps us out at 1 foot per second

If you love freaking out your friends, especially a girlfriend who hates bugs, here's a toy you might dig--Skitterbot is a six-legged robotic insect that can burn rubber at the rate of one foot per second.

Maker Desk Pets claims Skitterbot is the fastest commercially available legged micro-robot. It's controlled and recharged via USB, requiring a 30-minute juicing for 15 minutes of play.

The critter has flashing evil eyes and comes in three colors, as well as transparent. Each has a separate frequency, so multiple players can race and fight each other. They're now on sale at … Read more

Buzz Out Loud 950: Hackers brave bats and dragons

AT&T had an outage yesterday morning in the bay area due to fiber-optical cables being cut. This didn't just affect landlines, but cell phones as well. Rafe describes the dangers hackers would face in trying to cut those cables. We also estimate the distance to New York as 12 worms, and give a plus-five Holy Avenger sword salute to Dave Arneson.

Listen now: Download today's podcast EPISODE 950

AT&T was vandalized in the Bay Area? http://www.att.com/gen/press-room?pid=4800&cdvn=news&newsarticleid=26715

AT&T uses Twitter … Read more

Researchers build 'flying' micro-robot

A flying micro-robot has been developed by researchers at the University of Waterloo in Ontario.

A research team, led by Professor Mir Behrad Khamesee, manipulates magnetic fields to levitate and move around three axes a robot weighing about three-hundredths of an ounce.

According to a paper shared with ZDNet UK--"MechMN: Design and Implementation of a Micromanipulation System using a Magnetically Levitated MEMS Robot"--this is accomplished with an array of electromagnets that creates a three-dimensional parabolic magnetic field.

The robot is magnetized itself and sits on top of the parabola, supported by the interaction between its own … Read more