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motoman

Vote: Battle of the non-violent robots

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

'Motoman' bot shows it's got rhythm

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

Mailman, move over for 'Motoman'

We may not be advocates of Japan's future human-free society, but we do think there's at least some hope: A few of the country's robots are actually providing some useful functions like doing the dishes, not just handing out Kleenex or presiding over weddings (perhaps both, at some auto-nuptials).

The latest practically minded bot comes from Mitsui and Yaskawa Electric, which have partnered with the Hokusho packaging systems company to develop a mechanical worker that can sort parcels, clothing and other relatively small objects. The "Motoman-DIA10," according to Pink Tentacle, has "a pair of … Read more