qrio

Humanoid robot Nao wants to be friends

Aldebaran Robotics is showcasing the skills of its pint-size humanoid robot Nao ahead of its planned mass market release in about a year.

Nao is definitely one of the coolest humanoids around that stands a chance of making it into households as a real product. Aldebaran envisions it as "an autonomous family companion."

Fully programmable, the 23-inch bot boasts 25 degrees of freedom, affording it an impressive range of motion. Check it out in Nao's new promo vid after the jump.

Nao can grasp objects with its prehensile hands; process image and sound data; and navigate its environment using its sonars. Multimedia features include high-fi speakers, microphones, and CMOS digital cameras.

The biped runs on an x86 AMD Geocode 500 MHz CPU, 256MB SDRAM, 2GB flash memory, and lithium polymer batteries that last about 90 minutes per charge.

With striking similarities to Sony's discontinued Qrio humanoid, you'd think Nao was made in Japan. Pas du tout. Aldebaran is based in Paris, though Nao can only speak English. … Read more

Vote: The nonviolent robot Final Four

Voting is now closed for this round. See the results of these battles here and vote on the championship battle here!

Get it now! Your updated, printer-friendly tournament bracket.

This is why they play the games have online robot polls.

The Final Four is set, and only one No. 1 seed is still in contention. Not only that, but fan darlings The Beer-Launching Fridge, Bender, Marvin the Paranoid Android, and Nintendo R.O.B. have been sent packing due to heart-wrenching losses in the Elite Eight. They are still champions in the hearts of many, but when it comes to … Read more

Vote: Battle of the nonviolent robots (The Elite 1000)

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

Get it now! Your updated, printer-friendly tournament bracket.

This is why they call it Late September Lack-of-Sanity. Upsets, upsets, upsets were the theme of last week's nonviolent robot vote-battles, and only two No. 1 seeds are still in the mix.

Which nonviolent robots will win their division finals and go on to the Final Four? Vote for the winners right now; you have until Sept. 23 to vote on these Elite 1000 matchups.

See last week's final scores … Read more

Vote: Battle of the nonviolent robots (The Sweet Sixteen)

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

Get it now! Your full-size, printer-friendly tournament bracket.

And then there were 16.

These robots don't want to fight. That's why you have to pick the winners. After two weeks of "battling" it out, our field of nonviolent robots is down to 16 competitors.

Voting is open from now until Sept. 17. Check back then for the results of this round and vote on the Elite Eight matchups.

See last week's final scores … Read more