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Pint-size humanoid robots have started an endurance race in Osaka, Japan, in what organizers are calling the world's first bipedal-robot marathon.

In the Robomarafull event, hobby and custom-built robots will attempt to complete a full 26-mile marathon by "running" around an indoor track 423 times. The foot-high robots aren't exactly speedy, so the contest will be decided by which robots are toughest.

Robots that topple over have to stand back up unaided, but their human handlers must recharge the bots' batteries and servomotors. The athletes can either run autonomously, following the colored course, or be controlled … Read more

Japanese start-up Vstone and Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, or ATR, have launched a new half-size humanoid robot designed to assist the elderly and disabled in everyday tasks like grocery shopping and navigating train stations.

Robovie R3 is the latest version of the robotic platform that the Osaka firm and Kyoto lab have been developing for several years. Last year, Robovie II was tested at a supermarket and could be seen making shopping suggestions to the woman it was accompanying.

R3 is built of plastic over an aluminum frame. It stands about 3 feet tall, weighs 77 pounds, and moves around on a wheeled base at roughly the same speed as a person walking.

It can roll over raised tiles designed to guide visually impaired people, a common feature in public areas of Japan. It can also hold a person's hand while moving and go up and down wheelchair ramps.

The robot is equipped with 15 servomotors and has 17 degrees of freedom (axes of movement). It has 11 touch sensors, USB eye cameras, two microphones, and two optional distance sensors.

It's being sold as a research platform. While incorporating significant cost reductions from Robovie II, R3 will still cost about as much as a sports car--some $40,000. ATR and Vstone hope to sell about 30 units this year.

One option for R3 is a special exterior designed by Tomotaka Takahashi of start-up Robo-Garage. The design makes R3 look a lot like Takahashi's Ropid humanoid, a cute little bot that can hop several inches off the floor.

With all the work that went into R3, it's a pity the machine's voice sounds like Mickey Mouse on helium. Would it be a hit with kids? See (and hear) it in action after the jump. … Read more

Osaka, Japan-based robot maker Vstone has announced a new humanoid hobby robot that has its own 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z530 processor, compatible with Windows and Linux.

Developed in collaboration with Japan's ATR labs, the new Robovie-PC represents an evolution in hobby robots with its advanced electronics.

Robovie-PC attempts to fill the gap between high-end machines in research labs and competitive hobby bots as seen in Robo-One and Robocup.

The 15.3-inch Robovie-PC comes preassembled and has an impressive 20 degrees of mechanical freedom, a gyro sensor and accelerometer, as well as onboard Wi-Fi and a 1.3-megapixel CMOS … Read more

Japanese robot builder Takeshi Maeda is blowing minds with an exciting demo of the latest version of his OmniZero robot.

The ninth generation of OmniZero can transform from bipedal fighting machine into a rolling vehicle as well as a walking seat (See it in action in the video below). The shape-changing robot is 3.4 feet tall and weighs in at 55 pounds.

Maeda, who weighs about 115 pounds, can ride piggyback on OmniZero when its head tilts back. The front wheels serve as handholds. In chair mode, the robot can change direction but doesn't seem able to move … Read more