Crave

Famous Pittsburgh landmarks are the backdrop for BigBots, 11 giant robotic art installations.

The robotic art pieces, which went up on Friday, will be displayed through July 28 as part of Robot 250, one of this summer's festivals celebrating Pittsburgh's 250-year anniversary.

The collection is whimsical. Many of them are not what one might consider a robot, but each seems to speak to a philosophical topic currently being discussed in the technology community.

Here are some highlights.

Mower by Osman Khan.

(Credit: Robot 250)

Mower, a robot designed by Osman Khan, a visiting assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon's School of Art, can be found on the grass at the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. The pet/autonomous lawnmower is an allusion to Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The ideal Mower robot would include navigational and obstacle avoidance sensors, according to Khan. Hmmm...Sounds like the Auto Mower from Husqvarna, only not as cute.

Reach, Robot by Grisha Coleman.

(Credit: Robot 250)

The Reach, Robot installation at PPG Plaza by Grisha Coleman allows people in and around the giant overhead web to create ambient music in the plaza through their movements. The sounds played are based on Pittsburgh's African-American music history. The kinetic sculpture works from laser and pressure sensing devices attached to the web (made from PPG-manufactured continuous strand fiber glass) that respond when people move under it or congregate in particular areas of the plaza.

Green Roof Roller Coaster by Joey Hays (right) and Greg Witt (left).

(Credit: Robot 250)

With all the benefits plants give us humans, shouldn't they have some fun? To raise awareness of just how much green roof architecture gives back to the environment, artists Greg Witt and Joey Hays built the Green Roof Roller Coaster as a thank-you gift of sorts. While adults have been scratching their heads, children seem to have no problem figuring out that the installation atop the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh is simply a roller coaster for plants, Hays said at a press conference. While providing "fun" for the plants, the roller coaster roof still maintains the usual functions of a green roof such as collecting rain water.

You're #1 by Ian Ingram.

(Credit: Robot 250)

This isn't just a giant 12-foot tall foam hand. The You're #1 robot by Ian Ingram atop the Andy Warhol Museum is connected to a series of stations around Pittsburgh. When someone walks up to a station and touches a smaller version of the foam finger, the giant one on the roof points directly at them whether it's a block or miles away.

Robot percussion by Keny Marshall.

(Credit: Robpt 250)

Keny Marshall's installation is officially called a "prototype for an infinite array of semi-autonomous percussive devices," but has also been nicknamed Crickets for short. The robots are all connected by wires and send or receive signals to each other to play their wooden blocks or keep quiet. The system is programmed to follow Dr. John Conway's rules for the mathematical game, The Game of Life.

In addition to an expected increase in sales to the U.S. military, iRobot says it will see growth in its unmanned robot platforms from foreign buyers.

iRobot's Warrior robot can be modified to support chemical sensor devices or functioning weapons.

(Credit: Candace Lombardi/CNET News.com)

The "Unmanned Systems Roadmap 2007-2032," a report put out by the Department of Defense last year, outlined a strategy to increase spending in unmanned technology for the air, sea, and ground.

iRobot, which has already been supplying the U.S. military with unmanned robots for use in ground reconnaissance and combat, has repeatedly said it will benefit from the military's increased need.

But the company now says that as its robots have proven themselves useful in Iraq and Afghanistan, interest from foreign armed forces has also increased.

iRobot has sold robots from its line of unmanned military drones internationally to 13 allied countries, including Australia, Gemany, Israel, and the United Kingdom, since 2006, Joe Dyer, president of iRobot's Government & Industrial Robots division, told reporters in a Web conference Wednesday.

The international market consisted of only a handful of robots sold in 2006, but about 8 percent or 9 percent of iRobot's total revenue for unmanned robots in 2007. This year, iRobot estimates that its foreign market will increase to about 15 percent of its total revenues for its government and industrial division, according to Dyer.

But how do export license approvals work when a company is a supplier of dual-use technology to the U.S. military? Admittedly, iRobot's unmanned platforms are just as suited to benign first-responder search-and-rescue functions as they are to lethal combat. But either way you look at it, iRobot is still selling hardware with high-tech military capability to foreign entities.

"It's on a country-by-country basis. If country X desires to purchase iRobot robots, we take it to (the State Department) for approval. If we receive it, we proceed," Dyer said.

(Credit: Live Luggage)

From the library to the golf course, the idea of personal robots that follow its masters around seems to be ready for prime time. And nowhere would they be more convenient than for luggage.

Alas, that day has yet to come, but a company called Live Luggage is taking a step in the right direction. Calling its showcase product "the world's first power-assisted suitcase," the luggage has built-in motors in the wheels and an "Anti-Gravity handle" that supposedly distributes weight in all the right places, according to CrunchGear.

The motors power up only when the wheels tilt at certain angles, making it somewhat automatic. But we're still holding out for "Tony," the fully robotic Russian suitcase.

(Credit: I4U News)

Not even a month has passed since the "Tri-Bot" has succeeded the Robosapien, and already another wheeled animatron is mounting a challenge. The "A.M.P." (Automated Musical Personality) Bot from Tiger Electronics differs from the Tri-Bot by navigating on two wheels instead of three, a feat made possible by its gyroscopic system.

It's also not meant as a kindergarten toy, according to Gearlog, measuring 2.5 feet tall and weighing in at a hefty 15 pounds. The target consumer's age is between 16 and 25, in fact, and for good reason: The A.M.P., which also plays and dances to the beat of MP3s, is expected to cost between $400 and $500 when it rolls into stores in October.

iRobot has secured a multimillion-dollar R&D contract for a new type of soft, flexible robot for the military, the company announced Tuesday.

The "ChemBot" project was awarded to iRobot from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the U.S. Army Research Office.

iRobot did not release any preliminary diagrams or details on what the ChemBot might look like. But some ideas on what a ChemBot might be like can be gleaned from a request for proposals DARPA put out in March 2007. The robot DARPA wants to see must be a soft, flexible, mobile robot that can squeeze into hard-to-reach places. The goal is to make a robot that would be "soft enough to squeeze or traverse through small openings, yet large enough to carry an operationally meaningful payload," according to DARPA's request. The robot will also need to change in size and shape to fit a given situation's needs.

The ChemBot project led by iRobot will include team members from iRobot, Harvard University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with expertise in chemistry and material science, as well as those versed in the expected actuator, electronics, sensor, and computer technologies.

The ChemBot will be used for reconnaissance and search-and-rescue type missions, according to iRobot.

Small and nimble seems to be the latest robo-interest.

SRI International released footage of its sticky wall-climbing robots in April. BAE Systems announced in early May it secured a $38 million contract with the U.S. military for its spider-like intelligence-gathering robots. Finally, researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle announced earlier this month that they are developing "robofish" for gathering information at sea and that the military is interested in a school of its own.

Natali Del Conte will be the guest hostess next week and we want your best nicknames for her now! Please submit them to drivingmecravy@cnet.com because she won't see this coming!

It's everything from the Crave blog, with Brian Tong and guest host Bonnie Cha. This week, they talk about a new robot toy and a cell phone that you can use underwater. Then they take to the streets to see what people think about Built NY's laptop backpack. Plus, Bonnie takes your submissions and finds a nickname for Brian.

(Credit: RobotsRule)

So long, Robosapien. It's been a good run, but face it: When McDonald's starts giving you away with Happy Meals, it's probably a sign that your 15 minute of fame are over.

Enter the "Tri-Bot." WowWee's successor to the groundbreaking Robosapien follows closely in its footsteps with exceptional mobility for a toy robot, except that it has no feet. Instead, it has a three-wheeled base that allows it to turn in any direction at the sharpest angles. The bot made an appearance earlier this year at CES, but RobotsRule has just posted the first detailed reviewof it here.

The wheels make it easier to play games and maneuver in general, especially on thick carpets. It also has a sensor remote, which can control the bot's movements simply by tilting, not unlike the way a Wiimote works.

But a feature that's perhaps even more noteworthy is its software, which gives it "the personality of an affable hyperactive youngster" who "frequently makes humorous comments to spice up your playtime with him," RobotsRule says. This could get irritating as well, because Tri-Bot apparently will also make comments on things like dirty floors. Although, given the stained carpet in the video below, one can't really blame it.

(Credit: Solar Breeze)

It may not be long before solar-powered bots are taking care of all our household chores. Already we've seen robotic lawnmowers get powered by the sun, and now pool cleaners are going solar too.

The "Solar Breeze" is apparently the first pool-skimming robot of its kind, capturing ultraviolet rays with two panels and storing the energy in its rechargeable batteries. It requires no electrical connections and "never stops working," according to its Web site. The bot is also capable of dispensing chlorine as it cleans, though it should be noted that another solar product, the "Floatron," can distribute chemicals on its own as well.

Stil, the Solar Breeze is likely to present some competition for other independent pool-cleaning devices. Which means there's hope that an underwater bot battle may someday be in the offing.

(Credit: Samsung)

How do you come up with a vacuuming bot that can compete with the Roomba, which has become a household word? (A least in Michael Kanellos' house anyway.) Answer: Make it smarter.

That, at least is apparently the strategy of Samsung, which has created its own OCD bot called the "Hauzen VC-RE70V" for the Korean market, according to I4U News. This self-motivated sanitation engineer surveys its premises with a built-in camera, then automatically draws a map that shows where it needs to clean and, just as important, where it's already been so it doesn't waste energy. When it does need more juice, it knows how to find its charging station and remembers where it left off when resuming its duties all by itself.

There's only one question that remains. Can it be programmed to deliver beer?