Latest Technologies

Having just read this, something just sprung up from my mind and I want to share a quick story with you about something I saw while on holiday not long ago. You will probably know what piracy means and I had the opportunity to visit some of the ‘pirated markets’ in Asia once while on holiday. There I remember seeing people using their PCs (which were equipped with multiple cd/dvd burners) and simultaneously burning and obvious creating multiple copies of whatever it is they were burning and selling (seemed like film dvds as well as Microsoft softwares and Windows!) them as soon as they were complete, and as you will have guessed, they were dead cheap!

Having sad that this robot designed by Aaron Shephard, has been created for the purpose of doing system backups, you have to realise though, it wouldn’t take very long for the guys I’ve see to do a minor tweak and turn this robot into an automatic, money making, piracy machine! However I can imagine how handy and useful it would be to have this robot at home or in an office,

Here is yet another latest technology (much reminds me of the sat nav system which stops you from speeding) from Nissan which helps you avoid crashing, this new idea have been successfully demonstrated in the BR23C robots as shown in the gallery. This amazing historic big step was achieved when the robots showed that they could recognise and help avoid coming into contact with any moving or non moving objects, thus avoiding a crash, (hopefully you will be able to see that in one of the pictures!).

Of course, Nissan isn’t just having some fun and playing with robots, what Nissan is trying to point out is that it’s latest technology isn’t just for robots, it will inevitably be used in its cars in the future.

Keepon, the robot which was once just a oneoff hand-crafted project is now being mass produced by its creators who have started their own company called BeatBots. The little guy will (actually, is now) be on sale for a base price of $30,000, primarily targetting researchers interested in the field of robotics or more specifically the subject of Human Robot Interaction.


Now, obviously I realise what you are probably thinking right now, that little thing for 30-grand? But, apparently, if you wait a little while, they are planning to come out with a new version which will use a simpler mechanism and have a cheaper price tag.

Watch this video of Keepon in action, then you might know what all the fuzz is about.

Check out this latest in ’simulating’ technology which is currently being featured at the Tokyo Game Show 2008. Zettai Zetsumei Toshi 3, which I believe just means earthquake simulator in plain human language, can really shake!

Not only does this DIY project include my favourite Lego building blocks but it is also mechanical (moves) AND it’s controlled via an iPhone! How cool is that? As you will see in the video, this homemade contraption has been set to perform an action (in this case, bend down so that the bottle it is holding pours out) every time it sees the word “pour” in a Pownce RSS feed, very clever stuff.

Don’t expect too much though, this is just a simple gimmick, it doesn’t appear from the video as though it has any sensors to know when to stop pouring. And of course, it doesn’t know neither where your cup is, so you have to place it in the right place for it.

The security and surveillance company Macroswiss illustrates in the following video some of the newest and latest robotic technology which they have been working on. The little spybot with the built-in mini Uzi is neat, but also check out the Hydrobot, which is a spybot for boats taking the form of a floating seagull as a disguise to hide away it’s cameras.

Though what you see are essentially Macroswiss’ robots in its very early demo stages and are literallly concepts in the making, if you’re interested there are also a number of other videos available online via YouTube (search for Macroswiss Security Robots on FutureWeapons).

Not very often does technology help us so much to the extent that it helps us out around the kitchen (the very thing that we’re all so lazy about). Now Panasonic thinks their latest creation might just do the trick. The KAR robot arm developed by a group of researchers from Panasonic and the University of Tokyo appears to do the sole task it was designed for relatively well. This is brilliant especially on a busy day when you come home from work, exhausted and just want to sit down on the couch for some tele. Though the KAR robot arm doesn’t exactly wash the dishes for you, it has been designed so that it is able to pick up your dishes gently without making a mess, rinse them and load them into your dishwasher - which is good enough for me!

Do you ever find yourself lost in technology and by that I don’t mean not knowing how to use the computer or a particular gadget. I mean, do you ever find yourself not as updated with technology as you would like? Lost in how quickly technology is advancing on a daily basis? It’s incredible how everything is moving before our eyes, this video showcases some cool technology that we already have at present, some you may not even know about, but the more important thing is what about the future? Will they be dominating us and our everyday lives? This is a question that’s been asked by so many, actually technology is already taking a major role in all of us, we just don’t realise it!

Yes, I know this is abit odd. Researchers at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology have developed a high tech exoskeleton robotic suit that aims to help farmers by giving them support and super strength! Expected to cost between $5,000 and $10,000, with great power comes great costs!

Sometime ago, we saw that Takara was capable of coming up some neat Transformer mp3 players, these attracted a considerable amount of attention across many blogs. Now Takara Tomy has done it again by introducing their latest ROBO-Q tiny adorable robots. Thought with a heavy price tag of $42 for a robotic toy of its size, the ROBO-Q robots definitely won’t disappoint.

We’ve featured all sorts of robots before, sexed robots, really real like fish robots but none with a pretty face as real as this robo-girl. This pretty Robot girl was done by Tamar and Rob Sheridan. Tamar took the photos and Rob did the special effects using Photoshop.

This latest NASA rover concept robot is being developed at the California Institute of Technology. It is an autonomous robotic rover stuffed with wireless computing sensors in a cylindrical body which NASA hopes it will be able to maneuver over all terrains, from steepy climbs to rocky mountains and deepest caters, basically wherever man wouldn’t reach safely. Check out the video below…

As you know Transformers 2 (Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) the movie is well on the way and won’t be too long before it hits the screens. Chevy is heavily involved in all of the Autobot’s vehicles, so this week at the Chicago Auto Show Chevy showed everyone at the show what the new Bumblebee 2 (Camaro) would look like by building and putting up this massive 18-foot Bumblebee. Boy, these movies are really a great way for automakers to promote their cars isn’t it?

A robot that can automatically serve ice cream with selected toppings and pass on a spoon? 26 students at Ohio Northern University under supervision of their professors have built an ice cream serving robot consisting of two Kuka industrial robots which man their stations inside a kiosk of custom-fabricated components. Check out the video after the break, what they have achieved in this project is brilliant!

Another amazing creative Lego product - Star Wars boba fett armor, which you can actually wear! Not sure that it will fit everyone though. This armor also includes the jetpack we saw in the Star Wars movies, which one to be exact I need a Star Wars fan to remind me. This is definitely something to wear if you want to look cool and stand out at a fancy dress party!

Back to the Future? Not exactly. It’s NASA! Those in America got the chance to enjoy a first look at NASA’s new oldschool design Orion spacecraft that will be taking humans back to the surface of the moon by the year 2020. The Orion Exploration Vehicle is part of a new fleet of vehicles that will make 21st Century space exploration possible. Weighing in at more than 8,000 kilograms, the Orion crew exploration vehicle is targeted to begin carrying humans to the International Space Station in 2015 and then to the moon in 2020, fifty years after man first stepped foot on its surface.

Our friends over at TechChee recently spotted this neat new robotic technology developed by the scientists over at the University of Munich Hospital. The EyeSeeCam has been developed to track the viewpoint of the user’s pupils, this as a result then transmits data to servo actuators that can control any number of mechanical devices imaginable.

Examples include a video cameras or even a robot. It sounds extremely simple to use, in fact, the EyeSeeCam has been practically developed to adapt to us, humans.

In terms of technical specs. the device can be operated remotely via wireless lan and only requires a standard laptop with a 6-pin firewire port. While the German scientists originally created the EyeSeeCam to study patient cognitive behavior, it looks like they will also soon capitalise on the device and its idea for some profit within the commercial market.

Every once in a while, somebody envisions a robot that feels plucked from a science-fiction movie or novel. Take this undersea robot concept from the Fraunhofer Institute, for example.
Believe it or not, this robot is designed to work independently and underwater. As you can see, the apparatus has four propellers for stabilization, and some arms too.I’m not certain what sort of projects that they have in mind for them, but deep sea exploration would be a good job, if it wasn’t for the pressures of deep water.
Many other blogs have compared its look to a certain robot that Neo wakes up to in The Matrix. Considering that these robots are programmed to act independently, how long will it be before they build more of themselves, and invade like the machines in The Matrix? The movie of that would be a combination of I, Robot and the 1977 William Shatner classic Kingdom of the Spiders.
The shape reminds me of this episode of GI Joe that takes place underwater. On this show, the evil Destro pulls out a ball that he calls a robot-opus and throws it at the good guys. Don’t ask me how he throws this underwater, but this tiny robot-opus ball opens up like an eye and sprouts eight tentacles to attack.
Well, time will tell if this concept robot becomes reality.