Chinese Hacker Creates Voice-Controlled R2-D2
All the women out there whose men just don't cut it in the gift department, gaze upon the glory of Lingxiang Xiang and despair at your man yet again handing you the same old wilted roses and chalky chocolates. For this is a man who has given his girlfriend the gift of R2-D2.
Robotic Band 'Compressorhead' Is The Literal Definition Of Heavy Metal
Presenting Compressorhead: a three-piece robotic heavy metal band, who have taken the world of "meatbags" on YouTube by storm with their cover of Motörhead’s "Ace of Spades." The technology that allows each of these robots to play the music you see is nothing short of amazing.
Brave Robotics Create Real-Life Transformer
1/12th the size of your average Transformer of the Autobot variety, Japanese developer Brave Robotics' 3D-printed car-to-bipedal transformer robot is no less impressive. Replete with a Wi-Fi-enabled camera that appears to wirelessly feed footage in real-time over the cloud and working headlights (it's the small touches that count), the walking robot can even fire tiny darts from its arms. (A rocket launcher attachment is presumably pending approval.)
MIT Invents Shape-Shifting Robots. Small Step Towards Real-Life Transformers
This device, known as a milli-motein, doesn’t look like much more than something you'd find in a home-workshop drawer. But this millimeter-sized set of motorized components inspired by proteins may be a harbinger of real-life Transformers, with the ability to naturally fold themselves into incredibly complex shapes.
Cambridge University Centre To Study "Extinction-Level" Threat To Humans From Technology
Researchers at the University of Cambridge have formed a new centre to explore the threat advances in technology may pose on the human species. The Centre for the Study of Existential Risk (CSER), they will investigate developments in biotechnology, nanotechnology and artificial intelligence, figuring out how these areas could become a threat to humanity.
The first line of defence against Skynet is now in place.
Disney Creates Robot That Plays Catch
Disney Research have built a robot that plays a scarily humanlike game of catch, tracking the user and the ball with its eyes. Aimed for use in Disney's theme parks of the future, it can also juggle too.
Ban ‘Killer Robots’ Before It’s Too Late, Says Human Rights Watch
With a 50-page report outlining “concerns about fully autonomous weapons, which would inherently lack human qualities that provide legal and non-legal checks on the killing of civilians”, Human Rights Watch has called for governments of the world to pre-emptively ban what they are calling ‘killer robots’, fully autonomous killing machines.
Researchers Create Walking Biological Robots Using Heart Cells
A team of scientists at the University of Illinois have built tiny biological robots that walk to the beat of a thin sheet of rat heart cells.
The 'Terminator Arm' Is The Most Advanced Robotic Prosthetic Ever
“I feel like the Terminator” is the statement coming from the once-limbless Nigel Ackland, 53, who lost his arm in an industrial accident some six years ago. He's one of just seven people in the world taking part in a four-month trial of a new hi-tech bionic arm that is being described as the most human-like limb ever. Seeing it in action, we're unwilling to disagree, it's something really quite special.
DARPA Creates Humanoid Robot That Jumps, Climbs And Avoids Obstacles With Ease
DARPA's most recent creation, the PET-PROTO Robot, has the capability to navigate such obstacles as climbing, jumping, and traversing a wall-to-wall hole in the floor. The company says it's designed to perform complex tasks in "dangerous, degraded, human-engineered environments;" but the possibilities of outrunning Skynet are now lower than ever.
US Navy's Humanoid Robot Dances Gangnam Style
The CHARLI-2 Humanoid, created by Virginia Tech and used for US Naval Research to become a potential future war machine, has continually demonstrated amazing stability and speed in walking. And now, giving an entirely new meaning to a 'warrior dance,' he also dances Gangnam Style.
Cheetah Robot Outruns Usain Bolt
A new speed record has been set by Boston Dynamics' Cheetah robot, running at 28.3 mph - faster than Usain Bolt's top speed of 27.78 mph.
Genetically Engineered Muscle Cells Could Be Used To Build Organic Robots
Researchers have created a set of lab-grown muscle cells, that can be remotely controlled by a set of laser pulses. This opens the door to "bio-integrated" robots in the future, which are constructed out of organic material.
DARPA-Funded Robotic Hand Can Repair Itself, Disarm IEDs
Sandia National Laboratories has developed a cost-effective robotic hand with enough dexterity to mimic human hand movement in the hope it could be used in disarming improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.
Fund The Bid To Build A Two-Tonne, 18-Foot Wide, Six-Legged Robot
There isn't a lot in robotics that doesn't get us excited, let alone this hugely ambitious build by a team of Massachusetts roboticists. Nicknamed 'Stompy', it's an 18-foot wide, 4,000 pound (1800kg), six-legged hydraulic robot that you can ride. Told you it was exciting.
Guy Spends Two Years Building Life-Size, Working WALL-E
It’s a testament to Pixar’s immense talent as an animation studio that it is able to bring such heart, emotion and unbridled cuteness to a mute, rusting trash compactor. For California-based robotics enthusiast Mike Senna, WALL-E deserved to exist outside of the realms of Disney animation…
Japanese Create 13-Foot Armed Mech, Controlled By Smartphone
Japanese engineers from Suidobashi Heavy Industries have built a 13-foot-tall, 4.4-tonne mech called 'Kuratas,' which is controllable via iPhone and fires gattling guns when you smile. The company plans to take it into mass production, selling it for the price of $1.35 million (about £860,530).
Researchers Develop Robotic Camera That Accurately Mimics Eye Movement
Researchers at the Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology have succeeded in developing a robotic camera system equipped with muscle-like action that replicates the muscle motion of the human eye in ways never before seen. It is hoped the milestone will eventually make robotic tools safer, as well as making camera feeds from robots more intuitive to use.
Shoulder-Mounted Robot Gives You A Borrower-Sized Companion
To conquer the modern day pressures of loneliness, this rather bizarre shoulder-mounted MH-2 (or 'miniature humanoid') will follow you through the day, perched on your shoulder, and offer a holographic visual presence of any of your closest people.
Science Fiction Turning Into Science Fact
I may be a poor graduate; but the savings are still on course to help me afford my Mattel Hoverboard in 2015. A mere three years to go and I can purchase the one item which ultimately captured my complete childhood amazement in Back to the Future. I just hope they bring out one that isn’t pink because I want them to match my Nikes.
Aspirations of levitation aside, it’s astounding how many (so-called) fictional inventions are coming strangely close to existence. Technology is advancing at an astounding rate and inventions that seemed impossible in the recent past are being developed right now. Think about it this way: You’re reading this on a device that has more computing power than they used to land on the moon back in 1969. Imagine what can be done now.