Meet the Robit: a smart home robot that can autonomously move around your house and connect to the Internet. It offers face, object, and pet detection, live streaming, and app support. You can use the robot to play games with kids or teach them programming. It can also let you know when your kids are back home or your pets are being naughty.
Meet the Autel Robotics X-Star Premium: a 4K drone with a 3-axis stabilizer that allows you to capture beautiful footage in the air. It has various autonomous modes (e.g. follow, orbit) and works with iOS and Android devices. The drone comes with GPS/GLONASS outdoor navigation, SecureFly magnetic interference protection, and the Starpoint Positioning System when GPS signals become unavailable.
Meet the Kabutom RX-03: a beetle-shaped robot by Japanese engineer Hitoshi Takahashi that is 11 meters long and weighs 17 tons. It can walk with 6 legs powered by diesel engines. As you can see in the below video, the robot can blow smoke through its nose:
Here is a biomimetic robotic hand that can mimic movements of your hands with artificial joint capsules, crocheted ligaments and tendons, laser-cut extensor hood, and elastic pulley mechanisms. As you can see in the below video, this robotic hand can be used for telemanipulation. For instance, it can hold a ball, CD, or other objects and manipulate it as you move your hand.
Zhe Xu and Emanuel Todorov are behind this cool project. More information is available here.
It is no secret that robot are getting better at solving Rubik’s Cubes. Sub1 is a new robot that has managed to solve a Rubik’s Cube in 0.887 s. It uses an Arduino compatible microcontroller board to orchestrate the 20 moves of its 6 high performance steppers. The below video shows the robot completing the task:
Meet CRAM: a compressible robot with articulated mechanisms inspired by cockroaches. It can squeeze and run through crevices half its height. The robot has a pliable shell and can splay its legs outward when squashed. Such a robot can be used in search and rescue missions when humans and regular robots may not be as useful:
In the event of an earthquake, first responders need to know if an area of rubble is stable and safe, but the challenge is, most robots can’t get into rubble. But if there are lots of cracks and vents and conduits, you can imagine just throwing a swarm of these robots in to locate survivors and safe entry points for first responders.
explains Robert Full, a professor of integrative biology at UC Berkeley. This is just a prototype for now, but the idea has a lot of potential.
[Source: Berkeley]
Here is an internet connected robot that writes and draws on glass surfaces with resspectable precision. You can send information to your robot from anywhere in the world. It can be used as an interactive twitter wall. iBoardbot has an open API for developers. The app app lets you send your drawing or text to the cloud.
The above video shows what this robot is capable of. You can find out more about it on Kickstarter.
Most of us have seen those cute, tiny BB-8 robots by now. ASCAS, who happens to be a teenager, has taken the idea a step further by building a life-size BB-8 Droid that can be controlled using a smartphone. You are going to need an Arduino Uno, a HC05 Bluetooth module, a battery, an inflatable beach ball, and a few other parts to get started.
Nao is a special humanoid robot capable of learning new tricks and has sensors and actuators. We have seen it used for various projects in the past. This video shows a Nao robot performing a dive into a pool of plastic balls:
We have covered the Maximo Robot Arm here a couple of times in the past. The robot has 225 parts and can be assembled using a Phillips-head screwdriver. The developers have released a bunch of new videos showing what you can do with this robot arm. This video shows it using a pen to mark letters.
