Random Robot Roundup

Posted 16 Nov 2007 at 21:59 UTC by steve

In the mailbox this week, we find a new blog post from Roland Piquepaille on optical flow. This biologically inspired technology has always been one of my favorites for use in robots, hopefully this new research will result in wider use of optical flow. The Swirling Brain sent links to an AP story on Korean robot theme parks and a detailed blog posting with lots of photos about an industrial robot that has been reprogrammed to perform calligraphy which is used to reproduce the entire Martin Luther Bible. Kuka pointed out an additional story about the Bible transcribing robot. If you find music more interesting than calligraphy, you've probably heard that Gibson has introduced the blue silverburst Les Gibson Robot Guitar. While it's a stretch to call it robotic, the guitar does some pretty cool things. It self tunes with the help of multiple CPUs and sensors that monitor the tuning of each string individually. This allows the musician to return for string gauge, bridge height, and even temperature changes in seconds. Playing still has to be done manually though, maybe Robot Guitar Version 2, will take of that. Know any other robot news, gossip, or amazing facts we should report? Send 'em our way please.