Random Robot Roundup

Posted 21 Jul 2008 at 16:12 UTC (updated 21 Jul 2008 at 16:13 UTC) by steve

Here's another round of robot stories to start off the new week. The folks at EPFL let us know they've released a new book, BIO-INSPIRED FLYING ROBOTS Experimental synthesis of autonomous indoor flyers. The new book was written by researcher Jean-Christophe Zufferey of the EFPL's Laboratory of Intelligent Systems. Howard Gordon writes, "you might interested in the new version of the SRV-1 Blackfin robot. We teamed up with some industrial designers for some nice changes." For more see the full Surveyor SRV-1 Specs. Vic Wintriss wrote to tell us that Wintriss Technical Schools just completed their first annual International Autonomous Robot Contest (iARoC) in San Diego. Check out the flickr gallery of contest photos. The Swirling Brain noticed engadget's story about a robot built from polymorph plastic, curtain rings, and electric screwdriver motors. The result is called Android 10. Other swirling stories this week include CNN's coverage of Anette Hosoi and her bioinspired robot that mimics snail locomotion. a Technology Review article on the UMan robot; an Electricpig story on Reborg-Q, a Japanese security robot; and the heartwarming story of three punk-rock-loving robots who pogo for science; an io9 story on Manekin Robotto, a robot fashion model that probably won't be putting any human supermodels out of work for a while; and a CBS story on Brian Hart, who developed the LandShark robot to help protect soldiers from roadside bombs; and a new wall climbing robot that relies on electrostatically-charge caterpillar tracks to stick to the wall. Roland Piquepaille posted in his blog about household robot Care-O-Bot 3 and NASA's Ikhana UAV. Know any other robot news, gossip, or amazing facts we should report? Send 'em our way please.