Geminoid is an android that breathes, using compressed air, and responds to physical contact such as being poked. He's been created as a robot double, to allow his human counterpart, Japanese scientist Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro (shown), to (for example) give remote presentations or lectures. Video after the jump, and more video from the BBC below.
Java "Robosapien" Robot Speaks Up During Strukhoff SYS-CON.TV Interview
Red Eyes and Tottering Gait Indicate Rough Night for the Robot
RS Media, a "robosapien" invented by a fellow named Mark Tilden and distributed by a company called WowWee, was interviewed at JavaOne 2007 by SYS-CON.TV founder and host Roger Strukhoff. Despite the interviewer's best attempts at providing a steady hand and steady conversation, the robot seemed to crack a bit under the pressure of the hot TV lights and potential worldwide audience in the billions.
The robot also made an appearance on-stage with Father of Java James Gosling and Sun's Bernard Travers during the annual "Toy Show" presentation on the final day of the conference. Davin Sufer, CTO of WowWee, and Travers presented a dancing robot show, in fact.
Licensing deal for sensing technology seen as weapon in battle with Microsoft for 3-D mapping services
By Elise Ackerman
Google is hoping a robotic car will prove to be a secret weapon in its ongoing battle with Microsoft to extend the frontiers of the Internet.
MediaNews has learned that Google has quietly licensed the sensing technology developed by a team of Stanford University students that enabled Stanley, a Volkswagon Touareg R5, to win the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge. In that race, the Stanford robotic car successfully drove more than 131 miles through the Mojave Desert in less than seven hours.
The technology will enable Google to map out photo-realistic 3-D versions of cities around the world, and possibly regain ground it has lost to Microsoft's 3-D mapping application known as Virtual Earth.
The catapult that launched a basketball skyward last week at Studio Academy on Rochester's southwest side produced oohs and ahs from Ben Joslin's students. Wait until next year.
As much as his students enjoyed the launch, it was primitive compared to another hands-on undertaking Joslin is planning for his students at the art-centered charter school: Rochester's first high school robotics team.
Joslin, 27, a lanky Arizona native whose dad is a computer programmer, is in the early stages of organizing a citywide team to compete in a national robotics league called FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology).
INDIANAPOLIS—This summer Ivy Tech Community College will host Indiana Teachers Summer Robotics Workshops, giving Indiana educators the opportunity to be trained in the skills, methods and tools needed to incorporate robotics into their classrooms.
Ivy Tech technology faculty developed the workshops' curriculum in partnership with robotics industry experts Autodesk, Innovation First and other Indiana technology educators. Using a hands-on, open-ended approach, the workshops introduce attendees to a standards-based robotics curriculum with an emphasis on science, mathematics and problem solving. Attendees will also have an opportunity to apply and practice the methodology and participate in a robotics competition.
Someday, robots will do more than vacuum your floors. They'll train you and advise you -- and maybe even help out with the cooking.
May 21, 2007 -- Takeo Kanadeis a roboticist, but his work extends far beyond the C3PO-like humanoids that often come to mind when one thinks of robots. He has been a pioneer in computer vision, smart sensors, autonomous land and air vehicles, and medical robotics. Kanade, a professor of computer science and robotics at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, recently told Computerworld that people’s notions of what robots can and should do will change. Robots will serve as coaches and advisers, not so much replacing human labor as enhancing it.
What’s coming in human-computer interfaces? The trend toward computer vision is clear, and it will accelerate. In 10 years, I wouldn’t be surprised to see computers recognizing certain levels of emotions, expressions, gestures and behaviors, all through vision.
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RS Media, a "robosapien" invented by a fellow named Mark Tilden and distributed by a company called WowWee, 