Mr. Future

What if countries described robotics technology in the same manner as, say, the space race?

If they did, the USA would realize that they now have a serious robot frog gap.
Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a mighty robot frog named Mowgli, capable of jumping more than 19 inches onto a standard office chair.

Just the sort of chair that a sitting government official, or nuclear scientist might use…

Robotic frogs aside, what other technology milestones will we have in a worldwide robotics race?

Link (via The Raw Feed)

“Greetings, my friend. We are all interested in the future, for that is where you and I are going to spend the rest of our lives.”
- Criswell, Plan 9 From Outer Space

As part of their excellent coverage of the 50th Anniversary of Sputnik, The New York Times is also running an article on the influence of the Space Age on pop culture.

The article runs the whole gamut, from Sci-Fi movies to Googie architecture, but my favorite part of the pop-culture sidebar is the inclusion of this goofy musical tribute to Sputnik clip.

Link - NYT: “When the Space Age Blasted Off, Pop Culture Followed”

Link - NYT: “With Fear and Wonder in Its Wake, Sputnik Lifted Us Into the Future”

Link - NASA: “Sputnik and the Dawn of the Space Age”

(via Paleo-Future)

Matt Denton of Micromagic Systems (Animatronics and Movie Robotics) has built a fantastic webcam/spider robot, the i.c. Hexapod.

Based on an robot they designed for a Harry Potter film, the i.c. Hexapod tracks faces, reacts to your presence, and if you hold his gaze long enough, he’ll upload your picture to his gallery website. (Anyone know the location?)

Micromagic Systems sells hexapod kits, and some custom animatronic server add-ons as well.

Link - to check out more hexapods in the “Robotics” section.
(via Robots Dreams)

Artbot builder Ranjit Bhatnagar has taught his theremin-playing robot, Lev, to cover Gnarls Barkley’s “Crazy”, as an electro-mechanical tribute to The Ether and Aether Experiment’s brilliant theremin adaptation of the song. (Video Here)

 Update:  Lev also does an …  interesting version of Patsy Kline’s “Crazy” as well.   Video is here.

Little Dog is the latest step in the evolution of the all purpose robotic pack-mule, product of DARPA’s Learning Locomotion Program.

USC professor Stefan Schall, working with Boston Dynamics, is using Little Dog as a software and sensor tool to research methods of negotiate difficult terrain.

Little Dog has been designed to continually evaluate it’s positioning and center of gravity, dynamically adjust its walking pattern based on position, velocity and acceleration. If its footing fails, it learns from it’s mistakes and attempts an alternet route.

Link (via BotJunkie)

With a launch date just a few weeks away, Tomy is prepping its media-blitz for the I-Sobot. They’ve staked out the official site, and have apparently set up a (regrettable) mySpace page.

Somewhere between Tokyo and LA, the little fellow changed color from Asimo/Moonbase-Alpha White to Ninja/Military-Hardware Black. I’m not quite sure that says about our marketing demographic, but you can bet your bottom quatloo that we’ve gone and sent away for ours anyway.

The US version of I-Sobot is (finally!) available for pre-order here at Amazon, for the modest sum of $299.

Link (to the official site)
Link (To our previous I-Sobot coverage)

A brilliant (Brilliant!) project developed by Demitrios Kargotis and the Royal College of Art, is almost certainly the first soft-serve dispenser with artificial intelligence.

“Employing voice stress analysis of the user’s answers to specific
questions, varying degrees of unhappiness are measured and the
counteractive quantity of ice cream is dispensed: The more unhappy you
are, the more ice cream you need.”

Link (via We Make Money Not Art)

Japanese robotics company Tmsuk has formed an alliance with Microsoft to bring Microsoft Robotics Studio extensions to their range of consumer and commercial robots.

Tmsuk is probably best known for their Banryu ( Guard Dragon ) security robot, though they build everything from giant robot rescue machines to electric baby-sitters.

If nothing else, the partnership deeply underscores the advantages of having common development libraries for robotics projects.

Yoichi Takamoto, the Tmsuk president, said: “Right now, we cannot adopt one technology used in robot A to robot B. If Microsoft software comes to be used by many developers, then technological advances in robotics will dramatically accelerate.”

Microsoft is not alone in building common robotics development environments and code libraries. Later this week, we’ll be taking a look at some of the open-source alternatives to Microsoft Robotics Studio.

Link - to the Times Online coverage.
(via Artificial Intelligence and Robotics)

Just not this week.
Inventor/Professor Young Bae will be demonstrating the first viable photonic laser thruster at the American Institue of Aeoronautics and Astronautics Space Conference next week.

Developed with funding from NASA’s NIAC, the photonic laser thruster (boy that’s fun to say) is tiny, made with off-the-shelf parts, and has the potential to propel spacecraft to speeds greater than 100 km/sec ( 3700 mph ). Zoom.

Link

Secret Fun Blog points us to a great collection of Tex Avery’s “… of Tomorrow” cartoons

While some of the humor is a little dated, the gizmo-centric picture of tomorrow, presented in glorious mid-century optimism is evergreen.

The House of Tomorrow (1949)

The Car of Tomorrow (1951), T.V. of Tomorrow (1953), and Farm of Tomorrow (1954) are here, below the fold.

Link ( to Secret Fun Blog’s collection.)

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