USB connected interactive plant (via AkihabaraNews & Keio University)

If the Japanese have not already created enough unusual devices, they have one more invention to add to their list. Researchers from Keio University have created plants that interact with their surroundings. The plants are programmed to show different emotions through their movements by using data collected from sensors. The movements that match with specific emotions were chosen by having many people show how they think a happy plant or an angry plant would move.

The plant sits in a square pot that would look like any other Japanese plant holder on the outside, but on the inside is where the plants mechanics and electronics lie. The plant moves by two stepper motors connected to its leaves and twigs by very thin cords. Additionally, it monitors its surroundings using a microphone and motion sensors. According to the input from the sensors the plant will move based on the movements it picks up and the tones it hears.

The Japanese were hoping to make plants seem more alive and have a greater presence in areas. They have conducted their research for almost a year now and have not had any plants die or wilt, although some research states otherwise. In the future, they look to bring bigger plants to life and possibly trees, they would like environments people travel through to be fully interactive. Technology may soon creep into every aspect of our surrounding world. (The world would hate us)

Video Via AkihabaraNews & partner Diginfo.tv

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As a generous charity for a fundraiser, one brave soul has volunteered to have his head shaved by a robot with three arms (looks similar to Dr. Octopus' extra arms from Spider-Man). The robot is a Multi-Armed Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV ), and was being controlled from an operator through a computer. The charity was for St. Baldrick's Foundation to help cure child hood cancer and the robotics firm helping with the fundraiser and providing their own robot for use was Intelligent Automation, Inc.

The program did a little more than raise money for charity. It demonstrated the flexibility to carry out tasks for their UGV robot. The robot yields three arms, all equipped with cameras, and 29 degrees of freedom. The camera and arm arrangement allows the user to move the arms relative to various frames of reference. As a result, the robot is capable of carrying out tasks that require complex movements and manipulations to objects.

The UGV used has many purposes it can serve. It has shown the ability to handle tools, inspect backpacks, tie knots, breach doors, and IDE disarming. Although the robot gave a far from perfect haircut, it gave a perfect example of how far along robots have come. Not to mention they did have a robot set up for emotional support and one to clean up the hair on the ground. Maybe next time a robot can wash our hair for us too.

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Building projects with microcontrollers (especially Arduinos as of late) opens minds to an unlimited amount of innovations. Whether the projects are created for fun, or to serve specific purposes, they can always motivate others to be creative. The latest Arduino powered creation comes from Ekaggrat, an inspired individual with a strong interest in science.  

Ekaggrat has created a robotic arm that writes down the time by the minute on a dry-erase board. After a minute is up it erases the digit and rewrites the new time. It is driven by four servos that control the arm and hand movements. Two 9G metal gear RC servos move the arm while two 4.5G ultralight servos control the hand movements. Using servos makes it a little loud and noisy and limits the accuracy of the robotic hand writing. However, there still can be improvements to be made such as a change to stepper motors to improve accuracy.

Nonetheless, the creation is truly inspiring and the programming that it takes to complete a project such as this is difficult. Keeping track of the timing, 4 servos, and 7-segment display writing orientation in sync with one another is impressive for a hobby project. This goes to show that the amount of creations possible with technology is limitless.

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A group of researchers from Cornell Creative Machine Labs are currently developing an autonomous robot inspired from metabolisms of biological organisms. The goal is to be able to break down larger complex structures into smaller simpler pieces that may be reassembled to create a different type of structure.

The robot clamps onto a specially designed truss using rotational robot-lockable connectors and can traverse the three dimensional structure using three basic motions. Bi-directional gears on the robot allow it move between perpendicular planes, horizontally and vertically along a truss, and 180 degrees around a truss to move from the top to the bottom. In addition, reflectivity sensors are implemented into the robot which give it a sense of location relative to the truss structure, ultimately allowing it to function autonomously.

The sensors and movements are all controlled from on board the robot. The robot carries with it a sensor I/O board, a microcontroller, servo motors, and an on board battery. These simple electronics allow it detach truss beams with 100 percent success rate and reattach them with a 70 percent success rate.

While they would like to use the robot for building deconstruction and repair, that does not stop the researchers from thinking big. One day they hope that it could help repair and construct the space station or any other dangerous tasks associated with the outside of the space station or a shuttle. Meanwhile, the researchers will be working on improving the robot so it will be cable of carrying multiple truss beams at once, and they plan on re-working the algorithms that will allow it to traverse a path of most efficiency based on the final design. 

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Many robots have been designed for the benefit of mankind taking over continuously repetitive tasks or in some cases battling other robots for entertainment purposes. However, recently experiments have been done that may allow humans to help out animal populations in times of danger.

Maurizio Porfiri and Stefano Marras from New York's Polytechnic institute have designed a biomimetic robot fish to help study collective fish behavior. The robot fish is the first of its kind engineered to simulate animal mobility. In recently conducted experiments, the robot fish was placed into a flowing stream of water with a real fish to analyze the behavior between the two. When the robot fish remained motionless in the water, the real fish seemed to ignore it and swim about in a sporadic pattern. On the other hand, when the robot fish was simulating natural fish movements and swimming in the water the real fish tended to align in a specific formation with the robot. As the robot swam in formation, the real fish's movements slowed, proving that the fish was saving energy by following along behind the robot. Additionally, this shows that groups of fish may be lead in certain directions by a robot fish. This can prove helpful when humans create ecological disasters such as oil spills that can wipe out endangered species of fish. Nevertheless, it can also help us better understand the behavior of fish.

Can the robot fish "Pied Piper" invasive species out of foreign waters?

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(Nov 2011)

iZac does not care how attractive you are so do not even attempt to “woohoo” this bartender.  iZac is  an electrifying machine, the Android Bartender! The barbot was created by Nick Johnson; who was inspired by Evil Mad Scientist Labs’ creation, Drink Making Unit 2.0. Nick was awed by the Drink Making Unit 2.0.; as a follow up, he challenged himself to develop his own version.

If bars own the iZac, would they be able to maintain it without busting their wallets? Nick Johnson took considerable time in determining how the iZac would be able to succeed at its purpose while being easy to maintain. Traditional pumps for the machine are frightfully expensive and impractical. Nick came up with the idea of using a battery powered aquarium pump to pressurize the bottles, lowered the cost and eliminating problems.

The iZac is not plugged straight into an outlet, instead if uses a custom laser-cut pinch-valve designed by Nick Johnson. Pinch valves do not require interrupting the tubing which the liquid flows through. The iZac is food safe. Johnson is determined to bring softdrink style self serve to the local pub.

iZac begins serving a delicious cocktail by choosing a drink from the list provided. You then place your glass onto a scale that measures the amount of liquid that would be appropriate. iZac then activates the aquarium pump and opens the appropriate valve to dispense that liquid gold. Then iZac continues to dispense all the liquid that makes up the drink. Once the barbot is finished dispensing; you take your glass and scream “CHEERS!”

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In this new digital world, young people now grow up playing video games and surfing the Internet instead of playing games outside; clearly play dates are changing. Canadian company EZ-Robot wants to lead the way this new generation of youngsters play by bringing technology out of the screen into their hands.

To do this, they have released an easy to use, do-it-yourself robotics kit. But this kit takes robot building one step further by only providing you with the guts of the robot.

For $235, the kit provides you with three standard and two rotating servomotors, five sensors including an ultrasonic distance sensor, wireless tracking camera, wireless Bluetooth controller, a battery pack, other parts and software to control your creation without the need for computer code.

Like we said, these are just the guts of the robot. The fun begins, when you chose which of your currently lifeless toys to which you will grant life. As long as the parts fit, you will be able to animate and program the robot using the included software and controller. For the advance roboticist, the EZ-Robotics kit also supports the iRobot Roomba and Arduino software platforms.

EZ-Robot kit, Wall-E themed (via EZ-Robot)

However, with the included software, you can program face recognition, object tracking and slew of other functions. You can even program your robot to be controlled by a Wii remote, joystick, or a touch tablet.

At the moment, EZ-Robot says they are sold out of kits. It might be too late to get this as a holiday present for your favorite nerd, but this kit is sure to make an excellent gift at any time in the year.  An excellent way to pull them away from the screen for a little bit and let their imagination run wild, as they turn into a mad scientist.

I hate to admit, but this is very much like LEGO Mindstorm NXT, minus the LEGOs.

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Imitating nature is never easy. Even its most simple processes can prove to be very hard for scientists and engineers to duplicate.  But nature seems to provide Kåre Halvorsen, a Norwegian engineer, with a lot of inspiration for his work in robotics. Kåre Halvorsen, a.k.a. Zenta, has worked on a robot inspired by ants, and now he is expanding his genius in his MorpHex Project.

His new creation resembles a crab crossed with an armadillo. The shell of the robot is made from curved polycarbonate panels each controlled by a motor. The panels and their 25 servo motor give this hexapod RC robot, the ability to walk and dance the way you would expect a crab to do so. When all the panels are pulled in towards the center of the robot, the shapes of these panels reveal they are sections of a sphere, and MorpHex rolls into a ball like an armadillo. 

The project started back in December of 2010 all based on a plastic globe. See the Hexapod robot project board.

Halvorsen has not made the robot capable of rolling but does intend to. Still, at this stage, MorpHex is capable of putting on a mesmerizing show. It is an elegant blend of mechanical and electrical design.

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