The MIT Technology Review has unearthed a new laser-based 3D mapping robot that can produce results similar to those obtained from $100,000 systems at about a fifth of the cost. Funded by the US Army, researchers at the Stevens Institute of Technology have now demonstrated the Remotely Operated and Autonomous Mapping System (ROAMS, for short), [...]

Hey there sailor, we imagine you’ve been doing your fair share of button mashing what with a certain new bit of software out and about, but how would you like a whole new control paradigm? Taking up Steve Jobs’ war on buttons, a group of grad students at Japan’s Keio University have put together a [...]

Why would you want to build a 100-strong swarm of mini robots? Well, aside from having them as your minions, you might be able to learn about “artificial self-organization,” and “control in large robotic groups,” which should come in useful during the inevitable robot insurrection. The swarm robot project, undertaken by the Universities of Stuttgart [...]

Sometimes when we see the seemingly slow advance of Honda’s ASIMO, the inherent limitations of WowWee toys, or the purposefully limited one-off research projects of universities, we start to give up hope of being super best pals with a humanoid robot this century; hope of partaking in whimsical 80s movie hijinks, hand-in-metal-hand. This little video [...]

It’s been well over a year since we last saw the laser-guided, self-docking wheelchair developed by folks at Lehigh University, and now the team is back with an altogether more ambitious project. According to associate professor John Spletzer, the recipient of a five-year CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, the goal is to [...]

We’ve seen mixtures of Roomba and Pac-Man before, but nothing like this. A team of developers have hacked five floor-cleaning bots to create a sort of OCD version of the game, with the Pac-Man bot sucking up little white rectangles whilst being chased by robot incarnations of Inky, Pinky, Blinky, and Clyde. [...]

Well, it doesn’t have a Roomba that will check up on your vitals just yet, but it looks like iRobot is betting on healthcare robotics in a fairly big way, with it taking advantage of the recent TEDMED conference to announce that it’s forming a new business unit focused solely on the still burgeoning industry. [...]

If you’ve been feeling blue because you haven’t got enough green to keep the old bank account in the black, we’ve got just the tonic for you, dear friend. There’s nothing that gets us all perked up and cheerful quite like an adorable humanoid robot negotiating an obstacle course in the performance of a rescue [...]

Robotic fish. The phrase alone sends shivers of excitement down our collective spines here at Engadget. Undoubtedly, Michigan State University assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering Xiaobo Tan feels similarly, as he has designs on creating an army of them. The researcher has developed a prototype of a droid fish intended to be used [...]

Why confine your nerdy sloth to your living room, where large robots mime fake guitar and serve you sloppy mixed drinks? Take that zest for the sedentary life with you on the road by having one of your robot ninjas steal this iPhone Rock Band robot from its ingenious creator, Joe Bowers. The Arduino-based device [...]