Robots

Murasaki Shikibu, famously known for penning The Tale of Genji, practically has goddess status in Japan. For those who scoff at such a statement, just take a look at the robot above. The MURASAKI stands in at 31-centimeters tall and weighs 1.5-kilograms (3.3-pounds), and while the design is subtle, this gal still demands respect. Reportedly, the bot is powered by NiMH batteries, waltzes about on two wheels and sports an 8-axis system for moving her neck and arms. We’re hearing conflicting reports about it actually being on sale or simply being a prototype, but we’re sure the misdirection is all part of the allure that makes her so irresistible.

[Via CrunchGear]

Japan’s Impress Watch had the good fortune to attend this year’s Robo-one tournament with a Casio EX-F1 in hand. The result is vise-to-vise combat captured at 300 frames per second. See a perfectly executed German suplex performed after the break. Makes us almost feel sorry for the little guy… almost.

Let’s face it — we owe a great deal of gratitude to the robots that get up each and every morning to explore far reaches of the universe that we humans are just incapable of landing on. But there’s still the problem of we humans having to tell these things what to do from our humble laboratories here on Earth. The brilliantly named Wolfgang Fink, a physicist and senior researcher at the California Institute of Technology, has plans to remedy said quandary by creating autonomous spacecrafts “that will be able to analyze data about points of interest as it passes and then make quick decisions about what needs to be investigated.” In essence, he’s looking to remove the Earthlings from the equation, which would enable smart robots to explore on their own and possibly discover new pools of purified water, REEM-B’s long lost siblings or the real most innovative NES-in-a-whatever mod. 2020 folks, mark it down.

[Image courtesy of NASA]

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It has been a hot minute since WowWee let the Alive animals out of the zoo, but this particular White Tiger Cub has just recently been loosed from its cage. Although it’s just dying for an I Can Has Cheezburger? caption (feel free to drop your best in comments below), this cute cat looks to be the perfect play toy for small children or adults hoping to rekindle some of that youthful innocence. We’re also told that the eyebrow and mouth movements are “quite realistic,” but its the individual personality that really makes it worth coming back to. Check out the unboxing and a brief review in the read link, and peek a video of the feline in action after the cut.

So it’s a full $59 more than we were expecting, but with Wall-E’s tremendous success at the box office, we have a feeling Disney can get away with it. The Ultimate Wall-E remote control robot is now up for pre-order, promising kids and adults-longing-to-be-kids alike hours upon hours of fun. For those who missed this creature frolicking on video, here are the highlights: he can chat with his owner, dance, play music, dazzle you with those eyes and even sense / avoid obstacles. Unfortunately, all $249 will buy you is a place in line, as this fellow isn’t expect to ship until October 16th.

[Thanks, Toadlet]

Yeah, as in, it actually wants a “psychologically inspired object recognition system.” What’s that, you ask? It’s giving robots and mechanical creatures the ability to see objects the way humans do and make reasonable judgments based on those sights. Essentially, the military would love to see bots have something similar to spatial memory, which would enable ‘em to “mentally rotate objects in order to match the object to different representations.” When looking at the main objective of this here endeavor, however, we can’t help but have mixed feelings. We’re kosher with increasing “robotic control,” but creating “exponential expansion of robotic capabilities and intelligence” might not be the smartest thing to do in the long run.

[Via Wired, image courtesy of ACM]