An epic lightsaber battle between good and evil, Jedi and Sith.. robots. This display is thanks to Yaskawa, makers of industrial robots who decided to geek out for their exhibition at this year’s IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Shanghai, China.

Kinda slow though. Wonder if I could take ‘em.
source: Automaton

Robots have joined in the fight to contain the situation at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. As the brave employees battle to prevent a meltdown, robots have arrived to monitor the radiation levels and help clean up.

First on the scene was MoniRobo (Monitor Robot), a 52 inch tall, 1300 pound bot designed specifically for operating at lethal levels of radiation. It was developed by the Japanese Nuclear Safety Technology Center after the 1999 nuclear accident in Tokaimura which resulted in 2 deaths .
The robot is equipped with a radiation detector, …

Here is an interesting concept; a mobile phone one that is actually a genuine android. The Elfoid is a robotic cellphone that acts as an avatar for the user on the other end of the line. This creepy looking phone aims to use a camera and a motion-tracking system to mimic the head movement and facial expression of the user.

Tokyo’s “Robot & Human Concert”
Toyota recently showcased their i-REAL personal mobility vehicle and brought along their musically gifted Partner Robots to set the mood. A violin playing robot and trumpet playing robot performed with human musicians as the i-REAL was being demonstrated. Check out (wo)man and machine playing the violin in harmony.

Here’s the i-REAL in motion.

Check: PlasticPals for links to more videos.
Turn Plastic Bags to Fuel at Home

Those of us who haven’t been eco-friendly enough to carry our own bags to the supermarket, have wasted countless numbers of plastic …

Ultra Tiny DLSR Cameras

If you’re fan of cute miniaturized things that takes pictures, then rejoice. Japanese retailer JTT recently released the Chobi Cam One. These Ultra tiny DSLR cameras take pictures and video, and can use magnetically attached interchangeable lenses. As expected, the images captured by these little things aren’t of the highest quality, but aren’t they cute?! A Chobi Cam One costs about $120.
Source: JTT via: Akihabara News
Kinect Controlled Robot
Remember when people used to talk about the Kinect, they were talking about video games? Here is yet another …

Though not quite yet KITT from Knight Rider, RoboCar can drive itself and is probably the smartest car on the planet. The single-seater EV is equipped with a stereo camera, an IMU (inertial measurement unit), speed sensor and a laser range finder which it uses to determine it’s location and steer. RoboCar® MEV was developed for research in the field of EVs and next generation transport.

The RoboCar® comes in 3 models.

Type A which has a drive-by-wire function and can autonomously reduce its speed. $34,728
Type B which has a steer-by-wire …

EngKey (English Jockey) robots started the year in 21 schools in South Korea. This is a part of an ambitious program which hopes to “ be able to replace native English speakers in 3 to 5 years.” The current English education system employs over 30,000 teachers from native English speaking countries such as the US, the UK, Australia and others. The problem according to the South Korean government is that it’s too expensive to hire these teachers and it’s often difficult to find teachers for rural areas. Some may speculate …

Faking Touch Sensation
Waseda University is working on a device that uses visual stimuli to trick the brain into thinking its receiving tactile sensations that don’t actually exist. It works like this.
“To create an illusion, first, the hand is actually given a tactile stimulus. In time with that, a video showing receipt of the tactile stimulus is presented. Then the stimulus to the hand is stopped, the motion is stopped. But on screen, the object giving the stimulus continues to move. So user feels that the tactile stimulus, which should have …

The New Sega Console is Going Down the Toilets Urinals

Sega is a finally back in the console market and they decided go somewhere no console has gone before, the public rest room.  This will be the only game system that you can play with your…. let’s just say it’s great to be a male of the species if you want to play this.  The system uses a pressure sensor placed on a target spot in the urinal. Pressure applied to this sensor is used to interact with games displayed on …

Coconatch is a cute little robot that does a dance whenever it detects an @reply on twitter. The robot, connected via USB, is attached to a user’s twitter handle and gives alerts of mentions by lighting up and wobbling from side to side.