Gadgets for Dubai

Robot Hand Can Sense Objects Before Touching Them

Over at Intel’s R&D fair, Wired got to play with a robot hand that is able to sense an object it’s about to come in contact with before actually touching it. Using electrolocation, the fingertips of the robot hand send out a weak electrical impulse, and approaching objects interfere with that impulse, which allows the [...]

6-Legged Walking Robot CoulYou A Superherod Make

The itty-bitty creepy crawlers of the night have a way of scaring people so much. It might have something to do with their multiple squiggly legs, their sometimes fury bodies, and maybe even the fear that this particular attacking moth might be the only one worldwide with fangs. Whatever the reason, the fear of insects [...]

ASIMO learns to understand three people at once

ASIMO has already proven itself to be pretty multi-talented, but it looks like it’s now added yet another trick to its repertoire, with a pair of researchers giving it the ability to understand three people speaking at once. That was done with the aid of eight microphones and a specially-designed software program dubbed HARK, which [...]

WowWee Wrex the dog(robot dog)

New MAARS Kill-Bot Delivered to Military, May Finally Get to Shoot Something

You may recall that earlier robots developed by Foster-Miller had some minor safety issues in Iraq last year that reportedly shook up confidence in the entire kill-bot program. That story turned out to be a bit of an exaggeration, but it was clear that a newer, safer design would have to be implemented to get [...]

LEGO Johnny 5: Not QUITE Alive, But Still Pretty Damn Charming

It would have been impressive if Johnny 5 were merely sculpted from LEGO bricks. But Brickshelf user rack911 did one better and created a Johnny 5 with fully working treads and a—we’ll call it partially functional—laser cannon. But appreciate the art carefully, dear reader. Johnny 5’s no-nonsense, wisecracking personality has been documented as a stronger [...]

Video: iPhone + LEGO robot = superfluous genius

It’s not always a question of why – sometimes why not will suffice. The rolling bot above relies upon the Mindstorms NXT light sensor’s ability to read the contrasting colors on the iPhone display. After some simple programming and DIY tomfoolery you can drive the robot from the comforts of your WiFi-enabled web browser. Overkill? [...]