Digg: South Korea's little firefighting robots (w/ Video)

Posted by on under korean firms, acti, firefighting, south korea, firefighters, robots |

Two South Korean firms have developed mini firefighting robots to help human firefighters safely plan their course of action before entering a blazing building.

Tagi: korean firms, acti, firefighting, south korea, firefighters, robots

Gizmodo: Petman Walking/Balancing Robot Is Like BigDog's "Human" Master [Robots]

Posted by on under bigdog, similarity, robot, robots, cy |

I'm sure you are all well acquainted with the crazy quadrupled BigDog robot, but if it had a master to walk with, it would probably look something like the Petman. Actually, the similarity is not...
Tagi: bigdog, similarity, robot, robots, cy

Engadget: ROPID the adorable humanoid can jump 3-inches into the air, sweep you off your feet

Posted by on under nuts and bolts, humanoid robot, upper torso, coue, voice commands, dance moves, acti, ups, counterparts, pals, panasic, knees, robots, nbsp, decades |

It's been a while since we've seen a humanoid robot this size do anything very new or interesting -- mostly they seem busy with their slow-mo dance moves -- but the new ROPID bot by Tomotaka Takahashi, the man behind Panasonic's Evolta bots, not only has a few new tricks up its plastic sleeves, but has personality to spare. The bot can rotate its upper torso, which seems to help immensely in keeping it balanced while jumping, running and skipping around. It's still the tried-and-true "bent knees" method of balance, but ROPID is "rapid" enough to make it look almost lifelike. The movements are expressive enough, but with some slightly articulated hands and a moving mouth, ROPID ups the adorable-ness factor over some of its nuts and bolts counterparts. ROPID can also respond to a few voice commands and speaks as well. Takahashi designed and built the bot himself, which makes us wonder what we've been doing with our lives that's so-very-important for the past couple of decades. Video of ROPID in action is after the break.

[Via Plastic Pals]

Continue reading ROPID the adorable humanoid can jump 3-inches into the air, sweep you off your feet

Filed under: Robots

ROPID the adorable humanoid can jump 3-inches into the air, sweep you off your feet originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tagi: nuts and bolts, humanoid robot, upper torso, coue, voice commands, dance moves, acti, ups, counterparts, pals, panasic, knees, robots, nbsp, decades

Digg: Can Robots Make Ethical Decisions?

Posted by on under ethical decisions, philosophers, morality, robots |

Morality is no longer the exclusive realm of human philosophers.

Tagi: ethical decisions, philosophers, morality, robots

Gizmodo: Ukraine Begins Employing Giant Combat Robots for Security [Robots]

Posted by on under capti, gizmodo, 1cb, security department, robots, ukraine, photo |

"TIS is proud to inform that we are the first in our Kominternovsky region to employ Giant Humanlike Combat Robots within the Security Department. Model TIS-1CB." That's the caption for this photo....
Tagi: capti, gizmodo, 1cb, security department, robots, ukraine, photo