Garbage-seeking waste basket moves to catch any trash thrown at it; usually you toss a piece of trash at a nearby waste basket only to have it ricochet off the edge, forcing you to make that shameful walk to go pick it up and drop it in carefully. A Japanese inventor has built a waste basket that tracks garbage tossed in its general direction and then moves across the floor to catch it...  Check out the video below to see how Smart Trashbox was made and how well it catches flying stuff: var Read more [...]

"Cocorobo" is Sharp's new Robot Vacuum Cleaner that features speech recognition which allows it to be controlled by voice, as well as using its buttons or the remote control. Cocorobo can also say simple greetings! "For example, if you use Cocorobo every day, or speak to it every day, it gets in a good mood. Depending on how it feels, its words and movements vary a lot, so you can gain a feeling of closeness with it. Regarding Cocorobo's learning capability, we're planning upgrades that will make Read more [...]

There’s nothing quite like getting a haircut. First you have some mindless chit-chat with your barber, he snips away, you get a quick powder and your done. It feels good and you look good. It’s a pleasant experience. Unless your barber is a robot. In which case, say goodbye to that lovely head of hair. This guy from Intelligent Automation Inc. got his haircut by a robot for St. Baldrick’s day, which usually involves completely shaving your head and collecting donations to help fund childhood Read more [...]

"Paralyzed people and amputees could soon stand tall with a Segway-type personal vehicle that would allow them to go anywhere a wheelchair can go. The Chariot is being developed by Exomovere Holdings who hopes that the vehicle would be a direct competitor of scooters and wheelchairs marketed toward elderly, disabled and obese people. More importantly, it’s like a pair of wheeled cybernetic legs that snap on over your own legs, which is pretty rad. Like a Segway, the Chariot uses directional Read more [...]

Healthcare and elder care is a big concern in Japan, whose population is aging more rapidly than their current human-centric infrastructure is prepared to cope with. Companies like Toyota are hoping that robots will be able to pick up a little bit of the slack, and this week they've introduced four new robotic systems designed to help keep people healthy and independent as long as possible. The first couple systems are designed to provide single-leg walking assistance to people who have Read more [...]

Must See Video: RIBA II is a two-armed care support robot that can lift people from a prone position on the floor to a wheelchair, which is one of the most physically demanding tasks in nursing homes. RIBA II has been co-developed by Tokai Rubber Industries and RIKEN. "Basically, this robot can move people from a bed to a wheelchair or a wheelchair to a bed, and it can also move people, such as Alzheimer's patients, who are lying on the floor to a wheelchair." "As this robot comes into direct Read more [...]

Yes Qbo, you're looking in a mirror and this is you. Congratulations, you're now officially self aware! Okay, all us humans are gonna run for the hills now, see ya! Obviously, Qbo is too cute to be Skynet. Unless that's what it wants us to think. But let's just forget about all that right now and watch Qbo learn what he looks like: Nice! The mirror test is commonly used to identify whether animals are self-aware, and all it takes to pass is the ability to recognize that when you look at yourself Read more [...]

Although this isn't new, it is still very cool! Saitama University's Human-Robot Interaction Center is doing R&D on care support robots. This wheelchair, developed by the Center, is a standard wheelchair with a camera and laser sensor attached. It has been designed to automatically track and follow the person next to it. "The wheelchair uses this distance sensor to check the position of the person. With position checking alone, the wheelchair can follow behind someone. But when the wheelchair Read more [...]

Simroid is a dental training robot being developed by the Nippon Dental University Hospital and dental equipment maker Morita Manufacturing. Based on a prototype first presented in 2007, this robot is much more advanced, and there are plans to release the robot commercially. This robot patient is manufactured by Kokoro, who also make the Actroid line of lifelike humanoid robots. It has been developed as a training tool to improve students patient communication skills by emphasizing attitude rather Read more [...]

"Robots have been singing for a minute. But the HRP-4C doesn’t just sing, she performs. Watch her chirp the lyrics to her song, work the crowd, and shake her stuff in sync with her back up dancers. It’s pretty amazing." http://my.opera.com/igun/blog Here's a must see video: "The divabot, as she’s being called, is being developed at Japan’s Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. She uses special software to precisely mimic a human singer’s head movements and Read more [...]

One year ago, we got super excited when a micromouse managed to negotiate a maze in under five seconds. At the 2011 All Japan Micromouse Robot Competition in Tsukuba, the micromouse pictured above shaved an entire second off of that time, completing the maze in a scant 3.921 seconds. That's fast. This robot, called Min7.1, was designed by Ng Beng Kiat. It has a top speed of just over 12 kph, which is wicked quick for something that's 10 cm long and weighs only 90 grams. Of course, the Read more [...]

The latest version of the Asimo robot can run, find it's way through a crowd and even pour a drink. Honda's demonstration of the revamped "Asimo" at its Tokyo suburban research facility was not only to prove that the bubble-headed childlike machine was more limber and a bit smarter. It was a way to try to answer some critics that Asimo, first shown in 2000, had been of little practical use so far, proving to be nothing more than a glorified toy and cute showcase for the Honda Motor Co. brand. Honda Read more [...]