Category: Robots

Makeblock Maker Open Shenzhen (Day 2), 48-hour Robotic Competition

Posted by Charbax – June 21, 2015
Category: Robots, Development Boards, Sensors, Exclusive videos, Atmel, Intel, Maker Faire

Maker Open is a 48 hours international robotic competition held by Makeblock, SIAT and Shenzhen Government. Makeblock is a robot construction platform, which provide anodized aluminum extrusion mechanics, easy-to-use electronics and software that are supported by each other. Makeblock’s mission is to lower the skill level requirement of making things!

There are 12 Maker teams from overseas and China joining the 2015 Shenzhen Maker Open, including students from MIT, university Utah, makers from Italy and Austria, as well as the students from Peking university, student from Shenzhen high schools and more. The Maker game theme is “music/chess/writing/drawing” in Chinese tradional archaism called“琴棋书画qinqishuhua”.

Maker Open came from Makeblock’s company trandition activity – 24 hours makerathon! Makeblock brings it to Shenzhen Maker Week.

Makeblock’s websites:
http://www.makeropen.org
http://www.makeblock.cc

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Maker-Open/127115557619938
http://facebook.com/makeblock

http://twitter.com/makeblock
https://www.youtube.com/Makeblock
http://google.com/+Makeblock

$10 Cypress PSoC ARM Cortex-M3 Programmable System-on-Chip

Posted by Charbax – March 26, 2015
Category: Wearables, Robots, Internet of Things, Development Boards, Sensors, Cars, Health, Exclusive videos, Cypress, Embedded World

Cypress makes programmable system-on-chip solutions used in a wide range of applications, from consumer and automotive to industrial and military products. They are launching the $10 CY8KIT-059 development board to program their ARM Cortex-M3 PSoC 5LP at http://www.cypress.com/?rid=108038 The Cypress PSoC platform includes several families of devices that feature an ARM Cortex processor surrounded by a host of programmable analog and digital resources that can easily be customized with a simple drag-and-drop design tool called PSoC Creator. Cypress’s newest PSoC innovation includes the PSoC 4 M-Series, which, with its 32-bit ARM Cortex M0- core, 128KB of flash, programmable analog and digital components, dual CAN interfaces and 55 GPIOs, make it an ideal replacement for standard 8-bit and 16-bit applications. Another recent Cypress innovation is the Cypress PSoC 4 BLE, which adds Bluetooth Low Energy connectivity to any device, and is ideal for a variety of wireless applications from fitness and health-monitoring wearables to sensor-based systems in homes.

Gocupi drawbot polargraph robot suspends a pen/marker draws on vertical surface

Posted by Charbax – February 8, 2015
Category: Robots, Exclusive videos, Linaro Connect

David Mandala shows the Gocupi that at Linaro Connect. The cool thing (beyond that is was made by a couple of guys from the DallasMakerSpace) is that it is a real project that uses an ARM embedded computer and it could do more if it had a more powerful ARM embedded computer.

It is also a contraption more commonly referred to as a ‘drawbot’ or ‘polargraph’. The gocupi is a robot that suspends a pen or marker between two stepper motors and draws on a vertical surface. Each stepper motor has a spool attached to it’s shaft which is wound with a thin braided line, and these spools move simultaneously to control the position of the pen that hangs between them.

The positioning is all accomplished by using a polar coordinate for each point on a path for each stepper motor. To determine how the pen should move from one point to the next the gocupi calculates the velocity and acceleration based on a number of factors, the most notably being the position on the drawing surface. The gocupi knows lines near the edge of the page drawn at high speed have a tendency to produce an unintended line or may cause the pen to bounce off of the surface creating dots and dashes instead of a line. This is all taken into consideration for each transition of the pen from on point on a path to the next. To further put that process into perspective, it is not uncommon for a drawing to consists of 800,000 points (or more) and take 45 minutes to an hour for the gocupi to draw.

Find out more about it at: http://gocupi.com/
https://github.com/brandonagr/gocupi
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1412673920/gocupi-turns-your-raspberry-pi-into-a-portable-pol
http://dallasmakerspace.org/

PIXIO: World’s first auto follow camera system to film indoor and outdoor

Posted by Charbax – January 23, 2015
Category: Cameras, Wearables, Robots, Exclusive videos, CES

PIXIO is the first of its kind Auto Follow Cam to automatically track, film and zoom. Let’s say that you need to prepare a new video for your blog, moving around your studio, but no one to film you? You skate all day long and you want to have a better view than from your action-cam wide angle? Or maybe you train for next tennis championship and need to check your backhand on a video ? What if you had your own automated personal cameraman?
Developed by Move ‘N See, PIXIO is a radar-guided motorized mount for your DSLR, Camcorder, or any device that locks onto a companion wristband. The radar technology has the enormous advantage over GPS that it can track you inside and not only outside. It can even zoom in and out automatically, adjusting the frame to the distance through a “multi”, “LANC”, or “A/V R” cable going from PIXIO to your device. It can film 3 hours on the battery! Even churches can use it for their ceremonies! The crowdfunding campain is starting for $449 here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/world-s-first-indoor-outdoor-auto-follow-cam

Maliang Learning Robot, Quran Player, and Smart Pens

Posted by juliusaugustus – December 17, 2014
Category: Robots, Exclusive videos, Members Content, HKTDC Electronics Fair, Android

Maliang makes the Marbo learning robot which is a toy robot controlled by a android device. The learning robot uses voice control for its operation and responds when you talk to it. Maliang also makes pens that interact with reading books. Maliang also makes a portable device which has contains to Quran on it. Filmed at the HKTDC Hong Kong Electronics Fair 2014

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Demonstrations in Hong Kong

Posted by Charbax – October 19, 2014
Category: Robots, Exclusive videos, China Sourcing Fair

The only demonstration I’ve seen thus far in the last 8 days I’ve spent here in Hong Kong.

Maxevis Robots for Kids

Posted by Charbax – October 19, 2014
Category: Gaming, Robots, Exclusive videos, Members Content, HKTDC Electronics Fair

Karaoke robots, poem reciting, singing, sensing the end of the table to not fall over and break. They also have a big elephant with the kid elephant remote controlling each other.

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Savino Robots, remote controlled cars, helicopters, quad-copters and more

Posted by juliusaugustus – October 11, 2014
Category: Gaming, Robots, Exclusive videos, IFA, Android

Savino makes a car that can be controlled by an iPhone that has camera functionality built in. Savino robots have a limited battery of 8 minutes and sells for 40 Euro. Savino also makes a dedicated remote control robot without smartphone connectivity that sells 149 Euros.

Murata Cheerleader Robots on inverted pendulum showcase sensors

Posted by Charbax – October 11, 2014
Category: Wearables, Robots, Networking, Sensors, Energy Harvesting, Exclusive videos, CEATEC

Self-balancing on a ball by inverted pendulum, they dance synchronized, using sensors, cameras and perfect precision in the remote coordination, they demonstrate some of Murata’s sensor components and innovation ability. You can watch the rest of the video to see some of Murata’s sensors, energy harvesting demonstrations and more.

Skeletonics Exarobot at CEATEC 2014

Posted by Charbax – October 10, 2014
Category: Robots, Exclusive videos, CEATEC

You stand in the middle of the Exarobot and it immitates your moves, next function is walking, running and jumping extra high.

Caiba.net Telepresence Robot in Oculus Rift

Posted by Charbax – October 10, 2014
Category: Wearables, VR, Robots, Exclusive videos, CEATEC

Using Arduino, a small Windows PC, the user wears the Oculus Rift to see from both eyes of the telepresence robot, motors, battery life is about 3 hours, you see what it sees and it moves its head as you move your head and you move it around using a gamepad. The price may be about $500 (not sure if with or without the oculus rift type remote vision head-mounted display device)

Ping Pong Robot at Omron Automation Lab

Posted by Charbax – October 10, 2014
Category: Robots, Exclusive videos, CEATEC

Is this seriously cool or what? You can play ping pong against this robot, with it’s dual vision systems, anticipation algorithms, self balancing algorithms, it’s able to play back the ping pong ball to you no matter where you play it on the table. Perhaps with training, with some tuning of the anticipation of effects slicing and lifting in the ball, soon enough this robot may be able to beat even the best ping pong players in the world?

Read more: http://www.omron.com/media/press/2014/10/c1002.html

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Toshiba Booth Tour at CEATEC 2014

Posted by Charbax – October 9, 2014
Category: Robots, Internet of Things, Exclusive videos, CEATEC, Android

Crazy humanoid robot, Toshiba Smart Glass, Smart Plants (grown in lab), Smart Washing Machine, Smart Fridge, Toshiba Ene-Farm Fuel Cell, 4K TVs, Smart Home solutions, NFC, Video-conferencing Android app for old people, Smart band and more.

Robot imitates your moves with Kinect

Posted by Charbax – September 30, 2014
Category: Robots, Exclusive videos, HKTDC Electronics Fair

Student from the Hong Kong city university uses Kinect together with the NAO Robot to immitate the movements of a user who moves in front of the robot. Also see my interview with Bruno Maisonnier Founder of Aldebaran Robotics, creator of the NAO robot

Filmed at the HKTDC Hong Kong Electronics Fair 2014

Russian Robot Company rbot.com presents Android Telepresence Robot

Posted by Charbax – April 25, 2014
Category: Robots, Exclusive videos, Members Content, Rockchip, HKTDC Electronics Fair, Android

R.BOT presents a Telepresence Robot, just insert whatever Android device you want with USB Host support in it’s stand, phone or tablet, and your Android device becomes the brain and the display for this telepresence robot, which can drive around and extend or retract and turn it’s head based on either manual remote telepresence control or also by voice recognition, gesture recognition and autonomous algorithms and AI response. RBOT.COM R.BOT has Synergy Swan, Synergy Mime and R.BOT Mini, can be used at stores, restaurants, schools, shopping centers, trade shows and at companies who want to for example let the CEO remotely roam around the office.

Filmed at the HKTDC Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Spring Edition) 2014

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£200 VEX IQ Robotics for Education from VEX Robotics

Posted by Charbax – January 29, 2014
Category: Robots, Exclusive videos, CES

VEX IQ is a robotics platform designed to transform STEM learning for young students and their teachers. Students as young as 8 can jump right in and snap robots together using this intuitive, toolless platform while educators can utilise the free VEX IQ Curriculum to help teach them valuable lessons and skills that are needed in today’s changing world. This curriculum will be tailored to the UK education system. The VEX IQ Challenge, presented by the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation, gives students affordable access to the inspiration, excitement and learning that comes from participating in a STEM challenge.

$2500 Double Robotics iPad based Telepresence Robot for Telecommuters

Posted by Charbax – January 18, 2014
Category: Robots, Exclusive videos, CES

This Y Combinator funded startup Double Robotics has sold thus far over 1000 units of this high-end $2500 robot called Double. It was featured on The Colbert Report.

Best of CES: $150 BeagleMiP Robot Development Kit and $99 WowWee MiP

Posted by Charbax – January 18, 2014
Category: Robots, Exclusive videos, Texas Instruments, CES

From the Coordinated Robotics Lab of The University of California, San Diego, here is the BeagleMiP Mobile Inverted Pendulum (MiP) educational robotics development kit from Strawson Design, able to balance and carry more weight on 2 wheels such as modules, extensions, sensors, hacks, 3D printed add-ons and more. While the awesome Arduino-derived $99 WowWee MiP device is the coolest consumer toy robot that I have seen at CES 2014 (which you can see starting at 19:36 into this video), the idea with BeagleMiP is to do even more with the system, based on the $45 Texas Instruments BeagleBone Black with a 1Ghz TI AM335x ARM Cortex-A8, they add their Novus Robotics Cape add-on PCB board to provide for all the robotics R&D connectivity. This video features UCSD Professor Thomas Bewley, UCSD PhD student James Strawson and USCD PhD student Saam Ostovari.

While the BeagleMiP will be commercially available as a $150 MiP robotics development kit, the WowWee MiP is going to be the world’s first mass produced self-balancing Mobile Inverted Pendulum based commercial robot equipped with GestureSense technology (hand motion controls), bluetooth for Smartphone app control, fast speed, expansion for additional fun functionality. Carrying mode allows it to carry any weight, it also even has a port on the final model and can carry and balance any additional weight, including cameras, more sensors, modems, anything else users can think of.

As you can hear in the video, these UCSD students are also working on 40 centimeters tall versions of their MiP, which will be able to carry heavy bags like groceries for you and follow you around, for example.

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Sphero 2B tube shaped robot travels at 5 meters per second

Posted by Charbax – January 15, 2014
Category: Robots, Exclusive videos, CES

Orbotix shows their latest smartphone controlled gyro motion robot.

NAO Emotional Autonomous Humanoid Robots Interview, Bruno Maisonnier Founder of Aldebaran Robotics

Posted by Charbax – December 30, 2013
Category: Robots, Exclusive videos, LeWeb

Bruno Maisonnier Founder of Aldebaran Robotics talks about his french autonomous humanoid robots, including the NAO Robot, an autonomous little humanoid robot that can interact emotionally. They are developing Robot hardware platforms, developing a Linux based operating system dedicated to humanoid robotics, understanding emotions, understanding dialog, an SDK and Tools to enable all developers to develop apps for the Humanoid Robots in their apps store.

You can also watch the keynote video by Bruno Maisonnier at LeWeb 2013: