Move over MIT, your cheetah robot has some smaller competition in Switzerland. Developed in the laboratories of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, the “cheetah-cub robot” is a four-legged metallic bot modeled after the common house cat.

The focus is on designing legs that can move like cats, with cat stability while moving on uneven surfaces. It isn’t all that graceful yet, but it’s fast. It can run seven times its body length in one second. The researchers hope that this cat-bot will lead to more robots for exploration and search-and-rescue missions. Not just playing with string and looking adorable.

[Engadget]

Japanese researchers at Chiba University’s Namiki Lab have developed an air-hockey robot that can actually compete against human players. Even better, the robot changes its strategy based on its human opponent’s playing style.

The set up involves an air-hockey table, a four-axis robotic arm, two high-speed cameras, and an external PC. The robot tracks the puck and the opponent’s paddle. The position data from the camera images is then processed by the external PC, which determines the robot’s next move. So you might say you are playing against yourself.

The robot tracks the game at 500 frames per second. In a very real sense, the robot is playing the game in Matrix-style bullet-time, because you are so slow compared to it. However, it wouldn’t be sporting to just kick human butt, so the researchers programmed the robot with a three-layer control system. The first layer is responsible for basic motion control of hardware. A second layer decides its short-term strategy. Things like whether it should hit the puck, defend the goal, or stay still. The third layer determines the machine’s long-term strategy. In other words, the third level helps it adapt. If you are playing aggressively, it will too. If you are defensive, it will become defensive. It’s a crazy psychological game at that point. You are playing against yourself, who is also playing against you. crazy.

[Spectrum IEEE]

And I thought there was nothing creepier than an insect whizzing by super fast. Robots that skitter along super fast are giving insects a run for their money as far as creepy is concerned.

This 6.5-cm robot can move at 30 body-lengths per second. If it were a full-size car, that equals about 400 miles per hour. It was developed by researchers at Johns Hopkins and shown off recently at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation in Germany.

It measures 6.5 by 5.5 by 1 centimeters. It uses direct drive and little wheeled-legs called “whegs”. Each wheg has its own six millimeter motor that spins at 40,000 RPM and interestingly, the robot only uses less than half of that power since not all of the legs are not always connecting with the ground.

It will be interesting to see how fast they can go using this setup. I’d like to see these bots in about a year.

[Gizmodo]

Why is it that we can’t buy toys this amazing to display and admire? I would buy the hell out of these wood robots. These amazing robots are from LouLou & Tummie.

The detail and love that went into making these bots is simply stunning. From the website:

When not sweating behind the computer, Loulou can be found in his little shed, covered in dust, utilizing dangerous woodworking machinery. Sanding, chiseling and glueing various pieces of tree together. He’s building an army of robots and other creatures big enough to take on a raccoon!

That must be some raccoon.

[Smallforbig]

Walking robots are great, but many of the kits fall short when it comes to a more natural way of walking. Some robots are now beginning to show some improvements.

Masahiko Yamaguchi is a roboticist who has worked at Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Boston Dynamics, and Osaka University. He has accomplished some amazing feats already, like getting a slightly modified Kondo KHR-3HV to ride a bicycle, walk a tightrope, and balance on stilts. For his next big breakthrough, he has been working on a walking algorithm for over a year. It is paying off bigtime.

His latest update is maybe the most lifelike walking achieved on a miniature hobby-level biped robot yet. We are talking straight-legged heel-to-toe walking, a stark contrast to the standard robot walk and much more natural. The robot is currently unable to turn left and right with this gait, but he is working on it.

In the second video, Wataru Yoshizaki recently demonstrated more human-like walking with a different miniature biped. Sure, the strut looks more appropriate for a robot call girl, but it is still pretty amazing.

Both of these projects show the great strides roboticists are making to improve robots and walking.

[Gizmag]

Watch TAYLRoACH go! More impressive, watch this bot turn on a dime thanks to a tail. A wagging tail.

Tails provide extra agility and balance, allowing birds to make impressive mid-air turns in flight and land based animals to dart around quickly. Now robots are joining in on the fun able to make instant 90 degree turns.

UC Berkeley’s Tail Actuated Yaw Locomotion Robotic Autonomous Crawling Hexapod(TAYLRoACH) takes the design of previous crawling robots to the next level, with the addition of a counter-weighted tail that can swing back and forth. It is really impressive to watch and at times very animal like in slow motion. It just looks like a mechanical dog frolicking.

The tail has a limited range of motions, so the robot can’t repeatedly make the same sharp turns without re-positioning it first. The goal now is to improve the design with a 360 degree swinging tail.

[Gizmodo] via [IEEE Spectrum]

Team GB Olympic 100m sprinter, Adam Gemili, races BRIAN the Robot from Confused.com ahead of many summer of races for the athlete. BRIAN seems pretty cocky. He doesn’t have to raise his arms at the end and brag that he’s winning.

No one likes a bragger BRIAN.

Defusing bombs is no walk in the park. Even if you know how to do it, you risk blowing yourself sky high. Robo Sally may just be the robot we need to keep soldiers out of harms way and still get the bomb defused. She has the most sophisticated robotic hand and arm ever engineered.

Lead designer, Michael McLoughlin is okay with the bot getting blown up and losing a limb. That’s what it is for. Soldiers can operate her remotely from a place of safety and this could dramatically decrease the numbers of soldiers who suffer devastating limb injuries.

It was funded by the Department of Defense and created by McLoughlin’s engineering team at the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. One day they may be able to diffuse a bomb in Afghanistan while on U.S. soil. Right now, by wearing the special Robo Sally suit and visor they can at least get a safe distance away, if not another continent.

[CBS News]

It was about a week and a half ago, when this robot was spotted in London. The robot is called ‘Brian’ and did not appear to have a controller as it strolled around.

We don’t have any info on this guy, but he was seen interacting with people and animals in places like London’s Westfield shopping centre and Regents Park. Even though Brian looks pretty friendly, he’s clearly not above terrorizing dogs as seen on the video here.

[Entertainmentwise]

Italian sound designer and producer Guiseppe Acito constructed a band from Lego Bionicle toys driven by an Arduino Uno and controlled by an iPad MIDI sequencer app called Nord Beat. The result is pure awesomeness. They are called the Toa Mata Band and they make music by beating on drum pads, percussion instruments, synthesizers and even a Nintendo DS.

Each member is controlled by an Arduino Uno which is hooked up to an iPad running a MIDI sequencer app.

[dfrobot]

There is a new type of water robot for us to fear and it comes in the form of an Octopus. Scientists aren’t just blindly looking for ways to kill us all. There is actually good reason to study cephalopods. They swim very well, using all eight of their legs. Researchers want to replicate this movement in robots.

That’s why a European team is working to build a robotic octopus. Check out the end of this video for a very creepy and very authentic looking Octopus swimming technique using soft legs.

[Geekosystem] via [Technabob]

If you have ever wanted your own robot buddy to watch TV with, the Wiebelbot is for you. This small USB powered robot wobbles every time you switch a channel. Best of all, he’s cute and cheap to make.

You’ll need a ping pong ball, a few other basic things and some basic electronics and soldering skills. Now you can watch Wiebelbot wobble while watching Whale Wars with Walter white. Say that three times fast.

Hit the link for instructions on how to build this little guy.

[Instructables]