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The News -
Hobbyiest
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Written by William Cox
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Thursday, 02 November 2006 |
 Our friends over at Robot Magazine sent us a note that they'd gotten an exclusive shot of the new Vex Robotics Development system that is in the works. The new system will be jointly created by Revell Monogram LLC and Innovation First, Inc. (the original developers of Vex). Innovation First will be in charge of engineering and development while Revell will be in charge of marketing and distribution.
The new Vex system will be developed cooperatively by both companies for the retail market. It will differ in design from the original Vex system being used in the educational market to make it more appealing in price point and ease of construction to a broader market. Initial shipments are planned for the summer of 2007.
Revell is known for their model and plastic kits. Both companies are privately owned.
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The News -
Latest News
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Written by William Cox
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Monday, 30 October 2006 |
 The HAL-5 exoskeleton suit is nearing "mass" production. Engadget reports that professor Yoshiyuki Sankai at Tsukuba University is hoping to have the suit ready for 400-500 units by 2008, with a mere 20 units produced in 2007. The suite allows its user to double his lifting abilities.
It operates by sensing weak electrical impulses from muscles via electrodes on operator's skin and sending them to the onboard computer which in turn analyzes them and activates corresponding servos of the suit, mimicking wearer's motions. [Via Wikipedia ]
You can read more about the HAL suit, and the 10 years of work that's gone into it, in this New Scientist article. There's also more information about HAL on it's website. A HAL suit of your own will set you back about $40,000 USD or $600 a month to rent.
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The News -
Latest News
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Written by William Cox
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Sunday, 08 October 2006 |
 VeraTech Aero, a Minnesota USA based company, has invented an aircraft that is nearly invisible to the naked eye. The secret to this technology is the concept of persistance of vision, or the lack thereof. The aircraft is uniquely created so that as it spins, its center of mass is in open space. This means that once the vehicle takes off, it spins in such a way that none of the body stays in the same spot, and it turns into just a blur of vision. This makes the aircraft especially hard to spot from the ground.
To do this, the vehicle is shaped like a 'Y' with the center of mass positioned between the two forks of the 'Y'. On either end there is a propellar, with the 'Y's tail functioning as a wing. The wing provides lift and the two propellers control the aircraft. Due to the fast spinning motion, the vehicle is also very stable and is able to hover and maneuver in many different weather types.
Using vision processing, an onboard camera on the aircraft, is able to transmit panoramic pictures of the landscape. These can then be sent to a headset that the driver can wear. The Phantom is also able to be launched from a throw, weights only 4lbs, and can be packed in a 12" x 4" x 6" space.
You can find more information and video of the Phantom Sentinel on VeraTech Aero's website.
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The News -
Latest News
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Written by William Cox
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Friday, 06 October 2006 |
The British government is helping to fund a new startup company with $3.5 million USD. The companies stated goal is to develop a robotic system to treat baldness .
Biosciences firm Intercytex aims to perfect a treatment that involves taking hair follicles from the back of the neck, multiplying them and replanting them where they are needed. Apparently the robot will somehow speed up the difficult process of multiplying hair folicles once they've been removed from the neck. Once the folicles are succesfully multiplied they are then implanted into the scalp.
The company is in Phase II testing, where they will try their technology on a larger pool of test patients. The systems has been tested on a few volunteers with apparent success.
The article isn't clear whether the robot is physically doing the removing and implanting of hair cells or whether it's just involved in the cell multiplying process. I, for one, don't like the thought of a robot pushing new hairs into my scalp.
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| Results 71 - 77 of 405 |
White Box Robotics has finally started shipping its first run of PC 914 robots
Yen-Wen Lu and Chang-Jin Kim at UCLA 
iRobot 