By Adriana Lee |
Robotic surgeons. The two words may sound like something out of a futuristic sci-fi flick, but they’re real and actually in fairly common use. The leading name in surgical robots is da Vinci, a pricey piece of tech worth $1.5 million that was used in…
By Sean P. Aune |
The Consumer Electronics Show isn’t just about phones and televisions, as evidenced by images released today by Samsung of its new Smart Tango Corner Clean that will be on display. Samsung is being cryptic when it comes to its new television, but that doesn’t mean…
By Roy Choi |
Disney Research has created a new animatronic that may one day play Centerfield for the New York Yankees. The new animatronics use visual depth aware motion camera to calculate object movement to tell where to position its robot hand to catch the ball and in…
By Adriana Lee |
I’m not sure why, but I’m kind of intrigued with food technology. Maybe it’s because I’m an amateur foodie, and I work at a technology site. (It’s like the best of both worlds, no?) This one, developed by Chinese restauranteur Cui Runguan, is a stunning…
By Sean P. Aune |
The Kuratas robot will allow to attack your enemies with plastic BB fury and missiles, making sure that everyone always fears your 4.5 ton robot. Anyone that has watched any Anime can tell you: The Japanese sure do love the idea of mobile armor. Whether…
By Adriana Lee |
Amazon badly wants to cut shipping times so it can compete with brick-and-mortar retailers. In order to do that, it needs to get more fulfillment centers up and running in more locations. So, to entice warehouse workers, the company went on a recruitment drive on…
By Ron Duwell |
During this Independence Day, take a quick break from your apple pie and fireworks, and let Japanese game developer FromSoftware tap into your subconscious nationalistic tendencies like you’ve never experienced before. This is Metal Wolf Chaos, 8 minutes of the most mind-boggling American patriotism you…
By Adriana Lee |
I have to admit that I’m a victim of modern-day cynicism: In the beginning, I was certain that these three bots would be overpriced toys that could only do a negligible amount of cleaning, and I was almost positive they’d run into obstacles or other…
By Adriana Lee |
In total, iRobot gave me three units to check out — the Roomba 780, the Scooba 230 and this, the newly released Scooba 390. This is the company’s top-of-the-line wet cleaning unit that just debuted recently, and it is a welcome entry in the home care arena.…
By Adriana Lee |
The little Scooba 230 and its new, larger sibling, the Scooba 390, don’t just douse your floors to rinse them, but they make multiple passes to spread the cleaning solution, and then suction and squeegee that action right up. The Scooba 230 uses water with…
By Sean P. Aune |
Early last week Amazon announced that it had purchased KIVA Systems for $775 million. What exactly does the company do that would command such a high price? Think “robots.” Lots and lots of little orange robots. As you can see in the video above from…
By Adriana Lee |
The thought of futuristic home care is pretty exciting. Nothing would impact our day-to-day lives more than having a clean, well-kept sanctuary, and if technology can let us have that with very minimal maintenance, that’s a reason to cheer. Anyone who’s ever dealt with gross…
By Todd Haselton |
Amazon announced on Monday that it plans to acquire KIVA systems, a company that uses “hundreds of autonomous mobile robots and sophisticated control software” to help other companies fulfill and ship orders. “Amazon has long used automation in its fulfillment centers, and Kiva’s technology is another…
By Adriana Lee |
Mike and Adriana meet Ava, iRobot‘s take on the future of telepresence. The company’s excited about this prototype, which is likely destined for the healthcare industry. But this technology could wind up providing on-the-ground security surveillance and extremely future-forward office applications. There has been a…
By Adriana Lee |
Adriana Lee and Mike Perlman spent a day at iRobot, checking out the company’s consumer, commercial and government robotic technologies. Up first? A peek at the company’s Government & Industrial robots used by the government and military — complete with gaming peripherals! Mike and Adriana…
By Adriana Lee |
What Jaimie Mantzel has created is nothing short of amazing — it’s the robot that children across the land have always wanted. I know what you’re thinking: “What’s so special about yet another robotic toy that’s probably made of cheap plastic, looks nothing like the…
By Adriana Lee |
If you’ve ever watched Jurassic Park, dreaming of hanging out with some prehistoric creatures, you may want to hightail it over to New Jersey: Turns out, Laurel Hill (Secaucus) is getting its very own animatronic dinosaur park! Slated to open in May 2012, “Field Station:…
By Mike Perlman |
In a world where darkness has fallen over everything, robots determine the future of the last remaining members of the human race. And only one cyborg can stop them before it’s too late. Same Make. Same Model. New Mission. Once he was programmed to destroy…
By Emily Price |
Foxconn, the company known for manufacturing the iPhone and iPad, will be replacing more workers with robots, with plans to have 1 million robot employees in the next three years. The move is expected to cut labor costs, and increase efficiency at the plant. Foxconn…
By Sean P. Aune |
The second I hear “Roomba,” I just immediately think about salsa dancing as opposed to a robotic vacuum cleaner, but as we all know, it certainly applies to the latter as well. iRobot, the company behind the brand, has been revamping their line of of…
By Noah Kravitz |
Android is so much more than a “smartphone platform,” or at least it will be if half of what’s being shown off at Google I/O makes it from prototype stage to full-on shipping product status. Being a developers’ conference and not a trade show, I/O…
By Adriana Lee |
Despite multiple heroic maneuvers by workers to get a handle on the nuclear emergency in Japan, it has become increasingly clear that the situation requires more than human intervention. Enter iRobot. These remote-controlled Packbots, once used by the U.S. Army to defuse bombs, were sent into the…
By Joey Davidson |
As Portal 2′s release date approaches, Valve has upped the marketing ante and is releasing an awesome slew of trailers. The clips are all portrayed as Aperture Science infomercials. If you don’t know what Aperture Science is, then you’ve just received your first homework assignment from a video game…
By Jack McGrath |
Remember all of those now-ancient cartoons that made all of us believe that by 2011 families would live on floating disks and move around in hovercars? While one might find it disappointing that neither of those things have been implemented in reality, we are now…
