Category: Robots

Robotics engineer and Wow Wee toy designer Mark Tilden was the guest on the Australian podcast TekTime. It’s a 42-minute segment, so you get to hear a lot more about Mark’s background and other aspects of his life and career than he’s had the time to divulge in previous media coverage. Unfortunately, the fidelity of the audio is rather poor. Some of the things covered in the interview include:

* His history as a robotics physicist including his time at NASA.
* Funny and interesting stories relating to the original Robosapien, which has now sold over 6 million units.
* His upcoming robots ,such as such as the Roboquad and Roboboa, which will increase the total number of robots sold by Wow Wee beyond the current 20 million mark
* His opinions on the Japanese style of building robots, compared to his style which is based on nature, a style which he calls “analog”.
* Why the robotics industry has not taken off yet and what needs to happen for it to do so.

Thanks, Robert!

PC Magazine got a hold of a review unit of the FlyTech Dragonfly, Wow Wee’s latest addition to their line of robotic toys. Bottom line: They like it. A lot. They gave it four out of five stars. Here’s their review.

We’ll be doing our own review when our eval unit arrives, by the end of the month. Stay tuned…

The same fella who gave us the flame-throwing Robosapien is now showing off the CoilOSapien, a V2 outfitted with a mini coil-gun. It fires a charged-particle projectile and sports laser targeting.

As you can see from the vid, it’s actually the same Robosapien retro-fitted with the flame-thrower. So now he’s got a flamethrower AND a coil-gun. Finally a step towards taking Robosapien’s security mode a little more seriously. [And kids, don’t try this at home (at least not without adult supervision).]

Here’s a link to the video.
Here’s a link to the builder’s page.

Thanks, Robert!

Our pals over at Robots Rule write to tell us:

“WowWee’s wing-flapping flying insect robot is now available on Radio Shack’s web site for ordering. The US$49 Flytech Dragonfly is currently exclusive to the Shack, although reports indicate that in a month, shipping may be open to other retailers. Here’s the product page on Radio Shack.”

For more information on the Flytech Dragonfly and some videos, check out RobotsRule’s page.

[Above photo: courtesy of Perspective Branding]

Robert Oschler, of RobotsRule, tells Street Tech:

The Pleo pre-order date has been moved from February 3rd to sometime this spring. To make up for it, maker Ugobe is holding a contest to give away ten Pleos via an essay contest from those people signed up on Ugobe’s mailing list. You must be signed up by the contest start date of Febuary 3rd. The contest asks entrants to write a 250-word essay on “How do you envision robotic life forms influencing or touching your life in the next five years?“. Only the first 500 submissions will be accepted. Out of those, ten will be chosen based on the best answer to receive a free Pleo that will come with a personal note from Caleb Chung.

Pleo is being delayed due to upgrades like the following:
– It’s eyes are being redone to look as realistic and life like as possible.
– The skin is being refined to have features that are painted on to be replaced with sculpted details that will give the impression of muscle tissue under the skin.
– The number of sounds Pleo can make is being expanded on the speaker upgraded to make Pleo’s voice much more realistic.
– Finally, a chin sensor is being added so scratching Pleo under the chin gets an fun playful reaction.

People can learn more about Pleo at the RobotsRule Pleo Dinosaur page.

The netcast Talking Robots has an interview with roboticist/ cyberneticist Owen Holland, from University of Essex. He is known for his work in behavior-based robotics, from building robot predators to anthropomimetic (realistic as possible duplication of human physiology) robots. He also talks about his recent restoration and replication of W. Grey Walter’s amazing autonomous robots from the 1940s.

Robert Oschler of RobotsRule tells Street Tech:

“There’s a new Pleo video on YouTube from a special meeting held by maker Ugobe at CES 2007, courtesy of Lance Ulanoff from PC Magazine. The video shows a smoother-moving, more realistic-looking prototype of Ugobe’s artificial pet dinosaur, sporting a new skin. There is also a new slide show of Pleo screenshots. You can find a round-up of Pleo videos, pictures, and reviews on RobotsRule.”

Street Tech pal, cheerleader, and muse Alberto Gaitán got a nice shout-out in the Washington Post yesterday as part of a piece on the various exhibitions and events going on in DC this spring to celebrate the Washington Color School of color field painting. The Phillips, the Hirshhorn, the Corcoran, and other galleries and orgs are planning events. 18th St is going to be repainted in stripes to honor Gene Davis (as it was in 1987 after his death in ’85).

Alberto’s piece, called “Remembrancer,” will be at the Curator’s Office on 14th St. and involve three robots that will translate sensor input collected from around the gallery into a color field work robo-painted over the course of a month.

Giles Thomas built my Coat Hanger Walker bot and writes about the experience on his website. He has a page of Build Notes that those planning on doing this project should probably check out. There’s also a YouTube vid of the Walker in action. His walks backwards, but hey, it walks, at a nice, decent clip, too. Nice job, Giles!

Back in September, I wrote a piece on Zach Debord’s awesome Twin-Engine Solarroller which uses a variation on the Type 1 Solar Engine I’ve written about in my BEAM Robots series for MAKE. I asked Zach to collaborate with me on another Street Tech Feature, this one on Vibrobots, a type of BEAMbot that uses the same type of Solar Engine (with a Flashing LED as a voltage trigger), is easy to build, and really entertaining to watch. Enjoy…