And also deLIcious!

[Thank you to our hero, @ebertchicago]

The folks at Wired magazine did an awesome story on BarBot, including some great images, and some amazing features!

The secret to a great cocktail, most connoisseurs would agree, has something to do with the ice, the liquor, the glass — and the bartender.

But what if the bartender is not a warm-blooded human with a sympathetic ear, but rather a cold, soulless machine made of pistons, valves and servos?

At a bar in San Francisco, a group of artists, engineers and tinkerers sought the answer with their creations: robots designed specifically to pour out a nice drink.

A drama unfolds i the deepest ocean, when a small sort fish gets trapped in a struggle for it;s small, sporty life. Luckily a working ROV manages to avert disaster:

[via Liveleak]

Well, like the man said, that was a hell of a thing. Thanks to everyone who turned up: robot makers, cocktail appreciators, and especially the staff at DNA Lounge, who took care of stuff so we didn’t have to.

Here’s a nice piece from CNET News which gives a pretty good indication of how things went:

Here are a few photos from lovely folks who showed up to take them:

LaughingSquid:

Dave Schumaker:

Mauricio Balvanera:

Josh Ellingson:

Nothing like a bit of Old School Robot Rock to get your clanky self out of bed on a cold winter’s morn. There are so many clips of songs and tons of pix and more pix from Daft Punk shows all over the interwebs, but really and truly- you ought to go see them live at the next chance you get. BEST SHOW EVAR.

While we think the technological prowess demonstrated by these giant strip-mining machines heralds a new era in the industrialization of the American landscape, others choose to comment via culturally prescient collaborations that invite thoughtful commentary and astute criticism.

This video featuring the Bagger 288 large-scale industrial mining bucket-wheel excavator, is one such work.

[via @iidocracy on Twitter]

I promise you this is not another mere-smear BS YouTube embed just to say we’ve posted when we actually are only posting a BS Youtube embed.

Okay so maybe it could kind of lok that way but it’s cool because tis is abkut US! As in, it’s about RoboGames, the li’l shindig we throw in June or thereabouts in San Francisco.

Bill Sherman, robot builder extraordinaire, always sets up a nifty time lapse camera at RoboGames to capture the arena build and all sorts of other silliness. He has included footage he took of some of the art bot mezzanine as well. Tel him how neat he is and thank him for putting this up.

[BTW, hello to all those coming from Neatorama through the Rotor's last post, we weren't expecting guests to please forgive us if we're scrambling around to tidy things up.]

So, for a little background: Stephen Nelson is one of our favorite people that most of the six of you who check this site regularly have never heard of. He builds things like power tool racers and, more importantly, robots.

His stable include Evelyn, a Modified Dawg (watch out, 16mg video download); Eva, the beer retriever, and his latest and gnarliest creation, Ethel, (named for the Zappa song). As Mr. Nelson says, “The goal of building Ethel is a learning experience with software and vision system on a off road robot.” At least this was the goal when he started, she has since sprouted a flamethrower and a portable DJ rig, amongst other things. But I digress.

I will now turn over the tale of the latest adventures with Ethel to Mr. Nelson himself posting from his garage while nursing his road rash:

(more…)

I have been inundated with these photos, which are cool, so I am passing the savings on to you:

Lobsterbots, LEMURs, ATHELETEs, Mr. Wu, NASA rovers, Big Dogs, plant putters, dino bots, rescue remedies, warehouse automatons, Philip K. Dicks and mechanical men, from all over the world, rendered in breathtaking technicolor.

If this doesn’t bring it home that robots are already the big thing. . .Mr. Saffo? Any comments?

[Thanks to Scott Beale and RICK! for the links]

The advent of this robot clearly means Rosie the Robot is imminent, so people can stop asking, already.

From Bre Pettis and Adam Cechetti, here are the fruits of a long, punchy night at NYC Resistor:

Bre has established that Skynet will enable itself via tasty cheese-filled snacks:

This is one of those robots that I swear is alive. The noises it made were like an animal and it seemed that everytime we looked the other way, it was coming to life and changing things with the setup.

It shows that the revolution will come via Arduino and reprap controllers, and will be commented on by XKCD.

Found this thanks to the always awesome Lem, who got it from I-Wei, because I-Wei lives the life you wish you had:

More posts up soon if my brain ever resembles something that is not oatmeal or boiled millet.

Mister Robotics is still in Tokyo (Follow him on Twitter!), and after a month of sustained human contact I believe the Rotor is presiding in-self contained splendor in the Fortress Of Solitude, so It’s all me until then. And I like I said, my brain is millet.

Because why carve with a knife if you can carve with a FRIKIN’ LASER?

Douglas Repetto, Robot Talent Show Man In The Field and Dorkbot Representative for Planet Earth, sends us some delicous pics of his pumpkin carving extravaganza:

More pics and movies of the lazorz in action at Doug’s website.

It’s getting gently hectic here in The Uncanny Valley, what with us heading off for points south for MakerFaire Austin, but here is a neat thing that appeared in my inbox this morning:

It is a giant mechanical flower that opens and closes at dawn and dusk, made by students at the University Of Buenos Aires in Argentina.

Raise a glass and wipe a tear from your eye. Alvin, that intrepid Navy explorer famed for exploring the Titanic with Dr. Robert Ballard’s team at Woods Hole, is heading for the great metal front porch. He will be replaced by leaner, meaner, raw cast titanium whipper snapper that is costing some 50 million dollars.

From the NYT:

The new vehicle is to replace Alvin, which was the first submersible to illuminate the rusting hulk of the Titanic and the first to carry scientists down to discover the bizarre ecosystems of tube worms and other strange creatures that thrive in icy darkness.

The United States used to have several submersibles — tiny submarines that dive extraordinarily deep. Alvin is the only one left, and after more than four decades of probing the sea’s depths it is to be retired. Its replacement, costing some $50 million, is to go deeper, move faster, stay down longer, cut the dark better, carry more scientific gear and maybe — just maybe — open a new era of exploration.

I personally will definitely be pouring one out for my junked homie; discovering the Titanic and all the attendant wonder of deep sea exploration made realize how bitchin’ science actually is. Alvin is where the scientists who deployed Argo the ROV and Jason the autonomous submersible were stationed.

Badass leader of robots, we salute you.

Enjoy your retirement.

[via Gizmodo and the Grey Lady]

So if wiggling ICE-powered donkey’s weren’t bad enough, Boston Dymanics now gives us robotic spidermen. Well, spiderbugs… (is that redundant?)

RiSE is a small six-legged robot that climbs vertical terrain such as walls, trees and fences. RiSE’s feet have claws, micro-claws or sticky material, depending on the climbing surface. RiSE changes posture to conform to the curvature of the climbing surface and a fixed tail helps RiSE balance on steep ascents. RiSE is about 0.25 m long, weighs 2 kg, and travels 0.3 m/s.

Each of RiSE’s six legs is powered by two electric motors. An onboard computer controls leg motion, manages communications, and services a variety of sensors. The sensors include an inertial measurement unit, joint position sensors for each leg, leg strain sensors and foot contact sensors.

Future versions of RiSE will use dry adhesion to climb sheer vertical surfaces such as glass and metal. Boston Dynamics is developing RiSE in conjunction with researchers at University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon, Berkeley, Stanford, and Lewis and Clark University. RiSE is funded by the DARPA Defense Sciences Office.