The robot could make life easier for small to mid-sized medical institutions and patients, who now have to go through the trouble of finding a general hospital for blood tests instead of visiting the neighborhood doctor. Only problem is that they will have to wait until 2012.

The Hyogo Prefectural Institute of Technology recently presented [JP] a humanoid robot that is programmed to walk like a fashion model. The researchers claim they used materials easily available anywhere for the development of the robot, which comes with a frame made of aluminum.

The Manekin Robotto (fashion model robot) stands just 160cm tall, which might not be enough to let it run on cat walks instead of real models. Weighing a more realistic 30kg, it moves through 16 joints and motorized cylinders built into its body. The robot is able to cross and bend its legs, just as human models are supposed to do. Too bad it’s so ugly.

Generally a PC is needed to control the movements but if you insert an SD card holding pre-saved instructions into the robot’s memory card slot (located in its head), it can also move independently. The Manekin Robotto can also be remote-controlled via a cell phone.

The robot is available from the Japanese institute at an amazingly low price: It’s yours for just $940.

Via FunShop

The micro-sized high-tech i-SOBOT is equipped with 17 servo motors provided throughout the body and also a gyro sensor. It is capable of making different kinds of smooth motions while automatically balancing itself.

It features five operational modes: (1) remote control mode; (2) programmed mode; (3) special action mode; (4) voice control mode (for dictating simple actions); and (5) dance mode. It i-SOBOT IR Remote Controllercan also move while outputting words (speaking vocabulary of over 200 words and phrases in English), sound effects, music, etc. from a built-in speaker.

The i-SOBOT remote control has a built-in LCD display with intuitive icons for easy motion sequence entry. The controller/robot communication is done using a well known IR format similar to television remote controls.The i-SOBOT can play music, dance, and respond to applause and other user actions. The bot can also make its own punching and kicking sound effects, so we can imagine some entertaining robo-duels with a pair of these things. By the way, have you ever seen a toy robot that can do push-ups? Or get up on its feet by itself without you having to lift it up? Watch the video. It’s awesome!

The Tomy i-Sobot is available to buy online for $199.99.

Source Geeky Toys

Post from: gadgettastic.com

The Tomy i-Sobot

In case you didn’t know, Polymorph plastic is probably the best molding material for DIYers who need to customized plastic parts.

You can get polymorph plastic here.

via hackedgadgets

At Germany’s new grocery story of the future (already in use by residents of the present) shoppers can use mobile phones to check out while they shop. The store has created free software for your phone that allows you to use your camera to capture barcodes as you shop. Once finished, just press a button and all your purchases come up as a single bar code. Slide your phone under the barcode reader at an automated pay station, and your final amount comes up. Shoppers can then pay using cash, credit or debit cards, or with the touch of a finger, (once you register for fingerprint shopping). The store also features Roger the helpful German shop robot, an automated wine tasting bar and micro chipped meat. Take a tour with the BBC.

Gentlemen, commence processing this in your WTF file.

According to this video, the owner of a robot arm programmed to Digg 3,000 stories every two days has been arrested in Nagasaki, Japan. If we're to believe the monotone, robotically-speaking narrator, the arm could supposedly reload the Digg website every five minutes and would even shut down the system if a mobile number was called three times.

Self-evidently a scam, then. But a lot of people are buying this one. People who know Japan. Pink Tentacle seems to have bought it, and my beautiful, utterly charming ex-colleague Lisa Katayama also seems to think it is legit. Both of these guys are experts in the study of Japanese weirdness, and neither of their posts contains a trace of irony or bemusement. They're convinced.

So what do you think, besides an initial ejaculatory "lolwut?" Fake? Real? Let me answer for you: of course it's fake. It even says "For Entertainment Only" at the end! The real story here is that Japan has become so marvelously surreal that even people who study its culture for a living can't tell fever dream from reality anymore. And really, who can blame them?

I have never seen Polymorph before. It’s a plastic that can be melted in hot water, molded in your hands and when it dries it is rock hard! Using not much more than some Polymorph, some cordless screwdrivers and some wooden curtain rings this robot  by XRobots was created.

" I constructed the pelvis part for the android first. This is made from aluminium strip material to make a frame which was then covered in polymorph. I used two different sized curtain rings to make ball sockets for the legs to plug into. The legs will have curtain rail ends attached to them which fit perfectly into the ball sockets, after a little sanding, to make sure they move around ok."