Robotic watch

Dream DX Robot Dog

The Dream DX showcased at the Tokyo Toy Forum is a result of strong demand for a robotic dig. Unlike its counterpart the 'Aibo' it is very realistic, it can move its eyes, open its mouth, go back and forth and wag its tails. It has an audio recognition feature so it will cutely wag its tail when you say 'good boy'.

The Dream Dog codenamed Dream DX is much more advanced than its feline counterpart and responds to every action just as a real dog would. It will be available soon in Japan for 29,600 Yen ($ 270)

This one is from my old thread, Sarcos exoskeleton



The Sarcos exoskeleton is rather famous and one of the most important in my opinion.

If you want to know more, continue reading. The sarcos is mentioned a little in ATS Mix Show 55, also in CNN.com Video.


A little bit history about Exoskeleton and Sarcos from about.com

History of Exoskeleton
General Electric developed the first exoskeleton device in the 1960s. Called the Hardiman, it was a hydraulic and electrical body suit, however, it was too heavy and bulky to be of military use.

DARPA began phase I of the exoskeleton program in 2001. Phase I contractors included Sarcos Research Corporation, University of California, Berkeley, and the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. DARPA selected two contractors to enter the program’s second phase in 2003, Sarcos Research Corporation and the University of California, Berkeley.

Sarcos was recently purchased by Raytheon.

Raytheon Buys Sarcos Robotics Business for Undisclosed Sum

Thats amazing. Its kind of scary but at the same time exciting to see that Raytheon bought Sarcos...you just know they are going to put that technology on steroids and fast-track in black projects.

Originally posted by Unplugged
Thats amazing. Its kind of scary but at the same time exciting to see that Raytheon bought Sarcos...you just know they are going to put that technology on steroids and fast-track in black projects.

Yes, Raytheon always means business. And Sarcos doesn't seem like the usual business startup either.


Next item is the Touch Bionics i-Limb



Cyborg-style 'iLimb' hand a big hit with Iraq veterans

"With my other myoelectric hand, I would really have to concentrate...the iLimb hand does things naturally. I can just grab the cup like a regular person."

Touch also offers realistic skin coverings, making the iLimb appear much like a normal hand. They note, however, that this option isn't universally popular.

"Some patients, mainly military personnel, particularly love the robotic nature of the uncovered iLimb Hand and prefer not to wear it with a cosmesis glove," says the company.

This isn't recommended, however, for practical reasons: but Touch has done its best for those wishing to show off their cyborg chic: "Because of the need to provide a grip surface and to protect the hand from dust and water, Touch Bionics has developed the iLimb Skin. This is a thin layer of semi-transparent material."

The best bionic hand (for prosthetic use) I've seen and heard so far. There is also another one that DARPA is currently developing, it's called Proto 2. Maybe the Protos will be better than the i-Limb.

I don't know the current price of the i-Limb, but last year it's about $17000.

You know, once these artificial limbs start becoming more functional - and stronger - then a normal human arm...

How many people would just go in for a replacement, and sell their original arm? I'm thinking of Will Smith's arm from "I, Robot" that thing came in handy, didn't it?

How many years away are real (more) functional cyborgs?

10? 15?

Soldiers who lose limbs won't be disabled - they'll be upgraded.



[edit on 20-1-2008 by benign.psychosis]

Great thread! I didn't know we were so far along with exoskeletons and artificial limbs. The future is looking very interesting.

Wow... My kid would love one of those dogs, it kinda creeps me out though, furby style... Very realistic motion, I love where it kind of half shakes his head for no reason like dogs tend to do when they have an itch or something. If they made it so that it would follow you around and run and play, that would be super weird. I also saw that Sega has the dream cat as well, but I must admit, even though I am more of a cat person, it was not as realistic as the dog. For one thing it speaks in Japanese which most real cats do not do

The exoskeleton video is crazy! Man, I'm seeing parallels to all kinds of anime here. It's only a matter of time before the battlesuits are out fighting each other. The other robot arm is really cool as well. I'll have to look into that one more. Is there a leg that is similar I wonder? And how is it controlled? It all just seemed so natural.

Keep it coming, I love this stuff! (as scary as the applications may be...)

Something more in line with ATS theme.

Dragonfly or Insect Spy? Scientists at Work on Robobugs






The Harvard version (the smallest one) is still tethered, cannot fly by its own (phew, lucky for us). I don't think you'll be able to see the Harvard version in the rally. As you can see, those little bugs are pretty small.

www.touchbionics.com...

Touch Bionics has developed the I-Limb, witch looks pretty functional compared to past prosthetics, so hopefully cyborgs aren't too much farther away

Now imagine a strong human being model, in the world of hackers, they could possibly hack a robot to kill somebody and nobody would know who sent it!

LOL Now thinking positive this is really cool!

could always end up like Ghost in the Shell, full cybernetic prosthetic bodies, then YOU can be hacked too!

still cool though

the exoskeleton was reported here before. it would be kinda cool to keep up with it. too bad they dont release info on it.


Heinlin would be proud or saying to make it lok like a tin gorilla

reply to post by Jazzyguy

Just adding one more video for this post. Another flying spybug, but this one also crawls.

Chevy Boss - Robot Chauffeur



This heavily modified Chevy Tahoe is the winner of the 2007 Darpa Urban Challenge.


Why is Darpa developing autonomous vehicles?

Explanation from Darpa itself:

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001, Public Law 106-398, Congress mandated in Section 220 that “It shall be a goal of the Armed Forces to achieve the fielding of unmanned, remotely controlled technology such that… by 2015, one-third of the operational ground combat vehicles are unmanned.” DARPA conducts the Urban Challenge program in support of this Congressional mandate. Every “dull, dirty, or dangerous” task that can be carried out using a machine instead of a human protects our warfighters and allows valuable human resources to be used more effectively.

VW is also developing a fully autonomous vehicle. Which I have to say, quite impressive.

Battlefields will be big test for 'seeing' robot

from csmonitor.com

In the next 18 months, the US is likely to deploy a potentially breakthrough robot-vision system in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The battlefields in Iraq and Afghanistan are likely to provide the first test for a potential breakthrough in robotics: the ability to "see" well enough and quickly enough to move through unknown terrain without human help. The US military plans to use the technology – three-dimensional flash laser radar (LADAR) – to remove bombs and search for casualties in chemically contaminated areas without giving up human control. Eventually, however, self-navigating LADAR could show up on Hollywood movie sets to enable special effects – or in your car to prevent collisions with pedestrians.

cool posts man. keep up the hard work some good info here!!!

Heartlander - Cardiac Robot



As you can see the main purpose of this robot is to avoid cracking the chest open which is very invasive.

There is also a similar robot like this called the i-Snake. I don't know exactly what's the different between the two but the Heartlander is from the US and the i-Snake is from the UK.

More reading:

Robotic 'leech' could end the need for open-heart surgery

Robots set to overhaul service industry, jobs

from csmonitor.com

At a mall in Osaka, Japan, lost shoppers can get directions from a robot that looks like something out of "The Jetsons." In hospitals across the US, disc-shaped robots deliver bed linens and meals to rooms. In some homes, robots are already doing a range of chores, such as vacuuming rooms and cleaning gutters. At least one company is working on a robot that works on a farm.

"The service sector, which is a gigantic part of the employment landscape in the United States, is inevitably going to be a place where you can replace millions of people with robots that work 24/7 for less money," says futurist Marshall Brain.

For those who don't know, Osaka is the robot capital of Japan.

on the subject of robotic military/police forces, sounds entertaining.
Also, maybe if robots took all the violent jobs, then maybe we wouldn't have violence anymore? The violent people would have to fight robots much stronger than them, perhaps they wouldn't resort to violence any more?
Im not saying military/police personnel are violent, criminals are, so therefore the good guys feel they have to be as well if they also want to survive.
Im all for a robot on every corner, lol
then we could start to sort out what is wrong with things, but then, if we realized the owners of the robots were evil, would we have a bigger problem than before?
perhaps violence and killing are the least of our problems if there is any "side" that feels robots should be employed to police the world
were just a bunch of crazy, intelligent people!
gotta love it

Something more on the light side.

Hands-On with the “Transformers” like Mobile Phone from Softbank.

We've just returned from a joint press conference with TV Tokyo, SoftBank, and Toshiba where we saw the 815T PB in the flesh, the very first Mecha/Transformer like 3G mobile phone.

I'll be much more impressed if the phone could actually transform and move around by itself.

The 'Uncanny Valley' hypothesis seems to be holding true, in an odd way in that soldiers don't seem to want to use the cosmetic skin covering for the prosthetic I-limb.

Of course they also like touting the 'Terminator' association, I suppose.

It would be acceptable for people to shake your hand seeing that it was prosthetic, but they'd probably jump back if the cosmetic cover was used and they didn't realize it.

Great posts, JG!

PS - I'm kind of afraid to look at the cardio chest thing. Is it gory? :

[edit on 5-3-2008 by Badge01]