Higher and Higher

Students at I.C. Norcom High School in Portsmouth, Virginia constructed a robot as part of a competition they entered for their robotics club at school.  Atomic Dog, as the students have named it, was built to perform tasks–mainly lifting other robots.  However, Atomic dog was able to life one of the team members more than a foot in the air!

The club required $6,000 to get off the ground and funding was provided by the Beazley Foundation in Portsmouth.

The students hope that Atomic Dog’s feats will help get other students interested and help the club to grow.

 

Sometimes Cheaters DO Win

If only I could somehow get this thing in my brain.

Four undergrads at Texas A&M University have come up with a way to beat Guitar Hero at it’s own game…which is Guitar Hero.  They’ve created a robot that can not only win the game, but excel at it.  It doesnt look a thing like Slash, but Slashbot is a killer at rocking out.

The system uses a converter box to interpret pixels from the television screen into the correpsonding fret and strum presses.

Slashbot earns an average score of 90 percent on expert mode and has never lost to a human.  I say I’m next up for lessons.

 

 

New Record

The Cornell Ranger has set an unofficial world record.  It has walked for just over 5 and a half miles.  It made 45 laps around the Barton Hall track at Cornell University.  The Ranger’s creators wanted to demonstrate the robot’s efficiency.  Instead of using traditional motors to power its movement, the Ranger relies on the force of gravity when swinging its legs out–more like a human.  A pair of outside and a pair of inside legs swing alternatively resulting in a walking movement.  Its legs are unjointed, but the feet can be tipped up and down with the help of an ordinary hobbyist’s remote control.

 

ArtBots 2008!

In case your robot is gifted, then ArtBots might be for you.

ArtBots is a sort of talents show–an exhibition for artwork created by robots.  Now the people in charge of the event don’t have very specific idea on what constitutes a robot (or artowkr for that matter) so entry is somewhat liberal.  It might as well be, I’m not sure how many people have Michaelangelo 2.0’s.

As far as the prizes go there’s an Audience Choice Award and an Artist Choice Award.

 

Robots go vigilante

The latest member of the Atlanta police department isnt a police officer at all–it isnt even human.

 Rufus Terrill, a bar owner in Atlanta, wasn’t going to allow the drug dealers and vagrants to roam the streets near his establishment, or the daycare center a few buildings down, anymore.  Terrill rigged the robot from an old meat-smoker, scooter, water-cannon, infra-red camera and loudspeaker.  So why the water-cannon?  Well when Terrill controls the robot down the street and uses the loudspeaker, sometimes the trespassers just don’t get the hint.

Terrill’s “Robo-cop” (as he affectionately calls it) doesnt go unappreciated by other members of his community.  In fact, the owner of the day care center jokes about how she wishes she could afford one of her own.

Atlanta police officials have not recieved any complaints about the robot, though they have warned that it is technically an assault when Terrill intentionally uses the water-cannon.