Robot Supply and Repair Gives Back

Located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, The Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair not only fixes your broken bot, they sell upgrades, attachments, kits and add-ons. They also staged a recent Robot Fair during that city's Art Fair in July. Best of all, their proceeds go to the free student programs at 826michigan.

Via Liberty Street Robot

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Must Have: Escape Robot Kit

Elenco's latest kit can create an Escape Robot that can process information and maneuver around objects autonomously. The kit has a microprocessor, three infrared emitting modules and on IR receiving module. Two different sets of legs can be used for different types of movement. Some soldering is required (iron and solder not included.)

Via Elenco Kits

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NASA Issues Centennial Challenge

NASA has issued a new contest for those who can create robots and the prizes are certainly worth the effort. Referred to as the Centennial Challenge there are three categories:

-Place a small satellite into Earth's orbit twice in one week in the Nano-Satellite Launch Challenge and you win a cool $2 million.
-Create a solar-powered vehicle that can run on its own stored energy in the dark in the Night Rover Challenge and $1.5 million is yours.
-In the Sample Return Robot Challenge, if you can get one to fetch without humans, the prize is $1.5 million. (Pay attention, Willow Garage. This one may be right up your alley.)

Proposals are due by September 13 with more details to come.

Via NASA

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Spruce Deuce - Robot Drummer

Musician/artist Steve Averill created Spruce Deuce, a robotic drummer made from birch plywood that gets his rhythm from arm and wrist servos. He is controlled by a Highly Liquid MD24 MIDI servo controller. Interestingly enough, the bot is quite proficient, holds his sticks the right way and seems to respond to voice commands, although he misses some of the subtleties one usually finds in jazz musicians. Oh, wait, that's a robot.

Via Synthtopia

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Must Have: Elenco Soccer Robot Kit

With all the excitement of the World Cup 2010 and Robot World Cup, doesn't it make you want to gather your own robot horde team to conquer the universe competitors? Elenco's Soccer Robot runs on IR remote with a microprocessor and three motors, two for moving forward, backwards and turning, and one for kicking the ball. The 2-pack kit needs 4 AA and 4 AAA batteries (not included) to rule.

Via Elenco Robot Kits

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Qualcomm Issues AR Development Challenge

They may not be headed for moviedom, but the Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots are the main participants in Qualcomm's new mobile augmented reality platform. Even more fun for those who would like to play, the company has issued an Augmented Reality Developer Challenge with winnings of up to $200,000. Check out their beta now and prepare to play with their AR SDK when it is released this fall.

Via Qualcomm

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KUL PR2 Works on Task Specification

One of Willow Garage's PR2s went to Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and they are working on cooperation between humans and robots. Using iTaSC (Instantaneous Task Specification using Constraints) and skills framework, the bot will be taught to pick up and carry an object at a certain force while avoiding both moving and non-moving objects. To facilitate the experiment, the team will integrate both a localization algorithm (MTTL) into the ROS and the OpenRobot simulator.

Via Willow Garage

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KCRS Attempts Line Following Robot Record

The Kansas City Robotics Society and Science City decided to try to break a couple of world records. They devised a 400 ft. course at Union Station with 1 inch wide tape in order to create the planet's largest line follower robot course. KCRS member Micheal Overstreet claims that records were set by 50 robots moving simultaneously for 2 seconds and 15 robots going a full minute.

Via KCRS

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RoboCup 2010 Begins

RoboCup 2010 kicked off Sunday in Singapore for the thirteenth time. All told, there are 500 teams from 40 countries competing in various categories. Of course, we know that the main emphasis is on the soccer games and the Federation is hoping that eventually the roboteams can compete against humans.

Via RoboCup 2010

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Multi-Leg Robots Steal the Show

Sometimes you have to take a few minutes and appreciate that there are those out there that dig robotics so much that they will spend most of their waking hours building an entrant into the multi-legged robot competition for a ROBO-One event. This video is wa-a-y too much fun for humans.

Via Robots Dreams

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Microsoft RDS 2008 R3 Now Free Download

Microsoft is offering its Robotics Developer Studio for free to encourage others to get involved in robotics. They combined their RDS 2008 R2 (Express, Standard and Academic) to make RDS 2008 R3. The tools include a visual programming interface and 3D simulator. The fact that Willow Garage already is offering their ROS as open source may have weighed in on their decision but we think it is a good move on their part no matter the source of the inspiration.

Via Microsoft Robotics

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Must Have: T3 Robot Kit

The T3 Solar Robot Kit lets you build a walking robot, scorpion or tank, each being motorized when completed. Recommended for those over the age of ten, the kit needs no glue or soldering and can run on a halogen bulb on overcast days.

Via T3
Solar Robot Kit

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Get Your Own Giant Gundam

Celebrate the 30th anniversary of Bandai's Gundam with one of your very own. For ¥315,000 (~$3,400) you can get a Limited Edition RX-78-2 that stands 1.5m tall, weighs 38kg and comes with a beam rifle, beam saber and shield. A hex wrench set is included for assembly.

Via Bandai (translated)

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CALLO and CALLY, Personable Cell Phones

Prof. Chris D. Shaw and PhD student Ji-Dong Yim of Simon Fraser University, Canada took a Nokia phone and some Bioloid parts, and created CALLO and CALLY. As you can see in the video, the cell phone bot features various facial expressions when a call comes in. The phone's cam uses OpenCV for face detection and hand tracking to mimic arm movement. Partially funded by Nokia, the program was designed to improve consumer/product bonds. Boogie on.

Via SFU

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