Antonio Mugica

Actor Jean Dujardin, this year won the Oscar for best actor of...

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 14:50:00 -0500

Actor Jean Dujardin, this year won the Oscar for best actor of the year for his participation in the film The Artist, directed by Michel Hazanavicius.

Passwords obsolete?

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 12:34:00 -0500

Antonio Mugica

Passwords will be replaced by USB-like devices that serve as keys to unlock your documents, or so proposes Google.

Computadora del futuro

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 13:09:12 -0500

Antonio Mugica

Esta computadora se lleva en la muñeca como una pulsera.

Giant Robot exhibit.

Fri, 04 Jan 2013 19:32:40 -0500

Antonio Mugica

You can still make it to the exhibit at the Japanese American National Museum.

Waving in the New Year

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 20:14:47 -0500

Antonio Mugica

May 2013 feed your love of robots and make it grow.

Technology imitates the human body

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 08:55:00 -0500

Antonio Mugica

Brain-controlled prosthetic limb. Looks complicated but so is human anatomy.

Need a robot or two?

Sat, 15 Dec 2012 21:26:42 -0500

Antonio Mugica

In the future just knock on your neighbor’s door.

Lego-Bots

Sun, 09 Dec 2012 10:07:22 -0500

Antonio Mugica

Robot competitions for every age and size

R2D2 at Comicpalooza Houston.

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 12:53:03 -0500

R2D2 at Comicpalooza Houston.

Robot love

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 13:58:00 -0500

Antonio Mugica

Is robot love better than human love?

Spider robot

Sat, 17 Nov 2012 21:34:24 -0500

NASA’s spider robots will go where other robots dare not in outterspace.

Future: robots in space

Fri, 09 Nov 2012 22:40:47 -0500

NASA and the European Space Agency tested an interplanetary communications protocol using it to control a Lego robot in Germany.

Robotic dog

Fri, 02 Nov 2012 19:39:18 -0400

Mechanical moving robot dog. A true member of the Jetsons’ family

DARPA Challenge: humanitarian robot

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 15:30:00 -0400

Antonio Mugica

The teams that will compete in the DARPA Robotics Challenge have been announced today. This time around, teams will be competing to create robots that can replace humans in disaster situations. DARPA is a branch of the U.S. Department of Defense.

DARPA’s mission is to reduce the risks in humanitarian assistance. The Challenge has been inspired by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster in Japan. Exposure to radiation is fatal to humans, but not for the “Fukushima 50”, a robot that ventured into the nuclear meltdown nightmare and helped abate the disaster.

The selected teams will have the task of creating robots capable of opening doors, climbing stairways, driving vehicles and connecting cables or a fire hose. The program manager for the challenge, Dr. Gill Pratt explained: “Disasters often occur in environments that have plentiful numbers of tools that are meant for human beings. And by tools, I mean things from screwdrivers to vehicles and everything in between. And often those tools are around both for construction and repair and maintenance. And, again, during the first few days after a disaster, there is no time to bring in specialized tools and, so, can we build robots that can reuse tools that were originally meant for human beings?”

For more information please visit: http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow/story/304273/darpa-wants-robotics-to-rise-to-the-challenge-of-disasters

Robots and sharks off Delaware

Sun, 21 Oct 2012 21:42:00 -0400

Antonio Mugica

Little is known about the sand shark. Off the coasts of Delaware innovative research is being put into use to investigate the lives of these scary, toothy animals.

Mathew Oliver at the University of Delaware is part of a team that has spent the last five years catching, marking and setting back into the wild over 500 sharks. The marking process includes inserting a tag called VEMCO mobile transceivers (VMTs). The VMTs send “pings” of information out into the water.

Recently, the team has launched a robot into these dark waters to help them retrieve the information. It is the first time a device of this kind is used to instantly track locations. The robot is formed like a yellow torpedo and has previously been used only for testing the chemistry of ocean waters.

For more information visit: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49483229/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Robotic hero suit

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 20:54:00 -0400

Antonio Mugica

Robots have changed the way we move on Earth and in outerspace. For example take this new invention manufactured by the geniuses at NASA. It is a superhero suit.

This wearable robotic suit is called the X1. It was designed to help astronauts exercise while out in space. It can also be used to help paralyzed people stand up and walk. See this video.

This type of technology is extremely important. It will help get humans to Mars because under current conditions no one would survive the trip. This is because there is extreme bone and muscle loss due to low gravity. It will also help people on Earth who had lost the dream of walking.

For more information visit: http://www.technewsdaily.com/8273-robotic-suit-aids-astronauts-and-paraplegic-patients.html

The firefighter robot

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 23:18:50 -0400

Antonio Mugica

Howe and Howe Technologies has claimed to be making the first robot designed to save lives. That is, the company has designed a robot that imitates a firefighter and can accomplish many tasks that put human lives in danger.

Among its many characteristics, the robot has the capability of using a high-pressure fire-fighting hose. Impressively, it can act at a large distance from the supervising human. This is because it can be controlled from up to a quarter of a mile away.

Underneath its sturdy body, the robot ports caterpillar tracks. These are extremely useful for rugged terrain, including obstacles such as debris from buildings. It can also drag weights up to 1,270 pounds.

For more information visit: http://www.mobilemag.com/2012/10/05/firefighting-robot-can-go-where-humans-cant/

Harvard wins African robotics contest

Sun, 30 Sep 2012 20:37:00 -0400

Antonio Mugica

A contest announced by the African Robotics Network has just announced the winners, and boy are they a surprise. One robot even has two Spanish lollipops sticking up from up top. The challenge had its limitations but it didn’t stomp engineering creativity.

The challenge was to design a 10 dollar robot. That is, engineers could not spend more than ten dollars to create a functional robot. The idea was to make these robots inexpensive in order to be able to reproduce them in classrooms all across Africa.

The lollipop-sporting winner is called the Suckerbot. The winner of a different category, the traditional roaming category, was the Kilobot. This three-legged, vibrating robot was designed by people at Harvard.

For more information visit: http://www.wired.com/design/2012/09/afron-winners/

Tuna robot patrol

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 15:17:34 -0400

Antonio Mugica

The U.S. waterways will soon be under closer surveillance. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has funded a program that will produce fish-like robots. Tuna inspired surveillance!

The sleek robot has been inspired by the speed of the tuna. It is known as the “BIOSwimmer” and can maneuver like a real fish. The program manager for the BIOSwimmer at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, David Taylor explained the robot as follows: “It’s called ‘biomimetics’. We’re using nature as a basis for design and engineering a system that works exceedingly well.”

The Boston Engineering Corporation in Waltham, Massachusetts is the company in charge of making the device. Its mission will be to explore flooded areas of ships, inspect oil tankers and patrol U.S. water ways. Because of its shape, the robot should fit well within flooded bilges and tanks of ships. It should also blend well with marine life.

For more information please visit: http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2012/09/21/robot-tuna-joins-homeland-security-arsenal/#ixzz27JrGZ51X

Robot dog, mule or horse?

Sun, 16 Sep 2012 18:18:00 -0400

Antonio Mugica

Movies have accustomed us to animal robots and thinking robots, big robots, little robots. We see them on the screen and say hey no big deal. There are plenty of fictional robots, some better than others.

But real life robots can look more bizarre and fictional than the stuff from Star Wars. Get a look at these puppies. Known as the Boston Dynamics’ AlphaDog robots or in more technical terms as the Legged Squad Support System (LS3), they are being developed for use by the U.S. military. The big canines are being developed to haul gear for soldiers over tough terrain.

Yes, they are pack animals. They have been developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) so that soldiers have transport that won’t scare off if shots are fired. They are pretty noisy, although this version is 10 times quieter than its predecessor. It goes without saying that if one of these things sneaks up on you in the dark you will not be thinking pack horse.

For more information please visit: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/futureoftech/robot-dog-pack-keeps-growls-whimper-992336