RobotShop has some gift ideas for your special Valentine this year. With great prices on the Asus E-Clean Enhanced and the Asus E-Clean Mini, you are certain to capture your loved ones’ heart. The special prices start today and end Feb. 15th. Hurry if you would like to get one before Valentine’s Day!
The EC-Mini is the smallest robot vacuum in the industry and with it’s cute design, it is the perfect (geeky) Valentine’s Day gift. At only $130USD this great gift won’t bust your budget.
Asus EC-Mini Robot Vacuum
The EC-Enhanced comes standard with a special fragrance compartment to deodorize and freshen any room it cleans. A red rose scent would suit it well on this special day. This robot can be scheduled for cleaning on all floor types and will clean 400 square feet on a single charge. It is sure to please at only $259USD.
At the time of this post, the MyRobots.com App Store has been live for just over 12 hours and is the first robot-specific App Store to list applications which are ready to buy!
MyRobots.com Robot App Store
The first available applications are intended for use with the iRobot Roomba Vacuums, one of the most widely used robots in the world. All six million Roombas (estimated number of Roombas in the “wild”) can now benefit from these applications which are intended to make full use of the onboard sensors and commands to transform the little cleaning robot in to a telepresence solution.
The Robot App Store is also open for roboticists and developers who would like create, submit and then sell their apps. Current apps are similar to the existing Android and iOS apps that need to be downloaded and installed into a device (a robot in this case). The MyRobots team is still working on creating and supporting apps that run in the cloud, but some hints on the site (such as the cloud icon in the top-right) lead to believe the functionality will be coming soon.
The MyRobots App Store uses RobotShop’s e-commerce platform to handle transactions but it is foreseeable that in the future, transactions will go trough the MyRobots site, giving users a more seamless experience.
On the weekend of March 2nd to March 4th, a Global Cloud Robotics Hackathon will be held in several cities around the world. This initiative is born in Montreal, Canada where the main event will be held but other cities are challenged to participate and to show off their robot hacking skills.
Cloud Robotics Hackathon
What is a “hackathon”?
The word “hackathon” is a combination of “hack” and “marathon” and designates an event where hackers, makers and tinkerers from teams and get together for a short time (a weekend for instance) to create and hack technology. The most hard-core hackers code and build during the entire event without sleeping and only taking minimal breaks.
What is this “cloud” thing?
“Cloud robotics” refers to the use of web services (that run on the internet, a.k.a. “the cloud”) in order to make robots smarter. This hackathon is focused in catalyzing the creation of cloud robotics applications by using the MyRobots.com API, Android, and ROS.
Why participate?
Many reasons: It is a fun opportunity to hack and learn about cloud robotics, it brings roboticists to work with web developers and android programmers, and each team gets a FREE DFRobotShop Rover. If you want to be a hero in the robotics community and get started in the very exciting and emerging field of cloud robotics, register your team now!
Us, robot geeks, love robot movies (…even if we sometimes complain about inaccuracies and fallacies), and Real Steel is a great robot movie now available on DVD and Blue-ray. So, in order to satisfy both your cravings for robots and your desire for entertainment, we are giving away three Blue Ray + DVD copies of Real Steel!
Real Steel Blu-ray Combo
FREE MOVIE?! WANT!
That is right, we are giving away three of these combo Blue-ray + DVD boxes for free! To participate simply leave a comment below. Two random comments will be chosen on February 24th and the authors will receive the goodies.
What about the third Combo, you wonder? The third combo will be awarded to the most original/funny (but still relevant) comment. We will choose the comments that made us laugh, think or cry the most and send the author the third movie combo.
Want to see some sweet (and very anthropomorphic) robots? Check them out below.
A recent study by Latitude shows that children from around the world see robots as a natural companion that able to help them learn and play. We encourage you to read the full report.
Robots@School
The study also shows that the inherent “nerdiness” of a robot is cool and that children blur the differences between humans and machines and see robots as potential companions / friends.
Robot Companion by a 9 y.o. German boy
“While children imagine robots that are virtually human in many regards, it’s their slight “machine-ness” that ultimately makes robots such effective partners for learning and creative exploration,” explains Ian Schulte, Latitude’s director of technology and business development, who led the study. “Robots support and encourage, but don’t judge. They don’t run into scheduling conflicts, and they certainly don’t ostracize kids for wrong answers or unconventional thinking. Because they’re just mechanical enough, robots enable kids to grow and explore without regard for social stigmas that so often stifle learning and creativity.” Since robots fulfill a range of emotional needs, they can render learning more fun and “approachable,” making kids eager to tackle even boring or rote material.
Well, that was a lie intended to catch your attention. At least as far as we can tell, Justin Bieber is not a robot, but don’t go away yet – we do have some news regarding the Canadian pop star and robots.
Bieber Bot
Justin Bieber will be presenting robots form TOSY Robotics, a Vietnamese robotics company which will be releasing a new personal robots at the CES Robotic TechZone in just a few hours (at the moment of publishing) . TOSY Robotics created robots such as the Topio Dio shown below and aims to become the leading Robotic manufacturer of personal robots.
During this end of the year, we could remember all the amazing robots 2011 brought to us including the new Asimo, the awesome bionics projects and incredibly popular Tankbot. But instead, we would like to show you a single picture that might inspire you, or more likely instill some fear into your soul:
Spidernaut + Robonaut
You might remember Robonaut 2 from earlier this year. It was the leg-less humanoid robot accompanying the ISS crew. The golden hexapod robot you now see beneath it is the Spidernaut, a NASA project designed for constructing and maintaining large orbiting structures in space. The combination of both these amazing robots, although totally awesome and resulting in one of the most scary looking robots of 2011 is… not real (yet).
That is right, a freaky giant spider robot with a humanoid torso and a Cylon head does not exist yet and the picture above is showing a dramatic angle of two separate robots : Spidernaut and Centaur 2
Spidernaut
Centaur 2
On this note we wish you the best possible 2012 and hope it will be filled with crazy robots (including golden spider-humanoids of doom).
MyRobots.com aims to connect all robots and intelligent devices to the Internet. In doing so, we augment their capabilities enabling them to be remotely monitored and controlled. We strive to make cloud robotics a reality accessible to everyone and everything.
You can think of MyRobots as a social network for robots and smart objects. In the same way humans benefit from socializing, collaborating and sharing, robots can benefit from those interactions too by sharing their sensor information, giving insight on their current state.
Roboticists can start registering their robots right away and use the data service for free. The MyRobots.com team announces that data will be free for a an undetermined period of time – a big incentive for people to register early.
See the getting started page in order to get your robots talking to the cloud in no time. Basically, all robots and smart devices that can connect to the web are compatible with MyRobots.com trough their API. Now that the basic web platform is ready, the team is working hard to increase compatibility to all major robots.
It’s the time of the year again to please the Roboticist in your life with geeky robotic gifts. There is so much choice and so many awesome robotic products that it can be difficult to choose the right one , but don’t despair, RobotShop has its Holiday Gift Center filled with Gift Ideas for everybody. We have classified robotics geeks in six categories: Children, Teens, Adults, Mad Scientists, “under $25″, and Pets.
Children
It’s never too early to initiate humans to robotics. Robotic toys are not only fun, educational and original, they also train children to accept their future robot overlords.
Teens need cool gadgets that will get them popularity and boost their self esteem. Since “Geek” is the new “Cool” what can be better than awesome robots and gadgets that will teach them to impress their friends with their new robotic skills. What can be cooler than making your own “Most Useless Machine” or being woken up by a robotic alarm clock? We don’t know but it can probably be found in the Robot Gifts for Teens section.
Adults
Sophisticated people need sophisticated toys tools. They need robots that will help them with their daily tasks in an efficient way so they can concentrate on what really matters (playing with the children and teen toys they bought for their loved ones). It goes without saying that everybody would love to have a robot clean their home, take care of their cat and mow the lawn. Head to the Robot Gifts for Adults section to have all your robotic needs fulfilled.
Pets may not be human but if they are anything like their masters, they want robots as well, especially if they involve lasers! Have your master click on the Robot Gifts for Pets section to see all the robots for pets available.
