RoboGames 2006 looks like it was a big success. Here are some stories, videos, and pictures from the event:

• MAKE Magazin Day 1
• MAKE Magazine Day 2
• Flickr Photo Pool
• LaughingSquid.com coverage
• Geek Intertainment Inverview with ExoSkeleton maker, Monty Reed

I’m sure there’ll be more to come.



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PleoBot.com has posted a new vide of Pleo the robot dinosaur from Ugobe. You may remember Pleo from our story earlier this year. Pleo was first announced at DEMO2006 and generated a bit of buzz. Since then the news-waves have been relatively quiet.

In the video you’ll see how Pleo responds to touch – Caleb Chung taps his paws and Pleo looks at them. He also strokes his back. Pleo also walks to the edge of the table, looks down and backs away in fear.

Pleo is supposed to be released in time for the Christmas holiday. I can’t wait to get mine.

Related:

• Ugobe Unveils Pleo, Another Robot Dino
• First Video of Ugobe’s Pleo Dinosaur
• DEMO 2006 Video of Ugobe Pleo

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The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is testing the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to patrol the sky over LA. The vehicle, called SkySeer, is built by Octatron Inc., and apparently obscure company from St. Petersburg FL.

The vehicle can autonomously navigate using GPS waypoints or be wireless controlled via a ground station. It has a 6.5" wingspan and weighs a mere 3.125 lbs. It can fly for almost an hour at 25 mph. It has a pan tilt camera on board.

The LA Sheriff’s office hopes such a vehicle will help them with rooftop escapers, locating missing persons, forrest fires, and many other jobs which normally require a helicopter. At $25,000 each, the SkySeer, is far cheaper than a $5 million dollar helicopter.

Here is a Flickr photopool that contains more pictures of the SkySeer. There more information and pictures in this article on BoingBoing.



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A couple of notable interviews hit the web today.

The first is Astrobiology Magazine’s interview with Alex Ellery. Ellery heads the Surrey Space Centre’s Robotics group and is taking part in the European Space Agency’s ExoMars project.

The second comes from BusinessWeek, who interviews Tatsuya Matsui on the future of humanoid robotics. Matsui’s the fellow who made the robo-mannequin Palette.

Phillip Torrone over at the MakeZine Blog has just posted pictures and video from his trip to iRobot. If you’ve never gotten a closeup look at the PackBot and its controlls the video is well woth a look-see.

The video shows the ‘bot in the EOD configuration ( the giant 7" arm ). You also get a look at the controller (2 6DOF joysticks to control it). I learned that the PackBot is submersible up to 6" and can communicate via RF or a fibre optic cable.

It’s an amazing work of engineering.



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