Starting Saturday, February 3rd, Ugobe will offer it's robotic dinosaur, Pleo, for preorder. The price is expected to be around $250, and Pleo is expected to ship sometime in the 2nd Quarter of 2007 (April – June).

Pleo features over 30 sensors, a video camera, SD and USB ports, a 2hr battery runtime, automatic recharging, and over 14 motors. I'm especially looking forward to how people plan on hacking Pleo.

Update: Well, for those of you that checked, I'm sure you'll know that Ugobe has decided to postpone the Pleo release until Summer 2007. The postponement is to add some sensors to Pleo, improve his 'voice' and make other changes/additions. In the meantime, Ugobe is sponsoring an essay contest to give away 10 Pleos. Happy writing!



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WowWee Toys, probably one of the largest robotic toy manufacturers, has announced three new additions to it's robotic lineup at this year's CES show. In addition to the hugely popular Robosapien line of toys, you will soon be able to get a robotic panda, RoboPanda and spider-like robot, RoboQuad, and snake/worm 'bot, RoboBoa.


The RoboBoa claims to have motion detectors, alarm clock, and an iPod port for playing your favorite tunes. The creepy four-legged RoboQuad seems a bit more advanced with long-distance IR object detection, holonomic motion (able to move left/right, up/down without turning). It's also supposedly able to detect doorways and the size of objects.

The RoboPanda is a robotic "friend" and has several modes of operation. No word on whether it has "attack mode". He also tells stories and has a small Panda child to protect.

There are several videos after the jump.




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The secretive French robotics company, Aldebaran Robotics , has released a sneek-peek of its secretive robotic project, Nao . There a a few videos of the robot partially revealing itself. We get a glimps of it's hand waving, what appears to be its feet, and some facial recognition.

The 14 person company was founded in 2005 and claims to be France's first robotics company. Their primary project, Project Nao, "aims to make available to the public, at an affordable price, a humanoid robot with mechanical, electronic, and cognitive features, based on those of the prototype".

The robot will supposedly run Linux, have WiFi capabilites and is designed "for entertainment." The current goal is to have Nao available for purchase at the end of 2007. Our buddy Lem, over at Robots-Dreams has written a great interview with Bruno Maisonnier, the founder of Aldebaran Robotics.

So, if anyone at Aldebaran is reading this, don't forget to send your friends at GoRobotics.net a review version of the robot!





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In a not-so-surprising move, iRobot Corp. has announced their new iRobot Create programmable robot. The platform allows you to use the robust Roomba-like chassis to create your own robotic creations. An optional Command Module plugs right into the cargo bay to allow you to program and controll the robot via the Create’s Open Interface. The command module is powered by an Atmega168.

Tom Atwood and Dan Lynch over at ROBOT Magazine have put together a great "first impressions" article on the iRobot Create, along with lots of pictures.

Another great feature of the Create Platform is that it's based on the existing Roomba system and therefore can use the same chargers, virtual walls, and remotes.

The iRobot Create itself is only $130, including the Command Module raises the price to $180. Both are an incredible deal.

iRobot has already assembled a list of projects created with Create (strange English, I know), and has forums and documentation ready.

This is an exciting development in the robotics community and I'm sure will spark a lot of creativity. Now, time to go convince the fiancee that we can spend $180 dollars on more robots …



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The folks from the DARPA Urban challenge have issued a press release (PDF) detailing the prizes for the competition. The top three finishers will now be awarded $2,000,000 USD, $1,000,000 USD, and $500,000 USD respectively. Originally, they were only going to offer trophies to the winners due to the passage of the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act. Now, thanks to Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, Ken Krieg, winners will now receive cash prizes.

The race will take place November 3rd at a yet-undisclosed-location in the USA.





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