Word: robots
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...later this week a plan to resume missions to the Moon and send humans to Mars within 20 years, with international help in this goal. Such a plan is likely to be tremendously expensive, and some argue that manned space missions are unnecessary with the level of sophistication in robot probes. What do you think? Is the expense worth sending humans back to the moon and on to Mars? Or should we use our resources elsewhere...
...firm AnthroTronix is also using computer technology to promote well-being. One of the company's main interests is working with children afflicted with autism, Down syndrome and other disabilities. Children with these conditions have trouble communicating and coordinating basic bodily movements. So AnthroTronix has come up with a robot called CosmoBot, which can help parents and caregivers teach the kids how to move and interact with others...
...kept thinking, This needs to be out there, and I can't believe it's not," says Lathan. "When I started working with kids, it was mind-boggling to me, the lack of technology available to them." CosmoBot can help a child by testing motor and verbal skills. The robot plays games like Simon Says and mimics a child's movements. For example, when the child pushes a button on the robot's central-command, or mission-control, box, the robot moves in that direction. The robot also comes with a video game in which a computerized CosmoBot must jump...
...Aibo, Sony's toy robot dog, was a huge commercial hit. But it's a quadruped so, by today's standards, no great shakes. Meet Qrio (rhymes with curio), the company's new bipedal "personal agent." More of a corporate showpiece than an actual product (on the market it would fetch about as much as a BMW), Qrio can walk uphill, sing, dance, wave hello, wiggle its fingers and kick a ball with surprising grace. Two digital cameras, one behind each eye, help Qrio map a room for future reference and recognize up to 10 different faces. It can also...
...take to the beach. Robo-Lobster, a 7-lb., 2-ft.-long crustacean made of industrial-strength plastic, has a bigger job to do: detecting and destroying mines buried in the surf zone. At least, that's how the U.S. Navy plans to use the robot once developers at Massa Products deliver their final version next year. The current prototype mimics a real lobster's movements to negotiate all types of coastal terrain. The plastic antennas sense obstacles; the eight legs can propel it in any direction; the two claws and tail keep it stable in turbulent water. INVENTOR...