Smartpet

"Phone face!" That may sound mean, but not to little Smartpet. To complete this robot dog from Bandai, you download the robot's app onto your iPhone, which you then snap into place. By using the Facetime camera, Smartpet can do tricks in response to your movements and gestures. It can also recognize voice commands, act as an alarm clock, and has over 100 facial expressions.  Originally posted on April 4, 2012.

Aibo the Robot Dog

Aibo is a robot dog made by Sony. It can learn the name you give it and will run around with its little ball and play. It gets annoyed and lonely if you ignore it. It also can be happy, sad, and surprised. You can teach it new tricks with upgraded software and Memory Sticks. The downfall of such an awesome and high-tech toy is it costs about $1000 -- not something your allowance will likely buy you. Here’s a video of Aibo in action:

Originally posted on February 5, 2012. 

Robot Fish Save The Day

Engineers and inventors have always used ideas from nature, taking things from animals to make stuff for humans, so these fish are returning the favor. These little robotic fish help lead schools of real fish away from chemical/oil spills and turbines. At a glance, the small robots aren’t very convincing, but what the inventor says is so convincing to the live fish, is the robots' ability to swim so much like the real thing. This link has the full write-up: http://www.livescience.com/12968-robot-fish-school-bts-110225.html

Originally posted on February 4, 2012. 

Bionic Handling Assistant Mimics Elephant Trunk

This marvel of engineering is absolutely awesome. These videos will give you a visual of how the bionic handling assistant really works. Festo mimicked an elephant trunk very well. It can extend its length, grip small objects, and bend in other directions by adding or taking away air from the different segments. Watch this sweet video!

Originally posted on January 28, 2012.

Air Penguin

Festo’s AirPenguin is a silver, autonomous, flying … PENGUIN. And we thought penguins couldn’t fly! These neat robots will fly around and explore the air space they are given. Three of them can explore the same area at a time and they will avoid bumping in to each other. Check them out. 

 

Here's a link to an AirPenguinPDF from the company website if you want to know more. 

Originally posted January 20, 2012.