Posts tagged robotics

Screenshot 2014-06-08 17.05.12

Top 3 Videos Of The Week

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10 years
by in Recent Posts, Videos Of The Week

Here are the top 3 videos of the week:*

#1. Look Up


This thought provoking video is a spoken word poem about the downsides of the global addiction to the internet, and how you can miss so many chances is you stay on your phone rather than going outside. Although everybody can relate to this on some level, the video fails to mention all the interesting, educational, amazing, fascinating and lifesaving videos and articles on the internet. Just like in real life, you can show and release you feelings, through whatever form you choose; writing/blogging, making videos, gaming, anything. I’m not the only one who thinks that the video has an extremist point of view, and there is even two parodies of the video, in the same poetic style, that says the exactly the opposite.

#2. A Future With Superhumans

Will we eventually become superhumans, looking along the line of a mix Captain America and the Hulk? It is an interesting question, answered in this video, which is basically a animated interview with the sci-fi theorist/robot expert Daniel H. Wilson. If you have the option to become artificially super smart, super fast, super everything, would you take it, even if it means putting a chip in your brain? What would this do to society? Would the standards of intelligence be raised? By the end of this video, with all the unanswered questions and daunting problems that come with this futuristic idea will make you almost want it to not happen.

#3: Festo – BionicKangaroo

As you can probably tell, this video is of a very accurate robotic version of the complex movement of the Kangaroo. Kangaroo’s have an odd way of moving about, using their long legs with ridiculously big feet and tail to propel them along. You would think this would be impossible to replicate in a robot, as just making a humanoid walking robot is hard, but Festo did it. That’s why this robot is so awesome.

*Not all these videos were made this week. That just happens to be the time I’m featuring it.

TOTW: OutRunner Robot Easily Beat The Legged Land Speed Record

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10 years
by in TOTWs

Robotics, especially humanoid, walking and speed robots has been advancing at a rapid pace in the last few years. For instance, the Boston Dynamics robot Cheetah recently broke the tethered robot land speed record, with around 16 miles per hour. This amazing robot even attracted Google’s attention, and keeping with the trend, Google went and quickly acquired the robotics company. Another example of a robot making headlines is Honda’s Asimo robot, claiming to be the most advanced humanoid robot ever. All these robots display new and innovative ideas, and these ideas, if executed correctly, is what makes robotics interesting and exciting.

Kickstarter has always been a harbor for innovative and new ideas, launching great companies such as Pebble, it is only logical that once in a while these to media would combine. And they did in OutRunner.

OutRunner is a completely new design of running robot, hoping to be the fastest in the world. The design consists of a center block, which contains all the mechanical and computing electronics. Branching out from that on both sides are 3 legs, all facing upward(and downwards) like a windmill. These legs alternate at a rapid rate while running, propelling the lightweight machine forward. The OutRunner team based this design off of a hum running, so that the alternate legs propel the robot at the correct time.

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Currently, OutRunner has made 43,000 out of their needed and pledged 150,000. They really should have a problem though, because of the significance of the robot. Just during testing, not even with the finalized robot, the OutRunner beat both untethered and treadmill running robot land speed records, with  25 mph untethered and 45 mph on a treadmill. For $299, you will receive a OutRunner Core, the basic OutRunner unit. This version, unlike the older iterations, has three legs on each side, and can be easily controlled using a simple controller. In another video on their Kickstarter page, they show that it can navigate slight variations in terrains, such as gravel, slow inclines and rough grass and dirt.

This robot certainly shows something about the future of robotics: there is still things to reinvent and innovate, and there most likely will always be. After all, records are meant to be broken, and with so many creative people striving to break them, it is inevitable that sooner or later, they will be broken. This robot is a great example of that, and also how amazing products and ideas still need to be funded. Everything does. Props to the OutRunner team to making such as new a creative robot, and hopefully they will get all the funding they need.

 

Top 3 Videos Of The Week

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10 years
by in Uncategorized

Last week, I wrote an article about the top 3 videos of last week, featuring Chalk Warfare. Since there are still so many videos out there, I thought I would do it again. Here they are:

#1. How To Survive A Robot Uprising (Robopocalypse)

Another great Epipheo video comes in first this week, this time highlighting what would happen and how to fight back when the upcoming robot uprising (robopocalypse) finally gets here. Amusing and great graphics accompany Daniel H Wilson, who is the author of many robot based best-sellers, through a educational and potentially lifesaving video.

#2. A Lovely Sunny Day


This charming video starring Bert (yes, from Sesame Street) and Zachary Levi is basically a fun way of saying to the whole population, “YOU’RE ADDICTED TO TECHNOLOGY!”, which is probably true. Along with a catchy song, this video is sure to atleast get a couple people out and about. Unfortunately, unlike Zach and Bert, I probably would miss my little screen.

#3. Humans VS Robots: Table Tennis

We know that sooner or later, robots will be better than us a pretty much everything. Skills such as speed, hand-eye coordination and fast thinking (such as sneaking up on somebody and throwing a water balloon at them) all are motor controls that we used to think were only human. Now, we know that’s not true. But have we gotten to the point that robots are better than us? This video shows what happened when the world class table tennis player Tim Boll was matched up against the Kuka KR Agilus, the fastest robot on earth.

Top 3 Videos Of The Week

0
11 years
by in Videos Of The Week

There are tons of videos out there on the web, utilizing pretty much every different aspect of technology: VFX, augmented reality, robotics, animation, smartphones, everything. Unfortunately, there is a enormous amount of technological videos out there, way too many to go through in one day, so I have brought together the top three videos for this week. And yes, there will be one next week. Here they are:

#1: Chalk Warfare 3.0

Chalk Warfare is a brilliantly made video about a group of people playing a war game, using only chalk to draw on their surroundings. Once they draw, their drawings come to life, creating weapons from bows and arrows to shotguns, and from the Halo energy sword to a full on Iron Man suit. Directed and edited by 17 year old Sam Wickert and Eric Leigh, the whole Chalk Warfare series (3 videos) is a great example of creative usage of VFX programs and Photoshop. 

#2 What The Internet Is Doing To Our Brains

This great Epipheo video is about everything to do with the internet, and how our incredible dedication to our computers will affect our brains. The video goes way back to the dinosaur/caveman age to discuss why we like and are really internationally addicted to out computers, maybe even enough to in the future to give up our humanity. Along with the great content, the video is animated in a seamless way, creating a great watcher experience.

#3: Robot Band Squarepusher × Z-MACHINES

Squarepusher x Z-MACHINES is a video documenting what happened when Squarepusher (a digital music artist) teamed up with the robotic band Z-MACHINES. Z-Machines is a completely robotic band, consisting of a drummer playing 22 actual acoustic drums, and a 78-fingered guitarist, playing an actual electric guitar. Since these robots can move much faster than the average human, all the instruments (especially the drums) sounded amazing, and much more clean and consistant. (as you would expect from a robot) Add in great camera work, and you get a great video.

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