What will it take for robots to become as common in our homes and daily lives as smartphones, TVs, and computers? Ask roboticist Tomotaka Takahashi. The famous Tokyo professor aims to be “the Steve Jobs of robotics,” by moving away from technical specs and emphasizing design, as well as pure bot charisma. How? In a nutshell, by making robots cute, …

All images: Olympus The Olympus Stylus Tough TG-Tracker-terrible name aside-looks like it’s built to have rocks thrown at it. Something about the renderings the company just released scream “play with me.” Yet despite a solid reputation for rugged point-and-shoot cameras Olympus has never played in the action camera sandbox GoPro built before. The rugged little camera is purportedly capable of …

A prosthetic hand is about more than just improving the wearer’s physical capabilities. It’s also about improving their self-confidence. So Open Bionics, makers of low-cost but highly capable prosthetic robotic hands, have teamed up with Disney to realize some very cool designs. Kids can be bullied for something as innocuous as wearing the wrong shirt; imagine what life is like …

Time and time again we’ve cautioned you against buying coffee pod machines like the Keurig , but what if one is gifted to you? Instead of just settling for bad coffee every morning, you can do what Evan Booth did and rebuild it into something else, like a functional robotic bionic hand. This isn’t some weekend build project for the …

Image: Anki We were all quite pumped a few weeks ago when Anki announced its plan to move beyond smartphone controlled cars into emotionally intelligent robots . At the time of the announcement Anki indicated that it would release an SDK with the inclusion of Cozmo, but until now details on what that SDK would be were sparse. Now we …

Bringing the world one step closer to having real-life replicators like Star Trek promised, researchers at MIT’s CSAIL lab have developed a new 3D printing technique that allows fully-functional robots to be created in a single print run. Add a motor and battery, and they’re able to walk right out of the 3D printer. Typically, building something complex and animated …

The Knightscope K5 security robot (image: Knightscope) A 300-pound security robot at at the Stanford Shopping Center knocked down and ran over a 16-month-old boy. The parents of the injured boy are understandably pissed, claiming the autonomous machine is dangerous. “The robot hit my son’s head and he fell down facing down on the floor and the robot did not …

Image: Medical Illustration, Wellcome Images Robot-assisted surgery is increasingly common in hospitals, but it’s always under the control of a human surgeon. Now, a robot’s sewn up incisions in a live pig’s gut, all by itself. Getting robots to autonomously perform surgery on soft tissue-like, say, your guts-is tricky. First, it’s hard to tell some parts form others. Second, it’s …