Remote controlled robot

I have always loved robots. Maybe growing up reading Asimov and sci-fi movies may have something to do with it and ended up with a collection of several robot - battery operated flashing robots that made noises and moved around or even toys that looked like robots - including the popular Playskool Major Morgan, which was not actually a robot but a musical toy. I am not sure where they all went but I have not stopped collecting and still into robot, only thing is that they are a bit more sophisticated now.

My daughter's birthday is coming up soon and no I am not going to give her a Frozen toy - she's just not into them. I think I might have found the perfect gift: A robot or more precisely a remote controlled robot. The RC robot from Thinkgizmos.com is available on Amazon.com for just $39.99 with free shipping (down from the original price of $69.99). The robot walks and talks - lines like "Freeze!" "Identify yourself or I will shoot" and "Surrender now!". You can also fire small plastic discs from it's chest when you press 'fire' on the remote and and it even dances. You can even programme the robot to do stuff on its own.

Made in China, the robot is about 30cm tall and requires 6 AA Batteries (not included). It is suitable for ages 3 and above - so great fun for everyone.

If you are in Europe you can order the robot from Amazon.de.

Looks like I am going to end up buying two - one for my daughter and one for myself.

Zummi - introduction to robotics

One of my friends has recently launched a campaign on Indiegogo to raise funding for their easy to learn Robot which they call Zummi.

Zummi Prototype

According to Fauzan Che Harun, leader of the team, he wants to show how easy it is to learn electronics. They use Arduino - a cheap microcontroller which allows you to do many things with just a few lines of code. Zummi uses code block programming and Fauzan insists that anybody can learn programming using Ardublock, which is open source. What is amazing is that they intend to make the design open source so that everyone can make their own robot and learn at their own pace.

Current add-on includes robot shooter, robot sniper, and robot servo hook with more add-ons planned in the future. You can get the bare Zummi for just USD50,where you get an unsoldered PCB and they have designed it with minimal surface mount and through hole soldering which can be a good way to learn soldering. You also get the casing design which you can print out yourself using a 3D printer.

If you do not want the hassle of assembling the robot, you can get the completely assembled Zummi for only US$100.

Check out the Zummi Indegogo site here.

If you want to learn more about the Zummi Robot project, go to www.zummibotz.com

The Warwick Rescue Robot Project

A team of engineering students at the University of Warwick is currently developing a rescue robot controlled via Microsoft's Xbox Kinect.

According to reports, the Xbox Kinect is much cheaper and has many advantages as compared to the laser-based equipment which was used to control earlier versions of the robot.

The students are supported and assisted by two PhD students, three University academics and they along with some technicians make up the Warwick Mobile Robotics team. They won the first place and best in class for mobility in the RoboCup Rescue German Open 2010 in Magdeburg, Germany.

The current team is looking forward to retaining the top position in this year's Robocup Rescue German Open 2010/11 as well. They are also working on a second robot along with the Computer Science Department in the University, to programme the autonomous robot.

The Warwick Mobile Robotics team are trying to raise sponsorship for the project so that they can make it to Istanbul for the Robocup Rescue World Championships in July.