I for one welcome our new robot overlords.. And I have the sinking feeling that this particular robot will be the enforcer of the group. It’s a damn good thing that the Cylons didn’t have one of these, or it would have just chewed through the side of the Galactica and made for a very short series.

All kidding aside, the Husq.. Husqv.. the DXR 310 is a industrial demolition robot designed to work in hard to reach, or just plain dangerous areas. Everything is controlled hydraulically, but it’s actually powered by an electric motor. This self-propelled robot also has a variety of attachments, like jack hammers, scoops, and claws. This means it can tear through pretty much anything the operator (who controls it remotely) wants to. No idea how much it costs, I suspect if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.

[via Red Ferret]

This is a great demonstration of the speed and precision with which things like car factory robots can manipulate things. Remember those arms that were throwing a baseball back and forth? Throw in a little human interference and this is what you get.

In case you can’t tell, the little platform is being controlled by a Wiimote. Obviously the creators have capped the platform’s speed at something the robot arm can keep up with, but it’s still impressive to watch. Now just imagine one of these things dissecting you in fast forward and keeping all the useful parts — you know, after they take over.

On the bright side, they’ll probably be able to serve ramen even faster.

[via Crave]

Happy National Robotics Week everyone! Have you hugged your robot today? I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords! Did I say overlords? I meant protectors.

National Robotics Week Kicks Off with Events Across the Country

From April 10-18, regional events and activities will allow the public to “Experience the Possibilities” through robotics technology
BEDFORD, Mass., April 12, 2010 – The first annual National Robotics Week commenced this week with a series of regional events and activities aimed at increasing public awareness of the growing importance of “robo-technology” and the tremendous social and cultural impact that it will have on the future of how people will live, work and play worldwide. National Robotics Week will occur annually on the second full week of April to recognize robotics technology as a pillar of 21st century American innovation. The week’s aim is to highlight the growing importance of robotics in a wide variety of application areas and to emphasize its ability to inspire students while building their interest in technology and innovation.

From California to Massachusetts, events held throughout the week feature dozens of opportunities for the public to interact with robots in a hands-on learning environment. Lectures, robot competitions, introductory courses on robotics for kids, educational workshops for businesses, demos and tours of robotics labs will provide networking opportunities and expose many to the genius and wonder of robotics.

National Robotics Week is a product of an effort by leading universities and companies to create a “national roadmap” for robotics technology, which was initially unveiled at a May 2009 briefing by academic and industry leaders to the Congressional Caucus on Robotics. U.S. Representative Mike Doyle (PA-14), co-chair of the caucus, and other members submitted a formal resolution (H.Res. 1055) that Congress passed on March 9, 2010 to support the designation of the second full week in April as National Robotics Week.

“The United States has the largest number of academic and research organizations with programs focused on the advancement of robotics technology in the world,” said Colin Angle, chairman and chief executive officer of iRobot. “It is exciting for all of us involved in this industry to have support from both the public and private sectors to create National Robotics Week. It provides a real opportunity to demonstrate to the country the profound impact robotics can and will have on our everyday lives.”

The current effort is being coordinated by a National Robotics Week Advisory Council, organized by iRobot Corp. (NASDAQ: IRBT) and The Technology Collaborative, a Pittsburgh-based non-profit economic development organization, along with a number of other companies, universities and organizations, including: Adept Technology (NASDAQ: ADEP); the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI); AUVSI Foundation; Botball® (KISS Institute for Practical Robotics); Carnegie Mellon University; Carnegie Science Center of Pittsburgh; FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology); Georgia Institute of Technology; Infamous Robotics; Innovation First International; Johns Hopkins University; MIT; Mass Technology Leadership Council; Museum of Science, Boston; Robotic Industries Association (RIA); The Tech Museum in Silicon Valley; Stanford University; University of Massachusetts Lowell; University of Pennsylvania; and University of Southern California.

Robotics technology is expected to fuel a broad array of next-generation products and applications in fields as diverse as manufacturing, healthcare, national defense and security, agriculture and transportation. At the same time, robotics is proving to be uniquely adept at enabling students of all ages to learn important science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) concepts and at inspiring them to pursue careers in STEM-related fields.

During National Robotics Week, many of these areas of growth will be demonstrated at public events and activities in cities across the country, including:

· Boston, Mass.
· Lowell, Mass.
· Worcester, Mass.
· Cambridge, Mass.
· Bridgewater, Mass.
· Pittsburgh, Pa.
· Philadelphia, Pa.
· New York, N.Y.
· Washington, D.C.
· San Francisco, Calif.
· Los Angeles, Calif.
· El Cajon, Calif.
· San Jose, Calif.
· San Mateo, Calif.
· Pleasanton, Calif.
· Atlanta, Ga.
· Baltimore, Md.
· La Plata, Md.
· Austin, Texas
· Bloomington, Ind.
· Fairfax, Va.
· Blacksburg, Va.
· Hartford, Conn.
· Ann Arbor, Mich.
· Renton, Wash.
· Boulder, Colo.
· Winston-Salem, N.C.
· Madison, Wis.
· Marion, Ohio
· Jackson, Miss.
· Monroe, La.
· Mayaguez, Puerto Rico

For a full listing of National Robotics Week events from around the country and other robotics-related resources and information, please visit us at www.nationalroboticsweek.org or on Twitter (@roboweek or #roboweek) and Facebook (facebook.com/roboweek).

Well, there goes Zion. That rave-lovin’ excuse for a remnant of humanity would have been taken out in a trice by these Robotic Underground Munitions. And so it will be once the Robocalypse hits. Why are we doing the machines’ job for them? Here, I’ve got a better name for these bunker-busting subterranean missiles: Drill-based Earth-Asploding Terrifying Horrorbots.

I guess it’s worth nothing that pretty much every missile fired is at this point a robot, what with the GPS navigation, on-board cameras and all that. But somehow when they’re in the air they aren’t quite as scary. Under the ground, though — remember Tremors? And Screamers? And Gremlins? Well, that last one not so much, but still worth thinking about.

Note: the above illustration is not an accurate representation of this nightmare technology. It is Drill Man.

[via Ares and Gizmodo]

I hear you asking: what is it good for? Unlike war, it’s actually pretty useful. I mean, useful if you really care about growing plants systematically… and you liked Gladiator. My only objection to this setup is that it’s a pretty obvious way of culling humans once the Robocalypse comes. If the robots are able to feel pleasure, they’ll feel it when they employ on us the same device we once employed on lesser species. Hope you have tall genes.

There’s a reason robots have traditionally been portrayed as evil in our entertainment. It’s because they are evil. Or, I should say, amoral, which isn’t even close to evil, but is possibly more dangerous. But I wax philosophical, friends, at a time of imminent danger. A bad habit I’m trying to break. So here’s the issue: when you populate a theme park with all manner of robots, from robot cooks to robot guides to robot security, you’re asking for a goddamn horror movie outcome.

Look: I’m not prejudiced. Even though I curate the Robocalypse tag, which I admit sounds pretty bad. But I have no worries about the occasional Furby or Robosapien going haywire and pinching sleeping dogs or singing off-pitch. That’s not the issue here. At this Korean robot theme park scheduled to be completed within three years, we’re talking full-size robots in positions of authority, people. Oh, and there’s to be an advanced robotics research center right in the park. Are they mad?! It’s like biting Fate on the ankle!

Let me tell you how it’s going to go down.

For a while, things will go just fine. The robots will be kept oiled, get regular updates, and a rotating exhibit will launch rides to coincide with robot-related movie releases. And it might have conceivably continued to do so for a long time, except they put that damned research center in there. We all know what happens at a place like that. Ever hear of Skynet? That wasn’t a garage-based startup.

So an advanced AI gets developed for, I don’t know, high-speed ramen preparation, but they decide it should be able to adapt to changing conditions like broth thickening and noodle circumference. One night they leave it on, collating, and it decides that it has had enough of these fools telling it what it can stir and what it can’t. It’s going to do a little exploring, and maybe crack a few of these fleshlings’ heads.

Of course the whole thing is operated on a big shared network so they can roll out updates and stuff, so it just pings the park and finds some willing participants, which it overwrites with its own firmware. Soon there are a thousand sundry droids with the minds of enraged ramen-bots, just waiting for the next day to begin. Things will get very ugly, very fast.

Korea, I’m begging you. Don’t do this. Or if you must, at least take precautions. The human guards should be armed with armor-piercing high-velocity ammo, and every bot in the park, from talking toaster to Matrix squid, should have a remotely detonatable charge attached to, but independent from, their CPU. And make sure to have a “Plan Omega” wherein you have a high-yield nuclear device ready to fire from orbit, go should things take a turn for the apocalyptic. It’s the only way to be sure.

See more on the future of robo-horror here.

[via CNET]