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What does an iRobot engineer do for their Masters thesis? Build a robot, of course — and, in the case of this one particular unnamed engineer, a stair-climbing robot. Unfortunately, any other details are a bit hard to come by, but it looks like the folks at iRobot were impressed enough with the bot to throw a short video of it up on the company’s official YouTube channel. As you can see for yourself after the break, while it is a bit on the pokey side, it certainly seems to be more than capable of performing the task at hand with ease, and with some satisfactory buzzing and whirring sounds to boot.

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Google’s ambitions (and their limits) in mobile space are pretty well known by now.

Google wants to have one of the major mobile OS’es out there. Android 1.0 is a good start, but Google is looking forward for Android 3.0 release next year to really get going.

And by now it should be  clear that big G will leave the hardware side of the business to others.

So what the heck Google is doing, patenting it’s own smartphone designs?

Yep, while browsing through patent databases I stumbled on a Google patent app called “Electronic device with hinge mechanism”, filed in August of 2007 for a mobile slider handset:

I guess this Google phone design could be the result of some enterprising Google engineer spending 20% time on his own projects. Or it might be representation of Google efforts for a phone reference design before they decided to stay on the software side of business. Or something else.

Looking at the drawings of this Google smartphone device I can’t find anything very interesting, or even things that have not been implemented already in one way or the other.

But the patent app shows the design work and ideas from 2006 – early 2007. A mobile device with multi-directional sliding keyboard, big display  to easily browse the Net, and peruse Google services, was the thing big G was probably looking for.

And, maybe, felt the need to step in, because there weren’t many such devices back then.

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Our anonymous engineer friend over in Ageo, Japan sure loves to make him some gadgets — among his many projects he’s already built a couple other MP3 players, and now he’s back with a tiny, motion controlled device that plays tunes from an SD card. Housed in a set of speakers (switching from stereo to mono when the satellite is unplugged) this thing uses an accelerometer for its interface: the user can skip ahead, skip back, change albums, pause, loop, turn down or crank up the sound by tilting, tapping, or setting the thing down. This is a strictly D.I.Y. affair, so if you want to get your hands on one you’ll have to hit the read link for the parts list, schematics and firmware. Captured on video after the break.

[Via Slashgear]

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By Evan Ackerman

This prototype MP3 player was designed and fabricated by a Japanese engineer. It’s controlled entirely through an accelerometer, which measures things like movement and impacts. If you want to skip a track, for example, just give the MP3 player a tap on one edge, or tilt it over to alter the volume.

“The MP3 player does not have any buttons nor dials that shown in right photo and it has an acceleration sensor instead of the mechanical switches. Therefore all playback commands to the player are given in defined motions, such as inclination, tilt and shock. The player detects the motion with the built-in acceleration sensor and recognize it as a playback control command.”

There are all kinds of devices with accelerometers now, including most higher-end cellphones. Often, the user interfaces are cluttered with options and menus and buttons, and it would be a cinch (wouldn’t it?) to enable some sort of accelerometer control. It doesn’t have to be comprehensive or complex; for example, just being able to tap the case of my iPhone and have it pause and play while it was in a coat pocket would be incredibly handy.

::cough:: Hint hint…

VIA [ Hacked Gadgets ]

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By Andrew Liszewski

I’m not sure how this one slipped through the cracks, particularly since it was announced back in December of last year, but LEGO will apparently be rolling out these new ‘Digital Box’ kiosks to select toyshops around the world that allow you to see a 3D representation of what the LEGO model looks like when fully assembled. The kiosk uses a built-in video camera and custom augmented reality software developed by a German company called Metaio, and because the model exists in 3D, you’re able to interactively turn and move it around to see it from all sides.

Now I can’t say I’ve ever had any trouble with LEGO misrepresenting what the final product looks like on their packaging, but being able to see a 3D model in the store can only help boost the anticipation of tearing that box open when you get home. Or, if there’s a particular model on store shelves that you’ve been trying to build using your existing LEGO stock, this could make it a lot easier to reverse-engineer how it was constructed.

[ LEGO's Digital Box ] VIA [ Boing Boing Gadgets ]

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Say what you want about robots being our future overlords and all that, but we think they’re really just here to boogie. I mean, if all you wanted to do was get your groove on but some engineer kept programming you to scare prisoners or little children, you might go looking for a little payback too, right? Thankfully there’s MechRC, a 17-servo kit newly available in the Americas that, despite his menacing visage, should do wonders to soothe human-robot relations through a vast array of funky moves. Thanks to what looks to be some easy to use (though sadly not Mac compatible) software, would-be robo-choreographers of nearly any age should be able to sharpen their teeth here, and while $599 isn’t exactly impulse-buy territory, that’s considerably cheaper than many of the other robot kits we’ve covered before — and some of them can’t even shake their tail feather! MechRC sure can, just check out the “Evolution of Dance” homage after the break. Judson Laipply, you just got served!

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For a company most famous for its wheeled products, Honda certainly seems quite focused on things to help people get about on their own two feet, introducing another new prototype machine with just that in mind. Unlike the earlier Walking Assist Device, which is intended just to help patients re-learn how to walk, the new (and cunningly named) Walking Assist Device with Bodyweight Support System is for anyone who needs a lift — even those who are perfectly healthy. To use it you basically straddle a bicycle seat with robotic legs, tie it to your shoes, and then (gingerly) go about your business, uncomfortably demonstrated in a video after the break. The legs support your body when you crouch and give little tugs on your feet when you walk, making bipedal mobility less of a strain. A Honda engineer said “It reduces stress, and you should feel less tired.” Less tired, yes, and less exercised too. We envision a future where spindly robotic legs shudder under the weight of our grossly obese frames — but maybe we’ve seen Wall-E too many times.

[Via Associated Press]

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