The tangle of cables and plugs needed to recharge today’s electronic gadgets could soon be a thing of the past. US researchers have outlined a relatively simple system that could deliver power to devices such as laptop computers or MP3 players without wires.

The concept exploits century-old physics and could work over distances of many metres, the researchers said. Although the team has not built and tested a system, computer models and mathematics suggest it will work.

This breakthrough poses a new question to the technology community “open source power”? Can we possibly create power grid hotspots similar to those of wifi hotspots or plug-in-the-wall adaptors that will wirelessly charge our phones and other wireless devices.

For the roboticist, this holds a new frontier because how can you create a robot that is self autonomous when it constantly has to go back to a charging station? With this development comes more freedom in our work but at what cost? There are still many things to be sorted out such as health concerns, safety, and also security. But we’ll keep you posted on the newest developments on this topic.
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Although I confess that I am fascinated by robot lawnmowers (somebody up the block from me has one) and robot vacuum cleaners (I have friends who say a dog is a better autonomous unit for cleaning up food particles), I haven’t really been moved to buy one. The White Box Robotics 912 family of so-called pc-bots is a different story.

The 912 unit is basically a robotics platform; it runs on a Windows operating system and can use off-the-shelf components. It comes with a Windows-based application to control the robot. It is a GUI-based application that provides vision-based navigation, object recognition, speech recognition, speech synthesis and other features. The company shows several versions so you can see what is possible.

The 912 “MP3″ version features a DVD-ROM device with a 5.5 inch screen on the back of the robot for playing games or watching movies. You can tell the robot to play mp3’s, or burn them to a disk to give to friends. The 912 “HMV” version shows its tough-guy side as a sentry-duty robot. But beware, the 912 is not functional out of the box, it’s up to the hobbyist to add their own parts and customize it.

A robot with empathy sounds like the stuff of sci-fi movies, but with the aid of neural networks European researchers are developing robots in tune with our emotions. Feelix Growing is developing software empowering robots that can learn when a person is sad, happy or angry.

The learning part is achieved through the use of artificial neural networks, which are well suited to the varied and changing inputs that perceptive robots would be exposed to.

Using cameras and sensors, the very simple robots being built by the researchers using mostly off-the-shelf parts can detect different parameters, such as a person’s facial expressions, voice, and proximity to determine emotional state.

Continuing to promote the stereotype that all those from the Far East are gadget-crazed technophiles who are persevering toward a future where their lives are completely reliant upon the existence of advanced robotics, South Korean scientists have announced that they plan to build a “robot city”.

However, before the image of a world where human beings are being chucked out of robot-only bars because “their kind aren’t welcome” settles in your mind, this city is a little less fantastic. The $500m venture, the site of which will be announced later this year, will feature facilities for research and design, as well as product assembly lines, expo-centres and even a stadium that is entirely geared toward robot competitions - although hopefully they’ll have higher production values than your average episode of Robot Wars.

South Korea is planning to build Robot Land, an industrial city built specifically for the robotics industry. It’ll have all sorts of facilities for the research, development, and production of robots, as well as things like exhibition halls and even a stadium for robot-on-robot competitions. The $530 million project should get underway sometime in 2009, which means we should see our own robot city here in the States around 2013!

Mimicking reproduction in living organisms, researchers have built a simple self-replicating robot out of automated blocks. Machines that can copy themselves have been built before, but the earlier experiments were limited to two dimensions or confined to a track. Hod Lipson and his collaborators at Cornell University have designed modular cubes, called molecubes, that can assume a range of three-dimensional shapes.

“People think of robots as durable metallic machines, and the only way to make them last longer is to make them more sturdy,” Lipson said. Lipson and his colleagues are exploring a different paradigm, in which robots become more robust through self-repair. “Animals survive longer than robots because they can repair themselves,” Lipson explained in a telephone interview.

Coming Soon! LB3500, the most sophisticated lawnmower robot in the world. With the introduction of the LawnBott LB3500, KA Home Robotics has raised the bar in home robotics for lawn care. The LB3500 is the world’s first Bluetooth compatible home robotic device. The owner can program and directly control the LB3500 through any Bluetooth compatible cell phone or PDA type device!

Through Bluetooth, the homeowner can program which days of the week and what hours of the day the LawnBott needs to come out of its charging base and cut the grass. At the end of its work cycle, the LawnBott will go back to its charging station and take a nap while it recharges, ready to come out again for the next cycle.

Safety and Security are further enhanced with the LB3500 through a higher sensitivity, free-floating, bumper shell, blade stop proximity sensor, and an on-board alarm system should an unauthorized user pick up the Lawnbott. Utilizing two (2) lithium-ion batteries to propel more powerful motors, the LB3500 can handle slopes up to 30 degrees. It can also maintain a larger yard area, up to 38,000 sq. ft. That’s well over a 1 acre home’s typical yard size.

No matter what your yard shape, size, or slope, the LawnBott has you covered!