SHORT NEWS OF ROBOTICS

*Astronauts to work on giant robot

• *After linking up with the international space station, Endeavour's astronauts got right to work Thursday unloading the parts they'll need to build a giant robot that will help maintain the orbiting outpost.

  astronauts Robert Behnken and Gregory Johnson were using the station's robotic arm to pull a pallet containing the Canadian robot, named Dextre, from Endeavour's cargo bay and install it temporarily on a station girder.

Intelligent arm wrestling robot
*An intelligent arm wrestling robot may sound like a contradiction but the Koreans have built one anyway. Geeks at the Institute for Robotics and Intelligent System (IRIS) of Konkuk University have created ‘Robo Arm-Wrestler’, and gave it its first public outing at the recent Future Tech Korea 2005 show. The robot makes you feel like you are arm wrestling a real person, without the face-full of spittle, of course. The ‘smart’ robot considers your attitude, will-power and tenacity in deciding who wins. In other words, it lets you win sometimes, but it could really snap your arm off like a twig. Built to help old people exercise, I can see this baby getting beaten daily by walking sticks and Zimmer frames owned by grumpy, sore-loser geriatrics. Just build one that makes them tea and wipes their arses, would you? Arm wrestling –

*Astronauts for Spacewalk

*With power now flowing to the international space station's new robot, the astronauts aboard the linked shuttle-station complex started preparing Saturday for a spacewalk to assemble the giant machine.

On Friday night, astronauts used the space station's mechanical arm to grab onto and energize Dextre, bypassing a faulty cable that wasn't able to transmit power to the robot.

*robot pet "dog"

Do not afraid of dogs.If want a dog that doesnot bite and can play with you then this is the good news for you. A German university technische universitat Dramstadt has been working on the robot pet that can play with you.It is the robot with extra loaded artificial intelligence power.
*Robotics Taxi
RobuCAB is, a '4 seats automated people mover' developed by a French company and built from a 4 wheel-drive electric chassis with on-board PC. This autonomous vehicle follows the kerb and carries several embedded systems, with one camera on the path edge, another device tracking the angle and direction of the kerb, while others control the gearing and acceleration. robuCABs are not totally

*The violin-playing robot
This robot is a part of Toyota’s Global Vision 2020. The 152-centimeters (5-foot) tall two-legged robot is capable of playing violin. It makes use of its mechanical fingers to push the strings and plays the bow with its other arm. It touts 17 movable joints that endow it with the capability to conduct domestic duties and assist in nursing. The violin-playing robot responds to voice commands and boasts of advanced face recognition

*New Military Robot

Big dog is the mechanical mutt developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from the U.S. military, the BigDog prototype is arguably the world's most ambitious legged robot. Its stability and awareness of its own orientation make it the first robot that can handle the unknown challenges of the battlefield. The Great Dane–size 'bot can trot more than three miles an hour, climb inclines of up to 45 degrees, and carry up to 120 pounds—even in rough terrain impenetrable to wheeled or tracked vehicles. But this one is just a puppy; Boston Dynamics expects the next iteration, ready this summer, to be at least twice as fast and carry more than twice as much.

*Robot psychologist

People affected by emotional problems are often reluctant when they're told to see a psychologist. Now, they can confidentially consult onlineIt will cost them €4.95 for one hour session (or about US$7.65 as of today). MindMentor has been developed by two Dutch psychologists specialized in Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP). The system was tested on 1,600 'customers' from over the world and 47% of them said they were satisfied after only one session.

*Squawkers McCaw Robot Parrot

Squawkers McCaw is the latest Fur Real friend and a robotic parrot. It is very realistic and a ton of fun. Extremely realistic movements.Very good voice recognition.Fullycustomizable with command&responses in your own voice.Looks almost like a real parrot.

*Rocky Mountain goat
The robot goat shown in the picture is to eat away the bad luck and frustration of the unlucky gamblers. It is used at the Edogawa Kyotei boat race course in Tokyo for those gamblers to feed this goat with their losing tickets. The intention behind of using this robot goat is to reduce litter inside the facility. Or else those losing tickets will end up of being thrown on the floor. This Rocky Mountain goat is 1.6-meter tall, has a thick coat of white fur and ticket-detecting sensors in its mouth. It can swallow at a rate of about 500 losing tickets per day.

Robot Dog
Sony launched the new AIBO Entertainment Robot, now taught to understand Spanish as well. Named ERS-7M3, the AIBO is also available in a limited edition Champagne Brown (model ERS-7M3/T) color that looks very attractive. Enhanced software now means that the AIBO can say more than one thousand English words.

It also has a newly introduced short term memory mapping and news reads through RSS. If your pet dog can bring the newspaper every morning, then why not have the AIBO fetch news whenever it's updated? This looks to be the most interesting feature of the new model.

Robot-fish
This one is a robo-carp you can observe at the London Aquarium. It’s a self-guided robot-fish who use artificial intelligence and sensors to avoid obstacles . It’s a 50cm long common carp, swimming with thei living counterparts.