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from the damned-robots-always-getting-under-foot dept.
A light topic for a summer Friday:
Bookshelves that pop out just the book you need. Kitchen tables that set themselves. Bathrooms that adjust to your personal comfort levels.
The robots in this video from The Economist do absolutely none of those things. But they're pretty adorable nonetheless. Stanford University created a motorized foot stool that can be summoned by its human
captorsowners. It's either the best footstool or the worst R2-D2 ripoff, and as you can see in the video, some people treated it more like the latter than the former.There's also a chest of drawers that opens up to provide the right tool, and is also designed to respond to being tickled. (NOT CREEPY AT ALL!) Also there's a couch that can move itself around the room, and a Rubbermaid garbage can that serves as the second worst R2-D2 imitator in the video. You'll still feel bad when it collides into another, non-robotic garbage can though. Just imagine trying to get comfortable with your feet oppressing that adorable ottoman.
There's video accompanying the article as well. What would your ideal robotic furniture be?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by anubi on Sunday August 09 2015, @06:56AM
I have been toying around with making a power chair remote controllable.
I am getting older, and figured it might be nice to be able to summon a robotic chair to me should "I fall and I can't get up".
Also, it would be a platform for building remote imaging stuff just in case I wanted to investigate a "bump in the night" and do not want to personally put myself in the middle of harm's way. In a way, consider it a roving security guard.
It would also be a "mini pack mule" for me.
I would be using things like quadricopter cameras and the like and quite tiny modules hidden in the cowlings. I could always use covert IR emitters so the thing could "see" in the dark. I do not want to build another "Robby" that would stand out like a sore thumb. I want something that looks like any other power chair.
The chair itself would have cellphone and other networking functions ( tablet ) built in, as it already has a pretty potent battery in it. It would have no problem providing backup USB phone charging outlets, for instance. As well as appropriate power converters so it can charge from whatever source of electricity is available.
With today's technology, as well as all sorts of electronically controllable things, there seems to be no limit to what one can program his thingies to do.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]