École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, or EPFL for short, is developing what is calls a “cheetah-cub robot.” The team may call it a cheetah-cub, but the robot’s design and movement is actually based on a regular house cat. The cheetah comparison comes in when it runs – it can run seven times its own body length in a second.

So, what possible use could this catbot have? EPFL explains:

“It’s still in the experimental stages, but the long-term goal of the cheetah-cub robot is to be able to develop fast, agile, ground-hugging machines for use in exploration, for example for search and rescue in natural disaster situations. Studying and using the principles of the animal kingdom to develop new solutions for use in robots is the essence of our research.”

There’s no word yet on whether the catbot always lands on its feet when dropped. If it does, we’re probably screwed when the inevitable catbot uprising occurs.

[h/t: Engadget]

Of course, MIT’s cheetah isn’t just a carbon copy of last year’s robot from Boston Dynamics. The researchers have found that their robot can run much more efficiently by swapping out the pneumatics of the previous cheetah for motors. It may only be able to run at a speed of 13.7 mph at the moment, but it will be able to run for much longer periods of time. One day, it may also be able to carry its own battery.

Let’s just hope MIT never decides to equip their robot with metal teeth and an insatiable bloodlust.

[h/t: Engadget]

Wired reports that researchers have built a baseball-playing robot learns more about the game as it plays. In other words, it will miss the first few pitches, but it will slowly learn where the ball is most likely to come from. After a while, it will start to hit more pitches and become more proficient in baseball.

The robot is able to quickly learn baseball thanks to its new brain that emulates a brain with about 100,000 neurons. According to Wikipedia, the fruit fly and lobster both have about 100,000 neurons in their brains. In comparison, the human brain has about 85 billion.

It may not have as many neurons as a human, but the researchers hope this latest robot can help them produce more complicated brains in the future. The end goal is to have robots perform complicated tasks that only humans and advanced animals, like apes, dolphins and elephants, can perform.

[Image: Wired]

Dr. Roderich Gross, Head of the Natural Robotics Lab at the University of Sheffield, and his team have created 40 robots that can work together through the use of advanced artificial intelligence. The robots are programmed to meet up and work towards a common goal, even if they’re initially separated. For now, the robots can only perform basic functions, like moving a box, but the hope is that they can one day used in military, medical and science applications.

Check out the video below to see the robot swarm in action:

What’s interesting is that these robots may one day be shrunk down to the microscopic level and be inserted into the human body. The robots would then work together to improve functions of the body. Of course, the hard part would be convincing humans to let doctors inject hundreds of tiny robots into their bloodstream.

[h/t: Telegraph]

Virginia Tech College of Engineering researchers have unveiled a life-like, autonomous robotic jellyfish the size and weight of a grown man, 5 foot 7 inches in length and weighing 170 pounds, as part of a U.S. Navy-funded project.

The prototype robot, nicknamed Cyro, is a larger model of a robotic jellyfish the same team – headed by Shashank Priya of Blacksburg, Va., and professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech – unveiled in 2012. The earlier robot, dubbed RoboJelly, is roughly the size of a man’s hand, and typical of jellyfish found along beaches.

Virginia Tech: Autonomous Robotic Jellyfish from virginiatech on Vimeo.

I don’t particularly like jellyfish, but this robot looks harmless enough. I doubt it will turn into a nightmare machine like other animal-based robots. Still, the potential is there – the robotic uprising could see these robots being upgraded to man o’ wars.

Well, those cute little quadcopters have not been turned into heartless killers thanks to a simple additions by researchers at University of Pennsylvania’s GRASP Lab. They thought it would be a good idea to attach a claw onto the copter so that it can dive down and grab objects without ever slowing down. The maneuver was inspired by how eagles hunt by diving to grab prey.

What’s terrifying about this particular robot is that it can grab objects while moving at three meters per second. If it ever becomes big enough, it could pick you up off the ground before you even realize you’ve been captured by the robotic equivalent of a pterodactyl.

[h/t: NewScientist]

Meet Bartendro, a “cocktail dispensing robot” from the folks at Party Robotics. The machine is being billed as the ultimate drink maker as it can easily and quickly make any drink you can think of. It’s extremely portable and easily programmable so you can serve any kind of drink at any party.

Bartendro will become a reality if it’s able to raise $135,000 on Kickstarter in the next 26 days. The project already has 124 backers pledging $37,008, but it’s gonna need a lot more support before our robotic alcohol overlords become a reality.

So, how much is this thing going to cost? The base Bartendro, called the Shotbot, comes with a single dispenser and costs $249. Things get a bit more expensive as you move to more custom built dispensers. The Bartendro 3 will cost $499, the Bartendro 7 costs $1,199 and the Bartendro 15 goes for $2,499.

The most exciting part about this project, however, is Party Robotics plans to build a drink database. The team is collecting recipes from all over the world so that Bartendro can perfectly create any drink. It would be a huge help for those of us who are terrible at following drink recipes. I always unwittingly add too much alcohol, thus overpowering any semblance of sweetness found in the drink. The $499 asking price might be worth it if it means I never have to waste any more alcohol on botched recipe experiments.

[h/t: CNET]

They wouldn’t make a robot that could kill us with giant concrete blocks:

Holy sh*t, did you see that? Remind me never to face off against BigDog in a construction yard.

[h/t: Reddit]

Robohub reports that the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control at ETH Zurich have created Cubli, a robotic cube that can walk, jump and balance on its corners. The most amazing part is that the cube is built out of nothing but off-the-shelf motors, batteries and electronic components.

You can see Cubli below balancing on its corner through the use of spinning flywheels that maintain its balance, even when slightly nudged:

So, what’s next for the Cubli? The researchers are already working on a version of Cubli that can walk on flat surfaces, or jump. It can already do these things, but it was found that some internal components were damaged when it jumps. These flaws have been mostly fixed, and now the team is working on “controlled maneuvers of jumping up, balancing, and falling over to make the Cubli walk across a surface.”

[h/t: Gizmodo]

German designers Tom Pawlofsky and Tibor Weissmahr flirted with danger when they thought it would be a good idea to strap a chainsaw to an industrial robotic arm as part of a design show. The robot, using an advanced algorithm, would cut decorative stools from a tree trunk. The project displayed a robot’s perfectionism as the stools were cut perfectly each time.

chainsaw robot carves the 7Xstool by tom pawlofsky + tibor weissmahr from designboom on Vimeo.

As you may have noticed, the really cool thing about this project is that it cuts out two stools from a single piece of the trunk. It also doesn’t create a single piece of scrap wood unless you count all the sawdust. It’s a unique take on traditional furniture design that makes the most of the materials given to the artist.

Of course, we can’t ignore the horrifying implications of giving a robot control of such a dangerous tool. In all reality, a chainsaw isn’t that effective as a weapon, but it’s still terrifying to see something like that coming at you. Good thing the robot is stationary for now. I don’t know what we would do if somebody gave a chainsaw to a robot that could actually move… Oh right, this would happen.

[h/t: designboom]