Okay, BotJunkies: here are the results of our contest to decide what to call a group of robots. Each of our judges has their top ten picks, and it wasn’t easy… Steve Rainwater and David Calkins have sent along explanations of why they chose the terms they did, and as you read through them, you’ll understand just how much thought all the judges put into their decisions. Lem Fugitt’s picks are right here, and you’ll find Steve and David’s picks after the jump, along with a few of my favorites and the overall second and first place winners.

Lem Fugitt, Editor of Robots Dreams:

I was extremely surprised and pleased with the large number of entries and the creativity. Readers obviously took the contest seriously and put some thought into their selections. The entries ranged from obvious to obscure to hilarious, which made the process of narrowing them down quite a challenge.

My top 11 (I hate arbitrary round numbers) are:

Battery, Quandary, Singularity, Sprocket, Gear, Waldo, Meme, Future, Foundation, Discovery, Matrix

Of those, my favorites are:

#3 Discovery
#2 Singularity
#1 Waldo

A waldo of robots, first submitted by StephenMS.

The rest of the results, after the jump. (Read more…)

We received over 300 unique entries to our robot collective noun contest, and although we were shooting for today to get you the results, our esteemed judges (David Calkins from RoboGames, Lem Fugitt from Robots Dreams, and Steven Rainwater from Robots.net) are currently still pondering. Check back here in the next day or two and we’ll have the judges favorites as well as the prize winners… And you can rest assured that if results aren’t forthcoming, I’ll be sending out the robot death squads and personally selecting one of the more violent collective nouns as the winner.

Now that we’ve been around for two years and a thousand posts, we can at least pretend that we’ve got some credibility when it comes to writing about robots. With that in mind, it’s high time that we came up with a collective noun for a group of robots. What’s a collective noun? Well, for example, you can have a herd of elephants. Or a colony of bats. You can also have a business of ferrets, a shrewdness of apes, a crash of rhinos, an ostentation of peacocks, or a murder of crows.

But there’s no such term for a group of robots, so we need to come up with something good. Something appropriately robot-y. In the past, by way of example, I’ve suggested an “autonomy” of robots, but I’m sure you can do better. And if you can, you can win stuff:

Our grand prize is a VEXplorer kit from Trossen Robotics. The VEXplorer is easy to build and customize, and includes a gripper arm and a camera that can broadcast images and sound back to your TV.

The runner up gets a WowWee TriBot. This is the big one, not the little one, and it comes with a tilt sensitive remote, guard function, homing function, and a bunch of games.

We’ll also be awarding some glow in the dark weRobot t-shirts from Chop Shop, featuring a ___ of 51 robots. These shirts are brand new, and feature a couple robots not seen on the original version. And did I mention that the robots have glow in the dark bits?

Here are the rules:

How do I enter? Leave a comment that includes “a ___ of robots” and fill in the blank with the most creative/appropriate collective noun of your choice. Keep it work safe. You may enter more than one collective noun but no more than three (we’ll be checking), but each comment can only have one entry, so keep them separate. If two different people enter the same collective noun, only the first one to post the comment will count.

Who can enter? Anyone. You don’t have to be a US resident or anything like that.

Who wins? This is not a random contest: if you enter something lame, it’s probably not going to win, unless it’s really funny. We have a panel of eminently qualified judges, including David Calkins (founder of RoboGames), Lem Fugitt (from Robots Dreams, a most excellent robot blog), and Steve Rainwater, founding editor of Robots.net. Each judge will pick their personal favorite entry, which will win a weRobots shirt, and we’ll come to a consensus on the overall winners.

When does it end? The contest will run one week, and commenting on this post will be closed sometime after midnight next Thursday night. We’ll announce the winner the following Monday.

Special thanks to Trossen Robotics and Chop Shop for sponsoring this contest; you should go buy their awesome robots/shirts even if you don’t win. But you’ll win. If you’re in need of inspiration, here’s a place to start. Good luck!

We’ve closed the contest, and we should have winners for you on Monday.

After the jump, I’ve posted a bunch of pics from RoboGames. They’re of no particular thing and in no particular order, and if you have any questions as to what’s what, leave a comment and I’ll do my level best to remember.

Also, I’d just like to take a moment to thank some of the people who made RoboGames happen this year as well as some of the people I got to meet, including the handsome David Calkins and the lovely Simone Davalos for getting me in to all this stuff in the first place, Dan Albert for showing me his robotic wiener dog, Greg Intermaggio for inviting me to sit on his lap, Emerson Malca for being a good cook, Matt Trossen and Andrew Alter for putting up with my awkward rambling, and I-Wei Huang for briefly talking to me about something besides robots.

Anyway, enjoy! (Read more…)

As part of a talk on robotics that robotics expert David Calkins gave at ETech this week, he commented (as he has before) that the definition of robot is completely a matter of perspective. Many technologies that we don’t really think of as robotic would seem absolutely so to someone from the recent past. To someone who was used to washing clothes and dishes by hand, wouldn’t washing machines and a dishwashers be robots? And cars, with technologies like cruise control, definitely would be considered as such.

A research partnership from the UK has recently demonstrated a system called Sentience, which takes cruise control beyond the adaptive type that you can already get in some cars and takes it to the next level… A level that might get you to call your car a robot. Sentience lives on your cell phone and connects to your car’s ECU (the computer that controls the engine). You put in your route, and Sentience analyzes it for traffic, gradients, curves, speed limits, junctions, crossings, speed bumps, and traffic lights. It then takes over your adaptive cruise system and controls acceleration, speed, and deceleration the entire way. All you have to do is steer. It even wires itself into traffic light systems to predict when a light is about to turn red, and preemptively decelerates. Besides giving you the option of being more or less entirely asleep the whole way, Sentience is able to get between 5 and 24 percent better fuel efficiency, depending on traffic.

So, when will these robot cars start mowing down little kids at crosswalks? Look for it in new cars sometime around 2012.

[ Press Release ] VIA [ Gizmag ]

Hitec has just released a couple upgrades for the RoboNova, including some powered gripper hands (using HSR-8498HB servos), a radio control module and 4 channel FM controller to replace the IR controller, and an acceleration sensor that outputs analog tilt values and connects directly to the microcontroller board. The grippers will cost about $160, the FM controller and receiver should be about $150 (or about $50 for just the receiver if you’ve got your own controller), and you can get the accelerometer for around $45.

If you don’t yet have a RoboNova, you can get one (and support RoboGames!) by clicking here. If want one but aren’t sure if you’ll be able to handle it, check out this video from System that shows just how easy it is.

[ Hitec RoboNova ] VIA [ Robot Watch (Translated) ]

In what could be, but hopefully isn’t, a once in a lifetime opportunity, TechShop in San Francisco is offering a comprehensive course in combat robot construction. When I say comprehensive, I mean you can walk in the door not knowing a speed controller from a servo, and walk out limping because your brand new fully armed and operational 60 pound combat robot decided that you weren’t worthy to wield its multi-spectrum radio transmitter and politely ran over your foot. Of course, that’s not going to happen, because the course also includes expert instruction. And a complementary kill switch. Here’s the skinny:

In this 2-day full-weekend class, you and your team member will learn to create a 60-pound fighting robot platform with help from the world’s best combat robot builders.

This Workshop Covers:

* Basic Robot Construction
* Weapon Construction
* Defense Measures
* Gear Ratios
* Motor Speed Controllers
* Driving Tips
* Materials Science (Cost-to-Strength Trade-Offs)

You Will Also Participate in Crash-Courses Covering:

* Mills, Lathes and Drill Presses
* Basic Hand Tools
* Taps and Dies
* Welding

You’ll build and take home your own base for a 60-lb combat robot, ready for you to attach weapons and armor and find an opponent! The workshop runs for two eight-hour days and even includes lunch and snacks.

The $595 class fee includes (2)eight-hour sessions, lunch, and snacks.

The $995 materials fee includes:

* 2 Dewalt High-Torque Motors
* 2 Matched Gearboxes
* 2 Motor Speed Controllers
* 2 Battery Packs
* 1 Master Kill Switch
* 1 Multi-Spectrum Radio Transmitter
* 1 Multi-Channel Radio Receiver
* Polycarbonate and Fasteners for Your Robot Base

Flamethrower sold separately.

Instructors include a suite of veteran combat robot experts, and this guy. If I could spare the dosh, I’d totally be there… It looks like it’s gonna be awesome.

[ TechShop ]

If you have more than a passing interest in robotics, specifically humanoid robotics, you should take a look at this episode of Revision3’s Systm. The guest is David Calkins, purveyor of robot violence, robot drunkenness, and occasionally robot wisdom. He talks about the basic design and features of android hobby bots, and if you can get the video to work (I had to use ::gag:: IE), it’s worth watching. All 40 minutes of it. Seriously, I promise.

[ Direct link to video, may require a lame browser ]

The great thing about getting a humanoid robotic kit (as opposed to trying to build one yourself) is that all of the hardest and most tedious work is done for you. You get a robust and reliable platform upon which to add, tweak, mod, hack, whatever… All without having to deal with misshapen servo brackets and toxic combinations of duct tape and super glue.

As far as the software goes, as long as you don’t let it intimidate you, writing code is actually pretty easy. People have a tendency to look at computer code and just freak out and run away, but once you get used to the appearance and general structure of it, it’s far easier to understand (IMO) than a second (non-English) language. ‘Course, that’s just my opinion as a 100% self-taught code geek, but I’ve taught some bona-fide technological luddites how to program simple things in Excel VBA. Once they agreed to look at what was going on, they found it readily comprehensible. Trust me, just give it a try, it’s not so bad.

If you’ve got the stamina to make it to the end of the video (not the very end, where things dissolve into manly giggling), David comments that “next year’s RoboGames, we’re doing full-on Mechwarrior.” Robots. Shooting each other with airsoft. And using flamethrowers. FLAMETHROWERS. Is it next year yet?

If you like the RoboNova RN1 (the one in the video), you can buy it directly from RoboGames fully assembled and ready to walk for $950, which is over $200 (!) cheaper than other online retailers. With 16 digital servos and motion-capture software, it’s pretty much ready for RoboGames competition right out of the box. Click here to pick one up, and we’ll see you next year at RoboGames.

[ Systm ]

I don’t know about you, but here at BotJunkie, this past weekend was all about RoboGames. Okay, and maybe one or two other things. But still… If for some reason you couldn’t make it to San Francisco, you totally missed out on the 504 (!) robots competing in 58 different events. Pictures and video are a poor substitute for the sheer visceral experience of live and up close robot competition, but I think you’ll agree that it was a pretty badass event:

More pics, after the jump. (Read more…)

The event that we’ve been waiting for since… Um… Last June is finally finally finally here. RoboGames 2008, baby. We’ll be bringing you pictures and video from as many events as we can get to, but there’s a ton of them, so the best thing for you to do is show up yourself. If you’re being held prisoner by aliens (aliens who aren’t fans of robots), let us know if there’s a specific event you’d like a look at and we’ll see what we can do.

Here’s what we have to look forward to:

For Immediate Release

THE INTERNATIONAL ROBOGAMES RETURNS TO SAN FRANCISCO
Facts at a glance:

Date: Friday-Sunday, June 13-15, 2007
Time: Noon – 10 PM.
Where: Fort Mason Festival Pavilion, San Francisco California
Cost: $20/adult, $15/kids 17-7, 6 and under free

“World’s Largest Robot competition” -The Guinness Book of World Records
“North America’s Top Ten Best Geek Fests” – Wired Magazine
“SportCenter Top Ten” – ESPN SportsCenter

The International RoboGames returns to San Francisco for its fifth year of hosting robot builders, engineers, scientists, and ordinary garage builders from around the world as they go for the laser-etched gold, silver, and bronze medals! Come to RoboGames for three solid days of mechanical sportsmanship, gearhead mayhem, and all the things your mom told you to never, ever do with science.

Read the rest of the press release and enjoy a super special bonus robot carnage pic, after the jump. (Read more…)