2015 BB8
14/12/2015
The Force Awakens is the first film in the Star Wars sequel trilogy, announced after The Walt Disney Company’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in October 2012. The film is produced by Abrams, his long-time collaborator Bryan Burk, and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy. Abrams co-wrote the film with Lawrence Kasdan, who co-wrote the original trilogy films The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi. Abrams and Kasdan rewrote an initial script by Michael Arndt. John Williams, composer and conductor of the previous six films, returns to compose the film score. Star Wars creator George Lucas served as creative consultant during the film’s early production stages. wikipedia
Toyota : Partner robot
03/12/2015
Toyota Motor Corp. is harboring big ambitions to become a significant player in the growing market for robots that help the elderly and other people get around in everyday life. The company believes it can use its manufacturing expertise to become as crucial in a field it calls “partner robots” as it is to auto-making. Robotics engineers at Toyota currently number only 150 out of a worldwide staff of 300,000 but it is plowing money into research and development. Article : Phys.org
2015 Fanuc / Prefered Networks Inc / deep learning
03/12/2015
Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg A Fanuc industrial robot lifts a vehicle during a demonstration at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo. A yellow robotic arm pauses over a pile of metal cylinders, snaps a photo, then proceeds to confidently pick pieces out of the jumble. What’s impressive is that just eight hours ago, its bin-picking skills were about zero. Fanuc Corp. is showing off the first results of its partnership with artificial intelligence startup Preferred Networks Inc. at Tokyo’s International Robot Exhibition this week. The world’s largest maker of automation equipment is using so-called “deep learning” to enable machines that can acquire skills independently. Bloomberg article LINK Fanuc LINK Tokyo’s International Robot Exhibition LINK
2015 Cyberdyne
23/11/2015
CYBERDYNE Inc. is a venture firm which is established by Dr. Yoshiyuki Sankai, University of Tsukuba, Japan, in order to materialize his idea to utilize Robot Suit HAL® for the benefits of humankind in the field of medicine, caregiving, welfare, labor, heavy works, entertainment and so on. Robot Suit HAL® was developed with the technologies created in Sankai Laboratory of Tsukuba University as an application of “Cybernics*” advocated by Prof. Sankai. Cyberdyne LINK
2015 CMR Surgical System Prototype
20/11/2015
CMR’s modular system uses multiple collaborative robotic arms, which, sensitive to applied forces, mimic the movements of a surgeon and can be easily repositioned around an operating theatre. The system offers state-of-the-art 3D high-definition imagery, and also provides the surgeon with force feedback to assist in delicate procedures. LINK : CMEDROBOTICS
2015 Orders
19/11/2015
Researchers Teaching Robots How to Best Reject Orders from Humans Pretty straightforward, right? And it’s nice that obeying humans is in there at number two. Problem is, humans often act like idiots, and sometimes, obeying the second law without question is really not the best thing for a robot to do. Gordon Briggs and Matthias Scheutz, from Tufts University’s Human-Robot Interaction Lab, are trying to figure out how to develop mechanisms for robots to reject orders that it receives from humans, as long as the robots have a good enough excuse for doing so. Spectrum LINK
2015 Alan
19/11/2015
The first modular robot kit designed to explore android and human interactions. LINK kickstarter LINK website
2015-11 NASA gives Valkyrie to MIT
18/11/2015
NASA announced today that MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) is one of two university research groups nationwide that will receive a 6-foot, 290-pound humanoid robot to test and develop for future space missions to Mars and beyond. Phys.org LINK Spectrum LINK
2015 Surena III
17/11/2015
Iranian researchers at the University of Tehran unveiled yesterday the latest generation of their humanoid robot, named Surena III. In a demonstration, the adult-sized robot walked across a stage, imitated a person’s arm gestures, and stood on one foot while bending backwards. LINK spectrum
2015 Our Robotic Children
16/11/2015
Our Robotic Children: The Ethics of Creating Intelligent Life Article : LINK
2015 Hasbro : Companion Pets
16/11/2015
JOY FOR ALL Companion Pet cats look, feel and sound like real cats. But they’re so much more than soft fur, soothing purrs and pleasant meows. Companion Pets respond to petting, hugging and motion much like the cats you know and love. This two-way give-and-take helps create a personally rich experience that can bring fun, joy and friendship to you and your loved ones ages 5 to 105. – Built-in sensors respond to motion and touch – Realistic, soft fur looks and feels like a real cat – Cat-like movements and sounds – VibraPurr sounds and feels like real purring – Batteries Included: 4 x 1.5V C Alkaline Batteries LINK : HASBRO
2015-10 Bosch – Bonirob robot set to make field work easier for farmers
17/10/2015
Farmers Weekly LINK
2015 Robohon
05/10/2015
The 19.5-centimeter (7.7-inch), 390 gram (0.9-pound) Robohon sports a 2-inch touchscreen, a quad-core CPU, and can connect to 3G, LTE, and wifi networks. It’s a robot that makes phone calls, shoots pictures and videos, and sends emails. Techinasia LINK Sharp Robohon LINK
2015 Junko Chihira
01/06/2015
Junko Chihira. She’s a 165-centimeter tall (5’5”) android designed to resemble a 26-year-old Japanese woman. Junko made her public debut at a shopping center in Tokyo in October, where she greeted customers in Japanese, English, and Chinese. She’s also the poster child for Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s “Robot Revolution Initiative,” announced in May this year. The five-year plan, backed by a combination of 200 corporate entities and universities, seeks to increase the usage of robots in manufacturing, construction, healthcare, hospitality, and other sectors. Toshiba LINK Techinasia LINK
2015 BOSTON DYNAMICS : Spot
11/02/2015
Robotics company Boston Dynamics has a new four-legged addition to its family: a 160-pound quadruped named Spot—and dude is impressive. In a short video posted yesterday, the Google-owned company shows Spot gallivanting with a weird equestrian hop through office corridors, up concrete stairs, and along rocky hills with little trouble. Spot even keeps his balance after being kicked by one of its human overlords. You can almost hear the canine whimper over the drone of his hydraulics. LINK website LINK : BostonDynamics
2015 Ava / Ex Machina
21/01/2015
Ex Machina (stylized as ex_machina) is a 2015 British science fiction thriller film written and directed by Alex Garland. It stars Domhnall Gleeson, Alicia Vikander, Sonoya Mizuno and Oscar Isaac. Ex Machina tells the story of a programmer who is invited by his employer to administer the Turing test to an android with artificial intelligence. Made on a budget of $15 million, the film grossed over $36 million worldwide and received positive reviews. wikipedia
2014 Swarms
14/08/2014
The first thousand-robot flash mob has assembled at Harvard University. Harvard LINK
2014 Pepper
05/06/2014
Masayoshi Son, the CEO of Japanese wireless carrier SoftBank, introduced what he called the world’s first robot capable of recognizing human emotions at a press conference this afternoon. Named “Pepper,” the glossy-white, 120cm-tall humanoid robot will be sold to the general public starting next year. “When people are described as acting like a robot, it means they have no feeling or emotions – we start challenging this concept today,” Son announced. “Today is the first time in the history of robotics that we are putting emotion into the robot and giving it a heart.” Techinasia LINK Softbank LINK
2014 KAIST : Raptor
22/05/2014
Researchers have long been interested in fast-running robots with powerful, agile legs. In particular, several groups have focused on bio-inspired designs based on cheetahs. But when a team at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) set out to create a new sprinting robot, they didn’t look at big cats; instead, they found inspiration in a completely different kind of creature: a velociraptor. The robot, called Raptor, has two nimble legs and a mechanism that mimics a tail. In a recent experiment, it achieved an impressive speed of 46 kilometers per hour on a treadmill. LINK website LINK : KAIST
2014 EDI / Marco Tempest
06/05/2014
Marco Tempest uses charming stagecraft to demo EDI, the multi-purpose robot designed to work very closely with humans. Less a magic trick than an intricately choreographed performance, Tempest shows off the robot’s sensing technology, safety features and strength, and makes the case for a closer human-robot relationship. (Okay, there’s a little magic, too.) TED Talks LINK Marco Tempest LINK RethinkRobotics Baxter LINK
2013 FESTO : BionicKangaroo
02/04/2014
We present the new salamander-like robot Pleurobot. Contrary to our previous bio-inspired approaches, in this new approach we make use of the recent advances in cineradiography to benefit from the advantages that a biomimetic design can offer. We recorded three-dimensional X-ray videos of salamanders, Pleurodeles waltl, walking on ground, walking underwater and swimming. Tracking up to 64 points on theanimal’s skeleton we were able to record three-dimensional movements of bones in great detail. Using optimization on all the recorded postures for the three gaits we deduced the number and position of active and passive joints needed for the robot to reproduce the animal movements in reasonable accuracy in three-dimensions. LINK website LINK : FESTO
2014 Construction team
13/02/2014
Designing Collective Behavior in a Termite-Inspired Robotic Construction Team A team of computer scientists and engineers at Harvard University has created an autonomous robotic construction crew. The system needs no supervisor, no eye in the sky, no blueprint, and no communication: just simple robots—any number of robots—and a very smart algorithm. Harvard LINK
2014 Guy Hoffman / Robots with soul
17/01/2014
Guy Hoffman: Robots with “soul” What kind of robots does an animator / jazz musician / roboticist make? Playful, reactive, curious ones. Guy Hoffman shows demo film of his family of unusual robots — including two musical bots that like to jam with humans. (Filmed at TEDxJaffa) Guy Hoffman WEBSITE TED Talks LINK
2013 PLEUROBOT
28/11/2013
We present the new salamander-like robot Pleurobot. Contrary to our previous bio-inspired approaches, in this new approach we make use of the recent advances in cineradiography to benefit from the advantages that a biomimetic design can offer. We recorded three-dimensional X-ray videos of salamanders, Pleurodeles waltl, walking on ground, walking underwater and swimming. Tracking up to 64 points on theanimal’s skeleton we were able to record three-dimensional movements of bones in great detail. Using optimization on all the recorded postures for the three gaits we deduced the number and position of active and passive joints needed for the robot to reproduce the animal movements in reasonable accuracy in three-dimensions. LINK website
2013 Crabster
30/07/2013
The Crabster CR200, a huge six-legged underwater robot, took the plunge earlier this month for the first time. Developed at the Korean Institute of Ocean Science and Technology (KIOST), the Crabster is an alternative to propeller-driven remotely-operated vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), which are ill-equipped to deal with strong tidal currents in shallow seas. LINK : KIOST LINK website
2013 MITMECHE : Cheetah
01/05/2013
In a leap for robot development, the MIT researchers who built a robotic cheetah have now trained it to see and jump over hurdles as it runs — making this the first four-legged robot to run and jump over obstacles autonomously. To get a running jump, the robot plans out its path, much like a human runner: As it detects an approaching obstacle, it estimates that object’s height and distance. The robot gauges the best position from which to jump, and adjusts its stride to land just short of the obstacle, before exerting enough force to push up and over. Based on the obstacle’s height, the robot then applies a certain amount of force to land safely, before resuming its initial pace. LINK website LINK : MITmechE
2013 Diego-San
09/01/2013
His name is Diego-san. He was born at UCSD. He’s a baby robot. We had seen photos of him before, and we knew researchers were working hard to get it moving and doing other things that babies do. Now, for the first time, Diego-san shows off its face on video. Researchers at UCSD’s Machine Perception Laboratory, led by professor Javier Movellan, developed Diego-san to study cognitive and social development in infants. The humanoid robot is modeled after a 1-year-old baby, with its body built by Japanese animatronic company Kokoro and its head created by U.S. firm Hanson Robotics, specialized in ultra-realistichumanoid robots. Spectrum LINK Plos LINK
2012 David
30/05/2012
Prometheus / David / Michael Fassbender David is an android that acts as the ship’s butler and maintenance man. It is designed to be indistinguishable from humans, and begins to develop “its own ego, insecurities, jealousy and envy”. Writer Damon Lindelof stated that the character provides a non-human perspective on the film’s events, and said, “what does the movie look like from the robot’s point of view? If you were to ask him, ‘What do you think about all of this? What’s going on? What do you think about these humans who are around you?’ Wouldn’t it be cool if we found a way for that robot to answer those questions?”. Fassbender said, “David’s views on the human crew are somewhat childlike. He is jealous and arrogant because he realizes that his knowledge is all-encompassing, and therefore he is superior to the humans. David wants to be acknowledged and praised for his brilliance”. Wiki LINK
2011 CURIOSITY MARS ROVER
26/12/2011
Technology development makes missions possible. Each Mars mission is part of a continuing chain of innovation. Each relies on past missions for proven technologies and contributes its own innovations to future missions. This chain allows NASA to push the boundaries of what is currently possible, while still relying on proven technologies. LINK : NASA
2011 FESTO : SmartBird
25/07/2011
Festo’s SmartBird robotic seagull is barely four months old, but already it’s flown (or we should probably assume, been flown) from Germany to Edinburgh for the 2011 TEDGlobal conference. Festo’s Markus Fischer, the SmartBird project leader, presented a short talk about SmartBird, along with a couple live demonstrations of the robot, complete with a few friendly dive-bombings. LINK website LINK : FESTO LINK : TED
2010 Valkyrie
10/12/2010
NASA / Valkyrie The space agency’s new Valkyrie — a 6 foot 2 inch tall (1.9 meters) robot with a glowing NASA logo on its chest — bears an uncanny resemblance to Marvel’s superhero Iron Man, but this space age automaton was built for work, not comic book heroics. A team of engineers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Tex., designed and built Valkyrie in just nine months, according to press reports. Space.com LINK
2010 NPR-4
07/12/2010
The Robotics Division has a unique background and expertise in the fields of aeronautical, mechanical, control, and electrical engineering whilst diversifying cutting-edge technologies and knowledge accumulated in such fields into a wide variety of industries. The humanoid robot has been developed in collaboration with the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), an independent administrative legal entity, which assumes responsibility for total specification design while Kawada focuses upon the handling of the robot hardware and the fabrication of the robots themselves. Kawada Robotics LINK
2010 Telenoid
16/10/2010
The Telenoid R1 is a human-like remote controlled android created by Japanese roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro. The R1 model, released in August 2010, is approximately 80 cm tall, weighs 5 kg and is made out of silicone rubber. The primary usage of the Telenoid R1 is an audio and movement transmitter through which people can relay messages over long distances. The purpose is for the user to feel as though they are communicating with a far-away acquaintance. Cameras and microphones capture the voice and movements of an operator which are projected through the Telenoid R1 to the user. Wikipedia LINK Geminoid LINK Techinasia LINK .
2009 Gerty
23/12/2009
Moon is a 2009 British science fiction drama film co-written and directed by Duncan Jones. The film follows Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell), a man who experiences a personal crisis as he nears the end of a three-year solitary stint mining helium-3 on the far side of the Moon. It was the feature debut of director Duncan Jones. Kevin Spacey voices Sam’s robot companion, GERTY. Wiki LINK
2009 NPR-4c ‘Miim’
16/03/2009
The HRP-4C, nicknamed Miim, is a feminine-looking humanoid robot created by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), a Japanese research facility. Miim measures 158 centimetres (5 feet, 2 inches) tall and weighs 43 kilos (95 pounds) including a battery pack. She has a realistic head and face, and the figure of an average young Japanese female (based on the 1997–1998 Japanese body dimension database). She can move like a human, utilizing 30 body motors and another eight dedicated to facial expressions. Miim can also respond to speech using speech recognition software, and is capable of recognizing ambient sounds.[1] Miim can also sing, using the vocal synthesizer Vocaloid.[2] The software that operates the robot is developed on the basis of Open Robotics Platform (OpenRTP), including OpenRTM-aist and OpenHRP3. AIST (Japan) LINK Wiki LINK
2007 NAO
15/08/2007
Nao (pronounced now) is an autonomous, programmable humanoid robot developed by Aldebaran Robotics, a French robotics company headquartered in Paris. The robot’s development began with the launch of Project Nao in 2004. On 15 August 2007, Nao replaced Sony’s robot dog Aibo as the robot used in the RoboCup Standard Platform League (SPL), an international robot soccer competition. The Nao was used in RoboCup 2008 and 2009, and the NaoV3R was chosen as the platform for the SPL at RoboCup 2010. LINK : wikipedia LINK : ALDEBARAN
2006 Actroid-DER2
16/10/2006
Actroid is a type of android (humanoid robot) with strong visual human-likeness developed by Osaka University and manufactured by Kokoro Company Ltd. (the animatronics division of Sanrio). It was first unveiled at the 2003 International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan. Several different versions of the product have been produced since then. In most cases, the robot’s appearance has been modeled after an average young woman of Japanese descent. Kokoro’s website describes Actroid-DER2 as “even cuter than her older sister” – a reference to the original Actroid-DER. “Her most attractive feature is her long legs,” the company writes. “Her astonishingly small face is capable of creating exotic facial expressions. Her girlish and cute gestures are also polished.” Kokoro LINK Techinasia LINK Wikipedia LINK
2005 Marvin
28/04/2005
2005 BOSTON DYNAMICS : BigDog
11/02/2005
BigDog is a rough-terrain robot that walks, runs, climbs and carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by an engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system. BigDog has four legs that are articulated like an animal’s, with compliant elements to absorb shock and recycle energy from one step to the next. BigDog is the size of a large dog or small mule; about 3 feet long, 2.5 feet tall and weighs 240 lbs. LINK website LINK : BostonDynamics
2004 Darwin / Robotis
07/12/2004
DARWIN-OP which stands for Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence–Open Platform is a miniature-humanoid robot platform with advanced computational power, sophisticated sensors, high payload capacity, and dynamic motion ability developed and manufactured by Korean robot manufacturer ROBOTIS in collaboration with Virginia Tech, Purdue University,and University of Pennsylvania. DARWIN-OP has twenty degrees of freedom [20 DOF] each controlled by a DYNAMIXEL MX-28T[2] servo motor. The MX-28T has a stall torque of 24 kgf·cm (at 12 V, 1.5 A) and a 360 degree range of motion. With the release of the ROBOTIS OP2, the name of DARwIn-OP has also changed. [1] DARWIN-OP’s main purpose is for research and programmers in the fields of humanoid, artificial intelligence, gait algorithm, vision, inverse kinematics, linguistics, etc… It is also supported by $1.2 million NSF grant and has been distributed to over 14 institutions already. Wiki LINK Botmag LINK Robotis LINK Robot Source LINK
2004 Cylon
18/10/2004
Cylon is a fictional artificially-intelligent ‘collective’ of robotic beings. Because of a special set of programs Zoe Graystone wrote, creating a digital image of her very existence, the Cylon’s as individuals achieve ‘cognizance’ – i.e. are able to ask who and what they are – why they exist, and based on that programming, they start out life each believing in a god – the same God Zoe worshiped. And further that they were created by Man as an action of God and that they are equal or superior to Man because of this. wikipedia
2004 PARO : Therapeutic Robot
17/09/2004
PARO is an advanced interactive robot developed by AIST, a leading Japanese industrial automation pioneer. It allows the documented benefits of animal therapy to be administered to patients in environments such as hospitals and extended care facilities where live animals present treatment or logistical difficulties. wikipedia LINK : PAROROBOTS
2013 ATLAS
03/10/2003
Atlas is an anthropomorphic robot designed to operate on rough terrain. The video shows Atlas balancing as it walks on rocky terrain and when pushed from the side. The balance and control system places the feet and swings the arms and upper body to stay upright. The controller uses inertial, kinematic and load data from Atlas’s sensors. Atlas is being developed by Boston Dynamics with funding from DARPA’s M3 program. LINK website LINK : BOSTON DYNAMICS
2001 David / Teddy
29/06/2001
A.I. Artificial Intelligence, also known as A.I., is a 2001 American science fiction film directed, written, and co-produced by Steven Spielberg, based on the screen story by Ian Watson and based on the 1969 short story “Super-Toys Last All Summer Long” by Brian Aldiss. The film was produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Spielberg and Bonnie Curtis. It stars Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O’Connor, Brendan Gleeson and William Hurt. Set in a futuristic and post-climate change 22nd century, A.I. tells the story of David (Joel Osment), a childlike android uniquely programmed with the ability to love. Wiki LINK
1999 Bicentennial Man
17/12/1999
Bicentennial Man is a 1999 American science fictioncomedy-drama film starring Robin Williams, Sam Neill, Embeth Davidtz (in a dual role), Wendy Crewson, and Oliver Platt. Based on the novel The Positronic Man, co-written by Isaac Asimov and Robert Silverberg, which is itself based on Asimov’s original novella titled The Bicentennial Man, the plot explores issues of humanity, slavery, prejudice, maturity,intellectual freedom, conformity, sex, love, and mortality. The film, a co-production between Touchstone Pictures and Columbia Pictures, was directed by Chris Columbus. The title comes from the main character existing to the age of two hundred years, and Asimov’s novella was published in the year that the U.S. had its bicentennial. wikipedia
1999 Bender
28/03/1999
Bender Bending Rodríguez, Sr., designated Bending Unit 22 and known as Bender, is one of the main characters in Futurama. He was made in Tijuana, serial number 2716057, Mexico in 2996. Bender drinks copious amounts of alcohol to recharge his fuel cells, while displaying symptoms similar to intoxication when he stops. When he burps, fire comes out of his mouth. He gambles, smokes cigars, consorts with hooker bots, has 100,000 terabytes of porn on his hard drive, and is constantly trying to gain attention to boost his already over-inflated ego. LINK
1997 ASIMO
01/01/1997
You’re looking at Honda’s brand new ASIMO robot, which was just unveiled today in Japan. While the new ASIMO’s appearance is similar to the version of ASIMO that we’ve come to know and love, there are some key differences inside that promise to make this generation more autonomous and capable than ever. LINK website LINK : HONDA
1986 Bishop / Aliens
18/07/1986
1981 Marvin the paranoid android
05/01/1981
1979 Ash / Alien
25/05/1979
1978 Cylon
17/09/1978
Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series, created by Glen A. Larson, that began the Battlestar Galactica franchise. Starring Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict, it ran for one season in 1978–79. After cancellation, its story was briefly continued in 1980 as Galactica 1980 with Adama, Lieutenant Boomer (now a colonel) and Boxey (now called Troy) being the only continuing characters. Books have been written continuing the stories. wikipedia
1977 C-3PO
25/05/1977
1977 R2D2
25/05/1977
1972 Huey Dewey Louie / Silent Running
10/03/1972
In the future all plant life on Earth has become extinct. A few specimens have been preserved in enormous, greenhouse-like geodesic domes attached to a fleet ofAmerican Airlines space freighters, currently just outside the orbit of Saturn. Freeman Lowell (Bruce Dern), one of four crewmen aboard the Valley Forge, is the resident botanist and ecologist who carefully preserves a variety of plants for their eventual return to Earth and the reforestation of the planet. Lowell spends most of his time in the domes, both cultivating the crops and attending to the animal life. wikipedia
1966 Cybermen
04/12/1966
The Cybermen were originally created by Dr Kit Pedler and Gerry Davis in 1966. Dr Kit Pedler was a medical researcher at London University and became Doctor Who’s unofficial scientific advisor, he helped create the idea of the Cybermen as well as writing the first few stories. The Cybermen originally appeared in the first Doctor’s (William Hartnell) final story. The producers hoped that the Cybermen would match the success of the Daleks and become the Doctors new main enemy. LINK
1962 Robert the robot
28/10/1962
Robert the Robot When the futuristic children’s program Fireball XL5 rose to fame in the UK in 1962, the automated Robert also got his share of the limelight. The see-through robot made from thermoplastic acrylic resin was created by Professor Matic in the year 2062, the fictional time-setting of the series. Article : LINK
1956 Robby the robot
15/03/1956
1951 GORT
28/09/1951
The Day the Earth stood still : LINK
1927 Maria / Maschinenmensch
10/01/1927