Robots are part of our everyday lives, but they're boring — relegated to menial jobs like scrubbing your floor, vacuuming it or just zig-zagging all over it. Sure, droid-like mechanical humans like the Asimo pop up now and then, but they're big, expensive corporate toys, not something everyone can buy. Where are our household robots?
The 21st Century Robot project aims to finally make the robot companion a reality. Led by Intel futurist Brian David Johnson, the project aims to put robot-building tools into the hands of everyone, and Johnson has found the key tool to help him to do that: 3D printing.
See also: 7 Free Tools for Creating Your Own Fonts
Over a decade ago, Johnson conceived a robot design that was friendly and practical to build, with small and childlike features. Although it resembled a person, it had simple hands and legs, so construction wouldn't be too complicated. He even gave his robot a name: Jimmy.
With a little help, Johnson turned his design into pages of blueprints that anyone can now download and use to print big chunks of robot on a 3D printer. The plans even show how someone can build some off-the-shelf robotic parts into the printed components to create their own Jimmy. The AI platform is open-source and app-based, so robot builders can easily develop their own software for Jimmy.
Johnson calls the project "open source," since it encourages people to customize and refine their robots if they wish. In the end, it takes the cost of owning your own humanoid robot down from thousands of dollars to hundreds.
But what are you supposed to do with your robot after it's printed? Johnson has plenty of ideas, ranging from basic companionship to an personal reminder bot. Due to their in-person nature, robots have a social aspect that other technology lacks, and Johnson says Jimmy has the tools (like Wi-Fi connectivity) to make real use of it.
Interested 'bot designers can head over to Jimmy's website and follow the robot revolution on Twitter at his account, using the hashtag #21stCenturyRobot.
Planning your own Jimmy? Let us know what you'd do with it in the comments.
Image: Mashable
We met The Cubinator for the first time at the 2010 World Maker Faire. The robot currently holds the Guinness world record for fastest machine solve of a Rubik's cube. Pete Redmond, who developed the robot for the final project of his master's degree, says that its solve time averages about 25 seconds. Webcams in the robot's eyes detect the colors on the cube and the machine solves the puzzle by using an algorithm to find the fewest moves. It also has has a sense of humor, shouting "oh dear!" when it occasionally drops the cube.
Even though the environmental effects of the Gulf oil spill may not be as bad as we initially feared, we can probably all agree that the oil didn't do the environment any favors. A team from MIT developed a fleet of robots that could clean up more efficiently in the future. The robots are equipped with a nanomaterial that can absorb 20 times their weight in oil. Each machine communicates with the other machines via GPS and Wi-Fi "to create an organized system for collection that can work continuously without human support."
Maybe there are a few people out there who genuinely enjoy sweeping and mopping floors, but the rest of us want this robot. Mint determines its location using "indoor GPS" and creates a map of the space as it cleans. For $250 you can get rid of your housekeeper.
A team at Carnegie Mellon University developed Snackbot to "support research into robust autonomous operation in office environments." We're pretty sure that's code for, "We could build a robot that delivers snacks, so why wouldn't we?" Research will allow the robot to navigate through congested areas in a socially acceptable fashion, detect individual people moving near it, recognize when someone that the it knows approaches, and autonomously learn to recognize new objects.
Baywatch is about to become even more unrealistic. EMILY, the robot lifeguard, isn't much to look at, but PopSci reports that it made 77,192 rescues last year. The current model is remote controlled, but a fully autonomous EMILY that uses a sonar device to scan for underwater movements will be available next spring.
Created by Jason Van Anden in 1996, Neil and Iona are considered elderly among working robots, but they were still spry and relevant enough to tour this year with the San Jose Museum of Art. The robots remain intriguing because of their ability to change expression, use body language and create "strangely endearing sounds." Frankly, they're cute. This mini documentary explains their creation.
You've probably played chess against a computer before, but table soccer? This robot uses a camera to perceive the playing field and then decides how the rods under its control should be moved. Originally developed at the Institute for Computer Science of the University of Freiburg, the robot is now sold as a game called StarKick.
Another project at Carnegie Mellon University, the Snakebot uses its "many internal degrees of freedom to thread through tightly packed volumes." In other words, it moves like a snake. It can coordinate the movements of its parts to swim, crawl, and even climb a tree.
DepthX is a collaborative project designed to create an underwater robot that can map three-dimensional spaces like flooded caverns and mines. The machine will first explore the deepest flooded sink hole in the world, the Zacatón Cenote in central Mexico.
DOMO was the doctoral work of Aaron Edsinger at MIT. The ultimate cool robot, it can accomplish tasks like making a drink, helping with chores, tracking an object and interacting with people. Watch DOMO in action here.