Robot Worms for Stomach and Intestines
The most terrifying thing a doctor can tell you at your next colonoscopy is about to change from "I found something suspicious" to "I'd like to do further exploration with this segmented robot potato." A team of scientists from Italy, Germany, Greece and the UK are developing a robot designed to crawl through the intestines and stomach by mimicking the wriggling movements of an undersea worm. The team has already created a few prototypes (see videos here and here), and they are currently working on a robot with a camera and a light to capture video as it travels. Unfortunately (fortunately?) the robot is going to need years of testing because, as one researcher put it, "if something this complicated goes wrong, it could be very hard to get out." I don't know why they don't just add a drilling device to the front of the robot. That way, if something goes wrong, the robot could just drill its way to freedom and safety.
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Tomotaka Takahashi noticed the dominance of male robots in the industry and decided he'd create a female one, that not only looked female but moved in a feminine way as well. The FT (female type) robot was shown at New York Japan Society's Tech Epoch, where it struck poses à l... / Continue →
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The inventer of a bear-protection suit has created a much slimmer version which has been designed to stave off bullets, explosives, knives, and clubs. The suit is called Trojan and the inventer describes it as the "first ballistic, full exoskeleton body suit of armour" and he hop... / Continue →
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The new Japanese music robot Miuro, designed to turn an iPod music player into a scuttling boombox-on-wheels, is shown during a press conference in Tokyo Thursday, Aug. 31, 2006. Equipped with speaker systems developed with Japanese audio-maker Kenwood Corp., the 35-centimeter ... / Continue →
