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Adore Your Android: Cover with a Case from OtterBox
10 February 2012 12:01 AM | No Commentsvar AdBrite_Title_Color = '0000FF'; var AdBrite_Text_Color = '000000'; var AdBrite_Background_Color = 'FFFFFF'; var AdBrite_Border_Color = 'CCCCCC'; var AdBrite_URL_Color = '008000'; try{var AdBrite_Iframe=window.top!=window.self?2:1;var AdBrite_Referrer=document.referrer==''?document.location:document.referrer;AdBrite_Referrer=encodeURIComponent(AdBrite_Referrer);}catch(e){var AdBrite_Iframe='';var AdBrite_Referrer='';} document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,83,67,82,73,80,84));document.write(' src="http://ads.adbrite.com/mb/text_group.php?sid=2053203&zs=3436385f3630&ifr='+AdBrite_Iframe+'&ref='+AdBrite_Referrer+'" type="text/javascript">');document.write(String.fromCharCode(60,47,83,67,82,73,80,84,62)); FORT COLLINS, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Known as an innovator of protective solutions, OtterBox® introduces cases for newest Android™ smartphones...
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Isobar’s NFC Hackathon Winners Create Applications for Gaming, Gifting and Music Remixing
09 February 2012 5:10 PM | No CommentsBOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Isobar, a global communications agency, announced today the winners of Isobar Create 32, Silicon Valley’s first hackathon exploring Near Field Communication (NFC) technology...
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WeatherBug 2.0 for iPhone Mobile App Launches in iTunes Store
09 February 2012 12:00 PM | No CommentsGERMANTOWN, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Earth Networks SM, the owner of WeatherBug® products and services and operator of the largest weather, lightning and climate observation networks, announces...
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Digi-Key’s Android App Listed as a Top App
08 February 2012 9:58 PM | No CommentsTHIEF RIVER FALLS, Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Electronic components distributor Digi-Key Corporation, recognized by design engineers as having the industry’s largest selection of electronic components available for...
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Infonetics Research: Mobile Broadband, Smartphones, LTE Drive Diameter Signaling Controllers to 106% CAGR to 2016
08 February 2012 4:40 PM | No CommentsCAMPBELL, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Communications market research firm Infonetics Research (www.twitter.com/infonetics) on Friday released its Diameter Signaling Control Worldwide and Regional Market Size and Forecasts ...
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Adore Your Android: Cover with a Case from OtterBox
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Robots Archive
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Videos: Mobile robot RODEM
Posted on June 24, 2010 | No Comments
There's certainly no shortage of so-called mobility robots, but major Japanese robot maker tmsuk's offering seems to be quite cool. In fact, the RODEM (short for "Robot De Enjoy Mobility") is being pitched as a mix between robot, wheelchair and ultra-small vehicle (or "Universal Vehicle" [JP, PDF], in tmsuk's marketing language).
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Video: Meet Myon, Germany’s latest humanoid robot
Posted on June 22, 2010 | No Comments
Germany has churned out the one or the other humanoid in recent months, but Myon might actually be the coolest deutsche robot out there. The little guy stands 125cm tall and weighs 15kg. He was designed by Cologne-based design studio frackenpohl poulheim [GER] and developed at Berlin's Humboldt University as part of the European ALEAR (Artificial Language Evolution on Autonomous Robots) research project.
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Video gallery: Hitachi’s humanoid robot EMIEW2 in action
Posted on June 21, 2010 | No Comments
Hitachi has recently shown a new version of its humanoid robot EMIEW2 (Excellent Mobility and Interactive Existence as Workmate2), which can scoot around on broken ground (the robot handles bumps that are up to 1.5cm high), recognize and distinguish between different human voices and converse with people.
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TOPIO Dio: Meet Vietnam’s first service robot
Posted on June 18, 2010 | No Comments
Tosy (warning: the site takes a long time to load), Vietnam's first - and only - robot venture, has been flying under the radar since the debut of TOPIO, their table tennis-playing humanoid, in 2007. The company was established as early as 2002 and has been mainly manufacturing toy robots since. But it seems as if their first "life-sized" service robot, dubbed TOPIO Dio, is a pretty cool humanoid.
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Video gallery: Chiba Institute Of Technology’s awesome robots
Posted on June 15, 2010 | No Comments
Like many Japanese institutions of higher education, the Chiba Institute Of Technology boasts a faculty or laboratory, which conducts research on nothing but robots. This particular institute's Department of Advanced Robotics [JP] has been pretty much flying under the radar in recent years, but the department opened a very interesting YouTube channel recently.
And some of the robots the researchers in Chiba (just outside Tokyo) have manufactured so far are pretty impressive. Here are four of them.
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M3-Kindy and Noby: Japan gets two scary kid robots (video)
Posted on June 11, 2010 | No Comments
Remember M3-neony and M3-synchy, two humanoid robots from Japan we've shown you back in March? Well, it seems Japan still doesn't have enough of creepy kid-like robots, as the so-called JST Erato Asada Project in Osaka today unveiled [JP] another two: M3-Kindy and Noby.
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Videos: Soccer-playing robot
Posted on June 10, 2010 | No Comments
Building robots capable of playing soccer - that's apparently very hard to pull off, as shown several times in the past. But this new robot, the RoboErectus Jr., is different. Developed at the Robotics Center of Singapore Polytechnic, he looks like he's a little small, but his moves are pretty cool.
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Carnaby: Pioneer’s very special car navigation mini robot (videos)
Posted on May 20, 2010 | No Comments
What do you get when you cross a car navigation system with a wacky mini robot? You get Carnaby [JP], a very special piece of hardware developed by Pioneer and robot venture iXs. The in-car robot may look weird, but it actually serves a good purpose: it makes car navigation systems more accessible for the elderly and those with hearing disabilities.
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Pictures and video: Robotic exoskeleton HAL-5 up and close
Posted on May 20, 2010 | No Comments
I had the chance to attend a TED event last weekend, namely the TedxTokyo conference, which took place for the second time in Japan. And as CrunchGear's Japan correspondent, I was naturally most interested in the geekiest presentation delivered: that of Professor Sankai from Tsukuba University (near Tokyo). (The video was of the presentation was uploaded just a few hours ago, which is why I waited till today.)
Sankai talked about and showed the latest version of his brainchild, the super-cool robotic exoskeleton HAL-5. Made by his spin-off company Cyberdyne (yes, HAL-5 and Cyberdyne), the robo suit helps paralyzed persons walk and lift heavy objects through transforming brain signals sensed through the skin into motion.
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Videos: Mini robot performing a perfect back flip
Posted on May 17, 2010 | No Comments
Most of the robots out there have one common problem: They can only move in a slow, mechanical and chopping motion. In other words, the vast majority of robots lacks "elegance" and basic maneuverability. But not so this unnamed, fan made mini robot from Japan.
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Robot “I-Fairy” leads nuptials at wedding in Japan (videos)
Posted on May 17, 2010 | No CommentsWe all knew this day would come eventually, and that day was yesterday: a robot called I-Fairy conducted a wedding, an official one. Needless to say that the wedding took place in Tokyo and that the robotic wedding conductor is the brain child of a Japanese robot company called Kokoro.
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Videos: Toyota’s amazing violin-playing robot
Posted on May 14, 2010 | No Comments
Toyota has never been known as an auto maker that's really active in the robotics area (as opposed to Honda, for example), at least when it comes to producing robots with high show value. There are two exceptions though: one is Winglet, the Segway-like robotic vehicle Toyota showed in 2008, and the other is a violin-playing humanoid that made its debut back in 2007.
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Video: Fujitsu’s care bear robot in action
Posted on May 13, 2010 | No Comments
Last month, we've shown you a teddy bear robot that's made by Fujitsu and looked pretty cute - on pictures. But now, after seeing a video (embedded below) of the bear actually "communicating" with a human, I'm not so sure anymore if it's really a good idea to use this to entertain elderly or younger people (the robot's target group).
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Video: Meet LOLA, Germany’s newest (and very tall) fembot
Posted on May 6, 2010 | No Comments
Remember AILA, the "female" humanoid we've blogged about two weeks ago? It turns out that wasn't the only fembot that has been in development in Germany in the last few years, as LOLA [GER], a humanoid presented by the Technical University of Munich and the Institute of Technology Autonomous Systems in Munich, shows.
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Video: Robovie-R Ver. 3 to start supporting the elderly in November
Posted on May 5, 2010 | No Comments
The Robovie-R Ver.3, an advanced service humanoid jointly made by major Japanese robot maker Vstone and Japan’s Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR), has a lot going for it. The 120cm robot can understand and answer questions, he can serve as a guide for humans (he "walks" at about 2.5km/h), he's cute, and he's touch sensitive (through a total of eleven touch sensors).