A new autonomous deep-sea robot called Aquanaut looks a lot like a Transformer. Spectrum can take the form of a humanoid amphibian and submarine, allowing it to be used for deep-sea repairs and other jobs that pose a danger to humans.
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Sphero, a company that makes robot toys like BB-8, has announced expansion plans. The company intends to use AI to repurpose its robots into assistants for emergency services, the government, the military and “those who work in dangerous situations.” While there was no word that Sphero will be building robots for the police, it seems the company intends to move in that direction.
Sphero has already launched four million robots in recent years, including miniature programmable robot tanks that have received good reviews for their mobility. So far, though, they’ve been used to make music rather than keep citizens safe.
The American engineering company Edge Innovations has developed a robotic dolphin that looks almost nothing different from its live counterparts. It is designed to one day replace them in dolphinariums and water parks.
The company hopes that over time, the animatronic robots, which are ubiquitous in Hollywood films, will be able to replace live, captive marine animals.
The configuration of a group of swarm-type robots can be used not only for military purposes or for search operations. Engineers from the Georgia Institute of Technology (USA) used a swarm of miniature wheeled robots to paint a picture. They compared their project to a “smart brush”, when an artist gives a command to apply a certain pattern in a specific part of the canvas, and the machines do the rest of the work.
The robots-artists in the current version are very primitive, in particular, each carries only one small container with paint and can leave a trace of it, no more. In the future it is planned to put on them several containers with different colours, and initially designed for mixing to get different shades. The robot will be able to vary the colours while working, and if it runs out of some dye, it will ask for help from a swarm mate to jointly draw a pattern of the desired colour.
The robotisation of the catering system (primarily small businesses) is gradually becoming a reality. Nala Robotics, based in Illinois (USA), has introduced a compact autonomous robotic pizza preparation system, Pizzaiola, measuring 3.7 x 3.7 metres, consisting of a storage/cooking area, an oven and a manipulator arm that moves freely around the entire perimeter of the kitchen.
Customers of the pizzeria can place an order by selecting it at the self-service kiosk, which will transmit it electronically to the kitchen. In addition, there is an online version of the take-home order via a special robot.
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