Kotaku: Robots

Transform! Ridiculous Transformations and Showboating in Games

Chris Person — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 16:30:00 EST

Let's Look at Robot Butts. Together.

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:30:00 EST

Robots are badass! You know that. I know that. Everybody knows that. But in basking in their awesomeness, we've forgotten something important: their backsides. More »

Street Fighter's Bosses Are Much More Menacing in Mecha Form

Mike Fahey — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:20:00 EST

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Artists BossLogic and Reza have teamed up to give the big baddies of Street Fighter a mecha makeover, creating a set of characters I'd gladly purchase another version of Street Fighter IV to play. More »

Namco, You Dirty, Dirty Dog (Robot?)

Brian Ashcraft — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 04:00:00 EST

Spotted by game localizer and author Matt Alt, this Namco ad from the mid-1980s originally ran in a toy industry trade publication. In it, an android looks up a woman's skirt. More »

See the Minimal Human, Haptic Gaming Chair and Robot Moles in Action

Brian Crecente — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 13:00:00 EDT

A floating avatar head that can look, listen and speak in the real world, a desk-embedded robot mole, high-tech tops, express-changing "minimal humans", phantom haptic gaming chairs. The 38th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques sounds like a place of wild dreams and nightmares. More »

This Robot Dog's Ugly is Only Skin Deep

Brian Crecente — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:30:00 EDT

It looks more organic than robotic. More »

Why Does Portal 2's Co-Op Use Robots? Because Robots Can Be Trusted

Mike Fahey — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 12:00:00 EDT

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Valve, in partnership with Aperture Science, present the second video in the "investment opportunity" series, explaining why robots like P-body and Atlas are six seconds better than humans when it comes to cooperative multiplayer. More »

The PlayStation Move Can Control Robots Too

Mike Fahey — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 17:40:00 EST

Yesterday Sony unveiled Move.Me, a software application that allows hobbyists and academics access to the Move controller to do things like operating robots remotely. Today, we see the Move operating a robot remotely. More »

Kinect-Rigged Robot Could Help With Future Quake Recovery

Owen Good — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 21:30:00 EST

An earthquake fixed attention and sympathy this week on New Zealand, where more than 100 died and more than 200 still are missing. Authorities probing the rubble surrounding Christchurch find some buildings too unsafe to enter. A Kinect-enabled robot, developed by British researchers, could help in such situations. More »

Teaching Robots To Walk The Baby Way

Mike Fahey — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 14:00:00 EST

Why do human children learn to walk so much easier than robots do? Because babies learn to crawl before they walk. University of Vermont robotics expert Josh Bongard demonstrates how robots develop faster when their bodies change with their brains. More »

Kinect Hacked To Perform Surgery

Mike Fahey — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 11:20:00 EST

We've seen the Xbox 360 Kinect control robots before, but never robots with tasks this important. A group of graduate engineering students at the University of Washington are using Microsoft's device to guide the actions of surgical robots. More »

Kinect-Controlled Gundam Mech Stands On Its Own One Foot

Owen Good — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 17:00:00 EST

In the evolution of Kinect-controlled robotics, we've gone from a Roomba in November, to a robot moving its arms in December, now to one that may stand on one foot. We should be slaves to our robot overlords by May. More »

Teaching Robots To Behave Ethically

Mike Fahey — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 14:30:00 EST

While other researchers are busy teaching robots how to lie, professor Susan Anderson and her husband Michael have taught a robot how to behave ethically. I know which team is getting my research dollar. More »

You Might As Well Be A Robot As Far As Babies Are Concerned

Mike Fahey — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 22:30:00 EDT

It's time for our mostly daily Kotaku science post! Today we take a look at an important scientific study that has found that babies can't tell human beings from humanoid robots. More »

Force Feedback Helps Doctors Poke Patients With Robots

Mike Fahey — Wed, 29 Sep 2010 18:00:00 EDT

A popular method of adding more immersion to video games could make a life or death difference to doctors using robotic proxies to perform delicate surgery. More »

Turn Your iPod Nano, iPhone 4, iPad Into Walking Robots

Brian Crecente — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 02:30:00 EDT

While you and I were busy trying to figure out how to talk on the original iPhone in LA and Vegas without dropping the call two seconds later, PachimonDotCom was using his giant brain to transform the smart phones into robots! More »

Researchers Teach Robots To Be Decepticons

Mike Fahey — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 21:00:00 EDT

Robots will soon be weaving tangled webs as researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology grant robots the power to deceive, which sounds like a perfectly good idea to me. More »

We Need Some Cheetos Here Stat!

Brian Crecente — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 17:30:00 EDT

A robot playing video games at the MIT Media Lab... sans a savory treat. As seen on Blackaller's Twitpic. More »

Wii Balance Board Powers Baby-Moving Robot

Mike Fahey — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:40:00 EDT

Children and adults with movement impairing handicaps have access to many devices to help them get around, but what about disabled infants? Researchers have come up with a baby-moving robot that uses a Wii Balance Board as its guide. More »

Namco: Maker Of Games, Builder Of ROBOTS

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 03:00:00 EDT

During the early 1980s, Namco wasn't only conquering arcades with games like Pac-Man. The company was doing something else. Something important. It was building robots. More »

Intel Inside Your Mind, Serving You Drinks

Mike Fahey — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 17:20:00 EDT

We're one step closer to browsing the internet with our mind while our robot butler brings us drinks, and it's all thanks to Intel. PC Magazine tells us about the wonderful tech on display at the company's latest R&D day. More »

The World's Fastest Robot Takes On The Nintendo Wii (And Humanity)

Luke Plunkett — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 01:00:00 EDT

This is neither an episode of Astro Boy, nor is it a sequel to Robot Jox; instead, it is a real event, where the world's fastest robot went up against a Nintendo Wii Remote. More »

Now Robots Can Play Tetris Without Us

Luke Plunkett — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 06:00:00 EDT

That's it. Pack up the fine china, stock up on tinned soup and start digging a bunker, because this great dance we call humanity is done for. First they play Tetris, then they play Madden, then we all die in a nuclear fire. More »

The Robots Rise In RISK: Factions

Mike Fahey — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 13:20:00 EDT

Stainless Games' colorful candy take on the classic strategy game RISK gets even stranger today, as the developer reveals the third faction joining humans and cats in the battle for global domination: Robots. More »

Kotaku Robot Wars Round 2: The Quickening

Mike Fahey — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:20:00 EDT

The first round of Kotaku's Robot Wars have left four U.S. cities in ruins and four video game robots nothing more than mounds of melted plastic and metal. Who survived to fight again? More »

Our Missing Video Game Robot Hero

AJ Glasser — Wed, 27 May 2009 16:00:00 EDT

Osamu Tezuka's beloved boy robot, Astro Boy, defined an art form, inspired a nation, and is a cultural icon worthy of the Robot Hall of Fame. So why doesn't he get more video games? More »

Mega Man Losing To The French In Robot Hall Of Fame Race

AJ Glasser — Fri, 15 May 2009 20:00:00 EDT

Mega Man is a man among robots, but is he spiffy enough to top a French robot built in 1810 that writes poetry for a spot in the Robot Hall of Fame? More »

The Mystery of the Stupid Fun Club

Brian Crecente — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 17:00:00 EDT

Maybe the website for Will Wright's entertainment think tank is just a website. But given that it has three games of sorts hidden on it, I'd like to think there's more to it than that. More »

Giant Robots Help Kill Tabula Rasa

Mike Fahey — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:20:00 EST

NCsoft's doomed massively-multiplayer online science fiction game Tabula Rasa may only have weeks to live, but the developers are making those weeks count, with giant player-controlled mechs storming the title's final moments. More »

Plain Sight Open Beta Launches, Robots With Swords Kill Themselves

Mike Fahey — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 11:40:00 EST

Beatnik Games has officially launched the Open Beta for Plain Sight, the multiplayer online PC game that pits bouncing robot against bouncing robot in a sword-swinging fight to the finish. More »

Military Developers Talk Wii Remote-Controlled Robots

Mike Fahey — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 13:20:00 EST

CNN has just run an interesting segment on military robots coming in the near future that will be controlled using the Nintendo Wii remote, looking at the pros and cons of Wii-bots. More »

Suck at Guitar Hero? Buy this Robot

Owen Good — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 12:00:00 EST

Robots playing Guitar Hero are not new; one playing the game with up to 98 percent precision is, however. Wired found the Cythbot, a creation of southern California engineering firm Cyth Systems, at this week's Robo developers conference in Santa Clara. It's not actually for sale. Nor is it much more than an aluminum cage with pneumatic "fingers" to hit the frets, while a camera tells it what's coming. Cythbot can play in both solo and compete modes, getting as high as 98 percent, but usually on average around 75 to 80 percent. This is disquieting news, as Isaac Asimov and Stephen Hawking predicted that 100 percent on "Through the Fire and the Flames" is when Skynet becomes self-aware. More »

Sega Creates Robotic Girlfriend

Mike Fahey — Thu, 19 Jun 2008 13:20:00 EDT

Sega has created the ultimate peripheral for guys too busy gaming to meet women. Meet Ema - Eternal Maiden Actualization, Sega's robotic girlfriend. She stands around 18 inches tall and can sing, dance, and totally make out with you. When switched to "Love Mode", a feature sadly lacking in real life companions, Ema uses infra-red sensors to detect nearby human heads, doling out kisses with her cold, mouthless face. More »

A First Look at Afrika's Beanie-Wearing, Robot-Controlling Player

Brian Crecente — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 10:00:00 EDT

Not only does Afrika let you take pictures of lots of high-res animals, but you get to control those little remote camera bots and run! Seriously though, I am looking forward to this game. It looks like it's going to be a blast. I do hope they squeeze in some need facts about the animals while they're at it, this could be a great, fun educational game. More »

Scientists Create Wiiimote-Controlled Bomb-Bot

Mike Fahey — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:40:30 EDT

We're already well aware of the various health-related applications for the Nintendo Wii, but what about the military uses? The U.S. military, who were up until recently confirmed Xbox 360 fanboys, are now looking into the possibility of Wiimote-controlled robots. Scientists have created the Packbot, a Wiimote-operated robot armed with a machine gun, to be used in clearing mines and bombs. The military would generally use a standard remote for such purposes, but scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy say the Wiimote is more instinctive, allowing users to focus on date processing rather than which button to press. In my world the device would come with a screen so the soldier operating it could watch his Mii diffusing bombs and tip=toeing around land mines. My world is a much happier place. More »

Robot Crane Game. (Yes, ROBOT!!)

Brian Ashcraft — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 00:00:42 EDT

Crane games are old. In Japan, where they dish the future out like candy, crane games are controlled by robots. Well, this one is at least. The concept is currently being tested, but differs from traditional crane games in that it's timed. So, instead of being given X number of moves to use the crane to snag loot, players must use the robot in a race-against-the-clock to bag their prize. Delightfully nerdy and TOTALLY AWESOME! More »

Optimus Prime Case Mod

Mike Fahey — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 13:20:35 EDT

My computer could use a new video card and CPU. Perhaps even a whole new motherboard, seeing as the system I have right now is prone to randomly rebooting in the middle of writing Kotaku stories. Being a man who knows where his priorities lie, I think I am going to transform my PC into a giant robot instead. That's a fully transformable 6'10" tall Optimus Prime case mod you are witnessing there on the left, and it is a thing pf beauty indeed. It's the work of 36-year-old John Mangus, the winner of ExtremeTech's weekly case modding contest. It transforms into a much smaller desktop form and even features a glowing matrix in Prime's chest in case there are any darkest hours needing to be lighted. Mangus is showing off the case at QuakeCon this weekend, so feel free to stop by and tell him Fahey from Kotaku says he's got the touch, and possibly the power as well. Bonus points for serenading him. More »

Clips: How To Build Gundam Models

Brian Ashcraft — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 05:00:58 EDT

Consider this an introduction. A How-To, if you will. Bandai's goodwill ambassador Masked Bakuc. The vids provide a good walk through for constructing a Gundam plastic model while wearing a Lucha Libre mask and a cape. Basic and advanced techniques are covered. Hit the jump for the exciting sequel as well as footage of Bakuc surfing. In costume, too! Brian Ashcraft More »

Happy BDay DToid

Brian Crecente — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 13:00:43 EDT

Wow, I can't believe it's only been a year (or so) since I first stumbled upon Destructoid and wrote a brief love note to their big, boxy mascot. More »

Sandlot: Japanese For Cool

Brian Ashcraft — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 13:22:52 EST

Ollie Barder has a fascinating look at Japanese developer Sandlot and the mecha/robo games it's made. Sandlot is responsible for titles such as Gigantic Drive and The Chikyuu Boueigun. The company's name and philosophy is much like those "sandbox games" that let players wonder freely. What's more, the company has a definite vision of what a Sandlot game is. Writes Barder: More »