Giant Beetle Robot RX-03

A robotics hobbyist created this wonderful giant working beetle-bot that looks good enough to be in Terminator movie. A labor of love for many years, the RX-03 boasts an internal cockpit that can hold an average adult, a controller configuration that looks something out of Steel Battalion, and can actually walk under its own power. The TV news coverage of this machine beast after the jump:

Old Robots Fade Away, But Are Never Forgotten

Whatever happened to Sentry the prototype police droid? Or Hubot the friendly all-around house bot that carried an Atari game machine for you? No one knows, but at least they’re not forgotten thanks to The Old Robots website. Here you can see what toy robot such as Max Steele looked like in the olden days of the 1980’s, to actual bi-pedal robots, and the more recent small robots that recently hit the commercial market.

See what the future may hold for robots through the course of history. Laugh at some ridiculous ideas, be in awe in the ones that have shaped our time, and dream with the ones that may hold the key to the future.

The Old Robots website has it all.

PLDT to Launch Fiber-Optic Broadband Service

PLDT, one of the largest Internet Service Providers in the Philippines announced that they’ve begun testing their new fiber-optic service in selected areas across general Metro area. The technology is leaps and bounds ahead of the established DSL system in place, so this could only mean more downloads, less lag with games, and easier communication overall. As quoted from this news source, the following areas are included for pilot testing of this new service:

Mind Reading Robots? Are We Now Doomed?

This little mechanical buddy is now on the fore-front of robotics research by actually being able to read a users thoughts and respond to them in kind. Taku Ichikawa of the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo is credited with this remarkable innovation, which allowed him to successfully compete in the Robo-One amateur bi-pedal robotics league which includes events like robo-soccer and robo-battles.

How Soon is Now?

Ah, childhood. The days when the minds of the young are so easily influenced by their environment. From experience, I’d say that there are two basic types of kids: the ones who stayed at school after class playing sports and the ones who rushed home immediately after to catch their favorite cartoon shows. The former would later join varsity teams while most of the latter (particularly those born in the 80’s) were weaned on shows like Transformers, Robotech, Gundam, Saber Rider, M.A.S.K, Voltron and the like.