Robot Stock News has an interesting post about a new robot company, SmartMow, and their self titled product, a robotic lawnmower. The mower, which is currently available for preorder, will retail for $999 and features lithium batteries, a self-charger and can supposedly mow 1/3 of an acre on a single charge. SmartMow is currently offering this mower for a special price of $749 ($175 reserve price, and the rest when the product delivers in the Spring).

The SmartMow requires a perimeter wire to tell it the boundaries to mow, but only weighs 17 pounds - much lighter than other robotic mowers. You may also remember that iRobot has filed a patent for robotic lawnmowers, so we may be seeing some significant market competition in the coming years. This is a good thing.

Personally, I think laying down a perimeter wire is a significant barrier to entry. SmartMow will have to work very well to attract new buyers and word-of-mouth marketing. The Roomba hasn’t sold millions of times just because of it’s price point, but because it, like the iPod, does what it’s supposed to do excellently - SmartMow should take note.

We’ve reported on such matter before, but once again a US Military drone (robot) has successfully fired on and killed at least 5 militants (terrorists) on the Pakistani border. It’s great to hear that the “bad guys” are getting the due, and that US soldiers are being kept from harm by our robotic pals. Unfortunately, simply using an unmanned system to do your dirty work doesn’t eliminate all of the risks of combat. While the robot may be one the one carrying and firing the missile, humans are still ultimately giving the command and stuck with the consequences of taking a human life.

With great (robotic) power, comes great (robotic) responsibility. Shoot wisely.

Ok, so we’ve heard songs about robots before, but unless you happen to be a fan of Flight of the Conchords, perhaps you haven’t heard this one - “The Humans are Dead“. Sung from the point-of-view of two conquering robot overlords, it’s a clever and distopian view of our future.

Oh, and be sure to catch the “binary solo”. It’s a classic.

You may have noticed a fun new poll I posted a few days ago, but if you haven’t, cast your vote(s) for your favorite robot movies. I’m sure there’s plenty that I’ve left off, so the poll allows you to add new items. Have fun!

A couple interesting submarine launched UAVs, one by Raytheon and another, VOLANS, built by a German company, are featured in this Register article. The Submarine Over the Horizon Organic Capabilities, or SOTHOC, built by Raytheon, is launched out of the waste disposal lock of a submarine. SOTHOC then decents to a preset depth where it rises to the surface and launches a unmanned flying vehicle to gather data. The UAV can relay the data back to the sub via antenna, or if the sub whishes to remain anonymous the data can be relayed via satellite back to the US. This system allows a submarine to lauch an UAV while remaining submerged, in contrast to the VOLANS, which launches via a mast attached to the robot. The VOLANS functions as a mobile periscope for the sub.

David is probably going to hate me for this, but an email just popped up on the Robotics Society of America mailing list from David Calkins, saying:

So, The All-Japan 3kg Sumo Tournament is Dec 21st in Tokyo.

Fujisoft gave me 2 seats to go, all expenses, … [and] I’m giving away the tix.

Want ‘em?

You gotta win ‘em.

In order to win the tickets, you have to mail your completed Sumo robot to David, where he will compete them in a normal Sumo tournament on December 6th. The two best robots from the tournament will win tickets to Japan!

For more details contact David directly. If you don’t currently have a Sumo ‘bot, get to building! Or, buy a kit and soup it up!

Update: This just in from David, “Luis Reyna and Alex Eisner won the sumo contest, and tix to Japan”. Congratulations to Luis and Alex! Let us know how the trip goes.

The Christmas season is upon us, and it’s time to whip up your gift lists. Why not put a little robot love on there? Here’s some great suggestions for robotic gifts. We’ve featured 10 great products that will make excellent gift ideas for your robot loving friend or relative.

LEGO Mindstorms NXT

I wonder if LEGO fully understood what they were getting into when they first released their “Robotics Invention System”, or “RIS” in 1998? Now, two revisions later we have the LEGO Mindstorms NXT system, which is about as perfect of a product as you can imagine. Involving a tight-knit team of LEGO and robotics enthusiasts, LEGO developed NXT from the ground up and surprised the public with their new system in 2006. The NXT system supports over 40 different programming languages, and supports a wide range of additional sensors created by 3rd parties. The kit comes with 3 motors (with feedback), 4 different sensors, and 571 pieces. You can check out some of the fabulous NXT creations over at The NXT Step Blog.

Mindstorms NXT retails for $250 USD.

Buy LEGO Mindstorms NXT from Amazon or Trossen Robotics.

Wall-E RC Toy and DVD

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Pixar is known for creating beautiful, heartwarming, and sophisticated animated films that appeal to both children and adults. Their latest masterpiece is the story of Wall-E, a trash robot stranded and alone on Earth.

One of the more interesting product tie-ins is the U Command Wall-E “interactive robot” which uses an IR remote for control and can be programming with hundreds of different actions and combinations. This may be ripe for hardware hacking and is extremely cute, to boot.

Of course, if you’re looking for something a little less costly, the 3 disk Special Edition of Wall-E on DVD would make an excellent gift for your robot loving friends.

Buy U Command Wall-E from Amazon.com.

Buy 3 Disk Special Edition Wall-E from Amazon.com.

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Both Trossen Robotics and Hammacher Schlemmer are now offering the “World Smallest Humanoid Robot”, I-Sobot, for an astounding $99 price tag $95.99 price tag ($99 at Hammacher). This appears to be partly due to the fact that I-Sobot is being discontinued by Tomy. For $96 this would make an excellent Christmas gift for any robot lover in your family.

I-Sobot stands about 6.5″ tall and can perform all sorts of tricks, like somersaults, martial arts, push ups and is fully controlled via an IR remote control. Various movements can be sequend together to create complex motion patterns. I-Sobot also reponds to voice commands.

Times are tough, why not splurge a little? Video of I-Sobot in action after the break.

Trossen is out of stock right now, but they tell me they have a shipment coming in soon.

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The US Army has decided to move it’s Robotics Systems Joint Project Office to Warren, MI, outside of Detroit. In response to this, many large robotics companies are following suit and opening offices in the area. The office is currently hiring engineers and designers to create robots to do “dull, dirty or dangerous” jobs.

Robot ground vehicles are said to be the main focus and officials say that should produce about 100 new jobs by next year and maybe double that in the future. Which future is still in question, though. Already, money is flowing into local universities for robotics research and iRobot, Foster Miller, and QuinetiQ are looking to open local branches.

So, is robotics the hot new industry for Southern Michigan? It sure looks like they could use a few new ideas.

In what is pretty stunning news to me, iRobot has purchased Nekton Research for $10 million USD. The reason this is so stunning, is because Nekton is 30min down the road from me, and I’ve interviewed there! Nekton is a small business located in Durham North Carolina and specializes in underwater robots. You can see one of their robots, the Transphibian, operating after the jump. Up till this point Nekton has based it’s business on government research contracts and hasn’t done any large scale product sales - this looks to change. iRobot says they plan on moving their “Maritime Programs office” to the Raleigh-Durham area. Eventually iRobot plans to have all their underwater research and development happen at this location. This will be where the Seaglider program eventually moves to.

iRobot has updated their website to reflect the new acquisition and features the Seaglider, Ranger, Transphibian, and “High Speed UUV“. I’m looking forward to see what exciting things will pop out of the water, so to speak.

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Ok, so here’s the question: Is all the economic turmoil causing you to spend/build less on your robots? Vote, and let us know!

Trossen Robotics is sponsoring a robot building contest with some great prizes! The contest, which runs through the end of December, challenges entrants to building something cool. Something that will “wow” the judges. Other than that (and using electricity) the field is pretty wide open.

Projects will be judged on the “wow factor”, ingenuity, creativity, and on (the dreaded) documentation. Prizes are:

3rd Place: A Roboquad from WowWee Toys (~$60 value)

2nd Place: A Robosapien RS Media from WowWee Toys (~$180 value)

1st Place: A Pleo Dinosaur from Ugobe! ($350 value)

So, all you robot builders out there should get to work! When you’ve submitted your projects, how about leaving a comment and letting us know, and we’ll do a post about your projects.

The Mars Phoenix Lander is dying dead (see below). Dying a slow death of hypothermia. You see, the fading Martian summer sunlight is causing Phoenix to become starved for photons with which it charges its batteries. Without a fresh battery charge each day, Phoenix is unable to keep its heaters running all night. When the heaters stop running, so does Phoenix.

“This is exactly the scenario we expected for the mission’s final phase, though the dust storm brought it a couple weeks sooner than we had hoped,” said Phoenix Project Manager Barry Goldstein of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “We will be trying to gain some additional science during however many days we have left. Any day could be our last.”

To commemorate the passing of our Martian robotic pal, Gizmodo is having Phoenix as a “guestblogger” on their site. Phoenix is summing up his thoughts for the world at the end of his life. You can also keep up with Phoenix’s last moments via Twitter.

In the slim chance that Phoenix manages to stay in one piece during the Martian winter, he’s programming to wake up and alert NASA that he’s still alive. In the meantime, Phoenix, we’ll miss you.

Update: NASA has officially ended the Phoenix mission. Phoenix is now officially dead. They haven’t heard from him since Nov. 2nd. [Via Riding with Robots]

Robots turn on humans!

For Halloween Gizmodo sponsored a costume contest. This year’s theme was “Robots Turn on Humans.” You’ll definitely want to check out the contest results and the clever and funny costumes.

More robot mayhem!

Did you spot any great costumes this year? Tell us about them in the comments.

Here’s three wonderful LEGO robots built by legoloverman. There’s closeups of the three (and quite a few others) in the flickr gallery.

Three LEGO robots built by legoloverman

[Via Brothers Brick]