bots IN BRIEF
ANIMAL COMFORTS
After the devastating catastrophe in Japan, Daiwa House
donated two of its Paros to a previously abandoned retirement
home in Suisyoen. Because real animal therapy is not always
possible, residents can hold these substitutes and somehow find
them comforting. While the sealbots would normally cost about
$155 a month to lease, the generous company left Love and Peace
for a two year stint.
Sitting only 27 km ( 17 miles) south of the stricken Fukushima
Daiichi plant on a hill above an area ravaged by the tsunami, the
Suisyoen retirement home is located in the middle of Japan's triple
crises.
While the retirement home structure was spared major
damage by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami, fears of
radiation contamination from the nearby nuclear plant led officials
to evacuate Suisyoen for two months until mid May.
KEYED UP
HEXAPOD
This hexapod — Chiara
— has certainly found a comfy
little niche for itself in the
robotic classical piano world
by plonking away at some
Beethoven.
Chiara itself is an open
source educational robot
developed by Carnegie Mellon University. It runs a free programming
language called Tekkotsu, and this particular musical demo was put
together by Ashwin Iyengar, a high school student.
AIR JAWS
Take Jaws to a (literally) higher level with this IR
remote controlled indoor Air Swimmer. Once the
57" long nylon shark is filled with helium, it can go
360º and move up, down, left, and right from up to
40 feet away. It can remain aloft for about two
weeks at a time. The air swimmer also comes
disguised as a Clownfish. Both will bounce off walls
but be sure to remember to turn off your ceiling
fan before use. Each swimmer requires seven AAA
batteries (not included.)
SERVO 10.2011 23
