LOOK WHO’S TALKING!
Now, you can learn a new language with TalkingRobo. With speech
recognition, he understands language and will suggest chatting topics. He
has face recognition to remember your profile and recognizes images.
Show it a picture and he will identify it. It’s available in several designs
and comes with a dictionary, encyclopedia, and a beam projector.
TalkingRobo connects to the Web for updates, making calls, and/or
surveillance. Go to http://talkingrobo.com/ for more info.
NAMES THAT TUNE
A University of Malaga group in Spain, led by Professor Elizabeth Barbancho,
devised a LEGO mindstorms NXT that can play Name That Tune when you play
chords on the guitar, tickle piano keys, whistle, or hum. The clever bot will then
suggest other songs that are similar.A team also came up with a system that uses
augmented reality technology to make a virtual keyboard — useful for those
without a real one. Other researchers from the group came up with a method
of turning ordinary songs into a format that is similar to the one used in
"Guitar Hero."
SHOVEL IT!
I-Shovel ('I' for INTELLIGENT) is the world's first and only autonomous robotic snow shovel. With its patent pending
technology, I-Shovel keeps your driveway snow free and ready. So, while your neighbors are shoveling their driveways, you
can be on your way.
I-Shovel automatically detects the snow accumulation and cleans the driveway automatically. It has a built-in computer
to control the shoveling process and various sensors to figure out the perimeter. Unlike snow throwers that are usually
used to clean snow after the storm, I-Shovel is designed to wake up and shovel snow whenever it senses a reasonable
accumulation of snow. This concept makes it possible to devise a shoveling mechanism with relatively low power
consumption and no dangerous moving parts, enabling it to operate
unattended. This is a convenience that was only available so far
with heated drive ways which are much more expensive to own
and operate.
With its three feet wide shovel and 14 inch wheels, I-Shovel is
efficient and powerful. It can easily plow through one inch of fresh
snow. However, further refinements will be done to the production
version of the robot.
The prototype is made with polycarbonate blades, wheels, and
handles, and runs on rechargeable batteries with optional solar
charging making it eco friendly.
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