Gizmodo: robot wars

Pleo Gets Thrashed at the Hands of a Battlebot

Adrian Covert — Fri, 09 May 2008 22:00:00 EDT

At Maker Faire 2008, a group of carnage-loving individuals pitted the 2007 Holiday Toy Darling Pleo against the heavy duty battle bot, Vicious Verdict, in a no holds barred competition. Needless to say, the sniff-n-grunt capability of the Pleo was no match for the blade-equipped bot, which turned Pleo into fillet meat. But the funniest part of the video (below) might be the background shrieks of little kids, who were forced to watch their Christmas present get shredded. Mean, perhaps, but undeniably funny. [DViCE via Tech Digest via Bot Junkie]

RoboCup 2007 Concludes, Germans Dominate Robot Soccer Matches

Charlie White — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 08:45:54 EDT

We showed you some preliminary action last week from the Georgia Tech-sponsored RoboCup 2007 competition, but spectators of the game between the Darmstadt Dribblers and NimbRo (from the University of Freiburg, Germany) tell us this quarterfinal game was the best match of RoboCup 2007. In this battle, NimbRo took down the Dribblers by a score of 8-6, going into an exciting overtime round after 5-5 tie in regulation. Did NimbRo go on to the finals?

NimbRo took the championship title, winning both the kid-sized two-vs.-two final game as well as the Teensize penalty kick competition. Team Osaka walked away with the prize for Best Humanoid Robot, with NimbRo bots taking second and third place.

NimbRo - Learning Humanoid Robots [University of Freiburg]

Korea Ups the Ante in Future Robot Wars With Japan

Jason Chen — Mon, 21 May 2007 15:20:49 EDT

Things are shaping up for an eventual Korea vs. Japan robot wars in the next 20 to 30 years, and Korea is getting ready with a robot that keeps your home safe. Unlike previous robots, this one from KornTech (snicker, snicker) is named Rogun and has high-end face tracking software, which means it can both recognize and track your kids by turning its head to face you no matter where you move.

Also, Rogun will use that same facial recognition to detect if strangers visit, and will call you on your phone if you're out. If you've left your kids at home, it can monitor them, and will stream updates to you over the Internet as well. Plus, there's a 7-inch LCD monitor in its chest so kids can interact with it. If you want one, be prepared to shell out more than $100,000 for the privilege. – Jason Chen

Robot Keeps Home Safe in Korea [Far East Gizmos via Uber Gizmo]