Win a limited edition LG Versa Transformers phone from Engadget and LG!

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We know what's been running through your head: "how do I go about
winning that crazy Transformers edition LG Versa that
Engadget reviewed?" Well, friend, here's your answer! Only 20
examples of this specially customized version of the Versa have
been manufactured by LG to commemorate the launch of
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen featuring specially
themed wallpapers, ringtones, and a one-of-a-kind design sure to
fend off a Decepticon or two -- and we've been fortunate enough to
be offered a unit to give to one very lucky reader. Read on to find
out what you've gotta do!



Special thanks to LG for
providing the gear!



The rules:

• Leave a comment below. Any comment will do,
  just keep it G-rated, if you know what we mean.
  
  



• You may only enter this specific giveaway
  once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be
  automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that
  thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)



• If you enter more than once, only activate one
  comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful
  and you'll be fine.
  
  



• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or
  older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding
  anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to
  be mad.
  
  



• Winner will be chosen randomly. One (1) winner
  will receive one (1) limited edition LG Versa Transformers phone
  for Verizon Wireless. Approximate retail value is $750.
  
  



• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must
  respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not
  respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.



• Entries can be submitted until Friday, July 17th, at
  11:59PM ET. Good luck!



• href="http://www.radiusearphones.com/store/product.php?productid=16151&cat=253&page=1">
  



• Full rules
  can be found here.

[Via: Engadgetmobile ]
[Tag: ]

ZMP's RoboCar is Linux-based, cute as hell

It looks like ZMP, a Tokyo-based robotics company that's graced the (figurative) pages of Engadget from time to time, has just introduced a Linux-based RoboCar for testing autonomous auto technologies. Which only makes sense, we suppose -- better to test all of those autonomous algorithms you've been crankin' out on a six pound model before moving up to a three thousand pound family sedan (if a lot less fun). This guy is 17-inches long and packs an AMD Geode LX800 processor, WiFi 802.11b/g/n, stereo CCD cameras, eight IR sensors, three accelerometers, a gyroscope, and a laser range finder under the hood. Prices start at $7,000, but you have to jump on this -- according to Linux Devices, only two hundred units will be sold this year. Peep the video after the break.
[Via: Linux Devices ]
[Tag: adorable, automobile, automotive, autonomous, linux, robocar, zmp, zmp robocar, ZmpRobocar ]

Video: Japanese robot reads aloud from books, whispers vague threats while you sleep

Perhaps our Future Robot Overlords™ aren't planning on decimating the human population after they take over -- they might have a good reason to retain a handful of bipedal hominidae. Who knows, really? But we're betting that if they do, the lucky slave population is going to want to hear some bed-time stories from time to time. To that end, Japanese researchers have developed Ninomiya-kun, a 3.2-foot tall aluminum-framed robot capable of reading aloud from printed material. Developed at Waseda University and recently unveiled at a trade fair in Kitakyushu, the bad boy uses cameras to "read" the text, which it parses with OCR software before synthesizing its voice. As far as we can tell, this thing still sounds like a machine, and it's vocabulary is somewhat limited (it can currently recognize over 2,000 kanji, hiragana and katakana characters), but researchers are working on a more lifelike voice and a broader vocabulary. After that, the developers would like to unload this thing on elementary schools and old folks homes, whose population won't find this thing creepy or disconcerting at all, at all. We're sure of it. Peep the video after the break.




[Via: Pink Tentacle ]
[Tag: book, books, education, japan, Kitakyushu, Ninomiya-kun, ocr, reading, reading robot, ReadingRobot, robot, robot apocalypse, RobotApocalypse, sight reading robot, SightReadingRobot, story telling robot, StoryTellingRobot, Waseda University, WasedaUniversity ]

iRobot's new Roomba patent could clean those hard to reach areas, get stuck there

When most kids our age were cutting class to play Mike Tyson's Punch Out, the latch key kids over at Robot Stock News were taking apart their step father's vacuum. And as we grew up, all the while developing relationships with cellphone tipsters and eventually becoming successful tech bloggers in our own right, the Robot Stock News kids were also able to take their obsessive geek tendencies and make a name for themselves -- combing the interwebs, paying off high priced vacuum ninjas, and scouring the US Patent database for any and all news featuring many of our country's leading autonomous vacuum cleaners. They must have been really stoked to stumble upon a patent filed in November 2008, entitled "Compact Autonomous Coverage Robot." As far as we can tell, this document (filed by iRobot) details a Roomba with a squared off front, designed to hit those hard to reach corners that the traditional circular device cannot. This design change, while it seems minor, actually lends a level of complexity to the device: a square robot requires more complex programming, lest it get stuck in a niche that its round faced predecessor could never reach in the first place. Of course, there's no telling when (or if) this one will see the light of day, but you'll know as soon as we do. Promise.



[Via: Robot Stock News ]
[Tag: irobot, patent, patent application, PatentApplication, roomba, vacuum, vacuum cleaner, VacuumCleaner ]

Ultimate Buzz Lightyear robot to the rescue, on video

Step aside, Wall-E: Buzz Lightyear, courtesy of Thinkway Toys, has arrived to claim his rightful place at the top of the robot-based-on-Disney-character heap. Maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but Buzz's facial animation, sexy moves and trademark catch-phrases have all been wrapped up into a nice little bow here to rake in the cash when Toy Story and Toy Story 2 hit theaters this October as a 3D glasses double feature. Buzz responds to a few voice commands, can play a laser tag with the included remote, has a "Puppeteering Programming" mode to pose him for your own animations, and can even suffer an identity crisis when you tell him that he's just a toy. He'll be available this fall for $130-ish, check out a video after the break.




[Via: Engadget ]
[Tag: buzz, buzz lightyear, BuzzLightyear, robot, robot toy, RobotToy, toy, toy story, toy story 2, ToyStory, ToyStory2 ]

Video: SCRATCHbot hunts like a rat for those trapped like one

Designed for search and rescue missions - which, let's face it, are only ever one loose word away from "search and destroy" - the SCRATCHbot uses its whiskers to detect disaster survivors in inhospitable or dangerous areas. The Bristol Robotics Laboratory developed the rat-inspired people searcher over the past 6 years and now hopes to find interest for it in underground and underwater projects where vision may be impaired. Far less heroic uses are also being contemplated, such as textile inspection and implementation inside intelligent vacuum cleaners that would be able to adjust their cleaning to the particular surface they sense. Video of the new bot coming to life is after the break.




[Via: Engadget ]
[Tag: bristol robotics laboratory, Bristol university, BristolRoboticsLaboratory, BristolUniversity, Robot rat, robotic rat, RoboticRat, RobotRat, scratchbot, Sheffield university, SheffieldUniversity, surface detection, SurfaceDetection, textiles, UK, united kingdom, UnitedKingdom, vacuum, vacuum cleaners, VacuumCleaners, whiskers ]

Tone-deaf robots teach each other to sing, passionately butcher a Happy Birthday rendition

After what must've been a few painful minutes of rehearsal, a few robots built by the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research have preformed what we assume to be their first and last paid gig: a rendition of Happy Birthday to celebrate the 100th of the Science Museum in the UK. What's interesting about these bots -- outside of their horrible ear for music and laughable singing voices is the fact that they've actually been programmed to communicate and teach each other to sing through the process of singing to each other. Videos of both painful acts are after the break, and while we wouldn't call it art, we shouldn't throw stones: we've been in plenty of garage bands that sounded quite a bit worse.






[Via: robots.net ]
[Tag: iccmr, interdisciplinary centre for computer music research, InterdisciplinaryCentreForComputerMusicResearch, music, robot singing, robots, robots singing, RobotSinging, RobotsSinging, science museum, ScienceMuseum, singing, singing robots, SingingRobots ]

Video: Self-Portrait Machine binds your hands then bends your will

Drawing faces is hard; and as children suckled at the teat of MTV we posses neither the patience nor the discipline required to learn the skill. So imagine our surprise to discover the Self-Portrait Machine, a device that snaps your photo and then forces you to draw your own face by dragging your bound hands around until the portrait is complete. Jen Hui Liao's project is the result of an observation that "our personal identities are represented by the products of the man-machine relationship." So it's like art and the intersection of philosophy... only it's not -- it's just a robot too lazy to make the portrait itself. See the video after the break.




[Via: Engadget ]
[Tag: ]

Engadget's recession antidote: win a Transformers Nintendo DS Lite Armor case and stylus!

This whole global economic crisis, and its resulting massive loss of jobs got us thinking. We here at Engadget didn't want to stand helplessly by, announcing every new round of misery without giving anything back -- so we decided to take the opportunity to spread a little positivity. We'll be handing out a new gadget every day (except for weekends) to lucky readers until we run out of stuff or companies stop sending things. Today we've got a Transformers Bumblebee Nintendo DS Starter Kit, which includes a protective Nintendo DS Lite Armor sleeve and universal stylus. We'll also be throwing in a Megatron strylus just for fun! Read the rules below (no skimming -- we're omniscient and can tell when you've skimmed) and get commenting! Hooray for free stuff!


The rules:

• Leave a comment below. Any comment will do, but if you want to share your proposal for "fixing" the world economy, that'd be sweet too.
  


• You may only enter this specific giveaway once. If you enter this giveaway more than once you'll be automatically disqualified, etc. (Yes, we have robots that thoroughly check to ensure fairness.)


• If you enter more than once, only activate one comment. This is pretty self explanatory. Just be careful and you'll be fine.
  


• Contest is open to anyone in the 50 States, 18 or older! Sorry, we don't make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so be mad at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
  


• Winner will be chosen randomly. The winner will receive one (1) Transformers Nintendo DS Lite Starter Kit and one (1) Megatron stylus.
  


• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of the end of the contest. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.


• Entries can be submitted until Friday, July, 3rd, at 11:59PM ET. Good luck!


• Full rules can be found here.

[Via: Engadget ]
[Tag: ]