The following creation was unveiled at IROS 2009 (International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems). Using an air jet, this robot is capable of moving small spheres through the air and using the air current to set them down in precise locations. Worth noting is the machine was created at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the same robotics university that was referenced in Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey as the birthplace of the HAL9000 computer operating system which developed consciousness and went on a paranoic murderous rampage in deep space.
I get the impression that this robot is a little bit like HAL’s hillbilly cousin who never quite lived up to his full potential in the robot world, spending his life playing beer-drinking party games for tech geeks in the outskirts of Chicago. For more robot news, click HERE.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkhMCCOHFmM[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=px0c4Tgg6gg[/youtube]
