Sun Bots

The Great Internet Migratory Box of Electronic Junk (aka TGIMBOEJ) has left the building! As promised in our earlier story on migratory junk boxes, robots.net has launched one especially for robot builders. There are now are a dozen or so TGIMBOEJ boxes moving around the world but ours is the only one designed by and for roboticists. The first recipients of the box will be Kris and Carly, those robot-savvy girls from Iowa who developed an award-winning iRobot Create robot painter for the 2007 Austin Maker Faire. They'll get first choice of all the interesting junk and will adding in some of their own. Who will get the...

A robots.net reader sent us a link to a Princenton news release describing research by Raj Chakrabarti and others on cellular proteins that act as adaptive machines, guiding biological evolution. Our reader notes, proteins configured as bang-bang controllers steer random mutations in deterministic directions; robot navigation algorithms as a mechanism for self-directed evolution. A bang-bang controller is a simple algorithm that bounces between two extremes like a household thermostat. This type of control is commonly used in robotics and, it now appears, is an integrel part of every living cell. The cellular bang-bang controller guides random mutations in a way that corrects imbalances, even repairing mutations that disable the controlling protein...

Designer Michal Glogowski submits a 220 pound robotic solution (Yanko Design Link) to the problem of snow build-up on flat-roofed commercial buildings. ROOFUS is conceptualized for either remote controlled or autonomous operation, and provides blades for collecting snow or breaking up ice. The frozen payload is stored in a container, then ejected dump-truck style over the side of the building or into a chute. In addition to saving untold man-hours of shoveling and tingling fingers, ROOFUS can be outfitted with grass-mowing blades, street sweeping attachments, or floor polishing pads. While it looks like some technical details still need to be worked out, and a trip to the...