Robotic rat scavenges for victims

The busy brains at the Bristol Robotics Lab have released their latest rodent-inspired robot - the SCRATCHbot rat designed to help us examine the secret workings of the human brain. Able to find objects using it's tiny mechanical whiskers, the SCRATCHbot utilises a superior sense of touch to navigate its way around, presumably without heading straight for your Christmas macadamias. Potential uses for this innovative technology include remote rescue operations in dusty or smoky environments, deep sea exploration and fetching things from the icky space underneath the bed.

This raises all sorts of philosophical quandraries for me, such as now that we've designed a better rat, who's gonna design a better rat-trap?

Via Science Daily

Humans tell robot to bite it

Dento-Munch is the kind of moniker I like to hear when referring to robotic naming standards. It's retro, it's descriptive and it's ever so Tim Burton-esque.

Uk instruments developer Vicon have developed The Dento-Munch as one of the most accurate human chomping simulators. With 6 degrees of chomping freedom, it is designed to help us discover just how bad our bite can be on our delicate choppers & dentures. I want one to do all my teeth grinding so I don't have to.

Robot girlfriend teaches nerds the true value of women. They're for handing out business cards.

Lonely gamer nerds who are working their way up to bringing home a Real Doll can now afford to shell out for an EMA (Eternal Maiden Actualisation), Sega's shiny new robotic girlfriend. 18,000 yen will get you a busty bot who can do "real girlfriend" activities such as kiss on demand, "walk like a lady" and hand out business cards. Clearly I have a lot to learn from EMA, as my current bag of girlfriend activities don't run to being a reinforcement tool for misogynistic behaviour. Maybe I have the wrong chip.

Birthday bots

Robots are programmed to do whatever we tell them to. Why then, did someone program these little critters to sing Happy Birthday as though they were a Casio keyboard with stomach cramp?

Warbling robots. We're one step closer to the future, people.

Furntiure develops appetite for flesh

Science, art and pure evil collide in the form of artist James Auger's terrifying new carnivourous robotic furniture.

Currently built to sustain themselves by digesting wayward flies and insects into their internal microbial fuel cells, it's only a small step to imagine what kind of energy boost this 'furniture' will get from their natural prey; imagine a loungeroom full of ravenous, hungry sofas and a pack of obese games nerds amped up on Red Bull and pop tarts. It's enough to make you buy a Wii Fit and never sit down again!

Via New Scientist (thanks John!)

Barista-bot is the crema of the crop

Forget trendy hipster cafes down refuse-infested alleyways - the next craze in coffee will surely be constructing your own anime barista, like this one by Mujaki.



Someone let me know when they make the bartender version, so I can buy shares.

Boost your memory with robotic minions

Have I mentioned lately that I love robots?

I especially love these little fellas, who will guard all your secret documents whilst making you squeal with electronic joy.



And Mr Removeable head USB Bot from gadget4all





If you've got a thing for Optimus Prime, meet your flash drive of choice.



And my faaaavourite, the very retro T-Bot R50 (one of whom I know personally).



Because you can never have enough robots.