Samsung will soon launch its Siri-style S Voice software on the Galaxy S III, but in the more distant future it could bring speech recognition technology to standalone robots. A patent application from the company details an automaton that can adjust its voice detection capabilities to account for ambient noise, letting it recognize when people are talking even in loud locations. It remains unclear just what the robot will do for you once it hears your commands — maybe it will be on call for cooking you dinner and the like. Judging by that pic, at least, the concept looks like a good time for all involved.

SOURCE via Samsung

Your nitro-fueled R/C racer may look all badass and be really fast, but it’s got its limitations. Namely, walls. The Sand Flea robot shown above, developed by Boston Dynamics, won’t win any races or beauty contests, but it laughs at walls. More precisely, it just leaps over them.

The little bot, which scoots around like a regular all-terrain R/C car, is equipped with a CO2-powered piston that gives it the ability to leap 30 feet in the air. When presented with a challenge, the Sand Flea stops, tilts, and launches up and over the obstacle in front of it. The video showing it in action, posted after the jump, is simultaneously astonishing and hilarious (especially when you mentally add this sound effect to each leap). On a full charge, the Flea can make 25 jumps. A gyroscope keeps it stabilized while airborne, and its wheels act as the cushion upon landing.

Funding for the project comes from DARPA, the Joint IED Defeat Organization, and the Army’s Rapid Equipping Force, and it’s meant to bolster the military’s ever-expanding arsenal of reconnaissance tools. As such, PopSci reports that the Sand Flea is headed to the Army Test and Evaluation Command for safety certification, after which several examples will head to Afghanistan for some real field testing.

If iRobot tickled your fancy, but you don’t have the budget for military-grade technology, how about this fella? So, it’s not officially called PlayRobot, but if there was a naming convention, we guess that would be it. The buggy has a mounted camera, which relays video back to a PlayBook over a WiFi connection set up via a BlackBerry 9900. The six-wheeler is controlled by an on-screen joystick, much like many tablet versions of arcade games. It’s an entrant into this weekend’s Robot Challenge in Vienna, so thanks to that video link, at the very least, if it doesn’t win they can’t say they didn’t see it coming.

Sure, iRobot may have a strong presence in the impending robot apocolypse world of autonomous vacuum cleaners, but lest we forget about the others like Neato Robotics. The company’s introducing the retro-futuristic XV-21 Pet and Allergy Vacuum for those of us wanting rid our domains of sniffle-inducing dust particles. Although the XV-21 looks similar to last year’s XV-12, it features a new filter for improved airflow and suction, which Neato claims will catch three-times as many tiny bits around your domain as its normal kit. If that wasn’t enough, the cleaner is also loaded with newly developed bristled brush to aid in sweeping up the likes of pet hair while keeping its noise levels to a minimum. If you’re ready to leave the cleaning to the bots, this little guy is set to hit shelves in late April for $429 alongside a $60 Pet and Allergy kit packed with the filter (30 bucks on its own) and brush. Current Neato owners shouldn’t fret either, as the add-ons are compatible with all of the company’s vacuums, requiring only an upgrade to the latest firmware via USB.

Pancakes? No problem. Cookies? You got it! Sandwich? …is there a Subway nearby? Why robots have such a hard time slapping meat and cheese on bread is beyond us, but we’re glad the crack team at the Technical University of Munich has finally figured out how to teach them. The dynamic duo of James and Rosie don’t exactly blaze through their task of making a sandwich and some popcorn, but at least they’re nice enough to toast the bread for your salami- and cheese-based chow. As usual, the moves here are not preprogrammed, the two bots make decisions on the fly based on a complex “reasoning” mechanism and data it can cull from a Kinect. Check out the videos below to watch two carefully construct a simple, layered lunch.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a prison turn to robots for a little assistance, but South Korea looks to be going a bit further than most with its latest robotic endeavour. The country’s Ministry of Justice has announced that it will be conducting a one-month trial run of robot guards at a prison in the city of Pohang starting in March — a project that’s expected to cost one billion won (or about $863,000). “The robots are not terminators,” as the university professor in charge of the endeavour told The Wall Street Journal, but rather monitors that will patrol the corridors of the jail and alert the human guards if they detect any unusual activity. Inmates will also be able to use the robots to communicate with the guards, and the folks behind the bots are apparently doing their best to keep things from turning into too much of a dystopian future — they’re now said to working on making the robots appear more “humane and friendly.”

SOURCE via Wall Street Journal

Honda does a whole lot more than just cars. They do motorbikes, ATVs, power equipment, outboard marine engines, personal watercraft, business jets… and yes, even robots. In fact its ASIMO humanoid robot (parodied in a rather disturbingly hilarious episode of South Park) is one of the most advanced in the field of robotics, and it’s only getting more so as the Japanese industrial giant has just unveiled its latest iteration.

While ASIMO may look more-or-less the same as he/she/it always has, the new model encompasses several advancements. For starters, ASIMO longer needs to be controlled by a human – it can walk about and do stuff all on its own, taking in its surroundings and making spatial decisions accordingly. Its new arm and hand mechanisms also allow it to perform delicate and intricate tasks like opening a bottle of water and pouring it into a paper cup without crushing it under the might of its own technological superiority.

The long and short of it is that ASIMO – now under the newly-formed Honda Robotics division – will soon be able to do everything a human can, only better. So start stocking the bomb shelter again. Or better yet, let ASIMO do that for you. You’ve had a long day.

Click past the jump to let ASIMO pour you a drink and show off some of its newfound skills.

Robots are cute, and this one’s no obligation. It’s apparently made of a trash can, some LEDs, and other electronic components, and also apparently created in three days on a budget just barely exceeding $100. Despite its absolutely adorable appearance, this Android seems hell-bent on destruction, literally beating itself up, and eventually falling on its face.

A few months ago, back when Japan was freshly reeling from that devastating earthquake and tsunami, it became obvious that robots could help survey radiation levels in Fukushima, even if they were powerless to lower them. Now, Tokyo Power Electric Co., the company that operates the damaged nuclear plant, is experimenting with an ad hoc system designed to clean at least some of the radioactive dirt from the reactors. What you see in that clip below is an industrial-grade vacuum cleaner attached to a Warrior, the most heavy-duty of iRobot’s mobile bots. The idea is that workers can control the system from a safe distance, and let the robot handle the dirty work of removing toxic sand and debris. Head past the break to see it in action, combing the floor of the (eerily) empty plant.

Ever wonder if the quadrocopters will eventually got to their sense (in a way or another) and attack us humans? Well, fear not, as it won’t happen anymore. The researchers came to their senses and put the flying machines on a Kinect-controlled leash.

Instead of flitting about autonomously, the four-rotored nightmares are directed by a puppeteer waving his hands. Movement is controlled by the right hand, while raising the left one tells the copter to do a little flip for its master’s amusement, and a commanding clap makes it sit down like a good little pup. Best of all, if you don’t give it any arm-waving instruction it just hovers and waits until you tell it otherwise.

On further consideration, maybe we haven’t been creating our own murderers, but a new man’s best friend — after all, they don’t eat much and can’t chew up your remotes. But who knows, this may be the new age armies.

SOURCE via Flying Machine Arena (YouTube)