FEELIX GROWING

During filming for the Transformers 3 movie, a stunt went terribly wrong and an extra was injured. The accident involved several vehicles with an object going through a windshield hitting the driver resulting in a serious head injury. Filming was taking place in Hammond in northwestern Indiana. Several videos exist of the movie shooting in Chicago on Youtube, along with some funny trailers. Transformers 3 is scheduled for a July 2011 release.

With more biology than robotics, researchers at University of Tokyo harvested eggs from African Clawed Frogs to build inexpensive olfactory sensors. DNA from fruit flies and moths were added to stimulate production of the sensors known to be good at detecting certain molecules, then electrodes were attached to capture the receptor's output. Now for the "Robot" part - results from the sensors are read by software on a PC and a simple actuator was used to cause a robotic mannequin head to shake back and forth adding impact to the experiment. See the PDF for the full scoop.

The term RoboCup usually makes us think of a contest involving robots and soccer, but this one is different. The RoboCup Golf Ball Returner from Fine Tune Golf does just what it says, and fairly well too. RoboCup captures your put (even the bad ones using the Caddy Cord) and sends it back for another shot - over 12,000 times on AA batteries, and around 14 feet. Check out the Video.

In spite of new and unexpected findings by a Berkeley Lab research team that microbes have done an amazing job taking care of the underwater oil plume in the Gulf of Mexico, oil on the surface can cause a lot of damage to wildlife and property if it washes ashore. Researchers at MIT are working out ways to skim that surface oil using a swarm of robots. The robots communicate with each other using a WiFi network, and using GPS then coordinate their movements with software inspired by natural swarms. Oil is dealt with on the spot by heating it thus avoiding a lengthy trip to shore. See the video.

Check out Simple Bots at Instructables. Randy Sarafan, author of 62 Projects to Make with a Dead Computer, presents an array of robots using these guidelines: Easy and quick to build, simple, mobile, autonomous, and eventually able to incorporate more complex controls and/or be assimilated by a more complex system. The results are fascinating and include common household objects such as telephone handsets, paint brushes and small plastic containers. Simple bots typically rely on one or more RC servomotors modified for continuous drive for their mobility along with a pack of AA batteries.

Freelancer Tim Hornyak, author of "Loving the Machine: The Art and Science of Japanese Robots" has written a short review of Evolution Robotics' new Mint floor-cleaning robot over at cnet. Mint is a sweeper/mopper with a unique square-ish shape that improves treatment of corners. Its navigation system keeps track of where it's been so it doesn't miss any spots, and uses sensors to avoid rugs and stairs. Mint uses rectangular disposable cleaning cloths that are compatible with some Swiffer brand cleaning systems and widely available at stores.