10 Latest Robots Made in 2016

A quick recap of the latest robots of 2016, simply the coolest robots made in 2016, the newest human robots and humanoids that will blow your mind! or just amazing intelligent devices you can call ‘robots’.

So far we have machines performing incredible tasks (for an inanimate object anyway) or amazing us with their human-like traits. If you wanted to see how advanced the technology has become or how fast and where it is going in 2016, then you have come to the right place!

The fine line between man and machine gets blurrier and thinner by the day and we are not far off from the moment when robots will be almost identical to us, or even better in many aspects!

Should we be fascinated or worried about this? It is impossible to answer right now, as only the decades and centuries to come will tell us if, by giving robots (too) much power, we have made the best decision of our millennial existence, or inadvertently have followed a sure path to our doom as a species.

Humanoid Robots made in 2016

1

Google’s Atlas is an Intelligent Robot able to do Our Heavy Work

google-atlas-1

Boston Dynamics, Google’s main robotics division, has released various videos clips of a recent version of their incredible Atlas robot. The short films present this interesting intelligent like machine, opening doors, lifting boxes off the floor and taking a strangely human-like walk in the forest.

google-atlas-2

This interesting presentation also shows the company’s workers pushing and banging over their robot, which can lift itself up after being hit. While this amazing robot called Atlas might not add substantial money in the next months to the massive income of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, the newest robots of 2016 seem to be the next phase for the tech world. This will happen because artificial intelligence is already making a huge impact in the tech world.

In the beginning, we will see smart robots for protection use, law and administration use, dangerous substances handling and some health or surgical procedures. These days, the most recent robots of 2016 are already being utilized for bomb neutralization, as many of us have seen in action movies. Maybe with a Super-Power Robotic Exosuit we can match them?!

2

Sophia – the Robot that Appears to Be More Human than Machine

sophia_robot-1

Can you trust a human-like machine to teach our kids? Or maybe to help us in the medical care system? That is the objective of Sophia’s creators from Hanson Robotics, a United States company that develops robots able of making a true connection with humans.

sophia-robot-2

The team is formed of technicians and developers that designed Sophia, the human-like machine able to speak with people and to make more than 60 face expression. In the video clip taken this spring, indicating Sophia’s abilities, they asked the robot, which looks identical to a real woman, various simple questions to test its intelligence.

Sophia’s outer layers are made from silicone, and cameras inside the eye, together with computerized processing, allow the robot to follow humans, make eye contact and identify individuals.

Wow! I hope nobody will fall in love with her!

3

OceanOne Can Dive to Depths Where No Human Has Been Before

oceanone

OceanOne is operated via artificial intelligence with haptic feedback, enabling people to reach an unmatched ability to discover the wonder of the deep seas. The idea for OceanOne was developed from the necessity to study reefs barriers in deep waters, much lower that the normal limit for human divers. There is no automatic system that can dive down there with the expertise and capabilities of a real person. But there are some robots that build autonomously

This robot was created and manufactured with the most advanced components, a successful combination of robotics, haptic feedback, and artificial intelligence. OceanOne has the appearance of a mermaid, measuring approximately five feet in length. Its chest has a head equipped with a stereoscopic perspective that displays exactly what it sees in real-time, and two completely articulated limbs. The rear part stores batteries, computerized systems, and a series of multi-directional motors.

4

NAO is the Robokid That You Have Always Wanted

nao-robot

As of this fall, you can buy the lovely and versatile robot NAO produced by Aldebaran Robotics just for yourself. Valid even for those who are not in the educational field or serious AI designers. If you are passionate about robotics (especially at an academic level), you have surely heard about NAO before, whether it was at your colleagues’ laboratories, conventions or in scientific circles.

It is based on a complex system that has become a great friend to scientists who are developing human-robot connections. It is still not very affordable to be bought as your next Xmas present for all the kids in the family. However, it seems that this is not how NAO’s creators plan to offer the latest robot of 2016 anyway. It is definitely not too pricey as a device to perform HRI analysis on. Utilize it with your own research at home, as well as for entertainment purposes, or  simply keep it as a personal item, because you are an individual who loves tech too much!

5

Kirobo Mini – A Short Companion for the Long Roads

kirobo-mini

If you are fed up with numerous lonely drives and you would enjoy the companionship of a 4-inch tall robot that can sit in the car’s cup holder, then Toyota has the perfect answer for you. The biggest car producer in the world will offer its amazing Kirobo Mini, first presented this year at various tech events.

 It is a compact-sized edition of Kirobo, a device that Toyota developed in partnership with other companies, and sent it into Earth’s orbit 3 years ago, along with Japan’s first astronaut to control the ISS.

kirobo-mini-2

Kirobo Mini’s purposes are a tad more reasonable, not seeking to be a lot more than just an effective interaction robot. From the video presented, Toyota’s promotion seems to be going in the same direction as Sharp’s latest robot of 2016 (and 5 times pricier) RoboHon, with whom it shares an undeniable similarity.

6

DURUS – the First Robot to Walk Just Like a Human

durus-1

What can you offer a robot to take its initial steps just like a person? Its first pair of shoes. The scientists from the University of Georgia are developing what they affirm to be a more efficient type of walking robots. While most robots are hunched from the waist down and have flat feet, DURUS can walk like a human.

Its limbs and torso are longer and straight, so the robot puts down the rear part of its foot, flattens it and pushes with its toe. The machine is even equipped with size-13 footwear as it is walking under its weight on a fitness treadmill machine in the laboratory. The robot is capable to take a lot longer and quicker walks than a flat-footed alternative because it is copying human locomotion.

The most recent real robots of 2016

1

Pleurobot Is the Robotized Version of a Salamander

pleurobot

Pleurobot is created from 3D-printed bone fragments, electronic joints, and circuits that work as its artificial neurological system. It has less spinal vertebrae than a real salamander, as the researchers enhanced their positioning so that their unit’s motions look as genuine and fluid as possible. The experts say that Pleurobot will help them study the vertebrates’ locomotion.

The minimum level of electric activation in a salamander’s backbone is linked to walking, while the biggest neurological impulses are connected to swimming. This way, the device can help researchers to discover the link between spinal activation and the vertebrates’ motions. In the upcoming years, this may lead to creating neuroprosthetic gadgets for both paraplegic and amputee sufferers. Speaking of robot animals, there is also a Robotic Ape and the Robotic Bird

2

Automated Parking Brings Valet Robots Right at Your Car Door

automated-parking-systems

For those of you who have ever fought to move around the limited space of multi-storey parking areas or discover the last hidden parking lot, then help is coming your way. A new program lets robots maneuver the car for you, so drivers can just leave their automobile in a special place at the side of the parking lot.

automated-parking-2

From there on, the smart robots can take care of the vehicle around the garage, without a single person to supervise the whole process. Not only can this ingenious program take on the hard work, but it generates smaller carbon footprints, so emissions are decreased because the motor is not used during all this time.

 Automated parking styles could even multiply several times the percentage of areas that a normal garage area can house, while liberating useful rentable places, allowing high-density parking and removing the necessity of gates.

3

Sub1 Reloaded – the Fastest Rubik’s Cube Solver in the World

sub1-reloaded

Solving countless Rubik’s cubes is an amazing performance by itself and now robots can complete it in a much shorter time, breaking the record about ten times quicker than a person who does this for a living.  In only 0.637 seconds, Sub1 Reloaded made all sides of the cube to display the same color.

This smashes the anterior record of 0.882 seconds obtained by the previous version of this robot, using a less advanced processor. Infineon is a German tech firm that holds the record of solving the Rubik’s cube, as a method to promote their self-driving auto technologies. The organization offered one of their Sub1 Reloaded’s microchips. You might like these self-assembling small robots

4

The Minuscule Octobot Is Made Entirely from 3-D Jelly Parts

octobot

The Octobot is a rubbery tiny device and the first machine made fully from soft components, according to its creators. The small, soft robot also does not need battery power or cables of any type and operates on liquid fuel.  This octopus-like device has rubberized plastic all over it and is around 2 inches wide.

The scientists say that the newest robots of 2016 can adjust more easily to some surroundings than rigid devices, and this idea might lead to independent machines that can analyze their environment and communicate with humans.  Conventional devices are generally designed with rigid components, which makes them prone to damage from hurdles, scratches, twists and drops. These hard areas can also stop the robots from being capable of moving past certain obstacles.

A quick video recap of some other cool robots of 2016

 Yes, that is the world’s largest unplugged robot

Check out some awesome real robots from the past years

 Ok, so after seeing all these impressive robots, who’s in for some fun? Yep, robots can be fun!

The World Record for the Most Robots Dancing Simultaneously

robots-dancing

As a side note, let us end this article in a funny and optimistic tone. In August 2016, in Shandong, a province of China, a number of 1,007 robots danced in perfectly synchronized movements in an attempt to break the world record for the largest number of robots that are dancing in the same time. The robots are a QRC-2 model and have a height of 17 inches each and all their movements were managed from only one cell phone.

The devices had to move for at least 60 seconds to complete the attempted record. A few of them were disqualified due to the fact that they did not dance or they dropped on the ground, but most of finished the one minute program in perfect harmony. The event was set in place by the robots’ manufacturing company that wanted to advertise their machines with this occasion.

As you can see, the world is moving forward, and the robots are definitely a part of our future. Stay tuned for the article I’m gonna write next year, with the latest robots of 2017!

 


Written with love and coolness by on November 28, 2016 in Awesome Stuff
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