A week ago, the San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) petitioned the Board of Supervisors for permission to deploy robots that can kill suspects under specific circumstances. Now, the board has approved the petition with a vote of 8 vs. 3 despite stro…
Eufy robot vacuums are up to 48 percent off for Black Friday
If you’ve wanted a robot vacuum but were put off by the sometimes-high prices, now’s your chance to dive in. Anker’s Eufy brand is holding a Black Friday sale on Amazon that includes major discounts for its robotic cleaners, including lower-priced mode…
This golf robot uses a Microsoft Kinect camera and a neural network to line up putts
Robots that can whack a golf ball down a fairway aren’t exactly new, but building one that can play the nuanced short game is a more complex problem. Researchers at Paderborn University in Germany have done just that with Golfi, a machine that uses a n…
Hitting the Books: How Dave Chappelle and curious cats made Roomba a household name
Autonomous vacuum maker iRobot is a lot like Tesla, not necessarily by reinventing an existing concept — vacuums, robots and electric cars all existed before these two companies came on the scene — but by imbuing their products with that intangible qui…
iRobot’s Roomba j7 robot vacuum is cheaper than ever ahead of Black Friday
Update 11/20/22: Amazon has matched the $349 sale price on the Roomba j7, as well as the $599 sale price on the Roomba j7+.While you may have a big list of gifts to get for others over the next couple of weeks, now is a good time to pick up things for …
Boston Dynamics sues rival Ghost Robotics for allegedly copying its robot dog
Competition in the robot dog market is getting ugly. As The Robot Reportexplains, Boston Dynamics is suing Ghost Robotics for allegedly infringing seven patents linked to its Spot quadruped. The Spirit 40 and Vision 60 (shown above) purportedly borrow …
Anker Eufy robot vacuums are up to 44 percent off right now
We’ve finally reached the point where a robot can vacuum for us — but smart vacs aren’t cheap. Eufy, from parent company Anker, makes solid and affordable robot vacuums that often go on sale. In fact, we recommend waiting until a good deal like this co…
Amazon’s latest robot picker for warehouses uses AI to identify objects
Amazon has unveiled its latest warehouse robot. It says “Sparrow is the first robotic system in our warehouses that can detect, select, and handle individual products in our inventory.” The robotic arm uses AI and computer vision to recognize and handl…
VR-controlled robots are being designed to treat injured soldiers
If you think of robots in the military, your mind may conjure dystopian images of science-fiction battlefields with AI-powered machines trading laser fire. But in a much more humane application, UK researchers are developing a potentially lifesaving me…
The best robot vacuums for 2022
Robot vacuums have come a long way over the past few years. They’re smarter, more powerful and (marginally) better at avoiding chair legs than they ever were before, and you don’t have to shell out as much money to get one either. There are also many m…