Robot Articles on TUAW - The Unofficial Apple Weblog

MIT makes a smartphone-controlled bartender

by Mike Schramm (May 13th, 2013)

We've seen beer-pouring robots before, but MIT has recently put together a smartphone-controlled robot bartender, with three robot arms that can pour and mix up to 100 different alcoholic and non-alcoholic flavors. The Makr Shakr lets you order up a drink directly from your iPhone, and then it ...

Romo iPhone robot to charm his way into your heart in June

by Steven Sande (Apr 9th, 2013)

Over the past few years, TUAW has featured several posts about a cute little robot with an iPhone for a brain, Romo. It was first featured on TUAW sister site Engadget's Insert Coin feature series in late 2011, and was successful in its original Kickstarter funding round. Last fall, Romo's ...

Double Robotics shows off its iPad-equipped robot

by Mike Schramm (Feb 1st, 2013)

We heard about Double Robotics and their plan to make an iPad-topped robot last year, but the real thing is running around the floor of Macworld/iWorld 2013 this week, and I think it's the coolest thing I've seen at the show. Company founder David Cann told me that Double was originally working ...

Romo the iPhone robot is back, Kickstarting version 2

by Mike Schramm (Oct 16th, 2012)

Romo is a little iPhone-powered robot that showed up on Kickstarter around this time last year. It was successfully funded and distributed out into the world, making everyone happy by cycling itself around with the buzz and whirr of tiny mechanics. But as is usual with these things, the team ...

Shimi by Tovbot is a dancing robot iPod dock

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Sep 11th, 2012)

As the world can't get enough robots to groove to music, Shimi Tovbot was demonstrated this week at TechCrunch Disrupt in San Francisco. Call me a purist, but I like my dancing robots to resemble soda cans, wear sunglasses and be completely clueless to my verbal commands. Of course, I'm ...

Sphero releases a new slate of games, more coming this year

by Mike Schramm (Aug 29th, 2012)

Sphero is the little robot ball that you can control with your iOS device (or other mobile device), and the company behind the toy has announced that it's releasing a new series of games for Sphero. There are already a few out there, but this new lineup will include more titles with different ...

Double, the iPad telepresence robot rolls around the office when you can't

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Aug 14th, 2012)

Get ready to see iPads zipping around your office. As a remote worker I'm fascinated by telepresence robots, or a remote robotic avatar which lives at an office and roams the halls under your control, typically interacting through a 2-way video chat tool. Naturally, Double Robotics took the ...

Japanese robot pet powered by iPhone

by Mike Schramm (Mar 26th, 2012)

Robotic pets are kind of kid stuff here in the US, but they're a big deal over in Japan, and here's one that takes advantage of the iPhone's popularity. The Smartpet is a robotic dog that "borrows" the iPhone as head unit. The body is mechanical, of course, but the head uses the iPhone's ...

Robot plays Angry Birds (or any other touchscreen app)

by Mike Schramm (Mar 19th, 2012)

PyCon 2012 (a convention dedicated to the computer programming language Python) was held earlier this month in Santa Clara, CA, and one of the projects on display can be seen above. The "BitbeamBot" is a miniature robot that was designed to do one thing and one thing only: Play Angry ...

Daily iPhone App: Hero Academy

by Mike Schramm (Jan 18th, 2012)

Honestly, I'm not very good at Hero Academy. It's a deep game, slow to develop (asychronous multiplayer mode dictates the pace) and tough to learn. Still, I've enjoyed it. It's the first iOS title from Robot Entertainment, the company behind the Steam and console hit Orcs Must Die! (In fact, ...

Sphero boasts new look, launch set for later this year

by Mike Schramm (Sep 20th, 2011)

We saw Sphero in action in January at CES 2011, and the company has released some details on the final prototype and an actual release. The little iOS-controlled sphere is still planned for release sometime this year, but it's got a new design that you can see above. Don't worry, it's still a ...

iPhone-controlled robot vacuum transmits photos of its work

by Michael Grothaus (Aug 31st, 2011)

You can do almost everything from your iPhone, so it was only a matter of time you could clean your home with it. LG is set to demo its iPhone-controllable Roboking VR680VMNC robaotic vacuum cleaner at IFA 2011 this week. The Roboking sports three cameras and multiple sensors, which allow it ...

TUAW's Daily iPhone App: Cordy

by Mike Schramm (Jul 29th, 2011)

Cordy is a fun little platformer that was originally released on Android, but has now come to iOS. The game's cute and relatively non-threatening -- you play as an adorable little robot, and instead of going up against bad guys, the main goal here is exploration. There are four levels to play ...

Robot plays iPhone games

by Kelly Hodgkins (Jul 12th, 2011)

Too lazy to play a game on your iPhone? Then get a robot to do it for you. A clever inventor from the Netherlands, StijntjheYT, created a small Arduino robot to tap on the screen and play Coin Dozer in his absence. It's a mindless game that's perfect for a robot. [Via BoingBoing] ...

WWDC Interview: Orbotix

by Victor Agreda, Jr. (Jun 30th, 2011)

Victor Agreda, Jr. (Editor-in-Chief, The Unofficial Apple Weblog) interviews Brian Smith of Orbotix Inc. at WWDC 2011. You may remember Orbotix from CES. Brian was kind enough to tell us about their thoughts on the announcements on WWDC, and how it will affect their plans moving ...