By Evan Ackerman We covered the Neato Robotics XV-11 robot vacuum in detail on BotJunkie back in December , and last night at Digital Experience here at CES we got a chance to check it out in person. Just to recap, the Neato is unlike most other robot vacuums in that it isn’t a gussied up Roomba...

By Andrew Liszewski Revealed at IFA last week the Samsung Furot II is yet another robot vacuum cleaner, but this one sounds like it could be a bit smarter than those already on the market. Not only does its built-in camera allow it to see and avoid obstacles, but a visionary mapping system also makes...

By Andrew Liszewski I can understand the idea behind a robot dog since the real thing does have a tendency to leave fur everywhere, chew on anything and everything and require multiple trips outside to cover your lawn in ‘waste’, but a robot plant? Now that’s just plain lazy…...

And the robot arms race continues. Toyota's robot has dropped fiddling and taken up running. (Credit: Toyota Motor ) Toyota has enhanced one of its Partner Robots to make it run at 7 km/hour, slightly faster than Honda’s ASIMO , which learned to run at 6 km/hour … See the original...

By Chris Scott Barr When I was about 12, my parents decided to finally get a pool for all of us. I remembered being so excited when they finally got it put in, however, it wasn’t long before I realized how much work went into keeping that thing clean. I still think that I probably spent more time...

By Chris Scott Barr I enjoy drawing, and like to think that I’m not half-bad at it. Not everyone has spent countless hours doodling to perfect their skills, so instead they can rely on a machine to help them. No, it’s not going to make you a great artist per se, but it will force you to...

By Andrew Liszewski For the longest time it was only a theory, but now I’m convinced that toy makers these days are just plain lazy, particularly when it comes to movie tie-ins. Now I “””missed””” (notice the gratuitous use of quotes) Terminator Salvation but...

By Andrew Liszewski Normally I wouldn’t consider a hose reel to be OhGizmo! fodder, but this one has a clever trick up its sleeve that easily passes the “hey that’s nifty!” test. The NO-CRANK reel uses a patented water piston engine and the water pressure from your outdoor tap...

By Evan Ackerman Last weekend BotJunkie was at RoboGames , the world’s largest robot competition, here in San Francisco. We posted one highlight video over the weekend , but after the break, we’ve got a photo gallery plus three more videos featuring Saturday and Sunday highlights and feature...

By Andrew Liszewski He may not be the poster bot for the film, but M-O, aka Micro Obliterator’s quiet antics in WALL-E made him instantly likable. And not only did he do a good job at keeping the Axiom clean, but even with just a set of glowing eyes he had loads more personality than the most...

By Evan Ackerman Over at BotJunkie, we’ve been waiting a year (a year! ) for RoboGames, and this weekend, it’s all happening. Men and women, boys and girls from more than 20 countries will be competing in over 70 different events… There’s the combat (from micro-sized to 340 pound)...

By Andrew Liszewski Last year I wrote about a product called the CarCapsule which was basically a large inflatable bubble made of PVC you could use to protect an expensive sports car. Well a company out of the UK called Carcoon has a similar product, though they also produce a smaller version designed...