ZMP Inc will release the “RoboCar G,” a one-seater electric vehicle (EV), expecting that it will be used for the researches of next-generation vehicles.

The RoboCar G is based on a one-seater EV developed by the Next-gen EV Study Group at Gunma University. And ZMP added its technologies and know-how accumulated from the development of the Robocar, a platform for research and development assistance in the field of robotics (See related article), to it.

“We developed the RoboCar G for research and development using a car that is large enough for practical use,” ZMP said.

Sensors that can be mounted on the vehicle include a laser range finder, a stereo camera, a GPS (global positioning system), an IMU (inertial measurement unit), a milliwave radar and a sonar sensor. Sensors will be mounted in accordance with user needs and connected with one another via a network. And the RoboCar G will be shipped as a computer-controlled robot vehicle.

It will be built to order, and its price will be determined based on the types and the number of mounted sensors. Shipment will begin in or after November 2010.

Soccer players are generally such crybabies that we can understand why you’d want to replace them with robots, and sometimes that’s done with great success. We don’t think we’ll be seeing this latest player on the pitch anytime soon, though. It’s something of an exhibition robot, a creation sponsored by Castrol to beat the legendary leg of Cristiano Ronaldo, who can kick the ball at 130km/h. This bot from Castrol can top 200km/h, which is mighty impressive — until you see the size of it. We’re pretty sure we saw limos smaller than this out in Vegas, and we’re positive that even they are more useful than this thing.Still, check out the video after the break, and watch that plywood defender’s leg go flying.

When we saw Asimo do his Fred Astaire act a while back we knew he had star quality — and now it looks like the feisty robot is finally getting his big break. Living With Robots, which just premiered at Sundance Film Festival, was directed by Joe Berlinger (who directed Metallica’s Some Kind of Monster) and tells the story of a humanoid robot that gets stranded at home while his family flies overseas for Christmas. Instead of calling the police, he stays home — alone — and bravely fights off Joe Pesci and some other guy whose name we can’t remember. [Editor's note: This is patently untrue. Actually, the film promises to investigate "humankind's keen interest in robots and how robots can challenge the impossible by saving lives while also holding the promise to become more integrated and helpful in daily life." So there.] Interested? We bet you are! Check out the PR, and the eight minute commercial short film, after the break.

What does a superpowered Transformer do in his spare time — you know, when he’s not too busy starring in some of the worst written pieces of escapist cinema? Well, for one Taiwanese fella, there’s nothing Optimus Prime likes doing more than supporting a bamboo stick used for hanging washed clothes. Seriously, the dude spent $1,600 on scrap metal, built a 14-foot model of his son’s favorite mech superhero, and now has it serving as a spectacularly ornamental pivot for his washing. Classy. Oh, and video after the break.

Richard Lai: [pumps up hydraulics] “Why hello there, cute little red car…”
Tim: “Autobots, spin cycle!”
Thomas: “Transformers: Revenge of the Snuggle Bear.”
Darren: “Man, it’s chilly out today. Wait — these aren’t my threads! RAWWRRRR!”
Paul: “Oh, sure, Shia said he’ll be ‘right back.’ I hate that kid.”
Josh F.: “Do these windows make me look fat?”
Laura: “Get Michael Bay on the phone. Immediately.”
Joanna: “Mommm, bathroom!”
Chris: “After nine years, Johnny 5 finally admits that he’d been juicing.”
Joe: “There’s not much more to this than meets the eye… sadly.”
Don: “You think this is impressive? Wait until you see Voltron mowing my lawn.”
Josh T.: “I need something to do until Transformers 3 rolls around. This cocaine isn’t going to buy itself.”

While we’re still busy thinking up legitimate uses for a humanoid robot, Aldebaran Robotics keeps finding newer and zanier ways to play with its Nao. The latest is a pre-programmed Star Wars routine that should have all you aging loyalists positively moist with glee, and even includes a terrific R2D2 impersonation that is not to be missed. Past the break, you shall find it. Oh, and as to real world uses, there are further videos of Nao reading out your emails and doing balancing acts, which may be found at the source link.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that most epic triumph of human engineering and physics research has finally taken place, and strangely enough our planet’s still in one piece too. The search for the Higgs boson particle resumed yesterday, somewhere under the Franco-Swiss border, with the CERN research team successfully executing what the LHC was built to do — accelerating proton beams to nearly the speed of light, then filming the wreckage as they crash into each other. Having encountered a number of bumps in the road, the researchers have had to significantly scale down the energy at which their early collisions will take place, with the very first ones said to have happened at 900 billion electron volts. Still, plans are afoot for an imminent shift up to 1.2 trillion electron volts (TeV), which would be the highest energy level any particle accelerator has achieved yet, before a ramp up to 7 TeV over the coming year if all goes well.

Data Robotics has been quietly raking in the dough (and trying to match up supply with demand) ever since it launched its 8-bay DroboPro back in April, and now the company is making yet another bold move: doubling its product line. Starting today, the traditional 4-bay Drobo will be joined by the quicker Drobo S, and the DroboElite will be added at the high end for those in the enterprise. The Model S ups the ante by adding a fifth drive bay in order to allow for two drives to fail without any data being lost — a feature that was previously reserved for the aforesaid Pro. It’s also boasting an ARM chip with a 50 percent faster clock (compared to the Drobo), enabling the FireWire 800 performance to see a 20 to 25 percent boostt; moreover, an eSATA socket has been added alongside the tried-and-true USB 2.0 port. Users will also be able to switch between single- and dual-drive redundancy via the software control panel, though you should be warned that the DroboShare NAS adapter will not work on the Drobo S. We spoke with Mark Fuccio, the firm’s senior director of products and marketing, who told us that the functionality was left off due to the possibility of a “bad customer experience.” In essence, the network throughput would crawl compared to a direct connection, so the company simply opted to avoid the headaches rather than cater to those of you who demand NAS functionality on every external HDD to hit the market.

Moving on, the DroboElite is carving a new path for the company, one that caters to high-maintenance enterprise users looking to serve up to 16 hosts while providing up to 255 smart volumes. The Elite is basically a Pro on steroids, with room for 8 hard drives, single- or dual-drive redundancy and an all-new connection method. If you’ll recall, the Pro provided a single gigabit Ethernet port (iSCSI), FireWire 800 and USB 2.0; the Elite ships with two gigabit Ethernet sockets and nothing more (aside from a USB port used only for device management), so it’s pretty clear that this one isn’t looking to satisfy the home consumer market.

Both devices are shipping out today, with the Drobo S starting at $799 (with no HDDs) and being sold at the same outlets as the Drobo (which isn’t vanishing, by the way). The DroboElite gets going at $3,499, though it’ll only be sold through outlets such as CDW and the like who specialize in medium-to-large business sales. Oh, and just in case you’re curious, the existing Drobo will continue on at its $399 price point (MSRP), though we’re told that smart shoppers should find it for less near Black Friday and throughout the holiday season.

You know what we love? Dancing robots and Christmas tunes. So combining the two and throwing the video up on YouTube would be akin to heaven, right? Well, as you’ll see in the amazing video after the break: it doesn’t get much better than this. In fact, it might even be enough to clear the “bah humbug” out of us for good.

Well, it doesn’t have a Roomba that will check up on your vitals just yet, but it looks like iRobot is betting on healthcare robotics in a fairly big way, with it taking advantage of the recent TEDMED conference to announce that it’s forming a new business unit focused solely on the still burgeoning industry. That unit will be headed up by Tod Loofbourrow, who says that he believes the business “has the potential to make a significant difference in the field of healthcare,” and adds that he thinks “the long-term potential of robotics to extend independent living is profound.” While he’s just as light on specifics, iRobot CEO Colin Angle is no less ambitious about the company’s goals, saying that iRobot’s “healthcare mission is add a million years of independent living to our customers.” And in case you’re wondering, the image at right isn’t an iRobot robot, but it is all too real.

Alright, so this so-called “Giger” do-it-yourself robot may not truly be Giger-esque, but it did cost upwards of $10,000 and take more than 100 hours to build, which is enough for us to forgive a little mis-naming. The biggest expense (and time sink), it seems, came as a result of the builder’s decision to use professional-grade servos instead of the usual DIY fare, which are both finicky and pricey (between $200 and $300 apiece). After a bit of fine-tuning, however, our pal “Tyberius” was able to get the bot to show off a few moves for the camera, and even walk across the desk without toppling over (he’s apparently looking to give it a more natural gait next).