For the most part the steampunk movement seems to have run out of steam. This is the first interesting thing we’ve seen in some time. The Narrow Bridge Steampunk USB drive was inspired from a “narrow bridge” sign on an old country road and features hardwood, tiny gauges and control wheels that move.

The USB drive even comes with a “vintage” tin box. Best of all it just happens to look like Rosie from the Jetsons. The price is $300 bucks over at Etsy. Crazy.

[Chip Chick]

The HRP-2 Promet robot from AIST has come a long way. How quickly they grow. This robot can now handle minor changes in terrain on the ground. Very colorful terrain. Sure, we’ve seen humanoids that can do a lot better, but hey we all have our strengths and weaknesses.

[Youtube]

It may not be a Dr. Octopus exoskeleton, but this bot does have 3 tentacle like arms. The U.S. Army Research Laboratory has taken a snake robot and combined three of them together with a body. They call their creation a Robotic Tentacle Manipulator.

This monstrosity can crawl, swim and go through narrrow spaces. In other words, you can’t run or hide from it. This bot uses the same movement techniques of a snake, specifically how they push off of rocks to propel themselves.

[Gizmodo]

The REEM-H1 robot from Pal Robotics is a new line of humanoid service robots which will wheel around on a wheeled base. With stereoscopic cameras, the REEM-H1 can recognize faces and with it’s microphones it can detect multilingual speech.

It also has several ultrasonic sensors and a laser range finder in the base for mapping and obstacle detection/avoidance. The REEM-H1 is designed mainly for office buildings, hotels and museums. It’s battery life is about 8 hours on a full charge and this guy has a top speed of 4km/h. That face reminds me of some old Sci-Fi robots.

[Pal-Robotics]

Autom is getting closer than ever to availability. We told you about this little guy wayyyy back in September of last year. Autom is a dieting robot that will help you shed pounds. Just enter the details of your diet, fitness level and exercise into Autom and he will have daily ‘conversations’ with you.

So he’s like a coach, keeping you motivated to keep going and lose weight. Not the mean kind either. He’s encouraging. Autom will start trials in the US next year with a major insurance company.

[Wall Street Journal]

Mobile phones don’t typically honor robots. But that may be about go change. The Motorola Droid 2 from Verizon which is slated to launch this August may get a Star Wars edition, which will feature a white R2-D2 on the back of the smartphone.

Why not? A Droid on a Droid. For Droid on Droid action. Hopefully this comes to pass. We need more droids on our Droid phones.

[Engadget]

British researchers from British Robotics lab have created a robot that is similar to DARPA’s robots that consume biomass for energy. The Ecobot III feeds on nutrient-rich sewage.

The Ecobot consumes it’s energy by absorbing the waste through a specified chamber and then sucking the wanted nutrients out of the contained waste. The robot also needs to drink water, just as any living thing would. With this pattern of eating, it can survive up to 7 days without human rejuvenation.

[Gizmowatch]

What appears to be a toaster on crutches is actually a world record breaking robot controlled by a remote control. The challenge was to walk the greatest distance detached from a power chord. This didn’t only prove that the battery they used is very powerful, but it also proves that the style of walking used by the Ranger Robot is the most proficient yet.

The robot walked a total distance of 14.3 miles in about 11 hours. Doing the math, the robot only walked at a pace of 1.3 mph, but it managed to get around a track field 108.5 times with a total of 70,000 steps. This robot can out walk the majority of mankind. The robot was developed by engineers at Cornell University.

[Newlaunches]

Whether your child is going back to school very soon or you have a fascination for robots, you should definitely order one of these. Its a robot lunch box created by Stephan Joseph, the same guy who created Toddler Chic, with vinyl print on the outside and insulation on the inside.

Also on the inside there’s a Velcro strap for a water bottle, but if you, the adult, are going to be using this, you can easily slip a beer in there for that late afternoon thirst.

[Amazon] VIA [Robotsnob]

This is the king of all ways to say “I’m lonely.” If you have a normal two-seater tandem bike, then you should know by now that it’s pretty hard to get someone to ride in the back seat, let alone ride the bike with you at all, but no need to look any further!

Joules the robot is here to save you from those heart-breaking moments. He is a bot built just for your two-seat bike. It connects to the bike properly and looks like a human. It’s not horribly complicated. All it does really is pedal at the same pace you do. Maybe it wouldn’t be as embarrassing if you dressed it up.

[Dvice]