R2BeerMe, You're On Fire! New Beer "Droid" Livens Up Office Parties

Need a barman for your next bash, but don't want to hire a human or force one of your friends to mind the taps all night? Thanks to the glory of technology, one company solved that problem. Meet R2BeerMe.

Named after the famous "Star Wars" robot R2D2, this drink-droid is a motorized, remote-controlled beer "kegerator" (mini-fridge turned keg cooler, with tap.) As reported by bizjournals.com, R2BeerMe was created by real estate adviser Charlie Wolff, and it generally tends to protocol by scooting around his firm's office on a modified wheelchair chassis.

Wolff was inspired by hospitality carts that circled his company office during parties, and he rolled with the idea. "In a parallel universe, I had aspirations of building an RC lawn mower," he said. "Everyone has a garage project, right? So, I had put together a wheelchair base under radio control."

R2BeerMe has been known to sport a camera, mood lighting, sound effects, and even a different costumes (including Pancho Villa) for events of all sorts. But most importantly, he's full of beer. And that's a Force you want to be with you.

Now he just needs his sidekick, C-3POT.

This Little Pink Robot Is Tougher Than You

They may not all look like a friendly housekeeper from "The Jetsons", but today, robots are all around us. Now, with different appearances and crafted from new materials, they've gotten tougher.

A recent report from Science Daily explains one interesting example. A new robot created at Harvard has some of the usual desired traits: it can walk around untethered, on command from its masters. However, this 'bot is a bit badass: it can walk through snow, withstand fire, endure submergence, and even get crunched under the wheels of a car while maintaining its mission.

Developed at Harvard's School for Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, the robot carries all of its control systems, micro-compressors, and batteries on its back, and is a leap forward in "soft-robot" technology. Its creator challenged the conventions of what robots usually look like, and came up with some successful results.

Research associate Michael Tolley said, "We think the reason people have settled on using metal and rigid materials for robots is because they're easier to model and control. This work is very inspired by nature, and we wanted to demonstrate that soft materials can also be the basis for robots."

The robot is over a half meter in length and can carry about 7.5 pounds. It was made from a composite silicone rubber (a blend of stiff rubber infused with hollow glass microspheres) as well as a Kevlar fabric bottom. These elements made the robot both tough and lightweight.

Future iterations will include faster speed and an array of sensors, which could be useful if the robot were to operate in disaster situations in lieu of more fragile human rescuers. It could also feasibly be put to work in an industrial environment, where it would not be as imposing as larger manufacturing robots and hence safer and more interactive for human co-workers.

Hey, it's kinda cute. Maybe someday you could even own a soft-robot pet! Just don't call it "soft" once its sensors can identify words. Your butt isn't as tough as the one suited up with Kevlar.

Yes, but can it shred moguls on the ski slopes?

Burger-Bot: Robotic Skill On The Grill

The coming decades will inevitably be powered by many automatons, particularly in fields that hold little appeal to humans. Now, the stereotypical "burger-flipping" gig may be outsourced completely to machines, thanks to a new robot.

Momentum Machines' meat-managing masterpiece is not humanoid, and it doesn't need to be. It doesn't want to be your friend, give you travel advice, or monitor your house or body. It wants to make burgers. Lots of burgers, and fast. An assembly-line style setup of burger-building materials (patties, buns, lettuce, tomato, cheese, etc.) are lined up, and well-engineered robotics (the creators have experience at Tesla and NASA) take over from there.

According to singularityhub.com, the average fast food restaurant spends $135,000 a year on human burger-flippers. With living, breathing workers, there is sickness, margin for error, strikes and accidents to consider. However, one Momentum could alleviate all that trouble (and not make snarky remarks at mean managers, either.) One 24-square-foot Momentum machine can spin out a burger every ten seconds, or 360 per hour.

Momentum cofounder Alexandros Vardakostas doesn't mince words about the company's mission. “Our device isn’t meant to make employees more efficient. It’s meant to completely obviate them.”

There's little dispute that this may soon become the norm for many by-rote professions. However, Momentum isn't completely coldhearted about their orchestrated robot takeover. They plan to ally with vocational schools to offer (better) job training for those who have been replaced by their robot.  Perhaps the ousted kitchen hands can go into a more lucrative field with their new knowledge...maybe robotics?

Today, they build burgers...tomorrow, a new empire!

Clutch! MIT Researchers Craft Extra Robotic Fingers (Even If You're Not Missing Any)

We may not be able to add more hours to our day or more nice days to summer, but now, we can add more digits to our hands.  MIT researchers have recently developed a system that allows even five-fingered folks to up their dexterity...with a little help from robotics.

Created by researcher Faye Wu, the "SR" or "supernumerary robotic" fingers are controlled by glove-embedded sensors which apply the same amount of grip and force as the rest of your hand.  The possibilities are intriguing...from folding laundry faster to executing literally unheard-of piano solos.  And the practical uses for those who need a little extra everyday help are diverse and ever-expanding.

As Wu said in a video interview posted on gizmodo.com, "The fingers are quite long, so the user can grab things that are usually much larger or much heavier than they can do with a single hand.  With the assistance of the SR fingers, users can grasp objects that are too difficult for them to do with a single hand.  For example, objects that are too large, too heavy, or the surface of the object is too hot or too cold.

You can also perform tasks that usually require two hands, for example, a single hand taking a cap off of a bottle, or opening a letter.  For elderly, or people with disabilities, these fingers can help them enjoy a living much more independently."

High five...no, high SEVEN to the researchers who continue to develop this project.

This is how the robot baristas are going to take over.