The University of Manitoba, Canada, and The Vienna University of Technology, Austria, is showing off the product of 4 years of research into robotics, nicknamed “Archie”, which appears to be a cry for help.

It would be too easy for me to sit back and berate this ugly monstrosity for what it is.  The fact is, this robot was probably built on a budget that is less than what I spend at Starbucks in a year, and I don’t drink coffee.  The lack of proper funding for robotics is a rampant  scourge throughout the Western hemisphere, so we shouldn’t be surprised that our colleagues in Asia make all the cool looking robots, while we’re left to decapitate dolls for spare parts.  Although in hindsight, I think even a cardboard box with a smiley face drawn on it might have been a better choice for a head…   (click the image for a bigger version, if you dare).  Did they think this would be funny?  Because it’s not.  It’s just sad.  They should be embarrassed.

Hopefully, with the recent announcement of HUBO 2 being brought to America thanks to generous NSF funding, we’ll see less of these terrible robots in the future.  Pathetic videos after the break.

[Reuters] via [Dvice] via [Botjunkie]

Bandai’s WonderBorg is a bug-like hexapod that you control with your WonderSwan. The WonderSwan was a Japan-only portable that lost the handheld war against the Gameboy Advance after briefly securing a sizable user-base during the late Gameboy Color years thanks to Square-Enix’s ports of Final Fantasy 1 and 2. The Wonderswan system was designed in part by the late Gunpei Yokoi, who had left Nintendo after the VirtualBoy fiasco.

The WonderBorg, which is an offshoot of Kyohritsu’s Wonder Kit line of hobby robot kits, has moving limbs which can be swapped out for cup-like wheels. You use the WonderSwan’s buttons to guide its movement. Bandai also made a version for the PC. When its antennae contact an obstacle, the WonderBorg will automatically back up and try to move in a different direction. The PC Version can hone in on a transmitter or another WonderBorg for an impromptu wrestling match.

Video (Mirror):

[Mike White] via [Suicidebots]

As of May 2009, a 5-year, $5 million dollar international research initiative into humanoid robots has begun thanks to a partnership between KAIST (Korean Advanced Institute of Science & Technology) and Philadelphia’s Drexel University, funded by the NSF (National Science Foundation).

Researchers from The University of Pennsylvania, Colby College, Bryn Mawr College and Virginia Tech in the United States, and KAIST, Korea University and Seoul National University will be working on the newer version of KAIST’s HUBO humanoid (called HUBO 2).  First demonstrated at Robo World 2008, it is a sleeker version of the KHR-3 HUBO developed in 2005 and has been given the nickname “Jaemi” (a gender-neutral prefix roughly translating to “American-born Korean Humanoid Robot”) for its American incarnation.  Videos and more after the break…