OK, this is down right wicked and creepy at the same time.  Just watch and comment on what you think and where we are headed…

(Feed readers, jump for video)

Tired of working in the garden by yourself? Well students at MIT have created something for you.

The “MIT Robot Gardener” was designed to provide you with assistance. Each robo-gardener was provided with a watering pump attached to its robotic arm.

Sensors on each plan networked back to the gardeners send water or nutrient request signals back to the gardener. When the plants have a ripe tomato, the machines use their arms to pluck the fruit

The concept for the Robot Gardener came from Nikolaus Correll, a postdoctoral assistant. It is the hope similar technology eventually could be used by farmers to reduce the natural resources and the difficult labor needed to tend crops.
Specifications

• Availability (TBD): Concept gadget still in evolution phase
• Designer: MIT’s CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab)
• Base: versions of iRobot’s Roomba
• Dimensions: Unknown

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Ever dream of being like a professional golfer and having a caddy follow you around the course carrying your bags?

Well Shadow Caddy is a new innovative golfing product that will make you feel like a pro on the golf course. This electronic, three-wheeled robotic caddy follows you around the course, carrying your bags, without the aid of a remote control.

With the help of a small transmitter attached to your belt it’ll follow you around, and avoids collisions because of a sophisticated object detection system.

Currently Shadow Caddy is available in Australia only. It will be available in Germany, the UK, Switzerland, Austria, Spain and Portugal in June of this year. It is expected to be launched in the Canada and South Africa sometime in 2009 and other markets are expected to follow shortly.

Specifications

• 100% hands free! No remote control
• The caddy has two settings: “Follow-Me”, and “Park”.
• Designed to operate in all weather conditions from freezing to baking hot
• An overnight charge will give the Shadow Caddy up to 10 hours of next-day service
• An infra-red collision-avoidance system to keep from running into you or other golfers
• Currently only available for rental on specific golf courses

Shadow Caddy web site

And now something totally practical for summer…

Created by John W. Cornwell, the Beer Launching Fridge is an re-engineered mini-fridge that is
capable of ejecting a cold beer accurately to a person a preset distance away.

The concept utility works by loading a beer through an elevator. Once outside of the fridge, the beer is loaded and launched by the catapult through a keyless remote control. The remote control can determine and lock the speed, launch angle, and direction just by the press of a button.

Although many enthusiasts have emailed John requesting to buy the item, unfortunately for us its still only a concept gadget .. and not available in stores.

Features

• Fully automated
• Controlled by a keyless entry system
• Holds 10 beers in its magazine
• Holds 14 more beers in reserve
• Uses 3 limit switches

The Beer Launching Fridge

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And now something radically different. The iWoofer is a high tech, radical portable speaker unit for your iPod. It works with legacy iPods (2G) and above and also the iPod shuffle.

The first thing one notices about iWoofer is its uniquely creative, compact, sci-fi design.. a “face” and four legs, like a strange creature.

The next thing you will notice is the brilliant, clear sound from the two 3-watt satellite speakers: 30mm full-range drivers with neodymium aluminum speaker cones.

Features

• Can also be used with other audio devices via its “audio in” cable.
• Powered with 4 AA batteries or the included AC adapter.
• 2.5″ sub woofer.
• Features an FM Radio with auto scan tuning and preset station memory.
• Comes in white and black.

The iWoofer Speaker System

Toyota has unveiled a new robot that can play the violin. Just down right freaky how close this technology is to mimicking human gestures.  Just remember the 3 important rules and all will be fine:

1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2) A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Have a look…

Have a plant that requires full sun, but the window only gets 3 hours of it?  Problem solved with the Plantbot.  An innovating use of robot technology being applied to real world problems (well, inconvenience might be a better word).  The four legged, spider like plant holder slowly migrates in the direction of sun.  Keeping the plant in full light for as long as possible.  Though it’s unclear how this is powered,  I would hope solar is used to charge its mobile self?  Note: pets might freak out with such a device moving around on it own.  Not to mention alarm systems.  The robot age is coming folks… deal with it!

More photos over at Play Coalition (via Boing Boing Gadgets)

This gota be the coolest gadget! Meet Rovio the little robot that can literally extend your self. Rovio comes with a long list of capabilities and features, but just to mention few. It has built-in camera, microphone and Wifi enabled, this means you can control the robot from anywhere in the world. How about control Rovio on your iPhone while sitting on the beach!

Watch this video and you’ll know its capabilities

Features

• Wi-Fi enabled robotic webcam/ led illumination/1 x speaker/1 x built in microphone
• Detects your computer settings for you and guides you though the process
• Interactive audio and video streams from ROVIO to the PC
• Control from web accessible devices
• With stored location points ROVIO can navigate itself around the home

WowWee Rovio Wi-Fi Enabled Robotic WebCam – (via Gizmodo)