buy robots online

1. Autonomous Solutions Inc., Unmanned Ground Vehicle, $100,000 Read more: Top 5 Robots You Can Buy Right Now - Popular Mechanics

A Utah-based company called Autonomous Solutions will happily convert your family car into an unmanned ground vehicle complete with computer-controlled steering, acceleration, braking and gear-shifting. Ask for the "Proving Grounds Automation Package," drop your car off and pick up your new robo-vehicle a few weeks later. With the barebones package, your car can now be remote-controlled or programmed to run certain routes. Keep in mind, the price will rise steeply for smart behaviors like obstacle avoidance and route planning, which require additional sensors and computing power, but may one day let you hit "snooze" all the way to the office.

Cyberdyne Systems, HAL-5 Exoskeleton, $60,000


The HAL-5 (Hybrid Assisted Limb) from the Cyberdyne Corporation uses coin-sized electromyogram (EMG) sensors on the shoulders, hips, knees and elbows to eavesdrop on the signal sent from the brain to muscles. During its three-hour battery life, the thought-guided machine can help a paralyzed human walk, climb stairs or lift up to 175 pounds. The powered suit resembles a Star Wars-vintage storm trooper outfit and has been used to piggyback a paralyzed man to within 500 yards of the summit of Breithorn Mountain in Switzerland. Act fast: Only a few hundred

3. Kondo, KHR-1HV Humanoid Robot, $1200 

While little kids in North America build model airplanes, little kids in Japan build radio-controlled humanoid robots. Arguably, the best on the market is the Kondo KHR-1HV—a two-foot -tall, muscle-bound cage-fighter with sturdy servo motors that allow 19 degrees of freedom for smooth moves including stair climbing, somersaults and back flips. Throw away the airplane glue and buy a soldering iron: Today’s humanoid robotic van Dammes come complete with karate moves, acrobatic flips and those cute, pasted-on googly eyes—some reassembly may be required.
4. LEGO Mindstorms NXT kit, $250

Most of us are not robotics engineers; we're simply people who don't want to get up off the couch to run to the fridge. Thanks to modern science, you no longer need a pesky Ph.D. to build your dream gopher-robot—you just need some LEGOs. The LEGO Mindstorms kit uses a "smart brick," a 32-bit microprocessor "brain" that can be programmed from a personal computer to control robotic LEGO creations. The rest of the robot is built from conventional (albeit extra sturdy) LEGO bricks that are moved via three servo motors. Your little LEGO robot can sense the world around it (and your drink of choice) via touch, light, sound and ultrasonic sensors—all the more reason for PM to have given LEGO a 2006 Breakthrough Award for the NXT kit.


5. Fisher-Price, Tickle Me Elmo Extreme (TMX), $40 Read more: Top 5 Robots You Can Buy Right Now - Popular Mechanics


This fuzzy, red, next-generation Elmo doll is like Teddy Ruxpin on steroids. When you touch one of its three "tickle spots," the stuffed robot falls over, rolls on the floor laughing, pounds its fists on the ground and begs the tickler to "please stop it!" Afterward, the Sesame Street-inspired robot hops back onto its feet and asks for another tickle. Robo-Elmo is scarier than Chucky from the movie Child's Play—and more fun, too.