Helpful Robot Can Play With Your Socks

Robots tend to do things a little differently. Though folding rectangular towels was a breeze for the Willow Garage's PR2 programmable robot, UC Berkeley researchers had a bit more trouble coaxing it to match socks. A video (below) of their unconventional technique won a $10,000 prize from Willow Garage. The trickiness comes from getting the sock right side out. The researchers decided to use a dowel, making otherwise clean laundry seem, well, a little dirty. [via PopSci] The robot uses ROS (Robot Open Source) so different researchers can program the robot to do a variety of tasks: including sock folding and, of course, light switching/dance partying. [via engadget] Related content Discoblog: How to Make a Hospital Stay Even More Dehumanizing: Robot Workers Discoblog: Robot Model Struts the Catwalk in Japan Discoblog: Tiny Jumping Robot Can Find Enemies, Scale Fences Discoblog: Update: “Corpse-Eating Robot” Actually a Vegetarian Discoblog: Sweden Fines Factory After Near-Deadly Robot Attack