Robots Can Now Catch Balls and Prepare Coffee [Video]

The robot featured in the above video, the awesomely-named Rollin’ Justin, can not only catch balls thrown at it — a deceptively difficult task — but can also prepare a cup of coffee after it is done playing a round of catch with your son. Rollin’ Justin has an 80 percent success rate in being a good dad and tossing the ol’ ball around the yard; by employing onboard cameras and processing, Rollin’ Justin can track thrown objects, calculate their flight path and grab said objects out of the air. Toward the end of the video, Rollin’ Justin is shown preparing a cup of coffee using tactile finger sensors, you know, so he can sit down and sip while reading the newspaper and watching the news after he reads your son a bedtime story. Rollin’ Justin doesn’t seem threatening enough to include in our Judgment Day coverage, but it is entirely possible it’ll be used to infiltrate our families by replacing our dads, so it’s probably best to be on the lookout just in case.

(via IEEE)