Japanese model enthusiast builds paper robot powered by elastic bands
• http://www.gizmag.com, By Adam WilliamsA Japanese paper-modelling enthusiast has constructed a bipedal “robot” dubbed the “Paper Robot III” (or PR-III).
Contents Pages by Subject
Robots and Artificial Intelligence
Team reports brain-controlled ambulation in robotic leg test
• http://phys.org, by Nancy OwanoSpinal cord injury victims may be able to look forward to life beyond a wheelchair via a robotic leg prosthesis controlled by brain waves.
Self-driving ‘robot’ cars to take on California asphalt
• http://rt.comThe California state legislature has passed a bill approving Google’s self-driving cars this week, allowing autonomous vehicles to be operated on state roads – including highways.
Blue Sky Project Will Use Drones to Deliver 3-D Portraits
• WIRED.comA nonprofit called ReAllocate is developing an art project — called Blue Sky — for Burning Man that will scan people and 3-D-print a model of them before delivering it by drone using GPS tracking.
A New Robot Dismantles Pipe Bombs While Leaving Forensic Evidence Intact
• Colin Lecher via PopSci.comThe first priority in a bomb-related emergency is, of course, to safely dismantle the bomb. If it's a pipe bomb--the basement-built explosive device--a robot could be sent in to do the job.
How to Teach a Robot to Improvise
• Andrew Rosenblum via PopSci.comDrones are learning the difference between a car and a tree--and how to make their next moves
Pentagon Producing Terminator Like Machines
• http://www.prisonplanet.comThe Department of Defense has awarded a lucrative contract to an engineering and robotics design company to develop and build humanoid robots that can act intelligently without supervision.
Stock Trading Robot Makes Decisions Based on Superstitious Algorithms
• Colin Lecher via PopSci.comWhen we feel there's a situation out of our control, we often fall back on superstition to account for it. ("Nothing else is working, why not blame it on that black cat?"
Zeno "boy" robot: Let me introduce myself
• http://phys.org, by Nancy OwanoMade in China, the boy-like robot stands 27 inches tall. The most commanding feature of the new Zeno is its head, made out of what creator David Hanson calls Frubber.
Can a $10 Robot Save African Education?
• http://www.wired.com, By Nathan Hurst...Design a $10 robot. Conceived as a teaching tool for use in African classrooms, such a low-cost machine could prove to be revolutionary for education in poorer countries around the world.
Liquid-Filled Robot Finger More Sensitive to Touch Than a Human's
• Clay Dillow via PopSci.comAdd to the list of things robots now do better than humans: feel. Researchers at the U. of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering have designed a robot finger that can outperform humans in the basic yet complex sensory task of touching.
Computer Interface Monitors Your Overworked Brain and Takes Over Tasks For You
• http://www.popsci.com, By Rebecca BoyleYour office mates, whether they’re people or pets, can probably tell when you’re feeling stretched too thin — heavy sighs, hand-wringing and general signs of stress are fairly easy to spot.
What Part of Our Brain Makes Us Human?
• http://www.popsci.com, By Brian ChristianIn his book The Most Human Human, Brian Christian looks at the artificial intelligences we've built, and what they say about us
We May Have Just Witnessed The Presence Of Artificial Intelligence In The Stock Market
• Sam RoWednesday morning, there was a violent sell-off in stocks that seemed to start exactly at 10:00 AM. This had some New York Stock Exchange floor traders scratching their heads.
With New Technique, Tiny Robots Can Be Mass-Produced Like Pop-Up Books
• Rebecca BoyleA technique inspired by pop-up books could enable quicker production of tiny robots and other electrical devices, according to Harvard engineers.
Video: Coffee-Filled Robot Paw Learns How to Throw
• Rebecca BoyleOur favorite grippy robot fist, the balloon filled with coffee grounds, has graduated from grabbing to throwing.
A Military Robot that Does It All
• Tom Simonite via TechnologyReview.comiRobot's Warrior is strong enough to tow a car and dexterous enough to open its trunk using the handle.
Robo-Copter Will Keep Tabs on Navy’s Biofuel Plants
• Spencer Ackerman and Noah Shachtman via WIRED.comThe Navy is hoping to one day run a huge chunk of its fleet on biofuels. So the Navy’s advanced researchers are turning to a tiny robotic helicopter to help them figure out which crop they might be able to convert into their fuel of the future.
Next-Generation Surveillance Robots Can Analyze Their Environment
• David Hambling via PopSci.comManned surveillance missions are critical to obtaining useful intelligence. But sending a soldier into sensitive areas can often be too dangerous
On Land Destroyed by the Tsunami, Japan is Building a Futuristic Robot Farm
• Clay Dillow via PopSci.comYou have to hand it to the Japanese; Last March’s Tohoku earthquake and associated tsunami wasn’t the first natural (or unnatural, for that matter) disaster to befall the island nation, but as just as before the country isn’t simply rebuilding.
Asterisk - Omni-directional Insect Robot Picks Up Prey
• youtubeSpiderbot, Spiderbot, does whatever a spider can. Spins a web, any size..... Osaka University Limb Mechanism Robot
The Rise of the Machines
• www.popsci.comAs Moore predicted, computers continue to become exponentially faster, while their components have become much cheaper. William Nordhaus, an economist at Yale University, examined 100s of devices—from the first computer to the Apple II to modern PCs—
Toyota Shows Machines to Help Sick, Elderly Move
• abcnews.go.comToyota unveiled its ambitions for high-tech health care Tuesday, displaying experimental robots that the auto giant says can lift disabled patients from their hospital beds or help them walk.
Foxconn Plans to Replace Its Gadget-Building Unhappy Human Workforce With 1 Million Robots
• Rebecca Boyle via PopSci.comThe factory bots will reduce labor costs and improve efficiencies, the company’s founder, Terry Gou, told the Xinhua news agency. And they will be unable to take their own lives.
Kinect Hackers Are Changing the Future of Robotics
• Jason Tanz via WIRED.comFor 25 years, the field of robotics has been bedeviled by a fundamental problem: If a robot is to move through the world, it needs to be able to create a map of its environment and understand its place within it.
American Soccer Robots Dominate at the World RoboCup 2011
• Rebecca Boyle via PopSci.comIn the finale of RoboCup 2011, two Virginia Tech robots took top honors in the adult-size and child-size categories. The full-size humanoid CHARLI-2, making its public debut at RoboCup, won the adult-size robot soccer match
Japanese scientists develop robotic exoskeleton
• RawStory.comA disabled Japanese man on Friday embarked on an ambitious trip that will take him to a mediaeval French World Heritage site with the help of a cutting-edge robotic suit.
‘Bionic’ dog walks again after losing paws
• Eric W. Dolan via RawStory.comAn abandoned dog that lost all its paws to frostbite is now able to walk again thanks to four prosthetic limbs.
Obama Announces $500 Million Investment in Robots and Other Advanced Manufacturing Tech
• Rebecca Boyle via PopSci.comRobots, nanotechnology and other manufacturing of the future can reposition the U.S. as a global technology leader and revitalize the nation’s flagging economy, President Obama said Friday morning.
Introducing Kilobot, a Swarm Robot Cheap Enough to Actually Swarm
• Clay Dillow via PopSci.comIndividually, they aren’t much to look at. But Kilobots aren’t supposed to be taken in individually--they’re designed to swarm in the thousands, and at $14 a pop they very well may be doing so soon.
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