Feb 10
Looks like this drone fad is catching on. From Singularity Hub: According to a recent report from the Congressional Research Service, nearly one in three US warplanes are drones…and those machines are changing the way the world wages war. US soldiers in Afghanistan rely more and more upon intelligence gathered from drones, and President Obama recently …
Feb 10
DARPA funded researchers have made some paper robots powered by air. Wired reports: Powered by nothing more than puffs of air, robots molded from paper and silicone rubber can bend, twist, grip and even lift more than 100 times their weight. Lifting 100 times their weight is impressive because they’re made out of paper and …
Feb 08
For the interested, here’s a paper on Robot Vacuum Cleaner Personality and Behavior. Abstract: In this paper we report our study on the user experience of robot vacuum cleaner behavior. How do people want to experience this new type of cleaning appliance? Interviews were conducted to elicit a desired robot vacuum cleaner personality. With this knowledge in mind, …
Nov 26
South Korea has developed robot prison wardens. And they’re actually kinda cute. BBC Reports: The three 5ft-high (1.5m) robots involved in the prison trial have been developed by the Asian Forum for Corrections, a South Korean group of researchers who specialise in criminality and prison policies. It said the robots move on four wheels and …
Nov 13
pic nicked from here The Canadian National Robot Games have been cancelled due to lack of interest. CBC reports: Steve Jones said attendance to this weekend’s competition, which was scheduled to take place in Toronto at the Ontario Science Centre, was going to be down to half its normal number. “Kids aren’t interested what’s inside …
Nov 02
I’m gonna file this one under – when it’s not evil to blog straight off a press release . . . November 1, 2011 (Toronto) – Robots of all shapes, sizes and skills will take over the Ontario Science Centre November 12 and 13 for the annual Robots Rule extravaganza. Some 20 of Canada’s top …
Sep 20
A language evolving robot called a Lingodroid has been invented in Australia. These Lingodroids can invent words when they need one then share that word with other robots. Below, two Lingdroids meet in a new location. One names it “Pize” and informs the other robot. The other robot thinks the name is nice. That’s good …
Sep 06
The Office of Naval Research has given a team from Northeastern University $600,000 to develop micro-robots to find underwater mines. Professor Joesph Ayers directs the program. Over the last seven years, the synthetic biologist has become famous for designing the RoboLobster and RoboLamprey — autonomous underwater robots that mimic the neurophysiology and behavior of their …
Sep 01
Cornell’s Creative Machine Lab wanted to see what happened when two chatbots spoke to each other. They start arguing about everything from God to unicorns to what they are. This amused me.
Aug 24
pic nicked from here German scientists have made a robot that can imitate the waggle dance that bees use to communicate. RoboBee is stuck to the end of a rod attached to a computer, which determines its “dance” moves. The rod is also connected to a belt which makes it vibrate. Like a real bee, …
Although Ryan Oakley began his career as a simple rake (drunk) he has since become Toronto’s most renowned flaneur (no car) and notorious dandy (overdresses). A misanthropic composer of psycho-geographical fictions (sci-fi), he is also a server of food, a tender of bar and a washer of dishes. While performing all these functions with efficiency and elegance (disdain and malice), he somehow finds the time to publicly criticize friends, strangers and cultural crap.
