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Video (2:16) at link. This robot has the most realistic facial expressions I've yet seen. Just imagine this technology in 20 years.

Robots have changed our lives in many ways, from advancing our healthcare and automating our factory lines, to taking on dangerous tasks and even taking our place in warfare. Now Domino's have developed possibly the greatest use for robots yet - safe and secure pizza delivery in what the company claims is a world first.

As minimum wages across the country rise and restaurants face increased labor costs, one fast food CEO is thinking about replacing human workers with robots. Carl's Jr. head honcho Andy Puzder wants to open a new restaurant concept that's "employee-free," reports Business Insider. Puzder was inspired by a visit to Eatsa, the futuristic San Francisco-born restaurant where patrons order via tablet and retrieve their food from automated cubbies. He believes the idea of a restaurant free of social interaction could be especially appealing to millennials, noting that young people seem particularly fond of ordering from kiosks over humans.

When it comes robots, humans can be a little too trusting. In a series of experiments at Georgia Tech that simulated a building fire, people ignored the emergency exits and followed instructions from a robot -- even though they'd been told it might be faulty. The study involved a group of 42 volunteers who were asked to follow a "guidance robot" through an office to a conference room.They weren't told the true nature of the test. The robot sometimes led participants to the wrong room, where it did a couple of circles before exiting. Sometimes the robot stopped moving and...

If the Department of Labor continues to make it difficult for companies to hire American workers, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) warned, robots would take over key jobs in the economy. During a town hall in Okatie, S.C., Rubio warned that the Department of Labor was too big, too powerful, and turned into “anti-business agency” that hurt the private sector.

We don't incessantly stare at other people when we speak to them, and we don't expect them to stare back. Programming companion robots to understand this kind of social protocol is tricky but crucial, according to researcher Sean Andrist, a Ph.D. student at the University of Wisconsin's Department of Computer Sciences. An interesting write-up over at IEEE Spectrum details Andrist's research, which involves the "gaze mechanisms" that we humans take for granted when interacting with one another. The goal is to improve the function of both physical humanoid robots and virtual avatars by establishing rules that govern when, why and...

The Japanese lettuce production company Spread believes the farmers of the future will be robots. So much so that Spread is creating the world's first farm manned entirely by robots. Instead of relying on human farmers, the indoor Vegetable Factory will employ robots that can harvest 30,000 heads of lettuce every day. Don't expect a bunch of humanoid robots to roam the halls, however; the robots look more like conveyor belts with arms. They'll plant seeds, water plants, and trim lettuce heads after harvest in the Kyoto, Japan farm. "The use of machines and technology has been improving agriculture in...

The video shows the robot solving the Rubik's Cube at times of 1.196 seconds, 1.152 seconds, 1.047 seconds and 1.019 seconds, as the machine displayed not just extreme speed in the task, but also consistency in keeping the solving time between 1 second and 1.2 seconds. The machine is built using 3D-printed frames, stepper motors, and four USB web cameras that are connected to a PC. The cameras scan the Rubik's Cube to begin analyzing the puzzle through the Kociemba solving algorithm, and the solution is then carried out by the robot in lightning fast movements. The Rubik's Cube being...

The US army says it has mothballed plans to deploy a robot developed in conjunction with Google because it is "too loud". The Legged Squad Support System, referred to by some as "the big dog," is capable of carrying 400lbs (181.4kg) of equipment over rugged terrain. But the US Marines now say its petrol-powered engine is too noisy for them to use in battle. ... The LS3 was developed by Boston Dynamics, a robotics firm acquired by Google in 2013 - as part of a tie-up with the Pentagon's research arm, the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). The robot...

Nadine is loaded with intelligent "assistant" software similar to Siri and Cortana, with her own moods and emotions. She can also remember the people she'd met before and the contents of their conversation. Professor Thalmann's robotic doppelganger was developed to become a personal assistant or a companion for kids and the elderly in the future. She believes social robots like her creation could eventually become real-life C-3POs "with knowledge of language and etiquette." For now, she and her team are putting Nadine to work as a receptionist at the university

Simbe Robotics, based in San Francisco, announced its first product, a 30-pound robot called Tally that can move up and down a store's aisles checking inventory. The robot determines what products need restocking and send reports to workers who can add more stock. Tally also is set up to work during normal store hours, alongside employees and customers. "Tally performs repetitive and laborious tasks of auditing shelves for out-of-stock items, low stock items, misplaced items, and pricing errors," the company said in a release. "Tally has the ability to audit shelves cheaper, more frequently, and significantly faster than existing processes;...

From the army of machines that work in Amazon warehouses to automatons that milk cows, the job-taking robots of the future are among us. Now the lettuce in your salad of the future might be grown by robots too. Oh, by “future,” we mean 2017. That’s the hope of Spread, a company in Kyoto, Japan, that plans to begin constructing the world’s first large-scale lettuce factory next spring. Once it’s fully operational, the entire process of growing a head of lettuce—from seeding to harvest—will be automated and run by robots. The efficiency of machines will enable the factory to produce...

Researchers in Germany are currently creating a "nervous system" that would mimic a pain response in robots, allowing them to quickly react and avoid harmful situations. "Pain is a system that protects us,” researcher Johannes Kuehn told a conference of engineers last week. “When we evade from the source of pain, it helps us not get hurt.” The researchers programmed their robot to experience a "hierarchy" of pain through a variety of different stimuli, such as blunt force or heat. Depending on the threat, such as a harsh movement or intense heat, the robot is programmed to retract to the...

  Did you see the Wall Street Journal article yesterday about Starbucks new app? Raj was in it! They spelled his name wrong, of course: For Sathyarajkumar Krishnasamy, 49, an engineer, finally seeing his properly spelled name on a cup has been a breakthrough. In Starbucks stores, he had tried everything from providing his nickname, “Raj,” which sometimes came out as “Rodge,” to telling baristas to identify him simply as “number 10.” The accuracy of the app, says Mr. Krishnasamy, is “a small happiness.”  One hot black grande for “Rodge”!Butt that was the whole point of the story: how Starbucks...

Driving force: an Ant combines microscopic gold balls with a polymer gel to propel nanobots. Medicine is one potential application =============================================================================================================== High quality global journalism requires investment. Please share this article with others using the link below, do not cut & paste the article. See our Ts&Cs and Copyright Policy for more detail. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1af0efea-1045-11e6-bb40-c30e3bfcf63b.html#ixzz47bCzo78r Scientists have developed a microscopic engine, the smallest in the world, that they say is the first one capable of driving nanobots, including medical robots that could travel through the body. The prototype device, known as an actuating nano-transducer or...

Robot Waiters Fired for Incompetence in China Customers liked them, but they couldn't carry soup. Adam Toobin April 6, 2016 The world may not be ready for restaurant robots — yet. At least two restaurants in Guangzhou, China have fired their teams of artificially intelligent robot waiters after discovering the machines were unable to keep up with their human staff. “The robots weren’t able to carry soup or other food steady and they would frequently break down. The boss has decided never to use them again,” an employee at one of the restaurants told the Worker’s Daily. The humanoid bots...

NEW YORK – A CEO of a fast-food company is causing a stir on social media after claiming that he wants to create a fully automated restaurant. “We could have a restaurant that’s focused on all-natural products and is much like an Eatsa, where you order on a kiosk, you pay with a credit or debit card, your order pops up, and you never see a person,” Carl’s Jr. CEO Andy Puzder told Business Insider. Puzder says the automated restaurant would be cheaper since he wouldn’t have to worry about rising minimum wage. “If you’re making labor more expensive, and...

Dr. David Hanson leads the engineers and designers that created Sophia, the team's most advanced android to date. Sophia's lifelike skin is made from patented silicon and she can emulate more than 62 facial expressions. Cameras inside her "eyes," combined with computer algorithms, enable her to "see," follow faces and appear to make eye contact and recognize individuals.

<p>Boston Dynamics' new "Atlas" robot is a game changer, not just for companies, but for society, Insider.com CEO Jason Calacanis said Wednesday.</p> <p>"This is really the end of manual labor. When you watch this video, he's walking through the snow; he's wobbly, but he gets back up," the tech investor told CNBC's "Squawk Alley."</p>

While there are fears robots may rise up to take over the world if artificial intelligence progresses too quickly, some of us may find ourselves simply marrying machines in the future. A leading computer scientist has predicted that as robots become more human-like, people may start turning to them for companionship. His predictions mirror the plot of the hit TV series Humans, where people formed emotional attachments to robots brought in to help out around the home.