Free Republic

Have you ever fantasized about having the weather read to you every morning like it was a beautiful Shakespearean sonnet? That’s probably the best reason to choose UBTECH Robotics’ new Alexa-enabled Lynx robot over the Amazon Echo—that, or you’re very, very lonely. Lynx’s glowing eyes let you know when the robot’s online, listening to your voice, and processing your commands. Whether you’re interested in talking to Google’s Home platform, Microsoft’s Cortana, or Amazon’s Alexa, there’s already a lot of options for smart speakers. All of those assistants are now accessible through third-party devices, which is great, because quite often a...

The Age of Sex Robots is upon us. Numerous science fiction authors, with a degree of jittery anticipation, have predicted this development for years. Yet it has not seemed feasible until recently. The New York Times just ran a substantial profile on the impending rise of virtual reality porn and sex robots, and stirrings of anxious excitement are palpable in other media outlets. A strange and terrible new world is dawning, but let’s not cue up “Also Sprach Zarathustra” quite yet. Far from being a boon dispensed from on high, the impending sex robot revolution threatens to destroy our entire...

Sophia, the humanoid robot, has been granted citizenship by Saudi Arabia. Yes, you read that correctly. Sophia was created by Hanson Robotics, the Hong Kong company whose tagline is, "We bring robots to life." Sophia uses artificial intelligence (AI) to communicate with life-like gestures and speech. Sophia blinks her eyes, changes her gaze and has an expressive face to mimic human emotions. She can smile, nod her head, and look angry or sad.

"Camouflaged robots may hide and be protected from animal attacks and may better approach animals for studying them in their natural habitats," Cecilia Laschi, a professor of biorobotics at the BioRobotics Institute of the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, in Pisa, Italy, wrote in an accompanying article in the current issue of Science. "Of course, camouflage may also support military applications, where reducing a robot's visibility provides it with advantages in accessing dangerous areas," wrote Laschi, who wasn't involved in the current study. The researchers, led by James Pikul of the University of Pennsylvania and Robert Shepherd of Cornell University,...

Project Description Since 2012, we have been investigating the use of algorithms, automation and computational propaganda in public life. Political bots are manipulating public opinion over major social networking applications. This project enables a new team of social and information scientists to investigate the impact of automated scripts, commonly called bots, on social media. We study both the bot scripts and the people making such bots, and then work with computer scientists to improve the way we catch and stop such bots. Experience suggests that political bots are most likely to appear during an international crisis, and are usually designed...

[snip] With so many different materials now in play, how are you supposed to know what needs to be thrown into a landfill and what can be reused? Luckily, while humans might not be the best at practicing the Three R’s (reduce, reuse, and recycle, of course), another “R” is here to save us. It’s a robot, and it’s been affectionately named Clarke. Developed by AMP Robotics, this robot makes use of artificial intelligence to recognize and sort various food and beverage containers.

“From the pictures taken today, it is obvious that some melted objects came out of the reactor. This means something of high temperature melted some structural objects and came out. So it is natural to think that melted fuel rods are mixed with them,” said Takahiro Kimoto, a Tepco spokesman. “In that sense, it is possible that the melted objects found this time are melted fuel debris or probably around it,” he said, saying the utility will think about how they can be analyzed to determine if they are the former fuel rods. This is the first time Tepco has...

Humanity confuses its loyalties and builds a shrine for that drowned security robot Hey, fellow humans, I thought we were all on the same page here? When news broke that a security robot mall-copping its way through the Washington Harbour gave up and drowned itself, we all rightly celebrated the admittedly small victory for mankind. Because, ya know, if drones are going to take our jobs they should at least be miserably toiling their mechanical lives away. So why am I now finding out that you went and built this thing a shrine? To make matters worse, you named the...

‘Robot drowned’: Twitter baffled by cyborg’s apparent ‘suicide’ (PHOTOS) In another example of internet madness, the ‘death’ of a security robot in a Washington DC office fountain is making waves online. On Monday, news that a Knightscope security robot had fallen into a fountain was relayed on Twitter by Bilal Farooqui. READ MORE: Dubai’s first ‘Robocop’ begins patrolling streets “Our DC office building got a security robot. It drowned itself. We were promised flying cars, instead we got suicidal robots,” Farooqui said. From there internet denizens chimed in with their own theories, with some mocking and mourning the robot’s fate.

Published on Jan 28, 2017 Robots accomplish tasks too complicated or dangerous for humans. The strength and speed of a robot's movement and problems solving skills are favored for completing jobs faster than humans. Meet some of the fastest robots in the world.

Here's that extra pair of robot arms you've always wanted. And how do you control them? With your feet. I’m not completely sold on the control system here, since it essentially means you’re trading the use of your legs for the use of some extra arms. Maybe good in certain situations, but not as a general cybernetic enhancement.

SUIDOBASHI HEAVY INDUSTRIES! MegaBots, Inc. challenges you to a duel! You have a giant robot, we have a giant robot - we have a duty to the science fiction lovers of this world to fight them to the death. Prepare yourselves, and name the battlefield

FullMag Youtuber Ford truck usage has taken its toll, the cylinder has gone out. It would cost more to have it fix then to just go out and buy a new truck. Rather than tear up the vehicle piece by piece, they’ve decided to try out a theory with a 50 cal Barrett. Can a .50 cal stop a running engine? FullMag utilizes the armor piercing, incendiary round for a good cause. Shooting through the block is relatively anticlimactic, since it will only leak oil. So let's try to place a couple rounds through the valves and see if we...

Do you ever wonder what tomorrow holds? Some people are pretty convinced that the future will be filled with flying cars and jetpacks and robot butlers. But here in the year 2017, I’m not so sure anymore. I have a suspicion that our future might be filled with more machine gun-toting robots, like the one seen above, than robotic butlers. This particular robot is called a multi-utility tactical transport (MUTT) and was demonstrated by the General Dynamics Land Systems and the US Navy during an event at Camp Pendleton late last month. And despite its adorable canine-inspired acronym, it’s a...

The Russian Terminator robot is shown to be able to shoot guns with both hands. It can also drive a car and do press-ups, making people nervous despite Putin's assurance that the violent exercises are just part of the machine's decision making and coordination training. (Photo : Roberto Leones Masini/YouTube) Despite assurances from Vladimir Putin that the latest robot is not a real-life Terminator, the video posted online showing the human-like machine shooting guns with both hands can still make you nervous. News about the android robots called FEDOR - Final Experimental Demonstration Object Research was first reported last...

Handle is a research robot that stands 6.5 ft tall, travels at 9 mph and jumps 4​ ​feet vertically. ​It uses electric power to operate both electric and hydraulic actuators, with a range of about 15 miles on one battery charge. ​​​Handle uses many of the same dynamics, balance and mobile manipulation principles​ found in the quadruped and biped robots we build, but with only about 10 actuated joints, it is significantly less complex. Wheels are efficient on flat surfaces while legs can go almost anywhere: by combining wheels and legs Handle can have the best of both worlds.

Cafe X opens in San Francisco, bringing robots to the coffee shop Posted Jan 30, 2017 by John Mannes (@JohnMannes) The world’s first coffee shop opened in Constantinople in 1555. Four hundred and some years later, Cafe X is putting a twist on that old barista model. Opening in San Francisco today, the startup is opting instead to have a large robotic arm craft your caffeinated potions. Founder Henry Hu noticed that baristas spent a majority of their time moving cups around while making espresso drinks. So, much like anyone’s natural reaction to that epiphany, Hu decided to build a...

The 3D-printed hands have individual solenoids that allow each finger to cover and uncover the holes on a real bagpipe... The main limitation of the robot is that it requires a human to blow into the instrument. That’s certainly not ideal if you want to listen to the sweet sounds of Scotland 24/7/365, but XenonJohn says he’s working on a new version that includes an air pump to automatically blow air into the bagpipes.

If you’re a robot stealing somebody’s job, it’s best to stay hidden. That’s what Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos appears to be thinking, as his Seattle-based web giant has contemplated a two-story, automated grocery store in which a staff of robots on the floor upstairs grabs and bags items for shoppers below. The ground level of the futuristic prototype — a supermarket-sized version of its recently unveiled “Amazon Go” convenience store, with a bigger layout that could span anywhere between 10,000 and 40,000 square feet — would be devoted to goods that shoppers typically like to touch, sources briefed on the...

Robot-run Henn na Hotel in Nagasaki enters Guinness book The Henn na Hotel in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, has been recognized by Guinness World Records as “the first robot-staffed hotel” in the world, according to the chief of the Huis Ten Bosch theme park. “Our hotel will keep on moving with the evolution of robots and artificial intelligence, aiming to entertain our guests better and make them happy,” Hideo Sawada, president of the theme park owned by travel agency H.I.S. Co., said Thursday at a news conference in Tokyo. “We want to boost the number of this kind of hotel to...