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Besides the ability to shoot guns, the Fedor robot was also trained to lift weights, operate a drill, do push-ups, screw light bulbs, walk upright, insert keys into a lock, open doors, and drive. The robot was initially developed for rescue work but engineers have suggested military uses for i Space agencies including NASA have been working on robots designed for a space mission. In 2015, the U.S. space agency sent a humanoid robot called Robonaut 2 aboard the ISS. It was the first dexterous humanoid robot to be sent into space. In June, SpaceX's 15th cargo mission to the...

Trying to find love in D.C. can be tricky. If you’re a young Trump administration staffer, it might be near impossible. GOP employees and other right-wingers have been complaining that dating in one of the most Democratic cities in America is a political minefield. They’ve been called out, flipped off and told they are personally responsible for the death of democracy. One 29-year-old lobbyist told Fox News that learning to date in a Trump world is “absolutely insane.” “It’s getting so bad,” the lobbyist, who asked to remain anonymous because she works with the administration, said.

A round, basketball-shaped autonomous assistant that is supposed to help astronauts with their space work. Sounds a lot like HAL-9000 from "2001: A Space Odyssey," right? CIMON (Crew Interactive Mobile Companion) won't say, "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that," but the first-ever flying, autonomous, artificial intelligence-based robot is slated to head to the International Space Station (ISS) later this week. With any luck, CIMON will stay there for the foreseeable future. ..." "What we're trying to do with Watson AI services is imitate a human," Biniok said, adding that CIMON has a digital "mouth" and can express...

It is a terrifying vision of the future - a robot police officer with dark eyes and no discernible mouth that can identify criminals and collect evidence.

Agricultural-equipment makers gear up driverless tractors, combines in quest to produce more food, more sustainably The bright red, driverless tractor drags the tiller in a perfect line in a south Indian field, makes a turn at the edge of the property, encounters a test dummy and then stalls, not knowing what to do. India’s Mahindra & Mahindra , one of the biggest suppliers of smaller tractors to the U.S., and other manufacturers are racing to develop what they see as the future of farming: robo-tractors and other farming equipment to help produce more food, more sustainably at a lower cost....

The robot revolution is here, at least for your morning caffeine fix. Cafe X Technologies is a new, $25,000 automated barista designed by the award-winning team behind Dr. Dre's Beats headphones and speakers: the Ammunition Group. The Jetsons-style coffeemaker can sling 120 cups of joe per hour at specs that satisfy finicky roasters (and project partners) like Intelligentsia, Ritual and Equator. The robo unit is essentially a fully operational café beneath a six-axis animatronic arm. Customers place orders on a kiosk touchscreen or via the Cafe X app and receive a text when the drink is ready, after around a...

In Japan, Aibo robots get their own funeral by Miwa Suzuki AFP-JIJI ISUMI, CHIBA PREF. – The robot dogs lined up in their dozens last Thursday in Chiba Prefecture were no tech fair display. They were the dearly departed being honored with their own traditional “funeral.” In some respects, it was a funeral like any other in Japan, with incense smoke wafting as a priest chanted a sutra, praying for the peaceful transition of the souls of the departed. But the departed were 114 of Sony’s old generations of Aibo robot dogs, each wearing a tag to show where they...

It is the first robotic fish to contend with the currents and pressures of an actual ocean setting for an extended period of time. In a study published Wednesday in Science Robotics, the authors describe how SoFi can nimbly navigate a coral reef off Fiji in three dimensions, swimming up, down, left, right and forward, all at the behest of a diver armed with what looks like a Nintendo controller. The authors also report that the robot can handle water depths of about 60 feet, and appears to swim alongside real fish without spooking them. "For us, this fish is...

The House Intelligence Committee has ended the Russian collusion probe and concludes that there is no evidence that there was any collusion. Republicans who control the House Intelligence Committee ended an investigation into the 2016 presidential election over intense objections from Democrats, saying they found no evidence of collusion between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russian operatives. The committee’s GOP leaders announced their decision on Monday, adding that they plan to release a report soon on their findings. The probe -- originally intended to be bipartisan -- is ending even though an inquiry by Special Counsel Robert Mueller remains underway...

A burger-flipping robot named Flippy is now cooking up hamburgers at a fast food restaurant called Caliburger. A robot named Flippy is now in the kitchen at a fast food restaurant called CaliBurger in Pasadena. We were there for a preview event where Flippy made us some lunch. Flippy is a brand new, burger flipping robot now cooking at a chain called CaliBurger, which serves up California style burgers and fries. "The key to success in the restaurant industry is consistency. So anytime you go to a CaliBurger anywhere you know that the patty will be cooked exactly the same,"...

Hundreds of robot realtors are helping Bay Area renters find new homes Mark Austin — Posted on January 6, 2018 Some potential renters in California meet an unusual assistant when they show up for a tour of their new dream home — a robot realtor named “Zenny” that gives a tour of the house, wirelessly connected to high-tech property management startup Zenplace. The Mercury News recently followed one prospective buyer as he checked out a place in Santa Clara. “I wasn’t expecting a robot,” chuckled Gilbert Serrano as he arrived at the two-bedroom rental house. The three-foot-tall robot had an...

Just when you thought it was advanced computer systems and the military that were out to get us, it turns out that sex robots - the very machines designed to give us pleasure - could be about to kill us too. Sex robots have been with us for quite a few years now and they have already attracted their fair share of warnings and controversy. However, a warning from Dr Nick Patterson, a cybersecurity lecturer at Deakin University, Australia has to be the starkest yet.  He believes that in the future sex robots could be easier for hackers to access and control than a laptop...

In San Francisco, autonomous crime-fighting robots that are used to patrol parking lots, sports arenas, and tech company campuses are now being deployed to keep away homeless people. The San Francisco Business Times reported last week that the San Francisco SPCA, an animal advocacy and pet adoption group, put a security robot to work outside its facilities in the gentrifying Mission neighborhood. The robot's presence is meant to deter homeless people from setting up camps along the sidewalks. Last week, the City of San Francisco ordered the SF SPCA to keep its robot off the streets or be fined...

Why China’s ammunition factories are being turned over to robots ‘Smart machines’ could treble bomb and shell production capacity in less than a decade PUBLISHED : Monday, 01 January, 2018, 8:21pm UPDATED : Monday, 01 January, 2018, 11:28pm Robots could treble China’s bomb and shell production capacity in less than a decade according to a senior scientist involved in a programme that is using artificial intelligence to boost the productivity of ammunition factories. Xu Zhigang, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shenyang Institute of Automation and a lead scientist with China’s “high-level weapon system intelligent manufacturing programme”, told...

A robot patrolling a street in San Francisco to ward off homeless people has been removed after complaints from locals, who also knocked it over and smeared it with feces. The Knightscope K5 security robot was deployed by the San Francisco branch of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) to deter homeless people from sleeping and loitering near its building.

Sex doll technology has advanced in recent years as companies produce life-like robots costing up to $20,000. Buyers can hand-pick features such as face, hair and breast size. And the dolls are programmed to remember the owner’s birthday and favorite films and music. Some can be made to feel warm like real flesh and simulate an orgasm during sex.

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,...