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Keyword: robots

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  • Robotic Vehicles Contend for the Battlefield

    10/08/2005 4:04:38 PM PDT · by neverdem · 12 replies · 1,830+ views
    NY Times ^ | October 8, 2005 | JOHN MARKOFF
    PRIMM, Nev., Oct. 8 - Fifteen robotic vehicles sprinted through the Nevada desert Saturday afternoon, closing in on a $2 million prize from the Pentagon meant to spur development of technologies for 21st century automated warfare. The vehicles were the survivors from an original starting field of 23 teams fielded by alliances of computer, automotive and aerospace companies, university researchers and others. The competition, called the Grand Challenge, was organized by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, and was designed to tap into the talents of a wide range of researchers and innovators who might not otherwise be...
  • Europe needs bigger robots push

    10/07/2005 8:30:26 AM PDT · by bigmac0707 · 11 replies · 399+ views
    BBC ^ | 9/07/05 | BBC NEWS
    European Union (EU) member states are losing out to the Japanese when it comes to developing useful robots that are commercially available. The European Commission (EC) urged businesses to turn their robotics research into viable products much more quickly than they do now. The EU spends about 50 million euros (£34.4 million) a year on research projects which produce prototypes. But these tend not to make it to market as products until 10 to 15 years later. Ulf Dahlsten, the EU's emerging technologies director in Brussels, said this meant EU businesses lagged behind Japan in terms of pushing robots into...
  • New Biological Robots Build Themselves

    10/03/2005 6:04:56 AM PDT · by AntiGuv · 23 replies · 559+ views
    SPACE.com ^ | September 28, 2005 | Ker Than
    Inspired by biological systems, scientists have developed miniature robots that can self-assemble using parts that float randomly in their environments. The robots also know when something is amiss and can correct their own mistakes. Scientists have long been fascinated by how living cells are able to replicate DNA using building blocks floating randomly inside the cell’s nucleus. The interior of the nucleus is filled with a gel-like liquid known as nucleoplasm. The DNA building blocks, known as nucleotides, float around in this liquid like ingredients in a molecular soup. Also present in the nucleoplasm are proteins known as polymerases, which...
  • Iowahawk: Nawlins News Niblets

    09/07/2005 10:06:07 AM PDT · by IowaHawk · 10 replies · 674+ views
    Iowahawk | 09/07/05 | Dave Burge
    PENN UNVEILS PLAN FOR GIANT JAPANESE MECHA-CUPMAN Decrying the federal government's response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster as "an utter disgrace," actor-activist Sean Penn today unveiled his design for a gigantic man-controlled robot suit that, if successful, could bail out the waterlogged city of New Orleans "within a matter of hours." Penn said he struck upon the idea during a recent independent rescue operation, and quickly sketched out a design on the back of a film script he had been reading. Code named "Iyamasama," Penn's 900-foot tall mecha design features a 250,000 gallon red plastic kegger cup potentially capable of...
  • Cat Burglar Arrested -plus Other Animal Control Issues

    09/02/2005 4:01:58 AM PDT · by genefromjersey · 3 replies · 379+ views
    The Morning Paper | 09/02/05 | vanity
    Berlin: German police, investigating a suspected apartment burglary,found broken window blinds, torn-down drapes, and badly trashed furniture. A broken aquarium, and a trail of fish remains led to apprehension of the perpetrator : a large, heavyweight male cat – which surrendered only after a bitter struggle, in which he bit one officer on the thumb. The cat was wearing a collar and identifying tag , so it was not difficult to reunite the surly animal with its owner – who ,we are told , was less ecstatic about the reunion after learning she would be held responsible for all the...
  • Robotics' task triples size of a General Dynamics plant (great potential to help our soldiers)

    08/10/2005 12:39:44 AM PDT · by Cincinatus' Wife · 16 replies · 645+ views
    Baltimore Sun ^ | August 10, 2005 | Mary Gail Hare
    ....Designers of the high-tech vehicle hope it will just as nimbly maneuver around battlefields of the future, detecting and avoiding obstacles and relaying information to soldiers a safe distance away. It and several other robotic vehicles were put through their paces yesterday at the Westminster facility of General Dynamics Robotic Systems, which has obtained a $230 million contract to develop the technology for the Pentagon. ...This new technology allows a soldier to pay attention to the immediate surroundings for his own survival and not spend a lot of time guiding a robot." ........"We have to go low-tech as well as...
  • Robots take scientists into sea depths

    08/02/2005 12:42:11 PM PDT · by LibWhacker · 7 replies · 624+ views
    Seattle Post-Intelligencer ^ | 7/29/05 | Tom Paulson
    Think of it as the Mars Rover but at the bottom of the ocean, remotely exploring our own planet's most alien landscape for scientists back at mission control. "This is how the science is going to be done," said Deborah Kelley, a University of Washington oceanographer. In 2000, Kelley led an expedition using a manned submersible to explore the deep Atlantic Ocean. Her team stumbled upon something never seen before. The researchers discovered a startlingly massive collection of limestone towers located miles away from the tectonic "spreading" cracks in the seafloor that typically produce such structures. Some of these hydrothermal...
  • Futurists look beyond, and it's not mere sci-fi

    07/30/2005 8:28:45 AM PDT · by Momaw Nadon · 39 replies · 1,515+ views
    Chicago Tribune ^ | Friday, July 29, 2005 | Russell Working
    Imagine a future in which terrorists seize an embassy and police can send in a remote-controlled insect outfitted with a microscopic video camera that reveals where the gunmen are hiding and what kind of weapons they hold. Or a time when adventure travelers fly to the moon to spend a week at a space colony under the glittering lunar skies--in the way they now visit Antarctica or the North Slope of Alaska. Or a U.S. constitutional convention where delegates draft a new governing document that allows the rest of the world a say in American decision-making. Sound far-fetched? Over 1,000...
  • Habit four: Follow others mindlessly-(Doug Giles satire; highly recommend for acidity level!)

    06/19/2005 5:45:06 PM PDT · by CHARLITE · 8 replies · 410+ views
    TOWNHALL.COM ^ | JUNE 19, 2005 | DOUG GILES
    This is the fourth installment in my Developing "The Disaster Master Mind©" series. I’m praying that you are well on your way to a completely screwed up life after just reading and obeying the first three of the 10 habits of the Decidedly Defective People©. If success is still looking like it might attach itself to you, do not despair, stay the course and chaos can be yours, too. Be patient, as fiascos take time and demand dedication in order to set in motion the forces for failure; therefore, be vigilant and the repugnant life will be yours before you...
  • Poker 'Bots' Are Upping the Ante Against E-Casinos - (electronic online "players" winning!)

    06/11/2005 10:35:25 PM PDT · by CHARLITE · 16 replies · 1,760+ views
    LA TIMES.COM ^ | JUNE 12, 2005 | Joseph Menn , Times Staff Writer
    Of the millions of gamblers who have rushed to play Texas Hold 'Em and other fast-growing poker games online, Roger Gabriel isn't the most intimidating. The 30-year-old Newport Beach engineer started playing for money only a month ago. He lurks online at the tables for the chicken-hearted; even there, where the biggest ante is 4 cents, he can't win consistently. But Gabriel has a potentially powerful alter ego. In his spare time, he's perfecting a computer program to go online and play the game for him. His BlackShark software is still a work in progress, but Gabriel has no doubt...
  • Scientists unveil 'clay' robots that will shape our world

    06/10/2005 5:57:16 AM PDT · by Momaw Nadon · 27 replies · 1,087+ views
    The Scotsman ^ | Thursday, June 9, 2005 | IAN JOHNSTON
    TINY robots that can turn into any shape - from a replica human to a banana to a mobile phone - are being developed by scientists in the United States. The new science of claytronics, which will use nanotechnology to create tiny robots called catoms, should enable three-dimensional copies of people to be "faxed" around the world for virtual meetings. A doctor could also consult with a patient over the phone, even taking their pulse by holding the wrist of the claytronic replica, reports New Scientist. And the nano "clay" could be carried around, shape-shifting into virtually anything when required....
  • Battlefield robots saving lives, proving their worth in Iraq

    06/09/2005 5:49:40 AM PDT · by steel_resolve · 5 replies · 848+ views
    The Pittsburgh Post Gazette ^ | 06/09/05 | Byron Spice
    One measure of how effective battlefield robots have become, says a top Pentagon robotics official, is that the enemy has begun to target them. "The enemy realizes that if they take out [the robot], they can really hurt our capabilities," said Cliff Hudson, who directs the Joint Robotics Program for the Department of Defense.
  • Opportunity frees itself from Martian sand dune

    06/04/2005 8:49:17 PM PDT · by FreedomCalls · 29 replies · 955+ views
    The Monterey Herald ^ | June 4, 2005 | Associated Press
    PASADENA, Calif. - The Mars rover Opportunity has freed itself after nearly five weeks of being mired in a sandy dune, NASA confirmed Saturday. Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the mission, cheered when images beamed back to Earth Saturday morning showed the wheels of the robotic explorer were free, project manager Jim Erickson said. Some engineers planned to celebrate with a barbecue. "I do plan on bringing a few bottles of champagne," Erickson said. "We've got a working rover on Mars that cost $400 million to build and ... keep working," he added. "I'd like to wear...
  • Couple Receive Grant to Develop Robots

    05/17/2005 2:28:41 AM PDT · by kingattax · 3 replies · 311+ views
    Associated Press ^ | 5-16-2005
    LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) - A couple who work in the University of Wyoming's Computer Science Department have received a $100,000 National Science Foundation grant to further develop tiny robots that could help clean up oil spills or respond to a terrorist attack. The robots would zero in on the source of chemical or biological hazards. "Somebody from the National Science Foundation came out here and said we had the best robotics work he'd ever seen," Diana Spears said. Spears and her husband, William, envision robots that would communicate with one another, relaying information back to humans or to a larger...
  • SUR-REEL CHILD [Toddler Takes Bus to Movies]

    04/28/2005 7:34:09 AM PDT · by Alouette · 50 replies · 1,466+ views
    New York Post ^ | Apr. 29, 2005
    April 28, 2005 -- A Queens 3-year-old triggered a massive boyhunt yesterday after he wandered out of his house, walked to a busy thoroughfare, paid for a ride on a city bus that took him 31/2 miles to a multiplex. and sneaked into a screening of the hit flick "Robots." "He's pretty smart," said his stepbrother, Kareem Williams, 16. The nearly 4-year-old boy, Clarence Ricky Davis, Jr., dressed himself and left his home on Pineville Lane in Springfield Gardens at around noon.
  • Walking Human-Shaped Robot Going on Sale

    04/12/2005 2:25:14 PM PDT · by WestVirginiaRebel · 24 replies · 740+ views
    My Way News ^ | 04-12-05 | WestVirginiaRebel
    TOKYO (AP)-A small walking man-shaped robot for home security and entertainment is going on sale in Japan for 588,000 yen ($5,450).The 15-inch tall, 5.5 pound robot called nuvo from ZMP Inc. also comes in a fancier $8,200 version with the same functions and a design inspired by lacquer-ware painted on its body.The robot can walk, get up and respond to voice commands such as "turn right." It links to mobile phones so that people can check on images of their homes taken on a digital camera inside the robot's head. It can be controlled by a remote and is programmed...
  • (Vanity) "Robots" movie depicts post-Terri world

    03/31/2005 8:45:20 PM PST · by grandOPUS · 40 replies · 1,042+ views
    If you want to see a vivid picture of what happens in a post-Terri world go see "Robots". In the movie all the robots with "failing parts" are deemed "useless" and get scooped up against their will and are incinerated to make "new" parts for those willing to pay. In other words, those willing to pay for new parts get to live. The main character obviously sees the evil being done and fights the system. What a day to watch that movie! I drove home so angry that our government has granted itself the power to keep food and water...
  • Nothing Runs Like A Deere

    03/17/2005 9:01:01 AM PST · by B-Chan · 8 replies · 371+ views
    Plustech.fi ^ | 2005.03.17 | Plustech.fi
    The walking forest machine is Plustech's best-known innovation. The goal of product development was to create a machine that has the best possible working stability and minimum impact on the terrain. The walking machine adapts automatically to the forest floor. Moving on six articulated legs, the harvester advances forward and backward, sideways and diagonally. It can also turn in place and step over obstacles. Depending on the irregularity of the terrain, the operator can adjust both the ground clearance of the machine and heigh of each step. The machine's nerve center is an intelligent computer system that controls all walking...
  • Japan's Hitachi Wheels Out Fast-Moving Humanoid (help with coming demographic crisis?)

    03/15/2005 9:49:41 PM PST · by baseball_fan · 31 replies · 1,327+ views
    Reuters ^ | March 15, 2005 | Staff
    TOKYO (Reuters) - Pal and Chum look a little bit like first-graders on wheels, chatting up a storm and racing around the room. For Hitachi Ltd., Japan's biggest electronics conglomerate, they are the next generation of humanoid robots. Hitachi unveiled the "Emiew," its first humanoid robot, on Tuesday, saying it was the world's quickest-moving robot yet. "We aimed to create a robot that could live and coexist with people," Toshihiko Horiuchi, project leader at Hitachi's Mechanical Engineering Research Laboratory Robotics Technology Project, told a news conference. "We want to make the robots useful for people ... If the robots moved...
  • Microsoft Robots to Watch Kids

    03/03/2005 8:22:20 AM PST · by GeorgiaFreeper · 15 replies · 429+ views
    The Associated Press ^ | 3/2/2005 | ALLISON LINN
    Mar. 2, 2005 - The teddy bear sitting in the corner of the child's room might look normal, until his head starts following the kid around using a face recognition program, perhaps also allowing a parent talk to the child through a special phone, or monitor the child via a camera and wireless Internet connection. The plush prototype, on display at Microsoft Corp.'s annual gadget showcase Wednesday, is one of several ideas researchers have for robots. The idea is to create a virtual being that can visit the neighboring cubicle for a live telephone chat even as its owner is...