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FLAGSTAFF — The University of Arizona and the state's space prowess, both in astronomy and in NASA's manned and robotic missions, began in the high pines above this mountain town 113 years ago. In 1894, wealthy citizen scientist Percival Lowell sent his man Andrew Ellicott Douglass west from Boston to scope out the best Arizona site for an astronomical observatory. Douglass traversed the state by train and horse-drawn wagon, dragging a pair of coffin-sized crates holding Lowell's telescope to high spots in Tempe (that rock pile behind Arizona State University's stadium), Tucson ("A" Mountain) and Tombstone (site unknown). He ultimately...

I was introduced to my first sociable robot on a sunny afternoon in June. The robot, developed by graduate students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was named Mertz. It had camera sensors behind its eyes, which were programmed to detect faces; when it found mine, the robot was supposed to gaze at me directly to initiate a kind of conversation. But Mertz was on the fritz that day, and one of its designers, a dark-haired young woman named Lijin Aryananda, was trying to figure out what was wrong with it. Mertz was getting fidgety, Aryananda was getting frustrated and...

July 25, 2007 The 50 best movie robots To coincide with the release of Michael Bay's epic Transformers movie we rate the most celebrated 'artifical people' in movies Michael Moran We selected the fifty most memorable robots in film and rated them in four different categories: Plausibility (meaning how likely it would be that, with advances on currently existing technology, such a device could be built) Coolness (just how well designed, shiny or generally well-appointed the robot appeared to be) Dangerousness (scoring not only on built-in weaponry, but the robot's eagerness to use it) Comedy Value (how effective the robot...

When there’s no safe escape, call in the Mules: These unmanned aerial vehicles could save lives on the battlefield—and off U.S. troops are pinned down in a crowded city center. Several are wounded and need immediate evacuation. There are miles of labyrinthine roads and thousands of enemy gunmen between them and the nearest base. The threat from rocket-propelled grenades has grounded the big helicopters. There's one, final hope for these soldiers: the Mule, a compact, fully autonomous medevac aircraft powered by ducted fans—fully enclosed spinning blades that are smaller and more efficient than conventional helicopter rotors. This concept, created by...

Almost four decades after John Cleese performed his "silly walks" sketch on Monty Python's Flying Circus, mathematicians have concluded that they are, indeed, silly. Today, in the Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical and Physical and Engineering Sciences, an analysis of walking and running concludes that they are the most efficient forms of two-legged locomotion "Our legs are capable of much more than just walking and running," said Manoj Srinivasan, one of the co-authors. "We prove that for a very simple mathematical model of a biped, walking and running minimise the amount of leg work required per distance at...

Robo-toilets proposed to stop 'gay' cruising Mayor: 'Homosexuals ... engaging in sex, anonymous sex, illegal sex' Posted: July 7, 2007 6:55 p.m. Eastern Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle says his city has a problem with "homosexual activity" in public restrooms and he has a plan to stop it – robotic toilets that allow occupants to stay inside for only a short time before the door automatically opens. "We're trying to provide a family environment where people can take their children who need to use the bathroom without having to worry about a couple of men in there engaged in a...

Soldiers may no longer have to call for a medic on the battlefield – thanks to a robot which can pick up the wounded and carry them to safety. The remote-controlled android, dubbed the Battlefield Extraction and Retrieval Robot (Bear), has a range of up to 50m. Defence experts say it is the most promising solution yet to the 'holy grail' of being able to send robots into war zones to rescue wounded. The US army is backing the project by handing designer Vecna Robotics funding for the robot – each one costs more than £50,000. The Bear could also...

In Iraq, the terrorists have come to realize that the small robots American troops are using, are sometimes more dangerous than the Americans themselves. There are several thousand of these small (under 100 pounds, and look like a miniature tank) droids in use, and they have become a primary target for the terrorists. The most common use of these robots is to check out objects that might be roadside bombs. Terrorists will detonate their roadside bomb if they see a robot going to check it out, and will fire on the droids as well. Users have come to rely on...

On the last day of the RoboBusiness Conference in Boston, something wonderful happened. Institute of Robotics in Scandinavia (iRobis) introduced robotic imagination. I don’t mean imaginative robot designs. I mean; robots that imagine. And by imagine, I don’t mean simply creating images in a simulator. I mean imagination as part of reasoning and problem solving. This capability is part of a new software system, with the working title: Brainstorm™, that is set to be available to researchers and product developers this year. The presentation by iRobis co-founder Peter Nordin began with an extraordinary claim of work toward “A complete...

Are we safe from robots that can think for themselves? By REBECCA CAMBER Robots that can think for themselves could soon be caring for our children and the elderly and policing our streets, say experts. Scientists told yesterday of a new generation of robots which can work without human direction. They predict that in the next five years robots will be available for child-minding, to work in care homes, monitor prisons and help police trace criminals. And while it may sound like something out of a science-fiction film, the experts say advances in technology have made the thinking robot possible....

A new set of laws has been proposed to govern operations by killer robots. The ideas were floated by John S Canning, an engineer at the Naval Surface Warfare Centre, Dahlgren Division – an American weapons-research and test establishment. Mr Canning's “Concept of Operations for Armed Autonomous Systems” presentation can be downloaded here (pdf). Many Reg readers will be familiar with the old-school Asimov Laws of Robotics, but these are clearly unsuitable for war robots – too restrictive. However, the new Canning Laws are certainly not a carte blanche for homicidal droids to obliterate fleshies without limit; au contraire Canning...

MEDFORD, Mass. ? The robot lies dissected on the black slab of a lab table, its silicone rubber exterior spread and flattened like a trophy snakeskin. Hair-thin wires run in a zigzag line along the inner length of its pale artificial flesh.

"In this uncomfortably humorous survival guide, Wilson, a Ph.D. candidate at the Robotics Institute of Carnegie Mellon University, reminds readers that "any machine could rebel, from a toaster to a Terminator," and though the forms our future robot enemies may take are manifold, they each have exploitable weaknesses that, fortuitously, match our natural human strengths. So, if a two-legged android gives chase, seek out a body of water, as "most robots will sink in water or mud and fall through ice." It also may be a good idea to carry around a pair of welder's goggles, as lasers will likely...

In Pictures: Robot menagerie An ethical code to prevent humans abusing robots, and vice versa, is being drawn up by South Korea. The Robot Ethics Charter will cover standards for users and manufacturers and will be released later in 2007. It is being put together by a five member team of experts that includes futurists and a science fiction writer. The South Korean government has identified robotics as a key economic driver and is pumping millions of dollars into research. "The government plans to set ethical guidelines concerning the roles and functions of robots as robots are expected to...

Walk onto some local high school campuses in the late afternoon during January and February and you are greeted by sounds of metal grinding, the pop of rivet guns, the patter of computer keyboards and, overall, the sound of teenagers laughing. This is the scene for high school robotics teams, students who spend six weeks creating a robot designed to accomplish a set task, then test their results in international competition. Along the way they learn professional and life skills beyond the field of engineering. These students dedicate hours of their time after school and on weekends - sometimes 20...

A fleet of exploding probes could prepare the way for warding off hazardous asteroids. Several of the small spherical robots would land on a single asteroid, some exploding while others listen for vibrations that could reveal the object's inner structure. NASA has a list of more than 800 asteroids considered to be potentially hazardous because their orbits carry them close to Earth's. If one of them is found to be on a collision course, knowing its physical properties will be crucial in devising a mission to divert it.

Robot mother helps South Koreans prepare for birth Thu Jan 4, 2007 12:21 PM ET SEOUL, Jan 4 (Reuters Life!) - With South Korea's birth rate at its lowest ever, medical students are resorting to robots to practice bringing babies into the world. Kyunghee University Medical Center in Seoul is the first institution in South Korea to use Noelle, a life-sized robot, and her "newborn" to give obstetric students experience. "With this simulator training tool, we can conduct not only normal deliveries, but also complicated deliveries such as breech births, Caesarean deliveries," Professor Jung Eui told Reuters Television. "Students can...

Robots Are Honored in Japan By HIROKO TABUCHI TOKYO - A feeding machine and a furry, therapeutic seal _ both designed to make life easier for older people _ were among robots honored at a government-sponsored robotics award ceremony in Japan on Thursday. The "My Spoon" feeding robot, which won a prize in the "service robots" category of the Robot Award 2006, helps older or disabled people eat with a joystick-controlled swiveling arm that shovels morsels from a plate to the person's mouth. My Spoon, which is already sold in Japan and Europe, doesn't force feed: the spoon-fitted arm stops...

The next time you beat your keyboard in frustration, think of a day where it may be able to sue you for assault. Within 50 years we might even find ourselves standing next to the next generation of vacuum cleaners in the voting booth. Far from being extracts from the extreme end of science fiction, the idea that we may one day give sentient machines the kind of rights traditionally reserved for humans is raised in a British government-commissioned report which claims to be an extensive look into the future. Visions of the status of robots around 2056 have emerged...

The new RedOwl “sniper detection and surveillance” robot is a remote, deployable sensor suite designed to provide early warning information, gunshot detection, intelligence, surveillance and targeting capabilities to military and government agencies. RedOwl is a program led by Boston University with iRobot, Insight Technology and BioMimetic Systems, a Boston U spinout company. The RedOwl equipped PackBot has been field-tested for the Army at a rifle and trapshooting range. The RedOwl robot also employs a suite of advanced optics including a thermal camera, 300X zoom daylight/infrared camera, infrared laser illuminators, a rangefinder, high intensity white driving light, and voice communication microphones...