Archive for the ‘Robotics’ Category

Is this creepy android mannequin the future of retail merchandising?

Feb 11 by Rocco Penn | 1 comment

If this is the future of retail, I’ll be shopping online more often. Takashimaya, a department store in Tokyo, is working with Dr. Hiroshi Ishiguro from Osaka University to demonstrate their concept of the next generation of retail merchandising. The timing couldn’t be better – the female mannequin is pushing their more »

Autonomous nano quadrotors amaze (and terrify) with complicated formation runs

Feb 1 by Rocco Penn | 2 comments

Quadrotor technology developed at the General Robotics, Automation, Sensing and Perception (GRASP) lab at the University of Pennsylvania is able to fly with better accuracy than anything we’ve seen to date. Their ability to run complicated formations is both beautiful and terrifying. The beauty more »

Ericsson's vision of a "Networked Society" is beautiful, terrifying

Jan 6 by Sal McCloskey | 5 comments

There’s a fine line between technology that enables a better world and technology that makes us head in the wrong direction. Movies like The Matrix, Terminator, and iRobot have given us a fiction view of what could happen if technology connected us all and eventually had the ability to take over. more »

Flying robots that build things open doors to automated architecture

Dec 28 by Rocco Penn | 3 comments

In the movies, it always start innocently. They are designed to help humans, to do the mundane or difficult tasks that are better suited for non-sentient robots rather than men and women. In the end, they always turn on us. Hopefully, the folks at the Swiss Federated Institute of Technology in Zurich more »

Minority Report (in real life)

Dec 7 by Connor Livingston | add comment

The Tom Cruise-driven vision of a future (almost) completely without murder worked with the concept that if we could use precognition to know when a murder was going to happen in the future, we could prevent it from ever happening. It was a science fiction concept that has tantalized the imagination more »

The creepiest crawling robot you'll see all day

Dec 2 by Connor Livingston | 5 comments

Robotic science is intended to create devices that can aid humans in activities. In some case, it’s to help perform tasks that are too difficult or dangerous for humans. In other cases, it’s to relieve us of mundane tasks. Then, there are cases of robots that do little more than invade our nightmares. more »

Japan's cure for snoring and sleep apnea - a robotic bear pillow

Nov 20 by Connor Livingston | 5 comments

At some point, the sheer oddity of Japanese technological solutions to various problems will stop surprising us. That day may have come as the latest addition to the long list of creative Japanese problem-solving tech involves a bear pillow, snoring, and a smaller bear glove that monitors blood more »

Asimo shows how he can be our servant (and eventually our overlord)

Nov 10 by Connor Livingston | 1 comment

When Honda unveiled ASIMO a few years ago, most were amazed by its human-like movements. Some claimed there was a short person in a suit rather than an actual robot. Earlier this month, they unveiled the “All-New” ASIMO that can run forward, walk backward, hop on one leg or two, and serve drinks. more »

7 jobs that robots could probably do better (and cheaper)

Sep 28 by Connor Livingston | 7 comments

Today’s advancements in technology have made automation a part of our daily lives. Many of the tasks that were once performed by humans are now done by computers and in some cases, robots. As the trend continues, will we see humans replaced in many job functions by robots? That’s the question that more »

Where tech is born - the MIT Media Lab approach

Sep 26 by Connor Livingston | add comment

In the oft-siloed world of grad school, MIT’s Media Lab leads the way when it comes to creating environments that foster interdisciplinary exploration. New discoveries routinely get shared between seemingly unrelated fields and lead to unexpected applications. This approach is broken down more »

Roger Ebert's "voice" comes from Apple (with help from his friends)

Sep 25 by JD Rucker | add comment

The TED2011 Conference unveiled new technologies, encouraged imagination, and highlighted innovation as some of the most brilliant minds in the world converged to discuss everything from the seemingly mundane to the biggest problems plaguing the globe today. On the last day, emotions were touched by film critic more »

Ultimate geek gifts: 3D steampunk robot magnets

Sep 13 by Scarlett Madison | 2 comments

Every now and then you come across something that’s, well, different. It’s hard in today’s world where so many products are simply variations of others. Creativity seems to be dying with the compact disc. The “different” that popped up was these geekaliciously epic 3D Steampunk Robot Magnets. Steampunk is getting old and more »

Jeopardy!-winning computer Watson "hired" to offer medical advice to doctors

Sep 12 by JD Rucker | 3 comments

It proved that it could beat the best Jeopardy! champions in the world at their own game. Now, IBM’s Watson will try to help doctors make better medical decisions for their patients. WellPoint, Inc. and IBM announced an agreement today to develop and launch Watson-based medical solutions. It will be the first commercial applications more »

Cleverbot, squared

Aug 31 by Rocco Penn | add comment

Cleverbot is a novelty AI program designed to mimic human interaction and allow people to “talk” to it conversationally. It is often clever, sometimes funny, but mostly random. Here, Igor Labutov, Jason Yosinski, and Hod Lipson of the Cornell Creative Machines Lab put two cleverbots head-to-head more »