Horrors from the Uncanny Valley
I’ve seen earlier video snippets of the ‘Big Dog’ robot that Boston Dynamics has been working on, but this one is longer, more varied, and more unsettling: This device looks, sounds, and moves like the...
View Article“WALL-E”: a brief review (w/spoilers)
You could probably devise an interesting psychological profiling test around a person’s favorite Pixar film; mine happens to be “The Incredibles”, so make of that what you will. What is telling is that...
View ArticleRise of the machines
From Military.com (emphasis mine): A Virginia-based company is hoping to test-fly a vertical take-off and landing drone before the end of this year that, ultimately, could do triple duty as strike...
View ArticleWednesday’s a snooze day
We're coming for you. MORNING LINKS ITEM: Speaking of swine flu hysteria, this may be a good time to invest in pork belly futures – there may be a shortage soon. ITEM: Yet another way in which Western...
View ArticleA possible game-changer in industrial robots
Via Slashdot come a link to this MIT video (sorry, can’t find a way to embed it) about the work that Rodney Baxter (founder of iRobot) is doing to develop a new kind of industrial robot: cheap (~$22K),...
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