Hasta La Gadget!

Which would be more scary? A human being police officer, or a robot? On one hand a police officer can be reasoned with and talked to, but a robot will be non-discriminative and will just follow its given orders. Both have its ups and downs, but if you’re planning on heading over to Brazil to watch the World Cup later this year, you might want to keep an eye out for robot police. This is thanks to Brazil’s government securing a $7.2 million deal with iRobot, a Bedford, Massachusetts-based company, who will be providing the government with about 30 of its PackBot robots. These robots will be stationed through 12 of Brazil’s host cities during the soccer matchers and will also contribute towards checking out any suspicious objects.

For those wondering why the PackBot sounds familiar, it is because it was used to enter to Fukushima nuclear facility as well as being used after the East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in 2011. The PackBot feature a robotic propulsion system that will allow it to travel as fast as 9mph and will have built-in flippers that allows it to rotate itself and traverse over rugged terrain like rocks, rubble, and stairs. It also weighs around 40lbs and can fit into a backpack, allowing it to be transported and deployed with ease. Other features of the PackBot include a GPS system, video image display, system monitoring, an electronic compass, and temperature sensors.

Brazil Will Deploy Robots To Police The World Cup original content from Ubergizmo.

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The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset has taken the gaming world by storm. In fact earlier this year at CES 2014, the company unveiled a newer version of the headset which featured improved functionality and additional features. Unfortunately it seems that a commercial version of the headset has yet to enter production, but in the meantime we have some bad news for you guys as it would seem as though even the developer kits are running low on stock. So what’s the problem, you ask? Well apparently it’s not just a matter of creating more units as according to the Oculus Rift’s community manager on Reddit, the reason why it is not as easy as just producing more units is because certain components required are no longer being manufactured.

What this means is that will not be enough components left for additional developer kits. The team at Oculus Rift are trying to look for alternatives to these components but aren’t sure when production will begin again. However in the meantime, whatever remaining stock they have left will be rationed to a handful of selected countries. These countries include the United States, Canada, countries in the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Switzerland, and Norway. Of course what this also means is that the release of the commercial version will probably be delayed as well, as we’re sure the team will have to redesign it to make up for the now-extinct components.

Oculus Rift Dev Kits Running Low On Stock Due To Discontinued Components original content from Ubergizmo.