If you weren’t already a little jealous of the guys at Willow Garage, today’s story might just push you over the edge. They’ve trained their PR2 platform to fetch them beer while they’re working. Yeah – not only can they drink on the job, they’ve a robot assistant to bring it to them.
One of five inventors of the LEDsafari lamp interviewed an African
student who was recently trained to build his own LEDsafari. The
student is very enthused about the invention because it is going to
bring affordable light to his continent, giving Africans more time in
the evening to study, to discuss, to work, to create… It will make
them more productive and, thereby, richer. A simple, cheap, safe, and
environmentally clean lamp, this student hopes, will ‘light up the Dark
Continent.’
Every time Facebook acquires a new app or drops billions of dollars on someone else’s work, the internet becomes abuzz with criticisms, claiming that these moves are a harbinger of the end for the billion-dollar company. However, the cunning Mark Zuckerberg actually has been planning his next move with these new toys all along; something that goes beyond that big blue social giant that propelled him to success.
The Swedish government has launched an initiative which it hopes will help spread democracy and creativity…through video games. The program – known as Democreativity – is intended to both bring people together and push them away from the violent, male-dominated image of gaming.
Over a decade ago, Honda unveiled the revolutionary ASIMO, which today remains one of the best-known humanoid robots in the world. Since unveiling it way back in 2000, Honda has been hard at work making the robot better, faster, and stronger – today, we saw the result of that work.
In the future, houses will be 3D-printed using recycled construction waste and tailings… oops, by “the future” we meant China! A Shanghai-based construction company took a mere 24 hours to slap together 10 3D-printed houses and while the homes aren’t exactly mansions, they’re the ultimate cheap digs.
So, uh…fair warning, thisz story might potentially be a little bit not-safe-for-work. Scientists at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology have designed several mice-shaped robots whose only purpose is getting it on. Apparently, this is supposed to help them study evolution.
Weird.
Developed to aid the brave men and women of our fire department, the C-Thru Smoke Diving Helmet harnesses a vast array of technologies to help aid rescuers when combating a blaze — including augmented reality, noise cancellation, improved communications, and a thermal-optic camera.
Political campaigns, down through the centuries have used the technology of the times to help enhance a candidate’s
competitive edge. Innovating communication channels has always played a
key role in reaching and targeting constituencies during national
elections. Presidential candidates who failed to embrace the new
technologies of their day often found themselves vulnerable in the eyes
of the public.
Inventors have not only created a method for hacking the nervous system
of a cockroach and allowing the insect to be controlled remotely, but
apparently – like so many other things these days – there’s an app for
that.
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