[ekim68]

Robots join hunt for Air France jet's data

The hunt for the Air France jet that disappeared in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean last June will be one of the most sophisticated deep-water search attempts in history when it resumes this month, according to French accident investigators and oceanographers.

More than nine months after Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris went down after encountering storms, an armada of the world's most advanced underwater robots are being moved to the site near the equator between Brazil and Africa.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/ro...r-france_N.htm

[lotuseclat79]

How robots think: an introduction (5 web pages).

Suddenly, the robotic future doesn't look so far off.

Hint: Robots are not capable of thinking IMHO. Same goes for some humans!

Who knows—we might be closer to thinking machines than we thought.

-- Tom

[ekim68]

Robotic surgery is experiencing explosive growth in America’s operating rooms, and the unquestioned industry leader in this field is the DaVinci robot, made by Intuitive Surgical. How pervasive has this robot become? Put it this way, only 14% of prostate surgeries in the US last year took place not using the DaVinci. It has grown from 210 systems seven years ago to 1,395 today. Although typically used for smaller surgeries like prostate removal and hysterectomies, it was recently used for a kidney transplant, and more complicated procedures are expected in the future. The DaVinci is really just the first wave of robotic surgery as technology continues to push clumsy human hands out of the operating room.

http://singularityhub.com/2010/03/16...me-is-davinci/

[lotuseclat79]

The First Known Robot Was Created Around 400 BC and Was a Mechanical Bird.

...the first known robot was created around 400-350 BC by the mathematician Archytas and was a steam powered pigeon.

This bird was then suspended from a pivot bar and at one point the bird managed to fly as much as 200 meters before it ran out of steam. This is not only the first known robot, but was also one of the first recorded scientifically done studies of how birds fly.

Also, at above link: Bonus factoids about robots and cybernetics, plus a Futurama w/Bender Robot Devil cartoon poster!

-- Tom

[lotuseclat79]

Shelley, Stanford's robotic car, goes before the cameras (w/ Video).

Shelley, Stanford's autonomous, self-driving car, did a workout at the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose on Thursday, and members of the media were there to watch.

-- Tom

[lotuseclat79]

Online e-expo features more than 100 university robotics labs.

In an effort to bring together the top academic robotics labs under one roof, a project called EXPO21XX has created an online exhibition to showcase the diversity in today's robotics research. At one website, robotics researchers and enthusiasts can view the projects underway in more than 100 university robotics labs from around the world.


One of the robots at EXPO21xx: ECCCEROBOT (Embodied Cognition in a Compliantly Engineered Robot), which was designed by researchers at the AI Lab at the University of Zurich. Credit: University of Zurich.

-- Tom

[lotuseclat79]

Carnegie Mellon releases ROBOTC2.0 programming language for educational robots.

Carnegie Mellon University's Robotics Academy announces the release of ROBOTC2.0®, a programming language for robots and an accompanying suite of training tools that are easy enough for elementary students to use, but powerful enough for college-level engineering courses.

-- Tom

[Gabriel]

This is awesome...watch this robot fold towels...

http://content.usatoday.com/communit...t-do-windows/1

[lotuseclat79]

Bountiful 'bots: National Robotics Week arrives this weekend.

The inaugural National Robotics Week , which kicks off Saturday and lasts through April 18 (apparently, a robot's week doesn't start on Sunday like ours does), aims to recognize the role that robots play worldwide in agriculture, healthcare, manufacturing, national defense and security , and transportation.

-- Tom

[ekim68]

Cocaine-hunting robot chopper in 60kg bust seizure

Vid An unmanned kill-chopper operating from a US Navy warship has notched up its first drug bust while still in testing, according to reports.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04...re_scout_bust/

[lotuseclat79]

Dispatches from FIRST Robotics Championship (w/2 videos).

If you can't go to FIRST, FIRST comes to you

-- Tom

[lotuseclat79]

Archive Gallery: Vintage Robots.

21 vintage robots! Original article link to "Mechanical Men Walk and Talk" in Popular Science Monthly, December 1928 issue.

-- Tom

[lotuseclat79]

Programming Your Own Thought-Controlled Robot (9 web pages).

-- Tom

[ekim68]

Virginia Tech engineering students build CHARLI, a full-sized humanoid robot

He is a 5-foot tall humanoid robot built by graduate and undergraduate students with the Virginia Tech College of Engineering’s Robotics and Mechanisms Laboratory (RoMeLa).

After a long moment, CHARLI comes to a rest. An audible “Whew!” is heard from CHARLI’s main architect, doctoral student Jeakweon (“J.K.”) Han. Dennis Hong, associate professor of mechanical engineering and director of RoMeLa, can’t resist a joke.

“One small step for a robot, one giant leap for robotics,” he shouted.

http://www.vt.edu/spotlight/innovati...rli-robot.html

[ekim68]

Eyes flashing, robot conducts wedding in Tokyo

TOKYO -- Almost everyone stood when the bride walked down the aisle in her white gown, but not the wedding conductor, because she was bolted to her chair.

The nuptials at this ceremony were led by "I-Fairy," a 4-foot (1.5-meter) tall seated robot with flashing eyes and plastic pigtails. Sunday's wedding was the first time a marriage had been led by a robot, according to manufacturer Kokoro Co.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=artslot