An ominous plume of black smoke hangs over east London. The scarcely believable news arrives in snippets: A huge blast has rocked the Thames Barrier; a surge of water is ploughing through the city; a sports stadium has collapsed; more explosions are reported on Twitter. Thousands of people are trying to evacuate, but like the [...]
Self-replicating robots could be the solution to making first contact with an alien civilization. These proposed exobots could efficiently explore our local galactic neighborhood and help locate any extraterrestrials that may be sending radio signals in our direction. After 50 years of searching the heavens with radio telescopes and coming up empty, the SETI Institute’s [...]
Kevin Grennan created this Robot Armpit prototype. There’s more good stuff about his work with robots that smell scary in this We Make Money Not Art interview and profile, in honor of The Smell of Control: Fear, Focus, Trust, which deals with smell and robotics. “It was important to me that the odours and chemicals [...]
This robotic lander made staff in a NASA control room very happy when it launched, flew and landed itself autonomously. While that’s an impressive feat in itself, seeing the explosive launch in infrared is even more exciting. Part of the Robotic Lander Development Project at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, the prototype is [...]
At 13, Patrick is the youngest patient in the world to be fitted with a pioneering prosthetic arm. His father, Frank Kane, describes how it has changed his life On July 22 my 13-year-old son, Patrick, tied his shoelaces. It was a moving occasion. For the first time in his life he had performed this [...]
For 4,500 years, the Great Pyramid at Giza has enthralled, fascinated and ultimately frustrated everyone who has attempted to penetrate its secrets. Now a robotics team from Leeds University, working with Egypt’s Supreme Council of Antiquities, is preparing a machine which they hope will solve one of its enduring mysteries. The pyramid, known as the [...]
A group of engineers in Japan have begun planning a two-legged humanoid robot designed to walk to the surface of the moon, according to Japanese press reports. “We decided on a human-like robot because it’s more fascinating and stimulating for us,” said association director Hideo Sugimoto to the Daily Yomiuri newspaper. “We’ll make an attractive [...]
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