Archive for the 'Rise of the Machines' Category
Japan’s Newest Popstar Outed as CGI Creation
June 29th, 2011Via: Vigilant Citizen: Aimi Eguchi, the latest star of the popular girl band AKB 48, told fans on her website that she was a normal 16-year-old from Saitama Prefecture, north of Tokyo who enjoyed track and field sports. Her cute features made her a fan favorite and quickly created a buzz. … Miss Eguchi blogged […]
Google Gets Driverless Car Law Passed in Nevada
June 26th, 2011Via: PhysOrg: The savvy among you may remember that back in May we told you about Google’s attempts to get the Nevada state legislature to consider allowing users to driver UGV, or unmanned ground vehicles, that are more popularly know as self-driving cars on the states roads. At the time it seemed like an interesting […]
DARPA: Mind’s Eye Program
June 23rd, 2011Via: SRI: SRI International is leading a team to design a visual intelligence system, known as VIGIL (Visual Intelligence Grounded in Learning), to enable a new era in unmanned robotic surveillance. The SRI team is being funded through the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA’s) Mind’s Eye program. VIGIL will be integrated with other […]
At New NYC Hotel, a Robot Handles the Luggage
June 22nd, 2011Via: AP: Forget the bellhop. Meet the luggage robot. It’s the first of several high-tech, sleek amenities guests encounter at the Yotel, a new hotel that aims to provide a trendy stay at an affordable price. … The 20-foot-tall robotic arm at the entrance automatically stores bags in lockers for guests who want to wonder […]
NATO’s First Combat Casualty of the War in Libya Was a Robot
June 22nd, 2011Via: Wired: NATO has suffered its first apparent combat casualty of the three-month-old war in Libya. And it’s a robot. Wing Cmdr. Mike Bracken said the alliance lost contact with the unmanned rotorcraft this morning. “This drone helicopter was performing intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance over Libya to monitor pro-Gadhafi forces threatening the civilian population,” Bracken […]
Hiding Surveillance and Killer Drones in Plain Sight
June 20th, 2011Via: New York Times: Two miles from the cow pasture where the Wright Brothers learned to fly the first airplanes, military researchers are at work on another revolution in the air: shrinking unmanned drones, the kind that fire missiles into Pakistan and spy on insurgents in Afghanistan, to the size of insects and birds. The […]
The Secret History of Boeing’s Killer Drone
June 7th, 2011Via: Wired: When the pilotless, wing-shaped warplane lifted off a runway at California’s Edwards Air Force Base for the first time on the morning of April 27, it was like the resurrection of the dead. The Boeing Phantom Ray — one of the most advanced drones ever built — came close to never flying at […]
Flashback 1969: GE Walking Truck
June 2nd, 2011Look familiar?
Robot Juggles Five Billiard Balls at Once
May 30th, 2011The audio is the chilling part. Via: io9: This a robotic juggler built by the Department of Control Engineering at Prague’s Czech Technical University. Researchers have taught this machine to lob and catch five billiard balls all on its own. It’ll someday do the same with our skulls.
Presidential Signature for Patriot Act Extension Carried Out by Robot
May 28th, 2011I couldn’t make it up if I tried.
