When I saw this video of a totally awesome cake (with a brilliant Futureheads sound track) I just HAD to post. This frankly amazing cake is from the Threadless Threadcake competition, and a winner at that!
And last but not least here is the t-shirt it recreated:
Every now and then the BBC News throws up a gem like this:
A future in which robots help around the home could prove harmful to humans, suggests a study (read more):
German researchers studied what happens in accidents involving robots using sharp tools alongside humans. They used a robot arm holding a variety of bladed tools programmed to strike test substances that mimic soft tissue. In some cases, the researchers found, the robots managed to accidentally inflict wounds that would prove “lethal”.
These are terrifying and some of the images show slightly questionable poses – in fact to be honest they scare me to a ridiculous extent, it is like Island of the Dolls in 2050!
This terrifying beast is “Diego-san” who was designed to help researchers study how infants develop motor skills during the first year of life.
In “addition to providing clues about how infants interact with the physical world, researchers will also use the robot to explore how babies acquire and refine the ability to use nonverbal communication such as gestures and facial expressions”.
Could they not have just studied a real baby or is that just me?..
This robotic patient, on display in Tokyo exhibits, symptoms of Swine Flu to aid in training.
In addition human-like skin, the robot sweats, convulses, moans, cries tears, and exhibits symptoms not unlike a real human patient infected with the H1N1 virus. If the robot does not receive the proper treatment, the symptoms gradually worsen until yes it stops breathing.
Of course there is a video and here it is:
Lrry (pron: Larry) is a cloven-hooved, two-legged, half-donkey, half-raptor-type-reptile. The genius behind this machine is Lyle Rowell (e-mail him here) – you can check out more of this work over on his website.
I was just looking at some stuff for my friend Sam Haggarty who makes simply the best sculptures, and I came across this set of ‘Larry Images’ I just had to share. Like Sam, Lrry (& his creater Lyle Rowell) are part of the Mutoid Waste Company who are currently gearing up for Mutate Britain 2. Bring it on!
HRP-4C, the robot created by Japan’s AIST, has made her first professional runway appearance at a fashion show, of course she was the bride!
Her catwalk appearance included various poses, including the classic sideways audience glance. To be fair she looked like a blow up doll and Billy Jean, by Michael Jackson, was an interesting choice of music it has to be said!
These robot dudes are incredible, and nice touch with the Einstein vibe.
In this instance, Einstein is a robot which has taught itself to smile, frown, and make other human facial expressions. It’s all done using machine learning.
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Whilst previously researchers used to have to program the robot, computer scientists from the Machine Perception Laboratory at the University of California (San Diego) have used machine learning to enable the robot to learn expressions on its own. Part of this involved sticking Einstein in front of a mirror but of course it is a lot more complicated than that, scientists & geeks click here for a full explanation.
I have said it before and I will say it again – medical equipment sites are an endless source of wonder… I would suggest that the video is well worth a look, I’ve made worse.
