Robotics

Building a sensitive robot, and perhaps a future politician?

There are few formalities more terrifying than the prospect of having to shake hands with a potentially miscalibrated robot. If it misinterprets the size of your hand, it could end up crushing a few phalanges and create an embarrassing scene for both machine and master.

Boston-based MIT spin-off Robot Rebuilt is working on a solution by creating a more sensitive, perhaps even more gentle robot hand.

Eduardo Torres-Jara first began working on a robot named Obrero that is capable of sensitive manipulation at MIT, and now he's in the process of striking out on his own with a successor bot named Tactico that's even more in touch with its (tactile) feelings.… Read more

This quadrotor flies -- and rolls -- over just about anything

We've seen how flying quadrotors can form spectacular displays in the sky, but what if they could roll along the ground too?

Engineers at the Illinois Institute of Technology's Robotics Lab have been developing a power-efficient machine that can move on land and air. It also happens to be extremely Crave-worthy. … Read more

Killer robots? Cambridge brains to assess AI risk

Remember the cuddly Furby? Imagine it's grown a killer case (literally) of artificial intelligence and decides your house and your family are far better than its own, and decides to murder you for it.

OK, so researchers think that such a scenario is a "flakey concern" and wildly far-fetched. Still, the U.K.'s University of Cambridge is setting up a new center to analyze the dangers posed by artificial intelligence and increasingly non-human interactive machines.

Founded by distinguished philosophy professor Huw Price, cosmology and astrophysics professor Martin Reess and Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, the project will … Read more

No dummy: This mannequin is spying on you

When you're maxing your credit card on Black Friday, creepy store mannequins might actually be eying you.

Retailers are deploying mannequins equipped with cameras that watch for shoplifters and record shopper behavior to improve sales.

The EyeSee mannequin from Italy's Almax SpA is being used with facial-recognition software that can identify the age, race, and gender of shoppers and record how long they spend around a display. Almax says the technology doesn't violate shoppers' privacy. … Read more

3D book scanner eyes novels at 250 pages per minute

As we progress further into the Digital Age, many believe it's important to preserve our printed past.

Dai Nippon Printing announced today an astounding machine that can scan books at a blazing rate of 250 pages per minute. The Japanese company co-developed the book scanner -- which it claims is the world's fastest -- with University of Tokyo Professors Masatoshi Ishikawa and Yoshihiro Watanabe. … Read more

Sphero, the iPhone-controlled ball, needs a companion

NEW YORK --Sphero rolled, danced, and lit up like a Christmas tree.

In Union Square here on Saturday night, marketers from Orbotix, makers of the ball that owners can control remotely with their iPhones and Android devices, dazzled crowds by showing off how their product can be programmed to move in a sort of synchronized ballet (video at bottom).

If you're thinking this may be the right holiday gift for the gadget nerd who has everything, note that buying multiple balls won't be cheap. On Amazon, the Sphero retails for $130.… Read more

Mars radiation fine for humans, Curiosity finds

"Now, this is the plan. Get your ass to Mars."

We all remember Schwarzenegger motivating himself to go to the Red Planet in "Total Recall" (anyone bother watching the remake?) and sure we'd like to go too. Now NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has determined that radiation levels on the planet's surface are safe for human explorers.

"The astronauts can live in this environment," Don Hassler, principal investigator on Curiosity's Radiation Assessment Detector instrument (RAD), told a news conference.

"Basically, we're finding that the Mars atmosphere is acting as a shield for the radiation on the surface and as the atmosphere gets thicker, that provides more of a shield and therefore we see a dip in our radiation dose," Hassler said.

The findings mark the first time that cosmic rays have been measured on the surface of another planet, and come 100 years after Victor Hess discovered cosmic rays on Earth by using a hot-air balloon.… Read more

DARPA SpaceView enlists amateur astronomers

DARPA today announced a new approach to tracking the increasing population of space debris: crowdsourcing. The SpaceView program will reach out to amateur astronomers in helping to protect satellites from what NASA estimates is more than 500,000 pieces of hazardous space debris orbiting the Earth. It's a low-cost way to both improve the scope of the space coverage and better protect assets in space, some of which are satellites providing mission-critical combat support. Decomissioned satellites, spent rocket stages, aluminum oxide slag, and lost tools make up some of the half million pieces of debris -- and the Space … Read more

Futurist Ray Kurzweil on smartphones, AI, and the human brain

MARANA, Ariz.--Inventor, author, and futurist Ray Kurzweil took to the stage here at the Techonomy conference in Tucson to offer his thoughts on a future where humanity is enhanced by technology.

Kurzweil spoke to Techonomy founder David Kirkpatrick about his new book on human thought, "How to Create a Mind," and the various themes that stem from it. Their talk was varied and at times scattered -- with a topic this big, you can imagine the temptation of tangents -- but Kurzweil had a few choice things to say along the way.

The highlights:

• "I'… Read more