dfki

EO car explores power-sharing platoons

HANOVER, Germany--The future of cars--or at least one possible future of cars--is on display here at CeBIT.

The Robotics Innovation Center at the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) is showing off an electric-car prototype designed to test new technologies.

For one thing, the car can lengthen itself and lower the profile of its podlike passenger compartment when it's time for fast driving, then shorten its wheelbase when it's time for tight-turning urban driving. For another, it can toe its tires in as much as 90 degrees, letting it rotate in place or drive sideways for painless … Read more

Sweet! Qkies are edible QR codes

We see QR codes everywhere these days, from advertisements to print cartridge packaging. However, you may soon find yourself biting into a QR-coded cookie.

Meet the Qkie.

The brainchild of a German food company, Juchem Gruppe, and DFKI, the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence, the Qkie's QR code can be scanned to open up a link to a Web site, a love note, or even a party invitation (as seen in the video below). … Read more

German Fembot AILA: No mouth, but great hair

As the glamour shot illustrates, German fembot AILA is pretty tasty. Curvy in all the right places, big doe eyes not seen since Zooey Deschanel, and a modern haircut that shows she's got an awesome music collection. Shame she has no legs.

AILA, who just made an appearance at the Hannover Messe 2010 trade show, is the product of DFKI Bremen, which uses SemProM (Semantic Product Memory) to give her the ability to grab hold of objects, recognizing them with her two laser range finders, stereo vision, and 3D camera.

She's also got an RFID reader, which scans … Read more