Starship’s autonomous rover is a battery-powered wheeled machine designed to run on sidewalks. It can carry up to 20 pounds of food — eight pizzas or a combination of pizzas, sides, drinks and dessert products — per delivery, kept inside a cargo hold. Customers can unlock that cargo hold with a code sent to their phones.
via Engadget</ … Read More → "Domino’s delivers pizza in Europe with wheeled drones"
An international competition is coming up in Toulouse, France at the end of next month, but it’s not a very big one. It’s microscopic, in fact. Organized by CNRS (the National Center for Scientific Research), the Nanocar Race will see four “cars” each made up of about a hundred atoms, racing against one another on a -270 ºC (-454 ºF) gold track that’s just 100 nanometers long – … Read More → "World’s smallest car race will take place on a gold chip"
Artificial intelligence will be the main way that banks interact with their customers within the next three years, a report from consultancy Accenture has suggested.
Banks such as Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are increasingly using chatbots to answer customer queries.
The report examined the views of 600 bankers and other experts.
Don’t let that headline give you any crazy ideas: this isn’t about some kind of horror-inspired Frankensalad. Scientists are simply capitalizing on plants’ robust natural vein structure, which may someday let them grow human heart tissue for transplant. The researchers published their findings online in the journal Biomaterials.
The organ transplant process in use … Read More → "Scientists grow human heart cells in spinach leaves"
It’s challenging for shippers to check the quality of fruit on its way to your grocery store. Most sensors won’t reflect the conditions inside the boxes, and plucking a sample isn’t going to give you a comprehensive look. That’s where some Swiss researchers might come to the rescue. They’ve created artificial, sensor-packed fruit whose composition is enough like the real thing to provide an accurate … Read More → "Sensor-laden fake fruit ensures you get fresh produce"
This is a video demonstration of the LEGO Super Mario Piranha Plant built by Jason Allemann of JK Brickworks (previously: his flying bat model). It was actually pretty interesting to hear him discuss the design challenges of making the piranha plant chomp properly.
via Geekologie</ … Read More → "A battery powered chomping Super Mario piranha plant made from LEGO"
In honor of the 40th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the 25th anniversary of VSA arts of Georgia, an amazingly improvisational robotic marimba player named Shimon took the stage at Kennedy Center and performed several songs with a talented jazz band. Also accompanying … Read More → "An improvisational robotic marimba player performs onstage with a talented jazz band"
A GIF counts as a deadly weapon, a Texas grand jury has agreed this week. The decision came as part of the case against John Rayne Rivello, who stands accused of sending a flashing GIF to journalist Kurt Eichenwald in a bid to cause an epileptic seizure. The GIF in question was classed as an assault weapon in an indictment against Rivello, issued on Monday by a Dallas grand jury and the US Department of Justice.
via Read More → "US grand jury decides that a GIF counts as a deadly weapon in Twitter seizure case"
Now, a team of MIT researchers has gone outside the human body in its chip enthusiasm and put an entire tree on a chip, sort of. The development could lead to improved hydraulics in tiny robots and maybe even allow them to be powered by simple sugar cubes.
Modeling elements from biology on chips allows scientists to run experiments, test out treatments … Read More → "Tree on a chip could lead to sugar-powered robots"
Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have been analyzing old films of nuclear weapons tests, using more modern equipment to get more accurate data. As they go through the thousands of old films, they’ve found many hadn’t been properly stored for long-term preservation, so they are digitizing the collection. Physicist Greg Spriggs said that about 6500 films have been found, 750 have been declassified, and this week, 63 of them … Read More → "Previously classified nuclear test videos now on YouTube"
