My, my, my how the tables have turned. The past few years have seen countless human jobs filled with our less-whiny robot counterparts. But it turns out that, at least for Toyota, the pros of total automation haven’t outweighed the cons. Meaning human factory workers are back in business.
It’s … Read More → "Suck it, robots: Toyota is giving jobs back to humans"
According to Sean Andrist from the University of Wisconsin Madison, robots need to look away sometimes. Eye contact provides a basis for human social communication (which is why we seek to implement it in robots), but there’s a sweet spot for the amount of time we spend gazing into each other’s eyes.
In a conversation, humans don’t look at each other 100 percent of the time, says Andrist. When listening, we … Read More → "What robot behavior makes people feel uncomfortable?"
When James Chang was a surgical resident at Stanford Medical School, he liked to visit the sculpture garden at the nearby Cantor Arts Center. The museum happens to have one of the world’s best collections of work by Auguste Rodin, including a giant bronze cast of The Gates of Hell. Following his two young daughters around as they ran through the garden, it dawned on him that the hands on some of Rodin& … Read More → "The real medical conditions behind the deformed hands in Rodin’s sculptures"
Patrons of the Vue Cinema in Exeter, England were unfortunately unable to catch the first screening of Noah last Friday. But divine intervention (or a broken ice machine) still gave them plenty to talk about.
A spokesperson for the cinema explained to the Exeter Express & Echo, “We can confirm that there was flooding at Vue Exeter on Friday 4th April […] We are open for business … Read More → "Screening of Noah cancelled after theater floods"
Tiny medical robots capable of operating inside an astronaut’s body could someday provide emergency surgery in space without the mess. A fist-sized robot is scheduled for its first zero-gravity test in the next several months—one small step toward enabling robotic medical attention for humans stuck on deep-space missions lasting for months.
</ … Read More → "Small robot surgeon designed to work inside astronauts’ bodies"
via IEEE Spectrum
Sometimes nature is the best inspiration for a robot. And if you’re looking to mimic an animal, what better choice than the kangaroo? German company Festo has done just that with its aptly-named BionicKangaroo, which has some impressive robotics behind its adorable looks.
Similar to a kangaroo, the robot has a “tendon” in its leg that propels it forward and recaptures energy on landing. Pneumatics … Read More → "Robotic kangaroo borrows its bouncy moves from the real thing"
Windows XP is supposed to be dead next week. But the Dutch and British governments have both inked deals with Microsoft to continue to keep it on life support, at least for them—under Microsoft’s Custom Support program.
On Wednesday, ComputerWeekly reported that the UK government agreed to pay Microsoft £5.548 million (approximately $9.1 million) for continued support of Windows XP, Office 2003, and Exchange 2003 for all British public sector customers. On Friday, the Dutch government cut its own “multi-million Euro” deal with Microsoft for custom XP support of … Read More → "Not dead yet: Dutch, British governments pay to keep Windows XP alive"
One of the alluring features of the Tesla Model S electric luxury sedan is its always-on 3G 4Gcellular connection and built-in Internet browser.
But have you ever wondered what all those wealthy electric-car drivers are actually looking at on their in-car browsers?
Now we know. Or at least we have some data.
via Venture Beat</ … Read More → "Here’s what Tesla Model S drivers are really doing in their connected cars"
Hmm … Before The Internet (BTI) … we read lots of books, invited friends over to play board games, family puzzles, family TV shows, weekend BBQ’s with friends, family square dancing, local bingo, lots of shop projects, weekend road trips to anywhere/everywhere, AOL/BBS/Usenet flame wars, no phone calls (because of dialup AOL/BBS access), cycling/hiking/swimming/diving, lots of bowling, long hikes, drag/road/dirt-track racing, model rockets, RC cars/planes, school football/basketball/baseball, movies with friends at the drive-in theater, weekend flea-market, ham-fests, hardly anything was boring.
Now there just isn’t … Read More → "Hmm … Before The Internet (BTI"
How did Beethoven, Mozart, Freud, Dickens, Darwin, Le Corbusier or Benjamin Franklin managed to be so productive and create some of the most important work in the history of art and science? Check out this great visualization by Info We Trust and find solace in the fact that some of them didn’t actually work that much.
</ … Read More → "The daily schedules of the world’s greatest geniuses"
