This video was posted suspiciously close to April Fools’ Day and e-mailed to our tips inbox suspiciously nonchalantly. I don’t care. I want it to be real.
via Time/Tech
… Read More → "I don’t care if it’s not real: Bubba Watson’s hovercraft golf cart"
Senior software architect at The New York Times, Jacob Harris, built a ‘Haiku Bot’ that scans through newly published articles in The New York Times for haikus.
Published in the Tumblr Haiku.NyTimes.com, the five-seven-five syllabled found gems are short snippets of articles—and though they’re out of context, they provide an entertaining and whimsical point of … Read More → "New York Times builds Haiku-Bot, turns news headlines into poetry"
Last time we saw DARPA’s Autonomous Robotic Manipulation testbed robot, it grabbed one of our cameras by the face. That was fun, but it’s not especially practical. Now, this—this is practical: using some low-cost (sub-$3,000) hands from iRobot and Sandia National Labs, the robot can now autonomously use tools to mostly change a car tire… </ … Read More → "DARPA ARM robot can now change your tires (video)"
Glowing bacteria that live in the light-generating organs of the tiny bobtail squid play a key role in determining the animal’s circadian rhythms — the natural cycles that help determine when a creature sleeps, wakes, and eats — according to a study published this week in the journal mBio. It’s the first time a symbiotic bacteria has been found to determine the daily habits of its host, and could offer … Read More → "Symbiotic bacteria tell squid when to hunt, when to sleep"
… Read More → "The easter egg hunt on the International Space Station"Cmdr. Chris Hadfield on board the International Space Station tweeted, “Don’t tell my crew, but I brought them Easter Eggs.” The Easter Bunny delivers, no matter how far he needs to travel.
via Neatorama
The postal service “La Poste Groupe” is using Auvergne, France as a test province for a new drone delivery program that will employ Parrot quadricopters to deliver local papers. Tests officially begin in May and will consist of 20 drones being controlled by 20 postal workers from iOS or Android devices. The goal is for the system to be ready for 7am deliveries.
via Gizmodo</ … Read More → "Drones could replace eager youths on paper routes"
Insects are masters of the swarm. Bugs like bees and termites and ants manage to do all sorts of complicated and productive things, despite the fact that on an individual level, each insect is really not that smart. The manifestation of complex behaviors from simple systems is appealing to roboticists who otherwise have to try to figure out all kinds of complicated localization and navigation tricks all by themselves. Researchers from the New Jersey … Read More → "Robot ants blaze trails with pheromones of light (video)"
Amid the growing swarm of small commercial drones being launched into the skies these days, Festo’s new dragonfly-inspired BionicOpter truly stands out. Equipped with four independently adjustable, motorized wings made from carbon fiber and foil, the ultra-lightweight craft (less than a third of a pound) is capable of flying backwards, moving laterally, hovering in place, and gliding. Essentially, it seeks to combine the best features of a … Read More → "Dragonfly drone beats wings, flies backward like the real thing (video)"
The Solar Impulse has defied all expectations in its short four-year life.
First, the solar-powered airplane got off the ground in 2010 and stayed aloft for a total of 87 minutes without using a drop of fuel; then, it completed its first international flight traveling from its home of Switzerland to Brussels in about 13 hours. By its first birthday, the plane met the goal of staying aloft … Read More → "Solar plane to embark on coast-to-coast U.S. tour"
Last week at the Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok authorities arrested a Thai man after discovering 54 Ploughshare Tortoises in a suitcase he retrieved from a luggage carousel. That’s a lot of tortoises, particularly when you consider that the Ploughshare is one of the rarest species on the planet, numbering just 400 around the world.
</ … Read More → "A man was caught smuggling almost 14 percent of an entire species"
via Gizmodo
