advancing robotics

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Robot table tennis players designed in E China

A robot plays pingpong with a visiting journalist at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, east China's Zhejiang Province, Oct. 9, 2011. Two smart robots that are able to track the movements of a table tennis ball and play back through a motion control system equipped with a built-in camera and an intelligence processing unit were unveiled by a lab of Zhejiang University here Sunday.

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Robot beauty goes skin deep

...The artificial skin developed by Kao and Keio mimics the feel of human skin with a 1-cm thick "dermis" of elastic silicone covered by a 0.2-mm thick "epidermis" of firm urethane. Countless tiny hexagonal indentations etched into the urethane epidermis provide it with a very realistic texture.

In a series of unscientific tests, 10 out of 12 people who touched the skin thought it felt like human skin, while equipment designed to measure the mechanical properties of skin confirmed the artificial skin had characteristics resembling human skin.




MEART: the Machine that's Part Robot Part Rat

...MEART's 'brain' was grown from embryonic rat neurons over a Multi Electrode Array (MEA), hence the name - MEART. MEART´s information processing system is actually rat neurons cultivated in a laboratory and the output system is a robot arm which then draws this image (remember that beauty is in the eye of beholder) on canvas.

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Robotic prison wardens to patrol South Korean prison

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Ekso is the bionic exoskeleton that allows
wheelchair users to stand and walk.

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Pentagon’s Project ‘Avatar’: Same as the Movie, but With Robots Instead of Aliens


Russian Mogul’s Plan: Plant Our Brains in Robots, Keep Them Alive Forever

...After phase one of “Avatar,” however, Itskov’s ambitions arguably eclipse even those of the Pentagon’s maddest mad scientists. In 10 years, he anticipates “transplanting” a human mind into a robotic one. After that, Itskov wants to do away with surgical procedures and instead upload the contents of the mind into its brand new, artificial robo-body. And, last but not least, within 30 years Itskov anticipates developing hologram-type bodies — instead of tangible robotic ones — that can “host” human consciousness.

“Holograms give plenty of advantages. You can walk through walls, move at the speed of light,” he says. “Remember in Star Wars, Obi-Wan’s hologram? That was pretty amazing







“The tendency to turn human judgments into divine commands makes religion one of the most dangerous forces in the world.” ~ Georgia Harkness



MAKE WAR, NOT LOVE
SANTORUM GRAND INQUISITOR



Rick Santorum promises crackdown on pornography if elected

"Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum says he will ban pornography if elected president. He said America is suffering a "pandemic" of pornography, and that it is "toxic to marriages," and "contributes to misogyny and violence against women."...Santorum spoke about how his administration would approach the issue of contraceptives: "One of the things I will talk about, that no president has talked about before, is I think the dangers of contraception in this country. Many of the Christian faith have said, 'Well, that's okay, contraception is okay.' It's not okay."

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“Lettuce Bot” Rolls Through Crops, Terminates Weeds It Visually Identifies

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60 Minutes (video): Are Robots Hurting Job Growth?

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50138922n