Thursday, December 10, 2009

Monkey controls robot arm by thought alone

Researchers Hope to Mass-Produce Tiny Robots


Researchers Hope to Mass-Produce Tiny Robots: "(PhysOrg.com) -- Tiny robots the size of a flea could one day be mass-produced, churned out in swarms and programmed for a variety of applications, such as surveillance, micromanufacturing, medicine, cleaning, and more. In an effort to reach this goal, a recent study has demonstrated the initial tests for fabricating microrobots on a large scale.

The researchers, from institutes in Sweden, Spain, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland, explain that their building approach marks a new paradigm of robot development in microrobotics. The technique involves integrating an entire robot - with communication, locomotion, energy storage, and electronics - in different modules on a single circuit board. In the past, the single-chip robot concept has presented significant limitations in design and manufacturing. However, instead of using solder to mount electrical components on a printed circuit board as in the conventional method, the researchers use conductive adhesive to attach the components to a double-sided flexible printed circuit board using surface mount technology. The circuit board is then folded to create a three-dimensional robot."

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From xkcd - A Webcomic - Suspicion: "http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/suspicion.png"

RI-MAN And Roujin-Z Robots: Elder Care Fact And Fiction : Science Fiction in the News


RI-MAN And Roujin-Z Robots: Elder Care Fact And Fiction : Science Fiction in the News: "RI-MAN, a five-foot tall humanoid robot, is the latest in a series of prototype robots intended to assist with one of Japan's most pressing problems; the care of its older citizens. RI-MAN can see and follow movement, it can hear and process commands - it can even smell odors that might be relevant to health care."

Futurologist Vernor Vinge on the Singularity

Futurologist Ray Kurzweil discusses the Singularity

Intel says shape-shifting robots closer to reality

Intel says shape-shifting robots closer to reality: "Imagine a day when you can make your cell phone smaller to fit more comfortably in your pocket, then make it larger so you can text more easily.

Now, imagine that you could make your cell phone take the shape of a headset when you want to talk on it or re-shape it like a bracelet so you can wear it while jogging."

RFID 'Powder' - World's Smallest RFID Tag: Science Fiction in the News


RFID 'Powder' - World's Smallest RFID Tag: Science Fiction in the News

The world's smallest and thinnest RFID tags were introduced by Hitachi. Tiny miracles of miniaturization, these RFID chips (Radio Frequency IDentification chips) measure just 0.05 x 0.05 millimeters.

The previous record-holder, the Hitachi mu-chip, is just 0.4 x 0.4 millimeters. Take a look at the size of the mu-chip RFID tag on a human fingertip. That is 60 times BIGGER than the new Hitachi chips.