robotics

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Worker Inspecting a Robot Is Killed by It

South Korean man was testing robotic arm at produce distribution center when it grabbed him

(Newser) - Movies show us nightmare scenarios of artificial intelligence rising up and intentionally killing humans. That's not a reality, at least as far as we know. But accidents do happen, most recently in South Korea. On Wednesday, a robotics company employee was inspecting a robot used to move boxes at...

16 Hours, 27.4K Rolls of TP, and a Possible World Record

Michigan high school's robotics team hopes Guinness OKs world's tallest toilet paper pyramid

(Newser) - When Maxton Herst was a freshman at Michigan's Bullock Creek High School, he left YouTube on autoplay one day, and one of the videos that popped up showed something that piqued his interest: the world's tallest toilet-paper pyramid. Per MLive.com , he brought up the idea with fellow...

3 Win Tech's Nobel Prize for Work Once Deemed 'Nonsense'

Yoshua Bengio, Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun take home Turing Award for work in AI 'neural networks'

(Newser) - Computers have become so smart during the past 20 years that people don't think twice about chatting with digital assistants like Alexa and Siri or seeing their friends automatically tagged in Facebook pictures. But making those quantum leaps from science fiction to reality required hard work from computer scientists...

FDA: Beware Letting Robots Operate on You

'Survival benefits to patients when compared to traditional surgery have not been established'

(Newser) - On the plus side: Operations performed using minimally invasive robotic devices can help keep blood loss, pain, and infections to a minimum, reduce scarring, and shorten recovery times. On the minus side, per the Food and Drug Administration: Using these devices for mastectomies and other surgeries for cancers hasn't...

Barbie Has Her New Profession
Barbie Has Her
New Profession
Jun 26, 2018 12:07 PM CDT

Barbie Has Her New Profession

She's a robotics engineer

(Newser) - After stints in medicine and music mixing, Barbie is trying to her hand at robotics. Mattel's " career of the year " Barbie is a robotics engineer, complete with safety glasses, laptop, and robot accessories. Mattel also partnered with Tynker to include free coding lessons and a workbook on...

Chain Has New Employee— a Burger-Flipping Robot

Meet Flippy

(Newser) - Welcome to 2018: Robots are cooking hamburgers now. Fast-food chain CaliBurger is using a robot called Flippy at its Pasadena, Calif., location, KTLA reports. A human employee loads up the grill with raw burger patties, and Flippy uses thermal imaging, 3D and camera vision to detect the temperature and size...

Elon Musk, AI Experts Warn of 'Pandora's Box' of Weapons

Open letter asks for ban of autonomous 'killer robots'

(Newser) - Elon Musk's wariness on artificial intelligence is well documented, and he just stepped up his anti-robot efforts with a note to the United Nations. The Guardian reports that the Tesla CEO and Alphabet's Mustafa Suleyman, along with nearly 120 robotics and AI specialists from more than two dozen...

Father of Robotics Team Captain Killed by ISIS

Mohammed Asef Qaderyan was among 36 killed in Herat blast

(Newser) - The father of the captain of the Afghan girls' robotics team has been killed just weeks after one of the proudest moments of his life. Mohammed Asef Qaderyan, father of 14-year-old Fatemah Qaderyan, was among at least 36 people killed Tuesday night in a suicide bombing at a mosque in...

After Outcry, Afghan Girls Get Visa for Robotics Contest

The teens were repeatedly denied a visa

(Newser) - The Afghan girls are coming after all. In an about-face, US officials say the team can take part in an international robotics competition next week in Washington, DC, Politico reports. Even as the six girls struggled to build their robot, the US Embassy in Kabul twice denied their bid for...

US Won't Let Afghan Girls Attend Robotics Competition

Instead Team Afghanistan will watch their robot compete via Skype

(Newser) - "We want to show the world we can do it, we just need a chance," 14-year-old Fatemah says. Fatemah is one of six teen girls competing for Team Afghanistan in the FIRST Global Challenge robotics competition. Forbes reports the team traveled 500 miles from their home in Herat...

Toyota's Next Model Reaches for the Sky

Japanese automaker's 'flying car' isn't all it has planned

(Newser) - Toyota is working on a "flying car." The AP reports the startup backed by the Japanese automaker has developed a test model that engineers hope will eventually develop into a tiny car with a driver who'll be able to light the Olympic torch in the 2020 Tokyo...

Zuck's 2016 Challenge: Build AI Butler for His Home

He wants something like Iron Man 's Jarvis

(Newser) - Mark Zuckerberg has set himself a tough challenge for 2016: Create an electronic butler to make Mark Zuckerberg's life easier. The Facebook founder says he plans to "build a simple AI to run my home and help me with my work," which he likens to Jarvis in...

Marine Corps Gives Up on 'Robot Mule'
 Marines Scrap 'Robot Mule' 
Dec 31, 2015 4:12 AM CST

Marines Scrap 'Robot Mule'

The big one was too noisy and the small one was too weak

(Newser) - It obeys voice commands and can carry 400 pounds of equipment over rugged terrain for 24 hours—but it sounds like a lawn mower, and US Marines worried that it could get them killed. The Marine Corps has shelved the Legged Squad Support System "robotic mule" developed by Google'...

IKEA Furniture Is Tricky for Robots, Too
 IKEA Furniture Is 
 Tricky for Robots, Too 
study says
Sep 30, 2015 12:36 PM CDT

IKEA Furniture Is Tricky for Robots, Too

But researchers are determined to get a robot to put together an entire chair

(Newser) - Most humans find IKEA furniture assembly infuriatingly difficult ... and it turns out robots aren't much better at the task. In a new study out of the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, researchers find that "fine robotic assembly, in which the parts to be assembled are small and fragile...

Robot Mowers Coming to a Lawn Near You

FCC approves automated device from makers of Roomba

(Newser) - Having a Roomba mow your lawn may not be too far off after an FCC decision yesterday. iRobot's robotic mower received the go-ahead from the communications agency—a big step toward US sales, reports Reuters . The company says its device communicates wirelessly with stakes in the user's yard...

Technology's Top Minds Warn Against Killer Robots

They fear autonomous weapons will lead to AI arms race

(Newser) - Good news, humanity: A group of people capable of creating a truly fearsome army of killer robots have made it clear that they're firmly opposed to the concept of "offensive autonomous weapons." An open letter warning against a "military artificial intelligence arms race" was signed by...

Why Seahorses Have 'Square' Tails

They help them grip coral and seaweed and protect from predator bites

(Newser) - A seahorse's tail is a bizarre one in the animal kingdom because it's square—or more precisely, it's made up of about three dozen "square plates," explains Gizmodo . Why? Researchers set out to discover just that with a method that sounds, well, pretty fun: They...

Robot Travels as Airline Passenger

LAX says Athena's journey is a first

(Newser) - No danger of this passenger experiencing an episode of nut rage : In what Los Angeles International Airport says is an aviation first, a robot traveled as a paying passenger on Monday, sitting in an economy-class seat of its own on a Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt, Germany, Reuters reports. "Athena,...

How a Paralyzed Groom Walked Down the Aisle

Matt Ficarra relied on a bionic exoskeleton

(Newser) - There weren't many dry eyes when Matt Ficarra walked down the aisle with his new wife, Jordan Basile—and not just because the occasion was his wedding. The Syracuse, NY, man has been paralyzed from his chest down since he broke his neck in a boating accident in 2011....

Google Robot Wins Pentagon Competition

Completes Fukushima-inspired obstacle course

(Newser) - One of Google's recent robotics acquisitions cruised to victory in a Pentagon obstacle course meant to simulate a robot rescue. The Schaft robot, by a Japanese firm Google recently bought, was the top scorer in the eight-task event, held Friday and Saturday, the BBC reports. Coming in second was...

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