Insect Spy Drone. Claim: Photograph shows an insect spy drone that can take photographs and DNA samples.
Example:[Collected via e-mail, August 2012] Is this a mosquito? No. It's an insect spy drone for urban areas, already in production, funded by the US Government. It can be remotely controlled and is equipped with a camera and a microphone. Origins: One of the current areas of research reportedly being undertaken in the scientific/military field is the development of micro air vehicles (MAVs), tiny flying objects intended to go places that cannot be (safely) reached by humans or other types of equipment.
Some efforts in MAV research have involved trying to mimic birds or flying insects to achieve flight capabilities not attainable through other means of aerial propulsion. Wingspan was displayed at a robotics conference, in 2008 the U.S. The US government has been accused of secretly developing robotic insect spies amid reports of bizarre flying objects hovering in the air above protests. United Nations - A-HRC-23-47_en.pdf. Killer Robots: UN Report Urges Ban, Opposes Life-Or-Death Powers Over Humans.
Killer robots that can attack targets without any human input "should not have the power of life and death over human beings," a new draft U.N. report says.
The report for the U.N. Human Rights Commission posted online this week deals with legal and philosophical issues involved in giving robots lethal powers over humans, echoing countless science-fiction novels and films. The debate dates to author Isaac Asimov's first rule for robots in the 1942 story "Runaround:" ''A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. " Report author Christof Heyns, a South African professor of human rights law, calls for a worldwide moratorium on the "testing, production, assembly, transfer, acquisition, deployment and use" of killer robots until an international conference can develop rules for their use. His findings are due to be debated at the Human Rights Council in Geneva on May 29. — The U.S. On the Web: Will robots create new jobs when they take over existing ones?
Baxter (credit: Rethink Robotics) At a robotics industry event organized by business blog Xconomy in Menlo Park last week, people working on better industrial robots claimed their robotics technology will actually boost the U.S. economy and create more jobs, even if some jobs do disappear forever, MIT Technology Review reports.
“We’re replacing jobs that people don’t want to do and really shouldn’t be doing,” said Aldo Zini, whose company Aethon makes wheeled robots that ferry medicines, food trays, and garbage around hospital corridors so people don’t have to. Human workers who do those jobs often develop repetitive-stress or back injuries and frequently quit, said Zini. In some cases, better robots will simply be tools for existing workers, not replacements, added Aaron Edsinger, CTO of Redwood Robotics, a company working on making robotic arms cheaper. “We think of it as industrial augmentation to make workers more efficient,” he said. Keller Rinaudo: A mini robot. Six Of The Best Robot Videos Of Lego Mindstorms NXT. Lego The success of Lego’s Mindstorms NXT has been one of the main contributing factors to the widespread interest in robotics.
NXT enthusiasts of all ages have created some of the coolest designs, even capturing the attention of engineers who develop industrial robots. Now, Lego has announced that the third generation of its NXT bot, dubbed EV3, will be available this August and will be easier than ever for anyone to get into building new bots. To celebrate, we thought we’d take a look at the best NXT bots to come out in the last few years. Paper Airplane Maker: Recently, NXT user hknssn13 posted a video showing paper airplane making machine. Articulated Robot Hand: Robotic hands have long been of interest as prosthetics or to make humanoid robots. 360° Milling Machine: Back in 2011, Brazilian engineer Arthur Sacek designed a 3D milling machine for ZOOM Lego for Education. Cubestormer II: One of the most exciting videos of 2010 was CubeStormer, the Rubik’s Cube solving robot.
Machine-Human Interaction. Robotic Vehicles. Medical Robotics. Industrial Robotics. Assistive Robotics.