FDA approves first autonomous telemedicine robot for use in hospitals
The robot is ready to diagnose you.
When a Robot Signs a Bill
By Brian ResnickYesterday, the president was in Hawaii but the recently passed fiscal-cliff deal was in Washington. How could the presidential signature be affixed to the bill to make it law? Obama signed it via a robot, the autopen.
Here’s a brief history of the gadget. (Did you know Thomas Jefferson was the first president to use it?)
Just want to point out that this robotic pen is literally signing its John Hancock (look closely at the photo).
So, this is a robot that builds burritos. But before you laugh about this, there’s apparently a noble cause at play, according to creator and NYU grad student Marko Manriquez:
Because the burrito is a mass market consumable, it lends easily as a way for examining and stimulating discussion on various aspects of the food industry including: how and where our food is grown, methods of production, environmental impact, cultural appropriation and perhaps most importantly – what our food means to us. By parodying the humble burrito’s ingredients and methods of production we can shed light on these exogenous factors and interconnected systems surrounding the simple burrito.
Or in other words, ”It’s digital gastronomy for the hungry masses.” Now you can laugh. (ht TechCrunch)
NASA says everything’s on schedule for SpaceX’s world-first commercial robotic flight to the International Space Station, currently scheduled for April 30. The flight is a test of sorts, for SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft’s capabilities, and the company’s ability to deliver on the promise of unmanned transportation of goods to/from the ISS. If all goes to plan, SpaceX officials hope to begin regular deliveries for NASA by the end of 2012. (Photo by Robert Goodwin) source
Two words: “Robot Kinko’s.” That’s what a MIT robotics team led by Daniela Rus pitching, and her team just scored a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation to see if the idea’s feasible or not. Would you go to a store and build your own robot with the help of easy-to-use templates, and pick up the 3D printing a couple days later? Sounds neat, whatever the case may be.
I like to know I’m writing for a real flesh-and-blood reader who is excited by the words on the page. I’m sure children feel the same way.Harvard College Writing Program director Thomas Jehn • Fathoming the idea of automated essay grading — essentially, essays graded by robots. The idea is getting pitched in a contest by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, which plans to offer $100,000 in prize money to any group of programmers that can figure out a way to automate the process of grading essays. We’re with Jehn: If students are spending all this time writing essays, it’s only right that the person on the other side of the coin is also a human being.
As if print journalism’s death knell wasn’t already loud enough, here’s a downright deafening new note that’s sure to make both print and online journalists reach for a pair of industrial earmuffs.
But before we have a listen, read this first:
Newt Gingrich received the largest increase in Tweets about him today. Twitter activity associated with the candidate has shot up since yesterday, with most users tweeting about taxes and character issues. Newt Gingrich has been consistently popular on Twitter, as he has been the top riser on the site for the last four days. Conversely, the number of tweets about Ron Paul has dropped in the past 24 hours. Another traffic loser was Rick Santorum, who has also seen tweets about him fall off a bit.
Sounds a little stodgy, wooden and robotic for my liking. Well, that’s not surprising, considering it was written by a robot.
Robots do not have the soul real journalists do. Well, except our mascot, Julius the Laid-off RSS Robot. He has tons of soul.
Despite the relatively benign story, everything about this—the headline, the positioning of the robot’s arms, the fact that the robot has its own Twitter account—has us doubting humankind’s continued reign of dominance on Earth. “I’m semi-autonomous,” Robonaut 2 (or “R2”) tweeted. “I require ground control, but I can also respond to my environment within controlled specifications.” Yeah, well, you say “controlled specifications,” we hear “I, Robot.” source
Taiwanese technology giant Foxconn will replace some of its workers with 1 million robots in three years to cut rising labor expenses and improve efficiency, said Terry Gou, founder and chairman of the company, late Friday.
The robots will be used to do simple and routine work such as spraying, welding and assembling which are now mainly conducted by workers, said Gou at a workers’ dance party Friday night.
The company currently has 10,000 robots and the number will be increased to 300,000 next year and 1 million in three years, according to Gou.
Don’t get us wrong. It’s probably better that a robot spray chemicals onto your iPad than a worker do it and risk getting sick. But considering the reputation that the company already carries, it makes you wince just a little bit knowing that they’re going to replace all those workers who got huge raises to discourage their suicides with robots. And they’re doing it because it’s affecting their bottom line.
EDIT: Note bolded phrase in middle of story.
Watch: PCB gets a visual shout out on GMA’s Yahoo/Tumblr...
Wrote a thing.
Hat tip to this headline writer.
Congrats Tumblr!
Don’t screw this up Yahoo.
In 2007, I was...
I started tumblr when I was at one of the lowest points of...
You might not know this, but one of my responsibilities as commander-in-chief is to keep an eye on robots. And I’m pleased to report that the robots you manufacture here seem peaceful. At least for now.President Barack Obama • Speaking at Carnegie Mellon University’s National Robotics Engineering Center yesterday. About robots. The president plans to launch an initiative that will invest $70 million on robotics, so if these robots rise up and kill their creators, it’s his fault. Just sayin’. source (via • follow)
What’s it look like inside Fukushima Daiichi? Well, at least some of it looks like this, This footage from TEPCO shows a couple of robots that are working in one reactor — even though it’s not especially illuminating from an information standpoint, it’s yet very haunting footage. source
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