Featured Image: TOPIO (“TOSY Ping Pong Playing Robot”) is a bipedal humanoid robot designed to play table tennis against a human being. TOPIO version 3.0 at Tokyo International Robot Exhibition, Nov 2009. CREDIT: Humanrobo SOURCE: Wikipedia Commons (This file is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license). FOR ILLUSTRATION ONLY.
Another report for our Robots into Humans archive. . . EDITOR
(Phys.org) —Researchers designing adult bipedal robots have faced a challenge in limitations in a robot’s walking pattern. They seek ways to improve on designs to have robots move more naturally. Improving the walking function has been the goal of researchers at the Humanoid Robotics Institute at Waseda University in Japan. Last month, led by Professor Atsuo Takanishi, the team presented the results of their efforts at the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) in Germany. What they achieved more closely replicates normal human foot movements than before. . . Read Complete Report
In the past few years, the use of drones both domestically and internationally has increased in astonishing numbers. The unmanned craft are used to bomb targets in war and secure America’s borders, but now they are getting much needed attention by the Pentagon.
Japan mulls US spy drones for marine surveillance: report
by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) Dec 31, 2012
Japan is considering introducing US spy drones to boost surveillance of its territorial waters near islands in the East China Sea at the centre of a bitter dispute with Beijing, Kyodo News said Monday.
The Japanese defence ministry hopes to introduce the unmanned Global Hawk aircraft by 2015 “in a bid to counter China’s growing assertiveness at sea, especially when it comes to the Senkaku Islands”, the news agency said, citing unnamed government officials. . . . Read Complete Report
A Japanese security company plans to rent out a private drone that takes off when intruder alarms are tripped and records footage of break-ins as they happen, a spokeswoman said Thursday.
The helicopter-like device is equipped with a small surveillance camera that can transmit live pictures of a crime taking place. . . . Read Complete Report
by Staff Writers
Algiers, Algeria (UPI) Jan 2, 2012
U.S. intelligence, alarmed at the emergence of a jihadist sanctuary in northern Mali, is considering providing Algeria, the military heavyweight in North Africa, with a surveillance satellite to monitor al-Qaida operations in the Sahara region.
The plan, reported by the Intelligence Online website, appears to be part of a growing U.S. effort to bolster regional military forces arrayed against the jihadist fighters who have controlled northern Mali since spring 2012, without committing U.S. forces to yet another foreign conflict. . . . Read Complete Report
Pentagon to sell spy drones for $1.2bln to South Korea
by Staff Writers
Moscow (Voice of Russia) Dec 26, 2012
The Pentagon is going to sell four of the Block 30 versions of the Global Hawk high-altitude spy drones to South Korea, of which the US Department of Defense has informed Congress recently. . . . Read Complete Report
Seoul says has other drone options than Global Hawks
by Staff Writers
Seoul (AFP) Dec 26, 2012
South Korea is not necessarily committed to buying US Global Hawk surveillance drones, a spokesman said Wednesday, after the Pentagon requested congressional permission for such a sale.
Seoul’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said it would decide early next year whether to buy the high-altitude unmanned aerial vehicles made by Northrop Grumman that have come with a higher than expected price tag, at $1.2 billion for four of the drones. . . . Read Complete Report
Elbit Systems Israel Ministry of Defense Approximately $315 Million
by Staff Writers
Haifa, Israel (SPX) Jan 02, 2013
EXCERPTS
. . . “The new contracts relate to a variety of the Company’s fields of activity and include Unmanned Systems,” . . .
… “Unmanned Systems: Hermes 900 Unmanned Aircraft Systems (“UAS”) to be supplied within three years, as well as maintenance services for UAS over a period of eight years, in a total value of approximately $90 million.” . . . Read Complete Report
A Japanese inventor created a giant, Mech-like robot controlled from within. The machine, called Kuratas, stands thirteen feet tall and is capable of speeds of up to six miles per hour. (November 28, 2012) . . . Posted with video on youtube
The Korean Institute of Science and Technology had the very good (read “terrible”) idea of giving a very sharp kitchen knife to a robot and teaching it how to use it. . . . Read Complete Report
Here’s another robotics report that seems to take THEI’s ongoing observations another giant leap as we chronicle and archive Human-like Robots move closer to their transformation and replacement of humans as labor. . . EDITOR
A robot baby being built as part of a neuroscience research program in Japan has just gotten a torso, including arms that flop around like an infant’s sans swaddle.
Affeto, the robo-baby, is creepy in its realism, which is what the team from Osaka University aims to accomplish as they use robotics to study “how humans’ higher cognitive functions develop,” according to a project description. . . . Read Complete Report
According to The Chive, which I am a daily visitor of, The Robot Restaurant in Toyko, Japan offers a “unique brand of entertainment to their visitors.” In other words, there’s giant female torsos with robot legs that are operated by girls in bikinis. They dance on tables and act sexy — well, as sexy as a giant dancing female robot can be. . . . Complete Report w/photos
I remember seeing beer dispensing machines on the docks of the Panama Canal and thought that was cool, but this ever beats that. I wonder if they have one of those rear-view mirrors stuck on the dispenser so you can watch for the cops slipping up behind you when you stick your money in and pull the leaver. I’ll pass. . . . EDITOR
YOKOHAMA – Japan is known for its vending machines: there is one on every street corner, selling anything from underwear and socks, to toys and green tea. But here’s one you may (or may not) be jonesing for: a vending machine that sells marijuana.
Last week police in Kanagawa, near Yokohama, raided a general store for selling “herbs containing cannabis-like ingredients” reports the Japan Times. The shop’s owners weren’t dealing drugs from behind the counter, but instead took advantage of a legal loophole allowing them to install a vending machine — and pretend they don’t know what’s inside. . . . Read Complete Report
When we think of our closest neighbors, the Co-Planetarians, we usually think of the lands found inside our planet. But actually the most obvious places on earth for the abode of home-bred-aliens is the water which covers 2/3 of the blue planet. Oceans, seas, lakes and rivers have long been associated with UFO and other activities that defies explanation. It’s really exciting when explorers of the still unknown areas of our planet find evidence of a long gone civilization. Will this “lost” city answer questions about mankind’s lost history? We shall keep you informed of developments. In the mean time,Enjoy! . . EDITOR
Said to ‘mystify’ experts, a sprawling, ancient city lies deep underwater off the Japanese coast. Who built it? How old is it? What do the strange symbols carved into some of the stone monoliths mean? Evidence suggests that the enigmatic city—that includes a pyramid—may have been built by a race of alien giantslongbefore the history of Mankind was written. . . Read Complete Report/ w Illustrations
