dv-depot.com » Biomimetic

Ninety-foot drop can’t stop robot cockroach

crave — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:58:00 +0000

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(Credit:
UC Berkeley)

Researchers in California are developing a simple robot cockroach that can be assembled in an hour, move quickly, and survive 92-foot falls.

The Dynamic Autonomous Sprawled Hexapod, or DASH, is a neat example of the insectile robotics from UC Berkeley’s Biomimetic Millisystems Lab.

Robot cockroaches have …

Proposed military robot would refuel by eating human bodies. What could possibly go wrong?

othertech — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:00:34 +0000

Those of you who follow the Robocalypse tag know that I find the rise of machine-based warfare and biomimetic freakery… troubling. Well, it just got a lot more so. Not content to have robots simply feed on widely available sunlight, or use an versatile diesel engine or something, some robo-pioneers have decided that this new robot should refuel on biomass.

Yes, it can use plants and compost and stuff like that, but let’s be honest. You’re deploying these on a battlefield. These sons of bitches are going to be eating bodies all day long. And you think it’ll stop there?

In the presentation on the EATR (I know) robot’s construction and AI, it is shown that the robot creates plans for the next 50ms to the next 24 hours. Sure, if it’s in a foxhole with you, its one-hour plan is to sit tight and wait for backup. But if shutdown is imminent, it may start implementing Code Dahmer in its long-term strategy.

Seriously, it’s not enough to create simple sniper-bots, you have to make some that actively crave flesh?

[via HardOCP and Fox News]

Shots of the new iPhone’s interface surface

othertech — Sun, 31 May 2009 15:22:33 +0000

The world woke this morning to the sight of some of screens from the iPhone 3.0 firmware, proving that we must remain vigilant every single day until WWDC next week. Perhaps tomorrow we’ll see images of the iPhone’s biomimetic skin?

These pictures show the compass – in photorealistic color – and a few of the sub screens including video recording and MMS sending. The full post from Hong Kong shows even more goodies including a shot taken with the new phone’s camera.

Maybe I’m just getting old but this is pretty much BFD for me right now. A compass? What am I, Mark Trail?