Only six years ago, drones represented barely 5 percent of the U.S. military’s thousands of airplanes. But a new report for Congress, acquired by Danger Room, marks a huge uptick in the flying, spying, deadly robots: now, 31 percent of the military’s airfleet are drones, some 7500 machines. So why’s the Pentagon spending so much more money on the planes with people in them?

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If you’re going to create a robot that carves something, have it carve models of an invisible field. This is what Frits Lyneborg, creator of the Yellow Drum Machine, has done with a new homemade bot that uses a combination of motors, pulleys, small drills, makerbeams and magnetic sensors. The end result is a robot that, when combined with the interpretative software, can literally read a magnetic field and move the robot’s components to cut an accurate model from a crumbly-yet-strong material known as ‘Oasis Brick.’ You can witness the magic yourself in a video after the break, and if you’ve any advice for making it better, drop Frits a line there in the via link.

Continue reading Lyneborg bot carves models of magnetic fields, dares the future to have a look (video)

Lyneborg bot carves models of magnetic fields, dares the future to have a look (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 22 Nov 2011 19:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It looks like FRIDA and friends are about ready to get comfy over at Foxconn. Following the company’s August announcement that it would infiltrate its ranks with one million robots in the next three years, Focus Taiwan is reporting that the manufacturer’s parent company, Hon Hai, is moving forward on its plans to build an “intelligent robotics kingdom” in the Central Taiwan Science Park. Chairman Terry Gou reportedly signed a letter of intent with Taichung mayor Jason Hu last Saturday, confirming its plans to erect a plant dedicated to the production of robots and automation equipment. That robo-mecca is expected to draw some serious scratch, with an estimated production-value boost of NT0 billion (about billion) and the creation of 2,000 jobs. How many of those positions will be filled by headless automatons remains to be seen.

Foxconn chairman signs letter of intent for ‘intelligent robot kingdom,’ we cower in fear originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Nov 2011 04:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The world of green tech presented us with some neat tricks and eco-treats this week from this plan to 3D print new shells for homeless hermit crabs to this handy LeafSnap app that helps you identify all different kinds of fall foliage to an energy-efficient UFO hotel room, which recently “landed” in the forests of Sweden. Speaking of spaceships, we also spotted this Star Trek Enterprise feeding system for babies (you’re never too young to live long and prosper) as well as plans for a massive nuclear-powered airport/airplane that could fly as many as 3,000 passengers through the sky, and Philips showed off its eerie and futuristic bacteria-powered lamps. In honor of All Hallow’s Eve, we rounded up the top six creepiest buildings of all time as well as six spooky churches made of bones. And just in case you missed the craziest Halloween story of the week, check these photos of a trio of ghastly zombies bursting out of the world’s largest pumpkin’s hell, er, shell.

On the green transportation front, we took the Honda CR-V hybrid for a spin and came across news that Tesla will reintroduce its sexy roadster in 2014. We also saw that GM is working on cars that could drop drivers off at their destinations and even park themselves, and the auto giant impressed us even further by joining Ford and Chrysler, who are working closely with engineering students from the University of Michigan Solar Car Team to create viable solar-powered cars for the future. But if you can’t wait that long, this Solarship is a blimp-like solar-powered airship that actually exists today.

In tech news, Facebook announced that they’ll be building a fancy new server farm in the Arctic. And speaking of cold weather, we also spotted where this clever Umbrella coat that has a handy umbrella instead of a hood – perfect for rainy fall days. A new study showing that TV is officially harmful to children under two confirmed some of our suspicions and we also saw news of a judge who ruled that cell phone warnings be blocked in San Francisco.

If you’re planning on dressing up for Halloween, don’t forget to enter our Green Halloween costume contest (or your kids in our Inhabitots costume contest) for some frightfully fabulous prizes. If you need some inspiration, we’ve got a slew of techie costume ideas you could cobble together from things you already own like this delightful iPhone getup or this homemade robot outfit.

Inhabitat’s Week in Green: CR-V hybrid, Facebook’s server farm and robot costumes originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Oct 2011 20:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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