bot

11.22.09

Medic Bot Does Curls to Save Wounded Soldiers

By Jeremy Hsu Posted 08.24.2009 at 11:08 am 1 Comment

The rescue robot with a teddy head has gone through nine different prototypes on its way to becoming a rugged battlefield medic for the U.S. military. Now new prototypes of BEAR can lift a quarter of a ton, while balancing gracefully on their treads.

Vecna Robotics hopes that BEAR (Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot) can eventually find and rescue humans in any number of hazardous situations, ranging from bullet-torn battlefields to chemical accident sites and earthquake-damaged buildings.

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The Fembot Mystique

Sex-and-tech writer Annalee Newitz explores the pop-culture fascination with female robots

By Annalee Newitz Posted 08.10.2006 at 1:00 am 0 Comments

Click here for a photo gallery of our favorite bombshell fembots from television and film.

Fembots were a pop-culture staple long before Austin Powers battled them-witness the popularity of The Bionic Woman, The Stepford Wives and Blade Runner. But what is it about curvaceous cyborgs that stirs the imagination?

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Perception: Rosie. Reality: Roomba

We've come a long way since the Hoover, but an autonomous robot-maid is still a long way off. Don't throw away the dish gloves just yet.

By Larry Smith Posted 03.02.2006 at 2:00 am 0 Comments

From the Jetsons' Rosie to Richie Rich's Irona to Robby of Forbidden Planet, we've been promised digital domestics that look and act a lot like . . . a maid. But that isn't going to happen anytime soon, robot experts say. The problem? Today's machines are a long way from having the anthropomorphic qualities-above all, sight-found in human help.

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