iRobot's multipurpose PackBot has helped lead the way among war-bots, disabling improvised explosives and carrying out recon missions for snipers. But soon paperback-sized robots such as the Ember prototype could join their larger cousins on the battlefield.
What's with the prono soundtrack on the video? I noticed that the Ember was shown navigating curbs and slopes, but not the RR tracks. Is there a reason for that? Probably good for sneaking and listening. I'm sure that the following generations will have considerably more capabilities. Violence must be eradicated; Kill all the violent people you know!!
To follow up on its famed Aeron office chair, Herman Miller gave its engineers a challenge: Create a seat that offers a custom fit for anyone, no matter how big or small, round-shouldered or straight-backed. The engineers’ solution was to construct the frame from dozens of small, flexible pieces that bend precisely to your contours.
I work in a 911 dispatch center. I tried to get the powers that be to consider Aeron chairs last time we bought new ones. They wouldn't consider it because I couldn't find anyone to give us a sample to "test drive." This sounds like it would be even better. But our chairs are in use 24/7 and being a sedentary job some of us have rather hefty seating requirements. I couldn't find anything on durability. I wonder, with the stretching cables, how durable is that?
Starting this Friday, disabled and elderly people in Japan will be able to rent a robotic suit to help them become more mobile. Available in a two-leg (for a $2200-per-month rental fee) or one-leg version ($1500/month), the suit -- called HAL, for Hybrid Assistive Limb -- reads brain signals and directs leg movement. Yoshiyuki Sankai, the creator of the robot suit, is a professor at the University of Tsukuba and the CEO of Cyberdyne, which is manufacturing and renting the suits.
Not available to the military, my ass. Starship Troopers here we come.
I recall that during my world travels in the 1960', 70's and 80's, I noticed that almost every NSA "field station" had an antenna that they called the "elephant cage". There was one in Gablingen outside Augsburg in Germany and another at Tori Station in Okinawa. These were stations where the Army Security Agency and the NSA would monitor transmissions from Eastern Europe and China. They're gone now. But the story with the "elephant cage" was that it was used to conduct atmospheric testing. Sound familiar? I kind of lean toward the mind control gone wrong theory. It would explain the out of control BDS and 9/11 truthers. It was experiment in mind control that instead drove people stark raving bonkers.
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