"In the near future, sentient robots are targeted for elimination after they develop emotional symmetry to humans and a revolutionary war for their survival begins."
The DM spots the AVERT Project building swarmbots for robomatically shifting cars around omnidirectionally, allowing much denser space-packing of vehicles in existing parking garages... Nevermind all the mumbo-jumbo about "emergency response" vehicle movement. The big use is storage efficiency!
The DM spotlights MIT's Robot on the Shoulder... "Robotic arms that lift heavy objects, grab things out of the wearer's reach and can be used to hold objects steady. [...] There were built at the institute's d'Arbeloff Laboratory by Federico Parietti and Baldin Llorens-Bonilla, both in the Mechanical Engineering Department. The extra limbs created by MIT weigh around 10lbs (9kg) so they can be strapped onto the shoulders or hips, but can still lift heavy objects. While they may not use mind control, they can learn from the way a person’s body moves."
"A Princeton-based Robotics company that has Invented the World’s First Robotic Stair-Climbing Transporter that Solves the Problem of Transporting Heavy Goods Up and Down Stairs."Here's a video of founder Steven Kamara speaking about the inspiration and market opportunities. And video of usage cases.
"The World's First Family Robot [...] JIBO is the perfect robot for everyone in the family. Because JIBO is an open platform, his skills and applications will grow, helping and delighting in ways even we haven’t even imagined. [...] We have an amazing team to make Jibo a reality! While not everything in the video will necessarily be there at launch, the JIBO skills described above are part of the core skill set. The core skill set will be released in 2015. And, because of the rich platform and ecosystem we're building, everything in the video beyond the core skills will be possible -- and more! With our developer community, we will continue to improve the product and add new and exciting features over time."See also Scott Kirsner's InnoEco piece Robot startup Jibo unveils a multi-purpose ‘social bot’ for the home.
The Globe's Leon Neyfakh asks If urban farming took off, what would Boston look like? "Not every farm looks like a farm any more. A new type of agriculture has been sprouting up in urban centers [...] and Boston’s new ordinance opens the city up to a whole range of ideas about how to integrate food production into city life. [...] On the more inventive side, entrepreneurs are trying to reimagine the traditional mechanics of agriculture so that it might be woven into the built landscape of a dense and busy city. Now that Boston has officially signaled its interest, the possibilities are vast -- maybe Boston can even become home to North America’s first skyscraper farm"Neyfakh goes on to spotlight several specific ideas...
"The adult industry is notoriously innovative, and it’s going through the same technological disruption as other entertainment industries in the Internet age. [...] When I looked for research on the subject, I couldn’t find very much, so I decided to do it myself. [...] Adult entertainment has always been in tremendous demand. Also, many new media formats have increased privacy and convenience, which is something that consumers value highly. Another reason may be that the adult industry has never really had the option of fighting technological change. [...] As with previous technological disruptions, the companies that figure out ways to use this new architecture to their advantage rather than spend all of their resources trying to stop it are more likely to win in the end. [...] once the current dust settles, I think we will be left with some highly professional, smart, competitive players, and I think that they have a good shot at surviving, and even thriving."Finally, Darling answers the obligatory question about sexbots...
"I’m fascinated with all of the directions that social robotics is taking and truly hope we manage to develop sophisticated sex robots"Be sure to read the full, uncut interview;-)
