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Speech Recognition Algorithms Improve
   Scientists at the University of California, San Diego have created a new formula that improves upon the Good-Turing algorythm and may lead to better quality speech recognition.
RobotCop III - Not Quite R. Daneel Olivaw
   In his classic 1953 robot story Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov teamed a human detective with a robotic one - R. Daneel Olivaw. Hong Kong has been testing robotic police officers for years, and has now introduced RobotCop III.
MusicPad Pro: Digital Sheet Music File Player
   You can store your entire music library on this device, using digital sheet music brought in from music composition programs and even scanned sheet music files.
RAFFE Helps Remote Mobile Investigator Gather Fingerprints
   The Pedsco RMI robot, used for remote handling of explosive devices and other hazardous materials, now has the ability to gather fingerprints. Good news for the humans who might otherwise perform this task.
Robotic Safety Barrels: Smart Traffic Cones
   Robotic Safety Barrels (RSBs) developed by Shane Farritor may be the kind of smart traffic cones that can save many lives and $100 billion per year in losses due to accidents and delays on U.S. highways.
Ticketed Passengers Only Aboard Soyuz ('TANSTAAFL' Says Roskosmos)
   Russia's space agency Roskosmos announced that it would stop giving free rides to US astronauts beginning in 2006. US space shuttles have been grounded since February of 2003, when the shuttle Columbia burned up on re-entry.
SWORDS - First Robots To Break Asimov's First Law Of Robotics
   Next month, the US Army will be putting robot soldiers in the field in Iraq. The SWORDS robots are fully armed, and thus the first to break Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics.
Hopping Robot Stutter-Jumping Saves Power
   'Hoppers are probably the most grotesque forms of transportation ever invented.'- Isaac Asimov, 1954.
Self-Steering Buses In Cambridge
   Self-steering cars and buses are coming!
Pulsed Energy Projectile EMPs Your Nervous System
   PEPs use plasma to electromagnetically pulse your nervous system into thinking something bad is happening. And you can fine-tune it.
Robot Nanny - The Fact, The Fiction
   SF writers have been thinking about robot nannies (and other forms of automated child care) since at least WWII. This fall, Korea will have some in the home.
Asimov's First Law Of Robotics Real-Life Beta
   Japan makes a serious effort to make sure robots first do no harm.
MulTicket Is Isaac Asimov's Idea
   Very cool concept - but it's been around for a while.
Robot Designed To Break First Law - In Order To Save It
   A researcher takes a somewhat different direction in trying to figure out ways to keep robots from hurting people.
Talking Lights Help Patients Navigate
   This is a unique system to help people find their way around in one of the most confusing environments in the world - hospitals.
Ticketime Concept Timepiece Ticket
   Neat concept reminds me of the master, Isaac Asimov, who also wanted to improve tickets.
E-paper You Can Write On From Seiko Epson E Ink
   Collaboration produces a very nifty e-paper display that you can write notes on if you wish.
Hopping Robot Sets Record
   Hopping is a surprisingly good exploration strategy; biomimetic robots can take advantage of hopping.
Robot Cops By 2084?
   Not a very daring prediction, but at least they're thinking about it.
Paul Krugman's Asimov Inspiration
   Dr. Paul Krugman has an interesting connection with sf; his career choice was inspired by a well-known work by Isaac Asimov.
Machine Prints Lights In Sheets
   Even though these won't fit in any of those 20 billion light sockets, sheets of light are worth looking at.
Multi-Robot Pursuit System: We'll Be Back!
   I'm sure that everything will go fine with this project, which could have useful applications in search and rescue, fire fighting and for all I know, the food service industry.
Palm Pistol Defensive Firearm
   Interesting little device is a pretty close analog to an Isaac Asimov device from the 1950's.
Earth Now Needs Agricultural Worlds
   SF writers pondered this problem a generation ago, and came up with the answer.
Proteus Microrobot Video: A Fantastic Voyage
   Scientists have named their microrobot the Proteus, after the 1966 movie. With video.
Dynamic Agenda Wallpaper Glows With Your Achievements
   This room-sized tribute to your busy life is the best possible way to dominate a meeting.
NASA's Multi-Robot Planetary Exploration
   Science fiction writers caught on to this almost seventy years ago; I'm glad it's finally being addressed formally by NASA.
TASC - DARPA's Psychohistory
   Interesting effort to develop 'branch of mathematics which deals with the reactions of human conglomerates to fixed social and economic stimuli.'
Yoshiyuki Sankai And His HAL Exoskeleton
   Fascinating series of interviews on video shows how a prominent roboticist read science fiction as a child, and then worked to make it come true as an adult.
Brain Chip Hardware Neurons And Synapses
   Finally, robots will be able to get the brains they really need, not just some sort of microprocessor.
Universities Irrelevant By 2020
   A Brigham Young University professor foresees the end of the university as we know it. But will it come soon enough?
Sky-Terra Towers Blot Out Sky
   'Centuries ago, Stratos was built by leaders that gave their word... that all inhabitants would live there.' Identify that quote.
Saya Humanoid Robot Teacher
   Did you think that 'no more teacher's dirty looks' would prevail in the era of the robotic teacher. Au contraire.
First Boring Passenger Station In Las Vegas
   '...just a steady velvety whirr as the taxi sped along.' - Isaac Asimov, 1951
Asimov's Psychohistory May Be Possible
   Many of us enjoyed the Foundation stories; did you think that psychohistory might actually be a workable discipline?
Nanobees Sting Tumors With Melittin
   Unique use of nanoparticles to deliver melittin, a component of bee venom, directly to cancer cells.
Liquid Semiconductor Nuclear Battery Big As A Penny
   You might have trouble believing that a nuclear battery could be no larger than a dime, even if you didn't study under the great Bler at the University of Trantor.
Farming Detroit Like Trantor
   An agrarian Detroit may well be in the offing in the decline of the Big Three automakers.
Handheld Fusion Reactors Planned
   Is 'neutron-less fusion allowing safe deployment for handheld power sources' possible?
First Transistor That Mimics Brain Synapse
   The only way to get human-style computer brains is to get the components right. This is the first transistor that really mimics brain connections.
Korean Robot Teaching Assistants
   Ready or not, Korea is rolling out robot help in the classroom.
MIT 3D One-Leg Hopper Robot Circa 1983
   One legged hopper robots in fact and fiction; yes, you can ride them! Now with a better sf reference.
Robot Surgeons To Be Fully Autonomous
   'Facing him from behind the desk was the surgeon The nameplate on the desk included a fully identifying series of letters and numbers... To call him Doctor would be quite enough.'
Habitable Planet Gliese 581g Is A 'Ribbon World'
   Asimov described planets like this one as 'ribbon worlds' and extolled the virtues of their unusual microclimates.
Agrarian Detroit, Your Harvest Home
   The Vegetable City? It doesn't quite have the same ring as 'The Motor City', but give it time.
Read Google EBooks On Google TV
   Isaac Asimov had a name for that.
Cliodynamics: Modeling Complex Societies Mathematically
   'The basis of all valid psychohistory lies in the development of the Seldon Plan.'
China's Megacity 'Turn The Pearl River Delta Into One'
   Even larger urban zones are planned.
Real-Life Fantastic Voyage
   Remarkable research and development efforts let us see inside the living cell better than ever before.
Google And The Psychohistorians
   'A further necessary assumption is that the human conglomerate be itself unaware of psychohistoric analysis...'
Carbon Nanotube Synapse Circuit Like Human Neuron
   Could scientists build a synthetic brain?
Secret Silent Stealth Helicopter
   High tech used in the raid on bin Laden's compound.
Fast Entropy, PHE And Psychohistory
   Is Isaac Asimov's psychohistory a viable idea? This scholar with degrees in economics, law and physics thinks so.
IBM's Neurosynaptic Computing Chips
   Systems of Neuromorphic Adaptive Plastic Scalable Electronics (SyNAPSE).
The Infinite Adventure Machine Generates Fairy Tale Plots
   Run out of ideas since J.K. Rowling finished the Harry Potter series? Let artificial intelligence help you out.
AI Chatbots Teach English Online
   Manga-style online 'chat robots' will help people learn English, 24x7.
Self-Propelled 'Microrobots' For The Blood Stream
   Keep your fingers crossed, Fantastic Voyage fans. Your day will come.
Nth Lights From NthDegree Are 'Printed Lights'
   Let there be light, and let it be flat.
Mask-bot Robot Human Face
   I'm imagining a very bizarre teleconference.
Free Swimming Endoscope Capsule On 'Fantastic Voyage'
   This technology keeps getting closer.
Affective Autotutor, Emotion-Sensing Teaching Software
   Be sure to bring a digital apple to give the computer teacher.
Siri Dictation For iPad Like Asmiov's 'Transcriber'
   'Nobody but some old drips would use key machines...' According to Arkady Darell, anyway (and soon, teenagers everywhere!)
Bactericidal Fabric Made From Silk
   Coming to uniforms near you.
Robonaut 2 Uses American Sign Language (ASL) on ISS
   Robots that communicate with gestures may have practical applications.
Robots In The Mines
   Dangerous professions can be made safer with robots.
Synchronizing Humanoid Robot Swarms
   'They wheeled and turned in macabre simultaneity...'
Non-Mechanical Bubble Microbots
   Cooperative Micromanipulation Using Optically Controlled Bubble Microrobots
SketRobo Robot Sketches Anything!
   Robots can draw now.
Detroit's Urban Agriculture Ordinance
   'The survivors tore up the metal plating and sold it... for seed and cattle.'-Isaac Asimov, 1951.
'Edgy' Grip User Interface For Smartphones
   'The congressman took out his pocket computer, nudged the milled edges twice, looked at its face...'- Isaac Asimov, 1958.
Military Fabric Like A Smart Second Skin
   Now, your dress whites and your NBC suit can be the same outfit.
Projo Robot Teaching Assistant
   'The mechanical teacher was on and waiting for her.'- Isaac Asimov, 1950.
Is Privacy Too Expensive?
   'It was not a large office, but it was quite spy-proof and quite undetectably so.'- Isaac Asimov, 1951
Laws Of Robotics Rewritten for Health Care
   A lot has happened in health care robotics since 1942.
Robot Handwriting Via App Better Than Yours
   Don't get caught with fake handwriting. Use the best robot handwriting.
Lightpaper Way Thinner Than OLED
   'You have this on Siwenna?'- Isaac Asimov, 1952.
FuturICT Knowledge Accelerator And Psychohistory
   'The reactions of human conglomerates to fixed social and economic stimuli...'
How Many Systems In That Galactic Empire Now?
   'An Empire to twenty million stellar systems...'- Isaac Asimov, 1953.
AI's Now Being Taught Anger
   Actually the Prime Radiant was just a display device.
NASA's Robotic Mining Competition
   ''Dave,'[Powell] said. 'You're a stable, rock-bottom mining robot...'- Isaac Asimov, 1944.
Autonomous Cars: Who Is Responsible For Driving?
   It's been a criminal offense for at least a hundred years to drive manually on a public highway.- Arthur C. Clarke, 1976.
Piper, Google's 2 Billion Line Code Repository, Needs A Cool Display
   'The student pointed a finger and as he did so, the line of equations marched down the wall...' - Isaac Asimov, 1953.
Best Surgeon? The Smart Tissue Autonomous Robot
   'The fingers were long and were shaped into artistically metallic, looping curves...' - Isaac Asimov, 1976.
VelociRoACH Insect Robots Cooperate
   'They wheeled and turned in macabre simultaneity...'- Isaac Asimov, 1944.
No Human Drivers By 2040 - Israel
   'It's been a criminal offense... to drive manually on a public highway.' - Arthur C. Clarke, 1976.
Robots Learn To Swarm Safely
   'They were bronzy gleams of smooth motion...' - Isaac Asimov, 1944.
Linear Elastic Actuator in Parallel (LEAP) - It's A Hopping Robot
   '...Probably the most grotesque forms of transportation ever invented.'- Isaac Asimov, 1954.
Tesla Autopilot's 40 Percent Crash Reduction
   ''I hope all those other cars are on automatic,' he said anxiously.' - Arthur C. Clarke, 1976
Software Learns To Design Software
   '... The rational use of computers to design more advanced computers.' - Isaac Asimov, 1958.
Handle, New Wheeled Hopping Robot
   'the hopper sprang thirty feet into the air...' - Isaac Asimov, 1954.
X2-VelociRoACH Cooperates To Launch Tiny Drones
   Little robots cooperating can do big tasks. Eventually.
U of M's MCity To Feature Asimov's Automatobuses
   Should you turn autonomous buses off?
Autonomous Cars Talk To Each Other At MCity
   'My cars talk to one another.' - Isaac Asimov, 1953.
Pegasus, Nvidia Supercomputer For Autonomous Driving
   '...a 2045 convertible with a Hennis-Carleton positronic motor and an Armat chassis.' - Isaac Asimov, 1953.
Tesla Electric Automatobus Prototype Spotted?
   Those buses need to feed on something.
When Will The Feds Ban Human Drivers?
   'The first laws came out forcing the old machines off the highways...' - Isaac Asimov, 1953.
Neuromorphic Computer Offers Non-von Neumann Architecture
   Fires faster than brain at 1/10K energy.
Tiny Rubbery Robot To Take 'Fantastic Voyage'
   I think that I will wait for other volunteers for this one.
Can An Entire Brain Be Simulated In A Computer?
   'The miles of relays and photocells had given way to the spongy globe of platinum iridium about the size of the human brain.' - Isaac Asimov, 1941.
World's First Autonomous Tram In Germany
   What's it like for autonomous trams when they're turned off at night?
String Art Courtesy Of Robot Artist
   The number of different ways to span a thread between a larger number of hooks is astronomical.
Implosion Fabrication Shrinks 3D Objects To Nanoscale
   'Carter had watched miniaturization a hundred times...' - Isaac Asimov, 1965.
Lilium Electric Air Taxi Prototype
   'The air-taxi found its way past and around other ground-cars...' - Isaac Asimov, 1988
Asimov and Musk - Boring Company Tunnel vs. Street Race
   'There was almost no sound, just a steady velvety whirr as the taxi sped along.' - Isaac Asimov, 1951.
Skai Air Taxi Costs The Same As Uber
   'The air-taxi found its way past and around other ground-cars...' Isaac Asimov, 1988.
Medical Assistant Robot May Roam The Halls Of Hospitals
   'Take care, sir.'
Tesla Autopilot: What Does An Autonomous Car See When It Looks At The Road?
   'Jeremiah is a sports-model to begin with and that kind is awfully hot-tempered.' - Isaac Asimov, 1953.
Habitability Of Galactic Bulge - Good News For Foundation Fans
   'Toran resigned himself to days of careful plotting between Jumps.'- Isaac Asimov, 1955.
Salto Jumping Robot Now Sticks Landing!
   'Lucky touched the leap knob and the hopper's leg retracted.' - Isaac Asimov, 1954.
Kuka Robot 'Heidi' Paints With Artificial Intelligence
   Robots make art for man.
Las Vegas Tunnels To Have Autonomous Teslas
   '...just a steady velvety whirr as the taxi sped along.' - Isaac Asimov, 1951
Wandering Sunless Planets Seen By Kepler Telescope
   '...the rocky barrenness of a wandering sunless planet.' - Isaac Asimov, 1946.
Can China Create Megawatt Solar Power Satellites By 2030?
   'Our beams feed these worlds energy drawn from... the Sun.' - Isaac Asimov, 1941.
Trinitite, Pentagrams And Isaac Asimov
   '...And there were horns.' - Isaac Asimov, 1956.
Optimus Prime Tesla Robot Overall Humanoid Software Architecture
   'I shall introduce myself. I am R. Daneel Olivaw... I am a robot. Were you not told?' - Isaac Asimov, 1953.
Update: Musk Doubles Down On Optimus Prime Humanoid Robot
   'I shall introduce myself. I am R. Daneel Olivaw... I am a robot. Were you not told?' - Isaac Asimov, 1953.
Video! Chess Robot Breaks Opponent's Finger In Match
   'A robot may not injure a human being.' - Isaac Asimov, 1942.
CyberOne Robot By Xiaomi vs. Optimus Robot By Tesla
   'I shall introduce myself... I am a robot.' - Isaac Asimov, 1953.
LoadRunner Robot Works Alone, Or In A Group
   'They marched in unison, seven of them...' - Isaac Asimov, 1944.
Diamond NanoTech Battery Lasts 28,000 Years
   'In the pearly light of the pocket nucleo-bulb...' - Isaac Asimov, 1951.
Could Aliens Shelter In 'Terminator Zones' on 'Ribbon World' Exoplanets?
   '... the two halves face the monotonous extremes of heat and cold, while the region of possible life is the girdling ribbon of the twilight zone.' - Isaac Asimov, 1945.
Lunar Pogo Stick - Retro Technovelgy From 1968
   'Lucky touched the leap knob...' - Isaac Asimov, 1954.
Who Needs Asimov's 'Proteus' When You Can Have Pangolins?
   'The Proteus was still falling, still shrinking...' - Isaac Asimov, 1966.
CADRE Robots To Work In Teams On Other Planets
   'You're a stable, rock-bottom mining robot, except that you're equipped to handle six subsidiaries in direct coordination...' - Isaac Asimov, 1944.
Optimus Robot Will Be A Good Nanny, Says Musk
   'Nanny is different,' Tom Fields murmured... 'she's not like a machine. She's like a person.' - Philip K. Dick, 1955.
Shanghai Guidelines For Humanoid Robots
   'Now, look, let's start with the three fundamental Rules of Robotics...' - Isaac Asimov, 1942.
Waymo Cars Shout At Each Other, Autonomously
   'My cars talk to one another. I have no doubt about it...' - Isaac Asimov, 1953.

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