We've seen liquid camera lenses and cameras shaped like an eye, but a group of researchers from MIT's Department of Materials Science and Engineering are now taking things in yet another shape-shifting direction with a so-called "flexible camera" that uses a special fiber web instead of traditional lenses. Those fibers are each less than one millimeter in diameter, and are comprised of eight nested layers of light-detecting materials, which the researchers are able to form using an extrusion process like that used to make optical fiber for telecommunication applications. Once woven into a fabric, the researchers say the "camera" could be anything from a foldable telescope to a soldier's uniform that gives them greater situational awareness. Of course, they aren't saying when that might happen, although they have apparently already been able to use the fiber web to take "a rudimentary picture of a smiley face."

A team from the University of Ghent in Belgium is lacing the site of this year's Rock Werchter festival -- Brussel's equivalent of Woodstock '97 -- with Bluetooth scanners (36 total, they cover a range of 30 meters each). While you're rocking out to the likes of Bloc Party and Mastodon, the researchers will be tracking your every movement, whether it be to the mosh pit, the beer tent, or the Job Johnny. As you've probably assumed, the researchers are primarily looking for ways that retailers can monitor customer flow (read: sell you more crap) although there are certainly going to be results applicable to the world of law enforcement. Of course, this is Bluetooth: you always have the option of disabling it on your phone, and if you don't they'll only be able to discern your MAC address. Besides, if you're not doing anything illegal, you have nothing to fear from the surveillance state -- right? And if you are up to no good, well, that's why they invented the Dazer Lazer.

Are you a serious scientific researcher / evil genius looking for a robot for serious scientific research / "evil genius" research? Do you need something whose movements more closely approximates those of the humans who you might wish to help / destroy? Kawada Industries and General Robotix in Japan (GRX) have teamed up to develop a little something called HIRO, or "Human Interactive Robot." Designed to move in a more lifelike fashion that any robot on the market these days, this bad boy has fifteen degrees of freedom (including two in the neck, six in each arm and one in the lower back). It can also carry an object weighing up to 2kg in each arm, and its finger tip features an operating force of up to 10kgf. If that weren't enough, it also includes a head-mounted double-lens stereo vision camera, two robot hands, two hand cameras, a control PC, and a PC for information processing. For the OS, this device uses that perennial favorite of evil genuises everywhere (Windows XP) while it uses something called QNX for control systems. Available for delivery to academic research institutes and mad scientist's hideouts sometime this fall for a price of ¥7.4 million (just about $77,000) -- or, if you're on a tight budget, the basic package (which excludes the head-mounted camera, the two robot hands, and includes a simplified neck) is priced at ¥5.4 million (roughly $57,000). One more pic after the break.

Researcher Mel Slater (a computer scientist who divides his time between ICREA in Barcelona and University College, London) and his stalwart band of cybernauts are currently studying people when immersed in virtual environments, hoping to gain insight into why we respond to fake stimuli as if it's real. In one experiment, test subjects enter a "virtual bar" in which patrons schmooze, booze, and do the Frug. At a point during the virtual carousing, a fire breaks out. "We have had people literally run out of the VR room, even though they know that what they are witnessing is not real," says Slater. "They take their cues from the other characters." Other studies include a recreation of the classic Milgram Experiment of the 1960s (where the subject is ordered to give an electric shock to a "student" when they answer a question incorrectly) and a phobia study that introduces subjects to virtual heights. The researchers hope to gain insight into how the brain functions, eventually creating more intense and realistic virtual experiences, with applications in healthcare, training, social research and entertainment. What's next? According to Slater, the group is currently developing a project that is designed to help shy men overcome their fear of women (at the very least, it'll help you meet that Second Life avatar of your dreams). If this is your kinda thing, check out the video after the break. [Warning: the first several seconds of the video are audio only.]