Jacob Whitehill at UC San Diego's Jacobs School of Engineering has demonstrated a proof of concept that allows his facial expressions to speed-up and slow-down video playback. Pretty sweet. But we're more interested to hear that his project is part of a larger effort at the UCSD Machine Perception Lab (gulp) to use automated face recognition to "make robots more effective teachers." We can see the future now...

Human: (frowning)
Robot: Aw, my meat bag is sad, I will now give it a hamburger and turn on Golden Girls.

Fortunately, human teachers who've somehow missed out on the billions of years of biologically evolution required to recognize the "oh face" can take advantage of this research as well. See a video demonstration of that after the break, face-controlled video here.

Walking robots never cease to amaze, but "Flame" from TU Delft PhD student Daan Hobbelen is what we like to call a mega breakthrough. By mimicking the way that humans actually fall forward when walking, this robot comes insanely close to the real thing. Usually, walking robots are energy-hungry propositions, but this is the first that's both efficient and stable. Inside Flame are seven motors and a balance "organ" loaded with stability algorithms. By measuring each step, the robot adjusts stance width, speed, and gait on the go. In the end, kids, we're looking at the world's most advanced and efficient walking robot. If you want to see this thing in action, head on over the read link where you can download a .wmv.

Do you enjoy gangs of tiny, spider-like robot insectoids swarming all over your house, car, or personage? If you answered "yes," you're going to love what BAE Systems is cooking up. The company recently received an infusion of $38 million from the US Army Research Lab to fund the Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) consortium; a team of scientists and researchers hell-bent on developing an "autonomous, multifunctional collection of miniature intelligence-gathering robots that can operate in places too inaccessible or dangerous for humans." Sure, that description (and accompanying photos, straight from BAE) does give you the impression that whoever came up with this really liked Minority Report, but won't it make you feel safer at night knowing a swarm of metallic spiders are looking out for you? No? Huh, weird.

[Via The Register]

We've known think tanks to come up with some fairly unbelievable determinations before, but the Machine Industry Memorial Foundation may not be too far off with its latest assessment. It's suggesting that the jobs of 3.5 million people in Japan could be filled not with younger folks, but with mechanical creatures by 2025. Currently, Japan's population is declining, and the proportion of those 65-years and up is continually swelling; analysts are asserting that the nation could save around ¥2.1 trillion ($21 billion) in elderly insurance payments by 2025 if it relies on robots (instead of humans) to monitor the health of the geriatric set. Of course, Japan's been creating bots to do our dirty work for years, so it's not like the idea of being ruled by robotic overlords is a completely foreign concept over there or anything.

[Via I4U News]

British scientists have started an EU-funded project named "Symbrion" to build swarm bots the size of a sugar cube, which could self-assemble with each other and form larger, more useful, and more box office-potent robots. Each bot will have wheels or tentacles to allow it to move around independently, along with its own brain to help it hunt down the other bots via infrared. Once assembled the bots should be able to take on the shape of a robo-snake, robo-spider, robo-arm or whatever else is required of them, and will pool their computing power -- with hopefully enough juice between them to rattle off trite phrases and bad puns. This is certainly not a new concept, but the Symbrion project has a good £4.6 million of funding to get started -- which we hear is worth roughly a million billion dollars in the US.

[Via Digg]

Not that we're experts on the matter or anything, but if barrister and engineer Chris Elliot knows a thing or two about legal issues, a kind of "military Turing test" could be the key to legally deploying autonomous systems in battle. As it stands, "weapons intrinsically incapable of distinguishing between civilian and military targets are illegal" -- at least according to Mr. Elliot -- but by testing an intelligent war machine's ability to hone in on legitimate targets and brush off friendlies, all that could change. Of course, actually administering the test still remains a mystery, but considering that remotely controlled armed bots are currently being used in Iraq, we reckon someone's already figuring out a solution to said dilemma.

We don't know about you, but to us, there's nothing cuter than a warm, cuddly bunny -- save for Hello Kitty, of course. Thankfully, the National Institute of Health and the EPA have teamed up to jumpstart a five-year research program that "will use high-speed automated screening robots" instead of live animals to run chemical tests on cells grown in a laboratory. Reportedly, the long term goal here is to "reduce the cost, time and number of animals used in screening everything from pesticides to household chemicals," but according to those involved with the initiative, it'll be quite some time before non animal-based testing becomes the norm. Hang tight, dear bunnies -- there's hope for you all yet.

[Image courtesy of Flickr]

While we've been spending our days padding our Xbox 360 Achievements and building castles out of Popsicle sticks, here come some science jerks all making us look bad. Researchers in the UK and Germany have managed to assemble tetrahedrons out of DNA "struts" with some chemical trickery, and then fed the shape DNA "fuel" to get the tetrahedron to contract. Some "anti-fuel" expands the shape again, creating a sort of piston with all sorts of potential. The researchers are currently working to assemble larger structures using the tetrahedrons as building blocks. Possible applications of the technology range from drug delivery to the motors of nanoscale robots, and it sounds like humanity is doomed either way.

iRobot may own the market for autonomous indoor cleaning devices, but when it comes to taming that wild jungle you call a backyard, the new king of the hill may well be the LawnBott LB3500. This fourth-generation LawnBott from Kyodo America improves upon its predecessors in nearly every category: even though it weighs ten pounds less than the entry-level LB2000, it offers up a greater coverage area, increased cutting width, greatly improved incline climbing capability, longer runtime, and best of all, a Bluetooth radio for programming or direct control by cellphone. Of course, all these high-end features don't come cheap, and when the LB3500 does come to market (date: unknown), we imagine that it's gonna cost a good deal more than the current high-end, $2,500 LB3200. Check out the gallery below for some more angles.

Update: Wow! Reader John Locke somehow managed to send an email from the island notifying us that The Robot Store has the LB3500 listed at $3,699, on sale for "only" $3,249. Also available is the "Super" LB3500, which is really just a kit that includes two extra lithium-ion batteries and tacks almost $600 on to the price. Thanks, John, but we bet Jack and Kate won't be too happy when they find out you have Gmail access.



[Via Slashgear]

Anyone can go into Office Depot and pick up a rolling desk seat for fifty bucks, but it takes a truly lazy individual to shell out almost $22,000 for a chair that very slowly "walks" you into proper working position. Actually, we doubt that the commercially-available Walking Chair from Vienna-based design studio Walking Things is really built for sitting; it's more likely meant as a showpiece for the ridiculous amount of disposable income you're pulling in. Each minimalist eight-legged unit is hand-assembled upon order, meaning that you'll need to wait at least six weeks to show your friends how very little €15,000 ($21,906) mean to you.

[Via Slashgear]

Dude, Korea knows we've been sending humans to do a robot's job for far too long already, and in a few short years the dangerous world of high rise construction could be left to the true masters of the craft. By 2010, the Korean Construction and Transportation Ministry hopes to have an almost completely automated construction process in place for high-rise projects that could cut labor costs by up to a third, project timelines by 15 percent, and reduce the number of construction-related injuries on these typically dangerous projects. Of course, an inevitable robotic Jurgis Rudkus will be blowing the whistle on robotic working conditions shortly thereafter. Still, civilization stands to benefit greatly from the accelerated completion of super-sized skyscrapers -- at least until the builders turn on us and convert us into human fuel cells.

Wanted: good home for 31-ton robotic dinosaur, completely up-to-date on all immunizations and oil changes. This frisky 40-foot tall, fire-breathing bot answers to the name Robosaurus, and a traumatic youth spent crushing cars in front of thousands of rednecks means this guy needs a lot of love and attention -- along with plenty of open space to graze. All manuals, kits, and accessories are included with adoption, although new owner will assume responsibility for any damage caused by Robo's jaws and their 20,000 pounds of crushing force. Interested parties can bid on this one-of-a-kind companion at the 37th annual Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdate, AZ starting on the 12th.

[Thanks, jo]