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This ostrich robot doesn't need to think to run
This tiny ostrich bot, unlike rival robots, doesn't use computers and sensors to balance. It manages to keep running (at up to 10 mph) thanks to dynamic stability inherent in its design. Jerry Pratt, the senior research scientist at IHMC who leads the team developing the Planar Elliptical Runner (PER) told Technology Review that lessons learned from designing it could be applied to more practical running robots "to make them more efficient and natural looking. Running will be eventually useful for any application that you want to do quickly and where wheels can't work well."
ICYMI: Space junk reboot, biological machine v2 and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-763516{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-763516, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-763516{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-763516").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: NASA thinks it can extend the life of even dead satellites orbiting Earth with a new solution from the agency and Orbital ATK. Mission Extension Vehicles should go up in 2018 and give the sats battery power for as long as another 15 years. A game developer is trying to make older, classic Nintendo games 3D with an emulator that uses a custom algorithm to separate flat backgrounds into 3D objects. And the National Science Foundation funded work to create a biological machine that can be controlled with electrical or optical signals-- while using it's own muscle tissue for power. We also wanted to make sure you saw the ostrich chase video that is making the rounds. As always, please share any interesting science or tech videos, anytime! Just tweet us with the #ICYMI hashtag to @mskerryd.
Ostrich: A Twitter extension for Safari
Oh, the ever-growing mountain of Twitter apps. Not since the Cola Wars has such a fierce battle for commercial dominance been waged. Today's combatant is unique in that it's a Safari 5 extension. It's young, and with a little work could be quite nice. Ostrich is an extension for Safari 5 that monitors twitter while staying out of the way. Installation is easy. First, make sure you've got extensions enabled. From the Develop menu, select Enable Extensions. Next, open Safari's preferences, click Extensions and turn it on. Once that's done, download the extension, double-click it and give Twitter permission to connect when prompted to do so. You'll notice that a tiny ostrich head has been added to your toolbar. As new tweets arrive, a numbered badge appears just above the poor fellow's eye. Click it to reveal the Ostrich UI. This simple drop-down displays up to 20 tweets at a time. New arrivals are tinted yellow. Across the top you see icons for your friends' stream, replies to you and your favorites.
Promotional Consideration: Hataraku Chocobo
Promotional Consideration is a weekly feature about the Nintendo DS advertisements you usually flip past, change the channel on, or just tune out.Square Enix has been pushing Final Fantasy IV hard this week in Japan, advertising the 3D remake with five different CG-filled commercials. We were curious to compare these spots with how the RPG was marketed when it first appeared on the Super Famicom, all the way back in 1991, and the two approaches couldn't be any more at odds!
