The Week’s Best Robot Videos
Every Friday, Future Tense rounds up the best robot videos of the week. Today, we have four robots who demonstrate that there is no task we won’t try to automate.
The Snore-Killing Robot
This robotic pillow, shaped like a bear, lifts a paw to give you a gentle nudge if you start snoring in your sleep. This could save marriages, but it requires a lot of accessories: The Telegraph reports that to work, the snorer must sleep with his hand placed in “a device which measures blood oxygen levels while sleeping beneath a sheet with in-built sensors and a microphone to detect loud noises.”
Via Smart Planet.
35-Foot Snake Robot vs. Giant Spider Robot
This seems destined to be made into a SyFy movie. In one corner, we have Titanoboa, a 35-foot, 1-ton re-creation of a long-extinct reptile. (When Titanoboa is complete, it will be 50 feet long.) And in the other, we have the Mondo Spider, a human transporter with eight legs. Choose your terrifying bot now.
Via Mashable.
The Graffiti Bot
Graffiti is a crime. But can you arrest a robot that tags?
Via IO9.
The Ostrich-Inspired Robot
Robots are slow-moving creatures, clocking in at an average 3 miles per hour, according to Wired. But a new DARPA-funded project, modeled on the swift ostrich, hopes to bring robots up to speed. The robot’s name, of course, is FastRunner.
Via Wired’s Danger Room.
Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University.