Now This is Progress!

Robot fetches beer. We should all have one of these.


[Hat-Tip-2 Terrence Tao (via Google Buzz)]

Giant Steps

Just because it's cool.


[HatTips2 dancohen, Open Culture, @hughmcguire, and MetaDeb]

Not to ruin the nice Coltrane vibe, but compare that to a saxophone playing robot. The video below shows the robot in action. The tone is awful, but it will give you some idea of what Coltrane is doing on the keys. Unfortunately it only shows the left-hand keys and we miss out on all the right-hand action, but you see can some of the high-note valves moving, which are operated by the right hand.

[Sax-playing robot image from Hosei University Takashima R&C Laboratory]

[Video nicofar]

The keys are the easy part. The robot can get the notes, but isn't even close to making sounds like Coltrane.

Attack of the Inflatable Chembot

[Via Discoblog]

Military Blob-bot to Ooze Its Way Past Enemy Lines

 

(Breaking) Wind Energy

[Via Fred Bortz's blog]

Fred Bortz writes: In reading the current issue of New Scientist, I found a pointer to a blog entry called "Bug eats electricity, farts biogas."

Needless to say, I had to learn more.

Yeah, that sort of grabs my attention too. Fred is referring to the article Bug eats electricity, farts biogas in New Scientist, which literally proposed using wind to create wind ...

Wind power is capricious, while solar cell output drops off at night or on cloudy days. That fluctuating output poses big problems for electricity grids that rely on steady levels throughout the day. Proposals to deal with the ups and downs of green power supply have included better batteries or redesigning the electricity grid.

An intriguing new idea involves "feeding" surplus power to the microorganisms instead, which combine it with carbon dioxide to create methane. That could then be stored and burned when needed. The method is sustainable too, as the carbon is taken from the atmosphere, not released from long-term storage in oil or coal.

Now if only we could harness THIS GUY. Better yet, what if we could harness the latent energy of fart jokes? (I wonder if I could apply for a patent on that?)

Oh Crap

Form SciAm.com Techology news:

From Thrones to Robo-Commodes: The Pitfalls of Inventing a Better Toilet

Rose George's book The Big Necessity: The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters examines the ins and outs of sanitation; this excerpt explores the cutting edge of toilet technology

By Rose George

It's an interesting read ... honest!