Samantha Harvey has won the UK's top fiction prize for a novel that takes place over 24 hours on the International Space Station

Computers made from DNA have previously only been able to store information or perform computations on it – now a new device can do both

An artificial intelligence model that can identify the calls of eight whale species is helping researchers track the elusive whale behind a perplexing sound in the Pacific

The 2024 Nobel prize in physics has gone to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for discoveries that enabled machine learning and are key to the development of artificial intelligence models like ChatGPT

Two of the three science Nobel prizes in 2024 have been won by people working in AI, but does this mean that AI models are now vital for science?

Here’s everything you need to know about the allegations, diss tracks, and that $12 million NDA.

It’s the second-shortest book to be awarded the prize.

Don’t worry, you’ll still be able to watch Jury Duty for freevee.

The finale doesn’t look to provide a definitive answer to what drove Aaron’s actions, much to the show’s credit.

Joe Marler discussed his recent comments about the Haka, which sparked backlash.

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.

ICRA@40: 23–26 September 2024, ROTTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

IROS 2024: 14–18 October 2024, ABU DHABI, UAE

ICSR 2024: 23–26 October 2024, ODENSE, DENMARK

Cybathlon 2024: 25–27 October 2024, ZURICH

Enjoy today’s videos!

Zipline has (finally) posted some real live footage of its new Platform 2 drone, and while it’s just as weird looking as before, it seems to actually work really well.

[ Zipline ]

I appreciate Disney Research’s insistence on always eventually asking, “okay, but can we get this to work on a real robot in the real world?”

[ Paper from ETH Zurich and Disney Research [PDF] ]

In this video, we showcase our humanoid robot, Nadia, being remotely controlled for boxing training using a simple VR motion capture setup. A remote user takes charge of Nadia’s movements, demonstrating the power of our advanced teleoperation system. Watch as Nadia performs precise boxing moves, highlighting the potential for humanoid robots in dynamic, real-world tasks.

[ IHMC ]

Guide dogs are expensive to train and maintain—if available at all. Because of these limiting factors, relatively few blind people use them. Computer science assistant professor Donghyun Kim and Ph.D candidate Hochul Hwang are hoping to change that with the help of UMass database analyst Gail Gunn and her guide dog, Brawny.

[ University of Massachusetts, Amherst ]

Thanks Julia!

The current paradigm for motion planning generates solutions from scratch for every new problem, which consumes significant amounts of time and computational resources. Our approach builds a large number of complex scenes in simulation, collects expert data from a motion planner, then distills it into a reactive generalist policy. We then combine this with lightweight optimization to obtain a safe path for real world deployment.

[ Neural MP ]

A nice mix of NAO and AI for embodied teaching.

[ Aldebaran ]

When retail and logistics giant Otto Group set out to strengthen its operational efficiency and safety, it turned to robotics and automation. The Otto Group has become the first company in Europe to deploy the mobile case handling robot Stretch, which unloads floor-loaded trailers and containers.

[ Boston Dynamics ]

From groceries to last-minute treats, Wing is here to make sure deliveries arrive quickly and safely. Our latest aircraft design features a larger, more standardized box and can carry a higher payload which came directly from customer and partner feedback.

[ Wing ]

It’s the jacket that gets me.

[ Devanthro ]

In this video, we introduce Rotograb, a robotic hand that merges the dexterity of human hands with the strength and efficiency of industrial grippers. Rotograb features a new rotating thumb mechanism, allowing for precision in-hand manipulation and power grasps while being adaptable. The robotic hand was developed by students during “Real World Robotics”, a master course by the Soft Robotics Lab at ETH Zurich.

[ ETH Zurich ]

A small scene where Rémi, our distinguished professor, is teaching chess to the person remotely operating Reachy! The grippers allow for easy and precise handling of chess pieces, even the small ones! The robot shown in this video is the Beta version of Reachy 2, our new robot coming very soon!

[ Pollen ]

Enhancing the adaptability and versatility of unmanned micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) is crucial for expanding their application range. In this article, we present a bimodal reconfigurable robot capable of operating in both regular quadcopter flight mode and a unique revolving flight mode, which allows independent control of the vehicle’s position and roll-pitch attitude.

[ City University Hong Kong ]

The Parallel Continuum Manipulator (PACOMA) is an advanced robotic system designed to replace traditional robotic arms in space missions, such as exploration, in-orbit servicing, and docking. Its design emphasizes robustness against misalignments and impacts, high precision and payload capacity, and sufficient mechanical damping for stable, controlled movements.

[ DFKI Robotics Innovation Center ]

Even the FPV pros from Team BlackSheep do, very occasionally, crash.

[ Team BlackSheep ]

This is a one-hour uninterrupted video of a robot cleaning bathrooms in real time. I’m not sure if it’s practical, but I am sure that it’s impressive, honestly.

[ Somatic ]

Simone Giertz came to fame in the 2010s by becoming the self-proclaimed “queen of shitty robots.” On YouTube she demonstrated a hilarious series of self-built mechanized devices that worked perfectly for ridiculous applications, such as a headboard-mounted alarm clock with a rubber hand to slap the user awake.

But Giertz has parlayed her Internet renown into Yetch, a design company that makes commercial consumer products. (The company name comes from how Giertz’s Swedish name is properly pronounced.) Her first release, a daily habit-tracking calendar, was picked up by prestigious outlets such as the Museum of Modern Art design store in New York City. She has continued to make commercial products since, as well as one-off strange inventions for her online audience.

Where did the motivation for your useless robots come from?

Simone Giertz: I just thought that robots that failed were really funny. It was also a way for me to get out of creating from a place of performance anxiety and perfection. Because if you set out to do something that fails, that gives you a lot of creative freedom.

You built up a big online following. A lot of people would be happy with that level of success. But you moved into inventing commercial products. Why?

Giertz: I like torturing myself, I guess! I’d been creating things for YouTube and for social media for a long time. I wanted to try something new and also find longevity in my career. I’m not super motivated to constantly try to get people to give me attention. That doesn’t feel like a very good value to strive for. So I was like, “Okay, what do I want to do for the rest of my career?” And developing products is something that I’ve always been really, really interested in. And yeah, it is tough, but I’m so happy to be doing it. I’m enjoying it thoroughly, as much as there’s a lot of face-palm moments.

Giertz’s every day goal calendar was picked up by the Museum of Modern Art’s design store. Yetch

What role does failure play in your invention process?

Giertz: I think it’s inevitable. Before, obviously, I wanted something that failed in the most unexpected or fun way possible. And now when I’m developing products, it’s still a part of it. You make so many different versions of something and each one fails because of something. But then, hopefully, what happens is that you get smaller and smaller failures. Product development feels like you’re going in circles, but you’re actually going in a spiral because the circles are taking you somewhere.

What advice do you have for aspiring inventors?

Giertz: Make things that you want. A lot of people make things that they think that other people want, but the main target audience, at least for myself, is me. I trust that if I find something interesting, there are probably other people who do too. And then just find good people to work with and collaborate with. There is no such thing as the lonely genius, I think. I’ve worked with a lot of different people and some people made me really nervous and anxious. And some people, it just went easy and we had a great time. You’re just like, “Oh, what if we do this? What if we do this?” Find those people.

This article appears in the November 2024 print issue as “The Queen of Useless Robots.”

Most people work just hard enough not to get fired and get paid just enough money not to quit. -George Carlin Every four years, presidential opinion polling reliably causes regime media to misplace...

Black Ops 6 is here, and it's Black Ops 2's anniversary, so what better time than to rank the Call of Duty Black Ops titles? Here's our ranking of every mainline version.

Two large grizzly bears followed 13 hikers down a trail in Banff National Park for 20 minutes — with one even making a few quick runs at the group.

A judge recused himself Tuesday from presiding over Arizona's fake electors case after an email surfaced in which he told fellow judges to speak out against attacks on Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign for the presidency.

Kurt "CyberGuy" Knutsson shares tips and suggestions for how to get the best use out of the updated Calendar app available with the latest iOS update.

Amazon's Black Friday sales event starts Friday, Nov. 22. Kurt the CyberGuy offers some tips on how to get the best deals on merchandise.

The Italian is reportedly set to leave Stamford Bridge at the end of his contract..

ALEXIS SANCHEZ returns to former club Arsenal tonight - and Manchester United fans are desperate to see him celebrate if he scores at the Emirates..

Club captain Jordan Henderson, summer signing Naby Keita and centre back Joe Gomez were all absent for the shock midweek Champions League defeat to Red Star Belgrade..

Liverpool already have one song synonymous with the club but they did attempt to officially do likewise with another. The Reds tried to trademark 'Allez Allez Allez'..

Imagine a world without Facebook. For just half an hour. A group of AI leaders get together but don’t seem to invite Elon Musk. Amazon takes data centres nuclear. A new competitor for ChatGPT and Google. And public trust in AI is declining.  All this and more on the “just breath, Facebook will be back” […]

The annual Perseid meteor shower is set to peak on Sunday night into early Monday morning, giving stargazers the chance to see hundreds of meteors.

A stadium-sized asteroid is passing relatively close to Earth on Tuesday, NASA announced. Its distance from Earth and its massive size makes it a "potentially hazardous object."

Two pioneers of artificial intelligence have won the Nobel Prize in physics for discoveries and inventions that formed the building blocks of machine learning.

Claims they are the world's fastest DDR5 memory kits, offer CL36-36-36-76 timings.

Jay-yi Nah is an underwater archaeological site dating to the Early Classic Maya period (250-600 CE) that focused on salt production for local use or perhaps local production for down-the-line trading.

The post Earliest-Known Maya Salt Works Discovered in Belize appeared first on Sci.News: Breaking Science News.

Promising new vaccines are designed to be given to patients at risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. If they perform well in clinical trials, they have the potential to one day rid society of dementia

Despite the limitations of Alzheimer's drugs like lecanemab, this new class of treatments and a group of experimental vaccines are paving the way to a world without dementia

The 2024 Nobel prize in physiology or medicine has gone to Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun for their discovery that tiny pieces of RNA called microRNAs play a key role in controlling genes

New research into the moments between wakefulness and sleep could bring hope for insomniacs and even make us more creative problem-solvers

Our metabolism's response to food is highly idiosyncratic and there are hints that tailoring our diet to these personal differences can deliver health benefits

The British Heart Foundation’s Reflections of Research competition showcases beautiful images captured by researchers studying heart and circulatory disease

Israeli President Isaac Herzog says hostages are "going through hell in the dungeons of Gaza" during meeting with President Biden at White House.

Health officials in Saskatchewan Canada are urging customers of Domino’s Pizza in Martensville to watch for symptoms of typhoid fever. The restaurant’s customers may have been exposed to Salmonella typhi, also known as typhoid fever. Anyone who consumed food or drink from the Domino’s store at 717 Centennial Drive South... Continue Reading

Several trade associations have called on European policymakers to reconsider the EU-Mercosur trade deal following findings from an audit in Brazil. The EU-Mercosur deal is an agreement between the European Union and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. A recently published audit report by DG Sante revealed Brazil’s issues in meeting European food... Continue Reading

Kraft Heinz has announced it is removing its Lunchables meal kits from the National School Lunch Program. With eight $1 billion+ brands, Kraft Heinz is North America’s third-largest food and beverage company and the fifth-largest in the world. The National School Lunch Program (NSLP) is America’s second-largest food and nutrition... Continue Reading

Several people were rescued on Saturday after a wave damaged their vessel off the coast of Florida, sending some of the boaters into the water.

'Gutfeld!' panelists react to President-elect Trump's choice for 'border czar.'