TechBlog

I’m in two minds about this story - impressed, because nanotechnology is cool and tiny robots are even cooler, but more than a little disturbed at the idea of killer robots flying around and zapping people in the neck.  Reuters is reporting that Israel are developing a bionic hornet that could chase, photograph and eventually kill enemy combatants or terrorists.  Able to navigate tightly confined areas and so small as to be difficult to target by traditional weaponry, the concept is expected to reach prototype stage within three years.

It’s uncertain as yet whether the robots would be remotely controlled or have some sort of AI, though a combination of both is perhaps most likely; general targeting by remote, while short-range sensors automatically manage obstacle avoidance, tracking and flight.

Contact Lenses With Circuits, Lights A Possible Platform For Superhuman Vision

Movie characters from the Terminator to the Bionic Woman use bionic eyes to zoom in on far-off scenes, have useful facts pop into their field of view, or create virtual crosshairs. Off the screen, virtual displays have been proposed for more practical purposes — visual aids to help vision-impaired people, holographic driving control panels and even as a way to surf the Web on the go.

The device to make this happen may be familiar. Engineers at the University of Washington have for the first time used manufacturing techniques at microscopic scales to combine a flexible, biologically safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights.

Continue reading ‘Contact Lenses With Circuits, Lights A Possible Platform For Superhuman Vision’ »

Bionic Bugs:

In July, however, a Harvard University team got a truly fly-like robot airborne, its synthetic wings buzzing at 120 beats per second.

“It showed that we can manufacture the articulated, high-speed structures that you need to re-create the complex wing motions that insects produce,” said team leader Robert Wood.

Continue reading ‘Bionic Bugs The eye in the sky’ »