11 
The battling bots in Hugh Jackman's Real Steel look far too CG to get me excited over the idea of programmed pugilists battling to the death. But this real life set of giant, tele-operated robotic arms are without doubt the future of televised combat. And probably handy for doing real work too.
Built by Salt Lake City's Raytheon-Sarcos, the massive arms are attached to a modified Ditch Witch making them fully mobile, and are controlled by a human operator who's strapped into what's often referred to as a Waldo system. The operator's shoulder, elbow, wrist and hand movements are all translated to the robotic arms in real time, requiring absolutely no previous training. And the rig even provides force feedback as the user moves, so they know when the arms have lifted something particularly heavy, or hit something immovable.
Unfortunately the limited imaginations of the engineers who built the arms see it primarily being used in dangerous working conditions, even being remotely operated from miles away in situations that are inhospitable to humans. But I predict it won't be long until we see a couple of these battling it out in a back alley. [KSL News Utah via Geekologie]
Related StoriesView the original article here
This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.
With so many hurricanes and earthquakes and tsunamis and 2012 only being a year away, I wouldn't blame you for preparing for the end of the world. So feel free to buy the Noah Disaster Shelter, a gigantic yellow pod that can house 4 people.
The pod is resistant to impact and water so you can float around your destroyed city until stuff calms down. Think of it as a modern day version of Noah's ark, except you can't re-create civilization with it. I guess saving yourself is enough! [Asahi via DVICE]
How'd Terje Helles win the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency's top prize for 2010? By capturing so many incredible shots of endangered species! And how'd he miraculously find all of these rare animals? On internet stock photography sites. So busted.
Did this revelation really need Gloerson's skepticism? If you look at Helles' work, a lot of the stuff is completely ridiculous. This "photo" of a Lynx looks like it was pieced together in MS Paint, not captured in the wild.
His photo of a Siberian jay looks like CGI to begin with. How did this stupid-looking, blurry charade fool anyone, let alone the Environmental Protection Agency? Shouldn't the people whose jobs it is to recognize the rarity of animals raised an eyebrow when they started popping up everywhere? PetaPixel Helles might lose his prize, but it seems like some people at the Swedish EPA should lose their jobs—a little too ignorant of both tech and the wilderness. [UPI via PetaPixel]
Transporting toxic gas in glass containers aboard a train sounds like something from a hurriedly-written action movie, but no, it's real life. And it's particularly real life for Chelyabinsk, Russia, which now have a cloud of bromine floating above it.
HTC has done the unthinkable and created a massive phone named Titan. It weighs over a third of a pound, has a gigantic 4.7-inch screen (Christ...), has a 1.5 Ghz processor of some sort, and, yeah, is huge. Bonus: Mango!