NASA prepares a probe, named Phoenix, to dig for water on Mars. “Upon reaching Mars in May 2008, the spacecraft is to land just as the winter ice begins to recede around the polar cap.”
Category: Robotics
They Blinded Me With Science.
The source of that Hawaii link above deserves its own posting: DISCOVER magazine presents the Top 100 science stories of 2006.
We’re All Doomed.
By way of my sister Tessa, a robotic gastronome determines human flesh tastes exactly like bacon (or possibly prosciutto.) Sigh…I was afraid of this. Once the machines acquire the taste, we’re all in deep, deep trouble. Or have they already figured it out, and cubicle culture is really just an attempt by the mechs to fatten us up for harvest? Hmmm…is it too late to install a vegetarian subroutine?
Roomba with a view.
So maybe this is why Berk can’t stand the droid…experience yet another freeloadin’, Magnolia Bakery-filled day in the life of a NYC Roomba. (Via High Industrial.)
Renaissance Robots.
Hmmm, why do I always feel like the Met is missing something? Wait, that’s it…fine art needs more robots! Ah, that’s much better.
(By way of Quiddity.)
Vacuum Vestments.
Costumes for Roombas. (Via Quiddity.) Unfortunately, I don’t think that slinky french maid number is going to rectify Berk’s outstanding issues with the vac-droid.
Nothing Ever Happens on Mars.
“I think that this mission will re-write the science books on Mars.” More happy space news following the discovery of water on Enceladus: NASA successfully pilots the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter into Martian orbit. “It was picture perfect. We could not have planned it any better.” (Phew…looks like everyone successfully converted to metric this time.)
On Avatar and Mars.
More James Cameron news: Harry of AICN has a wide-ranging conversation with the director which, if you can get past the usual Knowlesisms, reveals that Project 880 is in fact Avatar, and that Cameron has been working with NASA on a “Live Video Stereo Motion Image” (3-D) camera for the next Mars Rover.
Dead Men Walking.
Also in a Halloween-ish vein, rocketeer and robot designer Will McCarthy speculates on how to re-animate the dead. The answer? “Zombochrondria.” (Via Follow Me Here.)
She, Robot-Maker.
“Watching the original ‘Star Wars’ movie as a mathematically inclined 11-year-old, Helen Greiner dreamed of someday creating a robot like the heroic R2-D2. After enduring plenty of lean years chasing that elusive vision as a co-founder of iRobot Corp., Greiner can now boast a product that whirs and chirps much like the character she to this day calls her ‘personal hero.’” The Globe profiles iRobot co-founder Helen Greiner, whose company boasts Roomba, Scooba, and the Packbot, a military minesweeper that, if Greiner has her druthers, won’t be breaking Asimov’s First Law anytime soon.