Honda Unveils Mind-Reading Robot

High-tech 'carp' find chemical contaminants in Spanish harbor

(NEWSER) - Robots will soon be patrolling the harbor of Gijon, Spain, and if all goes well, the local sea life won't notice a thing, reports the Financial Times. The pollution-detecting bots cost $30,000 each and are modeled after carp, complete with shiny scales and an undulating swimming motion. "We are building on a design created by hundreds of millions of years’ worth of evolution which is incredibly energy efficient," said a researcher on the project. More»

Electric adhesion allows machine to scale walls carrying 75 pounds

(NEWSER) - Researchers have created a wall-climbing robot that uses electrically activated adhesion to get up any surface—dusty, wet, glass or concrete. Other Spiderman-imitating machines use a different kind of gecko-inspired technology and generate stronger sticking power than the new ‘bot, but the simplicity of the approach means it could work for human wall-climbing, MIT Technology Review reports. More»

Honda robot manages to wow Detroit audience despite limitations

(NEWSER) - It was classical music, but when the Detroit Symphony Orchestra hit its final note last night, it sounded an awful lot like the future. Honda’s Asimo robot led a real, live, human orchestra, and though the android was only repeating the recorded movements of a human, the performance went beautifully, impressing the musicians and delighting the crowd, the Guardian reports. More»

You haven't already spent that tax refund, have you?

(NEWSER) - This year, the government’s economic stimulus package will add $600 to the average $2,300 refund each taxpayer receives. That’s a sizable chunk of change, perfect for a little tech-toy indulgence, reports ComputerWorld.

1. Casio Exilim Pro Ex-FI high-speed digital camera: Snag 60 frames in a single second, to score a shot in which everyone’s eyes are open.

It's designed to ride indoors

(NEWSER) - Watch out, Segway, there's a new player in the high-end scooter game. Honda has revealed the Uni-Cub, a personal mobility device that, like the Segway, is driven by shifting one's weight. It "looks like a trash compactor on wheels," reports the Los Angeles Times . (The Wall Street Journal thinks it's more like a "vacuum cleaner with a bicycle saddle mounted on top.") The big difference between the Uni-Cub and the Segway is that the Uni-Cub is compact enough to be used indoors, say at large airports or museums. More»