Roving reporter on battlefields could be a robot. MIT builds a robot news hound known as the Afghan Explorer. [USA Today : Front Page]

This is little more than a remote control car with a camera and monitor attached. Still, it is an interesting hybrid of technology.

Telepresence is a good idea, be it for hostage negotiation, reporting in areas that are hazardous to normal humans, or as a means of holding a meeting in hostile locations where a telephone or videophone are impractical to use.

Questions:

• What is to keep the person on the other end of the 'bot from simply trashing the unit?
• How do you insure that the unit gets back to you safely?
• Is it possible to guarantee that the GPS and Cell phone data won't be used to track the location of the person on the other end? If not, why not use these bots as disposable scouts for rooting out enemy troops? Of course, they then cease to be robots if they are used for harming people.

2:19:35 PM    

Furrybot to Watch Over You. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's a cute, furry robot, and it's the latest in retirement home technology. By Daithí Ó hAnluain. [Wired News]

(Cough) Nice scoop.

10:01:40 AM    

In Aircraft Safety Effort, New Technology Tests Its Wings. Boeing is introducing several new electronic products that will attempt to further the precision of computer navigation and data presentation in the cockpit. [New York Times: Technology]

This system alerts pilots to when they are flying too low, as well as providing guidelines for moving around once they are on the ground. Boxes or rings appear on displays to show obstacles, which are fed to the displays based off of their position as determined by GPS.

Future Use: systems that prevent the planes from going where they should not (into skyscrapers, along restricted flight paths) and to allow for quick redirection of planes away from emergency areas.

9:51:58 AM