You will watch this video multiple times and proclaim HOLYEFFINGWTF each time, I guarantee it. What we have here is essentially a robot jedi making objects float in midair. Yes, it’s real. The Airbot doesn’t use magic. It didn’t train at Hogwart’s. It’s a computer-controlled air jet using a direct current motor-controlled valve.

It was developed at the University of Illinois by Aaron Becker and Robert Sandheinrich, with some help from professor Timothy Bretl. It can lift spherical and not-so-spherical objects up to 188 grams and 97mm in radius. And also peel an onion.

[IEEE]

Yes. A robot can even be Scottish. “McBlare”, a robotic bagpipe player, uses an ordinary bagpipe and an air compressor to supply air. All the while, electro-magnetic devices, such as an outlet, powers the fingers that play the music by covering and opening the 10 holes on the bagpipe. The whole machine is controlled by a computer that is pre-set with a couple of traditional bag-pipe songs in its memory. It is also possible for McBlare to add its own sounds to the authentic, simple melodies on a piano looking keyboard. The signals or musical notes are sent to the computer again which are translated to notes on the bagpipe.

[CMU]

NASA is working on an UAV that will fly above the surface of mars and take high resolution video of the planet’s landscape. The UAV features a 6.5 meter wingspan that will allow it to fly 1 mile above the martian surface. The cameras are pretty amazing. They say that “if there was a candy wrapper on the surface, we could read the name and ingredients off of it.”

I think we all know the name already. The Mars bar. It’s delicious.

Video below.
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Last Tuesday, a bunch of professors, students and robotics enthusiasts launched H.A.L.E. (High Altitude Lego Extravaganza).

What is it? Seven Lego Mindstorms robots attached to a weather balloon, which exploded at 30km over the Earth’s surface. Don’t worry, they dropped back safely via parachute and even took photographs of the ascent and descent.

Whether the professors know it or not, they just gave these bots some paratrooper training. It ain’t no different then army guys jumping out of a plane. These bots now have intel they will need to hit us from the air one day. Sure they took pics for the professors, but what did they take for them? Anyway, hit the link for some awesome pics.

[Gizmodo]