Weathermen can not predict the weather. That’s why we don’t take their word as 100% accurate. They can tell us what’s coming, thanks to all kinds of sensors and data, but 10-day forecasts are just educated guesses.

So how do we improve predicting the weather? MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics thinks they have an answer. They think that robots are the answer. A swarm of unmanned aerial vehicles could be equipped with sensors that would help weather forecasters get a better sense of the larger picture. It’s all about better data. The Boeing ScanEagle pictured above is very promising as a storm hunter because of its relatively large size and weight. It helps that it can fly 1,000 miles with a full load.

[Dvice]

Crime is about to stop dead in Florida, having been creeped the frak out by this robotic McGruff costume that police departments are now purchasing in order to scare kids shitless.

Apparently, a department in Florida purchased this costume recently. It even comes with a remote to blink the eyes and open the mouth, while you simulate an actual voice by playing back sound from an attached MP3 player.

[Gizmodo]

This smart robot companion has a body covered in sensors and motors, even webcams in his eyes and a speaker in his nose. The idea is that it will respond to you and react like an electronic pet. But it’s smarter than your average electro-pet. It will also act as a telepresence device, echoing the movements of a remotely-manipulated Huggable. With the remote bear also be moved by you, you can send remote-controlled cuddles.

How cute. Killing will be cuddly as we are suffocated by steel arms covered in fur.

Supposedly the bear’s intended use is to help in hospitals, and in early-learning applications. But don’t let your guard down.

[MIT]

Japanese robot maker HPI will be selling the four-legged robotic G-Dog later this month. The robot dog is powered by a 7.2V nickel metal hydride battery, features nine servomotors and is mostly made of aluminium. It’s sized at 375×135×190mm and weighs 570g. G-Dog can be controlled wirelessly via a Playstation-like joypad. He can sit up and beg, crawl and roll over to its side. Experience tells us that he probably looks cooler then he is, but we shall see.

[Crunchgear]

This robotic spy plane is only six-inches long, but it can use just about everything as a power source. It can also be used for monitoring all sensory perceptions in a combat zone. The project is being funded by the US Army, but also involves the University of California at Berkeley, the University of New Mexico and the University of Michigan College of Engineering.

It could use solar power, wind power and even vibrational-sourced power. The bot could record images, audio and even detect smells of a combat area then transmit them over radio signals. It’s the result, or will be the result of a $10 million, five-year grant at the University of Michigan’s College of Engineering. It’s known as Center for Objective Microelectronics and Biomimetic Advanced Technology, or COM-BAT for short. It’s a high-tech bat shaped bot and has a stereo camera, microphones and other sensors for detecting radiations, gases and a lot more. It would also be able to navigate in the dark using radar. Just like a bat.

[Slashgear]

Bjoern Schuelke’s interactive sculptures will mesmerize you with whirling propellers and twitching legs, but you are actually the one being studied. They’re armed with tiny cameras and stare back at the viewers, quietly recording.

The sculptures also feature motion sensors that allow the robots to identify and take aim at humans in the room, displaying their target on small built-in screens. One interesting piece, the Tribble like “TV-Pirates” will find those who are walking around and put them on the small TV-screens.

[io9]

NASA will begin work next month on a four-year, $1.74 million project called the Virtual Space Station. The project will attempt to create a program that can independently counsel depressed astronauts by supplying solutions to their typed insecurities. Remember HAL 9000 anyone?

Astronauts would type their psychological problems into a console, and a pre-recorded video therapist will then lead them through a series of likely solutions. The robot “helps astronauts identify reasons for their depression. Then the program helps them make a plan to fight the depression.”

If Astronauts use the thing. After all, denial is powerful. How can you admit that you are suffering psychologically if you are in denial? Plus he’s scared shitless that HAL will kill him interpret the mission differently. So you see, it’s doomed to failure either way.

[AP]

This may be the most useless robot ever since it is created to dop exactly what a real plant does and you can find real plants…everywhere. But why the hell not. Researchers from Chonnam National University have developed a robotic plant that can produce oxygen, emits aromas, and apparently humidifies.

It beats a real plant in that it can respond to a variety of stimuli. When a person comes within 40cm of the robo-plant it’s stems will lean toward the visitor and its flowers will bloom, which is nice if you are a Disney Princess I guess. The plant will also bloom when you speak to it, and shake to greet you. Pretty damn silly. It even tries it’s hand leaves at photosynthesis, as the buds open and close according to lighting conditions.

[Hallyutech]

This is what human turncoats will ride on after they have sold the rest of us out to our new robot masters. From atop robot spider chairs, they will laugh and look upon the carnage, thanking God that their spineless hides were spared to serve as lackeys.

There isn’t much info on this one but it was seen at Robo Japan 2008 and it does what you would expect, in that it carries humans like a walking/moving chair.

[Technovelgy]

We’ve seen some monstrosities in our day, but somehow putting the head of a Cabbage Patch Kid on top of a robot crab just raises the bar a bit. The robot is available in a DIY kit, minus the head of course and takes about three hours to put together. Slap on a doll head and it will creep out all the kids who come to you for candy. One day in the future all Cabbage Patch Kids will look like this. Video below.
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