FROM AP

Japan may send chatty humanoid tweet-bot to space(AP)

TOKYO (AP) — Lonely astronauts on the International Space Station may soon be getting an android friend from Japan.

And for the folks back home, it will tweet.

Japan's space agency is considering putting a talking humanoid robot on the International Space Station to watch the mission while astronauts are asleep, monitor their health and stress levels and communicate to Earth through the microblogging site Twitter.

Japan's space agency JAXA announced this week that it is looking at a plan to send a humanoid robot to the space station in 2013 that could communicate with the ground through Twitter — primarily feeding photos, rather than original ideas — and provide astronauts with "comfort and companionship."

Following up on NASA's "Robonaut" R-2 program, which is set for launch on the Discovery shuttle next week, the Japanese android would be part of a larger effort to create and refine robots that can be used by the elderly, JAXA said in a statement.

Japan is one of the leading countries in robotics, and has a rapidly aging society with one of the world's longest life-expectancies.

Improving robot communication capabilities could help the elderly on Earth by providing a nonintrusive means of monitoring the robot owner's health and vital signs and sending information to emergency responders if there is an abnormality, JAXA said.

"We are thinking in terms of a very human-like robot that would have facial expressions and be able to converse with the astronauts," said JAXA's Satoshi Sano.

The robot was being developed with the advertising and communications giant Dentsu Inc. and a team at Tokyo University.

The NASA project has human-like head, hands and arms and uses the same tools as station crew members. The "Robonaut" called R-2 — a shout-out to R2-D2 of "Star Wars" fame — is intended to carry out maintenance tasks in the station's Destiny lab.


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FROM LA TIMES

FDA expedites review of robotic arm


The lifelike limb, controlled by a chip planted on the brain, is being tested as part of a program designed to speed development of medical devices.



Reporting from Washington — Responding to the needs of badly wounded war veterans, federal officials said Tuesday they were accelerating reviews of a science-fiction-like robotic arm controlled by a computer chip on the brain.

The device would make the use of prosthetic arms, hands and fingers seem almost natural by using a microchip implanted on the brain to record and decode signals to neurons that control the prosthesis.

In a dramatic video accompanying the announcement by the Food and Drug Administration, the prosthetic arm wielded pliers and picked up a clothespin to demonstrate its dexterity.

The system, developed over the last five years at a cost of more than $100 million by the Pentagon's advanced technology research program, will become the first to be reviewed under a new FDA program designed to make promising medical devices available sooner.

The program seeks to quickly identify and nurture technology that has the potential to transform medical care and the way it is delivered to patients.

The development and review of new drugs and devices typically takes so long and is so expensive that some critics of the process have called it a graveyard for innovation.

"We must turn what has long been considered the valley of death into the pathway to success," said Jeffrey Shuren, head of the FDA's office of medical devices.

The silver and black arm can rotate, twist and bend 27 different ways, mimicking the action of a natural limb, said Geoffrey Ling, program manager for the revolutionizing prosthetics program run by the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.


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FROM CNET
Robots help sick kids go to school


Children too sick to go to school are still getting an education--thanks to robots in the classroom that transmit lessons back to the student.

Stepan Supin, 12, of Moscow has been battling leukemia for two years, and his immune system is so weak he can't leave home. However, telepresence technology allows him to go to school via remote-controlled robot.

The R.BOT 100 was developed by Moscow's 3Detection Labs several years ago, and it's been helping Stepan study history, geography, and languages since September.

Priced at roughly $3,000, the R.BOT 100 moves around on a wheeled base and has a display, Web cam, microphone, speakers, and an Internet link so Stepan can interact with his classmates and teacher.

"I can change the robot's speed, to go slower or faster. I can move his head to look left or right. I really feel as if I am in the classroom," Stepan told Australia's Herald Sun.

In Texas, Lyndon Baty also goes to school through a robot surrogate. He suffers from polycystic kidney disease and has a severely impaired immune system, which confines him to home.

Lyndon attends class with the Vgo telepresence robot, which was released last year by Vgo Communications. With two-way video, audio, and a 10-hour battery, Vgo lets Lyndon roam around the halls of Knox City High School and interact with other students (see the video below).

"I never thought when I was sick that I would ever have any interaction, much less this kind. It is just like I am there in the classroom," Lyndon said.

Priced around $6,000, the Vgo is much cheaper than Anybots' QB robot. With more and more telepresence bots coming out, will they become as common and cheap as laptops? If so, getting that magical doctor's note that lets you stay home might not mean too much anymore.


Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20030156-1.html#ixzz1CsIEwnqy