Trans-Future: Defense - Upcoming stories

Group Insurance & Small Business

chanchalseo — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:42:05 GMT

A Group Health Plan is a great incentive that can help you hire and retain the best workers. On top of that, there are great tax incentives for businesses that provide health insurance.

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Robotic ants building homes on Mars?

transfuture — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:42:05 GMT

Recent discoveries of water and Earth-like soil on Mars have set imaginations running wild that human beings may one day colonise the Red Planet. However, the first inhabitants might not be human in form at all, but rather swarms of tiny robots. “Small robots that are able to work together could explore the planet. We now know there is water and dust so all they would need is some sort of glue to start building structures, such as homes for human scientists,” says Marc Szymanski, a robotics researcher at the University of Karlsruhe in Germany. Szymanski is part of a team of European researchers developing tiny autonomous robots that can co-operate to perform different tasks, much like termites, ants or bees forage collaboratively for food, build nests and work together for the greater good of the colony.

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The Future of Robotics

transfuture — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 02:42:05 GMT

Life Like Robots Robotic engineers are designing the next generation of robots to look, feel and act more human, to make it easier for us to warm up to a cold machine. Realistic looking hair and skin with embedded sensors will allow robots to react naturally in their environment. For example, a robot that senses your touch on the shoulder and turns to greet you. Subtle actions by robots that typically go unnoticed between people, help bring them to life and can also relay non verbal communication. Artificial eyes that move and blink. Slight chest movements that simulate breathing. Man made muscles to change facial expressions. These are all must have attributes for the socially acceptable robots of the future. The brain behind the beauty will be the key to turning a realistic looking machine into a life like robot. Artificial intelligence plays a pivotal role in successful human/robot interaction.

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