Showing posts with label Watch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Watch. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Watch Today's ISS Spacewalk Live, Right Here, Right Now

Watch Today's ISS Spacewalk Live, Right Here, Right NowS

It's no lazy Saturday on the International Space Station: astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Michael Hopkins have just begun the first of three spacewalks to fix a faulty cooling loop on the outside of the ISS. And you can watch it live.

Head on over to NASA TV for live video, including radio communication from the astronauts and explanation by NASA engineers here on earth. Today's mission is disconnecting the faulty pump circulating ammonia coolant through the ISS's external cooling lines. A second spacewalk on Monday will focus on connecting the replacement pump, and a final mission Wednesday will complete the repair using the ISS's giant robotic arm. Hey, if you're gonna work on a holiday, you should at least be able to play with some awesome toys! [NASA TV]


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Sunday, December 22, 2013

Watch the DARPA Challenge and the Future Of Robotics Live Right Here

Watch the DARPA Challenge and the Future Of Robotics Live Right HereS

We've seen countless videos of ATLAS and other advanced robots strutting their stuff, but now it's officially time for all of them to put their money where their mouths are (wait, do robots have mouths?) as the DARPA Robotics Challenge officially gets underway. And you can watch a live stream of the events as they unfold right here.

Just don't expect robots battling out to the death ala Real Steel. The tasks set before these bots is considerably tamer, but no less challenging. The organizers of the competition hope to push the capabilities of today's most advanced automatons to the limit, in order to advance the software and technologies that goes into these robots. And the various teams are hoping to claim the challenge's hefty $2 million bounty.

The robots will actually face eight different tasks that seem trivial to humans, but will pose a serious challenge to the competitors. These include driving an ATV-like vehicle through a twisty course, climbing an eight-foot tall ladder, opening a lever-handled door, navigating an obstacle course featuring ramps and loose footings, cutting a hole in a wall, spinning wheels to close three air valves, unreeling a hose and connecting its nozzle to a faucet, and finally clearing debris from a doorway. All of which should result in a wonderful blooper reel by the time the competition draws to a close. [DARPA Robotics Challenge via IEEE Spectrum]

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Watch Lady Gaga floating around in a flying dress like a freaking drone

Here's Lady Gaga floating over a stage in a ridiculously cool and absurd flying dress made with fiberglass and six propellers. It's a world's first—just like her steak dress. She calls it Volantis.

According to Deezeen, the dress was designed by "London company Studio XO and TechHaus, the technology division of the star's Haus of Gaga creative team" and was presented at the launch of ARTPOP, her third album.

She wasn't piloting the dress. A guy was remote controlling her. So, for a few minutes, Lady Gaga was literally a drone (as opposed of her usual metaphorical drone self.)

Photo by Getty Images


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