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Vincent Padois, head tutor at the Pierre and Marie Curie University who teaches robotics and is babysitting the Paris ICub, makes a demonstration with ICub robot, a ?hybrid embodied cognitive system for a humanoid robot" about 1 metre (3.2 feet) high, at the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris September 4, 2009. Six versions of ICub exist in laboratories across Europe, where scientists are painstakingly tweaking its electronic brain to make it capable of learning, just like a human child and hoping it will learn how to adapt its behaviour to changing circumstances, offering new insights into the development of human consciousness. REUTERS/Philippe Wojazer

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    Flying robot to aid China Antarctic expedition

    BEIJING
    Sun Aug 26, 2007 6:51am EDT

    BEIJING (Reuters) - A robot that can fly "like a mini-helicopter" and a second that can glide across ice will aid Chinese scientists during an Antarctic expedition slated for October, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.

    Technology  |  Green Business

    The airborne robot can fly for an hour at speeds of 50 to 100 kilometers (30 to 60 miles) an hour and will be equipped with a camera and an infrared radiometer for observing ice on the sea.

    The second robot can slide across ice crevasses and snowy slopes, the report said.

    "The use of robots can reduce the risks and costs in scientific research," Xinhua quoted Qin Weijia, of the Polar Research Institute of China, as saying. "No matter how bad the weather is, they can still work normally."

    The 200-strong expedition team will set up seismic stations in Antarctica to measure tremors and tectonic movements on the continent, the report said.
    Technology
    Green Business


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