The CyberQuad, an "electric ducted quadrotor Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)," gains significant maneuverability from its fan-based technology, including a "perch and stare" function which allows it to hover in one place with increased stability and endurance. That is, until it's attacked by flying extraterrestrial fauna.

Last month, on our own planet, the CyberQuad successfully investigated an oil platform fire, beaming high-definition video back to operators stationed at a safer location. Still, its silent fans, as well as its unique "perch and stare" capabilities, suggest it could be put to use on our own battlefields in the near future. [Cyber Technologies via Wired]

As you can see in the sample videos above, sometimes we choose to make bionic monkeys and insects. Truly, it's the weirdest of the weird sciences. Check out Wired for the complete list. [Wired]

Remember handwriting? We have all but abandoned it, but the torch is being taken up by robots like Kuka, who has been put to work writing out copies of the Martin Luther bible. [BotJunkie]
Developed by Aberystwyth University and the University of Cambridge, Adam the robot was the first machine to independently discover new knowledge.

Using artificial intelligence, Adam hypothesized that certain genes in baker's yeast code for specific enzymes which catalyse biochemical reactions in yeast. The robot then devised experiments to test these predictions, ran the experiments using laboratory robotics, interpreted the results and repeated the cycle.

The results of the experiment were later replicated and confirmed by a team of human scientists. So, it appears that computers are not only doing our calculations, but they have begun thinking for us as well. [Scientific Blogging and Link]
Are you lactose intolerant? Do you have frequent heartburn or constipation? Perhaps one day your defective digestion system could be replaced with a more advanced version of the Cloaca machine. This thing simulates actual human digestion and, in the end, produces a turd you would be proud of. [Cloaca via Link]
Dishwashers have been around for decades, but we still have to physically put the dishes into the machine. This is completely unacceptable. Panasonic's robot takes care of the entire cleaning process from start to finish. [Link]
Seriously, what don't smartphones do for us these days? At the most basic level, these phones are how we communicate, how we entertain ourselves and how we gather information. Thanks to apps, smartphones are taking on even greater roles—like helping us keep our girlfriends happy without actually having to do any work. Girlfriend Keeper sends automatic texts and emails to your significant other depending on the intensity of your relationship. [Girlfriend Keeper]
If you are tired of your co-workers being promoted over you, just wait until a robot becomes your new boss. JAST or the "Teamworkbot" has the ability to observe and mimic human behavior. As you will see in this video, JAST already knows how to complete the task, so it observes the human's actions, anticipates his next move and dresses him down when he gets it wrong. [Link]
I'm pretty sure that allowing robots to take a critical role in surgery qualifies as crossing a Rubicon with respect to our level of trust in machines. The Da VInci robot enables a surgeon sitting at a console to control movements and equiptment with greater precision—resulting in a procedure that is minimally invasive. [Wikipedia]
It's only a matter of time before technology becomes advanced enough to allow lazy parents to turn over the duties of child-rearing to robots. In fact, it's already happening in Japan where robots like Tmsuk babysit kids in shopping malls thanks to RFID badges. They even have robot teachers like Saya that terrify elementary schoolchildren into doing their work.
The Affective Intelligent Driving Agent (AIDA) was developed by MIT to help drivers navigate, bitch about their driving when necessary, and keep them company on long trips.

"When it merges knowledge about the city with an understanding of the driver's priorities and needs, AIDA can make important inferences," explains Assaf Biderman, associate director of the SENSEable City Lab. "Within a week AIDA will have figured out your home and work location. Soon afterwards the system will be able to direct you to your preferred grocery store, suggesting a route that avoids a street fair-induced traffic jam. On the way AIDA might recommend a stop to fill up your tank, upon noticing that you are getting low on gas," says Biderman. "AIDA can also give you feedback on your driving, helping you achieve more energy efficiency and safer behavior."

[MIT via Link]
While the AIDA robot helps you navigate, there are plenty of engineers working on cars that do all of the driving for you. Chevy's "Boss" Tahoe is one of the higher profile projects that have come out in recent years, winning the DARPA Urban Challenge in 2007 after successfully navigating a 60-mile course littered with obstacles. [Link]

Here are ten machines that are so enormous that they'll screw with your sense of what's large, what's small, and what is truly gigantic—each handily put into scale.

A fair bit longer than the Eiffel Tower laid flat, is how big. [DarkRoasted Blend]

The Komatsu 9xx Series mining trucks look a bit like Tonka toys. No, they look exactly like Tonka toys. [MiningTopNews]

24-foot-tall Tonka toys, mind you. [E-Transport.ro]

Howard Hughes' ill-conceived, ill-fated Spruce Goose has always been fascinating to me. HAY GUYS, LET'S MAKE A PLANE OUT OF WOOD! WHAT COULD GO WRONG? [Colorado U]

Along with being a hugely strange idea, it was hugely huge. That's the 1019-ft Queen Mary cruise ship, for reference. [DriveArchive]

The Bagger 288 strip-mining machine has gained plenty of notoriety on the internet, mainly on account of looking like it was designed to kill. It isn't, at all, but you can't fault us for jumping to conclusions. Look at it! [DRB]

The general public's unease about this horror machine won't be helped by the fact that it's large enough to saw large ships in half, and gobble up a bulldozer without so much as flinching. [Wikimedia]

Old Soviet military hardware is incredibly interesting—a vestige of a time when both of the world's superpowers applied their distinctively different philosophies to a race to design some of the most ridiculous machines ever created. But surely this photo of a Typhoon Class submarine is just the victim of some zoom lens distortion, right? [DGIBNET]

Ha ha, not at all. Those there are humans, see? [Webpark.ru]

The Space Shuttle Conveyor is a literally-named, track-driven machine that you've probably seen before, saddled with one of NASA's various, now-dormant spacecraft. But it's hard to even judge how big the shuttle is, much less its ride. [NASA]

As you probably guessed, it's inconceivably gigantic.

The B-2 Bomber is another familiar piece of hardware, but one that is usually pictured without comparison, flying through the air, looking secretive. It's a stealth plane, and it's shaped like a Styrofoam glider, so I always imagined it as fairly lithe. [Af.mil]

It's actually startlingly large, with a wingspan of over 172ft. [OklahomaCity on Flickr]

Anyone with knowledge of power generation can tell you that it's no wimpy windmill that can pump out six megawatts of power, and that this windmill must be fairly substantial.

Whether they'll be able to find the words to fully describe how substantial it is is another matter entirely. Those orange specks peeking out of the fan's face like insects? Those are maintenance workers. [Giz]

At first glance the Knock Nevis supertanker, with its weird name and goofy-large "No Smoking" sign below the officer's deck, looks like your average cargo ship: Pretty big, pretty flat and and pretty boring. [Wikimedia]

Far from it: The largest ship in the world, measuring in at over 1,500 feet long, ole' Nevis is a floating city. [DamnCoolPics]

The Mil Mi-26 is one of the classic sense-of-scale killers, since its proportions are almost exactly like a regular helicopter, just bigger. How much bigger? [Wikimedia]

That little black thing hanging from the Mi-26's hook there is a Chinook, which is nearly a hundred feet long. [Aerospaceweb]

Although it takes Willow Garage's PR2 58 minutes to complete its mission, it managed to barrel through 8 doors—maneuvering itself around junk scattered all over an office space—and find 9 different electrical outlets to recharge itself. If all the outlets were being used, I wonder if the PR2 is smart enough to figure out how to yank out other plugs for an empty socket. [Willow Glen via Robots.net via Technabob]

The statue/model/robot is on display at E3 outside Ubisoft's booth for the corresponding video game which will release alongside the film. Up until now, specific details and visuals from the film have been pretty scarce.

For those unfamiliar, Avatar is a 3D film set to take place in the 22nd century. The basic premise is that humans visit a distant moon full of giant blue aliens using genetically engineered "avatars" that they mentally inhabit (I'm not making this up). Cameron says the film was inspired by all the sci-fi books he read as a child.

If anything, the movie will be interesting. For now, feast on the images, and be sure to check out more over at [Collider]

Yeah, it's kind of like pitting a puppy vs a toddler...but I digress.

This tournament poll of the world's deadliest robots was proposed to us by our friend PW Singer, author of Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century which we covered last March. Stay tuned for more scary-ass robots wreaking havoc on fleshy humans and metallic adversaries alike.

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology.

Being on death row is lonely, so having a TV is important to your sanity. Godwin's was on the fritz, so he decided to multitask by trying to fix it while using the commode.

The last stupid decision of his life was to bite down on an exposed wire in the plugged-in TV while sitting on the metal toilet. He was electrocuted instantly, making his own kind of electric chair and saving the state the trouble.

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology.

Stay tuned later today for a special bonus round between two loveable robots completely unsuited for combat. The question of the century will finally be answered.

This tournament poll of the world's deadliest robots was proposed to us by our friend PW Singer, author of Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century which we covered last March. Stay tuned for more of the tournament, more from Singer, and for more scary-ass robots wreaking havoc on fleshy humans and metallic adversaries alike.

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology.

Keep in mind that the final showdown between the winner of the Humanoid Class and the Heavyweight Class will go down tomorrow, so make sure to cast your votes for the matchup you would like to see most.

This tournament poll of the world's deadliest robots was proposed to us by our friend PW Singer, author of Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century which we covered last March. Stay tuned for more of the tournament, more from Singer, and for more scary-ass robots wreaking havoc on fleshy humans and metallic adversaries alike.

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology.

On one hand, kittens are organic lifeforms, presumably loyal to other organic lifeforms. On the other, kittens grow into cats. And for thousands of years, cats have refused to follow the human code.

What I postulate is a future in which there is a sort of war trifecta. It will be Man vs. Machine vs. Kittens. And with the feline world showing up as an insane wild card, anything can happen...though in the immortal words of John Connor, the outcome is most likely that, "We are dead!! We are all dead!! Because of kittens!!!" [Cute Overload]

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology.

The ball shot out at 70MPH, striking Anderson in the skull. He wasn't knocked completely unconscious and was surprised to discover his head swelling in instead of out. This was because he had multiple skull fractures that were causing blood to collect in his brain. Bad news.

Surgeons had to relieve the pressure in his skull to keep blood from entering more parts of his brain. Because seven areas of his brain had collapsed, there was a fear that permanent brain damage could result.

Now, 7 years later, Mitchell is one of the top players on his high school baseball team, batting a .455 with a .714 on-base percentage.

An impressive recovery and comeback to be sure, but he's got to know that somewhere out there is a pitching machine that wants to finish the job. Watch your back, Anderson. [News Journal Online]

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology.

Caprica 6 vs The Gunslinger and a group of Fembots:

Stay tuned for the final round of the Heavyweight Division later today. Keep in mind that the final showdown between the winner of the Humanoid Class and the Heavyweight Class will go down tomorrow, so make sure to cast your votes for the matchup you would like to see most.

This tournament poll of the world's deadliest robots was proposed to us by our friend PW Singer, author of Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century which we covered last March. Stay tuned for more of the tournament, more from Singer, and for more scary-ass robots wreaking havoc on fleshy humans and metallic adversaries alike.

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology.

Oh yes...it's Mega Maid from Spaceballs.

Stay tuned for the fourth and final rounds of the Heavyweight and Humanoid class battles later today. The winners of these final division battles will be pitted against one another in a winner-take-all, inter-divisional robo-superfight on Friday. Cast your votes and feel free to suggest a new opponent in the comments.

This tournament poll of the world's deadliest robots was proposed to us by our friend PW Singer, author of Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century which we covered last March. Stay tuned for more of the tournament, more from Singer, and for more scary-ass robots wreaking havoc on fleshy humans and metallic adversaries alike.

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology.

It's basically a machine that uses the power from a 500 cubic inch El Dorado engine power wheels, which launch six foot long pieces of 2" by 4" lumber over 120 miles per hour. That's fast enough to penetrate an eighth inch of steel plate. Even better, this machine uses an autoloader that can run through its 20 board clip in 10 seconds. An oldie, but a goodie. Thank god its not a computer controlled bot. [SRL]

Both the Humanoid and Heavyweight Battles will continue tomorrow. Cast your vote and feel free to suggest a new opponent in the comments.

This tournament poll of the world's deadliest robots was proposed to us by our friend PW Singer, author of Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Conflict in the 21st Century which we covered last March. Stay tuned for more of the tournament, more from Singer, and for more scary-ass robots wreaking havoc on fleshy humans and metallic adversaries alike.

Machines Behaving Deadly: A week exploring the sometimes difficult relationship between man and technology.