It's being developed by a Panasonic subsidiary called ActiveLink, who say they don't expect to see it being used for things like disaster relief efforts until around 2015. At the moment it has an aluminum-alloy frame weighing around 500lbs, so hopefully they can shrink it down a bit. Very cool, though. Check out the vid: [Mainichi (translated) via PinkTentacle]

Built by Vstone's Takeshi Maeda, OmniZero.9 is 3.5 foot tall and weighs 55lbs. And earlier this month the pair passed qualifying rounds of the ROBO-ONE humanoid robot competition in Japan—by knocking smaller robots outta the ring. Totemo kawaii desu yo! [Robot Watch (translated) via Plastic Pals]

The full suit comes in three sizes, with the largest weighing 50lbs (though it seems you don't notice that when you're wearing it). It now looks like single and two leg versions will rent for about $1570 and $2300 per month.

Despite the tests, Cyberdyne still won't say when the HAL suit will reach the greater public. Check out the vid, the future looks super strange. [HPlus Magazine]

Older video showing the suit can help users lift up to 10x the weight they normally could:

Cute in a slightly unnerving way. Coming soon: robo rat catchers! [Takram Design Engineering via Pink Tentacle]

The idea being that repetition builds muscle memory, and you'll improve faster.

You'll need to email for pricing, but it does look like the included software works with any MIDI file. Less certain is if there's an evil teacher mode that turns up the voltage when you misbehave. [Concert Hands via The Raw Feed via DVICE]

The image above comes from Aeronvironment, and shows what it wants the prototype in the video below to ultimately look like. DARPA's goal is to have a 10 gram aircraft with a 7.5-centimetre wingspan. They want it to get into tight hiding spaces and send back GPS and image data.

Aeronvironment's progress is also notable because such robots previously couldn't carry their own batteries, and had to use guide wires.

"It is capable of climbing and descending vertically, flying sideways left and right, as well as forward and backward, under remote control," says the company.

[New Scientist]

Shop owner and robot manufacturer, Kenji Nagaya, told Reuters that the robots improve "the accuracy of timing in boiling noodles, precise movements in adding toppings and consistency of the taste and temperature of the soup." Oishii!

[Nilab and Reuters via Technovelgy]

Ooook. We like you too. (Obviously, the damn thing is a bloody liar. RUN FOR YOUR LIVES) [Wolfram Alpha—Thanks Jared]

The system allows for communication both in the voice and data variety between basically any unit of the British Armed Forces, including computers talking to computers, probably about how best to murder their makers. For example, a base computer in cheery old London can communicate with the "Reaper," a robotic spy drone in Afghanistan, retrieving data and telling it where to go, and transmitting live video over the connection from the UAV. The sat also has solar sails which extend its life to 15 years, a special anti-jamming antenna is set on the receive side, while 4 steerable antennas can be aimed in a single spot to concentrate broadcasting ability.

Even worse is the fact that the whole thing is privately owned, with the British Armed Forces only promised a portion of the bandwidth rather than having control over the whole thing.

All I know is that we've got to protect John Conner at all costs, wherever he may be. [BBC via io9]

The Air Force Research Laboratory is conducting a technology assessment of certain cell processors. The processors in the Sony PlayStation 3 are the only brand on the market that utilizes the specific cell processor characteristics needed for this program at an acceptable cost.

So in case you have 300 PS3 that just fell from a truck, here is the order:

The contractor shall provide the following items on a firm fixed price basis:

Item 1: Sony PlayStation 3 Game Console - 40 GB Hard Drive

Qty: 300

Sony Part Number 98006

The estimated delivery date is 30 days after receipt of award. The place of delivery, acceptance, and FOB destination point is F4HBL1/Transportation Depot 2, 148 Electronic Parkway, Rome, NY 13441-4516.

I wonder if Transportation Depot 2 is where they store the lost arks and dead aliens with the spaceships. [Air Force via Hushed Casket]

...supremely oriented, highly intuitive virtual coach-cum-battle manager whose primary mission would support system operators and commanders during engagements. As such, the super system would help Israeli air defenders pick the optimum timing, sequence and targets for specific interceptors.

The good news, which luckily we read right before crapping ourselves for the third time today, is that the developers aren't focusing entirely on making it autonomous, but a sort of hybrid.

"Our approach cannot be based exclusively on man-in-the-loop, nor can it rely only on the opposite. Rather, we need to build an operational concept and a system that is flexible and situationally dependent," Milo said.

In the future, and "under very complex scenarios," Milo said, the envisioned super system would be able to generate a level of supreme situational awareness and snap intuitive capabilities that could surpass the very best wartime commanders.

Nevertheless, if we're all killed by an AI system in 20 years, you know who to blame. [Wired]