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On the Gripping Hand
eek_the_kat writes "The Sensor Fusion Project at Ishikawa Hashimoto Laboratory has developed a high speed visual feedback system called SPE-256. It allows the robot to track fast randomly moving objects and grasp them (movies here). The applications seem endless!
I have seen many robot mpegs as of late, many courtesy of /., but these have to be some of the coolest I have ever come across. A must see."
woohoo!
The aroma of premium Samâ(TM)s Choice coffee infiltrated my nose as I sipped a cup delicately. Robert would be arriving momentarily, and I would request a situation report. He and I are, of course, the guardians of a Walmart Supercenter located inside of the prosperous community of Jasper, Texas.
Weâ(TM)ve encountered Paul Cryer, who initiated litigation after his SUV impacted my elite patrol vehicle, and miscellaneous other members of the nefarious Three Pointed Conspiracy. Our integrity, however, is the origin of our strength. We will never abdicate our store. I digress.
"Peter!" exclaimed Robert, emerging from the door leading to the lawn and garden center.
"Robert," I smiled, "youâ(TM)re fifty seconds late. I will not accept such unpunctual behavior. What if a situation occurred in your absence?"
My protégé said nothing, instead walking to the vending counter and drawing a cup of coffee. I wouldnâ(TM)t punish him this evening. "How was your day?" I asked.
"It was fine," said Robert, "but you need to listen to this. There was a situation today at the restaurant!" You see, Robert is also employed by the prestigious Catfish Diner restaurant, which is regarded by many as the most elegant dining establishment in Jasper! Their all-you-can-eat seafood buffet, although expensive, is quite exquisite. I recommend it. Once again, however, I digress.
I turned to Robert. "What was the situation?"
"Well, this man came in," he said, "a man from Houston. It was strange, though, as the emblem on his car wasnâ(TM)t" â" Robert paused â" "I mean, he didnâ(TM)t seem to be a member of the Three Pointed Conspiracy. But, as we both know from experience, such terrible people are unable to conceal their true nature!"
"What happened?" I inquired, attempting to suppress my concern. Robertâ(TM)s safety was of an imperative nature.
"Well, it didnâ(TM)t become physical," he said, "so I didnâ(TM)t need to thrash him. People were obviously intimidated, though. I walked to his table.
"âWhat would you like this evening, sir?â(TM) I asked.
"âLook, man, is there any way you can get me some Starbucks coffee?â(TM)
"âStarbucks coffee? I donâ(TM)t believe we serve that, sir. Would you like some Community Coffee instead?â(TM)
"âI donâ(TM)t drink anything that gives me running diarrhea!â(TM) he said, raising his voice as if he were insulted. âI guess Iâ(TM)ll have some Coke. Anything to keep me awake so that I can get out of this anus of a city tonight.â(TM)
"I must admit that he was beginning to offend me. However, like an experienced waiter, I suppressed my anger. âYes, sir,â(TM) I said, and returned with his drink.
"âLook, man, Iâ(TM)m sure that all of your food sucks anyway, and you only serve a buffet. Itâ(TM)s probably something that I wouldnâ(TM)t even feed my dogs, but Iâ(TM)m desperate. So, Iâ(TM)ll have that.â(TM)
"âYes, sir,â(TM) I responded, âbut our food is excellent. In fact, it is superlative. Our seafood is delivered fresh once every week!â(TM)
"âThatâ(TM)s great,â(TM) he said, laughing, âbut tell your master chef not to screw me over too badly, aâ(TM)ight?â(TM)
"I must concede that I ignored the manâ(TM)s request. I returned with a plate and some silverware, which he snatched promptly from my hands. Fifteen minutes later, I returned with his tab. âHere, sir,â(TM) I said, âthank you for dining with us this evening.â(TM)
"âMy displeasure,â(TM) said the man, handing me a car key, âthis food was terrible, by the way. If this happened at any other restaurant, I would probably shoot the chef. My Lexus is parked outside. Bring it to the front door, please, and donâ(TM)t forget: there are two towels inside of the glove box.
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On the Gripping Hand?
The trolls will be out in force for this article. A pre-emptive strike was called for.
The site is slashdotted - posting the google cache is a public service.
Or do you think you know more then the moderators? Their smart enough to think for themselves.
If you don't have a Church, why not try the one nearest to where you live. You'll be glad you made the trip. See you there!
...a Beowulf cluster of Obligitory /. meta-memes?
Future likely application on a turtle ranch:
Turtle owner: "Where are all turtles?"
Cybogr the turtle sheppard: "Wait. I was counting them. One turtle, two turtles, three turtles... trrrr and suddenly they were all gone away, pro'ly off to someplace"
I doubt that we will ever figure out - and I suspect that even if we did figure out we couldn't do much about it
Uh... maybe the IP address is the address of a load balancer. With such a large volume of traffic as google I imagine actual load balancing equipment would be much better than some kind of round-robin dns system. In any case, I'm sure they know what they are doing.
Is this the open source businessmodel?
1: Write free software.
2: ?
3: Make sensors that recognise stuff.
4: Profit!
In case anyone's interested, Jerry Pournelle has a blog:
The View from Chaos Manor