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Robot Walks on Water
gmletzkojr writes "Yahoo! News has a story about a robot built to walk on water, much like small insects, bugs, and of course, Jesus. The current robot is only a prototype, but more 'useful' robots are already being imagined." This puts into practice what scientists learned just last year.
Considering the fact that a single fly laying eggs would; if the offspring wasn't to die premature age by spiders and such; would, after a year, have caused such a huge amount of flies that it would equal the mass of this little planet.
:)
A great energy source, all the robots would need to do is to smell like shit, and they'd be done for life
Imagine a lake covered in shitsmelling robots, what a sight!
Doubtful.
The most prevalent form of the Matthew text is Greek (the most widely understood written language in the region). The Greek word used in the Matthew text is transliterated "peripateo" - to walk. The Greek word for "swim" is transliterated "kolympo" - to bathe or swim.
However, tradition strongly suggests that the original Matthew writings would have favored Hebrew (highly plausible - given his background). If so, it's original form is lost. Yet, there are distinct words for walk and swim in Hebrew, also. Translators understanding both languages would have been able to avoid a confusion pretty easily.
The little guy just ain't getting it, is he?
Bah. My roommate did this three years ago when he was an undergrad at MIT for his senior thesis. He designed and built it himself. You can see it here. Granted, it is entirely mechanical, but dang it's cool. He's got a video of it going across water.
Most recently he built a robotic snail that, in its current incarnation, actually goes completely upside down. Oddly enough, he calls it robosnail.
Did I mention the dude makes his own swords?
Interestingly (well, I find it interesting), Isaac Asimov suggested the use of robots to control insect population in '...That Thou Art Mindful of Him' in 1974.
:-)
'Harriman said, "We cannot control insects effectively without risking damage to the ecology. Chemical insecticides are too broad; juvenile hormones too limited. The robo-bird, however, can preserve large areas without being consumed [...] If the fruit-fly supply runs short, the robo-bird does nothing. It does not multiply, it does not turn to other foods, it does not develop undesirable habits of its own. It does nothing.'
Obviously that's not going to happen just yet - it'll take a lot more than water-walking and fly-digestion - but it does seem that maybe we're on our way to this sort of thing.
I'm not an Asimov nut by the way, I just finished reading 'The Complete Robot' the other day and still have it by my desk.