Slashdot Mirror
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.
When it can turn tap water into wine/beer/rum I'll buy one...
I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born - Ronald Reagan
jesus deathmatch?
Run around on lakes catching mosquitoes. The great thing is, it can be powered by digesting the flies, too!
Follow a few links and you get to here....n o/projects /waterstrider/
http://www.me.cmu.edu/faculty1/sitti/na
Still trying to figure out why this is a useful invention though...
Here, no new info, but a couple of pictures of the dye tests and the robot itself.
I think the most important part of this article and development is the fact that the pure research came up with the knowledge last year, and has quickly produced a working model. I think it's a good show of the need for pure research in all fields of science, but it ain't gonna win a nobel prize.
Since these little things rely on some form of surface tension, will a surfact tension modified such as oil or soap affect them.
Bacardi + slashdot = negative karma.
This just confirms what I've long suspected. Jesus was a robot.
The BBC link from the previous article clearly shows a robot was successfully made in 2003 -- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3126299. stm
Seriously, I wonder if a combination of those two robots would be possible? It would be an ideal combination, what with the ammount of small insects which hover just above most still waters...
Groundbreaking new robot crucified by Romans.
Film at Eleven.
You're doing it wrong.
IANAS, but AFAIK, lava is an entirely different consistency to water and doesnt have a miniscus (spag?) as such to 'stride' on. Equally, if it's hot enough to melt ROCK, metal doesn't stand much of a chance does it?
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!
If you're ever chased by water-walking killer robots from the future, just throw some soap or detergent in the water to mess up the surface tension. They never plan for that! (This might also work for water-walking religous figures, but I wouldn't recommend it.)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
just use legs that float?
When I was little I had a capsula ( http://www.discoverthis.com/capsula.html ) set that could walk on water... didn't anyone else?
Oh -- it looks like they're still being made... I guess it's time to find out my Visa's credit limit.
Peter, John, and Jesus are sailing on the Galilee. As the trio near the shore, Jesus hops from the boat and calmly walks across the water to dry ground. He turns to his apostles and calls, "Come!"
Without a moment's hesitation John jumps from the boat and strides confidently to the shore and takes up position next to Jesus. They embrace, turn and both implore Peter, "Come!" Peter cautiously steps out of the boat and after not even a step sinks to the bottom.
John asks, "Master, should we have told him where the rocks are?"
I've never met a bug that wasn't an insect
You've never used Windows then, have you?
The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it. -- G.B. Shaw
Give a man a hammer, and every problem looks like a nail. Give him a robot, and it's a death match.
"Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past." -- George Orwell
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?
Fry: "So, what's the deal? You guys don't believe in Robot-Jesus?"
Jewish Bot: "We believe he was built and that he was a very well programmed robot, but he wasn't our messiah."
can't sleep slashdot will eat me
> jesus deathmatch?
Wouldn't work. Guy takes 3 days to respawn...
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?
Jesus was having a bad day in Heaven. He was concerned because more and more people of The Earth were using drugs. So he summoned his disciples to an emergency meeting. They talked and thought of ways to solve the drug-problem, but they could not figure out a way. So they decided that in order to solve the problem, they had to understand the problem. So Jesus sent his disciples back to Earth, with a mission top gather drugs from all corners of the world, so they could study them.
Days passed, and Jesus was getting nersous. Then he heard a knock on the door:
"Who is it?"
"It's me, Matthew"
"What did you bring with you?"
"Crack-cocaine from Los Angeles"
"Very good my child, come on in"
Jesus opened the door, and Matthew stepped inside
Then there was another knock on the door:
"Who is it?"
"It's me, Peter"
"What did you bring with you?"
"Ecstacy from Amsterdam"
"Very good my child, come on in"
Jesus opened the door and Peter stepped in.
Then there was another knock on the door:
"Who is it?"
"It's me, John"
"What did you bring with you?"
"Khat from Mogadishu"
"Very good my child, come on in"
Jesus opened the door and John stepped in
Then there was another knock on the door:
"Who is it?"
"It's me, Simon"
"What did you bring with you?"
"Heroin from Moscow"
"Very good my child, come on in"
Jesus opened the door and Simon stepped in.
Then there was anothe knock on the door:
"Who is it?"
"It's me, Judas"
"What did you bring with you?"
"DEA motherfuckers! Hands against the wall!"
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
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.
The water strider project's home page can be found here.
The CM NanoRobotics home page is here.
Both have pictures of the bot and many others.
It comes from MIT and CMU, so it probably just *thinks* that it can walk on water..
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
Jesus and Moses are playing golf one Saturday with an old friend. Moses tees up first, and hits his ball straight at the water hazard. He lifts his driver up and immediately the waters part, the ground dries up, and his ball rolls right to the green, mere feet from the cup
Jesus is up next. He takes his shot and, again, the ball heads straight for the water. Jesus calmly raises his hand and the ball skims smoothly across the surface of the water and rolls onto the green, just inches from the hole.
Finally, the old man is up. He takes his drive and, sure enough, his ball heads straight for the water hazard. The old man calmly nods his head and a trout jumps out of the water, grabs his ball in its mouth, and splashes back into the water. At that moment a bald eagle swoops down on the trout and snatches him out of the water. The eagle streaks into midair, where he is struck by lightning, dropping the trout onto the green, where the ball pops out of its mouth and rolls into the cup.
Jesus turns to the old man and says, "Nice shot, dad."
Public use of any portable music system is a virtually guaranteed indicator of sociopathic tendencies. -- Zoso
Don't they know that not all of their readers are going to get their obscure American pop culture references? The least they could do is include a link to the guy's website, or something. Besides, I'm sure he could probably use a little publicity outside of the US.
Dieselsweetie guestcomic by Steven Cloud just yesterdays' comic too.