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robot

New Release: Garbage – Reese Morrison

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Garbage - Reese Morrison

QSFer Reese Morrison has a new M-NB sci-fi romance out, the SPARK Files book 1: Garbage. Evan isn’t brave. But when he hears a group of Human Firsters attacking a humanoid garbage collection bot, he has to step in. He rescues an undiscovered SPARK, a self-aware android who’s never experienced life outside of his collection route and the miserable, gray trash depot. Evan wants to help. But he might have underestimated just how cute Quincy can be. Or just how difficult it would be living with a sexy android who’s exactly his type. But if Evan couldn’t get his crappy … Read more

New Release: Once Upon a Dance – Kim Fielding

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Once Upon a Dance - Kim Fielding

QSFer Kim Fielding has a new MM sci-fi/fairy tale retelling: Once Upon a Dance. Dom is an aging house-android, toiling away for the cruel and ungrateful owners of an inn. He secretly dreams of freedom, friendship, and love. When an inn guest offers him the chance to attend a grand masquerade ball, Dom jumps at the opportunity. For a few precious hours he enjoys a level of independence he had never imagined—and the company of a handsome and kind prince of industry. Until the clock strikes midnight. Get It At Amazon Excerpt “I apologize for the poor condition of our … Read more

Elon Musk: Tesla To Launch Humanoid Robot Next Year

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robot - pixabay

Tesla Inc Chief Executive Elon Musk on Thursday said the electric automaker will probably launch a “Tesla Bot” humanoid robot prototype next year, designed for dangerous, repetitive, or boring work that people don’t like to do. Speaking at Tesla’s AI Day event, the billionaire entrepreneur said the robot, which stands around five foot eight inches tall, would be able to handle jobs from attaching bolts to cars with a wrench, or picking up groceries at stores. The robot would have “profound implications for the economy,” Musk said, addressing a labour shortage. He said it was important to make the machine … Read more

THE FUTURE IS HERE: NYPD Deploys a Robot Dog in Public Housing

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NYPD Robot Dog

The NYPD’s robot dog is once again stirring privacy concerns and cyberpunk prophesies of some New Yorkers, after the four-legged machine was spotted inside of a Manhattan public housing complex on Monday. A video shared on Twitter shows the robot trotting out of a building on East 28th Street in front of two NYPD officers, then slowly descending the stairs as bystanders look on in shock. “I’ve never seen nothing like this before in my life,” one woman can be heard saying. The remote-controlled bot was made by Boston Dynamics, a robotics company famous for its viral videos of machines … Read more

Boston Dynamics “Robot Dog” Trains to Explore the Caverns of Mars

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Boston Dynamics Robot Dog

Mars exploration is going to the dogs. The robot dogs, that is. Scientists are equipping four-legged, animal-mimicking robots with artificial intelligence (AI) and an array of sensing equipment to help the bots autonomously navigate treacherous terrain and subsurface caves on the Red Planet.  In a presentation on Dec. 14 at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), held online this year, researchers with NASA/JPL-Caltech introduced their “Mars Dogs,” which can maneuver in ways the iconic wheeled rovers such as Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity and the recently launched Perseverance never could. The new robots’ agility and resilience are coupled with … Read more

FOR READERS: I [Like] Robot

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robot - pixabay

FOR READERS Today’s reader topic comes from QSFer Kevin Klehr: Robots that have fascinated you in fiction and real life. Was it their look? Their personality or lack of one? Or…? Writers: This is a reader chat – you are welcome to join it, but please do not reference your own works directly. Thanks! Join the chat: FB: http://bit.ly/1MvPABV MeWe: http://bit.ly/2mjg8lf

In Today’s Robot News…

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Spot - Boston Dynamics

Boston Dynamics, the company that has chronicled its development of robots characterized by viewers as both entertaining and terrifying, has launched its 4-legged canine-like Spot robot. Writes Boston Dynamics: “Spot is an agile mobile robot that you can customize for a wide range of applications. The base platform provides rough-terrain mobility, 360 degree obstacle avoidance, and various levels of navigation, remote control and autonomy. You can customize Spot by adding specialized sensors, software and other payloads. Early customers are already testing Spot to monitor construction sites, provide remote inspection at gas, oil and power installations, and in public safety. Spot … Read more

ANNOUNCEMENT/GIVEAWAY: A Fall in Autumn, by Michael G. Williams

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COVER - A Fall in Autumn - Michael G. Williams

QSFer Michael G. Williams has a new queer sci fi book out: A Fall in Autumn. WELCOME TO THE LAST OF THE GREAT FLYING CITIES It’s 9172, YE (Year of the Empire), and the future has forgotten its past. Soaring miles over the Earth, Autumn, the sole surviving flying city, is filled to the brim with the manifold forms of humankind: from Human Plus “floor models” to the oppressed and disfranchised underclasses doing their dirty work and every imaginable variation between. Valerius Bakhoum is a washed-up private eye and street hustler scraping by in Autumn. Late on his rent, fetishized … Read more

TECH: Humanoid Robot Atlas Can Now Do Parkour – That’s Not at All Terrifying

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Boston Dynamics

Remember Atlas, the robot that can run like a person? It can now do a lot more than that. Robotics company Boston Dynamics posted a new video on YouTube showcasing the robot’s latest progress, carrying it past its prior agility goals in leaps and bounds — literally. “Atlas does parkour,” Boston Dynamics wrote in the video description. Footage shows Atlas nimbly leaping over a log and skipping between platforms of different heights “without breaking its pace,” according to the description. As Atlas navigates the challenges of the obstacle course, a slow-motion sequence emphasizes the precision in its movements as it … Read more