Mr. Future

Originally a nuclear bunker, this underground data center for one of Sweden’s largest ISPs has greenhouses, waterfalls, German submarine engines, simulated daylight (and can withstand a hit from a hydrogen bomb.)

And for the life of me, I’d swear it was the headquarters from Danger Diabolik.

HQ features include :

• German submarine engines for backup power: Backup power is handled by two Maybach MTU diesel engines producing 1.5 Megawatt of power.
• Just for fun the people at Pionen have also installed the warning system (sound horns) from the original German submarine.
• Triple redundancy Internet backbone access: The network has full redundancy with both fiber optics and extra copper lines with three different physical ways into the mountain.
• Work environment with simulated daylight and greenhouses: For a pleasant working environment the data center has simulated daylight, greenhouses, waterfalls and a huge 2600-liter salt water fish tank.  ( Presumably filled with sharks.  Sharks with laser beams. )

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If anyone knows how I can apply to become a henchman, please drop me a line.

Link

The Engineer reports on a project at Plymouth University that combines computer vision / object recognition, and A.I. learning with human-robotic interaction.

The work at Plymouth is an effort to apply human learning processes to robotic systems, teaching the robot word meanings and object recognition as if it were a small child.

“There will be speakers, a microphone and two cameras in the robot’s head, which [researcher] Belpaeme said will be able to pick out humans in a room, make eye contact, track human gaze and interpret pointing gestures and correlate them with what is being pointed at.

‘We are going to make the robot look cute and we are going to try to trick people into teaching the robot things just as they would a small child.’”

Link (via Ralph. Thanks Ralph!)

Perennial marathon celebrity / charity fundraiser Lloyd Scott will be running the London Marathon in a fantastic 9 ft. tall, 70 lb. robot costume (The I-Run-Giant ) to raise money for the Autism Trust charity. The Iron Giant’s eyes light up and his mouth moves so that Scott can make him ‘talk’.

“The reason I chose a robot is that people often think autistic people have a robotic existence, when in fact they are very real people inside with huge potential and the ability to flourish with the right help and support.”

Scott first became famous for running the 2002 London Marathon in a 110 lb. Deep Sea Diving suit, and went on to finish the first underwater marathon (under Loch Ness) in 2003. He’s also run the London Marathon dressed in a suit of armor, dragging a life-sized dragon, and dressed as Indiana Jones running with/from a 300 lb. boulder in tow.

Link

Well, I’ve never been to Spain, but I kinda like the robots.

Developed in Barcelona by Pal Technology Robotics, the person-sized REEM-B lasts longer, and can carry more weight than any other humanoid robot in its class.

While it has an impressive compliment of software features, from face tracking to real-time environment mapping and navigation, REEM-B’s ability to lift and carry up to 25% of its body weight sets it apart from the tea-tray-carrying Asimos of the world.

It’s also boasts a 2 hour on-board battery life, a first for a humanoid robot this size.