The critical sentence you’re looking for is “runs on its own power:”
Tiny particles are making big news today at the University of Edinburgh, where scientists have created a motor mechanism for a nanomachine. Last year researchers at the University of Georgia developed minuscule nanogenerators to power the nano world, but this latest unimaginably small machine — about 80,000 times thinner than the thickness of a human hair — runs on its own power. David Leigh, a professor of chemistry at the university, sees the machine and its descendants driving a whole new era in technological progress. “It is a machine mechanism that is going to take molecular machines a step forward to the realization of the future world of nanotechnology. Things that seem like a Harry Potter film now are going to be a reality.”
Not to be overly technical on this question, but the current status of the Harry Potter films is that of a dark overlord who uses magic to start taking over the world. So we’re not saying, but we’re just saying… And here’s its good friend, a robot actually named Chaos:
We’re not even going to give you a description of that thing. Suffice to say that it’s built by “Autonomous Solutions”, “autonomous” obviously being the adjective we want describing something that looks like that.
And finally, here’s some useful tech to make you think warm thoughts about our future robotic overlords:
It does indeed look like the bug-eyed mining robots that will be monitor the work of enslaved humans circa 2050, but actually it’s going to save a lot of lives:
SET’s CounterBomber system detects suicide bombers from a safe (OK, safer) distance by directing a low-power radar beam at the approaching subject. Ideally, the device would be augmented “with video-analysis software that spots bombers by discerning subtle differences in gait that occur when people carry heavy objects.” And the bashful need not worry: This new radar-image technology is supposedly able to reveal concealed objects without “creating an under-the-clothes image that would violate the person’s privacy.”
Outstand. We imagine Israel will be buying like a billion of these things (Chaos story via Crave).
Previously: Bad Week For The Future Of Humanity. Great Week For Future Robotic Overlords., Good Job Guys!, “One Day Robots Could Fool Us Into Believing They Are Human”
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