By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:36 PM on 26th September 2010

An underwater motel in Key Largo, Florida, has made it onto an exclusive list of the best places to escape from everything.

To enter the Jules Undersea Lodge guests have to scuba dive 21ft through a lagoon before they even get to step - or swim - through an entrance at the bottom of the hotel.

It joins nine other hotels named as the most remote by the US Forbes magazine.

Beating the crowds: The only interruption is the fish in the Jules Undersea Lodge

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside: The Jules Undersea Lodge at Key Largo in Florida is a former underwater laboratory accessible via a 21ft scuba dive

1. Bloomfield Lodge, Cairns, Australia

2. Winterlake, Alaska, US

3. Kokopelli's Cave, New Mexico, US

4. Jules Undersea Lodge, Florida, US

5. The Andean Cottage, Peru

6. The Beach House at Manafaru, Maldives

7. Desroches Island Resort, Seychelles

8. Hotel Arctic, Greenland

9. Petit St Vincent Resort, St Vincent and the Grenadines

10. Garvault Hotel, Sutherland, Scotland

The lodge may be underwater but it boasts that it can still offer guests "creature comforts" where guests can watch the fish from the windows while experiencing a "wonderful adventure in undersea living".

Other hotels on the list include Kokopelli’s Cave in New Mexico, which is 70ft underground and carved near the Mesa Verde National Monument and guests have to clamber down a ladder to reach the entrance.

The hotel, which is carved from 65-million-year-old sandstone rock prides itself on remarkable views and, built deep within a cliff, guarantees visitors peace and quiet.

And for those who really want to escape any kind of distraction, the Winterlake Lodge in Alaska offers a tiny but, most importantly, extremely remote destination.

Visitors can expect spectacular scenery at the lodge, which is built on Alaska’s historic Iditarod Trail, and are promised seclusion during their stay.

Going to new depths: Kokopelli's Cave promises peace and quiet

Oh, so quiet: The Winterlake Lodge in Alaska guarantees seclusion

Monte Burke, of Forbes, told The Daily Telegraph: ‘Why a remote hotel?

‘In this super-connected world, vacations often just become mobile work offices.

‘At these remote hotels, especially if you build in time for actually getting there and back, you can really find that restorative solitude.

‘And while some of these hotels are pretty pricey, going remote doesn’t always means breaking the bank.’

Brrrrrr: Hotel Arctic, situated on the edge of the Ilulissat Ice Fjord in Greenland offers an igloo experience

Lap of luxury: The Desroches Resort is on an island in the Seychelles, just 6km long and 1km wide (aerial view below)

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We often feel jealous when seeing people with brand new cell phone, or to those who always change their cell phone into brand new one in regular time, there must be a will to get a new one. Or, we are in the condition which forces us to have the complete features one cell phone brand has, such as for business purposes. Now, if we come to the difficulty how to get the best one, it must be classic problem. The obstacles must be around the price and the trusted place to get original one.

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We didn't exactly get the best look at HP's new EliteBook 2730p tablet when it was announced earlier today, but Notebooks.com has now thankfully come through with a video of the device, in which HP's Kyle Thorton helpfully shows off every nook and cranny of sleek yet supposedly rugged convertible. That includes a peek at the tablet's jog dial, which makes a welcome reappearance after being ditched on the 2710p, and its "double clutch" stylus-holding system, which promises to keep you from losing your trusty input device (it's actually pretty slick). Head on past the break for the full show. Keep find more information.

 

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Robotic Automation  will showcase applications for fast arc welding robots on stand 4802 during National Manufacturing Week at the Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre from May 27 to 30.

 

The newly released Motoman Super-Speed Series robots are said to reduce cycle times by 15%, resulting in good productivity improvements.

 

Robotic Automation supplies equipment to many industry sectors, from paper manufacturers to food and beverage manufacturers.

 

At National Manufacturing Week, the company will also display:
OTC robot applications
FMC automatic guided vehicle systems for the handling and delivery of pallets and other material loads
MSK Covertech pallet shrink and hood-wrapping systems
Robopac wrapping systems including the Rotoplat, Helix and Genesis ranges of fully and semi automatic pallet wrappers handling up to 170 pallets per hour

 

Robotic Automation, which is celebrating 20 years of service in Australia in 2008, has installed more than 3,000 automated systems across Australia and New Zealand.

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Designed by Korean robotics manufacturer Airrobot, the Ringbo riding robot should help the young members of our species get in on the action early, while the robot riding's still good.

There's been plenty of talk about the inevitable robotic uprising of the mid-to-late 21st century, but in the meantime, it's vital that we get in as many robot rides as humanly possible.

The Ringbo will be on display to the public with a number of other wacky Korean gadgets at New York's Koreannovation show on May 14th and 15th.

Targeted at kids ages 2 to 3, the Ringbo looks a bit like a Fisher-Price-designed "My First Segway" (or Rascal, take your pick), with a decidedly Radio Shack-esque flair for style.

The device requires a good 6 to 8 hours of charging for an hour-long ride--certainly enough time to make a few trips between the TV and a juice-box-stocked Frigidaire.

 

 

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As if we Earthlings didn't have enough to worry over with robots player from every corner of the globe likely mounting a silent offensive to overtake our societies and claim ownership of our land, now we're faced with the startling realization that even our sporting events aren't safe from subterfuge.

Quite honestly, everything seemed fine and dandy until we hit a quote from Stefan Kohlbrecher, a member of the Technical University of Darmstadt's Darmstadt Dribblers team: "The goal of the RoboCup is to compete against human world champions with robots by the year 2050.

At the seventh annual RoboCup German Open, hordes of teams have descended upon the pitch in order to compete in robot-only soccer, er, football matchups.

Funny, we'll supposedly be fornicating with androids by that same year.

Cue Michael Stipe, please.

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The DSO and Honda have combined forces to bring music education to children in Detroit, and ASIMO's concert will be the launching point for a number of projects the Japanese monolith will be sponsoring in the industrial city.

On May 13, the automaton will conduct the Detroit Symphony Orchestra -- and Yo-Yo Ma -- in a performance of Impossible Dream. Sure, this isn't the first time we've seen a robot conducting an orchestra, but we're fairly confident it will be the best. One of our favorite bots, Honda's versatile ASIMO, will finally spread its wings and embrace the artistic future it's always hoped for provided the little guy doesn't take any bad steps.

 

 

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The DIY, four-legged robot with a taste for jugulars and what appears to be a sword for a tail stands just 5.3-inches tall and features the same control unit and sensors of his bipedal buddy.

" and "`Sup Dawg? " at which point he`ll lubricate his turf (aka, your carpet).

HPI Japan just conjured up GR-001`s new best friend: the G-Dog.

G-Dog is expected to terrorize Japan sometime in July for around $1,000.

Presumably, G-Dog will only respond to street-wize greetings of "Whut up Gee?

Backside front, after the break.

 

 

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Detecting emotional cues is hardly a new endeavor, but this so-called Robometer concept device takes a slightly different (but not entirely unique) approach to things, with it actually promising to help you feel happy by prompting you when you stray too far into tediousness.

 

Those then get translated into various warning levels, with the device ultimately letting out a voice prompt when you're perilously close to becoming too tense or unhappy.

 

Not surprisingly, there's no indication that the project will ever move beyond the concept stage, but you can get a glimpse at what we could be missing out on in the video available at the link below.

 

To do that, the rig makes use of a GSR lead to detect your galvanic skin response, along with accelerometers that detect repetitive movement, and a voice sensor that promises to detect repetitive phrases.

 

 

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We'd explain this thing, but we're really having trouble taking our eyes off of it long enough to string some full sentences together.

Suffice it to say Festo's AirJelly is powered by some magical jelly fish properties, a lithium-ion battery, an electric motor and a bit of helium.

If that's not floaty enough for you, there's also a water version, AquaJelly.

Videos of both are after the break.

 

 

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The bot will be joined by a $25 iDance WALL-E (think i-Species) and a $40 WowWee FlyTech Tinker Bell when they make their May 29th debut in San Mateo at the Maker Faire.

Disney and Pixar are set to release their latest animated blockbuster, WALL-E, this summer.

Ultimate WALL-E will list for $190 when launched sometime this summer and feature 10 motors, a remote control, and plenty of sensors to avoid obstacles, respond to touch, and feel the mocking satire of its own existence.

Swell, try some of this.

Need some irony with your angst-battered diet this morning?

You got it, they launch a new line of plastic WALL-E robots developed in partnership with Thinkway Toys which no child could possibly live without.

The premise of the film finds WALL-E (Waste Allocation Load Lifter - Earth-Class) cleaning up the Earth's trash after rampant, unchecked consumerism made the planet uninhabitable.

So how do they promote the film?

 

 

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" Sure, that description (and accompanying photos, straight from BAE) does give you the impression that whoever came up with this really liked Minority Report, but won't it make you feel safer at night knowing a swarm of metallic spiders are looking out for you?

 

If you answered "yes," you're going to love what BAE Systems is cooking up.

 

Do you enjoy gangs of tiny, spider-like robot insectoids swarming all over your house, car, or personage?

 

a team of scientists and researchers hell-bent on developing an "autonomous, multifunctional collection of miniature intelligence-gathering robots that can operate in places too inaccessible or dangerous for humans.

 

The company recently received an infusion of $38 million from the US Army Research Lab to fund the Micro Autonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) consortium;

 

Huh, weird.

 

No?

 

 

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"walking assist device" Produce by Honda

It's far from the only strength-boosting exoskeleton out there, but Honda's so-called "walking assist device" is one of the few that you can actually take for a test spin -- if you happen to be attending the Barrier Free 2008 trade show in Osaka, Japan next week, that is. Apparently employing some of the same technology developed by Honda for its ASIMO robot, the walking assistant is able to obtain information from hip angle sensors to help keep its wearer upright, with the device's motors also able to increase the wearer's natural stride. That, Honda says, should make the device ideal for the elderly or those with weakened leg muscles, although we're sure they could find at least a few other buyers if it ever actually hits the market at a reasonable price.

 

Via Autoblog

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While audiences flood theaters this month to see the comic-book-inspired Iron Man, a real-life mad genius toils in a secret mountain lab to make the mechanical superhuman more than just a fantasy with the XOS Exoskeleton

 

Afghanistan. A hidden bunker. Four men with rifles guard a thick, rusted steel door. Bam! A huge fist pounds against it—from inside. Bam! More blows dent the steel. The hinges strain. The guards cower, inching backward. Whatever's trying to break out is big. And angry.

 

The door flies open, and a metallic giant bursts through. It looks like a robot but, hidden inside, famed weapons designer Tony Stark maneuvers the mechanical beast. Bullets bounce off the suit, barely denting his armor. He levels the guards with one swat. Outside, he stares down the enemy camp around him, switches on the flamethrowers in his arms, and roasts the joint.

 

Utah. A secret mountain lab. Software engineer Rex Jameson backs into a headless metal suit that's hanging from a steel I-beam by a thick rubber cord. He clicks into the aluminum boots, tightens belts across his legs and waist, and slides his arms through backpack-like straps, gripping handles where hands would be. It looks as easy as slipping into an overcoat.

 

Then he moves, and the machine comes to life, shadowing his every motion. He raises his fists and starts firing sharp jabs while bouncing from one foot to the other. He's not quite Muhammad Ali, but he's wearing 150 pounds and he looks light.

 

He could easily knock a nearby coder to the floor, or fling one over a desk—but even more impressive, he could do it all day. To show off his superhuman endurance, he walks over to a weight rack and yanks down a bar loaded with 200 pounds. Then he does it again. And again. He stops somewhere around 50, but he's been known to rip through 500 reps in a row. Even then, he quits out of boredom, not fatigue.

 

It's fantasy versus reality, and the spread is shrinking. The latter, the XOS, is the latest and arguably most advanced exoskeleton in existence, developed by one-man idea factory Steve Jacobsen and the engineers at Sarcos, a robotics company he started in 1983 that was recently purchased by the defense giant Raytheon. The flame-throwing monster? That's the star of the superhero blockbuster Iron Man, due out May 2. The film follows a prolific inventor named Tony Stark who builds a robotic suit of armor that grants him fantastical abilities. Iron Man has been thriving in comics for more than four decades, but this is Hollywood's first go at the story. And the timing couldn't be better. Not only is Iron Man—a hero born of pure engineering—the perfect idol for our gadget-obsessed era, but for the first time since the character appeared, the suit is more than just an illustrated dream.

 

In the past seven years, a handful of engineers have taken the military's 40-year-old fantasy of mechanically enhanced soldiers that can carry heavy loads and begun to make it real. Funded with millions from the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), Jacobsen and others have finally begun marrying artificial muscles and control systems into suits that could soon be available to soldiers, firemen and the wheelchair-bound. There are still serious challenges—powering these wearable robots, for one—but Sarcos's XOS, the most capable full-body suit, one that moves seamlessly with its wearer, has even the comic's creators feeling like the real world is catching up to their vision. After Adi Granov, one of the main illustrators of the comic and a consultant to the film, watched a clip of the suit in action, he was startled. "I knew that's where we were heading, but I didn't realize we were this close," Granov says. Aside from the lack of flight and weapons, he adds, "that's Iron Man."

 

Thanks to popsci

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We both fear and heart our cuddly, skull crushing robotic overlords here at Engadget; that we can't deny. Now meet the work of Nemo Gould, artist of post-consumer waste, liege, and robot supreme commander. His latest work entitled Little Big Man is on display at the San Jose Museum of Art for the new Robots: Evolution of a Cultural Icon show. The 8-foot tall Big Man is made from a vintage radio cabinet, street light poles, and of course, antlers among other human scrap and squander. Little Man sits at the heart of the beast and pulls the levers which drive the malice from within. Check the video clip after the break.

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Maybe we'll never know how Comedy Central could run a show like "BattleBots" and not have it be the greatest thing ever. Lucky for us, the concept is getting another shot at life thanks to the fine folks at ESPN 2 and ESPNU. The new show format will have an increased emphasis on the behind-the-scenes nerdmergencies in the "pits" when the bots need tweaking or full on repairs. They're also going to do away with the annoying wedgebots (similar in principle to this Microsoft bot up above, just more annoying), beef up the arena hazards and add a new experimental class for featuring other bot types competing in what are hopefully equally destructive forms. The show was going to start up in June, but is being held back a bit while the 150 or so participating college teams prep entries, and the mayhem is now slated to begin in November.

Source : BattleBots -- now with sawdisc, Sitemap

Technorati : BattleBots -- now with sawdisc

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The University of Michigan's COM-BAT most definitely isn't the first mechanical animal to get its inspirations from the bat, but it's probably the best equipped to play a vital role in modern day warfare. A select group of Wolverines have been blessed with a $10 million grant from the US Army in order to concoct a "six-inch robotic spy plane modeled after a bat [that] would gather data from sights, sounds and smells in urban combat zones and transmit information back to a soldier in real time." Purportedly, the critter will eventually boast a bevy of sensors, miniature microphones and detectors for picking up nuclear radiation and poisonous gases. Even more interesting, creators are hoping to implement "energy scavenging," which would enable the bat to stay charged from wind / solar energy along with vibrations and "other sources." So much for being nocturnal, eh?

Source : COM-BAT swoops in to gather data on reconnaissance missions

Technorati : COM-BAT swoops in to gather data on reconnaissance missions

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Remember those cyborg insects that seemed so much like a pipe dream just two short years ago? Yeah, those frackin' things have somehow survived into adulthood, and are closing in on being ready to infiltrate enemy camps and extract vital information. According to a recent update on the DARPA project, the insects -- which have "modified body structures and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) embedded" within -- have lasted into adulthood, and now those behind the endeavor are hoping to enable remote control of the bugs via "mechano-sensor activation" or something similar. Additionally, scientists are hoping to harness the energy emitted during locomotion to actually power the internal MEMS. Sure, as long as these critters can be swatted down with a newspaper, we're solid, but we aren't too sure we dig where this could be headed.

Source : Cyborg insects survive to adulthood, ensure our doom

Technorati : Cyborg insects survive to adulthood, ensure our doom

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While it doesn't exactly come as much of a surprise, a team of researchers from ATR Laboratories in Kyoto, Japan have found that people are more accepting of robots if they engage in a little small talk during conversations, as opposed to leaving unnerving silences that make folks unclear of their intentions. The researchers also found that of the 38 people surveyed, most were willing to accept delays in responses of one or two seconds, but that they much preferred if the robot threw in a "well" or "er" to fill the gap if it was taking any longer for them to muster up an answer. Of course, as we all know, just because a robot shoots the breeze with you doesn't mean it's your friend, so you may want to be careful what you wish for.

Source : Researchers find folks prefer robots that engage in small talk

Technorati : Researchers find folks prefer robots that engage in small talk

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What's supposedly the largest deep-sea remote-controlled robot ever built was rolled out this week: the SMD Ultra Trencher 1 (UT1), a 50 ton, £10m ($19.8m) ROV the size of a small domicile (25.5 x 25.5 x 18.3 feet). Capable of sucking up two megawatts of power while using its "jet swords" trench deep sea pipelines up to a meter wide and 2.5 meters deep into the sea floor (while operating at a depth of up to 1500m), the UT1 is clearly just in time. We hear the CIA errant anchors are due to snip another three or four deep-sea internet backbone cables, so the UT1's got its work cut out for it.

Source : Laying PIPE robot

Technorati : Laying PIPE robot

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