U.S. Senator Calls Robotics Projects "Wasteful"

Sun Jun 19 05:43:34 CDT 2011

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Robotics News 
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June 14, 2011

ieee spectrum

WHAT'S NEWS

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U.S. Senator Calls Robotics Projects "Wasteful" 
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A U.S. senator has cited three robotics projects as examples of 
"wasteful" research that lack useful applications and shouldn't have 
received government funding. In a recent report, Senator Tom Coburn of 
Oklahoma accuses the National Science Foundation, the premier source of 
funding for science and engineering in the United States, of 
mismanagement and abuse. In one section of the report, Coburn criticizes 
the NSF for squandering "millions of dollars on wasteful projects," 
including three that involve robots. Coburn didn't give the researchers 
an opportunity to respond to the criticism, so IEEE Spectrum reached out 
to the roboticists to hear their side. They say they welcome scrutiny 
but argue that the Coburn report evaluated their projects superficially 
and out of context. Will a robot uprising ensue?

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Japanese Develop Flying Robot Sphere 
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Why does the Japanese Ministry of Defense need a flying robot soccer 
ball? We can only hope it's for flying robot soccer!

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Using Robots to Train Better Surgeons 
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Surgery-related complications are a major cause of extended 
hospitalization and thousands of deaths. Can robotic tools fix the problem?

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Robot Couple Cooks Breakfast Together 
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James, a U.S. robot, and Rosie, a German bot, were seen together at a 
lab in Munich cooking a traditional Bavarian sausage breakfast.

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ROBOTICS EVENTS
*WHC 2011: 21 to 24 June 2011* 
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IEEE World Haptics Conference (Istanbul)
*ICAR 2011: 20 to 23 June 2011* 
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International Conference on Advanced Robotics (Tallinn, Estonia)
*ICORR 2011: 29 June to 1 July* 
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IEEE International Conference on Rehabilitation Robotics (Zurich)
*Robot Film Festival: 16 and 17 July 2011* 
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Film screenings and live performances (New York City)

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ROBOT LOCOMOTION
*Hexapod Gets New Tunable Legs * 
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This running robot has legs with variable stiffness that allow it to be 
faster and more efficient on a variety of terrain.

HUMANOID ROBOTS
*German Robot Plays Pool* 
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With different robots now capable of playing billiards, a World Robot 
Pool Tournament seems inevitable.

ROBOTICS SOFTWARE
*Spy Robot Looks Like Real Bird * 
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DARPA's got itself a tiny lifelike flying spy robot, and you'll never 
look at hummingbirds the same way again.

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