Robot hummingbird passes flight tests [+video]

(PhysOrg.com) -- A prototype robot spy "ornithopter," the Nano-Hummingbird, has successfully completed flight trials in California. Developed by the company AeroVironment Inc., the miniature spybot looks like a hummingbird complete with flapping wings, and is only slightly larger and heavier than most hummingbirds, but smaller than the largest species.

Researchers use virtual-reality avatars to create 'out-of-body' experience

Volunteers experienced the virtual bodies as if they were their own, with possible applications in computer games or to transport people digitally to other locations

CEBIT 2011: preparing for the unexpected

How can you plan for an emergency the nature of which you don’t know? Several Fraunhofer institutes are working on strategies and technologies that would help to predict and improve the response to crises. Their solutions are shown at the CeBIT in Hannover (March 1 – 5).

Milestone in path to large-scale quantum computing reached: new level of quantum control of light

An important milestone toward the realization of a large-scale quantum computer, and further demonstration of a new level of the quantum control of light, were just accomplished.

New wireless technology developed for faster, more efficient networks

A new technology that allows wireless signals to be sent and received simultaneously on a single channel has been developed. The research could help build faster, more efficient communication networks, at least doubling the speed of existing networks.

US university leads world in reconfigurable supercomputing

University of Florida researchers say their supercomputer, named Novo-G, is the world

Beam me up: could lasers launch rockets? After initial costs, beamed energy propulsion would be a cheaper, safer and more efficient way to launch payloads into space

Discovery News digs deep into our world's mysteries. Join us to explore current events and uncover the science behind the headlines. We Dig. You Discover.

Europe set for landmark launch with robot freighter

A robot freighter is poised to blast into the skies on Tuesday in the heftiest liftoff in Europe

Coming soon? The 100-million-dollar robotic arm

Within six months the military plans to begin implanting microchips on the surface of patients' brains to study a prosthetic robotic arm controlled by the user's thoughts, via the chip.

China building a city for cloud computing

China is building a city-sized (6.2 million square feet) cloud computing and office complex that will include a mega data center, one of the projects

Ultrafast quantum computer closer: ten billion bits of entanglement achieved in silicon

Scientists have made a significant step towards an ultrafast quantum computer by successfully generating 10 billion bits of quantum entanglement in silicon for the first time -- entanglement is the key ingredient that promises to make quantum computers far more powerful than conventional computing devices.

Stardust-NEXT: heading into the bonus round - in space

A bonus round is something one usually associates with the likes of a TV game show, not a pioneering deep space mission. "We are definitely in the bonus round," said Stardust-NExT Project Manager Tim Larson of NASA

Affetto: a realistic robot baby is looking at you [+video]

(PhysOrg.com) -- Minoru Asada, a professor of Adaptive Machine Systems at Osaka University in Japan and head of the JST ERATO Asada Project, along with two of his colleagues; Hisashi Ishihara, a PhD candidate at Osaka University; and Yuichiro Yoshikawa, from the Dept. of Adaptive Machine Systems at Osaka University have developed a child-like robot platform called Affetto.