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World’s First Bionic Cat?
Oscar, a British black cat had a terrible farming accident involving a combine harvester and lost both of his rear paws and part of his legs last October.
Oscar was taken to Noel Fitzpatrick, a veterinarian in Surrey. Working with a team from University College London led by Professor Gordon Blunn, Mr Fitzpatrick was able to create prosthetic legs called intraosseous transcutaneous amputation prosthetics, or itaps. Mr Fitzpatrick states:
“We have managed to get the bone and skin to grow into the implant and we have developed an ‘exoprosthesis’ that allows this implant to work as a see-saw on the bottom of an animal’s limbs to give him effectively normal gait.”
Click through for a video of Oscar and be sure to catch Noel Fitzpatrick in a BBC documentary called The Bionic Vet, airing June 30 on BBC One.
Cycler Robot Gets Kids to Recycle
Cycler robot, sometimes called Recycler, by David Buckley has been in business for more than 10 years.
Cycler was created to help teach children to recycle and is used in school presentations. Cycler can control some functions on his own, but for some bigger functions he is controlled by a handler. See more about the school programs and cost here, or download the Recycler pdf file.
David Buckley is a roboticist from the UK who has been making robots since the 1970′s.
Click through for a video of handlers practicing with Cycler.
Helicopter Drone Lands UK Police In Hot Water
Merseyside police in England used a helicopter drone to track down a teenager who had run away from a stolen car. The robot used thermal imaging cameras and the police did finally catch the suspect.
The problem is that the police were not allowed to use the drone and themselves committed a crime in the process.
The Civilian Air Authority, or CAA, regulates air space in the UK and had changed regulations as of 1/1/2010. The new regulation states that all UAVs or unmanned aerial vehicles must be licensed before use. From the Guardian:
The CAA introduced new statutory regulations on 1 January 2010 which requires all UAVs to be licensed by the CAA before use. Since the force has known of the change in regulations all UAV flights have been suspended and will remain so until the appropriate licence has been granted.
I guess the police forgot to get a license before playing with their new toy.
Link via (StatismWatch)
Cauliflower Harvesting Robot Scares Children
Creepier than a human like robot in an uncanny valley is the robot that is being trained to harvest cauliflower.
Scientists at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have developed an infravision system which should allow them to see through all the leaves and greenery and harvest cauliflower with a robot easily.
NPL is working with KMS Projects and Vegetable Harvesting Systems (VHS) to develop this project. The project came about after a study of farmers indicated that up to 60% of certain crops are wasted each year, causing farmers to lose money. Part of this is due to a loss of migrant workers.
Link via (The Register)