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http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_3099629.html

An article on A Chinese farmer, so fascinated by technology he has built himself 26 robots over the past 30 years!

Gadget apparel is developing at such a pace and causing such a stir in the tech world that it seems inevitable that we will all be wearing intelligent fabrics in the future – Cute Circuit’s Hug Shirt is one such gadget garment.

Give yourself a hug and sensors inside the fabric detect the strength of the squeeze and relay the cuddle directly to the person you’d like to hug.  The information is sent wirelessly via Bluetooth to your mobile, whic sends the hug data to your friend’s phone.  As long as your friend is wearing a Hug Shirt, the cuddle should be felt no matter how far away you are.

Related link:
www.cutecircuit.com/projects/wearables/thehugshirt/

Also check out the KineticDress:
www.cutecircuit.com/projects/wearables/kinetic-dress/

A really useful and extensive reference point for exploring the multitude of online virtual worlds divided into ‘best for’ categories:
www.virtualworldsreview.com/info/categories.shtml

Professor Robert Winston looks at the new, cutting edge surgical robots in the UK and around the world in this new series on the BBC. The first of a series of 3, last Thursday’s programme followed a robot doctor at Queen Mary’s Hospital, London as it

The BBC says:
“Featuring one of the first ever brain tumour operations in the world. Space technology has made the extraordinary Canadian Neuroarm robot possible. Not only can the surgeon see exactly what’s going on inside the patient’s brain without having to take the skull off, but they can feel it as well. A robot with a sense of touch”

You can watch the Super Doctors series here (until 9:59pm on Thursday 28th August):
www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00d4nx7/

Or read more information on Professor Robert Winston and his work here:
www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2008/08/15/ftrobert115.xml

Stuart Hughes, a BBC producer who lost his leg whilst covering the Iraq war, talks of how amazing advances in prosthetic technology may even allow amputee soldiers back into battle.

Related Link:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6153748.stm

Thought Controlled video gaming

The president and chief executive of Nintendo, Satoru Iwat, has no doubt that thought controlled games will be part of our future “As soon as we think something in our brain, it will appear within a video game,”

Rival gaming company Emotiv believe such technology is already available and plan to launch the worlds first thought controlled game by the end of the year.

Related link:
www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/

Video and article about a robot that relaxes when stroked and cuddled and then mesmerises another that loves human faces.

The Heart Robot was developed by David McGoran of the The University of the West of England’s and the facial recognition robot by Micromagic Systems.

A robot ‘love story’
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7532162.stm
[ note there are other robot related video links at the bottom of this BBC article ]

A friend of mine has been working on this for a while – the project goes back about ten years. LightDancers is a full-body, interactive media system. Offhand, I don’t know how it works – I presume it’s doing optical tracking. There’s a software layer to generate well-formed musical interventions (hopefully somewhat smarter than the one for GypsyMIDI).

Related Link:
LightDancer full-body, freespace-interactive media system
YouTube link
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ei6frvet_Xs

Here is a link to a robot who has conducted a music concert in Detroit!

Related Link:
Robot Conductor
www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/may/14/usa

This is an interesting article written by Dean Irvine for CNN. Discussing the potential for a more integrated relationship between technology and clothing. What is the future for wearable computing?

Related Link:
Dress codes of the future
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH
/science/02/26/fs.wearcomputers/