%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.slate.com%252Fblogs%252Fbrowbeat%252F2016%252F07%252F27%252Fstephen_colbert_interviews_cartoon_hillary_clinton_video.html%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: The GOP Has Turned Hillary Clinton Into a Cartoon, So That's How Stephen Colbert Interviewed Her
In Bill Clinton's DNC speech Tuesday night, the former president talked about his wife Hillary, both as a person and as a public servant, challenging how that description squares away with the caricature that Republicans present her as: “The real one has done more change-making before she was 30 than most do in a lifetime in office. The other is a cartoon.”
The Late Show's Stephen Colbert took a rather literal interpretation of Bill's words, and the result was Cartoon Hillary Clinton, who made an appearance on the show shortly after the real Hillary achieved her historic nomination. The animated Hillary, with a strained grin, robotic mannerisms, and a desperate need to pander to the audience, embodies the qualities that haters see in her real-life counterpart.
Cartoon Hillary Clinton answered a few Republicans' questions and talked about her rival, Donald Trump (who Colbert also interviewed as a cartoon back in March). “That's what I love about America,” she said. “It's the only place where a Secretary of State, senator, and lifelong public servant can be put on equal footing with a screaming cantaloupe.”
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Frssfeeds.usatoday.com%252F%7E%252F169812626%252F0%252Fusatoday-techtopstories%7EDysons-first-robot-vacuum-offers-costly-cleaning%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: Dyson's first robot vacuum offers costly cleaning
The new Dyson 360 Eye does a great job picking up dirt—but has trouble reaching it.
Rapid growth of online orders welcomes robotics technology, says Axium Robotics and Automation News (press release) (registration) Automated guided vehicles (AGVs), looking like driverless forklifts, carry pallets to and from transport trailers; there are articulated robot arms that de-palletize and palletize goods; autonomous shuttles bring goods to and from their shelves, while ...
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Ffeeds.gawker.com%252F%7Er%252Flifehacker%252Fvip%252F%7E3%252F2mAd-afhawE%252Fdyson-s-first-robovac-sucks-up-all-your-dirt-and-cash-1784141541%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: Dyson's First Robovac Sucks Up All Your Dirt and Cash All images: Andrew Liszewski/Gizmodo
You'd think that the first robot vacuum from a company like Dyson, who reinvented the vacuum, fan, and hair dryer, would rival R2-D2 when it came to functionality. But with the 360 Eye, Dyson instead focused on creating a robovac that did one thing very well: cleaning. It delivers as promised, but is that worth $1,000?
The no-frills approach to its robot vacuum is surprising when you consider that Dyson has actually been developing its robovac for close to 18 years now. Before the Eye 360, Dyson created the DC06 which, until recently, has only existed in a handful of leaked photos outside the company.
The notoriously camera shy Dyson DC06 is the great-great-grandfather of robotic vacuums.
It cleaned well, but the DC06's size, weight, less-than-amazing battery life, and price tag didn't quite meet the company's expectations. As a result, the DC06 was scrapped, the five working models the company created went into exile, and Dyson's robotics division then spent the next 12 years developing the 360 Eye instead.
As far as form factor goes, small and tall is the best way to describe the 360 Eye. Compared to the Samsung POWERbot VR9000, which could easily play a droid in Star Wars, the 360 Eye looks like a tiny can of cookies. Of all the consumer-level robot vacuums currently on the market, the 360Eye has the smallest footprint, by a longshot, but it also comes at the cost of it being a little on the tall side.
The 360 Eye didn't even come close to fitting under my Ikea sofa.
Life is all about trade-offs, and Dyson's engineers decided that being able to squeeze into the small gaps in-between your furniture was more important than being able to squeeze under your couch. As a result, the 360 Eye didn't even come close to fitting under my Ikea couch, but neither could Samsung's POWERbot VR9000, nor a Roomba. I even have trouble squeezing a mop under there, so I feel Dyson's engineers made the right decision by focusing on keeping the 360 Eye's footprint as small as possible.
Yep vs. nope.
Instead it allowed the robovac to squeeze into tight areas that I assumed would always have to be cleaned by hand. Will the 360 Eye be able to clean every hard to reach area in your home? No. You'll still need to have a manual vacuum on hand to ensure every last inch of your floors get cleaned. But it should at least be able to autonomously clean the most visible areas, so your friends don't think you're a complete slob.
The 360 Eye's design continues Dyson's unintentional approach of creating appliances that look like science fiction props, with its silvery faux-metal plastic housing and bulging 0.33-liter dust bin on the front. But other than a large button on top that lights up with various patterns to signal what the 360 Eye is currently doing or what it needs (charging, connecting to your Wi-fi network, cleaning, etc.), the only real distinguishing feature atop the robovac is an ominous-looking dome that gives the bot its name.
“Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do.”
That dome is a 360-degree camera (looking eerily like HAL 9000's unblinking eye) that feeds a wraparound image of a room to the 360 Eye's processor. You might assume the panoramic camera on top photographs a room's ceiling so the robot can plot its course. But that's not how it works.
The 360 Eye takes a simpler approach to cleaning. Once the robot starts vacuuming it sticks to a five-meter square section of a room that it cleans by spiraling out from the center. Then it moves onto a neighboring square, and so forth, until a room is clean. This makes for more efficient use of its 45-minute run-time.
The Dyson 360 Eye's camera tracks all the corners in a room to keep track of its location.
The 360 Eye's camera can really only see as high as a room's walls, which it photographs up to 30 times per second. Those images are processed by a special algorithm to detect and track distinct corners, like you'd find on tables, windows, or even paintings on a wall, which the robot uses to keep tabs on where it is, where it's been, and what's left to clean.
A simple map of a room is built up as the robovac navigates a space, but is wiped from the bot's memory after a cleaning cycle is complete. This makes it better suited for a home where things are constantly getting moved, creating new obstacles for the robovac to navigate every time it starts cleaning.
The 360 Eye adds extra collision security in the form of infra-red sensors. For the most part, the combination of these two technologies worked seamlessly, and on many occasions I was surprised at how deftly the tiny robovac was able to tightly navigate around table legs and other hard-to-spot obstacles. Collisions did occur from time to time, but thanks to the bot's small form factor, there was barely an impact.
The 360 Eye met its match when cleaning underneath an Ikea chair. It ended up beaching itself on a wooden crossbeam that it didn't see coming. Before I got up to rescue it, the robot just sat there, happily sucking away without moving for about five minutes.
Ikea makes some of the world's finest Dyson 360 Eye traps.
It also had hang ups in dark spaces. On several occasions, while cleaning underneath a piece of furniture it was barely able to squeeze under, the Dyson 360 Eye needed rescuing. Presumably because its 360-degree camera was essentially blinded. The camera is a key part of its ability to navigate a room, and as a result, the robovac won't even turn on if there's not enough light for its camera to work. If you want to schedule it to clean the living room at three in the morning while you're asleep, you'll need to leave some lights on.
Yet these problems could potentially be resolved in future software updates, which the Dyson 360 Eye receives via Wi-Fi. The inclusion of Wi-Fi also allows the 360 Eye to be activated, monitored, and scheduled from the Dyson Link app on iOS or Android devices.
Pairing the app to the 360 Eye was a little tricky, but only because the app looked like it had failed when in reality it had successfully connected to the robovac, and functionality is limited. The most complex thing you can do through the app is schedule the robot to clean throughout the week. It does show you the map of a room it created after a cleaning is complete, so you can see what areas it might have missed. But it feels like a half-feature because you can't then click on the map and direct the robot back to a certain area.
On the underside of the 360 Eye you'll find a pair of metal contacts the robot vacuum uses for charging, its spinning brush bar, and a pair of bright blue rubber tank treads.
If treads are good enough for the army's tanks, they're good enough for a robot vacuum.
They might be more complicated than a simple pair of wheels (more parts means more parts that can break), but the treads also provide better grip since there's more surface area making contact with your floors, and the large teeth improve the 360 Eye's ability to clamber over obstacles, and transition from hard floors to carpeting. They also help the robovac maintain a straighter course—taking the tiny bot smoothly to its tiny charging base, which easily unfolds and sidles up against a wall.
The robovac can always find its way back home to thanks to checkerboard markings on the base.
Because it's first and foremost a Dyson vacuum, running off the company's tiny but mighty V2 digital motor, the 360 Eye sucks up dirt and debris as efficiently as any of the company's manual vacuums.
A full-width brush bar lets the 360 Eye clean close to your walls.
The spinning disks of whiskers used by robots like the Roomba to sweep debris from the edges of the bot inwards don't exist on the 360 Eye. Instead it features the same edge-to-edge brushbar that the company's manual vacs use so that it cleans as close to the edge of a wall as possible. It still leaves about a half-inch gap, but its ability to suck in dirt and debris along walls easily outperformed other robovacs I've tested.
The Eye 360 sucks, but in a good way, which means you'll be frequently emptying its 0.33-liter bin.
After using the Dyson 360 Eye for some time, I can understand why the company decided to focus on its ability to clean. That's where its competitors have made compromises, which makes no sense for a product that's supposed to save you work and make your life easier. But there are a few features I would like to see added to help justify the 360 Eye's $1,000 price tag.
The ability to manually steer the robot from the app to hit missed spots, or move it to another room, would be helpful. For comparison, Samsung's $1000 PowerBOT VR9000 can follow a red crosshair projected on floors to help it navigate to a specific area. That's a genuinely useful feature—not a gimmick. There's also no way to limit where the Eye 360 is cleaning except for setting up physical obstacles in doorways to keep it contained, and notifications, or an alarm, for when the robot got stuck, would be useful too.
Of all the robot vacuums I've tested, Dyson's 360 Eye is the first that will genuinely clean your floors as well as a manual vacuum cleaner can. That being said, it won't completely eliminate vacuuming from your weekly chore list. It will save you a lot of time, though, which is what Dyson is really selling here for $1,000. The company's first robot vacuum feels a little light on features given the steep price tag, but through software updates and improvements to its app, eventually you could, one day, never need to touch a vacuum ever again.
README
The first robot vacuum that's a vacuum first. Does a very good job at cleaning your floors thanks to solid battery life and a full-width brushbar.
The 360 Eye is a little on the tall side, but it also means it has a small footprint for squeezing into hard to clean areas.
The use of treads instead of wheels lets the 360 Eye easily climb over obstacles or transition between floor surfaces.
Automatic software updates over Wi-fi add functionality and improve performance so you don't have to reach for a USB cable.
At $1,000 you'll have to really hate pushing a vacuum around to buy one.
If you want to schedule a cleaning in the middle of the night, you'll need to leave some lights on.
Lacking a few useful features like the ability to remotely steer it from the app, or set up cleaning zones.
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.theguardian.com%252Flifeandstyle%252Fng-interactive%252F2016%252Fjul%252F27%252Fdr-robot-will-see-you-soon-cartoon%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: Dr Robot will see you soon cartoon
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Technology: facial recognition to eye scans and thought control The Australian And your home robot slinks around the corner, out of sight, having discerned you are in a filthy mood. This isn't telepathy. It isn't the distant future. It's part of how we are about to communicate with electronic devices. It's potentially our most ...
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Ffeeds.mashable.com%252F%7Er%252FMashable%252F%7E3%252F863ZS4Y26Lo%252F%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: Dyson's 360 Eye robot vacuum is an able Roomba competitor, despite its blunders
Fifteen years is a long time to work on any product and it's like a century when it comes to technology. Which is why I find it a little surprising that Dyson seems comfortable characterizing the Dyson 360 Eye autonomous robotic vacuum as well-over a decade in the making.
This occurred to me as one of the marketing managers recently explained to how Dyson made the bold decision to include a camera in the vacuum way back in 2001. Would they have made the same decision if they started development in, say, 2014?
I became further concerned about Dyson being a little out of step when I realized that the robotic vacuum could not connect to 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks. If this were 2007 or even 2009, I could understand that, but 2016? Read more...
%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.engadget.com%252F2016%252F07%252F27%252Ficymi-robosurgeon-wigglebot-and-a-very-cute-penguin%252F%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: ICYMI: Robosurgeon, wigglebot and a very cute penguin Today on In Case You Missed It: A robot from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev produces a wave-like motion that can propel itself across a floor or through water, only with one motor. Also a robotic surgeon called Flex can snake its way down... robots
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.engadget.com%252F2016%252F07%252F27%252Frobotic-exoskeleton-for-babies-cerebral-palsy%252F%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: Robotic exoskeleton for babies can help prevent cerebral palsy University of Oklahoma's robotic exoskeleton for babies does two things: (1) make the kiddos look like tiny Dr. Octopuses and (2) help prevent cerebral palsy. The motorized device has power steering that gives babies at risk of the illness a little p... robots
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.washingtonpost.com%252Fnews%252Fspeaking-of-science%252Fwp%252F2016%252F07%252F27%252Fthe-rosetta-probe-has-officially-stopped-listening-for-philae-its-little-lost-comet-lander%252F%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: The Rosetta probe has officially stopped listening for Philae, its little lost comet lander
On Nov. 12, 2014, the European Space Agency's Rosetta orbiter dropped a little lander named Philae down onto the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The robot made history as the first manmade object to have a controlled landing on a comet, and was meant to help us uncover some of the secrets of our early solar system from 67P's […] robots
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fsports.vice.com%252Fen_us%252Farticle%252Fcould-robot-wars-become-the-acceptable-face-of-exceedingly-violent-bloodsports%252F%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: Could Robot Wars Become The Acceptable Face Of Bloodsports? We might consider ourselves a bit more civilised than the toga-wearing sociopaths of antiquity, but we still want to watch terrible savagery in a purpose-built arena, and we still want to cheer at the sight of indiscriminate carnage. robots
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.engadget.com%252F2016%252F07%252F27%252Flockheed-martin-spider-blimp-robot%252F%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: Check out Lockheed Martin's robotic blimp inspector Lockheed Martin's hybrid airships are as big as a football field, and it's a huge challenge making sure their surfaces are don't have tiny pinholes in them. That's why the company developed a robot called Self-Propelled Instrument for Damage Evaluati... robots
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Ffeeds.mashable.com%252F%7Er%252FMashable%252F%7E3%252F6yEZT6l3Zpw%252F%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: Most Americans aren't ready to evolve into 'transhumans,' study says
Despite the mainstreaming of science and technology-powered fitness and health initiatives in recent years, a new survey indicates there's a limit to what we'll accept in the race to become "superhuman."
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According to the survey, almost 70 percent of Americans have concerns about the unforeseen issues around brain chip implants as a means to improve cognitive ability. And such concerns aren't the stuff of science fiction. Recent developments in chip implants have led to some patients regaining the use of a paralyzed limb. Read more...
%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.google.com%252Fnews%252Furl%253Fsa%253Dt%2526fd%253DR%2526ct2%253Duk%2526usg%253DAFQjCNFimA_vYfd_iXwETcZxwAml0VEowg%2526clid%253Dc3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331%2526cid%253D52779168070009%2526ei%253DNaWXV5j3KbC9zAb177OACg%2526url%253Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.independent.co.uk%252Fnews%252Fscience%252Fphilae-to-be-switched-off-and-die-after-hopeful-little-rosetta-lander-goes-quiet-a7157216.html%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: Philae to be switched off and die after hopeful little Rosetta lander goes quiet - The Independent
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Tesla's Master Plan 2.0: AI experts, auto insiders, and Tesla customers weigh in TechRepublic Smith also wonders if Tesla will "explore micro-trucks, delivery robots, and other forms of more localized (and necessarily automated) shipping," not to mention drones. He also said he "wonder[s] how Tesla will play in the digital world. For example ...
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Hackaday Prize Entry: An AI Robot Hackaday For her Hackaday Prize entry, [ThunderSqueak] is building an artificial intelligence. P.A.L., the Self-Programming AI Robot, is building on the intelligence displayed by Amazon's Alexa, Apple's Siri, and whatever the Google thing is called, to build a ...
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%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.google.com%252Fnews%252Furl%253Fsa%253Dt%2526fd%253DR%2526ct2%253Duk%2526usg%253DAFQjCNHVsSCv87HLqnCPFSvUBYl25PTXbQ%2526clid%253Dc3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331%2526cid%253D52779167167684%2526ei%253DRh-XV-jvB4HE1AakxJf4BA%2526url%253Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.bbc.co.uk%252Fnews%252Fbusiness-36887325%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: New trials for delivering goods by drones - BBC News
%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.google.com%252Fnews%252Furl%253Fsa%253Dt%2526fd%253DR%2526ct2%253Duk%2526usg%253DAFQjCNF6Ikdtko_YzC6Mg3Cvo4J4nOefNw%2526clid%253Dc3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331%2526cid%253D52779166781077%2526ei%253DObaWV5D6G4aP1gbduqtI%2526url%253Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.express.co.uk%252Fnews%252Fuk%252F693026%252FBiscuit-tea-dunker-robot-rich-tea%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: REVEALED: Scientists find the BEST BISCUIT for tea dunking... but do you agree? - Express.co.uk
%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.engadget.com%252F2016%252F07%252F25%252Fphd-student-uses-a-robot-to-make-vr-feel-more-real%252F%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: PhD student uses a robot to make VR feel more real Between the HTC Vive and the Oculus Rift, we've come a long way towards being able to step in to virtual worlds -- but touching those false realities is a different matter. Solving this means finding a haptic technology that can adapt to needs of a c... robots
1469494299000
robots
%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fnews.google.com%252Fnews%252Furl%253Fsa%253Dt%2526fd%253DR%2526ct2%253Duk%2526usg%253DAFQjCNF6Ikdtko_YzC6Mg3Cvo4J4nOefNw%2526clid%253Dc3a7d30bb8a4878e06b80cf16b898331%2526cid%253D52779166781077%2526ei%253DB6SWV6HmEovC1Qba47CgDw%2526url%253Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.express.co.uk%252Fnews%252Fuk%252F693026%252FBiscuit-tea-dunker-robot-rich-tea%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: REVEALED: Scientists find the BEST BISCUIT for tea dunking... but do you agree? - Express.co.uk
REVEALED: Scientists find the BEST BISCUIT for tea dunking... but do you agree? Express.co.uk A ROBOT has managed to settle an age-old debate which has had Britons arguing over their steaming mug of PG Tips for years - what's the best biscuit for dunking? By Rebecca Perring Rebecca Perring. PUBLISHED: 14:33, Mon, Jul 25, 2016 | UPDATED: ...
%feed http://redirect.viglink.com?u=http%3A%2F%2Fredirect.viglink.com%2F%3Fu%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fgrist.org%252Fclimate-energy%252Fheres-how-a-post-coal-appalachia-could-thrive%252F%26key%3Dddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8&key=ddaed8f51db7bb1330a6f6de768a69b8 r0B0t: Here's how a post-coal Appalachia could thrive
Last year, a pair of anthropologists traveled to central Appalachia to talk to locals about the so-called “War on Coal.” They trekked across nine counties in West Virginia and eastern Kentucky, recorded hundreds of conversations, and published the results in a report for the Topos Partnership, a public interest communications firm.
Appalachians told the researchers they want independence, and they believe independence comes from work. Work used to come from coal, but mining jobs are fleeing the region. In the last five years, Kentucky and West Virginia shed 15,000 coal jobs.
“When we have coal, then we have money put into our communities, but when you don't have coal, your coal miners leave. They go places,” said a woman from Logan County, West Virginia. Coal miners could make upwards of $80,000 a year, and they spent their hard-earned dollars at the grocery down the block and the bar around the corner.
As coal departs, Appalachia is being forced to reinvent itself. Amid reports of economic decline are stories of rebirth, of communities reclaiming their independence.
Computer programming
Kentucky tech startup Bit Source is hiring out-of-work coal miners and teaching them to write code.
“The realization I had was that the coal miner, although we think of him as a person who gets dirty and works with his hands, really coal mines today are very sophisticated, and they use a lot of technology, a lot of robotics,” Rusty Justice, the firm's cofounder, told NPR. State officials are working to extend high-speed internet access to the Eastern Kentucky to support more ventures like Bit Source that provide well-paid jobs to coal veterans.
Clean energy and energy efficiency
Analysts say the shift to clean power will create more jobs than it eliminates. Enterprising coal workers are trying to bring a few of those jobs to Appalachia.
Retired Kentucky coal miner Carl Shoupe and his colleagues on the Benham Power Board are spearheading a citywide energy efficiency program. Contractors will make homes more power-thrifty — installing insulation, sealing windows, etc. — and homeowners will pay for the upgrades through a charge on their monthly electric bill. The charge will be less than what customers save on energy.
Shoupe believes communities that once ran on coal can add jobs and save money by investing in energy efficiency. According to a report from Synapse, an energy consulting firm, Kentucky could create more than 28,000 jobs by embracing energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Wine growing
In a region wounded by strip mining and mountaintop removal, some families are trying to heal the earth, transforming depleted mining sites into vineyards.
Virginia's David Lawson built Mountainrose Vineyard on fields that had been strip mined by his grandfathers, according to YES! Magazine. He named wines Jawbone and Pardee after coal seams.
Kentucky's Jack Looney, the son of a coal worker, built Highland Winery on a strip mine. Looney told the Associated Press that grapes grow well on land cleared by mountaintop removal. His wines pay tribute to the region's history with names like Blood, Sweat, and Tears and Coal Miner's Blood.
A culture of pragmatism
Appalachia's future remains tenuous. Coal is dying. Jobs are vanishing. Skilled workers are fleeing the region. But as the Topos report noted, Appalachians are pragmatic. Said a woman from Pike County, Kentucky, “Try something new — if it doesn't work, do something else, you know? Just try till you find what works.”
The biggest challenge may be the loss of identity. Difficult, backbreaking, and dangerous though it was, mining gave Appalachians a sense of purpose. It defined a region as gritty and determined. How do you go from wresting energy from the bowels of the earth to writing code or growing wine?
“I wanted to be a coal miner so bad I could taste it … I wanted to have that pride,” said former Virginia coal miner Nick Mullins in an interview. Mullins came to change with his surroundings. When he was 18, a mining company blew the top off the mountain behind the house where he grew up. He never wanted to mine again.
“What is life unless you can live it?” asked Mullins. “What is a community if it's not there anymore?”
This story was written and produced by Nexus Media.
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Today on In Case You Missed It: A robot from the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev produces a wave-like motion that can propel itself across a floor or through water, only with one motor. Also a robotic surgeon called Flex can snake its way down... ![]("http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/1a219ec18d6cd741efc4465dcc2c0454/204128355/baby-octopus.gif")
University of Oklahoma's robotic exoskeleton for babies does two things: (1) make the kiddos look like tiny Dr. Octopuses and (2) help prevent cerebral palsy. The motorized device has power steering that gives babies at risk of the illness a little p... !["The]("http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_908w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2014/11/12/Health-Environment-Science/Images/Germany_Rosetta_Comet_Landing-0996e-2360.jpg" "\"Germany_Rosetta_Comet_Landing-0996e-2360\"")
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Lockheed Martin's hybrid airships are as big as a football field, and it's a huge challenge making sure their surfaces are don't have tiny pinholes in them. That's why the company developed a robot called Self-Propelled Instrument for Damage Evaluati... !["Https%3a%2f%2fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2fuploads%2fcard%2fimage%2f157683%2fchipbrn"]("http://i.amz.mshcdn.com/G1vmySbHw1wfKxhGyt0VX8FPZOA=/575x323/https%3A%2F%2Fblueprint-api-production.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fcard%2Fimage%2F157683%2Fchipbrn.jpg")
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Ready for some more BBC nostalgia? Following the carnage of last weekend's Robot Wars (a great reboot, in my opinion) the broadcaster is turning its attention to Time Commanders. The game show, which simulated historical battles, originally aired on... ![]("https://cdn.vidible.tv/prod/2016-07/25/5796a11b134aa129487c16a0_853x480_U_v1.png")
Today on In Case You Missed It: MIT developed a 3D projector system for movies that could get rid of 3D theater glasses altogether. An automated farming machine can plant, water and maintain the garden in your backyard with hardly any effort on y... ![]("http://o.aolcdn.com/hss/storage/midas/3210f63a8b90838bd782e7913cdd7122/204122341/pushbox2.jpg")
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