Humanoid Robots F.02

California-based robotics outfit Figure has today announced its second-generation humanoid robot, which is initially being aimed at production lines in commercial settings, but the company is promising a bipedal butler in our homes in the near future.

Figure was founded in 2022 by entrepreneur Brett Adcock – of Vettery and Archer Aviation – with the aim of bringing a "commercially viable general purpose humanoid robot" to market. 

We caught up with Adcock last year, publishing a series of three interview pieces, and have followed the progress of its first robot from first steps to learning and performing tasks to joining BMW's workforce, and then gaining OpenAI chattiness.      READ MORE...

Small Modulor Nuclear Reactors

A new report has assessed the feasibility of deploying small modular nuclear reactors to meet increasing energy demands around the world. The findings don't look so good for this particular form of energy production.

Small modular nuclear reactors (SMR) are generally defined as nuclear plants that have capacity that tops out at about 300 megawatts, enough to run about 30,000 US homes. According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), which prepared the report, there are about 80 SMR concepts currently in various stages of development around the world.

While such reactors were once thought to be a solution to the complexity, security risks, and costs of large-scale reactors, the report asks if continuing to pursue these smaller nuclear power plants is a worthwhile endeavor in terms of meeting the demand for more and more energy around the globe.

The answer to this question is pretty much found in the report's title: "Small Modular Reactors: Still Too Expensive, Too Slow, and Too Risky."     READ MORE...

Nuclear Heaters for Spacecrafts

Commercial operations on the Moon won't just be round-the-clock but round-the-calendar as ispace, inc. and the University of Leicester partner to develop nuclear heaters to allow future landers and rovers to survive the freezing lunar night.

There have been a number of robotic lunar landing attempts recently with varying degrees of success. However, they've all had one thing in common: they had a very limited mission lifespan. The problem is that the Moon is subject to extreme swings of temperature from day to night. When the Sun is up, the thermometer rises to 250 °F (121 °C) and at night it plunges to -208 °F (-133 °C).

Daytime isn't too much of a problem because the Moon's surface is a vacuum, so it's relatively easy to control heating with reflective surfaces. Nighttime is another matter. A spacecraft's heat can quickly radiate away and by the time the Sun rises again after two weeks of darkness the lander's batteries and electronics can be damaged beyond saving.

Looking to a future with a permanent human presence on the Moon that includes a lot of commercial activities, ispace and the Leicester's Space Nuclear Power group want to develop nuclear heater units for future missions, beginning with ispace's Series 3 lunar landers and rovers.     READ MORE...

Directed Energy Weapon Cheaper

A new directed energy weapon is being rolled out to bolster British defense capabilities. And, at 13 cents a shot, it's just as effective, but a lot cheaper than the multi-million dollar missiles it's designed to replace.


The Radio Frequency Directed Energy Weapon (RFDEW) is part of the British government's policy to respond to a changing geopolitical situation, placing the country's defense on more of a war footing as it increases spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030. This policy change also includes fast-tracking the rollout of lasers and other directed energy weapons.


The latter is extremely important, because, well, knocking out a drone that costs a few grand with a missile costing millions of dollars per round is bad economics – see, for example, the US$1.3-2.5 million Sea Viper missile used to take out a US$20,000 drone, as reported by Navy Lookout. Also, missile stockpiles tend to be pretty small, and swarms of cheap drones could easily exhaust them.  READ MORE...

Treating Obesity

The modified ISD would be non-surgically inserted into the stomach and then pulled back out for each treatment  Adapted from ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 2022, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c00532

While some folks might say that obese people should just exercise more and eat less, things aren't always quite that simple. With that fact in mind, a new implant is being designed to help boost the weight-loss process, by killing hunger-inducing cells in the stomach.

Ghrelin is a naturally produced hormone that stimulates the appetite, increases food intake and promotes the storage of fat. And while small amounts of it are released by the brain, pancreas and small intestine, most of it is produced and secreted by cells in the upper portion of the stomach.

Scientists at the Catholic University of Korea recently set out to reduce the activity of those cells, by modifying an existing prototype implant. Known as the "intragastric satiety-inducing device" (ISD), it consists of a stent which is non-surgically lodged in the lower esophagus, connected to a disc that rests in the opening to the stomach. A small opening in that disc allows food to pass through.

In the new version of the ISD, the underside of the disc is coated with an FDA-approved drug called methylene blue. Additionally, a fiber optic laser passes down through the opening in the disc, curving back around to point at its underside.  READ MORE...