High school robotics competition kicks off
Some 35,000 high school students from over 1500 high schools in eight countries today began competing in the annual US FIRST student robotics contest.
This year's competition, dubbed "FIRST Overdrive," challenges the student teams to build semi-autonomous robots that will move 40-inch diameter inflatable balls around a playing field and score the most points.
The Evolution of Altruism in Robots
Despite the fact that many fundamentalists believe morals come directly from god, scientists have long known that it's not just humans who are capable of showing altruistic behaviour. There are many stories of dolphins saving people from shark attacks or drowning and recent studies have shown that chimps will help humans in need even if there is no return benefit for the animal. But now researchers at the Laboratory of Intelligent Systems have used an evolutionary process to create robots that help their comrades.
Cool competition! I like the one that looks like it has a boot on it, so it can give the ball a boot!
Dave Briggs :~)