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The day for you to strap yourself into a robotic exoskeleton and fight crime the way your normally flabby limbs would never have let you has come! Cyberdyne, the Japanese company responsible for the HAL (hybrid assistive limb) prototype robot suit, is starting rentals this week. The price for being superhuman: about $US2,200.
John Seabrook wrote a recent feature in The New Yorker about interactive-voice-response systems (I.V.R.) commonly used with customer service and tech support telephone hotlines. Seabrook spent time at B.B.N. Technologies watching these systems transcribe callers' words and analysing the tone of voice for emotions present. While breaking down the history of automated telephone services and voice recognition innovations, he attempts to tackle the larger question of whether or not we can create a fully conversational, quasi-conscious robot, akin to 2001: A Space Odyssey's Hal 9000. Judging from the number of experts interviewed for the piece, the answer is a resounding no.
Chauhan Studios and Humax had this awesome concept TV on display at the Milan Design Show, which looks straight out of the spaceport in 2001: A Space Odyssey. And being named HAL, it's likely where the designer drew influence from. The LCD also has an extra set of speakers in the base to add sound depth. And with most design shows, there were no details on pricing for the HAL TV, or even a release date. [MocoLoco via Unplgged]
Are you a feeble, pasty pansy? For the low price of US$1000 a month, you could overcome your physical limitations with a HAL exoskeleton from Cyberdyne. While HAL prototypes have been around for a few years now, Cyberdyne has just begun building a lab that will mass produce 400-500 of the suits per year starting this October.
Hal is no ordinary hamster. While other hamsters find themselves confined to the dancing gifs of 1990s novelty websites, Hal has grown into an autonomous force of the entertainment world. Dancing to Styx' Mr. Roboto on command, Hal is recommended as a loyal companion in all environments not including pod bay doors.
For those of you who will now have Mr. Roboto in your head for the rest of the day, enjoy the video after the jump.
