Gizmodo Australia » penguins

Penguin Poo, Spotted by Satellite, Reveals Location of Secret Penguin Base

Wilson Rothman — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Even though non-military satellites don’t have powerful enough resolution to zoom in on a particular penguin—or any critter—certain clues can help locate them in the frozen antarctic.

Yes, when mapping experts spotted up the unmistakable reddish-brown smears of penguin poop—penguano?—on the antarctic ice, the jig was up for a huge colony of emperor penguins that would’ve otherwise remained hidden for years to come.

Being in the limelight isn’t all that bad. In this case, the shifting poo tracks will be studied to see how the penguins are responding to climate change. [AdelaideNow]

Bionic Penguins to Destroy Humans from Water and Air

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:40:09 +0000

Bionic penguins that travel underwater independently. Bionic flying penguins. Robotic arms made of fiberglass rods with free will. Molecubes that assemble into infinite-growing robots. All for real, as this video shows. I’m leaving the planet.

Sure, it’s an infomercial about this company called Festo, but it’s impressive nonetheless. Like other tech companies, they are getting its inspiration from nature to create new robotic concepts, working relentlessly to create the robots that will kill us all one day. Good. [Geeks Are Sexy]

Who Needs Nature? Festo Bionic Learning Network Builds A Better Penguin

Jack Loftus — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 17:00:00 +0000

Festo is no stranger to autonomous robot creatures, but their latest initiative, called the Bionic Learning Network, might as well be referred to from here on out as Skynet for the animal kingdom.

Extinction level events aside, the first few moments of this Festo promotional video are pretty amazing. Those little blue-eyed Terminator penguins you see swimming around the tank are autonomous, and can navigate and interact with other robopenguins without fail. They can even swim backwards, which is impossible to do if you’re a flesh and blood penguin. I think they also eat the diver, but obviously that’s been edited out.

Festo designers also created another blimp robot, in true Festo fashion, this time shaped like a penguin (to further mock real penguins, which cannot fly).

The reactive wall seen in the video, which responds to a person’s body movement using a variety of shape shifting techniques and sound, is also pretty bloody awesome. And eerie, actually. On second thought, I think I like my walls dumb and unresponsive. [Festo via Engadget]

Penguins Flying in Military Planes from Brazil’s Beaches to the South Atlantic

Jesus Diaz — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Get ready to fight to the death for this one, Disney, Pixar, and Dreamworks: More than a thousand penguins have suddenly appeared on the beaches of Brazil. The scientists can’t explain why this is happening. Some say they are somehow confused. Knowing the views in Brazil’s beaches, I personally think they are not confused at all. Brazilian National Institute for Space Research climatologist Jose Marengo thinks the penguins–who are being airlifted back to its origin by the air force–got lost because of changes in the ocean circulation in the South Atlantic:

Clearly we’ve been seeing changes in the ocean circulation in the Southern Hemisphere. The question for the future, and we don’t have an answer yet, is how is that going to shift against the backdrop of climate change?

The story here, however, is that the Brazilian Air Force is going to be flying the penguins back to South Atlantic, possibly in freezing chambers onboard cargo airplanes. Oh yes, and they are so cute that I’m about to have a diabetes arrest.

[Daily Mail]