Impressive robot praised by Russia state television revealed to be a man in a costume

David Pescovitz 6:58 pm Wed Dec 12, 2018

State-owned TV network Russia-24 ran a story about an impressive humanoid robot named Boris that wowed attendees at a youth technology conference. Turns out, Boris the Robot was actually a man inside a commercially-available, high-end robot costume. From The Guardian:

A photograph published by MBKh Media, the news agency founded by the Vladimir Putin opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky, appeared to show the actor in the robot suit ahead of the forum on Tuesday in Yaroslavl, a city about 150 miles north-east of Moscow.

The organisers of the Proyektoria technology forum, held each year for the "future intellectual leaders of Russia", did not try to pass off the robot as real, the website reported.

But whether by mistake or design, the state television footage did just that. "It's entirely possible one of these [students] could dedicate himself to robotics," an anchor reported. "Especially as at the forum they have the opportunity to look at the most modern robots."

Watch a wombat-sized research robot burrow into marsupial holes

Scott Carver is a wildlife ecologist at the University of Tasmania who is perhaps best known for his Ig Nobel Prize-winning research into the physical phenomenon of wombat poop. With that mystery out of the way, he's turned to learning more about the domestic lives of these burrowing marsupials with the help of a specially-designed… READ THE REST
"Made In Korea" offers a cool new take on transracial adoption and AI

Image Comics released the first issue of Made in Korea in May, and it's already shaping up to be an exciting story. Written by Jeremy Holt with art by George Schall, the story is set in a near-future where one of the only paths to parenting is to buy a "proxy" — a lifelike robot… READ THE REST
"Robots in Rowboats" is a delightfully whimsical coffee table book

For nearly a decade now, my friend Lauren Briere has been making adorable retrofuturistic steampunk fairytale paintings of robots, relaxing in mundane settings (though usually rowboats). She's now compiled some of her favorite robots into a full-length coffee table book titled Robots in Rowboats and the Wistful Whimsies, Volume 1, which adds some loose narrative… READ THE REST
Power your devices in a crisis with up to $249 off these EcoFlow Power Stations

If mobile devices had been around when the Boy Scouts were organized over 110 years ago, it feels likely that telling scouts to have a stable supply of standby power around in case of emergency would have been high on the essentials list. The Boy Scouts are all about being prepared — and that's pretty… READ THE REST
Are you a hot sleeper? Stay frosty this summer with a chilled water sleep cooling system.

Trying to sleep during the height of the summer heat isn't always easy. If you live in a warm climate and if you have upstairs bedrooms, you know the heat rises — and while the air conditioning keeps things feeling comfortable downstairs, that isn't always the case upstairs. Once you throw some sheets and blankets… READ THE REST
The KingCamp Pop-Up Roof Tent will turn your SUV into a glorious camping base camp

No one wants to sleep on soggy, unstable, or unsafe ground when they go camping. If you've got an SUV, you're probably halfway tempted to just sleep in the vehicle sometimes, even though that kind of defeats the whole outdoor experience. However, you can still use your SUV to your advantage and craft yourself a safe,… READ THE REST