The Future of Robo-Puppies

MIT Technology Review

Sony aims to send home the first upgradable robot dog.

We have an International Space Station in orbit. We’ve cracked the genetic code. We’re cloning animals and eventually maybe even people. What’s next?

Why, robot dogs as programmable as your PC, of course.

This month Sony demonstrated its new “entertainment architecture,” OPEN-R, at the Game Developers Conference in San Diego. The goal is to let third-party developers create new hardware and software add-ons for Sony’s popular AIBO robot dog.

Virtual Farm Aid

MIT Technology Review

Using mathematical models and a 3-D Web browser, international food organizations collaborate on raising virtual crops.

In the ongoing effort to eradicate world hunger, international food organizations are applying the latest Internet technology to some of the world’s oldest problems.

The International Potato Center (known by its Spanish acronym CIP) is assembling a three-dimensional online research lab to help researchers, educators and decision makers collaborate on a global basis. Working with ActiveWorlds.com, which develops online 3-D environments, CIP is planting the seeds for one of the world’s first virtual crop fields.