A Bluish Speck on the Red Planet

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover can be seen in this image taken from space on May 31, 2019, by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO). In the image, Curiosity appears as a bluish speck. 

The image shows Curiosity at a location called "Woodland Bay." It's just one of many stops the rover has made in an area referred to as the "clay-bearing unit" on the side of Mount Sharp, a 3-mile-tall (5-kilometer-tall) mountain inside of Gale Crater. AMAZING!

The full story can be found at JPL's mission pages here. 

What a Deal!

Found a Sphero BB-8 on sale today at Bed Bath & Beyond, of all places!

Originally priced at $144.99, it was marked down 75%! That made it $37.50. 

AND we had a $10 off coupon from a sales paper - So, I paid $27.50! Great robot for a great price. My wife even "egged" me on! 

Here is a Tutorial Video from Sphero about BB-8...

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day from R.U.S. via my friends at Parallax!

Summer Reading

Reading this now... One Giant Leap: The Impossible Mission That Flew Us to the Moon by Charles Fishman.

I heard a story and interview with the author on NPR's Fresh Air (Dave Davies). You can listen too...

Bizarro Comics

Saw this on Facebook. 😉

I Am Mother - Netflix

Yikes! But of course, I have to see this...



"Mothers need time to learn." I Am Mother premieres June 7

15 Fabulous Vintage Snapshots Of Robots

You can see the whole blog post and all the photos collected by Robert E. Jackson here - https://flashbak.com/15-fabulous-vintage-snapshots-of-robots-415451/, but this photo is my favorite!

Between the photos are some great quotes from sci-fi writers. Two of the best are these classics...

“Whether we are based on carbon or on silicon makes no fundamental difference; we should each be treated with appropriate respect.” — Arthur C. Clarke, 2010: Odyssey Two Space Odyssey

 “The Three Laws of Robotics:
1: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm;
2: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law;
3: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law; 

The Zeroth Law: A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.”
— Isaac Asimov, I Robot 

Note: The Zeroth Law was added later, making Four Laws

If we are going vintage, here is my vintage blog logo. This is based on an old cover for R.U.R., or Rossum's Universal Robots. See my previous post - https://roboticsunderthestole.blogspot.com/2016/05/rur.html