Nerd News

Armed Robots for Sale

Whats rule one of robots， eh？ Well， obviously its that a robot may not injure a human being or， through inaction， allow a human being to come to harm. But， after Asimovs three laws （as well as the zeroth law for all you Foundation fans out there）， there should be an extra caveat： Dont give robots guns. However， military industrial complexes around the world have ignored this seemingly simple instruction in favor of， well， giving robots people-killing machines. Unveiled at the 2015 Beijing World Robot Conference in Beijing were three urban combat robots meant for shooting squishy， non-metal humans. These three military robots come courtesy of HIT Robot Group from Harbin， a land so cold only a robot could love it. As Popular Science put it， “There is an armed variant with an assault rifle， grenade， or an option for a recoilless rifle for heavier firepower， a recon variant equipped with nuclear， biological， and chemical weapon （NBC） detectors， and finally， the explosive ordnance disposal （EOD） robot designed to dispose of explosives and other hazards.” To be fair， theyre not exactly imposing; at just 12 kilograms， this trio of robots could easily be carried in a soldiers backpack， but I think everyone will agree that this is merely a ploy by the robots to make us feel safe before they make their oily strike. Currently， only the rich are in danger of these robots fiery doom， as most would blanch slightly at the 1.5 million RMB price tag.

- Tyler roney

Peer Pressure

For scientists， getting peer reviewed can be demanding， so， for years， Chinese scientists have been skipping that step by citing fake peer reviews to get their work published—often just paying to have their names put on articles they had nothing to do with. This scam was brought to worldwide attention back in March 2015， in which BioMed Central retracted 43 papers， 41 of them Chinese. Of the Chinese scientists caught up in that scandal， 29 admitted to using a broker that charged fees ranging between 600 and 5，000 USD to find peer reviews for their work. Now， the academic authorities in China are trying to figure out how to fix the problem. Theyve started by stating categorically that using another person to write， revise， submit， or write a fake or unsubstantial peer review for other scientists is illegal. It is unclear what punishments will be in effect， but the directive came in December from the nations most important science authorities， including the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Ministry of Education. For now， the cheating scientists， including the almost entirely Chinese group of peer review hucksters ousted by Springer， are giving Chinese scientists a bad name， and it looks to be a long walk back to credibility from here. – T.R.

do you Mind Driving？

Google and Baidu are working on self-driving cars， but a research team at Nankai University in Tianjin are taking things a bit further： driving a car with the power of your mind. Videos can be seen of researcher Zhang Zhao driving a car from the backseat with his brain， but for now the technology can only be used to go forward， backward， stop （thankfully）， and lock and unlock the doors. Obviously， the system is not ready for production， but its a promising use of electroencephalograms—technology that can detect electrical activity in the brain—in a modern， useful context. The technology has been used in the past for quadriplegics and has even been used to control robots. Of course， as the technology advances， more and more uses can be found for this astounding methodology， both in medical science and in the private sector. For the Nankai mind-driving car， 16 sensors detect signals from the brain， which is then sent wirelessly to a computer and then onto the car itself. Zhang told Reuters， “There are two starting points of this project. The first one is to provide a driving method without using hands or feet for the disabled who are unable to move freely; and secondly， to provide healthy people with a new and more intellectualized driving mode.” There are， of course， several complications with the future use of this process， not the least of which is the drivers ability to concentrate on the road—a near impossibility in the age of texting and smartphones. Also， as anyone who drives in Beijing will attest， it might not be such a good idea to have cars controlled by road rage.- T.R.

Well， he did tell you hed be back

So， at the time of writing， Star Wars： The Force Awakens has yet to open in China because the world isnt fair. But， fans of dystopian robot futures got a big boost with the announcement that the best Terminator movie （Terminator 2： Judgment Day， obviously） will be getting a 3D release in China. Yes， Terminator： Genysis was， well， it was stupid; it was a stupid， horrible movie. That godawful nostalgia porn which literally negated the sagas timeline， however， was popular in China， so popular in fact that it might lead to an equally horrible sequel. You see， T2 is being released by DGM， which has a big stake in the terrific Valiant comics franchise， which China bought into last year. Also， Terminator 2， despite not having a theatrical release in the Middle Kingdom， is flipping huge in China， as is the 3D release market—a gimmick that lacks punch with other moving going countries. James Cameron himself made the announcement in mid-December， saying： “Ni hao， China. For next year is the 25th anniversary of Terminator 2， DMG and I are teaming together in the greatest way to celebrate this historical milestone. Using the most advanced technologies， we are converting Terminator 2 into the biggest and best 3D ever.” The 3D release market is a greedy， money-making sham of a publicity stunt， but if you dont want to sit in a Chinese theater to watch a young Edward Furlong riding a motorcycle to the melodious strains of Guns N Roses in 3D right before Arnold shoots up a shopping mall， you are dead inside. – T.R.