TechStuffCanada

jargon-free tech news for non-technical people

Future Day

May 31, 2005 › Sandy McMurray | comment

Some mornings you read the news and think, "Whoa, dude, I'm SO in the future". And, somedays it's not because you let your friend from Saltspring Island make you a mushroom omelette for breakfast.
For me, today was one of those days. First, I learned that there are now living sheep that are 10% human. They look like normal sheep, but about 1/10 of their internal organs are made of human cells.
("Oh, didn't you like your meatpie, sir?"
"It was great, I just ate around the human bits.")
Next, I learn that the seemingly benign folks at iRobot, have created an evil robot swarm. That's right, the company that brought you the robotic sweeper, the Roomba (and now the floor cleaner the Scooba) are also working on tiny robots can work together in swarms of thousands.
The idea is that swarming tiny robots could be used to map a building, measure long distances and, I guess, do a wicked conga line at R2D2's wedding.
So, let's put this together, sheep, that often travel in packs, are now 10% human. Robots can now act like sheep. I'm holding out for the floor cleaning sheep swarm that can communicate wirelessly and be there for you when your kidneys fail.