News of science and technology around the world

roman olkhovsky said:
The Russian helicopter-type UAV BAS-200 received a certificate of airworthiness. This is the first UAV certified in Russia according to airworthiness standards. So far, according to the certificate, the UAV cannot carry cargo, but certification work will continue. The developer and manufacturer of the BASE-200 is the Mil and Kamov National Helicopter Building Center of the Russian Helicopters holding. The UAV will be used in the Arctic for geophysical exploration, searching for oil and gas fields, as well as for delivering cargo to hard-to-reach places in Russia. BAS-200 is equipped with a 54 hp engine. The flight range in automatic mode with a load of up to 50 kg is 430 km. The drone can fly up to 3,500 meters at a speed of up to 160 km/h. Flight duration up to 4 hours.

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Key phrase here: cannot carry cargo.
 
roman olkhovsky said:
Google developed the Bard chat bot, a direct competitor to the ChatGPT chat bot, which has become incredibly popular. Let's briefly explain what it is. Chatbot Bard and ChatGPT is essentially a regular chat in the messenger. In it, you can ask any questions and receive answers to them in text form. The ChatGPT neural network is a project of the OpenAI team, answering user questions, the ChatGPT neural network is based on its information base. ChatGPT answers can be confused with the answers of a real person, the neural network can write poems, articles, essays, pieces of program code, and so on are already being written with it. The emergence of these networks has been compared to the discovery of electricity, and it has been suggested that these neural networks may soon put some people out of work. According to Google CEO Sundar Pichai, the Bard chatbot is an experimental AI conversational service based on the LaMDA platform. For detailed responses to queries, Google's Bard neural network will use information from the Internet.

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...and give a response just as clueless as Google search.
 
roman olkhovsky said:
Elon Musk's Optimus Tesla works have learned to walk

Elon Musk's Tesla Bot robots have learned to walk slowly. Tesla reported to shareholders on how the development of the universal android Tesla Optimus is progressing, which should become an assistant to a person in everyday life and at work. Also, the engineers of the Elon Musk Corporation taught the Optimus robots to collect things. In the video, anthropomorphic machines shift small items and arrange them in containers. According to Tesla experts, the learning of machines is based on the repetition of certain actions for a person. It is assumed that by the time of release, the Tesla Optimus robot will cost no more than $100,000. In the long term, Tesla Bot robots will bring the company the main income, according to Elon Musk, the demand for them will be up to 10 billion units.

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Elon's target price of this robot is $30,000. The big question is: what would you use if for?
 
roman olkhovsky said:
Spherical building-screen "Sphere" opened in Las Vegas.

The world's largest futuristic building in the form of a sphere covered with LED panels is open in Las Vegas. The screen of the unusual building "MSG Sphere" is made of 1.2 million LED panels, the display area is 54,000 sq.m. it is now the largest LED display in the world. There is also a spherical screen inside the building of the sphere, its resolution is 19,000 by 13,500 pixels, 164,000 speakers are installed inside the hemisphere. Thanks to such a large number of LEDs, at night the building is very brightly lit from the outside, and it can be seen even during the day for several kilometers. The MSG Sphere building has a capacity of 17,600 seats or 20,000 standing places and will host major concerts and sporting events. MSG Sphere will officially open on September 29th. The project of an unusual building cost 2.3 billion dollars, and is now considered the most expensive entertainment venue in Las Vegas.

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...with a ticket price to match. And the content? Lame shit about the Church of Global Warming.
 
roman olkhovsky said:
Pilot robot PIBOT can replace pilots.

Pilot robot PIBOT can replace pilots. As you know, automation and robotization are gradually reducing the number of workers, it would seem that this will not affect the pilots so quickly, but progress has also affected them. South Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) engineers and researchers have created the first robotic aircraft pilot. The PIBOT pilot robot controls the aircraft with its own hands, while it is not known whether it can replace the pilots, but the robot is quite well done. The humanoid robot uses data from the sensors of the aircraft, and what he sees himself with the help of the camera. The creators claim that in some areas it even surpasses a person - for example, it holds the plane more evenly during takeoff and landing. The robot is able to read and memorize flight charts and emergency protocols, while quickly responding to emergencies. Unlike other systems, the robot does not require modification of the aircraft - it can control any aircraft. The robot can already control all the operations of the simulator aircraft, such as taxiing, takeoff, landing and flight. The project is expected to be fully developed in 2026.

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Airlines already have such capability. It's called an 'autopilot'.
 
roman olkhovsky said:
Elon Musk showed prototypes of two new Tesla products at once: the Cybercab robotic taxi and the Robovan driverless van. The Optimus humanoid robot was also shown. The Cybercab robotic taxi can be used not only for personal use, but also rented out, making money on it. Tesla has assembled at least 50 Cybercabs and plans to launch mass production no later than 2027. The price of one Cybercab taxi for entrepreneurs will be less than 30 thousand dollars. There is no steering wheel or pedals in the Cybercab, since human control is not provided at all, the car operates completely in unmanned mode. The Cybercab car will be charged inductively, without the need to connect to the network. Musk said that autonomous cars will be 10-20 times safer than those controlled by people. A ride on a Cybercab will cost 20 cents per 1.6 km, for comparison, on a bus it costs $ 1.

The Robovan driverless van will be able to transport 20 people, it also has a numb steering wheel and pedals, it can be converted into a cargo version. The Optimus robot attracted the most attention from the public, in the future it can become one of the family members. They promise that the Optimus robot will be able to clean the house, walk the dog, mow the lawn, water the plants, set the table, wipe the dust, play with children and much more. Optimus robots are already being adapted for work in production and as auto mechanics.

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The Robovan is designed to look like the stuff drawn in 1960's 'futurism' comics. It can carry up to 20 people or be converted to cargo use. I think the market will mostly be things like airports and the like, where shuttle buses are already used, and the institution (government mostly) has the money to spend on the thing and it's life support system (it still needs to spend a lot of time recharging!).

Personally, I think the Optimus bot will probably succeed in the market in a limited way. It's good at repetitive tasks, but it will never replace a qualified auto mechanic, for example. Changing tires or do a brake job? Sure...why not?
 
Kafka said:
These are always so much fun to envision. I'm actually kinda glad that the 1960's-1970's era testing of nuclear plane engines never really got off the ground. Sounds like a ginormous disaster just waiting to happen.

PLUS it's piloted by AI! That sounds SUPER sketch.
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It's because of the weight.
It's a pipe dream.
 
A spectacular video of the Lynx robot-dog hybrid with a wheeled chassis moving quickly across rough terrain was shown by the Chinese company Deep robotics. Note how fast the four-legged robot moves through the forest. When such a robot is equipped with a payload, in the form of cameras or weapons, it is possible to quickly and effectively conduct reconnaissance of the area or other operations. Most people do not take this seriously yet, but military robots of this type will be used in the near future. In China, a group operation of military robot dogs was recently shown.

 
The world's first boxing match between humanoid robots took place in China. The MMA-style fight took place on May 25, 2025, as part of the CMG World Robot Competition. In the boxing ring were Chinese G1 robots created by Unitree. The robots were controlled by four teams of operators using remote controls. The boxing match allowed testing various functions of the robots, including their ability to quickly get back on their feet after a fall. The developers position Unitree G1-Comp as a durable and long-lasting robot, the body of which is covered with aluminum alloy in combination with high-strength structural plastics. The Unitree G1 robot is versatile, it weighs about 35 kg, is about 130 cm tall, and can be used in various conditions. The battery of the G1 robot lasts up to 2 hours and can be quickly replaced if necessary. The cost of the Unitree G1 robot is more than 16 thousand dollars. The robots had nine different fighting techniques in their arsenal. The criterion for losing the fight was if the robot fell and could not get up within the allotted time.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oMF6pFxT-dI
 
At the international forum "Drone Expo 2025", footage of the first Russian heavy fire drone KVV-1, developed by the concern "Radioelectronic Technologies", was published. The KVV-1 drone weighs 85 kg and is capable of carrying the same payload. The drone is connected to a fire engine through a hose and delivers water or a mixture to a height of up to 150 meters. The drone's operating time is up to 25 minutes from batteries or up to 72 hours when connected to a power source via a cable. Serial production of drones is planned to begin in 2026.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXENsj32eng
 
In Kazan, the fully import-substituted multipurpose Russian helicopter "Ansat" with Russian engines VK-650V took to the skies for the first time. The Ansat helicopter successfully completed its first flight, about 6 minutes, at a low altitude. The crew assessed the stability and controllability of the helicopter. The operability of the equipment and main systems was also checked. The VK-650V engine allows the Ansat helicopter to fly without refueling for a distance of up to 660 km, and with an additional fuel tank - up to 800 km. Technical information about the VK-650V

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1HHFS-BD3M
 
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