Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Knife-Wielding Robot With X-Ray Vision
A knife-wielding robot has been developed and installed in a New Zealand meat-processing plant. It uses X-ray vision to make sure that it cuts the meat at exactly the right spot, with the right angle of cut.
About $14 million later, the joint venture, Robotic Technologies, has created a "lamb primal breakdown system" which seems worthy of MAF's [Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry] approval on several counts.
The system, which does the work of two people in the boning room, uses x-rays to determine where cuts should be made as carcasses are broken down into three sections - the hindquarter (legs), middle (ribs) and forequarter (shoulder) portions.
"We scan the carcass and from that x-ray image calculate the angle of the ribs," says Scott Technology head Chris Hopkins. "That information gets transferred to the cutting machine and the cutting machine adjusts for every carcass."
The only sfnal predictions of robotic systems with blades didn't turn out well for the visiting humans. Take the maze of Lemnos described in The Man in the Maze, a 1969 novel by Robert Silverberg. The city was surrounded by traps that were run by the city itself. At first visitors tried to find a way through with probes:
I was also thinking that this knife-wielding robot might be a good start for a fencing mirror robot like the one described by Frank Herbert in his 1965 novel Dune.
Since 2003, the country's largest meat processor has operated a joint venture with Dunedin automation specialist Scott Technology to develop a robotic lamb carcass cutting system.
At the begining of the fourth minute the probe skirted bright rillwork like interlocking teeth, and sidestepped an umbrella-shaped piledriver that descended with crushing force. Eighty seconds later it stepped around a tiltblock that opened into a yawning abyss, deftly eluded a quintet of tetrahedral blades that sheared upward out of the pavement...
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 8/8/2009)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 4 )
Related News Stories - (" Robotics ")
Will Robots Become Family Caregivers?
'The robant and the tiny old woman entered the control room slowly...' - Philip K. Dick, 1953.
RoboBallet The Dance Of Cooperative Robots
'...an integrated seven-unit robot team.' - Isaac Asimov, 1944.
Does CloneRobotics Offer A True Android?
Is this What Little Girls Are Made Of?
Robots Repair And Modify Themselves
'The overworked leg motor would have to cool down before he could work on it...' Harry Harrison, 1956.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Liuzhi Process Now In Use In China
'He was in a high-ceilinged windowless cell with walls of glittering white porcelain.'
Reflect Orbital Offers 'Sunlight on Demand' And Light Pollution
'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors...'
Will Robots Become Family Caregivers?
'The robant and the tiny old woman entered the control room slowly...'
Chinese Tokamak Uses AI To Keep Fusion Plasma Stable
'Guy named Otto Octavius winds up with eight limbs... What are the odds?'
Time Crystals Can Now Be Seen Directly
'It is as you thought when you constructed the time crystal, my master Vaylan.'
RoboBallet The Dance Of Cooperative Robots
'...an integrated seven-unit robot team.'
Chrysalis Generation Ship to Alpha Centauri
'This was their world, their planet —
this swift-traveling, yet seemingly moveless vessel.'
Alexa+ And Its AI Brain Improvements
'What's it do?' he asked. 'It amuses.'
Does CloneRobotics Offer A True Android?
Is this What Little Girls Are Made Of?
Brain Implant Is Able To Capture Your Inner Dialogue
'So you see, you can hide nothing from me.'
Are AIs Going Rogue Like Hal 9000
'I know that you and Frank were planning to disconnect me...'
Animated Tumblebugs On Astounding Cover!
'Gaines and Harvey mounted tumblebugs, and kept abreast of the Cadet Captain...'
LingYuan Vehicle Roof Drones Now Available, ala Blade Runner 2049
Accompanied by a small selection of similar ideas from science fiction.
China Steals Strato Airship Design From Google App Engine
'...war-balloons, or, as it would be more correct to call them, navigable aerostats.'
The First Space Warship For Space Force
'Each of the electrical ships carried about twenty men...'
Biohybrid Jellyfish Explore The Ocean
As predicted, and detailed, by science fiction writers!
