As Homer Simpson once said, “They are years ahead of us.”
The harsh winter in Niigata, Japan brings heavy snow, which can pose problems for residents — particularly the elderly — who are faced with the laborious task of clearing it from driveways and entrances. To the rescue comes Yuki-taro, an autonomous snowplow robot developed by a team of researchers from five Niigata-area organizations. Armed with GPS and a pair of video cameras embedded in its eyes, the self-guided robot seeks out snow and gobbles it up into its large mouth. Yuki-taro’s insides consist of a system that compresses the snow into hard blocks measuring 60 x 30 x 15 cm (24 x 12 x 6 in.), which Yuki-taro expels from its rear end. The blocks can then be stacked and stored until summer, when they can be used as an alternative source of refrigeration or cooling.
The show, to be performed by a 22-strong cast including a 13-year-old girl in the lead role, will open at Madrid’s Calderon Theatre in February.
MONTERREY, Mexico (AFP) – A 10-year-old Mexican boy glued his hand to his bed to avoid going back to school after the Christmas break, authorities said Monday. “I thought if I was glued to the bed, they couldn’t make me go to school,” the boy, Diego, told AFP. “I didn’t want to go, the holidays were so much fun.”