A cheetah can run faster than any other animal. A gecko’s feet can stick to almost any surface without using liquids or surface tension. And some roaches scurry at nearly 50 times their body length in one second, which, scaled up to human levels, can be around 200 miles per hour.

MIT professor and robotic designer Sangbae Kim has looked at members of the animal kingdom in the past and successfully replicated their impressive abilities–two of which being the Stickybot,which can climb walls similar to a gecko and the iSprawl, a robot which mimics a cockroaches movement.

Kim’s next animal that he and his students are going to attempt to imitate is the cheetah. Current robots can be very efficient on flat terrain but in rough areas speed and mobility is very limited. The PackBot, for instance, which is used by the U.S. Military is barely able to go 5MPH.

Kim hopes that over the next 18 months he and his students are able to create a prototype that will have enough power to reach 70 MPH quickly.

The first step will be to create a computer model to calculate the optimal limb length, weight, gait and torque of the hip and knee joints.

The biggest challenge in this project won’t be the structure, but getting enough power from a motor to get to the desired speed quickly, says Kim.

If successful this could be a huge break through in the fight to bring functional sci-fi-esque robots to the world we live in. We will still be leagues away from an I,Robot or Star Wars world but imagine the uses of a robot capable of covering terrain quickly and efficiently! As long as it can handle stairs better than the Honda Asimo and can take control of our hands forcing us to learn an instrument by endless repetition then we will be impressed.

Then again, this could also be a huge break through in a robot uprising leading to the eventual destruction of the human race. One way or another, this is cool. [wired]

These videos show the VASIMR VX-200–the worlds hotest, most powerful space ship engine–being tested in a vacuum chamber. One of the best achievements of the VASIMR is that the plasma engine will make a huge cut in fuel consumption required for space travel. Currently 7.5 tons of propellant are used each year in the shuttle and other spaceships. With the VASIMR that will be cut down to 0.3 tons.

The engine is also much faster. So fast that instead of the current 6 months it would take us to get to Mars it would only take roughly 39 days.

The VASIMR will be tested at the International Space Station in 2013.

At first sight the picture above looks like the control panel from a Sci-Fi space ship. It is actually a sketch of apples latest patent which is suppose to be a large multi-touch surface that can recognize all 10 of your fingers and palms as well as your cheek and nose when you smoosh your face against it.

In the patent filing they claim that this system would provide, “unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device.” Whether they plan on making a futuristic keyboard, mouse replacement or they are looking to put this technology on the Apple Tablet we are excited to see this come to the market. If Apple decided to put it on the Coca-Cola Freestyle Dispenser we would still be excited to see it.

Hiroo Iwata–developer of the robot tiles seen above–has created what will one day be a virtual floor at a VR lab at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. The Robot Tiles are covered with a conductive fabric that is able to detect the direction you are walking and bring the blocks in place in front of your feet.

As they are this is not very functional but with some work these could potentially be a seamless, infinite floor. In a virtual reality environment this could allow you to realistically feel like you were walking from California to New York while remaining in a relatively small room.

Once these became more efficient and usable they could even create different textured blocks or blocks with varying densities so that if in your virtual environment you walked from a street to the grass you would feel the difference below your feet.

Multiple monitor workstations is nothing new but this technology actually simulates one large monitor across the displays. The above is an example of six 30″ dell monitors pieced together as one to play a video game. In the past you could have these 6 monitors hooked up to your computer with a few graphics cards but you would only be able to play your game on one of them.

AMD says that they are working with manufactures to create monitors that have very thin bezels(borders) so that there is not as big of a gap between displays. Unfortunately, we do not have an ETA for these in sight.

AT&T has announced that they will be rolling out their 7.2Mbps HSPA 3G this year to a few markets. T-Mobile is now claiming that they will do the same–maybe they will start by rolling standard 3G out to more markets, we are still without 3G for T-Mobile where I live.

So, where do we go from here? Most carriers will soon be talking about their 4G networks however, T-Mobile is boasting their super-boosted 3G rocking out at 21Mbps.

While most carriers are doing the smart thing and dropping 3G at the 7.2Mbps barrier and moving up to 4G, T-Mobile is going to use and abuse the 3G network for as long as they can. They claim that they will be able to reach near 4G speeds in 2010. [mocoNews]

On Sunday a MQ-9 Reaper drone became self-aware and attempted to wipe out the human race suffered a system malfunction that ended in its swift demise. As the UAV sped towards Afganistan’s airspace the pilots of the heavily armed, un-maned vehicle lost  control.

Almost immediately there was a maned airplane on its six that successfully took out the UAV before it crossed over into Afganistan’s airspace.

These UAVs are programmed to–in the event that they lose contact with the pilots–return to their home base. This is usually what happens but apparently this isn’t the first time that robots have over-ruled their creators a UAV has been intentionally shot down by friendly-fire. How many times does it need to happen before there is cause for concern? [PopSci]

Bear with me here. Yes, the music and AI voice is terrible and makes me feel like I am about to be checked into an alien processing plant for humans after they have taken over our world–but the concept idea is awesome!

We have been blasted with augmented reality programs and concepts but this is a unique idea in comparison to the “find your favorite restaurant” or “see landmarks in the area” programs.

This, if tweaked to be less in your face and obstructive could be a really helpful tool in many work environments. With wireless built into the system you could even receive updates about a certain part of the car having poor compression or getting particularly hot.

Another similar technology that is being worked on is an augmented reality device that fits in a contact lens.

This contact lens contains the circuits, antennas and LED display all in the lens. How does it get power? Wirelessly via RF technology!  They currently have tested it in bunnies to confirm how safe it is and its functionality.

They have a few road blocks that are holding them back before everyone is walking around with this technology–such as the fact that red LEDs are toxic and wouldn’t bode well in your eye–but they are making giant leaps forward. Another hurdle is creating an array of LEDs that will make the image look like it is in front of your face by a foot or so. [IEEE Spectrum]

Alright, fine, “right around the corner” may have been a small exaggeration but there is no question about it, these concept designs from the Electrolux design lab 09 are pretty awesome. While none of these really seem possible or cost effective right now we could begin seeing them over the next 5-10 years.

Of course if the ‘Teleport Fridge’ technology existed we would never have need to leave the house–via car anyway.[EDL]

Have you ever sat and thought to yourself: “I wish there was a robot that could take control of my body and teach me to play the piano”? Yep, me neither, but one company has developed a device that will make this dream come true for some out there. Concert Hands is a robotic device that is attached to your piano or electric keyboard. There is a rod that goes the length of the piano that sits in between you and the keys. You sit down in front of the piano and the Concert Hands latch onto you like a leech you lock your wrists into the slides that move your hands to the spot on the piano where they need to be and then slide your fingers into the finger sleeves that make your fingers press the correct keys.

If you aren’t sold on this great idea press play on the video above and let the mind controlling hypnotist Concert Hands advertiser convince you. I–personally–am creeped out.

The idea is that repetition will force your body to memorize how to play a song–muscle memory–just like anything you have done so much that you can do it without looking, like changing chords on a guitar or typing on a keyboard.

I am not saying this won’t work; in theory it sounds like it very possibly could. All I want to know is who thought of this? And one way or another you aren’t really learning to play the piano. A robot is training another robot your brain to play one song at a time through grinding repetition.

For more information I would tell you to go visit the Concert Hands website but at the time of this post it is down due to them exceeding their monthly bandwidth limits…