【推荐1】Can robots be creative? British art gallery owner Aidan Meller thinks so. He hopes to begin answering that question with a robot called Ai-Da. Meller is watching the building of all Ai-Da’s parts by engineers at Engineered Arts, a company based in Cornwall, England. The engineers believe the robot will be able to make pictures of people from sight with a writing instrument in her hand. Meller wants the robot to perform like a human artist.

After seeing Ai-Da’s head being carefully brought to life by specialists who were connecting individual hairs to form eyebrows, Meller said, “She’s going to actually be drawing and we’re hoping to then build technology for her to paint.” But also as a performing artist, “she’ll be able to communicate with audiences and actually get messages across, asking those questions about technology today,” he added.

Ai-Da’s robotic head may still be separate from her body, but her movements are very alive. Cameras in each of her eyeballs recognize human body parts. Ai-Da will make eye contact and follow you around the room, opening and closing her mouth as you do. If you get too close, the robot will back away, closing and then opening her eyes as if in shock.

The specialists are using the company’s Mesmer lifelike robot technology to create her head. Once finished, Ai-Da will have a mixed-race appearance, with long dark hair and manmade skin. The teeth and skin inside her mouth will come from a 3-D printer. Marcus Hold works at Engineered Arts. He said Mesmer “brings together the development of software mechanics and electronics to produce a lifelike face with lifelike gestures in a small human sized package.”

Ai-Da will make her first public appearance at an exhibition called “Unsecured Futures” at the University of Oxford. Some of her pictures are expected to appear at another show in London later this year.

【推荐3】A new officer with the Huntington Park Police patrols (巡逻) local parks 24 hours a day seven days a week.He doesn't need rest,coffee breaks,a salary or medical insurance,and that is because it is a Robocop.

The main function of the Robocop is to scan and film the surroundings.Besides cameras with night vision that report 360 degrees,it also has a distress button which is located here,so if somebody is to need assistance or they want to contact the communication center,they can do it by way of that distress button.There are people that are monitoring on the other end.

This newest police employee is self-charging.It's easy to program it and make changes to the software if necessary.Its maintenance (维护) costs are roughly 75 thousand dollars a year.It travels the entire park.It is a programmed path,but the police are able to change the path and adapt it.

The Robocop can record the license plates (车牌) of passing cars and check them against an online database of stolen cars.It can also help locate a lost iPhone because it is able to determine a smartphone's MAC address.The police can see from the robot if something wrong happens and then come and figure it out.

The Robocop can't replace its human handlers.The whole goal is to give police more time to do things machines can't do.The police have been having some concerns about safety of the parks and want an extra set of eyes that will help patrol a 24/7.Robocop's creators believe this model known as K5 is best used for providing security at public places like hospitals, parking lots,parks and airports.So far,it seems to be working out just fine.

【推荐2】After a lot of local and state warnings, research and bans of hoverboards (平衡车), the federal government issued a statement on Wednesday. The message: Many of the machines are a major fire risk.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the recall (召回) of more than a half-million hoverboards.The safety commission said that the battery-powered machines had been the cause of at least 60 fires. The announcement affects 10 companies that make or sell the products, including Razor and Swagway, two of the leading manufacturers.

Hoverboards, which do not actually hover or fly, have been the subject of regulatory examination in recent years. Officials have banned them from airplanes and sidewalks, and the safety commission carried out research last fall because of reports of fires and explosions.

The risk of fires from the machine's electrical system and battery(电池) pack has attracted the most attention from the safety commission, which says it will now turn its focus toward the risk of falls and other accidents. The agency is worried that flaws (缺陷) in the board's design could lead riders to lose their balance.

There is no federal safety standard specific to hoverboards. Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a standards-setting and testing organization, came up with voluntary electrical requirements for self-balancing hoverboards as a result of the safety commission's research, said Elliot F. Kaye, the chairman of the CPSC.

He required consumers to return any hoverboard that did not reach the standards set by the company. However, part of the problem, he explained, was that many hoverboards had been sold by temporary stands such as those in malls or college campuses — fly-by-night sellers that can be harder to track down or get in touch with. “That is a deeply frustrating aspect of it,” Mr. Kaye said. “Somebody can just put up a stand, order some products, disappear, and there's nobody there to take responsibility when things go wrong.”

【推荐3】Language is part of our daily lives, no matter where we live in the world. Similarly, music is a part of many people’s lives. Both language and music play a huge role in our culture and here are some of their similarities.

◆Both language and music have a writing system. In English we record language using the alphabet, which is a collection of letters. Similarly, we use notes to keep a record of music. Just as you are reading this collection of letters and find meaning in it, musicians read notes and create meaning in the form of music which we can hear. So just as you read English, you can read music. By writing pieces of text or music, we are able to share experiences through time. I can read or hear the ideas of someone who lived hundreds of years ago, which is really quite exciting.

◆Both vary with culture. You can make a good guess at where someone is from by listening to the language they use. In the same way, we know that styles of music are different around the world, giving us the opportunity to explore many different cultures through their music and providing us with music for every situation.

◆Both share feelings. You can know that I am angry through my words. Similarly, music can sound angry, sad or happy. Music can show you exactly how the composer was or is feeling, and allows us to share that feeling. When you feel happy, you may want to sing and dance to a happy song to celebrate your happiness, while you probably want to listen to sad music when you are feeling down. I think we have all used music to express our feelings.