【推荐1】A Japanese telecom company has designed a robot that it says has emotions (情绪). But rather than run in fear from it, we’ve welcomed it into our homes: Pepper, the “emotional robots” sold out within a minute of going on sale.

Created by Aldebaran Robotics and Japanese mobile giant SoftBaok, Pepper went on sale to the general public in Japan on June 20. It is “the first humanoid (类人的) robot designed to live with humans,” Aldebaran says on its website. Pepper costs about $ 1,600. And like all good mobile products, there’s a $ 120 per month data fee, as well as an $80 per month damage insurance fee. According to a news report, Pepper can pick up on human emotions and create his own using a “multi-layer neural (神经的) network.” Pepper’s touch sensors and cameras are said to influence its mood, which is displayed on the tablet-sized screen on its chest.

Pepper will sigh when unhappy, and can go around your house recording your family’s daily activity. Aldebaran says Pepper can feel “joy, surprise, anger, doubt and sadness,” but it doesn’t say how strongly it can feel these emotions. What happens when Pepper is having a bad day? Will it, like many humans, become uncooperative? Will it ask for some time alone? What happens if it knows that its purpose in life is just to take part in small talk? Thankfully, Pepper is only about four feet tall, with roller balls instead of legs, so if it is angry with and even turns on its owners, you’ll be safe if you can make it upstairs.

Aldebaran says in reality, they’re probably quite a few years away from artificial intelligence that could create real emotions. Aldebaran wasn’t immediately able to tell when Pepper will be available out of Japan, but additional sales are scheduled for July after the first 1,000 units sell out. SoftBank currently uses the robots in its stores as greeters, and it plans to offer Pepper to other stores in the future. Hopefully “boredom” is not an emotion Pepper can feel.

【推荐2】Don’t you think robots are a part of your life? In factories, robots put together everything from toys to cars. Some homes have robots that sweep floors or mow the lawn(剪草坪). And more robots are soon to come.

	Like a Human Robots don’t expect any thanks for all the work they do for us. After all, they don’t have feelings. But that may be changing with Nexi, a robot created by scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Nexi can move its face to show anger, happiness, or sadness. It can also raise its eyebrows to show surprise.
	24 How would you like a robot to help clean up your toys, or one that plays hide-and-seek with you? Nao can be programmed to do both those activities, and more. A two- foot-tall robot, Nao was designed by a company in France to be a helper and companion. It can talk, walk and even remember faces, voices, and places. Also, it can be programmed to assist with daily tasks, such as checking e-mails.
	Robots at Work Need a lift out of bed? RIBA, short for “Robot for Interactive Body Assistance”, will lend its helpful arms! Some patients at hospitals and nursing homes have a hard time getting in and out of bed. RIBA can gently lift a patient out of bed and help him or her into a wheelchair. The robot can safely pick up and carry people weighing 135 pounds.
	Water Bots Robots that work in water—and look like familiar sea creatures—are making news lately. One of them is a robotic fish. Researchers built the robo-fish to swim in water to detect pollution. There’s even a robotic penguin called the AP, which uses flippers(鱼鳍) to paddle and can move in all directions.

Experts predict that by 2025 we could have robots in every household! You might be living or working with one of them every day!

【推荐3】The Intelligent Transport team at Newcastle University have turned an electric car into a mobile laboratory named “Drive LAB” in order to understand the challenges faced by older drivers and to discover where the key stress points are.

Research shows that giving up driving is one of the key reasons for a fall in health and well-being among older people, leading to them becoming more isolated and inactive.

Led by Professor Phil Blythe, the Newcastle team are developing in-vehicle technologies for older drivers which they hope could help them to continue driving into later life.

These include custom-made navigation (导航) tools, night vision systems and intelligent speed adaptations. Phil Blythe explains: “For many older people, particularly those living alone or in the country driving is important for keeping their independence, giving them the freedom to get out and about without having to rely on others.”

“But we all have to accept that as we get older our reactions slow down and this often results in people avoiding any potentially challenging driving conditions and losing confidence in their driving skills. The result is that people stop driving before they really need to.”

Dr Amy Guo, the leading researcher on the older driver study, explains, “The Drive LAB is helping us to understand what the key stress points and difficulties are for older drivers and how we might use technology to solve these problems.”

“For example, most of us would expect older drivers always go slower than everyone else but surprisingly, we found that in 30mph zones they struggled to keep at a constant speed and so were more likely to break the speed limit and be at risk of getting fined. We’re looking at the benefits of systems which control their speed as a way of preventing that.”

“We hope that our work will help with technological solutions to ensure that older drivers stay safer behind the wheel.”