Tech Universe: Tuesday 11 January

A team in Japan are teaching robots to use objects in their environment, rather than always avoiding them. Photo / Thinkstock

ROBOT PARKOUR: Knocked a pen off your desk? You'll probably lean on the table to support yourself as you bend down to pick it up. A team in Japan are teaching robots to mimic this behaviour - to use objects in their environment, rather than always avoiding them. The robot must first identify objects around it and then calculate how those objects could best be used. They may not yet be able to leap buildings in a single bound, but keep an eye on this. More at NewScientist.

PAY ATTENTION, WILL ROBINSON: In Daegu, South Korea, 21 elementary schools are using robots to teach English to kids. The robots speak to the students, read them books and dance to music while moving their head and arms. The robots display an avatar of a Caucasian woman's face, but that face reflects the expressions of Filipino teachers who are remotely controlling the robots. The new face of distance education. Details at DiscoveryNews.

PIP THE PAIN: The Implantable Neuro Sensing and Stimulation chip is a medical device about the size of the head of a match. Implanted in the spinal cord, it measures the properties of nerves carrying pain signals to the brain and can block pain signals with electric pulses. Imagine that in the wrong hands! More at ZDNet.

IPHONE RESERVATIONS: English has 26 letters in its alphabet, the Cherokee language 85. Tribal leaders worked with Apple to put Cherokee on the iPhone, hoping this will encourage young people to use the language. There are only 8,000 speakers of the language out of 250,000 Cherokee. The onscreen keyboard must be really crowded. Details at NPR and video on YouTube.

FREE KNOWLEDGE ISN'T CHEAP: What did we do before Wikipedia? The free online encyclopedia's recent fundraising drive raised $16 million from 500,000 users to cover operational costs for another year. Twice as many people donated twice as much money in total as in the 2009 drive. Brittaniwho? More at ArsTechnica.

- Miraz Jordan knowit.co.nz