sciencehabit quotes a report from Science Magazine: Researchers have created the first completely soft-bodied robot, dubbed the ‘octobot.’ The palm-sized machine’s exterior is made of silicone. And whereas other soft robots have had at least a few hard parts, such as batteries or wires, the octobot uses a small reservoir of hydrogen peroxide as fuel. The basic design can be scaled up or down, increasing or decreasing fuel capacity depending on the robot’s job. As the field of soft robotics advances, the scientists envision these robots being used for marine search and rescue, oceanic temperature sensing, and military surveillance. The report adds: “When the hydrogen peroxide washes over flecks of platinum embedded within the octobot, the resulting chemical reaction produces gas that inflates and flexes the robot’s arms. As described online today in Nature, the gas flows through a series of 3D-printed pneumatic chambers that link the octobot’s eight arms; their flexing propels it through water.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – ‘Octobot’ Is The World’s First Soft-Bodied Robot

An anonymous reader writes from a report via Gizmodo: “Two Harvard undergraduates have created a service called Legalist that uses what they call ‘data-backed litigation financing,’ analyzing civil lawsuits with an algorithm to predict case outcomes and determine which civil lawsuits are worth investing in,” reports Gizmodo. The process is very similar to what billionaire Peter Thiel did when he secretly funded a lawsuit from Hulk Hogan against Gawker Media. “Legalist says it uses an algorithm of 58 different variables including, as [Legalist cofounder] Eva Shang told the Silicon Valley Business Journal, who the presiding judge is and the number of cases the judge is currently working on. The algorithm has been fed cases dating back to 1989 and helps people figure out how long a case will last and the risks associated with it. In a presentation at Y Combinator’s Demo Day on Tuesday [Legalist was developed as part of Y Combinator’s Summer 2016 class], the founders claimed that the startup funded one lawsuit for $75,000 and expects a return of more than $1 million. Shang says the $1.40 is earned for every $1 spent in litigation financing, which can prove to be a profitable enterprise when you’re spending hundreds of thousands of dollars.” Shang told Business Insider in reference to the Gawker lawsuit, “That’s the kind of thing we’re staying away from here.” The company will supposedly be focusing on commercial and small-business lawsuits, and will not be backing lawsuits by individuals.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – ‘Legalist’ Startup Automates The Lawsuit Strategy Peter Thiel Used To Bankrupt Gawker

An anonymous reader quotes a report from VentureBeat: YouTube is developing a feature internally called Backstage where users can share photos, polls, links, text posts, and videos with their subscribers. Backstage is expected to launch by the end of the year, possibly this fall, on mobile and desktop, initially with select popular YouTube accounts and with limited features, VentureBeat has learned. Akin to a Facebook Timeline or Twitter profile, Backstage will live alongside the Home and Videos tabs within individual YouTube channels. Posts shared to Backstage will appear in reverse chronological order, and, crucially, will also appear in subscribers’ feeds and notifications, making them highly visible to fans. While Backstage is expected to introduce entirely new types of content to YouTube, including tweet-like text posts and topical polls, it also presents new opportunities for video sharing. Backstage will eventually enable users to share both traditional YouTube videos and Backstage-only videos, possibly creating an opportunity for more intimate, or even ephemeral, video sharing between YouTubers and their fans.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – YouTube Plans To Bring Photos, Polls, and Text To Its Video Service

Not too long after it completed its first test flight, the Airlander 10 — the world’s largest aircraft — has crashed its second test flight. Since the 300-foot long aircraft contains 38,000 cubic meters of helium inside its hull, the crash was all but sudden. You can see in a video posted to YouTube from witnesses on the ground that the aircraft slowly descended to the ground, nose first. The BBC has published some close-up photos of the cockpit, which sustained damages. There were no injuries in the crash, according to a tweet from Hybrid Air Vehicles. The company did also deny eyewitness reports of the aircraft being damaged in a collision with a telegraph pole.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot – World’s Largest Aircraft Crashes Its Second Flight