Nerds and geeks can breathe a sigh of relief: The world's first life-size robotic girlfriend is finally here.
Complete with artificial intelligence and flesh-like synthetic skin, ROXXXY the sex robot was introduced to the world at the AVN Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas.
"She can't vacuum, she can't cook but she can do almost anything else if you know what I mean," Douglas Hines, the president of ROXXXY manufacturer TrueCompanion, told the AFP. "She's a companion. She has a personality. She hears you. She listens to you. She speaks. She feels your touch. She goes to sleep. We are trying to replicate a personality of a person."
The Roxxxy is 5 feet, 7 inches tall, 120lbs, and "has a full C cup and is ready for action," according to Mr Hines, who was an artificial intelligence engineer at Bell Labs before starting TrueCompanion.
The anatomically-correct robot has an articulated skeleton that can move like a person but can't walk or independently move its limbs. Robotic movement is built into "the three inputs" and a mechanical heart that powers a liquid cooling system.
TrueCompanion has been developing ROXXXY for nearly two decades, according the company's Web site. In 1993, Douglas Hines designed "Trudy," his first sex robot that the inventor admits was not as "user friendly" as the current model. It was during his work at Bell that Hines learned the latest artificial intelligence systems, which assisted him in the development of the robot.
The AVN Adult Entertainment Exposition takes place annually in Sin City, side-by-side with the Consumer Electronics Show. As technology fans convene on Las Vegas for the gadgetfest, they're also given the opportunity to visit AVN for a dose of the content that drives is often assumed to drive technology adoption.
Denmark and Germany signed up last week for the construction of a $8.1 billion (€5.6 billion) road and rail bridge by 2018. This 19 kilometres (12 mi) long bridge will connect the German island of Fehmarn with the Danish island of Lolland across the Fehmarn Strait in the western Baltic Sea .
The bridge should replace the ferry services and air traffic between the two countries. Sea traffic will be possible underneath the bridge as the vertical clearance will be of 65 m (213 ft).
It will be a cable-stayed bridge with three 724 metres (2,375 ft) long spans, and four pillars about 280 metres (919 ft) tall. It will allow four road lanes and two rail tracks.
The project is comparable to the Øresund Bridge, the Great Belt Bridge or plans for the Strait of Messina Bridge and will be the largest planned infrastructure project in Northern Europe. The route is the main connection between Hamburg, (Hamburg Metropolitan Region), and Copenhagen/Malmö, (Øresund Region); (in German: Vogelfluglinie, in Danish: fugleflugtslinjen) as well as further destinations in Scandinavia. (Wikipedia)
From the total $8.1 billion (€5.6 billion), Denmark will pay €4.8 billion. Germany will only have to pay for the connexion between the bridge and its existing transport infrastructure. Denmark expects to be reimbursed for its expenses through user tolls.
Of course the bridge is very expensive, and Denmark will be transformed into a transit country for neighbouring (Norway and Sweden) exports to Germany.
In Germany, Leif Miller, the head of environmentalist group Nabu, said:
This insane project, which will cost billions, is risky from a global warming perspective and when it comes to protecting the environment and different species. We will stop the construction with all legal means available.
However in Denmark, where the construction of the bridge has been discussed for more than 20 years, some people see it another way:
It means a reduction in emissions of among other things CO2 (carbon dioxide) compared to if ferry traffic between Roedby and Puttgarden continued.
The Bridge of the Horns, if it really gets built, will be one of the great engineering feats of this century. The will link Yemen (Middle East) to the Island of Perim in the Red Sea and on to Djibouti (Africa) and “write a new chapter in the history of humanity”. The Red Sea is one of the busiest and most important seaways in the world and the construction as well as the service of the bridge will have to allow this heavy transit. The bridge will also allow much greater speed of transit and more cargo and people to be transported from one point to another.
It will be a 28.5 km (17.8 miles) long cable-stayed bridge. The suspension portion of the bridge will be the longest in the world. There will be six lanes of vehicle roadway and 4 rail lines, allowing 100′000 cars and 50′000 rail riders to cross the bridge every day.
Construction should begin in 2009. However, some issues concerning the tax-free metropolises (Al-Noor City) one both ends of the bridge first need to be solved. The first phase will consist of a “signature bridge” spanning from Yemen to the island. The second phase will extend the bridge to Africa.
By 2025 Noor City will have 2.5 millon people and its twin in Yemen will have 4.5 million citizens. An airport serving both cities is expected to attract 100 million passengers per year.
The bridge is part of a large project from Noor City Development Corporation (NCDC) and Middle East Development, from Dubai.
Al-Noor City
Al-Noor City will be a globally integrated city that will supposedly be ”a truly humanitarian effort”
The following is from NCDC:
The project’s goal is:
* Relieving poverty * Creating equitable standards of living * Satisfying basic needs of its inhabitants * Establishing sustainable political practices * Avoiding irreversible damages to nature * Reconciling development with regenerative capacity of natural environment
“AL-Noor City” will be unprecedented in size and sophistication, driven by a logistics infrastructure to be serviced by air, sea, rail, road and communications. The city is to provide global, physical and virtual connectivity around the world, as well as optimum efficiency for these sectors/markets among them in order to integrate and create an added value nexus:
A Knowledge Hub
A campus to leverage Al cities’ high educational competence to develop the provision of knowledge, learning and research, whilst capturing and maintaining high-caliber talent. It will include:
* Foundation centers (R&D) * Higher education campuses * College and vocational training facilities * Medical and health centers and facilities * Townships of knowledge
These facilities are overlaid within the logistics infrastructure that enables business to receive global supplies, manufacture and then export. It supports and enhances businesses competing within the global marketplace that recognize they have no choice but to respond where there is a demonstrable improvement in efficiencies and profitability. It will include:
* Seaport * Port city * Business center * Industrial center * Industrial park * Logistic city * Airport and aviation city
A Tourism and Leisure Center
This center will enhance Al cities’ attractiveness and draw tourists throughout the year to undeveloped parts of the Mediterranean edge. It will include:
* Resort hotels * Maritime museum * Entertainment * Art city * Institutional zone * City center
It is also essential that the proposed program initially address the laws and policies so that appropriate legal drafting can be introduced to propose required changes to the relevant and applicable laws of the city to make the above aspirations to become a reality.
More Info
Noor City Development Corporation: http://www.ncdcme.com Al Noor Cities Project: http://www.alnoorcities.com/
