Is Las Vegas ready for the attack of RoboJacko?

You can't make this stuff up: Michael Jackson reportedly wants to build a 50-foot robotic replica of himself to stand in the desert near Las Vegas, if he goes ahead with a long-running show there.

"It would be in the desert sands," a guy called Mike Luckman is telling anyone who'll listen. He runs a show-biz consulting company and has evidently been working with Jacko on this. "Laser beams would shoot out of it so it would be the first thing people flying would see. Neon is wonderful, but it's old school."

Really, why would anyone choose to live any place other than Las Vegas? A 50-foot Michael Jackson robot. With laser eyes. Truly, life is good in our wonderful age.

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Military to use bomb-sniffing robots

As it increases its use of robots in war zones, the military will begin using a explosive-sniffing version that will allow soldiers to better detect roadside bombs, which account for more than 70 percent of U.S. casualties in Iraq .

There are nearly 5,000 robots in Iraq and Afghanistan , up from about 150 in 2004. Soldiers use them to search caves and buildings for insurgents, detect mines and ferret out roadside and car bombs.

Foster-Miller Inc., of Waltham, Mass., recently delivered 1,000 new robots to the military. IRobot cranked out 385 robots last year, up from 252 in 2005.

Fido, produced at a GEM City Manufacturing and Engineering plant, represents an improvement in bomb-detecting military robots, said Col. Terry Griffin, project manager of the Army/Marine Corps Robotic Systems Joint Project Office at Redstone Arsenal, Ala.

Metal-free motor makes robotic biopsies safe for use with MRI

Engineers at the Johns Hopkins Urology Robotics Lab have developed a motor without metal or electricity that can safely power remote-controlled robotic surgical tools used for cancer biopsies and therapies guided by magnetic resonance imaging. The motor that drives the devices can be so precisely controlled by computer that movements are steadier and more precise than a human hand.

The motor is constructed of nonmagnetic and dielectric materials such as plastics, ceramics, and rubbers and is electricity free. It is driven by compressed air and fibre optic technology is used for communications, so that all electric components are located away from the MRI scanner. Six of the motors are used in a surgical robot designed to carry out precise MRI-guided surgical procedures

Casper College plans to offer degree in robotics

Students in the program will be able to earn an associate of applied science in what college officials say is a growing technical field.Students will take classes in drafting, welding and machine tools, C++ programming and motion control, according to Megan Graham, an electronics instructor at Casper College and one of the school's coordinators for the US FIRST Robotics competition."We'll be forming an advisory committee with industry partners to help guide the program," Graham said. .

Young robot designers garner praise from city

It started with a kit of parts — a battery, some electronics, sensors and a chassis — and a desire to build a robot.

With the help of a NASA grant, a few engineers and a lot of will power, 60 students from San Leandro High and Chinese Christian schools participated in a six-week regional engineering project that for most of them was an eye-opening experience.

"When we started, they didn't know the difference between a slot and a Phillips head (screwdriver)," said Joni Carlson, adviser to the Chinese Christian School robotics team. "And those kids built this robot."

The robotics teams from both schools recently came back from participating in the FIRST Robotics Competition, an annual challenge designed to help high school students discover the world of engineering.