mem·o·ry·less·ness

She has an expressive, alabaster face, a delicate touch — and two wheels where her feet should be.

She is Octavia, a brand new robot designed to improve interactions with humans. And at the annual Fleet Week in New York City, the Navy is bringing its débutante out of the lab.

Just don’t ask her to dance.

My friend Kailas’s robot (sure, it’s the Navy’s robot now, but they bought it from Kailas’s company, Xitome Design) is in the news again.

Kailas Narendran, a friend of mine from high school, is one of the founders of a company called Myomo that was recently profiled in the New York Times. They have developed a joint brace that helps patients with limited mobility in their arms regain some of that mobility.

“The device is designed to help get patients over a functional hump - so they can start moving the weakened arm again, said John McBean, a mechanical engineer who developed the technology with Kailas Narendran, an electrical engineer and computer scientist. (The two began the project in 2002, in a graduate robotics class at M.I.T.)”

This is amazing work and I’m glad to know someone who’s involved in it.

(read the whole article)