Etcetra

How things work
Humanoid Robots

In the latest Rajinikanth flick Robot, the Tamil superstar plays an Android robot called Chitti which looks, walks and talks like a human being (Rajinikanth to be precise). Chitti also dances, falls in love and eventually hopes to, ahem, procreate with the lissome Aishwarya Rai to spawn a new species called Robo Sapiens. In reality, robots are far away from achieving such a feat, but scientists in Italy created a humanoid robot which taught itself how to use a bow and arrow. The humanoid called iCub took eight turns before it hit the bull's eye.

Humanoid dawn
A humanoid is a robot with its overall appearance based on that of the human body, allowing interaction with made-for-human tools or environment. Androids take it a step further by aesthetically resembling a human.

Nuts and bolts
Among the features of a humanoid robot are self-maintenance (minor repair, recharging), ability to learn and adapt to environment and interacting with human beings. Broadly speaking, humanoid robots use sensors and actuators to achieve human-like behaviour. Topio, a 188 cm, 120 kg heavy robot developed by Vietnamese firm Tosy, can play ping pong.

Quirky
The Bandelier Man

Time is not on Lalit Modi's side, both metaphorically and literally. Following Tharoorgate, the former IPL commissioner has been booted out from his official post as the IPL boss, and is now entangled with the BCCI in a messy legal battle. The latest pie in the face for Modi came from BCCI President Shashank Manohar, who wants to know what Modi did with a bunch of luxury watches.

According to the BCCI, Modi made away with 24 Bandelier luxury watches (the official IPL watch) that were priced between Rs 45,000 and Rs 200,000. The BCCI has claimed that it has e-mails from the Swiss watchmaker to substantiate the allegation. Looks like this is one score Modi might find it tough to keep up with.

Just wondering
A Policy in Rehab

Whatever happened to the Union government's intention to reintroduce the National Relief and Rehabilitation (R&R) Bill in Parliament? The UPA government had kicked off an overhaul of the existing laws in 2007 after the controversy over Tata's Nano project in Singur. A UPA Group of Ministers had studied the more-than-100-year-old governing legislations and prepared an R&R policy that defined the rights of those affected by a project and the duties of those displacing them.

The UPA had also introduced two Bills for amendments to the Land Acquisition Act, incorporating the proposals in Parliament during the Winter Session of 2007. Unfortunately, the Bills lapsed in the Rajya Sabha with the dissolution of the 14th Lok Sabha in 2009. Last heard a proposal for the R&R Bill 2010 - a change of merely one digit from 2009 to 2010 in the Bill that lapsed - has been shuttling between the Cabinet Secretariat and the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs.

Snoot Corner
"Baby Mama Jets"

Rapper Kanye West calls them "baby mama jets", but the rest of the mobile world refers to them as private jets. Or depending on who is sipping the champagne, a corporate jet. The Big Bird among private jets is the Gulfstream G550. With a price tag of almost $60 million, this jet has two Rolls Royce engines and can travel over 6,700 nautical miles. Cannot afford a Gulfstream? Do not despair.

You could pick a Boeing Business Jet 2 (stripped down version priced at $55 million), a Bombardier Global Express XRS ($47.7 million) or a Dassault Falcon 7X ($41 million). If even these sound overpriced, then there is always business class in any international airline - the air hostess will tuck you in.