Robot stocks drinks at the corner store

A small robot, with a clip-like hand and enough smarts to know which drinks are popular, is part of an effort to make convenience stores even more convenient.

Recently, the robot named TX SCARA slid back and forth behind the refrigerated shelves in the back of a FamilyMart store, Tokyo.

The hand on the end of its mechanical arm can grasp a bottle or can from the stacks to the side and place it on the spot chosen after its artificial intelligence and tiny cameras matched the kind of beverage to what’s running short.

TX SCARA is filling a needed role in Japan’s “conbini,” as the ubiquitous tiny stores selling snacks, drinks and knick-knacks are called. Most such stores are open 24-seven, but have relatively few workers. And the beverage space is refrigerated, uncomfortably cold for people to stay there too many hours.

TX SCARA can restock up to 1,000 bottles and cans a day. Its artificial intelligence, called “GORDON,” knows when and where products need to be placed on shelves, according to Tokyo-based Telexistence, which created TX SCARA.

Detroit giant slide reopens for the brave

A giant slide in Detroit reopened to people willing to see if its modified surface was a bit tamer, days after video went viral of riders getting bounced around on the bumpy ramp.

The Department of Natural Resources scrubbed the surface at Belle Isle state park, sprayed water and advised riders to lean forward in their burlap sack. Indeed, some people found the slide more comfortable than it had been.

An exoplanet 100 light years from Earth discovered

A team of researchers have discovered an exoplanet about 100 light years away from Earth in the Draco constellation.

The exoplanet, called TOI-1452b, is slightly larger than the Earth and is located in a “Goldilocks zone,” where temperatures are neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist. Astronomers think TOI-1452b could be covered in an ocean.

University of Montreal researcher Dr Charles Cadieux led the international team in the discovery and their research was published in the Astronomical Journal.

The exoplanet orbits a much smaller star that our sun and is probably rocky like the Earth, but with a different mass, radius and density. It’s also possible that TOI-1452b is not an ocean planet and could also be a bare-rock planet with iron content, or a terrestrial planet with a thin, low molecular weight atmosphere.

Penguin fitted with orthopaedic footwear

A member of the San Diego Zoo’s African penguin colony has been fitted with orthopaedic footwear to help it deal with a degenerative foot condition.

The four-year-old penguin named Lucas has lesions on his feet due to a chronic condition known as bumble foot, which covers a range of avian foot problems, the San Diego Wildlife Alliance said in a press release.

If left untreated, bumble foot could lead to sepsis and death by infection. The zoo’s wildlife care specialists turned to an organisation called Thera-Paw to create custom shoes made of neoprene and rubber to prevent pressure sores from developing when Lucas stands and walks.

Published in Dawn, Young World, September 10th, 2022