[extropy-chat] San Francisco NextFest this weekend

[BillK]

Sounds like west coast extropians will enjoy what's on display at
NextFest in San Francisco this weekend.
Admission to the NextFest and the ASIMO exhibition is $15 for adults,
free for children under 12.

<http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/05/14/BUGKK6L0LF1.DTL>

READY to meet ASIMO? The world's most advanced humanoid robot swings
into town this weekend for an appearance at the WIRED NextFest in San
Francisco. Dubbed ASIMO, which stands for Advanced Step in Innovative
Mobility, the robot created by Honda will perform a 25-minute
demonstration of its ability to talk, turn, dance and climb stairs.
Demonstrations are Saturday and Sunday at 10 a.m., 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. at
the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason Center, Buchanan Street and Marina
Boulevard.

The exhibits include the Moller Skycar, a four-passenger vehicle from
Moller International of Davis. The Jetsons-style craft is small enough
to drive on the ground, but can take off vertically and fly as fast as
380 mph.

Then there's a "transparent cloak,'' technology from the Tachi Lab at
the University of Tokyo that seems straight out of a Harry Potter book.
The raincoat-like cloak is made out of "retro-reflective'' material
covered with tiny beads that reflect light back in the same direction it
came. The cloak is designed to make whatever it is covering, a body or
object, appear transparent by projecting video shot with a camera from
behind the cloak onto the front of the cloak.

A company called IRobot, best known for a robotic vacuum cleaner called
the Roomba, will demonstrate other robots being used by the military in
Iraq and Afghanistan. And NASA will have moon rocks and a Mars Rover
replica on display.

For fun and games, there's Brainball, which is best described as an
anti- game, because the goal is to achieve nothing.
Developed by Sweden's Interactive Institute, Brainball players wear
headbands with biosensors that measure brain waves. The brain activity
is then transmitted by wire to a special game table to control a small
ball. The object of the game is to move the ball into an opponent's goal
area, but the more relaxed a player is, the more he or she controls the
ball.

BillK