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SpaceX lands rocket at sea for first time
A private company succeeded Friday in landing a rocket upright at sea for the first time in history.
SpaceX, which handles cargo launches for the International Space Station, said on its Twitter feed that the first stage of a Falcon 9 rocket that had lifted the Dragon cargo capsule to orbit had landed on a floating barge.
The company posted a video of the landing on its Twitter feed.
President Obama congratulated SpaceX in a message posted to his official Twitter feed, as did NASA.
Tech company video shows “Atlas” robot walk, respond to provocation
A Massachusetts-based company released a video Wednesday that shows a bipedal robot walking out of its office and through the snow, attempting to pick up a package, and continuing to function after being subjected to a variety of abuses and provocations by an employee.
The video shows a robot named Atlas, built by Boston Dynamics, Inc.
According to the firm’s website, Atlas can climb and also “pick its way through congested spaces” with mechanical hands and feet.
In an interview with IEEE spectrum, Boston Dynamics, Inc.’s founder said that Atlas’ legs were built with the assistance of 3D printers.
Marc Raibert, who is also the company’s president, also said that Atlas represents another step in a quest to “make robots that have mobility, dexterity, perception and intelligence comparable to humans and animals, or perhaps exceeding them.”
Boston Dynamics, Inc. is a subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc., which is the holding company that includes Google.