Robots inside this sci-fi restaurant are made of recycled car parts, vacuums, and makeup boxes — you can even take one home for $5,300

Kate Duffy
Dec 18, 2021

Two robots made out of recycled materials in Robotazia restaurant. Kate Duffy/Insider

I went to a restaurant where I was surrounded by nearly 40 robots made out of recycled materials.

One was made entirely out of Dyson vacuum cleaners, others were built with car and motorbike parts.

Swannell said a recycled replica of "Iron Man" was on sale for around $5,300.

Robotazia restaurant has more than 40 different robots — some were built by co-owners Mark Swannell and Joy Gittens, and others were collected from different places across the UK.

The exterior of Robotazia in Milton Keynes, England Kate Duffy/Insider


Robots of all shapes and sizes were dotted around the restaurant, while four talking robots delivered food to customers sat at tables.

Robotazia restaurant. Kate Duffy/Insider

When I was sat at a table, Sparky the robot rolled over to say hello. Swannell said he made Sparky from scraps of metal and plastic.

"Sparky" the robot inside Robotazia Kate Duffy/Insider


Optimus Prime, who was made out of salvaged car and motorbike parts, used to stand outside a store in London before the restaurant adopted it, Swannell said.

Optimus Prime robot in Robotazia. Kate Duffy/Insider

Near the door stood Iron Man. Swannell said that the restaurant was selling the huge recycled replica for around £4,000 ($5,300).

A replica of Iron Man in Robotazia. Kate Duffy/Insider

Co-owner Joy Gittens told Insider how she collected around 800 Yves Saint Lauren makeup boxes for Swannell to make "Yslabelle."

"

Yslabelle" at Robotazia. Kate Duffy/Insider

Meet "Mike Dyson," who was made entirely out of recycled Dyson vacuum cleaners. 

At three metres tall, it's the biggest robot in the restaurant.

"Mike Dyson" the boxing robot at Robotazia. Kate Duffy/Insider


After assembling the robot, Swannell painted it red and brown. I thought Mike Dyson was the most impressive robot in the restaurant.

The foot of "Mike Dyson", made out of old vacuum cleaner parts. Kate Duffy/Insider



Adam 1971, made out of recycled waste, had a Star Wars aura. It was one of the smaller robots, standing at 147cm high and weighing 15kg.

Adam 1971, one of the smaller robots in Robotazia. Kate Duffy/Insider


Not far away from Adam was A55A51N. This robot was made from a recycled mannequin and other spare metal parts.

A55A51N at Robotazia. Kate Duffy/Insider



Tagan was one of the bigger robots in the restaurant. It was made from assorted recycled materials, including vacuum cleaners, and car parts.

Tagan is made from assorted recycled materials. Kate Duffy/Insider

This Transformer-like robot, called "Audibot", was mainly made from a children's toy electric car. It also has parts from a pressure washer, a bike and an engine.

"Audibot" on display in Robotazia. Kate Duffy/Insider



Gittens and Swannell found Tronik stored away at an industrial unit. The robot has the ability to turn its head and body, and its eyes light up blue when it's switched on.

Tronik the robot at Robotazia. Kate Duffy/Insider


The restaurant would have also pleased "Doctor Who" fans with its model of the Dalek.

A Dalek in Robotazia. Kate Duffy/Insider

There was even a robot in charge of hand sanitizer — this one was also made from scrap metal pieces and springs.

Hand sanitizer robot inside Robotazia. Kate Duffy/Insider

I was served by talking robots at a sci-fi restaurant. It was fun but the hospitality sector could easily survive without them.

Kate Duffy
Dec 11, 2021

"Amy" and "Sparky" the robots inside Robotazia. Kate Duffy/Insider

Robots are becoming more popular in hospitality and I wanted to see what the hype was about.
I went to a sci-fi restaurant where I was served nachos by chatty, smiling robots.
The robots roll back to battery stations when they need to recharge and cry if you get too close.

I visited "Robotazia," a sci-fi restaurant full of different types of robots, to see what it was like being served by human-like, talking machines.

"Sparky" the robot inside Robotazia Kate Duffy/Insider


Robotazia, based in Milton Keynes, north-west of London, employs 20 staff and four robots, owners Joy Gittens and Mark Swannell told Insider.

Outside of robot restaurant in Milton Keynes Kate Duffy/Insider

The restaurant bought the four server robots, which all look similar to "Ella" pictured below, from Japan.

"Ella" the robot inside Robotazia Kate Duffy/Insider


Apart from the four server robots, all of the other robots in the restaurant were made out of recycled metals and other materials.

Reporter with robot outside Robotazia restaurant Kate Duffy/Insider


I sat in one of the booths where a human server took my order.

Inside Robotazia restaurant Kate Duffy/Insider


The robots have a runway which they roll up and down, delivering food to guests. One side of the booth is blocked off so people don't disrupt the robots' flow.

"Ella" the robot inside Robotazia Kate Duffy/Insider

The first robot that came to say hello was called "Sparky," who was built by Swannell. Although Sparky was friendly and, dare I say it, witty, I preferred chatting to a human.

"Sparky" the robot inside Robotazia Kate Duffy/Insider


After Sparky waved goodbye, "Amy" rolled over to my table to deliver the nachos I ordered.

"Amy" the robot inside Robotazia Kate Duffy/Insider

After I took my bowl of nachos off the tray, Amy told me to touch her hand to let her know when I was finished with her service. She replied "bon appetit" — I was impressed.

"Amy" the robot inside Robotazia Kate Duffy/Insider


Gittens said the robots can turn around and roll off if they detect a lot of metal jewellery on a guest. A tear also appears on their face if a person gets too close to them, she said.

"Amy" the robot inside Robotazia Kate Duffy/Insider



"Josh" smoothly passed down the aisle with food for another table.

Kate Duffy/Insider


The four robots are costly and require maintenance every week, Swannell said, adding that usually, every Tuesday he has to fix or tweak something on them. They're more expensive than hiring human servers, he said.

"Josh" the robot inside Robotazia Kate Duffy/Insider

On one busy Saturday, Gittens said that one of the robots said it needed to "recharge" and returned to the dock to refill its batteries.

"Ella" the robot inside Robotazia Kate Duffy/Insider


Both owners emphasized how the robots are not designed to replace humans and are purely a fun feature of the restaurant. With the hospitality industry increasingly turning to robotics, especially amid the labor shortage, it dawned on me how valuable the human experience is during table service.

Robotazia Kate Duffy/Insider

Overall, being served by chatty, smiling robots was a fun experience. But I wouldn't swap them for human servers!

"Sparky" the robot insider Robotazia Kate Duffy/Insider

Killer Robots Aren’t Science Fiction. A Push to Ban Them Is Growing.

A U.N. conference made little headway this week on limiting development and use of killer robots, prompting stepped-up calls to outlaw such weapons with a new treaty.

A combat robotic vehicle at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in 2008.

Credit...Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency/Carnegie Mellon, via Associated Press

By Adam Satariano, Nick Cumming-Bruce and Rick Gladstone
Dec. 17, 2021

It may have seemed like an obscure United Nations conclave, but a meeting this week in Geneva was followed intently by experts in artificial intelligence, military strategy, disarmament and humanitarian law.

The reason for the interest? Killer robots — drones, guns and bombs that decide on their own, with artificial brains, whether to attack and kill — and what should be done, if anything, to regulate or ban them.

Once the domain of science fiction films like the “Terminator” series and “RoboCop,” killer robots, more technically known as Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems, have been invented and tested at an accelerated pace with little oversight. Some prototypes have even been used in actual conflicts.

The evolution of these machines is considered a potentially seismic event in warfare, akin to the invention of gunpowder and nuclear bombs.

This year, for the first time, a majority of the 125 nations that belong to an agreement called the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, or C.C.W., said they wanted curbs on killer robots. But they were opposed by members that are developing these weapons, most notably the United States and Russia.

The group’s conference concluded on Friday with only a vague statement about considering possible measures acceptable to all. The Campaign to Stop Killer Robots, a disarmament group, said the outcome fell “drastically short.”
What is the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons?

The C.C.W., sometimes known as the Inhumane Weapons Convention, is a framework of rules that ban or restrict weapons considered to cause unnecessary, unjustifiable and indiscriminate suffering, such as incendiary explosives, blinding lasers and booby traps that don’t distinguish between fighters and civilians. The convention has no provisions for killer robots.

The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons meeting in Geneva on Friday.

Credit...Fabrice Coffrini/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

What exactly are killer robots?

Opinions differ on an exact definition, but they are widely considered to be weapons that make decisions with little or no human involvement. Rapid improvements in robotics, artificial intelligence and image recognition are making such armaments possible.

The drones the United States has used extensively in Afghanistan, Iraq and elsewhere are not considered robots because they are operated remotely by people, who choose targets and decide whether to shoot.

Why are they considered attractive?

To war planners, the weapons offer the promise of keeping soldiers out of harm’s way, and making faster decisions than a human would, by giving more battlefield responsibilities to autonomous systems like pilotless drones and driverless tanks that independently decide when to strike.

What are the objections?

Critics argue it is morally repugnant to assign lethal decision-making to machines, regardless of technological sophistication. How does a machine differentiate an adult from a child, a fighter with a bazooka from a civilian with a broom, a hostile combatant from a wounded or surrendering soldier?

“Fundamentally, autonomous weapon systems raise ethical concerns for society about substituting human decisions about life and death with sensor, software and machine processes,” Peter Maurer, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross and an outspoken opponent of killer robots, told the Geneva conference.

In advance of the conference, Human Rights Watch and Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic called for steps toward a legally binding agreement that requires human control at all times.

“Robots lack the compassion, empathy, mercy, and judgment necessary to treat humans humanely, and they cannot understand the inherent worth of human life,” the groups argued in a briefing paper to support their recommendations.



A “Campaign to Stop Killer Robots” protest in Berlin in 2019.

Credit...Annegret Hilse/Reuters

Others said autonomous weapons, rather than reducing the risk of war, could do the opposite — by providing antagonists with ways of inflicting harm that minimize risks to their own soldiers.

“Mass produced killer robots could lower the threshold for war by taking humans out of the kill chain and unleashing machines that could engage a human target without any human at the controls,” said Phil Twyford, New Zealand’s disarmament minister.

Why was the Geneva conference important?

The conference was widely considered by disarmament experts to be the best opportunity so far to devise ways to regulate, if not prohibit, the use of killer robots under the C.C.W.

It was the culmination of years of discussions by a group of experts who had been asked to identify the challenges and possible approaches to reducing the threats from killer robots. But the experts could not even reach agreement on basic questions.
What do opponents of a new treaty say?

Some, like Russia, insist that any decisions on limits must be unanimous — in effect giving opponents a veto.

The United States argues that existing international laws are sufficient and that banning autonomous weapons technology would be premature. The chief U.S. delegate to the conference, Joshua Dorosin, proposed a nonbinding “code of conduct” for use of killer robots — an idea that disarmament advocates dismissed as a delaying tactic.

The American military has invested heavily in artificial intelligence, working with the biggest defense contractors, including Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon and Northrop Grumman. The work has included projects to develop long-range missiles that detect moving targets based on radio frequency, swarm drones that can identify and attack a target, and automated missile-defense systems, according to research by opponents of the weapons systems.


A U.S. Air Force Reaper drone in Afghanistan in 2018. Such unmanned aircraft could be turned into autonomous lethal weapons in the future.

Credit...Shah Marai/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

The complexity and varying uses of artificial intelligence make it more difficult to regulate than nuclear weapons or land mines, said Maaike Verbruggen, an expert on emerging military security technology at the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy in Brussels. She said lack of transparency about what different countries are building has created “fear and concern” among military leaders that they must keep up.

“It’s very hard to get a sense of what another country is doing,” said Ms. Verbruggen, who is working toward a Ph.D. on the topic. “There is a lot of uncertainty and that drives military innovation.”

Franz-Stefan Gady, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, said the “arms race for autonomous weapons systems is already underway and won’t be called off any time soon.”

Is there conflict in the defense establishment about killer robots?

Yes. Even as the technology becomes more advanced, there has been reluctance to use autonomous weapons in combat because of fears of mistakes, said Mr. Gady.

“Can military commanders trust the judgment of autonomous weapon systems? Here the answer at the moment is clearly ‘no’ and will remain so for the near future,” he said.

The debate over autonomous weapons has spilled into Silicon Valley. In 2018, Google said it would not renew a contract with the Pentagon after thousands of its employees signed a letter protesting the company’s work on a program using artificial intelligence to interpret images that could be used to choose drone targets. The company also created new ethical guidelines prohibiting the use of its technology for weapons and surveillance.

Others believe the United States is not going far enough to compete with rivals.

In October, the former chief software officer for the Air Force, Nicolas Chaillan, told the Financial Times that he had resigned because of what he saw as weak technological progress inside the American military, particularly the use of artificial intelligence. He said policymakers are slowed down by questions about ethics, while countries like China press ahead.

Where have autonomous weapons been used?

There are not many verified battlefield examples, but critics point to a few incidents that show the technology’s potential.

In March, United Nations investigators said a “lethal autonomous weapons system” had been used by government-backed forces in Libya against militia fighters. A drone called Kargu-2, made by a Turkish defense contractor, tracked and attacked the fighters as they fled a rocket attack, according to the report, which left unclear whether any human controlled the drones.

In the 2020 war in Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan fought Armenia with attack drones and missiles that loiter in the air until detecting the signal of an assigned target.

An Armenian official showing what are reportedly drones downed during clashes with Azerbaijan forces last year.

Credit...Karen Minasyan/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

What happens now?

Many disarmament advocates said the outcome of the conference had hardened what they described as a resolve to push for a new treaty in the next few years, like those that prohibit land mines and cluster munitions.

Daan Kayser, an autonomous weapons expert at PAX, a Netherlands-based peace advocacy group, said the conference’s failure to agree to even negotiate on killer robots was “a really plain signal that the C.C.W. isn’t up to the job.”

Noel Sharkey, an artificial intelligence expert and chairman of the International Committee for Robot Arms Control, said the meeting had demonstrated that a new treaty was preferable to further C.C.W. deliberations.

“There was a sense of urgency in the room,” he said, that “if there’s no movement, we’re not prepared to stay on this treadmill.”

John Ismay contributed reporting.

Weapons and Artificial Intelligence

Will There Be a Ban on Killer Robots?
Oct. 19, 2018

A.I. Drone May Have Acted on Its Own in Attacking Fighters, U.N. Says
June 3, 2021

The Scientist and the A.I.-Assisted, Remote-Control Killing Machine
Sept. 18, 2021

Adam Satariano is a technology reporter based in London. @satariano

Nick Cumming-Bruce reports from Geneva, covering the United Nations, human rights and international humanitarian organizations. Previously he was the Southeast Asia reporter for The Guardian for 20 years and the Bangkok bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal Asia.

Rick Gladstone is an editor and writer on the International Desk, based in New York. He has worked at The Times since 1997, starting as an editor in the Business section. @rickgladstone

A version of this article appears in print on Dec. 18, 2021, Section A, Page 6 of the New York edition with the headline: Killer Robots Aren’t Science Fiction. Calls to Ban Such Arms Are on the Rise.

Hades Wins A Hugo Award, Making History As First Video Game To Ever Do So

The indie darling and beloved roguelike won in the newly created "Best Video Game" category

By Zack Zwiezen

Image: Supergiant Games

Yesterday, Hades made history by becoming the first video game to ever win a Hugo Award, an annual literary award presented to the best science fiction or fantasy works from the previous year.

Hades was developed by Supergiant Games and released after a period in early access last year. Supergiant Games creative director, Greg Kasvin, tweeted his reaction to Hades winning the historic award, stating that although he wasn’t able to make it to the award ceremony, he was “grateful” that the Hugo Awards are “recognizing work in this category, much less the work we did!”

Hades, developed by Supergiant Games, was a smash hit last year, winning plenty of awards. We even called it one of the best games of 2020. The roguelike was based on Greek mythology and told the story of Hades’ son Zagreus escaping the underworld, after dying a lot.

The other games nominated by the Hugo Awards this year were: Spiritfarer, The Last of Us 2, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Final Fantasy 7 Remake, and Blaseball.

The Hugo Awards are an annual literary award given to various sci-fi and fantasy works at the World Science Fiction Convention every year. Normally, video games aren’t nominated for the award, however, this year a new category was introduced for video games. This follows years of conversations among the governing members behind the prestigious and long-running Hugo Awards. The new category is only, at least for now, a one-off thing, but it could continue in the future.

In recent years, the Hugo Awards have continued to expand beyond traditional literary works and authors. Past new categories added to the prestigious awards include Best Fanzine or Best Fancast, an award honoring great sci-fi and fantasy-focused podcasts and video series. It’s likely that, as gaming becomes more popular and continues to tell bigger, better stories involving sci-fi or fantasy, the Hugo Awards will look to add a more permanent award category for video games.

Parable Of The Sower Wins Hugo Award 2021 For Best Comic

Posted on December 19, 2021 

by Rich Johnston

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Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy,  illustrated by John Jennings and published by Harry N. Abrams has won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story or Comic, beating out nominees Die, Ghost-Spider, Invisible Kingdom, Monstress and Once & Future. Also the Netflix adaptation of the comic book The Old Guard by Greg Rucka, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood won Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. The awards were announced at DisCon III in front of an audience at Omni Shoreham in Washington DC and globally online. The event was hosted by Andrea Hairston and Sheree Renée Thomas. Here is the list of winners followed by nominees.

Parable Of The Sower

Category: Best Novel
Winner:  Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tor.com)

• Black Sun, Rebecca Roanhorse (Gallery / Saga Press / Solaris)
• The City We Became, N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
• Harrow the Ninth, Tamsyn Muir (Tordotcom)
• Network Effect, Martha Wells (Tordotcom)
• Piranesi, Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
• The Relentless Moon, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books / Solaris)

Category: Best Novella
Winner: The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo (Tor.com)

• Come Tumbling Down, Seanan McGuire (Tordotcom)
• The Empress of Salt and Fortune, Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
• Finna, Nino Cipri (Tordotcom)
• Ring Shout, P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom)
• Riot Baby, Tochi Onyebuchi (Tordotcom)
• Upright Women Wanted, Sarah Gailey (Tordotcom)

Category: Best Novelette
Winner:  Two Truths and a Lie, Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com)

• "Burn, or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super", A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny Magazine, May/June 2020)
• "Helicopter Story", Isabel Fall (Clarkesworld, January 2020)
• "The Inaccessibility of Heaven", Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine, July/August 2020)
• "Monster", Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld, January 2020)
• "The Pill", Meg Elison (from Big Girl, (PM Press))
• "Two Truths and a Lie", Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com)

Category: Best Short Story
Winner:  "Metal Like Blood in the Dark", T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2020)

• "Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse", Rae Carson (Uncanny Magazine, January/February 2020)
• "A Guide for Working Breeds", Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, ed. Jonathan Strahan (Solaris))
• "Little Free Library", Naomi Kritzer (Tor.com)
• "The Mermaid Astronaut", Yoon Ha Lee (Beneath Ceaseless Skies, February 2020)
• "Metal Like Blood in the Dark", T. Kingfisher (Uncanny Magazine, September/October 2020)
• "Open House on Haunted Hill", John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots – 2020, ed. David Steffen)

Category: Best Series
Winner:  The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells (Tor.com)

• The Daevabad Trilogy, S.A. Chakraborty (Harper Voyager)
• The Interdependency, John Scalzi (Tor Books)
• The Lady Astronaut Universe, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor Books/Audible/Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction/Solaris)
• The Murderbot Diaries, Martha Wells (Tor.com)
• October Daye, Seanan McGuire (DAW)
• The Poppy War, R.F. Kuang (Harper Voyager)

Category: Best Related Work
Winner:  Beowulf: A New Translation, Maria Dahvana Headley (FSG)

• Beowulf: A New Translation, Maria Dahvana Headley (FSG)
• CoNZealand Fringe, Claire Rousseau, C, Cassie Hart, Adri Joy, Marguerite Kenner, Cheryl Morgan, Alasdair Stuart.
• FIYAHCON, L.D. Lewis–Director, Brent Lambert–Senior Programming Coordinator, Iori Kusano–FIYAHCON Fringe Co-Director, Vida Cruz–FIYAHCON Fringe Co-Director, and the Incredible FIYAHCON team
• "George R.R. Martin Can Fuck Off Into the Sun, Or: The 2020 Hugo Awards Ceremony (Rageblog Edition)", Natalie Luhrs (Pretty Terrible, August 2020)
• A Handful of Earth, A Handful of Sky: The World of Octavia E. Butler, Lynell George (Angel City Press)
• The Last Bronycon: a fandom autopsy, Jenny Nicholson (YouTube)

Category: Best Graphic Story or Comic
Winner:  Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings (Harry N. Abrams)

• DIE, Volume 2: Split the Party, written by Kieron Gillen and Stephanie Hans, letters by Clayton Cowles (Image Comics)
• Ghost-Spider vol. 1: Dog Days Are Over, Author: Seanan McGuire,  Artist: Takeshi Miyazawa and Rosi Kämpe (Marvel)
• Invisible Kingdom, vol 2: Edge of Everything, Author: G. Willow Wilson, Artist: Christian Ward (Dark Horse Comics)
• Monstress, vol. 5: Warchild, Author: Marjorie Liu, Artist: Sana Takeda (Image Comics)
• Once & Future vol. 1: The King Is Undead, written by Kieron Gillen, iIllustrated by Dan Mora, colored by Tamra Bonvillain, lettered by Ed Dukeshire (BOOM! Studios)
• Parable of the Sower: A Graphic Novel Adaptation, written by Octavia Butler, adapted by Damian Duffy, illustrated by John Jennings (Harry N. Abrams)

Category: Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form
Winner:  The Old Guard, written by Greg Rucka, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Netflix / Skydance Media)

• Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), written by Christina Hodson, directed by Cathy Yan (Warner Bros.)
• Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga, written by Will Ferrell, Andrew Steele, directed by David Dobkin (European Broadcasting Union/Netflix)
• The Old Guard, written by Greg Rucka, directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood (Netflix / Skydance Media)
• Palm Springs, written by Andy Siara, directed by Max Barbakow (Limelight / Sun Entertainment Culture / The Lonely Island / Culmination Productions / Neon / Hulu / Amazon Prime)
• Soul, screenplay by Pete Docter, Mike Jones and Kemp Powers, directed by Pete Docter, co-directed by Kemp Powers, produced by Dana Murray (Pixar Animation Studios/ Walt Disney Pictures)
• Tenet, written and directed by Christopher Nolan (Warner Bros./Syncopy)

Category: Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form
Winner:  The Good Place: Whenever You're Ready, written and directed by Michael Schur (Fremulon / 3 Arts Entertainment / Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group)

• Doctor Who: Fugitive of the Judoon, written by Vinay Patel and Chris Chibnall, directed by Nida Manzoor (BBC)
• The Expanse: Gaugamela, written by Dan Nowak, directed by Nick Gomez (Alcon Entertainment / Alcon Television Group / Amazon Studios / Hivemind / Just So)
• She-Ra and the Princesses of Power: Heart (parts 1 and 2), written by Josie Campbell and Noelle Stevenson, directed by Jen Bennett and Kiki Manrique (DreamWorks Animation Television / Netflix)
• The Mandalorian: Chapter 13: The Jedi, written and directed by Dave Filoni (Golem Creations / Lucasfilm / Disney+)
• The Mandalorian: Chapter 16: The Rescue, written by Jon Favreau, directed by Peyton Reed (Golem Creations / Lucasfilm / Disney+)
• The Good Place: Whenever You're Ready, written and directed by Michael Schur (Fremulon / 3 Arts Entertainment / Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group)

Category: Best Editor, Short Form
Winner: Ellen Datlow

• Neil Clarke
• Ellen Datlow
• C.C. Finlay
• Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya
• Jonathan Strahan
• Sheila Williams

Category: Best Editor, Long Form
Winner: Diana M. Pho

• Nivia Evans
• Sheila E. Gilbert
• Sarah Guan
• Brit Hvide
• Diana M. Pho
• Navah Wolfe

Category: Best Professional Artist
Winner: Rovina Cai

• Tommy Arnold
• Rovina Cai
• Galen Dara
• Maurizio Manzieri
• John Picacio
• Alyssa Winans

Category: Best Semiprozine
Winner:  FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, publisher Troy L. Wiggins, executive editor DaVaun Sanders, managing editor Eboni Dunbar, poetry editor Brandon O'Brien, reviews and social media Brent Lambert, art director L. D. Lewis, and the FIYAH Team.

• Beneath Ceaseless Skies, edotor Scott H. Andrews
• Escape Pod, editors Mur Lafferty and S.B. Divya, assistant editor Benjamin C. Kinney, hosts Tina Connolly and Alasdair Stuart, audio producers Summer Brooks and Adam Pracht and the entire Escape Pod team.
• FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction, publisher Troy L. Wiggins, executive editor DaVaun Sanders, managing editor Eboni Dunbar, poetry editor Brandon O'Brien, reviews and social media Brent Lambert,  art director L. D. Lewis, and the FIYAH Team.
• PodCastle, editors, C.L. Clark and Jen R. Albert, assistant editor and host, Setsu Uzumé, producer Peter Adrian Behravesh, and the entire PodCastle team.
• Uncanny Magazine, editors in chief: Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas, managing editor: Chimedum Ohaegbu, non-fiction editor:  Elsa Sjunneson, podcast producers: Erika Ensign and Steven Schapansky
• Strange Horizons, Vanessa Aguirre, Joseph Aitken, Rachel Ayers, M H Ayinde, Tierney Bailey, Scott Beggs, Drew Matthew Beyer, Gautam Bhatia, S. K. Campbell, Zhui Ning Chang, Tania Chen, Joyce Chng, Liz Christman, Linda H. Codega, Kristian Wilson Colyard, Yelena Crane, Bruhad Dave, Sarah Davidson, Tahlia Day, Arinn Dembo, Nathaniel Eakman, Belen Edwards, George Tom Elavathingal, Rebecca Evans, Ciro Faienza, Courtney Floyd, Lila Garrott, Colette Grecco, Guananí Gómez-Van Cortright, Julia Gunnison, Dan Hartland, Sydney Hilton, Angela Hinck, Stephen Ira, Amanda Jean, Ai Jiang, Sean Joyce-Farley, Erika Kanda, Anna Krepinsky, Kat Kourbeti, Clayton Kroh, Maureen Kincaid Speller, Catherine Krahe, Natasha Leullier, A.Z. Louise, Dante Luiz, Gui Machiavelli, Cameron Mack, Samantha Manaktola, Marisa Manuel, Jean McConnell, Heather McDougal, Maria Morabe, Amelia Moriarty, Emory Noakes, Sara Noakes, Aidan Oatway, AJ Odasso, Joel Oliver-Cormier, Kristina Palmer, Karintha Parker, Anjali Patel, Vanessa Rose Phin, Nicasio Reed, Belicia Rhea, Endria Richardson, Natalie Ritter, Abbey Schlanz, Clark Seanor, Elijah Rain Smith, Hebe Stanton, Melody Steiner, Romie Stott, Yejin Suh, Kwan-Ann Tan, Luke Tolvaj, Ben Tyrrell, Renee Van Siclen, Kathryn Weaver, Liza Wemakor, Aigner Loren Wilson, E.M. Wright, Vicki Xu, Fred G. Yost, staff members who prefer not to be named, and guest editor Libia Brenda with guest first reader Raquel González-Franco Alva for the Mexicanx special issue

Category: Best Fanzine – no art
Winner:  nerds of a feather, flock together, ed. Adri Joy, Joe Sherry, The G, and Vance Kotrla

• The Full Lid, written by Alasdair Stuart, edited by Marguerite Kenner
• Journey Planet, edited by Michael Carroll, John Coxon, Sara Felix, Ann Gry, Sarah Gulde, Alissa McKersie, Errick Nunnally, Pádraig Ó Méalóid, Chuck Serface, Steven H Silver, Paul Trimble, Erin Underwood, James Bacon, and Chris Garcia.
• Lady Business, editors. Ira, Jodie, KJ, Renay, and Susan.
• nerds of a feather, flock together, ed. Adri Joy, Joe Sherry, The G, and Vance Kotrla
• Quick Sip Reviews, editor, Charles Payseur
• Unofficial Hugo Book Club Blog, ed. Amanda Wakaruk and Olav Rokne

Category: Best Fancast
Winner:  The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe, Jonathan Strahan, producer

• Be The Serpent, presented by Alexandra Rowland, Freya Marske and Jennifer Mace
• Claire Rousseau's YouTube channel, produced by Claire Rousseau
• The Coode Street Podcast, presented by Jonathan Strahan and Gary K. Wolfe, Jonathan Strahan, producer
• Kalanadi, produced and presented by Rachel
• The Skiffy and Fanty show, produced by Shaun Duke and Jen Zink,  presented by Shaun Duke, Jen Zink, Alex Acks, Paul Weimer, and David Annandale.
• Worldbuilding for Masochists, presented by Rowenna Miller, Marshall Ryan Maresca and Cass Morris

Category: Best Fan Writer
Winner: Elsa Sjunneson

• Cora Buhlert
• Charles Payseur
• Jason Sanford
• Elsa Sjunneson
• Alasdair Stuart
• Paul Weimer

Category: Best Fan Artist
Winner: Sara Felix

• Iain J. Clark
• Cyan Daly
• Sara Felix
• Grace P. Fong
• Maya Hahto
• Laya Rose

Category: Best Video Game
Winner:  Hades (Publisher and Developer: Supergiant Games)

• Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Publisher and Developer: Nintendo)
• Blaseball (Publisher and Developer: The Game Band)
• Final Fantasy VII Remake (Publisher Square Enix)
• Hades (Publisher and Developer: Supergiant Games)
• The Last of Us: Part II (Publisher: Sony Interactive Entertainment / Developer: Naughty Dog)
• Spiritfarer (Publisher and Developer: Thunder Lotus)

Category: Lodestar Award for Best Young Adult Book (not a Hugo)
Winner:  A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher (Argyll Productions)

• Cemetery Boys, Aiden Thomas (Swoon Reads)
• A Deadly Education, Naomi Novik (Del Rey)
• Elatsoe, Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
• Legendborn, Tracy Deonn (Margaret K. McElderry/ Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing)
• Raybearer, Jordan Ifueko (Amulet / Hot Key)
• A Wizard's Guide to Defensive Baking, T. Kingfisher (Argyll Productions)

Category: Astounding Award for the Best New Writer, sponsored by Dell Magazines (not a Hugo)
Winner: Emily Tesh

• Lindsay Ellis (1st year of eligibility)
• Simon Jimenez (1st year of eligibility)
• Micaiah Johnson (1st year of eligibility)
• A.K. Larkwood (1st year of eligibility)
• Jenn Lyons (2nd year of eligibility)
• Emily Tesh (2nd year of eligibility)

FINALLY IT'S THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST HUGO GIVEN TO A ROCK AND ROLL CONCEPT ALBUM; 

JEFERSON STARSHIP; BLOWS AGAINST THE EMPIRE 

US Feds: Offshore wind study activity won’t harm environment
By WAYNE PARRYDecember 16, 2021

FILE: This Oct. 1, 2020 file photo shows windmills at a utility plant in Atlantic City N.J. On Thursday, Dec. 16, 2021, the federal government determined that the process of investigating ocean sites in New York and New Jersey for their suitability for offshore wind developments will not significantly harm the environment. (AP Photo/Wayne Parry, FILE)

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) — The federal government has determined that the process of evaluating ocean sites in New York and New Jersey for offshore wind energy projects will not significantly harm the environment.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management said Thursday it has completed an environmental review of the kinds of activities needed to study offshore wind sites.

The review only covers the investigative stage of the wind projects, including biological, archeological, geological, and geophysical surveys and the taking of core samples from the ocean floor, as well as the placement of meteorological buoys.

It is not intended to be a final environmental approval for individual wind projects, which will have to be done separately for each development.

But it allows developers to move forward with planning ambitious offshore wind projects in the area, called the New York Bight.

“BOEM is focused on ensuring that any development in the New York Bight is done responsibly and in a way that avoids or minimizes impacts to the ocean and other ocean users in the region,” the agency’s director Amanda Lefton said in a statement.

The move comes as New Jersey is moving aggressively to stake its claim to being the offshore wind center of the East Coast. It has approved three offshore wind projects thus far and numerous others are in the planning stages.

Those three projects combined aim to provide enough electricity to power over 1.6 million homes. New Jersey has set a goal of generating 100% of its energy from clean sources by 2050, and plans to solicit additional wind energy projects every two years until at least 2028.

The federal government has set a goal of approving enough offshore wind projects nationwide by 2030 to produce 30 gigawatts of electricity — enough to power 10 million homes.

The environmental study looked at several areas including benthic animals, which are creatures that live on or in the ocean floor; commercial and recreational fishing; finfish, invertebrates and essential fish habitat; marine mammals; and sea turtles. In each instance, the agency determined that the process of investigating the sites’ suitability for offshore wind development would not cause significant harm.
___

Follow Wayne Parry on Twitter at @WayneParryAC

One farmer's seaweed discovery

could change the world

CBS News

Sat, December 18, 2021

As the effects of climate change accelerate, the U.N. says the strongest lever we have to reduce global warming is to curb the emissions of the greenhouse gas: methane. But emissions continue to accelerate. 

There may, however, be a game-changing method to slow methane emissions. On Prince Edward Island in Canada, farmer Joe Dorgan's unlikely discovery has the potential to change the world. 

Dorgan, who founded North Atlantics Organics, which produces and distributes organic seaweed, stumbled upon what is nothing short of a climate miracle — the seeds of which were planted through five generations of family farming along the shores of Prince Edward Island. Back then, farmers harvested seaweed for feed and fertilizer. 

So while beachgoers may consider seaweed nuisance, Dorgan knew from experience it was teeming with potential, CBS News meteorologist and climate specialist Jeff Berardelli reported for "CBS Saturday Morning." He sent samples of it to Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia to test for organic certification. Through that, it was discovered that the high uptake of natural vitamins and minerals in seaweed drove up reproduction and milk production in cows. 

Dorgan knew instinctively that seaweed would be healthy for cows, but research revealed an unintended consequence: seaweed made cows less gassy.

Globally, methane is responsible for 30% of global warming. Of that, livestock, such as cattle, account for about one-third of all methane emissions. 

"They [researchers] found out that feeding seaweed to cattle would reduce greenhouse gases by as high as 40%," Dorgan said.

Digesting roughage requires extra digestion from cows and causes cows to burp more. Those burps emit methane, a heat-trapping greenhouse gas that's 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide. 

In a year, a cow emits as much greenhouse gas as a small car. Because animal numbers have skyrocketed to help feed a growing human population, livestock now accounts for 15% of global emissions. 

The increase motivated chief scientist at Futurefeed, Rob Kinley, who worked with Dorgan on his organic certification 15 years ago, to find a seaweed species with even more methane-reducing power. 

"We started testing seaweeds from coastal Australia, and it wasn't long before the Asparagopsis species showed up, and it showed up in a big way. So big that we didn't even believe what we were seeing," Kinley said. "It took multiple runs of testing this before we believed what we were seeing, which was we couldn't find methane anymore."

Kinley's research showed Asparagopsis, a common type of red seaweed, has the potential to virtually eliminate methane emissions from livestock. But there are some obstacles to overcome — it's not easy to harvest from the ocean, so scientists are experimenting with farming it.   

Kinely's team, along with others like Josh Goldman, project leader at Greener Grazing, are getting much closer to perfecting the techniques. 

"The way that it shifts the ruminant function in the cow also makes the animal more energy efficient," Goldman said. 

Goldman is encouraged by the seaweed's versatility. He said cultivation only takes about 90 days, allowing for multiple cycles per year, and it can be grown by aquaculture operations almost anywhere if the climate is suitable.  

Feeding the 1.5 billion cows in the world, however, is a big lift.

"There are a lot of mouths to feed. But the good news is we only need to feed those cows 0.2% of their daily ration," said Goldman. 

Still, there's the challenge of encouraging cow owners to use the seaweed supplement.   

For that, Goldman says there's an incentive: adding seaweed to a cow's diet means they consume less food. And, he says, dairy farmers and cattle ranchers will likely be able to cash in, selling carbon credits for the emissions they reduce.     

Eliminating almost all methane from almost all cow's on Earth "would have a tremendous impact, roughly equivalent to eliminating all the emissions from the U.S., or the equivalent of taking every car off the road globally," Goldman said. 

That's a long way off, but then again, Kinley's work has come a long way since his initial discovery 15 years ago.  

"This will be a much bigger story even 12 months, 18 months from now. ... I am optimistic," Kinely said. 

While there's lots of optimism for this seaweed product, critics say it hasn't yet been proven at scale. It's clear that methane reduction from seaweed is effective in the short-term, but there's some fear that its effects may diminish over time as the cow's digestive systems adapt. 

A NEW WORLD OF GODS AND MONSTERS

Human brain cells grown in lab learn to play video game faster than AI

The scientists were able to teach the brain cells to play the game in just five minutes, which is significantly faster than artificial intelligence that picks up the game after 90 minutes

By Antony Leena Ashkenaz
17 DEC 2021

The system, called ‘DishBrain,’ is comprised of brain cells grown on top of microelectrode arrays that can both stimulate the cells (Image: New Scientist)

Scientists were able to develop human brain cells in a petri dish and taught them how to play video games faster than an AI.

Hundreds of thousands of human brain cells grown in a lab can now play retro classic "Pong" by firing off neurons that would move the paddle back and forth according to the location of the ball in the video game.

Australian scientists at Cortical Labs created the system called "DishBrain", which is comprised of brain cells that are grown on top of microelectrode arrays that can both stimulate the cells.

The scientists were able to teach the brain cells to play the game in just five minutes, which is significantly faster than artificial intelligence (AI) which picks up the game after 90 minutes.

In August, German scientists unveiled their lab grown brains (Image: Elke Gabriel/ Eureka Alert)

In order to teach the cells how to play the game, the team used a single-player version of Pong and sent electrical signals to either the right or left of the array to indicate where the ball is.

Brett Kagan, chief scientific officer of Cortical Labs, who leads the research, told New Scientist: "We think it’s fair to call them cyborg brains.

"We often refer to them as living in the Matrix. When they are in the game, they believe they are the paddle."

The human brain cells grown in a lab learned to play 'Pong' faster than AI 

(Image: Youtube/ New Scientist)

While playing Pong, the patterns of activity across the neurons are determined by the brain cells as the paddle moves left or right.
Sponsored

Because of these neurons, the virtual world inside the video game would respond accordingly and the electrode's feed helps the mini-brains learn how to operate the paddle.

Kagan notes that although the mini-brains can learn the game faster than AI, they are not as skilled when it comes to actually playing the video game – the cels would lose against a computer like DeepMind.

In the end, the AI turned out to be a better player (Image: biorxiv.org)

While it took the AI 5000 rallies to learn the game, where one rally is a gaming session that lasts for 15 minutes, it only took DishBrains 10 to 15 rallies.

"Using this DishBrain system, we have demonstrated that a single layer of in vitro cortical neurons can self-organize and display intelligent and sentient behaviour when embodied in a simulated game-world," reads the study published in bioRxiv.

"We have shown that even without a substantial filtering of cellular activity, statistically robust differences over time and against controls could be observed in the behaviour of neuronal cultures in adapting to goal-directed tasks."

Hyundai debuts Mobile Eccentric Droid platform and it's cooler than it sounds, 

I swear

The robot has highly articulating wheels and suspension to offer a stable and maneuverable platform no matter the situation.


Kyle Hyatt
Dec. 17, 2021 




Pretty much everyone knows by now that Hyundai makes cars, but what they might not know is that Hyundai makes a bunch of other stuff too. Even weird stuff, like, for example, the Mobile Eccentric Droid, aka MobED, which debuted online on Wednesday and will be featured at CES next month.

What exactly is a MobED, and, maybe more importantly, what is it for? Well, in the simplest terms, it's an agile self-propelled robot that provides a stable platform regardless of the terrain. Maybe that's not so simple? In any case, the MobED has four wheels that can move in a ton of different ways, such as counter-steering or even changing wheelbase. Those wheels are paired with an actively adjustable suspension that can change ride heights independently on all four wheels.

Why is this cool? Well, say you have a stack of filled champagne flutes, and you, for whatever reason (I don't know your life), need to get them up a ramp, across a big threshold and over a bunch of power cords strewn across a dance floor. The MobED can help you out here because it can continuously adjust itself so that the platform that your tower of champagne is stacked on remains level, and it can actively smooth bumps so you don't spill a drop of your precious bubbly.

In slightly more practical terms, this little platform could be used for package deliveries over rough terrain; it could -- as Hyundai shows in its video -- be used as a needlessly high-tech baby carriage or, more likely, as a platform for service robots to make them more functional. The possibilities are endless, but I mostly want to see cats cruising around on one like it's some kind of Roomba Rubicon.

2022 Hyundai Ioniq 5 looks like the future, today