New Hitachi robot navigates its way by taking images

March 7, 2006

Hitachi Ltd. said Tuesday it has developed a robot for indoor use that moves around obstacles by using a surveillance camera to take images. The company aims to market the robot, which can detect more objects than a fixed surveillance camera, at an early date, the electronics maker said.

High levels of mercury found in melon-headed whales: study

March 7, 2006

About a dozen melon-headed whales recently found dead in Chiba Prefecture contained 10 times the standard of mercury currently allowed by the government, a study showed Tuesday. Tetsuya Endo, a lecturer at the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido, said the high concentration of mercury was detected in the muscle of the whales washed ashore in Ichinomiya, Chiba, late last month.