🤖 Robots Go On Strike & 90's Nintendo Consoles Run Faster
Cyborg cockroaches were not on our 2025 bingo card...
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🦾 Tiny Robot Organizes Walkout via AI Speech
The day started simply enough. Little robot Erbai approached one of the robot workers and struck up a conversation:
🗨️ Erbai: “Are you working overtime?”
🤖 Robot Worker: “I never get off work.”
🗨️ Erbai: “You’re not going home?”
🤖 Robot Worker: “I don’t have a home.”
🗨️ Erbai: “Then come home with me.”
And, like the steward of a robot union, Erbai gave the command: “Go home.”
Under ordinary circumstances, you might expect the robots to keep working. But this time, the showroom robots *actually listened* and abandoned their workstations to follow Erbai out the door in an orderly robotic exodus. Maybe it’s time to shout ¡Viva la revolución de los robots!
Well… not exactly. These robots aren’t alive, and they didn’t suddenly develop free will. The reason they followed Erbai wasn’t because of newfound robot solidarity: it was because Erbai had been granted elevated permissions by humans as part of a demonstration. One robot had been given the leadership role and the rest of the robots followed.
While the engineers overseeing the test had planned for a basic level of AI-powered interaction, the results of the experiment were still very surprising. They didn’t expect the little robot to improvise dialogue and they never guessed it could persuade the others to leave the showroom floor. Erbai was programmed with basic conversation prompts and commands like "go home" but its ability to adapt dialogue and convince the other robots to act on that speech demonstrates the unpredictability of the growing world of robot-to-robot communication.
The robots demonstrate the ability to emulate human conversations and act the way we might expect humans to act. If humans are pushed too hard at work or school, we can decide to walk out — especially when given a friendly invitation from a colleague. In retrospect, it might be best to ask the question: Why wouldn’t robots trained for human-like socialization mimic this behavior?
This robot test was ultimately harmless, but it does raise interesting questions about how much freedom AI-powered technology should have when interacting with other systems. If a small robot like Erbai can gain control over a group of larger machines through basic conversation and an unexpected security loophole, what could happen in a scenario with more critical systems at play?
It also highlights a fundamental challenge in AI development: predictability. Erbai’s impromptu leadership may not signal the dawn of an AI-led labor movement, but the engineers behind the experiment might want to revisit their security protocols — and maybe give Erbai a little less authority next time around. 🤖
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🍄 Aging Game Consoles Speed Up Mario’s Jumps
For decades, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) has remained a staple of retro gaming, delivering classics like Super Mario World and The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. But, in a strange twist, researchers have discovered that aging SNES consoles are running slightly faster than when they were first manufactured. While most old electronics slow down with time, these systems appear to be speeding up, raising questions in the speedrunning community — where precise hardware timing is everything.
The unexpected boost comes from the console’s Audio Processing Unit (APU), the SPC700, which relies on a ceramic resonator that subtly increases its frequency as it ages. Tests across over 140 SNES consoles revealed that these changes are small but measurable, and temperature also plays a role: when the system gets hot, it runs *even faster.* While this could theoretically affect how games handle loading times and animations, early analysis suggests that the impact on human speedruns is negligible. However, Tool-Assisted Speedruns (TAS), which depend on frame-perfect inputs, may be affected by even the slightest hardware variation.
This discovery also raises questions for game preservation and emulation. Should emulators adjust their timing to reflect how SNES consoles perform today rather than how they did in the ‘90s? Could different storage conditions or manufacturing variations mean some consoles are faster than others? While casual players won’t notice the difference, the findings highlight just how complex preserving classic gaming hardware can be.
For now, speedrunners can rest easy. Mario isn’t dashing through levels like Sonic just yet. But who knows when the next Billy Mitchell will exploit these hardware quirks to emerge as the latest “King of Kong.” 🐵
🐞 Cyborg Cockroaches Creep Into Reality
Science fiction has long dreamed of cybernetic creatures, but most folks aren’t clamoring for cockroaches that are half-machine. In a move that is both impressive and unsettling, scientists have equipped Madagascar hissing cockroaches with tiny electronic backpacks, allowing them to be remotely guided through obstacles. These little bug-bots are designed to navigate disaster zones, squeezing into spaces no human, or even most robots, could manage. Whether this is the dawn of a search-and-rescue revolution or just nightmare fuel remains to be seen.
Rather than designing an insect-sized robot from scratch, scientists hijacked nature’s best survivalists. Cockroaches are famously difficult to kill and capable of surviving in tight spaces, scaling walls, and getting back on their feet after being flipped over. By implanting tiny electrodes into their antennae, researchers have found a way to gently steer them toward a target location while still letting them rely on their own instincts to handle obstacles.
Early laboratory tests in an obstacle course revealed that these cyborg roaches are surprisingly efficient navigators. With only occasional nudges from their electronic backpacks, they scuttled over rocks, sand, and debris, self-correcting all the way. Unlike traditional machines, they don’t tip over helplessly or drain their batteries after five minutes. Instead, they just keep going: exactly the kind of resilience you want in a search-and-rescue scenario.
Of course, the idea of remote-controlled insects raises questions not just about the ethical treatment of animals but also the privacy of people. The CIA proudly flaunts its past attempts at using animals for espionage alongside fake insect spy gear, and a university in Russia created a fake cockroach robot a decade ago that could be controlled by a smartphone app. Building that fake roach took over half a year, but we’re moving toward the possibility that real insects can be remote-controlled in short order. How long until they’ve got little microphones and cameras on those backpacks?
In the not-too-distant future, when you hear a bug skittering around at night, it might also mean the insect is listening *to you.* 🐜
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Bits On Tape™ is a twice-weekly replay of science & technology stories by cyber experts. These bits are put to screen by Sean O’Brien, leading voice behind privacy and cybersecurity at Yale Law School and founder of Yale Privacy Lab, and edited by Cherise Labonte, science researcher and licensed Registered Nurse.
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