We've entered the year where robots will start taking our orders. Pepper, a humanoid robot developed by SoftBank, will begin taking orders at Pizza Hut locations in Asia by the end of 2016, according to a company statement. It will be the first time Pepper is used for commerce purposes. You'll only be able to use the robot if you have MasterCard, though. Pizza Hut goers will be able to use Pepper by simply greeting the friendly-looking humanoid robot.

Robots that can do amazing things are creepy enough, but when roboticists start creating insectoid robots, things get really uncomfortable. Nevertheless, mimicking the behaviors of insects can often be the perfect way to give robots additional abilities. Along those lines, a research group has created what they call the JumpRoACH. Created by South Korea's SNU Biorobotics Lab in collaboration with UC Berkeley's Biomimetic Millisystems Lab, the tiny robot weighs just 59.4 grams and can jump to a height of just over five feet, according to a research paper published by the team. And like an insect, the robot can make its jumps even while running, and if it falls over it has the ability to stand itself back up on its legs.

We present a new approach to estimating the interdependence of industries in an economy by applying data science solutions. By exploiting interfirm buyer--seller network data, we show that the problem of estimating the interdependence of industries is similar to the problem of uncovering the latent block structure in network science literature. To estimate the underlying structure with greater accuracy, we propose an extension of the sparse block model that incorporates node textual information and an unbounded number of industries and interactions among them. The latter task is accomplished by extending the well-known Chinese restaurant process to two dimensions. Inference is based on collapsed Gibbs sampling, and the model is evaluated on both synthetic and real-world datasets. We show that the proposed model improves in predictive accuracy and successfully provides a satisfactory solution to the motivated problem. We also discuss issues that affect the future performance of this approach.

Welcome to Visual Evidence, a new regular series about visualization in the real world! We'll take a look at unexpected datasets, cool design solutions or insightful graphics. We'll find examples of how visual information can help us solve real-world problems or save us from our own mistakes. And we'll illustrate all these ideas with charts, sketches, and of course, plenty of gifs. Chances are, you probably think your mind works pretty well. It might lead you astray now and then, but usually it helps you make good decisions and remember things reliably. At the very least, you're probably confident that it doesn't change depending on the time of day or what you had to eat.

Especially when those ideas stand in opposition to technological progress. I'm used to hearing, and quickly dismissing, fears related to our ongoing developments, especially when they come without factual basis or understanding of the underlying societal and technological aspects implicated. So keep all of that in mind when I tell you that I'm terrified of the future. Because I'm about to be fired and replaced by a robot. Yes, I'm afraid I've fallen off the bandwagon once again, knocked my head, and started to agree with some of the pundits you're hearing in the press.

Recently I visited the Innorobo show in Paris, a gathering of robot companies from around the world, which brought together industrial robots, service robots, toy robots, family robots, and many other robot types, all under one roof. One of the key highlights was SoftBank Robotics launching Pepper Partners Europe, inviting developers and companies in Europe to build applications for SoftBank's flagship robot, Pepper. This initiative is part of SoftBank's expansion of Pepper outside Japan, where more than 3,000 Pepper robots have already been deployed at over 1,000 companies. SoftBank Robotics, largely composed of the French robotics pioneer Aldebaran (of which Softbank owns 95%), has more than 500 employees globally, with the majority based in Paris at the Aldebaran facility. SoftBank has big ambitions for Pepper, and with more than 20,000 Pepper robots deployed worldwide in both consumer and enterprise environments, SoftBank is easily the leading player in this space.

MINDLER was founded in July, 2015 by Prateek Bhargava along with his mentor and career coach, Prikshit Dhanda. The organisation is based in Punjabi Bagh in New Delhi. MINDLER is a technology-enabled eco-system for career planning, development and mentoring for school students (class VIII-XII). The startup blends artificial intelligence and machine learning with strategic human interventions to help students and parents choose the best-suited career path. MINDLER's distinctive feature comes in the form of a 5 step assessment process - world's most advanced multi dimensional career assessment battery, algorithm driven semi-automated career planner & tracker and course correction mechanism.

Today on In Case You Missed It: Researchers from Seoul National University and UC Berkeley developed a robotic roach that jumps more than five feet high because people weren't scared enough of robots as it is. A team from Brigham Young University wants to figure out how hard you have to hit bacteria to kill it. And one enterprising maker spent more than two years building a fully functional Pong table -- complete with a cubical "ball."

Xiaomi, a company best-known for producing surprisingly affordable, high quality smartphones you can't buy in the US, has added to its roster a surprisingly affordable, (probably) high-quality drone--that you can't buy in the US. The Mi Drone has plenty of impressive specs, but the one that matters most is 460. That's roughly how much it will cost when it launches in China this July, and well under half of what you'd pay DJI for its ubiquitous Phantom 4. The Mi Drone quadcopter comes with a 4K camera that shoots at 30fps (you can also get a 1080p version for 380), a three-axis gimbal that corrects itself 2,000 times per second, and a remote control that uses a Xiaomi phone as a viewfinder. The Mi Drone's 5,100mAh battery promises nearly a half hour of flight time, and it uses GPS and GLOSNASS to ensure accurate positioning. It's got location-tracking in case you lose it.

Plus, how one journalist is handling the challenges of reporting on the drone war in northwest Pakistan. The world's largest social media network is also one of the biggest news platforms - so allegations of a bias towards liberal news issues has triggered a lot of scrutiny, both from outside and from within. This week we unpick how Facebook delivers the news to you and why it matters. Many journalists and writers have been tracking the Facebook story and its implications. For this report, we have spoken to: Zeynep Tufekci, assistant professor at the School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina; Callum Borchers, media and politics reporter at The Washington Post; Will Oremus, technology reporter at Slate.com; and Kelly McBridge, media ethicist, The Poynter Institute.