If you are trying to lead a healthy lifestyle, a trip to New York, accessible by flights to the USA, or even direct routes to New York, might seem like a voyage into a cavern of indulgent temptations. Almost every second restaurant is a fast-food joint selling greasy fat-laden treats and it is easy to jump in a cab to wherever you need to go. It’s no wonder obesity is an epidemic in America!

Can you experience the culture of New York City without adding pounds to your waistline? Of course you can! There is a healthy side to this city and enjoying a bite of the Organic Big Apple is lots of fun and better for you as well. Here are a few ideas of healthy things that you can do on a day out in New York City:

Walk It Off

While you are in New York you will want to see all of the popular tourist sights of this great city, but why do that while sitting on a crowded tour bus when you could be burning calories on a walking tour? Taking a walking tour instead of a bus tour is a great way to get some exercise while you are sightseeing, and see New York up close. You will have a huge variety of walking tours to choose from, as there are dozens of tour companies offering them in downtown New York City.

You could take the New York City PhotoTrek Walking Tour which encompasses some of the most iconic landmarks of the city and includes photos of you in front of them. If you are interested in history you might enjoy the Revolutionary Era Historical Walking Tour from Patriot Tours. There is also a tour which takes you through the locations in Central Park where famous movie scenes have been shot, delivered by a company called “On Location”. Be sure to wear comfortable walking shoes and bring a bottle of water!

Healthy Eats

After all of that exercise you will probably be hungry, but instead of gorging on fat and greasy New York street food why not check out some of the excellent healthy fare that this dynamic city has to offer? There are many deliciously healthy places to eat in New York City, such as the Organic Grill on First Avenue which uses locally grown produce to make its hearty and flavourful dishes. You could also do some grocery shopping at one of the many natural marketplaces in New York City such as Westerly Natural Market on 8th Avenue which offers only organic produce and meat which is free from antibiotics and hormones.

Relaxation

We all know that being stressed out is bad for your health, so why not take some time out of your holidays in New York City to treat yourself to some peaceful relaxation time? It might seem like strange to seek tranquility in this fast-paced city but there are many ways that you can find a moment of calm here in New York. You can participate in free meditative yoga classes at the Integral Yoga Institute in the Meatpacking District on Fridays at 5pm. If gazing upon beautiful works of art is what lowers your blood pressure, take a slow meander around the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim, or the Metropolitan. There are also many spas in the city to choose from where you can treat yourself to a massage, such as the Exhale Spa in the Upper East Side or Dorit Baxter Spa in mid-town.

Enjoy your healthy day out in New York City!

For the first time Britain competed in the Robot World Cup in Istanbul, a tournament with the ultimate goal of fostering the progression of Artificial Intelligence and their website states that the ultimate goal is to have robots that can beat the top human team in the world at football before 2050.

Their “RoboCupSoccer” focus is around the game of football, where all the robots are fully autonomous and are literally designed to play a game of football. The humanoid league in RoboCupSoccer requires that the robots be fully autonomous with a human-styled body plan, and human-like senses to play football against each other. For example visual perception of not just the ball, but other players, the field, the goal, but also distinquishing friend from foe on the field. Let alone actually having to be able to walk, run, or kick the ball while maintaing balance, let alone aiming it well.

Another league in the RoboCupSoccer is the Soccer Standard Platform League which supplies Aldebaran’s Nao humanoid robots in which the challenge is the complete focus on developing the software for the robots. Having the robots be able to decide whether its looking at the ball, looking at the goal, working out where it is on the pitch etc. The robots are also having to attempt to communicate with each other and use strategy and plan things. For instance being able to communicate to his teammate robots that he’d block for his teammate who currently has the ball.

Britain’s team for the RoboCup sadly lost in the group stages, the four-strong team from Edinburgh University. The team coach has claimed that they will return next year with a vastly improved side, “we learned that our core technology is not that bad even though we have not been very successful.”

“Almost all the bugs that stopped us were because we were not match ready.” Dr Subramanian Ramamoorthy, Head coach of Edinferno.

The British team did compete in the Standard Platform League using the Nao robots, so atleast they do not have to work worry about the hardware, they can focus soley on the programming. The British side feels that one of the main problems with the performance of the British side was due to the lack of competition within the UK, so there is nobody for the team to hone their skills against and work out all the bugs.