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December 29, 2004
GAIT
Recent research in orthotics has been based upon improving orthotic-joint biomechanics, using lightweight stiff materials and enhancing human-product interface. Little has been investigated on integrating intelligence into lower limb orthoses, which could be the basis for new generations of active orthoses. We propose to investigate the possibilities of integrating active systems and knee-ankle orthoses aiming at providing a means for gait monitoring during real-use situations; enhancing functional performance and improving comfort.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 07:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 28, 2004
Rebuilding Things "Atom by Atom"
Chad Mirkin is a world leader in a field with potential that's near limitless: Nanotechnology. Governments, venture funds, and angel investors are pouring billions of dollars into the area, hoping that the ability to manipulate materials at the atomic level will produce revolutionary medicines, metals, and fuels.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 07:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 27, 2004
Just how old can he go?
His regimen for longevity is not everyone's cup of tea (preferably green tea, Kurzweil advises, which contains extra antioxidants to reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer). And most people would scoff at his notion that emerging trends in medicine, biotechnology and nanotechnology open a realistic path to immortality--the central claim of a new book by Kurzweil and Dr. Terry Grossman, a physician and founder of a longevity clinic in Denver. "I am serious about it," said Kurzweil, a wiry man with few lines on his face for a 56-year-old. "I think death is a tragedy. I think aging is a tragedy. And going beyond our limitations is what our species is all about."
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 06:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 26, 2004
Robots take over across the globe
Robby the Robot and C-3PO may still be years away from reality, but robot vacuum cleaners, medical robots, surveillance robots, underwater robots and demolition robots are here now.
And rather than replacing the human work force, robots are creating a booming job market for engineers, software developers and other technical professionals, experts say.
American Honda Motor is touring the country with the company's Asimo robot, visiting schools to show off the two-legged 'bot to students and spread awareness of careers in the robotics industry.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 08:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 25, 2004
Universe not expanding, only galaxies shifting to other circuits
Aleksander Friedmann's theory compares the expanding Universe with a balloon, he says that the distance between any two spots increases and it cannot be pin pointed where exactly the center lies in a balloon. He means the farther apart the spots are the faster they shall be moving apart and the speed of any two galaxies moving apart is proportional to the distance between them.
He also suggests that the red shift of a galaxy should be directly proportional to its distance from the Earth. He also asserts that if the matter in the Universe were greater than the critical density, the Universe would expand again infinitely.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 02:40 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 24, 2004
Robocopters dodge obstacles, each other
The Berkeley Aerial Robot (BEAR) project passed a significant milestone earlier this month, when a 130-pound model of a helicopter successfully guided itself through a course that included random obstacles that weren't on its internal map--a first, according to the university.
The project, funded in part by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), is part of a larger effort to create robots that can get to places too dangerous or difficult for humans to go.
John Deere and iRobot, for instance, are working on an autonomous ground vehicle that will be able to bring supplies to soldiers at the front lines. Next year, the U.S. Army will deploy a robot car with a machine gun that will drive itself--but a human will be in control of the gun.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 05:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 22, 2004
New clues to how galaxies are born
An orbiting NASA telescope that scans the heavens has found evidence of massive "baby" galaxies that runs counter to a belief that only small new galaxies are being formed by the aging universe.
The findings come from the Galaxy Evolution Explorer, a mission led by the California Institute of Technology that was launched into Earth orbit last year to study 10 billion years of the evolution of galaxies.
"We knew there were really massive young galaxies eons ago, but we thought they had all matured into older ones more like our Milky Way," said Chris Martin, principal investigator for Galex at Caltech.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 06:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 21, 2004
Four-limbed robot for surgery
Mount Elizabeth Hospital has paid S$2.5 million for the first four-armed robotic surgery machine in Singapore. It is the first private hospital to use the four-limbed robot.
It looks more like a Hollywood science fiction prop, but the robotic machine, code-named Da Vinci, has performed 24 real-life operations since November.
Doctors like to think of it as an extension of their own arms. Surgeons now have two extra limbs: one to hold a camera with 10 times magnification and the other to act as an assistant's arm.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 06:30 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 20, 2004
You, Robot
When word got around that Hans Moravec had founded an honest-to-goodness robotics firm, more than a few eyebrows were raised. Wasn't this the same Carnegie Mellon University scientist who had predicted that we would someday routinely download our minds into robots? And that exponential advances in computing power would cause the human race to invent itself out of a job as robots supplanted us as the planet's most adept and adaptive species? Somehow, creating a company seemed ... uncharacteristically pragmatic.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 06:52 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 19, 2004
The Cyber Detective
Working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, it could look for telltale similarities in crime records and alert detectives when it finds them. Developed by computer scientists Tom Muscarello and Kamal Dahbur at DePaul University in Chicago, the system uses pattern-recognition software to link related crimes. Called the Classification System for Serial Criminal Patterns (CSSCP), the system sifts through all the case records available to it, assigning numerical values to different aspects of each crime, such as the kind of offence, the perpetrator's sex, height and age, and the type of weapon or getaway vehicle used. From these figures it builds a crime description profile.
A neural network program then uses this to seek out crimes with similar profiles. The neural network the DePaul team uses, called a Kohonen network, is particularly good at finding patterns in a set of input data without any human intervention. Some neural networks require an operator to "train" them to find patterns in data sets, but this requires foreknowledge of the pattern. If it finds a possible link between two crimes, CSSCP compares when and where they took place to find out whether the same criminals would have had enough time to travel from one crime scene to the other.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 12:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 18, 2004
Technologies for the blind
Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, are developing new assistive technologies for the blind based on advances in computer vision that have emerged from research in robotics.
A "virtual white cane" is one of several prototype tools for the visually impaired developed by Roberto Manduchi, an assistant professor of computer engineering, and his students.
The traditional white cane is still the most common mobility device for the blind. It is a simple and effective tool that enables users to extend their sense of touch and "preview" the area ahead of them as they walk. But the long, rigid cane is not well-suited to all situations or all users.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 08:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 17, 2004
Robots' "personality".
Korean scientists have created the world's first "artificial species" - a robot with genes that it can pass on to other robots.
Professor Kim Jong-Hwan, already known as the creator of "robot football", has developed 14 artificial chromosomes that he says will determine robots' "personality".
He believes that within 20 years lonely people will use their personal robots to keep them company, replacing cats and dogs.
"If you come back to your home after work, the robot will greet you and you can talk to him like a friend," he said.
"For example, a senior person who is living alone might feel loneliness. If they use their pet robot, they will feel more comfortable."
Dr Kim is in New Zealand as the keynote speaker at the second international conference on "autonomous robots and agents".
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 07:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 16, 2004
Tomorrow's chips, naturally
Visionaries more than half a century ago imagined machines capable of growth, self-repair and self-replication. By digitally mimicking biological tissue’s properties, European researchers recently demonstrated a platform for autonomous computer systems.
“There are three ways to model hardware on self-organising biology,” says Juan-Manuel Moreno, coordinator of the IST POEtic project. “They are development, learning and evolution – respectively known to biologists as ontogenesis, epigenesis and phylogenesis. All three models are based on a one-dimensional description of the organism, the genome.”
In the early 1990s, computer scientists tested systems that mimic the development of an individual as directed by their genetic code. Then they started to use artificial intelligence to copy the processes of learning, as influenced by an individual’s genetic code and their environment. “But until our project, nobody had succeeded in bringing together all three models in a single piece of hardware,” adds Moreno.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 04:28 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 15, 2004
Haptic Arm Wrestling hits the net
An internet facilitated "haptic" arm-wrestling machine devised to teach children "hands-on" applications of networking in the digital age is the hit of American museums and may spawn a new sports craze. The Haptic Arm Wrestling machine, currently on display at 6 science museums, including the New York Hall of Science in Queens, the Tech Museum in San Jose, and the Imaginarium in Alaska, allows contestants to arm wrestle remote human opponents over the internet while watching live video and audio feeds.
Haptics is the science of touch and "tele-haptics" is the new combination of virtual touch technology with networking that allows people to feel locally sensations applied at a distance. Haptics has been employed by NASA to work on the International Space Station, allowing astronauts to control robots outside the station to do repairs, and during the height of the dot com years tele-dildonics or "virtual sex' was touted as the next emergent haptic application. Haptic wrestling, however, has emerged as a favourite sport on the museum circuit for kids and adults alike. A Haptic "Hand" glove is also currently under construction by US based Cyberforce industries for widespread networking applications.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 03:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 14, 2004
Consequences of technology not always desirable
Will we live happier, healthier, safer and more satisfying lives because of scientific advancements in robotics, nanotechnology, genetic engineering and other areas? Or will we drift into a future with ever-increasing dangers and frustrations because of these advancements?
Advances in technology often result in unexpected and undesirable consequences. The automobile allowed people to travel more rapidly and more easily than could be done with horses and wagons, but it also helped to accelerate the breakdown of families and entire communities.
Complete Article by Gerard Voland
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 08:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 13, 2004
The image masters
Israeli brainpower provides much added value to computer software, according to Science magazine, which recently ranked Israeli computer science as the best in the world. And using the same hardware as anyone else, researchers at the Hebrew University's Benin School of Engineering and Computer Science have forged innovations unattained elsewhere.
For example, instead of painstaking manual colorization of old black-and-white movies, the HU whizzes have developed a mathematical algorithm that requires marking images with only a few crude squiggles that in about 10 minutes creates a highly realistic color picture. Another team imitates the natural abilities of the human eye, optic nerve and the brain to depict gradations of light and shadow by using a mathematical algorithm to meld images of various exposures.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 08:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 12, 2004
Wireless network smashes world speed record
A new world record has been set for transmitting data across a wireless network, claim researchers in Germany.
A team at Siemens Communications research laboratory in Munich, have transmitted one gigabit (one billion bits) of data per second across their mobile network. By contrast, the average wireless computer network can send only around 50 megabits (50 million bits) of data per second.
The researchers used three transmitting and four receiving antennas and a technique for boosting the amount of data that can be sent wirelessly, called Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM), to set their record.
"With our experimental system, we've been able to demonstrate how powerful [multiple] antennas can be in combination with OFDM," says Christoph Caselitz, president of the Mobile Networks Division at Siemens Communications. Caselitz estimates that wireless networks will be expected to cope with 10 times as much data by 2015.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 02:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 11, 2004
Robotic pods take on car design
The company's vision for the single passenger in the 21st Century involves the driver cruising by in a four-wheeled leaf-like device or strolling along encased in an egg-shaped cocoon that walks upright on two feet.
Both these prototypes will be demonstrated, along with other concept vehicles and helper robots, at the Toyota stand at the Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan, in March 2005.
The models are being positioned as so-called personal mobility devices, which have few limits.
The open leaf-like "i-unit" vehicle is the latest version of the concept which the company introduced last year.
Built using environmentally friendly plant-based materials, the single passenger unit is equipped with intelligent transport system technologies that allow for safe autopilot driving in specially equipped lanes.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 02:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 10, 2004
Where Science, Fiction Meet
In 1947, Robert A. Heinlein published a novel called "Rocket Ship Galileo," about a group of whiz kids who build their own ship and fly into space.
This summer, 57 years after the book, SpaceShipOne was launched from the Mojave Desert, becoming the first manned spaceflight by private citizens. The accomplishment capped a remarkable story about a group of whizzes who decided one day to build their own ship and fly into space.
If the stories sound similar, it's because one inspired the other.
Science fiction became science fact. And now the stories of "Rocket Ship Galileo," SpaceShipOne and the connection between the two occupy the same display case as the newest exhibit in the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 05:58 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 09, 2004
Firm's robot arm braves crowded field
Entering what is becoming a booming but crowded field, a young medical technology firm in Hollywood called Z-KAT is hoping to build a billion-dollar business by developing a robotic arm for surgeons.
''This could be huge,'' says Chief Executive Maurice R. Ferre. ``We think we can save the healthcare industry $15 billion a year.''
Ferre, 44, is the son of the veteran Miami politician of the same name. A physician who studied in Boston, he developed there a med-tech company, Visualization Technology, building it from three to 180 employees before selling it to General Electric in 2002 for more than $100 million, according to published reports.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 07:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 08, 2004
Beyond Human
A single word was stamped in bold, black ink across the top of the file. To the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Freddie Boyce was just another one of the "morons" warehoused at the Walter E. Fernald State School for the Feeble-minded, located just outside Boston in Waltham, Mass.
Freddie arrived at Fernald in 1949 after the last of his foster parents died. He never knew his father and barely knew his mother. After taking a primitive version of an IQ test, he was determined to be mentally insufficient and labeled a moron – just one of many scientific terms given to kids with slight mental capacities. He was given a school uniform and put to work. It didn't matter that Freddie would be considered normal by today's standards. He was simply poor, uneducated and had nowhere else to go. So they locked him away.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 07:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 06, 2004
Military Minds Turn to Evolution's Arms Race
Inspiration for a new defence analysis program has come from the Cambrian, a period in geological time some 500 million years ago. Running in parallel with current systems, the new "Cambrian program" will take perhaps the broadest overview of our global social and defence systems of all, drawing inspiration from the events of evolution's Big Bang.
The threat to global security through time can be compared with the evolution of life, or at least that is a possibility being seriously explored. The arms race has periods of activity when a new type of threat emerges, and stasis when the next is in the making.
Evolution proceeds in a similar manner that was described by the late evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould as "punctuated equilibrium". Explosive events in evolutionary activity or natural catastrophes are recorded in the fossil record, such as the demise of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, but then there is always ralm in between.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 07:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 05, 2004
Bridging into the future
A tiny, four-wheeled robot zipped across the table Saturday toward the pair of eye glasses it had been programmed to retrieve.
Five engineers watched anxiously to see what would come of their two months of design and programming work. When the robot's recovery arm crashed down, missing the glasses and sending the robot into an empty-handed retreat, 10 small hands shot out towards it, tweaking this and reattaching that.
The robot was made of Legos, and the engineers were between 12 and 14 years old, but the look on their faces made it clear that they weren't just playing around. The TechGyrls, a team from the Westmoreland County YWCA, were practicing for their robot's final run in the First Lego League Challenge at Carnegie Mellon University's National Robotics Engineering Consortium building in Lawrenceville.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 03:26 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 03, 2004
Rover data makes return a must
Data from Nasa's Mars rover Opportunity shows its unique landing site is a prime spot for a return mission to look for life, scientists say.
The robot was not designed to find evidence of biology on Mars and did not detect any during nearly a year spent exploring the Meridiani Planum region.
But writing in Science, team members claim the site may have been habitable for long periods of Mars' history. And locations on Earth with similar conditions do host microbial life.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 06:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 01, 2004
Robots - our helpers in space
A big advantage of space robots is that they need neither food nor drink and can support very inhospitable conditions. More important still, although expensive to design and produce, their loss is always preferable to that of an astronaut. At this month's ASTRA 2004 workshop robots designed in ESA’s space research and technical centre in the Netherlands attracted much attention.
"On Earth, robots regularly take over when it comes to repetitive tasks or when human health may be at risk. They are used to assemble cars, deactivate bombs, weld pipes at the bottom of the sea and work in nuclear power plants," says Gianfranco Visentin, Head of ESA's Automation and Robotics Section at ESA’s ESTEC, the Netherlands.
Posted by Vishwakarma C. K. @ 05:55 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
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