Japanese roboticts at Chiba University have taught one of their robots to repeatedly juggle two balls at once with an incredibly lifelike motion. This high-speed hand and arm combination is coupled to an even higher speed vision system.
Video Source: IEEE Spectrum
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Juggling Robot Takes on Two Balls With One Very Fast Hand
Honda’s new UNI-CUB personal mobility device is designed for “harmony with people.” Featuring a compact design and saddle, the UNI-CUB offers the same freedom of movement in all directions that the average person has while walking.
Video Source: SportsCarIllustrated
Is the Earth maxed out, or should we be optimistic about being able to solve our future? At TED 2012, Paul Gilding made the case for the former, and Peter Diamandis argued for the latter, and then they debated.
Video Source: TED
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Exclusive Q&A from the TED stage: Paul Gilding and Peter Diamandis debate
Paul Gilding
Peter Diamandis: Abundance
“A few months ago you enthusiastically responded to my request for help, posted on KurzweilAI. Here you will find the result: a crowdsourced TEDx (probably the first of this kind). It is in Italian (recorded at SISSA in Trieste, Italy) with English voiceover translation.
“I asked the following question: ‘What are the three most important trends shaping humankind’s future in the next 10 years? Provide specific recent examples/news/Web links which exemplify… read more
Video Source: TEDx Trieste
DARPA’s SeeMe program aims to give mobile, individual US warfighters overseas access to on-demand, space-based tactical information in remote and beyond- line-of-sight conditions. If successful, SeeMe will provide small squads and individual teams the ability to receive timely imagery on a handheld device of their specific overseas location directly from a small satellite with the press of a button — something that’s currently not possible from military or commercial satellites.… read more
Video Source: DARPA
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DARPA SeeMe
University of Tokyo JSK Lab researchers have developed a high-torque, high-speed robotic leg based on a novel electrical actuation system. Their robot uses high-voltage and high-current liquid-cooled motor drivers that get their power from a 13.5-farad capacitor system, which can supply lots of current very fast and reliably, something that batteries are not good at.
Video Source: University of Tokyo JSK Lab
Related:
Japanese Humanoid Robot Can Keep Its Balance After Getting Kicked
When performing complex gestures that require a specific form or technique, such as an exercise or playing an instrument, we use resources such as visual diagrams or videos to communicate concepts like posture, movement and speed of motion. Without incremental and real-time feedback such as those we receive from an instructor, interpreting and following a set of instructions can be a challenge.
LightGuide is a new approach to gesture… read more
Video Source: Microsoft Research
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LightGuide: projected visualizations for hand movement guidance
Bryan Alvarez is a doctoral candidate at the University of California, Berkeley, researching brain-based and cognitive mechanisms of a unique form of sensory-blending called synesthesia, which he also experiences.
TEDxBerkeley 2011 — Engaging the World — took place on Saturday, February 19th, 2011 at UC Berkeley.
Video Source: TEDx Berkeley
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TEDxBerkeley - Bryan Alvarez - Celebrating the Beauty of Living Systems
Inspired by nature, a three-week old remote-controlled machine at the MIT Media Lab is weaving a cocoon-like structure. Eventually it will be autonomous.
Video Source: IDG News
In a talk, “Building the #Knowosphere: How new ways to share and shape ideas can help build durable progress on a finite planet“ on Earth Day 2012 at MIT, New York Times Dot Earth blogger Andrew Revkin suggests how to use the Web and other emerging communication tools and networks to make the world a better place
The notion of Knowosphere has… read more
Video Source: MIT TechTV
Introducing David 8 is a promotional video for the Prometheus movie. See also Project Prometheus and the website of the fictional corporation Weyland Industries.
He has been reimagined, reengineered and brought to life with better technological, intellectual, physical and emotional performance than ever before. Welcome to the eighth generation of cybernetic advancement. Brought to you by Weyland Industries.
With his new 99% emotional sensitivity… read more
Video Source: Weyland Industries
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Introducing David 8
This video features a series of time lapse sequences photographed by the Expedition 30 crew aboard the International Space Station. Set to the song “Walking in the Air,” by Howard Blake, the video takes viewers around the world, through auroras, and over dazzling lightning displays.
Song lyrics:
We’re walking in the air
We’re floating in the moonlit sky
The people far below are sleeping as we fly… read more
Video Source: NASA
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Walking On Air
World Records Academy | The Purdue Society of Professional Engineers team smashed its own world record for largest Rube Goldberg machine with a 300-step behemoth that flawlessly accomplished the simple task of blowing up and popping a balloon – setting the new world record for the Largest functional Rube Goldberg machine, according to World Records Academy.
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Wired | “Record-breaking Rube Goldberg machine… read more
Twentieth Century Fox | In the distant future, two superpowers control Earth and fight each other for all the solar system’s natural resources. When one side dispatches a team to a distant planet to terraform it for human colonization, the team discovers an indigenous race of bio-mechanoid killers.
Ridley Scott, director of Alien and Blade Runner, returns to the genre he helped define. With Prometheus, he creates a groundbreaking mythology,… read more
Video Source: Twentieth Century Fox
Related:
Prometheus official film site
Scobleizer | This is really cool. You can ask your followers a question and see their answers in real time. You see this after I asked a question. Here you meet Ben Schaechter, CEO, who tells you about his new company and explains how the technology works. GoPollGo lets you build your own. My polls are here.
Wikipedia | Robert Scoble is an American blogger,… read more
Video Source: Scobleizer