Audi piloted driving at CES 2013
January 11, 2013
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At CES, more gadgets talk to each other
January 10, 2013
Imagine a day when all of your gadgets can talk to each other. Your phone will control your television and your computer can run your gaming device. At the annual Consumer Electronics Show going on now in Las Vegas, that vision is becoming more of a reality.
— CNET
Video Source: CNET
CES 2013: flying a helicopter with brain waves
January 10, 2013
The Neurosky MindWave is a headband with EEG sensors that, paired with software, let’s you control things by thinking.
The latest gadget to use the Neurosky interface, the Puzzlebox Orbit, has a helicopter inside an orb (to keep it from damaging itself when it inevitably crashes). It comes with a transmitter that hooks up to a mobile device, software, and a Neurosky headset; the package costs $189.… read more
Video Source: IEEE Spectrum
Meet Diego-san, a robot baby than learns
January 9, 2013
“DIEGO-SAN” by Hanson for the Machine Perception Lab at the UCSD Institute for Neural Computation.
With a face by David Hanson and Hanson Robotics, which mounts on a body by Kokoro, this robotic baby boy was built with funding from the National Science Foundation and serves cognitive AI and human-robot interaction research.
With high definition cameras in the eyes, Diego San sees… read more
Video Source: Hanson Robotics
Related:
Meet Diego-san, the creepy robot baby developed by UCSD
How you can change the past
January 8, 2013
The outcomes of recent experiments in quantum physics show that “particle” and “wave” are concepts we latch on to because they seem to correspond to guises of matter in our familiar, classical world. But attempting to describe true quantum reality with these or any other black-or-white concepts is an enterprise doomed to failure.
Video Source: New Scientist
Related:
Quantum shadows: The mystery of matter deepens (access for non-subscribers expires Jan. 17)
Asteroid to fly between Earth, satellites
January 7, 2013
An asteroid will narrowly miss hitting Earth in February.
Video Source: CNN
Arthur C. Clarke predicting the future in 1964
January 2, 2013
A great clip from the BBC’s Horizon programme in 1964. Arthur Charles Clarke was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, most famous for the novel 2001: A Space Odyssey.
He was also a host and commentator in the British television series “Mysterious World.”
For many years, with Robert A. Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clarke were known as the “Big Three” of science fiction.… read more
Video Source: BBC
Optical motion control of maglev graphite
December 31, 2012
Graphite has been known as a typical diamagnetic material and can be levitated in the strong magnetic field. Here we show that the magnetically levitating pyrolytic graphite can be moved in the arbitrary place by simple photoirradiation. It is notable that the optical motion control system described in this paper requires only NdFeB permanent magnets and light source.
The optical movement is driven by photothermally induced changes in the… read more
Video Source: Masayuki Kobayashi and Jiro Abe, Aoyama Gakuin University
Google Zeitgeist 2012: Year In Review
December 25, 2012
1.2 trillion searches.
146 languages.
What did the world search for in 2012?
2012 was a year of big moments, from global games to historical elections and everything in between. With this site, we’ve analyzed over one trillion queries to showcase what the world searched for.
We studied an aggregation of over one trillion searches (or queries) that people typed into Google Search this year. We used data… read more
Video Source: Google Zeitgeist 2012
SpaceX Grasshopper 12 story test flight
December 25, 2012
SpaceX’s Grasshopper — a 10-story vertical takeoff and landing (VTVL) vehicle — took a 12-story leap towards full and rapid rocket reusability in a test flight conducted December 17, 2012 at SpaceX’s rocket development facility in McGregor, Texas.
Grasshopper rose 131 feet (40 meters), hovered, and landed safely on the pad, using closed-loop thrust vector and throttle control. The total test duration was 29 seconds.
Grasshopper consists of… read more
Video Source: SpaceX
AIRobots: remotely controlled aerial robots
December 24, 2012
The University of Twente AIRobots project is developing a new generation of remotely controlled “aerial service robots” (a.k.a. drones). The researchers plan to use virtual reality, augmented reality, and haptic (touch) devices to allow the operator to guide the robot while hiding the complexity of the vehicle dynamics.
Video Source: University of Twente
Related:
AIRobots
NASA Johnson Style (Gangnam Style Parody)
December 22, 2012
NASA Johnson Style is a volunteer outreach video project created by the students of NASA’s Johnson Space Center. It was created as an educational parody of Psy’s Gangnam Style. The lyrics and scenes in the video have been re-imagined in order to inform the public about the amazing work going on at NASA and the Johnson Space Center.
Special thanks to astronauts Tracy Caldwell Dyson, Mike Massimino and Clay… read more
Video Source: Students of NASA’s Johnson Space Center.
Bringing light: an innovation in detecting brain tumors
December 21, 2012
In the painstaking process of removing brain tumors, neurosurgeons are constantly challenged by the inability to distinguish healthy tissue from tumor in the operating room. “Bringing Light” focuses on a new innovation that will change everything.
BRINGING LIGHT is a Finalist in the $200,000 FOCUS FORWARD Filmmaker Competition and is in the running to become the $100,000 Grand Prize Winner. It could also be named an Audience Favorite if… read more
Video Source: Bert Klasey, Chris Baron, James Allen Smith/Focus Forward Films
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Scorpion Protein Illuminates Brain Tumors for Surgeons
LS3 Follow Tight (mobile, semi-autonomous legged robot)
December 21, 2012
For the past two weeks, researchers from DARPA’s LS3 program have been testing the Legged Squad Support System (LS3), a four-legged robot.
They have demonstrated new advances in the robot’s control, stability and maneuverability, including “Leader Follow” decision making, enhanced roll recovery, exact foot placement over rough terrain, the ability to maneuver in an urban environment, and verbal command capability.
This video shows the… read more
Video Source: DARPA
Flying Legos
December 21, 2012
Nicholas and Joshua Scott, with help from their father Ed Scott, have designed “the world’s first flying robot made out of Lego.”
According to Gary Mortimer in sUAS News, the quadrocopter is equipped with a Go Pro camera, offering a first-person-view camera, and a transmitter sends back live video images to its pilot. It is kept on an even keel and able to navigate waypoints via GPS thanks to an APM 2.5 autopilot from… read more
Video Source: Ed Scott, Nick Scott, Joshua Scott
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Drone made of Lego takes flight