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University posts

NSF backs development of laser-guided robot wheelchairs

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Nov 10th 2009 at 3:54PM

It's been well over a year since we last saw the laser-guided, self-docking wheelchair developed by folks at Lehigh University, and now the team is back with an altogether more ambitious project. According to associate professor John Spletzer, the recipient of a five-year CAREER Award from the National Science Foundation, the goal is to "extend the autonomy of the wheelchair so it can navigate completely in an urban setting and take you wherever you need to go." This will be done by equipping robotic chairs with laser and camera sensors (which the team developed for the 2007 DARPA Grand Challenge) as well as exhaustive, Google Street View-esque maps of the city where they will be operating. Of course, these guys will be operating in a busy urban environment, so in addition to large-scale 3D maps, they must be equipped with motion planning features for operating in dense crowds and a changing environment. It's too soon yet to say when these things might become available commercially, but if you're a resident of the Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital in Allentown, PA, you might have your chance to test one soon enough.

[Via PhysOrg]

Researchers craft all-electric spintronics, vie for guest spot on Mindfreak

by Darren Murph posted Nov 4th 2009 at 11:01PM

Unfortunately for us, we've no certified rocket scientist on staff. That said, we're absolutely convinced that the whiz-kids over at the University of Cincinnati are more than up to the task of improving a science that may or may not actually be useful in real things before 3028. As we continue to hear more about spintronics (described as "transistors that function by controlling an electron's spin instead of its charge"), a team of UC researchers have stumbled upon a novel way to control an electron's spin orientation using purely electrical means. In fact, one member calls this discovery the "holy grail of semiconductor spintronics," though we're guessing it'll still be a few ~~years~~ centuries before our hard drives are fetching data 100,000x faster and our batteries last longer than our desire to use them.

Heat diodes give thermal computing a fighting chance

by Darren Murph posted Oct 19th 2009 at 9:57AM

Anyone who has tried their hand at overclocking recognizes just how evil waste heat is, and we're guessing that one Wataru Kobayashi at Waseda University in Japan understands explicitly. He, along with a few colleagues, has recently devised a new diode that allows heat current to travel in one direction but not in the other. The breakthrough essentially paves the way for thermal computing to actually take off, with obvious applications including heat sinks for microprocessors. Kobayashi, who may or may not be able to eat a dozen hot dogs per minute in his spare time, also hopes that his discovery will lead to a thermal transistor, thermal logic gates and a thermal memory. The future's yours, friend.

Mad scientists figure out how to write memories to brains, take over Earth

by Darren Murph posted Oct 17th 2009 at 9:11PM

Call us crazy, but we're guessing one Gero Miesenböck of the University of Oxford has been watching just a wee bit too much Fringe. Gero here, along with a few of his over-anxious colleagues, has seemingly figured out a way to actually write memories onto a fruit fly's brain using only a laser pen and three-fourths of a Ouija board. We know what you're thinking, and we're thinking the same. But all terrifying thoughts aside, what if boffins could burn memories of hard lessons learned into our minds without us having to suffer through them first? You know, like upgrading to Snow Leopard.

Mizzou's nuclear battery to power things smaller than your brain can imagine

by Darren Murph posted Oct 10th 2009 at 11:52AM

Oh yeah, everyone loves the extended battery, but are we really kosher with the added bulge? A team of boffins at the University of Missouri certainly aren't, as they've spent the last good while of their lives researching and developing a new nuclear battery that could be used to power devices much smaller than, well, most anything. The radioisotope cell, as it's called, can reportedly "provide power density that is six orders of magnitude higher than chemical batteries," and while some may question the safety of this potentially volatile device, the liquid semiconductor (used instead of a solid semiconductor) should help ease concerns. The current iteration of the device is about the size of a penny, and it's intended to power a variety of MEMS systems. Now, if only these guys could find a way to make a standard AA last longer than a week in our Wiimote, we'd be pleased as punch.

[Via BBC, thanks Jim]

NSF awards Harvard $10 million for robot bees (video)

by Joseph L. Flatley posted Oct 9th 2009 at 3:14PM

When we heard that the National Science Foundation awarded $10 million to Harvard to make a swarm of robot bees, our first thought was: "We could do it for half the price." Then we remembered that the university has been down this path before, including its robot fly program (whatever happened to that thing?) and might be the better choice after all. What does the NSF and Harvard hope to get for all that time and money? Aside from insight into such areas as distributed intelligence, robotic flight, and energy storage, a swarm of these bad boys could be tasked to do anything from battlefield spying to pollination (which might be necessary, with the way that real bees are vanishing at such an alarming rate). The RoboBee project is slated to run for the next five years. Video after the break.

[Via Switched]

Continue reading NSF awards Harvard $10 million for robot bees (video)

Video: TOTO robot catches tennis balls, hopes for a deeper purpose in life

by Darren Murph posted Sep 30th 2009 at 10:41AM

Fido conked out for the evening? Your youngster not really into "playing catch" at age 14? Enter TOTO -- a brilliant robotic contraption conceived at Reinhold-Würth University -- that can absolutely act as a suitable replacement. Short for Tracking of Thrown Objects, the camera-equipped system views and tracks incoming objects, and once said object is within catching range, it clamps down in order to grab hold. Eventually, the inventors would love to see the machine have an impact within a manufacturing facility, but considering just how effective conveyor belts have been over the past few scores, we'd say it has its work cut out for it. Video's after the break, and it's worth checking out.

[Via PlasticPals]

Continue reading Video: TOTO robot catches tennis balls, hopes for a deeper purpose in life

Carbon nanotubes find yet another purpose, could star in ultra-reliable batteries

by Darren Murph posted Sep 21st 2009 at 8:29PM

Carbon nanotubes are kind of like peanuts. They both seem pretty simple at first glance, but with a little work, you can make pretty much anything out of 'em. Take this case, for example, as MIT boffins have discovered that by forming the tube-shaped molecules of pure carbon into minuscule springs, they could be "capable of storing as much energy, pound for pound, as lithium-ion batteries." The real kicker is exactly how they'd do it -- "more durably and reliably." Essentially, these newfangled cells could be left alone for years on end without losing their charge, and unlike conventional batteries, these wouldn't suffer from performance degradation when exposed to temperature extremes. Of course, anything as pie-in-the-sky as this is probably at least a decade or so out from Walmart shelves, but considering that the group responsible has already filed a patent, we'd say they're pretty confident in the possibilities.

[Via Physorg]

Cornell gurus look to carbon nanotubes for efficient solar cells

by Darren Murph posted Sep 17th 2009 at 10:21PM

You know what we love? Solar-powered gadgets, and carbon nanotubes. Oh, and Ivy League schools. Boffins from Cornell University are now looking to use the multifaceted carbon nanotube instead of silicon to develop efficient solar cells, and judging by the glacial pace at which solar cell efficiency is improving, we'd say the sector could use the boost. The researchers have already fabricated, tested and measured a simple solar cell (called a photodiode, just so you know) that was formed from an individual carbon nanotube. The tube was essentially a rolled-up sheet of graphene, and while the inner workings would take days to explain, the gist of it is this:

"The nanotube may be a nearly ideal photovoltaic cell because it allowed electrons to create more electrons by utilizing the spare energy from the light."

So, solar-powered F-350 trucks are now a possibility for next year, right?

[Via Graphene-Info]

Stanford's open-source camera could revolutionize photography, you'll still use 'Auto' mode

by Darren Murph posted Sep 6th 2009 at 1:10PM

Here's the moment where you pretend that a breakthrough in a given industry would just revolutionize the way you do work, yet you know -- deep down in your heart -- that you'd never take advantage. Okay, so maybe you would, but your friend wouldn't. At any rate, a gaggle of boffins at Stanford have set out to "reinvent digital photography" with the advent of the open-source digital camera. The idea here is to give programmers the power to conjure up new software to teach old cameras new tricks, with the hope being to eliminate software limits that currently exist. In fact, a prototype shooter has already been developed, with the Frankencamera hinting at a future where owners can download apps to their devices and continuously improve its performance and add to its abilities. The actual science behind the concept is stupendously in-depth, so if you're thinking of holding off on that new Nikon or Canon in 2034, you might want to give the read link a look for a little more encouragement.

[Via HotHardware]

Continue reading Stanford's open-source camera could revolutionize photography, you'll still use 'Auto' mode

Transparent aluminum! Would that be worth somethin' to ya, eh?

by Darren Murph posted Aug 4th 2009 at 1:44AM

It's hard to say if boffins at Oxford University got their inspiration from Nimoy and Co., but one thing's for sure: they aren't joking about the creation of transparent aluminum. In what can only be described as a breakthrough for the ages, a team of mad scientists across the way have created "a completely new state of matter nobody has seen before" by blasting aluminum walls (around one-inch thick) with brief pulses of soft X-ray light, each of which is "more powerful than the output of a power plant that provides electricity to a whole city." For approximately 40 femtoseconds, an "invisible effect" is seen, giving the gurus hope that their experiment could lead to new studies in exotic states of matter. For a taste of exactly what we mean, feel free to voice command your PC to jump past the break. Or use the keyboard, if you're feeling quaint.

Continue reading Transparent aluminum! Would that be worth somethin' to ya, eh?

Nissan's Forest AC blows wild scents through your ride, keeps you alert

by Darren Murph posted Jul 27th 2009 at 7:17AM

And here you were thinking Mercedes-Benz's Attention Assist system was the thing in driver alertness aides. In a rather odd, nearly jocose press release, Nissan has revived our faith in corporate R&D with the glorious introduction of the Forest AC. In short, this new air conditioning system "systematically controls cabin temperature, ventilation, aroma and humidity to create an optimal interior environment." Still bewildered? It means that the system can tap into an array of sensors in order to find out exactly what environment is best for your current state of mind, and if it needs to, it'll blast your nostrils with gusts of fresh forest in order to increase alertness while keeping stress levels down. The zaniest part of all, however, isn't the idea of using various aromas to keep one's attention; it's the fact that this system is actually scheduled for installation on a vehicle (the Fuga) that'll ship this fiscal year in Japan.

OSU foresters swap tree fibers for rubber in fuel efficient tires

by Darren Murph posted Jul 26th 2009 at 12:41PM

Leave it to a gaggle of brilliant wood science researchers at Oregon State University to figure out that we've been doing this whole "tire" thing wrong for generations now. While studying some uses of microcrystalline cellulose, which can be made easily from practically any type of plant fiber, these Earth-loving gurus discovered that said material could actually improve the efficiency of vehicle tires when used in place of silica. Granted, only about 12 percent of the silica -- which is used as a reinforcing filler in the manufacture of rubber tires -- was swapped out, but the resulting tires gripped just as well in wet weather while decreasing the rolling resistance during those dry summer months. Furthermore, tires constructed with these fibers could be made with less energy, though long-term durability studies are still needed to prove that this whole plan is viable for more than a few thousand miles.

[Via Gizmag]

UC-Light project puts LEDs to work in communication networks

by Darren Murph posted Jul 20th 2009 at 7:14AM

Yeah, mad scientists have been trying to get the public at large to pay attention to visible light communications for years now, but the gurus over at the University of California, Riverside think that the project they're involved in holds a special kind of promise. The Center for Ubiquitous Communication by Light (UC-Light) will be funded with $3.5 million from the Multicampus Research Program and Initiatives (MRPI) competition within the University of California system, and at its core, it's hoping to unearth a magical method for linking up all sorts of electronics (HDTVs, PDAs, information kiosks, PCs, etc.) via light. You know, so your refrigerator can tell your smartphone what groceries are needed during the next supermarket stop, and that massive billboard on I-95 can beam more information that you don't want right onto your handset. If all goes to plan (and California's budget problem solves itself), the work will begin in early 2010 and last five years, after which we fully anticipate "very low-cost communication and navigation systems [to be built] on existing lighting infrastructure." And fowl in every pot. And unicorns in every garage.

[Thanks, Michael]

Laser-equipped Virginia Tech dirt buggy can be driven by the blind

by Darren Murph posted Jul 18th 2009 at 6:29AM

And you thought those self-driving whips in DARPA's Urban Challenge were hot stuff. As the mighty Hokies look to prove their dominance in the field of engineering, a student team from Virginia Tech has assembled what amounts to a vehicle that can actually be driven by blind individuals. In short, the specially equipped dirt buggy is outfitted with an array of laser range finders, an instant voice command interface and a few other related systems that enable drivers to respond to whatever the vehicle "sees." Best of all, the project is far beyond the drawing board, with a blind driver (Wes Majerus) already singing praises about the vehicle and deeming it a "liberating" experience. Regrettably, there's no information on what the team plans to do with the vehicle going forward, but we do know it hopes to pass along the same technology to more street-legal motorcars.

[Thanks, Trisha]