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DARPA's Atlas robot will be taught to save you if the sky falls (video)
DARPA and Boston Dynamics seem bent on engineering the robot revolution, and it's while wearing a suspicious smile that they introduce us to Atlas, their latest humanoid creation. Inorganically evolved from Petman and an intermediate prototype, Atlas will compete in DARPA's Robotics Challenge (DRC) Trials in December, where it will be challenged with "tasks similar to what might be required in a disaster response scenario." The seven teams that made it through the Virtual Robotics Challenge stage, held in a simulated environment, will massage their code into the real 6' 2" robot, which sports a host of sensors and 28 "hydraulically actuated joints." Also competing for a spot in the 2014 DRC finals are six "Track A" teams, including a couple of crews from NASA, which've built their own monstrous spawn. Head past the break for Atlas' video debut, as well as an introduction to the Track A teams and their contributions to Judgement Day.
AeroVelo's human-powered helicopter bags $250,000 Sikorsky Prize
We're sure AeroVelo team members think every sleepless night and pedal push are worth it now that they can add the prestigious $250,000 Sikorsky Prize to their pile of bragging rights. They've completely demolished all the requirements needed to win the human-powered helicopter competition during one of their recent attempts. Atlas, their flying contraption, stayed in the air for 64.11 seconds, flew at a max altitude of 3.3 meters (10.8 feet) and never meandered beyond the designated 10 x 10 meter (33 x 33 feet) area. The University of Toronto's creation was locked in head-to-head battle with the University of Maryland's Gamera chopper for quite some time, but it's finally bagged the prize that had remained unclaimed for 33 long years. That's a tremendous accomplishment for anyone, especially for a project with humble beginnings, and if Leonardo Da Vinci were still alive, he'd extend a big congratulazione.
Portal 2's Atlas and P-Body get fresh, filthy coats of paint from ThreeA
Portal 2's multiplayer pawns, Atlas and P-Body, have seen some tough times and even tougher test chambers, as highlighted by ThreeA Toys' latest figurines. ThreeA revealed the prototypes for Atlus and P-Body last year, as smooth, gray statuettes. Now, the figures have a dinged-up coat of paint and classy lens details, along with a pair of Portal guns, and they're looking fly.ThreeA showed off the new prototypes during an event in Taiwan, as spotted and photographed by Tomopop. It's still unclear if Atlas and P-Body will include any LEDs or flashier add-ons, or when they'll be available for collectible consumption.In other video game toy news, ThreeA announced a partnership with Capcom to make mecha figures straight out of Lost Planet. Check out Tomopop's gallery of the ThreeA show here.
Higgs boson update: it's cool, it exists, it's not necessarily so 'exotic'
As a prominent musician once noted: all that hype doesn't feel the same next year, boy. And that's sadly proving true for our old friend Higgs boson, who shot to fame last Summer but is now waking up to find only a handful of fans camped outside his collider. Part of the problem is simply that things have become procedural and academic -- CERN scientists met in Italy this week to share their latest findings, but the updates were mostly either inconclusive or suggestive of a rather mundane-seeming subatomic entity. At the time of Higgs' discovery, observers were especially interested in the possibility that this mysterious particle didn't decay in exactly the way science had predicted. It seemed to break down into an excess of photons, such that it might potentially reveal something unexpected about dark matter and the structure of space-time. But as data continues to be gathered, it appears more likely that the extra photons may have been a statistical anomaly, leading one researcher to admit on Twitter that his ATLAS team is "not too excited" about it anymore. Nothing is confirmed at this point, however, and other scientists have since tweeted to caution against jumping to conclusions. At least we can say for sure that Higgs still exists. And if the poor thing can't hold the universe together and mess with the laws of physics at the same time, then so be it.
Green Throttle officially launches its Android gaming platform, we go hands-on
Thinking of rounding out your entertainment center's arsenal with an Android-based game console? You've certainly got options: Ouya, GameStick and Project Shield are all vying for a spot on your couch. On the other hand, you might already have a perfectly serviceable Android device just waiting to be converted into a makeshift games console -- that's where Green Throttle Games comes in. By pairing a dual-stick gamepad with a console-like game launcher, Green Throttle aims to turn any Android device into a gaming platform. We spent some time with a developer build of the setup late last year, but today the company officially launched the Green Throttle Arena and its companion Atlas controller. We popped in to the firm's Santa Clara office to see what changed.
Green Throttle Games Atlas and Arena hands-on (video)
Amid Nintendo's latest piece of kit and the buzz for the next generation of home consoles, a quiet voice is whispering in the consumer's ear: Android, it says. Between dual-analog gamepads, crowd funded hardware and hardcore gaming tablets, Google's mobile OS is gaining ground among gamers. It certainly has Guitar Hero co-creator Charles Huang's attention -- he's teamed up with Matt Crowley and Karl Townsend (who both had a hand in building various Palm devices) to create Green Throttle Games, an outfit that joins the ever-growing legion of firms out to convert your Android device into a full fledged gaming console. How's it work? We dropped by their Santa Clara offices to find out. %Gallery-171176%
Addon Spotlight: Mapping and Navigation
Carbonite. Carbonite, Carbonite, Carbonite. It's the addon that will not leave my inbox alone! The hugely popular and, just plain huge addon suffered a bit of a rocky period around the beginning of Mists of Pandaria. An update from the developers did not seem to be forthcoming, so a fan named Rythal took it upon himself to create a fan update for the popular multipurpose beast. The developers then reappeared, apparently less than impressed with Rythal's efforts, and launched their own update. Rythal politely bowed out of the official Carbonite threads and forums, and set up shop on his own site, where he continued to post unofficial updates. Then, a while back in late September/early October, the original developers and owners of Carbonite decided that they really didn't have time to maintain this behemoth of an addon. The discussion began about the possibility of making Carbonite Open Source, meaning that Rythal could officially release his patches, and that he and others could push ahead with modularizing, updating, and generally improving Carbonite.
DARPA's Pet-Proto robot climbs, balances, jumps, comes to get you
While Boston Dynamics' Cheetah has already premiered, speeding along on its robot-friendly treadmill, we've now got a better glimpse at how the similarly DARPA-funded human-hunting obstacle-scaling Atlas fares, courtesy of its ancestor. That's the Pet-Proto you can see in the video below, balancing and leaping across narrow terrain, conducting its own "autonomous decision-making" and keeping upright -- all very important points for DARPA's own Robotics Challenge, a competition where winners will gain access to their very own modified version of the Atlas for future disaster response tests. Watch the Pet-Proto gradually advance towards camera right after the break. And we'll sleep with one eye open.
Leaked Nokia Atlas image shows a Windows Phone 8 device heading to Verizon
When AT&T announced it was keeping the Lumia 920 for itself, plenty of clothes were rended and teeth were gnashed. However, the ever-reliable @evleaks has shown a picture of a Nokia handset, codenamed Atlas, that's bound for Verizon's, erm, less unpopular network. While there's no official confirmation as to the phone's pedigree, we wouldn't be surprised if it was a customized version of the 820 to follow in the footsteps of T-Mobile's 810. Whatever happens, we don't have that long to find out either way.
Google Maps creation put under the microscope, reveals a human touch
They say you should never learn how the sausage gets made, but we're willing to make an exception for Google Maps. Talking to The Atlantic, Google has revealed just how much the human element figures into all that collected satellite imagery and road data. Many pieces of terrain information are tested and modified against what Google calls Ground Truth: actual driving, alternate sources and sign photos automatically extracted from Street View runs. Google isn't just making the occasional correction, either. Mapping a country can take hundreds of staff plugging away at the company's Atlas tool, even before we get a crack with Google Map Maker. The combination of man and machine helps explain why Google Maps is one of the most accurate sources of location information on Earth -- although the firm does have some catching up to do in space.
Alt-week 8.4.12: buckyballs, bosons and bodily fluids
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. Remember when we told you last week that we live in a strange world? Well, we had no idea what we were talking about. Seriously, things are about to get a whole lot weirder. High school is certainly a head-scratcher, no matter how old you are, but the mathematics of social hierarchies can't hold a candle to the mysteries of the buckyball. And, if the strange behavior of the familiar carbon molecule isn't enough for you, we've got an entirely new molecule to contend with, while the once-elusive Higgs Boson is getting us closer to unlocking the secrets of the universe. It's all pretty heady stuff, which is why we're also gonna take a quick detour to the world of human waste. This is alt-week.
MechWarrior Online showcases the Atlas [Updated]
Last week we showed you MechWarrior Online's light-weight Jenner model, which is available as part of the MWO Founder Package. This week it's the Atlas' turn in the spotlight. The Atlas weighs in at 100 tons, roughly three times the weight of the more agile Jenner, and has a deadly combination of long- and short-range missiles, four medium lasers, and an autocannon. Because of the weight and weaponry that make it deadly, the Atlas isn't known for being light on its feet. Anyone driving an Atlas will have to have a keen understanding of the battlefield in order to not get caught from behind before being able to bring the mech's technological terror to bear. Skip below the cut to witness the power of this fully armed and operational battlemech! [Edit: Took out the word "exclusively" for the Jenner in the Founder's package as non-Founders can also earn this mech.]
Alt-week 7.14.2012: Bleeping sheep and ATLAS art
Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days. While there might not quite have been the epic science news that we had last week, that doesn't mean that there isn't plenty going on in the world of Alt. In this installment we get to see how CERN tricks out its offices, how one farmer tries to keep his flock, and learn about how the military will be high-tailing around the planet in just a few years. This is alt-week.
CERN confirms existence of new particle consistent with Higgs boson (video)
Physics' big announcement had more in common with a leaky product launch than the serious business of re-writing the science books. But slack asset management aside, it's official: a new boson has been observed with a standard deviation of 5 (confidence of 99.9%). The highly anticipated announcement came this morning direct from CERN's press conference (via ICHEP in Melbourne,) and is the result of an intense, ongoing search for the elusive particle. The observation is of a boson particle with a mass of 125.3 ± 0.6 GeV, at a significance of 4.9 sigma. Joe Incandela -- giving the presentation -- said that this is "In agreement with the standard model at 95% confidence range." The boson is the heaviest ever found, and although this is still a preliminary result, it's by far the strongest case yet for the existence of the elusive Higgs. The sought-after particle is essential for supporting the current understanding of sub-atomic world, and its bearing on nuclear, and electromagnetic interactions. The next stage will be to determine the exact characteristics of the new particle and whether it matches the expectations of the Higgs, or is it in fact something more "exotic." This part will take much more time, but for now, a (very) small, but important piece of the puzzle has been found. Update: We're sure you've got many questions, and CERN apparently anticipated this. Check out the more coverage link for a helpful FAQ about everything Higgs. [Image credit: CERN]
CERN update on its search for Higgs boson starts at 3AM ET (video)
The cat would appear to be out of the bag, but if you must find out about the status of the Higgs boson search ASAP, check the video stream (embedded after the break) as CERN scientists reveal whatever it is they've found. The webcast is scheduled to kick off at 2:55AM ET, as a prelude to this year's ICHEP particle physics conference in Melbourne. Whenever the announcement comes we'll be sure to let you know, check the links below for more information. Update: So yeah, they've found a new particle "consistent with Higgs boson," check out all the details here.
Higgs boson just may, possibly, more or less be proven to exist by ATLAS and CMS teams
We had a false alarm over the possible discovery of the theory-unifying Higgs boson last year, but a bit of poking and prodding in subsequent months may well have given us much more definitive evidence of the elusive particle. According to some rare rumors emerging from Nature, both CERN's ATLAS and CMS detectors have seen particle decay signals suggesting the existence of Higgs to within a 4.5 to 5 sigma level of proof -- in other words, very nearly concrete evidence. That's not quite the 5-plus needed to settle the matter, but it's to a much higher level of certainty than before. As if to add fuel to the fire, ScienceNews even located a briefly posted, CERN-made video (sadly, since pulled) saying bluntly that the CMS team had "observed a new particle." Whether or not there's any substance is another matter. Nature hears that scientists are supposedly still working out what to say at an event on Wednesday, while CERN has made the slightly odd claim to ScienceNews that the yanked video is just one of several pre-recorded segments made to cover possible outcomes -- you know, in that "Dewey defeats Truman" sort of way. Unless the scientists have to go back to the drawing board, though, the focus from now on may be more on learning how Higgs behaves than its very existence. Any significant truth could see researchers proving the validity of the standard model of physics just as we're firing up our Independence Day barbecues.
Large Hadron Collider to increase beam energy: Higgs boson can run, not hide
We've seen the Large Hadron Collider running at a record-breaking 7 TeV for short periods, but now CERN is turning it up a notch (to 4 TeV from 3.5) for the rest of the year. The decision comes after an annual performance workshop last week in Chamonix and a report from the CERN Machine Advisory Committee (CMAC). The increase may seem modest compared to the knee-trembling levels of 7 TeV, but it's all part of a broader optimization strategy. Scientists state the new approach should increase the data collected in 2012 to 15 inverse femtobarns -- a three-fold jump from 2011. Even more encouraging is a statement from CERN's Research Director, Sergio Bertolucci, who claims that we should finally know for sure about the existence of the Higgs boson -- either way -- before the LHC enters a temporary shut-down period at the end of the year. Beam yourself over the break for the full press release.
Mushkin debuts three new SSDs at CES
We love us some speedy NAND Flash here at Engadget, and Mushkin's just unveiled a trio of SSDs full of the stuff packing Sandforce SF-2281 controllers. The Chronos Go offers 560MB/s sequential writes and 525MB/s reads in drives up to 480GB in size. The Atlas mSATA SSD does sequential writes at 535MB/s, maxes out at 240GB, and will be available to be dropped into the Ultrabook of your choosing. Both the Chronos Go and Atlas are scheduled for a Q1 release. Lastly, the Scorpion PCIe modular SSD lets you chain up to four SSDs in a RAID array to get sequential writes up to 1275MB/s and reads up to 1500MB/s when it drops sometime in the first half of this year. [Image Credit: DailyTech]
LHC discovers 'particle', starts repaying back that five billion
The Large Hadron Collider at CERN was built to discover new life forms and new civilizations particles to complete the Standard Model of physics, of which the Higgs-Boson is only a part. The $5 billion project has finally found something previously unseen, according to the BBC. ATLAS has picked up Chi-b 3P: a Boson (building block of nature) Meson comprised of a "beauty quark" and a "beauty anti-quark," bound together with a strong nuclear force -- believed to exist in nature, but never seen until now. Yesterday's discovery is so new, it hasn't even had a sigma rating yet, but we don't expect CERN to confirm the find until its next two hour keynote. Update: The initial report described the particle as a Boson (elemental force carriers), it is in fact a Meson (which comprise of a quark and an anti-quark).
CERN: 'Don't believe the Higgs-Boson hype' (update: not yet)
CERN is pouring cold water on the rumor it's gonna announce the discovery of the Higgs at today's seminar in Zurich. For the uninitiated: the Higgs-Boson is the particle that is believed to give all things mass: it surrounds us, penetrates us and binds the galaxy together. The scuttlebutt is that the ATLAS sensor picked up a Higgs with a mass of 125GeV (gigaelectronvolts) and rated at three-point-five-sigma -- a one sigma barely warrants a mention, a five-sigma is a bona-fide scientific discovery. CERN hasn't confirmed or denied anything, claiming it's still got five inverse femtobarns worth of data (roughly 5 x 70 x 10^12 of individual collisions) to examine before it can be sure, so just chuck the one bottle of champagne into the refrigerator -- better to be safe, eh? Update: Looks like we don't need to bust out the bubbly, after all. The conclusion from the two-hour presentation is that the ATLAS detector has been able to narrow down the region it believes the Higgs is in to 115.5GeV to 131GeV and that any discovery so-far only has a rating of two point three sigma. The CMS is similarly inconclusive, with results bobbing around the two sigma region. In short, whilst they know where they should look, they haven't been able to find one -- yet.
