Office of Naval Research
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ICYMI: Submersible sticky situations and elongating elastomer electrodes
Today on In Case You Missed It: Researchers from Purdue University and the Office of Naval Research teamed up to develop a new kind of glue that even works underwater. The synthetic compound is derived from proteins used by muscles to keep themselves attached to rocks. The man-made adhesive is 17 times stronger than its source material and could one day hold US Navy ships together. We also take a look at a stretchable electrode developed at Stanford University. Leveraging the same kind of molecule that commercial kitchens use to thicken soups, the Stanford researchers were able to develop an electrical conductor that can be easily deformed while actually conducting better as it is stretched. And finally, this is what happens when you hook a watermelon up to a car battery. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
Georgia Tech receives $900,000 grant from Office of Naval Research to develop 'MacGyver' robot
Robots come in many flavors. There's the subservient kind, the virtual representative, the odd one with an artistic bent, and even robo-cattle. But, typically, they all hit the same roadblock: they can only do what they are programmed to do. Of course, there are those that posses some AI smarts, too, but Georgia Tech wants to take this to the next level, and build a 'bot that can interact with its environment on the fly. The project hopes to give machines deployed in disaster situations the ability to find objects in their environment for use as tools, such as placing a chair to reach something high, or building bridges from debris. The idea builds on previous work where robots learned to moved objects out of their way, and developing an algorithm that allows them to identify items, and asses its usefulness as a tool. This would be backed up by some programming, to give the droids a basic understanding of rigid body mechanics, and how to construct motion plans. The Office of Navy Research's interest comes from potential future applications, working side-by-side with military personnel out on missions, which along with iRobot 110, forms the early foundations for the cyber army of our childhood imaginations.
MIT's real-time indoor mapping system uses Kinect, lasers to aid rescue workers
We've seen the Kinect put to use to help you find your groceries, but the sensor's image processing capabilities have some more safety-minded applications as well. The fine minds at MIT combined the Kinect with a laser range finder and a laptop to create a real-time mapping rig for firefighters and other rescue workers. The prototype, called SLAM (for Simultaneous Localization and Mapping) received funding from the US Air Force and the Office of Naval Research, and it stands out among other indoor mapping systems for its focus on human (rather than robot) use and its ability to produce maps without the aid of any outside information, thanks to an on-board processor.
U.S. Navy fights piracy with MMOs
The U.S. Navy has a new tool in its war against piracy on the high seas: MMOs. Specifically, the Massive Multiplayer Online WarGame Leveraging the Internet, or "MMOWGLI" if you like your awkward acronyms. Developed over several years to bring war simulations to the next level, MMOWGLI will go online May 16th and be used by civilians and military to figure out new ways to combat Somali pirates. This unique MMO was developed by the Office of Naval Research to be used as a flexible training platform. Under the watch of a control team, players will secure and arm ships, plan for a variety of pirate attacks, figure out hostage situations, and raid pirate camps. There's no word on whether these raids will be 10, 20, or 40-mans. ONR's Dr. Larry Schutte looks forward to seeing if this simulator will result in better preparedness: "We hope MMOWGLI will help us to understand what happens when your insights are combined with the observations and actions of another player -- will that fusion result in a game-changing idea or solution, or will the MMOWGLI platform teach us something about our traditional thought processes?"
US Navy's solid-state laser sets boat ablaze (video)
See that flaming wreckage in the picture above? A laser did that, mounted on board a second vessel similarly bobbing on top of the ocean last week. Yes, even though the United States Navy told us that legitimate seafaring death rays might take another decade to materialize, basic weaponized lasers are ready today, as the 15-kilowatt gun attached to the USS Paul Foster happily demonstrates. Of course, as you'll see in the video after the break, a beam of such minimal power takes a moment to burn through even an unshielded engine and ignite the fuel therein -- once we get some 100+ kilowatt lasers up in there, we shouldn't have such problems.
NAVY SEALs getting fancy LCD sunglasses, will surely show up as DLC in next SOCOM game
We're still a few years away from getting some consumer-friendly LCD sunglasses, but wouldn't you know it the military's already rocking a pair. The Office of Naval Research TechSolutions department has delivered the first 30 sets of what it calls Fast-Tint Protective Eyewear (FTPE). They can change tint automatically based on exterior light, much like currently available prescription glasses, but thanks to their LCD construction can go from dark to clear in just a half-second. This means a SEAL squad could blow a door and infiltrate a room without having to ask the terrorists to hold their fire while everyone takes off their shades. Initial reports are good and SOCOM is planning on buying another 100 sets. Maybe by the time they're delivered someone will release a picture of the things and we won't have to use a random photo of camouflage shades like this one. Update: Travis wrote in with a link to James Vaughan Photography, which has a few photos of prototype versions of these glasses. We've grabbed one. [Image Credit: James Vaughan Photography]
Scientists create sweat-monitoring underwear, break them in (video)
Biochip bracelets be damned -- nanoengineers at UC San Diego want to put sensors in your skivvies. Researchers have begun prototyping a pair of tighty-whiteys coated with the requisite carbon electrodes to make electrochemical computing a reality, as it turns out the nether regions are a prime place to measure chemicals excreted in one's sweat. Until recently, there was some question whether the enzyme sensor solution would handle the stresses of daily life, so to speak, but these briefs were up to the task -- subjected to a torturous gauntlet of bending and stretching, a treated elastic waistband was still able to adequately measure chemicals as required. Funded by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, project leaders envision "smart underwear" that measures a soldier's sweat for warning signs and automatically trigger an appropriate medical dosage. We think they might be getting a wee bit ahead of themselves, though -- we don't yet know how they handle detergent, let alone a quality color-safe bleach. Video after the break, but don't expect any footage of the underpants actually being worn.
US Navy: Gamers '10 to 20%' better at fighting terror
[Image Source] The Office of Naval Research is currently conducting research in video game training that it says has "surprising" results in regards to military personnel reaction time and adaptability in the fight against terror. According to an article available on the Department of Defense's official website, doctor of educational psychology and program officer Ray Perez said the research has discovered that video game players perform "10 to 20 percent higher in terms of perceptual and cognitive ability" than non-gamers. Citing a need for soldiers to be "agile problem solvers" and "agile thinkers," Perez notes that video game training can help field adaptability and the "cognitive advances" derived from the training can last up to two and a half years. "We know that video games can increase perceptual abilities and short-term memory," Perez said, adding games allow players to focus longer and expand the field of vision compared to non-gamers. If it means the brave men and women serving have a better chance of coming home, we're all for it. [Via GamePolitics]
New silicon film ferroelectric may pave the way for instant-on computers (or maybe not)
While the gang at Toshiba are still trying to bring FeRAM to the masses, a team of researchers at Cornell University have devised a new ferroelectric material composed of silicon and strontium titanate that they say can be used (someday!) to build "instant on" transistors. And you know what that means -- instant on computers for students, and instant on death rays for future robot armies. To coax the generally mild-mannered strontium titanate into acting "ferro-electrified" (not an actual scientific term), researchers grew it onto a silicon substrate using a process known as epitaxy. The material literally squeezed itself within the spaces of the silicon molecules, which gave it ferroelectric properties. As you may have guessed, this research was partially funded by the Office of Naval Research -- so the "death ray" remark may not be so off base, after all. We'll keep an eye out.[Via Daily Tech]
Video: Navy UAV uses hydrogen fuel cells for greener surveillance
It sure is nice to see that the military is paying attention to the environment, always on the lookout for greener ways to spy on people, foreign and domestic. Ion Tiger, for instance, is an unmanned vehicle being cooked up at the Naval Research Laboratory that incorporates a hydrogen fuel cell, offering many improvements on earlier battery powered designs -- including a greater range (up to seven times further than that of current designs), heavier payloads, smaller size, reduced noise, a low heat signature, and zero emissions. The Office of Naval Research is making much of the possible civilian potentials for this technology, pointing out that research contributes "directly to solving some of the same technology challenges faced at the national level," but we know the truth: the US military is in cahoots with Greenpeace. You heard it here first, folks. Video after the break.[Via PhysOrg]
Navy report warns of robot uprising, suggests a strong moral compass
You know, when armchair futurists (and jive talkin' bloggists) make note of some of the scary new tech making the rounds in defense circles these days it's one thing, but when the Doomsday Scenarios come from official channels, that's when we start to get nervous. According to a report published by the California State Polytechnic University (with data made available by the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research) the sheer scope of the military's various AI projects is so vast that it is impossible for anyone to fully understand exactly what's going on. "With hundreds of programmers working on millions of lines of code for a single war robot," says Patrick Lin, the chief compiler of the report, "no one has a clear understanding of what's going on, at a small scale, across the entire code base." And what we don't understand can eventually hunt us down and kill us. This isn't idle talk, either -- a software malfunction just last year caused US. Army robots to aim at friendly targets (fortunately, no shots were fired). The solution, Dr. Lin continues, is to teach robots "battlefield ethics... a warrior code." Of course, the government has had absolutely no problems with ethics over the years -- so programming its killer robots with some rudimentary values should prove relatively simple.
Navy developing magnetic contact lenses
It looks like the Navy's Office of Naval Research dipping its toes into the oft-explored business of eye-tracking, with a recent patent application revealing plans for some magnetic contact lenses designed to aid fighter pilots and others in need of a hands-free control option. According to NewScientist, the system consists of a magnetic sensor that's attached to side of an individual's head, which picks up changes in the magnetic field caused by the wearer's contact lenses -- those then get sorted out to determine exactly how the person's eyes are moving. As NewScientist points out, one of the big advantages of this system (as opposed to other methods of eye-tracking) is that it can work regardless of the person's head orientation, lighting conditions, or anything blocking the person's eyes, such as goggles or glasses, hence its appeal for fighter pilots. Lets just hope things don't go too haywire when one of the contacts falls out.
Navy seeks methods for predicting where bombs will be placed
Apparently not content with having bees do all the dirty work of sniffing out bombs, the Navy is now seeking proposals for methods of actually predicting where bombs will be placed. According to Wired's Danger Room, the Office of Naval Research is looking for both "theoretical and technical approaches," which would not only allow for the prediction of bomb placements, but give them the ability to identify and localize bomb makers, predict changing threat tactics, and track the components being used in bomb assembly, among other feats of prognostication. On the technical side of things, the Navy's apparently has a keen interest in "advanced sensor networks," which would automatically detect when a bomb has been placed, allowing them to neutralize 'em with minimal human involvement. Those looking to get in on the action better act fast though, as proposals are due July 20th.
