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Butlers, lunar rovers, snakes and airboats: the best of Carnegie Mellon's Robotics Institute
How was your week? We got to spend a couple of days trekking around the Carnegie Mellon campus in Pittsburgh, PA to check out some of the latest projects from the school's world renowned Robotics Institute -- a trip that culminated with the bi-annual induction ceremony from the CMU-sponsored Robot Hall of Fame. Given all the craziness of the past seven days, you might have missed some of the awesomeness, but fear not, we've got it all for you here in one handy place -- plus a couple of videos from the trip that we haven't shown you yet. Join us after the break to catch up.
Platypus airboats have a Nexus S for a brain, we go eyes-on (video)
Here's another extremely cool offshoot of the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute. Platypus LLC build autonomous robotic airboats that can be deployed for a wide range of usages including environmental data and monitoring hard-to-reach spots after natural disasters like flooding. The hull of the boat looks a good deal like a boogie board, built from polyurethane. On top, you'll find a propulsion fan assembly, just behind a hard plastic electronics compartment that houses internals like the Arduino board. That microcontroller communicates via Bluetooth with a smartphone that sits in the front of of the boat, safely cocooned inside an Otterbox case. The models we saw this week were carrying Nexus S handsets -- relatively cheap solutions bought second-hand off of eBay. Just about any Android phone should do the trick, but in the case of this project, where phones can get wrenched loose or just outright pilfered, cheaper is certainly better. Platypus' proprietary app helps control the boat autonomously, using the handset's camera to provide situational awareness. Sensors mounted on the boat, meanwhile, offer up information on oxygen and PH levels, temperature and more.%Gallery-169017%
Autonomous Wave Glider bot launched to track sharks, beam real-time data to your iPhone and iPad
When they're not breaking world records, fuel-hating Wave Glider seabots like to indulge in other hobbies, like shark tracking. One of the vessels has just been launched off the coast near San Francisco (vid after the break), adding a mobile worker to the existing local network of buoy-mounted receivers. They monitor the movements of electronically tagged sea life, including the fearsome Great White, picking up signals within a 1,000-foot range while researchers from Stanford University analyze the data from the safety of the shore. Better still, the free Shark Net iOS app gives anyone the chance to track these things, and activity should increase as the monitoring network (hopefully) expands along the west coast and more bots are introduced. You didn't think the world's fascination sharks was limited to only a single single week, did you?
FishPi sets course for the open sea, captained by a Raspberry Pi
Raspberry Pi's journey to reach owners has been a lengthy one, but Greg Holloway is preparing to send his board on a longer voyage -- one across the Atlantic. Nestled inside a tupperware tub, the RaspberryPi is the brains of FishPi, an autonomous vessel -- guided by GPS and a compass -- that measures 20 inches from bow to stern. Currently in proof-of-concept form, the craft uses a 40 mm rotating propeller and draws juice from batteries powered by a 130 watt solar panel. Producing kits for students, enthusiasts and professionals is the goal of the project, but testing and development are still on the docket. While the Linux-laden launch isn't ready for the high seas quite yet, you can sail to the source for the technical breakdown or check it out at the Nottingham Hackspace Raspberry Jam next month.
First solar-powered boat to circle the world pulls into home port, contemplates next move
It's been two years since we last heard of the 98-foot-long solar-powered boat, which at the time was gearing up for its big journey around the world. Well, some 19 months and 37,286 miles after setting sail from Monaco, the MS Turanor PlanetSolar has finally made it home. The PlanetSolar broke four Guinness world records along the way, including the all-important "first circumnavigation by solar-powered boat," and it made stops on six continents to promote solar energy. Oh, and the team fended off Somalian pirates in the process, too. Now that it has a moment to catch its breath and soak up some rays at leisure, the MS Turanor could become any number of things -- from the world's largest solar battery to a "green luxury yacht." The latter option would certainly befit its chichi home port.
Philippe Starck reportedly working on Jobs family yacht
A few days ago famed French designer Philippe Starck told French radio station that he was working on a "quite revolutionary" product with Apple that will be unveiled in 8 months. For a few hours the Internet went crazy with speculation that Starck was referring to the rumored Apple television set or the next iPhone. However, in a rather uncustomary move, Apple quickly issued a statement denying that the company was working with Starck in any way. Now a spokesperson for Starck clarified the situation to The Wall Street Journal. The spokesperson confirmed what many had guessed after Apple's refutation of Starck's claims: that Starck was referring to a yacht he was designing for Steve Jobs. According to the spokesperson, "It's not a project with Apple. It's a private project that began with Steve Jobs and that has been taken over by his wife." Steve Jobs mentioned the importance of the yacht to him and his family quite a few times in his biography. Jobs told biographer Walter Issacson, ""I didn't think I would be alive when it got done. But that made me so sad, and I decided that working on the design was fun to do, and maybe I have a shot at being alive when it's done. I know that it's possible I will die and leave Laurene with a half-built boat. But I have to keep going on it. If I don't, it's an admission that I'm about to die."
Inhabitat's Week in Green: space pod hotel, Lego LED lamps and the world's largest solar-powered boat
Each week our friends at Inhabitat recap the week's most interesting green developments and clean tech news for us -- it's the Week in Green. Incredible green architecture projects lifted off to the stars and charted the seas this week as Inhabitat showcased a solar-powered space pod hotel that could launch in 2016 and PayPal founder Peter Thiel invested $1.25 million to create a chain of floating micro-countries. Meanwhile, Apple unveiled new images of its spaceship-shaped headquarters and its Grand Central Terminal store, and OPEN Architecture floated plans to transform a Zeppelin hangar into a green-roofed extreme sports center. Living green building projects also got a boost as Mexico unveiled plans to develop the world's largest urban park and an incredible crop of grass-covered cubicles sprung up in downtown Denver. It was also an epic week for electric vehicles as Germany's "Schluckspecht" car set a world record for driving over 1,000 miles on a single charge, Lightning Motorcycles broke the 200 MPH electric bike speed record, and Stanford unveiled what could very well be the fastest solar car ever built. We also watched the world's largest solar-powered boat arrive in Hong Kong as it continues its trip around the world, while Google Street View began mapping the Amazon using cameras set on canoes and trikes. Solar Roadways also received a $750,000 grant to develop a large-scale installation and Zero2Infinity proposed a cheaper way to travel to space via an immense helium-filled balloon. In other news, the past week was charged with renewable energy developments as a 13-year-old kid harnessed the Fibonacci sequence to make a solar power breakthrough and researchers developed an energy-harvesting LCD screen that could one day power our gadgets. We also learned that deep-sea mussels can convert hydrogen into energy, we were shocked to see another shiny slick of oil turn up near a BP well in the Gulf of Mexico, and we saw Australia outfit its soldiers with photovoltaic systems. Finally, on the home front we brought you a set of fun LEGO LED lamps perfect for illuminating any room, and we shared five tips for greening your finances.
Inhabitat's Week in Green: transparent airplanes, photovoltaic subdivisions and a wind-powered yacht
Green transportation soared through the skies this week as Inhabitat reported on Airbus' plans for a transparent airplane, and we showcased a crazy working hover bike capable of flying up to 10,000 feet. We were also excited to see China begin to roll out high-speed rail across Asia and we spotted several out-of-this world Frankenstein vehicles -- a Mercedes-Benz bus train in Bolivia and a wind-powered yacht that doubles as an airplane. It was a momentous week for energy news as well, as Italians voted to end the use of nuclear power, and we took a look inside Germany's Wunderland Kalkar Amusement Park, which is built inside of a decommissioned nuclear plant. Solar power also had its moment in the sun as Enfinity unveiled two gorgeous photovoltaic-laden landscapes in Les Mées, France and Bangladesh announced that one million of the country's homes are powered by photovoltaic panels. We even spotted a new type of flexible generator that could be built into shoes to produce power as you walk. This week we were also excited to unveil the winners of our Bright Ideas Lighting Design Competition -- the elegant geometric Tetra Pak Lamp, the gorgeous glowing Nourishment Lamp, and the cute cork Pinha Pendant Light. We also launched our new Ask a Tech Geek Series where gadget guru extraordinaire Peter Rojas answers your questions about green technology, and we reported on one Japanese researcher's dubious plan to create an artificial meat substitute from poop. Finally, we shared an awesome steampunk rotary smartphone and a set of fun foldable Paper Punk robots that are perfect for terrorizing your coworkers' cubicles.
Download DARPA's sub-hunting sim, help train its ACTUV automaton
DARPA dabbles in all matter of defense drones, and it's no stranger to leveraging the wisdom of the masses to help develop tomorrow's military machinery. The agency's latest program to go the crowdsourcing route is its Anti-submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel (ACTUV), and it wants you to help develop the software that'll control the thing. DARPA's borrowed a bit of the Sonalysts Combat Simulations Dangerous Waters game to create the ACTUV Tactics Simulator, where players complete missions tracking a target sub while navigating through and around commercial ocean traffic. Would-be captains can then choose to submit their strategies and game data to DARPA for use in shoring up the autonomous seabot's strategic submarine pursuit software. Hit the source link for a free download and dive into the sub-hunting action.
Tiny EGO pseudo-submarine for the super rich is aptly named
Imagine you are so rich you want your own underwater pleasure vehicle, and you don't mind dropping what is likely to be a boatload of cash get it, today may be your lucky, lucky day. A company called Raonhaje has developed the EGO mini-submarine which floats atop the water, but which boasts a submersible capsule for passengers to check out what's going on beneath the surface. Sounds intriguing, right? Sure does! The relatively eco-friendly EV vehicle cruises at just less than five knots for four hours on a full charge. There are no details on price yet, but we expect it will be quite a lot. Video of the rendered model is after the break.
762 horsepower amphibious HydroCar listed on eBay for $777,000
Well, this is something you don't see every day, that's for sure. We've seen plenty of outlandish items for sale on eBay, but this one might just take the cake. A hand-built, amphibious HydroCar packing 762 horsepower is currently listed on eBay for a mere $777,000 -- that's the 'Buy it Now' price, anyway. Crafted by Rick Dobbertin, the 32-foot long steel HydroCar moves from land to water and back again, for all your amphibious vehicle needs. At the time of this writing, Dobbertin has seemingly already rejected 11 offers, so if you're in the market for a vehicle of this kind -- and let's be honest, who isn't? -- you're going to want to hit up the source link fast. Video after the break.
Xbox Kinect gets a new peripheral: a blow-up boat
And you thought the PlayStation Move third-party accessories were cheesy. One of Microsoft's highlight games for Kinect's debut demonstrations was Kinect Adventures! -- which includes a white water rafting "experience" -- so quite naturally someone somewhere came up with a fitting peripheral to the peripheral in the shape of... a boat. That's right, Atomic Accessories thinks that in order for you to be fully immersed in Microsoft's river slalom game, you need your feet firmly planted in an inflatable dinghy. For added value, we're told the Game Boat will accommodate two players (so long as neither is over the age of 10, by the look of it) and that aside from the Xbox 360, it'll also be compatible with your local pool or sea. Game changer!
Halo: Combat Evolved and the battle for boats
During development of the original Halo: Combat Evolved, Bungie actually created a working boat. One map in particular was discussed during today's Bungie panel at PAX 2010 -- an area with several islands where the player would have to navigate from one to the other via watercraft. Bungie showed a video of an early rendering of the craft in use, which very much looked like a futuristic version of a cigarette boat. In the end, it was cut from the game -- not because it didn't handle well, but because "it wasn't fun." Personally, we would've liked to try our hand at aquatic Haloing, but then again we're huge fans of Miami Vice.
One Shots: I'm on a boat!
With the news out yesterday that EverQuest II is going to offer a F2P version, there are many who turned to look at the other SOE games wondering if we might see a shift for them as well. For Vanguard, that could mean more people taking a second look at this graphically gorgeous game -- something we're relatively certain the current playerbase would welcome! With interesting visuals like today's One Shots from shanert, along with interesting in-game systems to play through, we suspect others would be doing what he wrote in to tell us about today: "Here's an image of my character on a tour around the rivers with a self-crafted sloop (after finishing a extensive quest-line that takes weeks of harvesting and crafting)." Have you snapped a great screenshot from your favorite game lately? Why not share it with us! We're always looking for new and interesting things to show off on One Shots. Email your image to us here at oneshots@massively.com along with your name, the name of the game, and a description of what we're seeing. We'll post it out here for everyone to enjoy and give you the credit. %Gallery-85937%
Meet Marvin, the ginormous solar-assisted catamaran
Nah, it's not actually able to get engine power from the insanely large solar panels adorning its roof, but Marvin still utilizes the 35 square meters of photovoltaic panels to run everything else in an eco-friendly fashion. Sadly, this 50 foot fiberglass cruising catamaran is merely a concept for now, but we're hoping that a few VCs get together in order to make this bad boy a reality. Surely there's a Russian billionaire in need of a boat to visit his new home in Newark, right? [Thanks, Panos]
Massively exclusive interview: Dawntide's Martin "Wiz" Anward
The hype-machine for Working as Intended's incoming MMO, Dawntide, resumed at the end of May with the announcement of the start of open beta. Dawntide promises to be a skill-based, open-PvP sandbox a la Shadowbane or Darkfall, with territory to claim, castles to build, sieges to undertake, and boats to navigate waterways usually neglected in other games. And though the game isn't quite finished structurally, we have to agree that what's done is beautiful, and what's planned is ambitious. Might this be the ultra-realistic, survival-of-the-fittest sandbox you're looking for? We were fortunate to score an interview with Working as Intended's CEO, Martin Anward, who gave us an inside look at Dawntide's development and his team's plans for the future. Join us past the break as we ask him about boats, crafting, boats, death penalties, boats, ganking, boats, FOTM builds, boats, and boats!
PlanetSolar boat aims for Earth circumnavigation with Sun's help, enters testing stage (video)
You'll be forgiven for letting the PlanetSolar boat slip your mind in the year that's passed since we last heard of it, but the engineers behind the project haven't been slacking and today we're hearing that the multihull vessel has been put into the water to begin its seafaring tests. With nearly 5,400 square feet of photovoltaic cells adorning its roof, this is by far the biggest and most ambitious solar-powered boat yet, so it's no surprise that it won't be casting off on its globe circumnavigation attempt until at least April 2011. For now, you can enjoy photos of the vast ray-muncher at the PlanetSolar link below or skip past the break for the latest video from the team. [Thanks, Pavel]
No downtime for Tuesday, September 15th
Here's some good news for all of you who play during the early morning hours pacific coast time: There's no downtime this week. Blue poster Wymdar has announced that there will be no rolling restarts and no downtime for the majority of servers, with one exception: the Uther server will experience a quick restart in order to fix an issue with a boat.So enjoy your uninterrupted playtime. Or, if you're at work or school during that time, be jealous that there's other people playing while you slave away. Then read WoW.com to take some of the pain away. But hey, look on the bright side. This means you have at least another week to get that Onyxia achievement or try to farm up a Foror's Compendium before Patch 3.2.2 hits.
Koei's Warship Gunners 2 sailing to PSP
It seems like nearly half of the games released nowadays are Japanese nautical combat simulators for the PSP -- regardless, Koei is set to heap yet another of these ever-popular titles on the pile. This time around, it's a port of the PS2 title Naval Ops: Warship Gunner 2 -- though its PSP iteration has been given a more appropriate moniker: Warship Gunner 2 Portable. Release date details will likely drop when the game's official site goes live on September 4.The title places players behind the wheel (rudder?) of a massive warship, forcing them to fight through waves of enemy vessels and proceed through the story and unlock new customizable parts for their own boat. Basically, it's a more complex version of Battleship, only without all the choking hazards. Unless you consider a UMD a choking hazard, but, man,vyou'd really have to try pretty hard to manage that.
Ship Simulator Extremes to blow the doors off ship simulation genre
This ain't your papa's ship simulation game. This is Ship Simulator Extremes, the latest entry in Dutch developer VSTEP's series of nautical piloting sims. The press release which announced the game includes a lengthy list of features, but all you need to know is in the title -- it'll be "Extremes." Not just "Extreme," mind you -- but "Extremes." As in, more than one "Extreme." We can assume this means the game will take you to the razor-sharp edge of seafaring Extreme-ness, then, just for kicks, it'll take you a bit farther.The game sounds like it'll go over quite well with the world's expansive community of boat enthusiasts -- we just hope it can stay afloat (nailed it!) in the crowded waters of Q1 2010.[Via Big Download]
