mcmasteruniversity
Latest
Hitchhiking robot completes its cross-Canada trip
It looks like robots can trust us humans to take care of them, after all. Hitchbot has successfully completed its hitchhiking trek across Canada, landing in Victoria, British Columbia this past weekend. The ride-bumming robot didn't survive its 4,000-mile journey completely unscathed. Its LED protector was cracked, and its speech had clearly suffered after two weeks of travel (hey, you try talking to people for that long). It doesn't look like there's another adventure in store, but that's okay by us; it clearly accomplished its goals of testing artificial intelligence techniques and human interaction. If you're ever keen to relive the trip, there's a photo gallery available to satisfy your nostalgic side. [Image credit: AP Photo/Ryerson University]
CPR Glove could save lives, looks kind of dorky
A pair of electrical and biomedical engineering students at McMaster University are entering this year's Ontario Engineering Competition with a rather neat project: the CPR Glove. While it just looks like a particularly lame-looking and ill-fitting glove on the outside, the one-size-fits-all glove houses sensors that can measure if you're administering CPR compressions at the right rate and depth. Apparently the boys spotted a study that found compressions were applied at 80 per minute -- instead of the doctor recommended 100 -- 59% of the time, while 37% of compressions were too shallow. Not exactly the most exciting of statistics, but it inspired these guys to build a glove to help with training or even be included in standard first-aid kits. The glove is built with cheap handbuilt components, so it shouldn't be too hard to manufacture, and the guys are already planning to look for a manufacturer whether or not their creation wins the competition.[Via Medgadget]Read - Students develop CPR GloveRead - Video of the glove in action
