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ICYMI: Space foam party and mind reading for horses
try{document.getElementById("aol-cms-player-1").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: A new rover concept from Harvard's SSR Lab shows a rover extruding a fast-drying foam over rocks to keep vehicles from getting stuck on other planets. University of Nottingham researchers are building an algorithm to read the moods and behavior of horses, rather than having behaviorists analyze videos on their own. You should also see this video of hardware playing a very iconic song, at least check out the hysteria around Pokemon Go, and what's going on with Mars. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
NASA's 'Swarmies' are a squad of smaller, less intelligent rovers
Typically, we send rovers to our planetary neighbors one at a time -- but what if we sent a small team of smaller, less impressive robots instead? That's the idea NASA is exploring at Kennedy Space Center with Swarmies: a quartet of four autonomous robots designed to work together to complete a single mission. Working as a colony of insects might, the four machines use a combination of WiFi, GPS and webcams to survey an area, assess its value and contact the other robots if assistance is needed. The robots are less advanced than a typical rover might by, but working in tandem allows them to cover more ground. It also serves as a security measure: if one rover fails, there are three left to complete the mission.
NASA's Curiosity rover finds ancient streambed on Mars, evidence of 'vigorous' water flow
Curiosity may have spent a while limbering up for the mission ahead, but now it's found evidence of an ancient streambed on Mars that once had "vigorous" water flow. Photos of two rock outcroppings taken by the rover's mast camera between the north rim of Gale Crater and the foot of Mount Sharp reveal gravel embedded into a layer of conglomerate rock. The shape of the small stones indicate to NASA JPL scientists that they were previously moved, and their size (think from grains of sand to golf balls) are a telltale sign that water did the work instead of wind. Evidence of H2O on Mars has been spotted before, but this is the first direct look at the composition of riverbeds NASA has observed from above. According to Curiosity science co-investigator William Dietrich, it's estimated that water flowed at the site anywhere from thousands to millions of years ago, moved at a clip of roughly 3 feet per second and was somewhere between ankle and hip deep. "A long-flowing stream can be a habitable environment," Mars Science Laboratory Project Scientist John Grotzinger said. "It is not our top choice as an environment for preservation of organics, though. We're still going to Mount Sharp, but this is insurance that we have already found our first potentially habitable environment."
X-RHex Lite robot grows a tail, always lands on its feet (video)
By far the greatest challenge for robots with legs is staying upright when the going gets rough. A team at the University of Pennsylvania's Kod*lab has a hunch that we don't need extra smarts to make that happen -- just an extra appendage. The upgraded X-RHex Lite (XRL) carries a tail that will swing in the right direction to keep the robot upright if it's caught out by a fall, much like a cat. That's impressive for a nearly 18-pound robot (the previous Tailbot was 0.4 pounds), but we're pretty sure no feline has six springy legs; the XRL can crash to the ground and still get back up like it ain't no thing, which gives it a fudge factor others don't have. We don't know if the hexapod critter will lead to more than further experiments. If there are fewer stuck rovers on future exploration missions, though, we'll know who to thank.
Wheeme massage robot asks where it hurts to drive away the pain
Former Israeli electronics and defense engineers wouldn't be the first group of people we'd peg to leap into the robot massager biz, but that's exactly who's behind the Wheeme from DreamBots inc. According to the firm's about page, the Wheeme was developed to meet "the increasing demand for smart products that offer the natural feeling of caressing, relaxation, falling asleep and even just tickling." True to those goals, the device works by moving slowly across a person's body to provide a gentle massage using its soft silicone rubber "fingerettes" (a.k.a. wheels). Special tilt sensor technology ensures it won't fall off or lose grip while motoring either -- making the Wheeme a master at its trade -- at least for customers lying down. Officially this rover will start shipping in the spring of 2011, but pre-ordering the device which costs $49 plus shipping will guarantee you don't miss out on any of the drive by goodness. To view the Wheeme going to work while narrowly avoiding crashes, check out the embedded video after the break.
NASA challenge searches for a solar-powered 'Night Rover'
NASA regularly opens up challenges to foster development of new and exciting space technology, and it looks like it's come up with a particularly challenging one recently -- it's asking interested parties to develop a solar-powered "Night Rover" that can store up enough energy during the day to continue to work throughout the night. That's as opposed to the more recent crop of rovers that must do most of their work during the day, which NASA says forces them to pick and choose what tasks the rovers perform, thereby greatly reducing the chance for discoveries. It also notes that simply adding more batteries isn't an option, since every tiny weight increase significantly adds to the cost of sending something into space. Think you've got what it takes? There's a $1.5 million dollar prize in store for the winner.
NASA's six-legged ATHLETE bot will roam the moon
Mars isn't the only heavenly body that NASA is trying to colonize with robots: the US space agency is currently working on a prototype rover named ATHLETE that may be cruising around the moon within the next decade. Short for All Terrain Hex Limbed Extra Terrestrial Explorer, ATHLETE sports six wheeled "legs" attached to a hexagonal frame loaded with cameras and sensors, allowing an Earth-bound operator to get a 360-degree sense of his or her surroundings. While the current iteration is only half as big as the final version will be, this rover will eventually be able to land and carry up to 20 tons of gear -- but without any sort of onboard defense system, it will probably stand little chance against the first Decepticon attack. Video after the break...[Via MAKE]
