StevensInstituteOfTechnology
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Scientists build WiFi hunter-killer drone and call it SkyNET... Viene Tormenta!
You'd think scientists would proscribe certain names for their inventions -- you wouldn't be taken seriously if your supercomputer was called HAL 9000, WOPR or Proteus IV would you? Well, a team from the Stevens Institute of Technology isn't listening, because it's developing an aerial drone and calling it SkyNET. A Linux box, strapped to a Parrot A.R. Drone, can fly within range of your home wireless network and electronically attack it from the air. Whilst internet-only attacks are traceable to some extent, drone attacks are difficult to detect until it's too late -- you'd have to catch it in the act and chase it off with a long-handled pitchfork, or something. The team is working on refining the technology to make it cheaper than the $600 it currently costs and advise that people toughen up their domestic wireless security. We advise they stop pushing us ever closer towards the Robopocalypse.
3D mapping drone fires lasers from a mile away (video)
The MIT Technology Review has unearthed a new laser-based 3D mapping robot that can produce results similar to those obtained from $100,000 systems at about a fifth of the cost. Funded by the US Army, researchers at the Stevens Institute of Technology have now demonstrated the Remotely Operated and Autonomous Mapping System (ROAMS, for short), which employs a mirror-based LIDAR system that bounces a laser off a rapidly rotating mirror and gleans environmental information from how long it takes for each pulse to bounce back. An array of video cameras and IR proximity sensors add to this recon bot's sentience, though you'll still need to be within a mile's range to operate it. So not quite yet ready for solo missions to Mars, but plenty useful for gathering data on our own planet. You'll find video and imagery of the results this machine kicks out after the break.
Researcher touts "practical fuel cells" for portable electronics
There's certainly no shortage or researchers and companies promising to bring fuel cells into everyday gadgets, but Ronald Besser of the Stevens Institute of Technology seems to think he has a system that can stand out from that pack. According to MIT's Technology Review, Besser's proposed system consists of a cylindrical design with "combustor" at the center that facilitates all the necessary reactions to convert methanol into hydrogen. Apparently, that design not only allows for the fuel cells to be made smaller, but more efficient as well. While it seems to still just be on the drawing board, Besser says the system could eventually allow for laptops to run for upwards of 50 hours, and could be made small enough to power other portable electronics as well. In the meantime, however, you may want to keep an eye on some of the systems a littler closer to reality.
