Lifeboat Foundation

In an age of increasingly advanced robotics, one team has well and truly bucked the trend, instead finding inspiration within the pinhead-sized brain of a tiny flying insect in order to build a robot that can deftly avoid collisions with very little effort and energy expenditure.

An insect’s tiny brain is an unlikely source of biomimicry, but researchers from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and Bielefeld University in Germany believed it was an ideal system to apply to how robots move. Fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) possess remarkably simple but effective navigational skills, using very little brainpower to swiftly travel along invisible straight lines, then adjusting accordingly – flying in a line angled to the left or the right – to avoid obstacles.

With such a tiny brain, the fruit fly has limited computational resources available to it while in flight – a biological model, the scientists believed, that could be adapted to use in the ‘brain’ of a robot for efficient, low-energy and obstacle-avoiding locomotion.

His ideas should have been used not lobotomies.

Neuropsychopharmacol ogy volume 37, pages 2883–2884 (2012) Cite this article.

Both models are set to arrive by 2030

By Paul Horrell | 2 days ago.

American Amber Pearson used to wash her hands until they bled, terrified by the idea of contamination from everyday items, a debilitating result of her obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD).

But the repetitive rituals of her condition are largely consigned to memory, thanks to a revolutionary brain implant that is being used to treat both her epilepsy and her OCD.

“I’m actually present in my daily life and that’s incredible,” the 34-year-old told AFP.

Dr. Richard Naud’s research at the University of Ottawa holds important implications for understanding learning and memory theories, and it may pave the way for advancements in artificial intelligence in the future.

The mysteries of the human brain’s internal mechanisms are slowly being uncovered, and a significant new study led by Dr. Richard Naud from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa is bringing us nearer to solving these profound questions.

The study’s results have important implications for theories of learning and working memory and could potentially help lead to future developments in artificial intelligence (AI) since AI developers and programmers watch the work of Dr. Naud and other leading neuroscientists.

Sept 22 2016.

Kurzweilai – How the properties of quarks and gluons can be used (in principle) to perform computation at the femtometer (10^−15 meter) scale.

An atom is about 10^−10 m in size.

Continue reading “Femtotech: computing at the femtometer scale using quarks and gluons from Hugo de Garis” »

Korea researchers achieved a three-fold increase in lithium extraction efficiency compared to conventional methods in its latest study.

As we get closer to the official debut of Rivian’s more affordable R2, we are finally getting a better idea of what to expect. After teasing the model for the first time yesterday, Rivian’s R2 was reportedly spotted filming in downtown LA shortly after.

Rivian opened the R2 website yesterday, teasing the first look at the new EV in an intro video. The new EV will be revealed on March 7 at its new flagship Laguna showroom.

Although Rivian teased the new model leading up to its highly anticipated debut, we have yet to see what it looks like in full, until now. A patent filed by Rivian last month revealed a more compact electric SUV than the R1S with slightly smaller headlights.

This article discusses how developers are using calorimetry to inform decision-making surrounding battery design and manufacture, and explores how increasing battery size needs to be supported with larger and more comprehensive testing equipment.