Lifeboat Foundation

This looks very promising.

The human body is designed pretty well: Our muscles are able to switch between strength and dexterity, limbs stiffening when we do an energy-fueled task like lifting a bowling ball and softening when we do something delicate like painting with a brush. This ability is very rarely replicated in engineering systems, namely because it’s expensive, but also because it’s been damn hard to clone.

Continue reading “New Metal Can Become Soft and Stiff Just Like Human Muscles” »

Following two big acquisitions by US tech companies of AI startups based in academia, the capital is emerging as a hub for young scientist-entrepreneurs.

With all the talk about manned missions to Mars by the 2030s, its easy to overlook another major proposal for the next great leap. In recent years, the European Space Agency has been quite vocal about its plan to go back to the Moon by the 2020s. More importantly, they have spoken often about their plans to construct a moon base, one which would serve as a staging platform for future missions to Mars and beyond.

These plans were detailed at a recent international symposium that took place on Dec. 15th at the European Space Research and Technology Center in Noordwijk, Netherlands. During the symposium, which was titled “Moon 2020–2030 – A New Era of Coordinated Human and Robotic Exploration”, the new Director General of the ESA – Jan Woerner – articulated his agency’s vision.

Continue reading “ESA Planning To Build An International Village… On The Moon!” »

Interesting Question to ask.

The battle between the FBI and Apple over the unlocking of a terrorist’s iPhone will likely require Congress to create new legislation. That’s because there really aren’t any existing laws which encompass technologies such as these. The battle is between security and privacy, with Silicon Valley fighting for privacy. The debates in Congress will be ugly, uninformed, and emotional. Lawmakers won’t know which side to pick and will flip flop between what lobbyists ask and the public’s fear du jour. And because there is no consensus on what is right or wrong, any decision they make today will likely be changed tomorrow.

This is a prelude of things to come, not only with encryption technologies, but everything from artificial intelligence to drones, robotics, and synthetic biology. Technology is moving faster than our ability to understand it, and there is no consensus on what is ethical. It isn’t just the lawmakers who are not well-informed, the originators of the technologies themselves don’t understand the full ramifications of what they are creating. They may take strong positions today based on their emotions and financial interests, but as they learn more, they too will change their views.

Continue reading “As Technology Barrels Ahead—Will Ethics Get Left in the Dust?” »

Needs lots and lots of work still.

The humanoid robot Walk-man showed of some of his life-saving capabilities in Genoa Thursday, as the Italian Institute of Technology (IIT) and University of Pisa develop the hardware for disaster response operations.

The 185-centimetre-high (72 inch) robot is a result of the four-year research program which started in October 2013 aimed at assisting or even replacing humans in civil damaged sites including buildings, such as factories, offices and houses.

Continue reading “Italy: Meet the humanoid bot made to tackle emergency situations” »

An Argentine engineer has used recycled items to create a robot that can find and eat trash, the media reported on Friday.

TweetScientists from Cornell University have come up with a new form of technology that holds a lot of promise in the field of electronics, where stretchy screens and other products are shaping up to be the wave of the future. Scientists from Cornell University have come up with a new form of technology that holds a lot of promise in the field of electronics, where stretchy screens and other products are shaping up to be the wave of the future.

The Cornell study published yesterday in Science takes a look at a pliable type of “skin” that changes colors and flexes and stretches based on the pressure it senses. This skin is said to be similar to that of squid and octopus, but, according to Cornell Organic Robotics Lab researcher Chris Larson, it’s “much, much, much more stretchable than human skin or octopus skin.” He compared the stretchy skin to something akin to a “rubber band or a balloon.”

Google’s latest version of the Atlas robot can open doors, balance while walking through the snow, place objects on a shelf and pick itself up after being knocked down.

Audi RSQ – a fantastic car. Certainly a design icon, but first of all, a movie star. The Audi RSQ was the first car we developed for a motion picture – with great success. This sporty coupé for the 2004 Hollywood science-fiction “I, Robot” was a visionary concept of what a car might look like in 2035. Four designers, ten model engineers, ten weeks, all creative liberties – that’s what it took to create this Audi of the future.

What was really unique and visionary about the Audi RSQ: It was the first Audi demonstrating piloted driving capabilities. Here is one of my favorite moments in the movie – a moment that tells you a lot about piloted driving:

Continue reading “Audi RSQ | Sporty Coupé for the 2004 ‘I, Robot’ | CES Asia 2015” »