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via TechEBlog
The Segway Centaur is a concept that “combines proprietary dynamic stabilization technology with advanced propulsion and suspension systems, and an intuitive user interface to create a unique four-wheel device that is easily controllable on two or four wheels.�
Much more Segway info after the jump.
Science Daily — The list of side effects on your prescription bottle may one day be a lot shorter, according to researchers at the University of Maryland’s A. James Clark School of Engineering.
That’s because instead of taking a conventional medication, you may swallow tiny “nanofactories,” biochemical machines that act like cells, first conceived of at the Clark School.
For example, these ingested nanofactories, using magnetism, could detect a bacterial infection, produce a medication using the body’s own materials, and deliver a dose directly to the bacteria. The drug would do its work only at the infection site, and thus not cause the side effects that may arise when an antibiotic travels throughout the body in search of infections.
via TechEBlog
Here’s a first: a touchscreen display you don’t actually have to touch. Basically, users swipe their hand from a distance of up to 15cm away and the built-in sensors translate that movement into a command — like flipping pages, etc. Continue reading to watch a demo.
via Gizmodo
There is no bigger tease that robot art. It’s like hopping inside a Ferrari, hitting the gas and realizing that there is no engine inside. But then you remember: it’s owning a Ferrari gets you laid, not driving one. (Or so we understand).
Created by Greg Brotherton, these “robots” are handmade with hammers and steel, because once we grow sick of Apple everything will have rivets and the distinct possibility of cutting your primitive, sissy flesh. Roughly 7 feet in height, these robots weight between 80 and 200lbs. And hopefully, when we do have sex slaves robots they will look at least this awesome (but maybe lack the horns). – Mark Wilson
Osram has developed a small light-emitting diode spotlight that achieves an output of more than 1,000 lumens for the first time. That’s brighter than a 50-watt halogen lamp, thereby making the device suitable for a broad range of general lighting applications.
The Ostar Lighting LED, which will be launched on the market this summer, can provide sufficient light for a desk from a height of two meters, for example.
read article
via Engadget
In a fitting tribute to the pioneering scientist after whom it was named, Virginia Tech’s Dynamic Anthropomorphic Robot with Intelligence (DARwIn) has finally “evolved” enough (it’s now on the fourth iteration, DARwIn IIb) to compete in the traditional Japanese sport of robot soccer. The VT team — composed of striker DARwIn IIa and goalie DARwIn I — will reportedly be the first US competitors in the humanoid division of the popular RoboCup tournament, whose 2007 finals are actually being held right here on American soil in Atlanta. DIIa, the more sophisticated of the Robotics & Mechanisms Laboratory’s (RoMeLa’s) two bots, is built around a LabVIEW-powered 1.4GHz Pentium M with 1GB of RAM, 256KB of flash memory, 23 total actuators, a pair of FireWire cameras, and a gyroscope — clearly the delicate head-mounted cam was designed before the head-butting ugliness of World Cup 2006. Keep reading to check out a vid of big D in action — as well as tumbling over — and then hit up the Read link for more pics, specs, and action-packed soccerbot clips.
Scientists have been researching what “beauty” is for a long time. We have known for some time that symmetry, smoothness, and “average” features play a large role in what we humans determine to be beautiful. The theory is that we are attracted to mate with others who show the least amount of flaws indicating their superior genetic makeup. This website lets you combine multiple faces to create a beautiful average of your liking. It’s a little like playing perverted Frankenstein and it is a bit addictive.
Two Australians at the University of Technology Sydney have invented a software program that distinguishes a beautiful face from a less attractive one.
Their invention uses facial measurements, related to ratios and images of models, actors and some 200 women from around the world.
After a photograph of a woman’s face is put into the program, it returns a beauty rating of between one and 10.
University of Technology Sydney computer scientists Hatice Gunes and Massimo Piccardi believe the software could be used in fields such as cosmetic surgery.
Read Story
We have to file this under Human Computer Interaction (HCI) because we don’t have a catagory for Dog Computer Interaction (DCI).
link to company behind this cool demo
We have seen some of these kind of interactive displays at some of the shows we have been to. It’s facinating to wonder how this technology will integrate itself into our lives. There are some bars that have using similar technology so far for a cool lighting effect.
We have decided to expand our choice of topical items to blog about. There are many “sister technologies” similar to robotics that we have an interest in or deal with directly here at TR. We are, at heart, a technology company and there are a lot of areas that we feel are relevant to keep an eye on. We think that our readers would also enjoy a wider selection of articles about cutting edge technologies, implementation, and innovation since most people that are interested in robotics are also interested in other areas. We hope this change will make our blog more enjoyable for our readers.
Some of the new areas we will be blogging about are: Display/lighting technology, HCI (human computer interaction), Nanotechnology, Emerging Technologies, Scientific Instrumentation, and more.
