Ex-Time Watch Projects Time On Arm

The Ex-Time Watch, a conceptual watch by Rong Yong, projects the current time and date onto your arm/hand with the push of a button. So when someone asks what time it is, you push a button, and then point your arm in their direction. I like the concept, because I hate listening to people. Just show me your watch, I can tell the time myself. Besides, you'll probably round off to the closest five minutes or something. I want the exact time. This watch is not for me. My wrists are too fat.


Botley: What time is it when an elephant sits on your watch?
Harry: Time to get a new watch?
Botley: Time to get a new arm!

Octopus Arms May Point Way to New Robot Designs

Hillary Mayell
for National Geographic News
February 9, 2005

Octopuses, those boneless, brainy, denizens of the deep, use their arms for some tasks in much the same way humans do, according to a new study.

Theoretically, there are any number of ways an octopus could use its long flexible arms to move an object. But the method they actually use is surprisingly close to how animals with rigid skeletons—including humans—do it, scientists say.

When hunting and grabbing dinner, the octopus uses all the flexibility the arm is capable of. But to bring captured prey to its mouth, the octopus turns the arm into a semi-rigid structure that bends to form quasi joints. Just as a human arm has joints at the shoulder, elbow, and wrist that allow our arms to bend and rotate, the octopus bends its arm to forming three segments of roughly equal length.

Understanding how the octopus controls eight flexible arms all at once could be the basis for developing the next generation of flexible robotic arms—long a goal among robotics engineers.

"Our specific aim in this project is to learn from nature how to build and control a flexible-arm robot," said Binyamin Hochner, a biologist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and one of the co-authors of the study. "And indeed our studies show how the octopus simplifies the complex problems associated with controlling flexible arms that have an infinitely large number of degrees of freedom. This in turn inspires the development of new strategies for the control of flexible robotic arms."

Quasi-Jointed Cephalopod

With more than a 250 species, octopuses are members of an ancient group of animals called cephalopods. The giant Pacific octopus (Octopus dofleini) can grow to over 20 feet (6 meters) and weigh more than 100 pounds (45 kilograms). The tiny Californian octopus (Octopus micropyrsus), by contrast, is no more than half an inch to an inch (1.3 to 2.5 centimeters) long.

There have been numerous accounts of (and searches for) an as yet unknown species of deep-sea octopus that is believed to grow to over 100 feet (30 meters) across and weigh several tons.

Octopuses have intrigued scientists for years, because they have both long- and short-term memory, they remember solutions to problems, and they can go on to solve the same or similar problems. They have been known to climb aboard fishing boats and open holds in search of crabs. They can figure out mazes, open jars, and break out of their aquariums in search of food.

The arms are composed almost entirely of muscle, with no bone or external skeleton—a structure known as a muscular hydrostat. Elephant trunks and tongues are other examples of a muscular hydrostat.

Earlier research funded by the U.S. Navy's Office of Naval Research (ONR) suggests that, to keep the arms from constantly tangling themselves up, each arm has an independent peripheral nervous system and neural circuitry (see related-story link below). This allows the brain to essentially give a command—"Arm Four, fetch that tasty crab crawling by"—and have the arm carry out the order without the brain thinking about it again.

This ability is combined with excellent eyesight. Once an octopus spots its prey, it has a remarkable ability to reach out with one of its arms and grab it with one of the suckers that form a double line up each of the octopus's arms.

Some scientists studying octopus arms conclude that they may represent the optimal design for robotic arms.

"If you had something—a person, say—floating in a water column or in space, a straight mechanical arm is likely to push it away," said Thomas McKenna, a project officer at the ONR. "But an arm you could use to gently wrap around an object and retrieve it, that would be useful."


Botley: How many octopuses does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Harry: 1/8!

Robot Fish Debut in London

This week the London Aquarium unveiled the newest "species" to join its collection: robo-carp.

Computer scientists at the University of Essex in the U.K. developed the self-guided robot fish, seen here swimming in the aquarium. The designers say it is the smartest such robot yet created—the fish uses artificial intelligence and built-in sensors to avoid obstacles and respond to environmental changes.

The fish's battery lasts for up to five hours, though the scientists hope to one day program it to search for and access a recharging station when it runs low.

"This work has many real-world applications, including seabed exploration, detecting leaks in oil pipelines, mine countermeasures, and improving the performance of underwater vehicles," project leader Huosheng Hu told the Associated Press.

The bot, which resembles a one-and-a-half-foot-long (half-meter-long) common carp, mimics the undulating motions of a real fish swimming and turning. Three of the cyber-fish will swim in a tank at the aquarium alongside their living counterparts.


Botley: Why did the robot cross the road?
Harry: He was programmed to do so.

(Photo: The "HIRO," a life-size torso humanoid robot platform. The bottom part is a combination of a mount and a robot suit. The frame is made of cast aluminum alloy. The HIRO is sized 67 (H) x 50 (W) x 50cm (D) and weighs 20kg.)

Kawada Industries Inc and General Robotix Inc (GRX) have jointly developed a life-size torso humanoid robot platform, the "HIRO" (Human Interactive Robot).

The robot's movements are more similar to those of humans compared with existing robots, making it possible to conduct practical researches.

The HIRO is scheduled to be delivered to academic research institutes such as university laboratories and vocational schools specializing in information machines in the autumn of 2009.

When environmental recognition devices such as a camera are mounted on the platform, it can be used to research human interactive robots that work under actual living environments as well as robot safety and interactive technologies for next-generation robot systems and their hardware and software.

The robot has 15 degrees of freedom in total, with two of them in the neck, six in each arm and one in the low back. It can carry an object weighing up to 2kg with each of its arms, and its finger tip features an operating force of up to 100N (approximately 10kgf).

The finger tip can trace the outer track of an A4 paper, starting from and coming back to the center point (approximately 1,400mm), in about two seconds and can repeat this movement. The repeat positioning accuracy is within 20μm, according to Kawada Industries and General Robotix.

The robot incorporates the "OpenHRP3" (Open Architecture Human-centered Robotics Platform 3), a simulation software developed by the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technologies (AIST) jointly with the University of Tokyo and GRX. The control software was co-developed by GRX and Kawada.

This control software will also be employed in a transfer robot that is currently being developed under the next generation intellectual robot technology development project promoted by Japan's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). Furthermore, the companies are considering the possibility of bringing the control software into compliance with the RT Middleware, which are being developed by NEDO and its partners.

The HIRO uses Windows XP as the operating system (OS) for information processing and recognition, while it uses QNX for control, to form a system with high flexibility and real-time property, the companies said.

The robot adopts the CORBA as the interface for the control software and user applications. In addition, libraries and samples supporting a variety of languages will be provided together with a program source.

It comes in two versions, a full spec version and a lower priced basic version. The full spec version has a head-mounted double-lens stereo vision camera, two robot hands with four degrees of freedom in each hand, two hand cameras, etc mounted on the main body. It is also equipped with a control PC and an information processing and recognition PC that are used as robot controllers. The price is ¥7.4 million (approx US$76,963, excluding tax).

The basic version, which is offered for ¥5.4 million (excluding tax), does not have the two degrees of freedom in the neck, the head-mounted camera and the two robot hands. Both of the versions include software.

National Disability Awareness Month Sparks Interest

This profile is in honor of National Disability Awareness Month is Ricky DeRennaux, a teacher and inventor who overcame his own challenges to help kids with disabilities.

Ricky DeRennaux struggled with a leaning disability all of his life. He faced obstacles in school, taunting from peers and frustration from educators. Eventually, DeRennaux overcame his problems and decided to focus on helping others with disabilities. He has done that in two ways, by operating an ODEP-funded program for teens with disabilities, and inspiring them to new heights by appearing on a nationwide TV show for inventors.

DeRennaux is president of Tech-Now, Inc. and the Oklahoma state high school tech director with responsibility for 34 schools. He runs an after-school high-tech program for students with disabilities, the High School/High Tech program. Students work together with sophisticated equipment including scanners, digital cameras and state-of-the art software to design and construct buildings, create graphic arts and animated web advertisements, and produce radio ads and movies using digital engineering.

Students in the Tech-Now, Inc. program mimic a workplace environment by clocking in and out for each session, and trying to get as much done in a short time as possible. The program includes a summer institute held on the campus of Southern Nazarene University in Bethany. The program was recently extended to 90 special educations students at 13 schools.

In addition, DeRennaux received national acclaim as a finalist on the popular ABC TV show American Inventor. DeRennaux’s design for an HT Racer allows users to design and build remote controlled model cars, planes, trucks, boats and any sort of craft that they can imagine. Programs such as DeRennaux’s High School/High Tech institute provide help and inspiration for people with disabilities. Another such program is the disabilityworks project in Illinois. Disabilityworks uses a business model targeting both the supply and demand sides of employment for persons with disabilities. The project works with companies to develop employment opportunities, and build awareness about financial incentives and tax breaks for hiring disabled employees. Disabilityworks also engages educational programs for youth and adults with disabilities, and workforce development services.

Disabilityworks is funded primarily by the State of Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, with support from the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and the city of Chicago. The project partners with the Chicagoland Provider Leadership Network, which represents 117 organizations, and the Chicagoland Business Leadership Network, which has 63 member companies. In its first year, the project resulted in jobs for 194 people with disabilities, more than 90 percent in private industry. In 2006, the Secretary of Labor and ODEP recognized disabilityworks with a New Freedom Initiative Award for demonstrating exemplary and innovative efforts in furthering the employment and workplace environment for people with disabilities.

President George W. Bush proclaimed October National Disability Awareness month as an opportunity to recognize the contributions and accomplishments of Americans with disabilities. It’s also a time to underscore the nation’s commitment to advancing employment for citizens with disabilities and ensure diversity in the workplace.

Until 1990, many disabled people were denied opportunities in the workplace. Homes, businesses and even public buildings were constructed to prevent access by those with disabilities, particularly those in wheelchairs. This all changed with the ADA, the landmark Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990. The ADA made it illegal to discriminate in hiring, promotion, or training of workers with disabilities. Under the ADA, employers must make reasonable accommodations for employees with disabilities.

Since 2001, the New Freedom Initiative has helped promote the full participation of people with disabilities in all areas of society including education, training and employment. Programs such as “Ticket to Work” have helped improve access to employment training and placement services.

Despite all these efforts, according to the ODEP, there is still chronic underemployment of workers with disabilities

Robot helps you become a fly on the wall

You probably would not notice a fly in the room, but you certainly would notice a hawk,' said the Harvard University project leader, Robert Wood.

His team used lasers to cut the ultrathin carbon fibre needed to create a flexible and functional fly, which flaps its wings at 110 beats per second.

'Simply scaling down existing macro-scale techniques would not have come close to the performance we needed,' said Mr Wood.

However the fly will not be fooling any secret agents at this stage in its development – so far it can move only straight up.

The project is said to be funded by the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency.

The robotic flies may also be used on the battlefield or in 'urban environments'.


Botley: What are you doing with that flyswatter?
Harry: Hunting flies.
Botley: Did you get any:
Harry: Yep, three males, two females.
Botley: How can you tell?
Harry: Three were on a beer can, two were on the phone.

Top cop predicts robot crimewave

Technology such as cloned part-robot humans used by organised crime gangs pose the greatest future challenge to police, along with online scamming, Australian Federal Police (AFP) Commissioner Mick Keelty says.

Mr Keelty said the police force would have to use experts from the private sector to fight tech-savvy organised criminals, because it lacked the necessary skills.

Technology-enabled crime was "a new area that's growing exponentially", he warned yesterday.

A feature of serious organised criminal networks was their ability to be flexible and quickly adopt new techniques, and police forces would have to move quickly to keep up.

"And I think a lot of those skills don't exist in policing today," Mr Keelty told a parliamentary inquiry into the future impact of organised crime in Canberra.

"A lot of those skills will have to be imported into policing and probably exist more so in the private sector."

Mr Keelty said it was hard to estimate how much money the AFP would need to combat technology-based crime.

But he identified the use of robotics and cloning as future challenges.

"Our environmental scanning tells us that even with some of the cloning of human beings - not necessarily in Australia but in those countries that are going to allow it - you could have potentially a cloned part-person, part-robot," he said.

"You could (also) have technology acting at the direction of a human being, but the human being being distanced considerably from the actual crime scene."

Mr Keelty said scams had sprung up in online virtual worlds such as Second Life, where people can spend real money via credit cards to buy products such as virtual real estate and gifts.

"Policing that is going to be quite difficult," he said.

Australian and UK police had also noticed a trend of internet pedophiles crossing into real life pedophilia, and were planning a joint operation in developing countries, he said.

"We are watching people in the virtual world convert what they are doing in the virtual world to travel to some of these countries where children are at risk," he said.

"So this convergence from the virtual to the real world is a new phenomenon and makes evidence-gathering quite difficult. It will be a problem for us into the future."

AFP deputy commissioner John Lawler said maintaining strong links with foreign police forces and attorney-general's departments would help authorities gather evidence needed to track global criminals moving through cyberspace.

Criminals could use technology to commit crime but also to improve their ability to communicate secretly, he said.


Botley: Did you hear the story about my uncle and the robber?
Harry: Tell me.
Botley: Late one night, a burglar broke into my uncle's house when my uncle was out. The burglar tiptoed through the living room but suddenly he froze in his tracks when he heard a loud voice say: "Jesus is watching you!" He stopped but heard nothing more and then continued. "Jesus is watching you," the voice boomed again. The burglar stopped dead again. He was frightened. Frantically, he looked all around. In a dark corner, he spotted a bird cage and in the cage was a parrot. He asked the parrot: "Was that you who said Jesus is watching me?" "Yes", said the parrot. The burglar breathed a sigh of relief, and asked the parrot: "What's your name?" "Clarence," said the bird. "That's a dumb name for a parrot," sneered the burglar. "What idiot named you Clarence?" The parrot said, "The same idiot who named the Rottweiller Jesus."