Robot on healthcare

Nowadays, healthcare and elder care is a big concern in Japan, whose population is aging more rapidly than their current human-centric infrastructure is prepared to cope with. Companies like Toyota are hoping that robots will be able to pick up a little bit of the slack, and this week they've introduced four new robotic systems designed to help keep people healthy and independent as long as possible.

The first couple system are designed to provide single-leg walking assistance to people who have balance issues, or even people suffering from complete paralysis in one leg. The robotic structure is capable of supporting the entirely of your weight on one leg, and it will swing your leg forward for you as you walk. If you can hold yourself up, the second system will provide you with visual feedback to help you get balance back and start walking on your own.

                                               Leslie Lin

Find out more!

Source: http://mashable.com/2011/11/01/toyota-healthcare-robots/

Your household robot

This is CIROS, a household service robot from the Korean Institute of Science and Technology, and it's going to take that giant knife right there and use it to whip up a big fat cucumber salad for you while definitely not stabbing any human.

Most of people heard of the robot's features might be saying to themselves, "cucumbers and dressing? What kind of crummy salad is that!" After watching the video, you will know that whatever cucumber slicing and salad dressing algorithms this robot is employing have been painstakingly optimized on a supercomputer to result in the best tasting salad ever. Plus, it's made by robot.

According to a KIST official, CIROS is able to recognize common objects as well as kitchen appliances like microwaves, sinks, refrigerators, and dishwashers, and can move intelligently through its environment. eg. It can perform tasks like pouring tea and other drinks for people (without spilling anything), and can even do the dishes. 

Leslie Lin

To find out more!

Source: http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Science-Fiction-News.asp?NewsNum=3810

Baseball Robot

Just recently I discovered an interesting topic about a robot which is able to play baseball. It is a robotic system which acts as a baseball pitcher and batter. It is named Robot Pitcher. It was made by Masatoshi Ishikawa from Tokyo University. Robot Pitcher can throw a strike, and about 9 percent of the time, the robot will challenge the batter into the strike zone with the ball, which is pretty impressive. It was made in order to demonstrate the latest advances in high speed industrial robot technology in a fun way. They used a strategy focused on the superposition of wave patterns.

They also focus on the research related to robots that collaborate with humans. In their research, they propose a collision avoidance system in which high speed camera heads are placed on the robot’s manipulator in order to increase human safety. This is also to see if the robot reacts similar to humans under different circumstances.

 In a presentation I saw, the researchers placed the robot pitcher around 3.5m away from the mechanical batter. The pitcher’s 40km/h sidearm throws posed little challenge to the batter, whose 1000 frame per second camera eyes allow it to see the ball in super slow motion as it approaches. The robot batter has a near perfect batting average when swinging at pitches in the strike zone. There is even a 3D shape algorithm that uses high speed vision with the help of an active light. To further improve this robot, researchers plan to enable the robot to react to throws of up to 150km/h. Now that would be one awesome robot!

Find out more!

Source: http://www.robaid.com/robotics/baseball-robot-shows-high-speed-dexterity.htm

Kazrin Zaidi

Brain-Computer Interface

A few days ago, I read some interesting information about brain computer interface simulations and it really fascinated me. It is a direct connection with the brain connected to a simulation computer. The computer transmits data to the participant, reads and understands it and then responds to their desires and actions. Along with the simulated world, this interaction is amazing. It even gives a feedback on the results. The participant may temporarily forget that they are induced into a virtual world but their consciousness is represented by an avatar, which may be slightly different in appearance to the actual participant.

 Brain simulations are used in so many ways now due to the latest technology. So I'm sure that we will no longer have to think for ourselves with the assistance of brain simulation. How cool would it be to simulate what your brain will think of in the near future or perhaps simulate a friend's brain just to trick them.

After viewing this short video, you will understand how simple instructions commanded by a person's brain trasnmits into a working hand to open and close. Now the process may be complicated but once everything falls into place, the working hand understands exactly what the person wants it to do.

To find out more
Source: http://www.howstuffworks.com/brain-computer-interface.htm

Kazrin Zaidi

Robot Face

Few days before, I watched a old movie about robot - <I,robot>, which is an excellent movie for you enjoying in the world surrounding with A.I. robots. Though, there may be a situation that A.I. robot will take revenge on human and rule over us, as shown in the movie, it is undoubtedly to say that most teenagers, especially boys, had a dream of having a robot who can speak, talk and interact with them.

However, can you believe that you can now get an expressive robot face, yet not a whole robot, in an affordable, actually cheap, price? XYZbot would like to give the public a chance of having a robot by crowdfunding Fritz, an Arduino-powered robot head. Fritz is an “emotional” face on which you can control everything, like the eyes and jaw to the eyelids, eyebrows, lips and neck. Also, by adding putting some pre-programmed action, they can respond you like a human.

Besides, you don`t need to worry about the complex stuffs of programming and computing – because you simply don`t need. The control over Fritz is as simple as if you are playing with a 5-year-old child`s toy. What you need is creative and innovative, so as to make your unique robot!

Check out more in Fritz: Robotic Puppet main page

You will see more funny stuffs below.

Youtube: 

 Joseph Yeung

Reference: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/02/xyzbot-fritz-offers-cheaper-robotic-face-simulation/

Robot fighting

Have you seen the movie Real Steel? I just saw it yesterday. It`s great, isn`t? Robot fighting is always a fancy topic about technology.  It is always used in so many movies and animations, like famous one, Gundam.  However, robot fighting is no longer a dream to us.

Recently, Syfy channel's newest show, Robot Combat League (RCL), has provided us with a real-life robot fighting --and the best part is, we get to watch them destroy each other in gladiatorial fashion. Though RCL is not the first show to have robot fighting on TV, it is the first time that the robot actually copying, and learning the movement of the people operating them! It sounds exactly like the scenes in “Real Steel”! It`s exciting, isn`t it??? I would be definitely recording the whole TV series once it starts to play!

Mark Setrakian, who shown in the above picture, is actually the man who designed and built the dozen robots on the show. It took him 4 months to construct only the prototype to sell the Syfy channel, and then spent a long period of time and also roughly $200 a pop for twelve robots. With all of the work that went into building these bots, you might think that Mark will be upset seeing them destroy each other. On the contrary, he's behind the scenes cheering and yelling as he is the one who enjoys the most in this contest! As he says, Fighting robots, obviously, are awesome. I couldn`t say how much I agree with him! How about you? Leave your comments below and tell us something about your view for robot fighting!!!

Find out more!! 

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/06/the-engadget-interview-mark-setrakian-of-syfys-robot-combat-le/

Joseph Yeung

Google’s Robotics Car Project

For these recent years, Google has been working on a big project, innovating new technology that makes people’s life better, more secure and more comfortable with Self-Driving car. People who have ridden them often quickly response that it’s obvious that computer is a far better driver than human. Business Insider explains that Google uses lasers and radar as sensor to monitor and process immense number of inputs as well as react and responses to situation faster than human ever could.

This project is still unfinished but the day for us to enjoy this technology is drawing near. Google has so far making a great progress, the cars under the computer control have been driven for over 500,000 miles without accidents. However, Google still have several enticing challenges to work out, such as, driving in snow, unmapped roads, driving through construction zones, accident zones and other situations. This challenges are not easy to dealt with, so the “drawing near” I mentioned earlier is equal “several years to take” but apart from this let’s just enjoy the video below.

In the short video, a blind man walks out of his house and gets to one of Google's robotic Cars, equipped with high-tech device and tool. The man, Steve Mahan says, "Where this would change my life is to give me the independence and the flexibility to go the places I both want to go and need to go when I need to do those things”. At the end, Google says Mahan is the first customer of Google's self-driving car, calling him "self-driving car user #0000000001". He is really lucky right?.

So how is your feeling with this great technology, imagine going anywhere without road planning, imagine going a long trip with a car without even driving it, you can texting, playing with your kids and enjoy the trip along the way. But hold on, what if the car hits others or accident occurs in a way the computer and robot do not recognise, who the police should blame? The robot? The computer? The car? Or Google?. Let’s wait for the answer.

Links for: Picture Video Source

Ricky Mardian

Google’s Augmented-Reality Project Glass

Google once again making our life much easier than ever with augmented-reality glass. This glass offer what a person could do with a smartphone, such as taking a picture and sending a message. It says that these have indirectly showed us the glimpse of an Artificial Intelligence (AI) system working behind the scenes.

AI system basically describes a computer system that accommodate human behaviour, through features such as speech and gesture recognition as well as mimic human thinking. It could make wearable computers like Google’s Project Glass to function beyond what we thought and take care of complex tasks, but how does it feel when we wear it?, To know more about how the glass function and how it help us in daily life, Google has released a video showing from the wearer’s perspective. Let’s check it out!

It’s cool isn’t it. However, just like a proverbial that said, “There is a bad part of every good thing”. This seems to happen on Google’s Project Glass. How come??. Well, there is a growing concern about “thing” that has been a problem all this time, it is Privacy.

Recently, there are banning on the use of the glass in a few place of US. Why?? Let’s think this way, if you are on a place or doing an activity that you don’t want others to know, but sadly someone who wear the Project Glass record your activity and shared it, how would you feel?. Other example, when in a museum or concert where taking picture is prohibited but the visitors can do it without being noticed by the guard. These are things that made people worried. But for us who would like to get hold of The Google’s Project Glass let’s just hope the majority of the politician disagree with the banning.

Links for: Picture Video Source

Ricky Mardian

Mind Control

Being a regular visitor to the BBC Technology and Future pages i came across this article yesterday (link below).

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130404-will-we-ever-read-minds/1

Seung Schik-Yoo of the Harvard Medical School has devised a way of commanding a rat, in a laboratory setting, to wag it's tail on his command by sending ultrasound pulses to it's nervous system. Now it does sound fairly simple and harmless, but think about it. The ability to control another creature's or more importantly another person's mind and giving it orders carries a lot more serious ramifications than is obvious at the first glance. It could be the first step towards achieving the abilities of Professor Charles Xavier from the X-Men universe. It could be used to cure a number of neurological disabilities, people suffering from severe neurological disorders end up spending their lives in a wheelchair unable to move, speak or communicate in anyway. The famous British Cosmologist, Physicist and author, Professor Stephen Hawking (image below) suffers from one such motor neuron disease, which means his body is almost completely paralysed and he communicates through his custom made wheelchair fitted with a speech generating device.

But on the other hand it can also be used in a number of ways that would not necessarily be for the achievement of the greater good (as is the case with most scientific innovations). Imagine being able to control people's minds!! Isn't that what all the bad boys want/wanted in History, Hollywood movies, comics and video games etc. Even though the contemporary culture of mass consumerism paired with the media and advertising agencies are doing a pretty good job at controlling populations en masse, this idea of being able to command every single move that a person/creature makes can take the definition of George Orwell's Big Brother to a whole new level. If you could control anyone's mind and give them orders, who would you choose to control and what would you make them do? I'd love to know how you would use this 'superpower', please leave your answers in the comment section below.

If one day we do command a person to do our bidding, could that process also be reversed to read a person's mind?

Maisam Abbas