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Luís F. Simões

Stochastic Pattern Recognition Dramatically Outperforms Conventional Techniques - Techn... - 2 views

  • A stochastic computer, designed to help an autonomous vehicle navigate, outperforms a conventional computer by three orders of magnitude, say computer scientists
  • These guys have applied stochastic computing to the process of pattern recognition. The problem here is to compare an input signal with a reference signal to determine whether they match.   In the real world, of course, input signals are always noisy so a system that can cope with noise has an obvious advantage.  Canals and co use their technique to help an autonomous vehicle navigate its way through a simple environment for which it has an internal map. For this task, it has to measure the distance to the walls around it and work out where it is on the map. It then computes a trajectory taking it to its destination.
  • Although the idea of stochastic computing has been around for half a century, attempts to exploit have only just begun. Clearly there's much work to be done. And since one line of thought is that the brain might be a stochastic computer, at least in part, there could be exciting times ahead.
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  • Ref: arxiv.org/abs/1202.4495: Stochastic-Based Pattern Recognition Analysis
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    hey! This is essentially the Probabilistic Computing Ariadna
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    The link is there but my understanding of our purpose is different than what I understood from the abstract. In any case,the authors are from Palma de Mallorca, Balears, Spain "somebody" should somehow make them aware of the Ariadna study ... E.g somebody no longer in the team :-)
Christos Ampatzis

Rapid Inversion: Running Animals and Robots Swing like a Pendulum under Ledges - 3 views

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    Cool - reminds me of the cockroach ARIADNA study see the videos in supplementary material
LeopoldS

Artificial Life Laboratory - 3 views

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    did not know about them and we never had any contact with them ... though they seem to have some interesting stuff ongoing, see especially the COCORO project ... any of you know them? Marek, Dario, Guido, Luke?
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    I saw there presentation at the EUCogIII/CogSys meeting in February. Tbh I was not really impressed with the CoCoRo project, not really much new things in there ... yet
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    Yes I know all of them, also personally. Know all their work up to 2008-9, hopefully they have matured since then. Not very impressive stuff
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    Thanks for the answers guys!
Tom Gheysens

Biomimicr-E: Nature-Inspired Energy Systems | AAAS - 4 views

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    some biomimicry used in energy systems... maybe it sparks some ideas
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    not much new that has not been shared here before ... BUT: we have done relativley little on any of them. for good reasons?? don't know - maybe time to look into some of these again more closely Energy Efficiency( Termite mounds inspired regulated airflow for temperature control of large structures, preventing wasteful air conditioning and saving 10% energy.[1] Whale fins shapes informed the design of new-age wind turbine blades, with bumps/tubercles reducing drag by 30% and boosting power by 20%.[2][3][4] Stingray motion has motivated studies on this type of low-effort flapping glide, which takes advantage of the leading edge vortex, for new-age underwater robots and submarines.[5][6] Studies of microstructures found on shark skin that decrease drag and prevent accumulation of algae, barnacles, and mussels attached to their body have led to "anti-biofouling" technologies meant to address the 15% of marine vessel fuel use due to drag.[7][8][9][10] Energy Generation( Passive heliotropism exhibited by sunflowers has inspired research on a liquid crystalline elastomer and carbon nanotube system that improves the efficiency of solar panels by 10%, without using GPS and active repositioning panels to track the sun.[11][12][13] Mimicking the fluid dynamics principles utilized by schools of fish could help to optimize the arrangement of individual wind turbines in wind farms.[14] The nanoscale anti-reflection structures found on certain butterfly wings has led to a model to effectively harness solar energy.[15][16][17] Energy Storage( Inspired by the sunlight-to-energy conversion in plants, researchers are utilizing a protein in spinach to create a sort of photovoltaic cell that generates hydrogen from water (i.e. hydrogen fuel cell).[18][19] Utilizing a property of genetically-engineered viruses, specifically their ability to recognize and bind to certain materials (carbon nanotubes in this case), researchers have developed virus-based "scaffolds" that
Thijs Versloot

Wall crawling gecko robots also work in space #ESA - 2 views

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    The cooperation took place through ESA's Networking/Partnering Initiative, which supports work carried out by universities and research institutes on advanced technologies with potential space applications.
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    really nice, especially since it is an idea that started in the team, led to an Ariadna study by Carlo Menon, RF in biomimetics who then got a research position at simon fraser univ, where he created his own biomimetics group menvra (http://menrva.ensc.sfu.ca) there, struggling as an italian in a canadian university doing space and not having access to the US space market ... the NPI was the first contract he got for a space resaerch project ... its fantastic to see his student now making headlines with this idea
Thijs Versloot

Hacking your 3D printer (video) - 0 views

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    Why print stuff if you can turn it into an amazing air hockey table! Note, you will probably keep losing...
Thijs Versloot

Autonomous drones flock like birds (video) #Nature - 2 views

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    A Hungarian team has created the first drones that can fly as a coordinated flock. The researchers watched as the ten autonomous robots took to the air in a field outside Budapest, zipping through the open sky, flying in formation or even following a leader, all without any central control.
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    old news, but wow .... Nature is becoming more and more like a magazine and less and less a scientific journal. This stuff is highly irrelevant but to the group that did it.
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    this is not a nature paper but just an article on their website - the papers they provide as references are all old
Paul N

Robot arm prints directly in metal - 0 views

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    Because plastic is lame
H H

Mind over mechanics - 2 views

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    In a jaw-dropping feat of engineering, electronics turn a person's thoughts into commands for a drone. Using a brain-computer interface technology pioneered by University of Minnesota biomedical engineering professor Bin He, several young people have learned to use their thoughts to steer a flying robot around a gym, making it turn, rise, dip, and even sail through a ring.
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    Pretty cool, so when is this going to be available for our quadrocopter?
johannessimon81

Self-assembling (?) DNA nano-"robot" - 0 views

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    Scientists inch closer to building a drug-delivering nanorobot
Guido de Croon

Robot dragonfly DelFly Explorer avoids obstacles by itself - 1 views

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    TU Delft researchers have developed the DelFly Explorer, the world's first Micro Air Vehicle with flapping wings that can avoid obstacles by itself. The uniqueness of this achievement lies in the DelFly Explorer's very low weight (20 grams, i.e. a few sheets of paper), and this opens up new possible applications for both smaller and larger MAVs.
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    I'm kinda curious what you used for processing power there. Is that a DSP?
Thijs Versloot

NASA set to debut online software catalog April 10 - 1 views

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    The catalog, a master list organized into 15 categories, is intended for industry, academia, other government agencies, and general public. The catalog covers technology topics ranging from project management systems, design tools, data handling, image processing, solutions for life support functions, aeronautics, structural analysis, and robotic and autonomous systems. NASA said the codes represent NASA's best solutions to an array of complex mission requirements. McMillan reported that "Within a few weeks of publishing the list, NASA says, it will also offer a searchable database of projects, and then, by next year, it will host the actual software code in its own online repository, a kind of GitHub for astronauts."
Luís F. Simões

Noordwijk | Space Apps Challenge - 1 views

  • On the weekend of the 12 and 13 April 2014 ESA Business Incubation Centre Noordwijk and Verhaert Connect are proud to host the NASA International Space Apps Challenge in the European Space Innovation Centre Noordwijk.
  • Developers, designers, innovators all kinds of creative thinkers from all seven continents will come together for two days of creativity and computer coding to address challenges of global importance. This year we expect to have about 40 challenges that support NASA's mission directorates in five themes: Earth Watch, Technology in Space, Human Spaceflight, Robotics and Asteroids.
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    "Developers, designers, innovators all kinds of creative thinkers" aka "nerd objective-C programmers with no life"?
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    Well, the ACT actually proposed a few of the topics (BEWARE, THERE BE CUCUMBERS!). Some are not necessarily software based, like creating a LEGO model of the ExoMars rover (although they stripped LEGO from the challenge description and now it just says "create an ExoMars rover from hardware" ... ). Also we had no clue that they would host part of the challenge here at ESTEC - so our 5 or 6 challenges will all be hosted in Rome... ...
Luís F. Simões

Singularity University, class of 2010: projects that aim to impact a billion people wit... - 8 views

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    At the link below you find additional information about the projects: Education: Ten weeks to save the world http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100915/full/467266a.html
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    this is the podcast I was listening to ...
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    We can do it in nine :)
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    why wait then?
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    hmm, wonder how easy it is to get funding for that, 25k is a bit steep for 10weeks :)
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    well, we wait for the same fundings they get and then we will do it in nine.... as we say in Rome "a mettece un cartello so bboni tutti". (italian check for Juxi)
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    and what you think about the project subjects?
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    I like the fact that there are quite a lot of space projects .... and these are not even bad in my view: The space project teams have developed imaginative new solutions for space and spinoffs for Earth. The AISynBio project team is working with leading NASA scientists to design bioengineered organisms that can use available resources to mitigate harsh living environments (such as lack of air, water, food, energy, atmosphere, and gravity) - on an asteroid, for example, and also on Earth . The SpaceBio Labs team plans to develop methods for doing low-cost biological research in space, such as 3D tissue engineering and protein crystallization. The Made in Space team plans to bring 3D printing to space to make space exploration cheaper, more reliable, and fail-safe ("send the bits, not the atoms"). For example, they hope to replace some of the $1 billion worth of spare parts and tools that are on the International Space Station.
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    and all in only a three months summer graduate program!! that is impressive. God I feel so stupid!!!
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    well, most good ideas probably take only a second to be formulated, it's the details that take years :-)
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    I do not think the point of the SU is to formulate new ideas (infact there is nothing new in the projects chosen). Their mission is to build and maintain a network of contacts among who they believe will be the 'future leaders' of space ... very similar to our beloved ISU.
anonymous

See-Through Vision at UCSB - 5 views

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    Determining the "volume" and position of objects inside buildings using wi-fi signal.
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    Now this is impressive
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    another example of bayesian inversion
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    "The objects on the other side do not even have to move to be detected." Very American way of saying "The objects have to be stationary to be detected"...
johannessimon81

Botiful: telepresence robot for smartphones - 2 views

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    I think we should have some of these in the office for teleworking. Also would be cool to interact with family back home. Check out the video (especially the Jedi light saber fight at the end)! :-D
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    Just pre-ordered it (should be ~200 - 250€). Unfortunately not clear yet when they will be ready to ship the items.
LeopoldS

Hycopter Drone Flies for 4 Hours via Hydrogen Power - Robotics Trends - 2 views

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    finally a consumer application for fuel cells?
Juxi Leitner

'Doomsday Ark' to be Housed on the Moon -A Remote Access Toolkit to Rebuild the Human Race - 5 views

  • our future may reside on the Moon if plans.being drawn up for a “Doomsday ark” on the moon by the European Space Agency are carried through.
  • whether living organisms could survive, European Space Agency scientists are hoping to experiment with growing tulips on the moon within the next decade.
  • would initially be run by robots
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    did not know ESA was doing that!
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    too late, the world will in end in 2012 ......... I fail to see in which scenario this would be better than a couple of vaults on Earth (since there would be no humans on the moon). But if tulips on the moon can convince politicians, I'm all for it.
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    "The first flowers - tulips or arabidopsis, a plant widely used in research - could be grown in 2012 or 2015 according to Bernard Foing, chief scientist at the agency's research department." - Bernhard strikes again :-)
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