MIT Media Lab -- Personal Robots

Clipped from: Personal Robots Group - MIT Media Lab

Clipped from: MIT Media Lab - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

MIT Media Lab

The MIT Media Lab (also known as the Media Lab) is a department within the MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Devoted to research projects at the convergence of multimedia and technology, the Media Lab was widely popularized in the 1990s by business and technology publications such as Wired and Red Herring for a series of practical inventions in the fields of wireless networks, field sensing, web browsers and the World Wide Web. More recently it has focused on product design more generally, particularly for technologies that address social causes.^[1]

Clipped from: Projects

Projects

Clipped from: Overview

Leonardo

This project is a collaboration with the world famous Stan Winston Studio. It combines the studio's artistry and expertise in creating compelling animatronic characters with state of the art research in socially intelligent robots. We have christened this new character collaboration with a name that embodies art, science and invention. Hence, the name "Leonardo" -- namesake of Leonardo DaVinci, the Renaissance scientist, inventor and artist. 

Clipped from: YouTube - Leonardo Robot - isn't this the cutest robot ever?

Clipped from: Overview

MDS

The purpose of this platform is to support research and education goals in human-robot interaction, teaming, and social learning.

Clipped from: YouTube - Nexi (M.I.T. MediaLab) at Laval Virtual 2009

Clipped from: Overview

Huggable™

The Huggable™ is a new type of robotic companion being developed at the MIT Media Lab for healthcare, education, and social communication applications. The Huggable™ designed to be much more than a fun interactive robotic companion. It is designed to function as a team member that is an essential member of a triadic interaction. Therefore, the Huggable™ is not designed to replace any particular person in a social network, but rather to enhance that human social network. 

Clipped from: YouTube - MIT Media Lab Huggable Robotic companion. Robo Dev. Conf. Nov. 18, 2008 -4

Clipped from: Overview

Aida

The aim of the Personal Robot's portion of the project is to expand the relationship between the car and the driver with the goal of making the driving experience more effective, safer, and more enjoyable.

Clipped from: YouTube - AIDA in Dash

Clipped from: Overview

Tofu

TOFU is a project to explore new ways of robotic social expression by leveraging techniques that have been used in 2d animation for decades.

Clipped from: YouTube - Meet TOFU

Sources:
Personal Robots Group - MIT Media Lab
MIT Media Lab - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Projects
Leonardo
YouTube - Leonardo Robot - isn't this the cutest robot ever?
MDS
YouTube - Nexi (M.I.T. MediaLab) at Laval Virtual 2009
Huggable
YouTube - Siggraph 2006 - MRI (Mixed-Reality Interface)
Aida
YouTube - AIDA in Dash
Tofu
YouTube - Meet TOFU
Related:
MIT Media Lab
Personal Robots | MIT Media Lab
Personal Robots | MIT World
QTC Robot Skin Feels How Hard You Touch – Coming soon to MIT, Samsung, Others | Singularity Hub
Meet Nexi, the Media Lab's latest robot and Internet star
MIT's 'Tofu' Robot Mixes Science, Ridiculous Cuteness | Technomix | Fast Company

The Adobe - Wired Digital Magazine Experience

Clipped from: YouTube - Adobe and Wired Introduce a New Digital Magazine Experience

Adobe and Wired Introduce a New Digital Magazine Experience

Adobe and WIRED Magazine unveil a new digital magazine experience. Developed with Conde Nast, this prototype runs across different device types with Adobe AIR and illustrates the possibilities for magazine publishers to reach readers in new ways.

Clipped from: Introducing a New Digital Magazine Experience - Adobe Digital Publishing

[...] The concept enables — in digital form — the immersive content experience magazines are known for, and allows new interactive features to stimulate reader engagement, including:

• content designed specifically for the touch screen experience
• easy navigation methods, including an innovative zoomed-out "Browse Mode"
• the ability to browse image slideshows
• embedded 360 degree object viewers
• support for video and audio content
• the ability to rotate content using device accelerometer functionality

Clipped from: The Wired Tablet App: A Video Demonstration | Epicenter | Wired.com

[...]
Although the Wired Reader starts as an AIR app, Adobe has created tools that allow us to easily convert it for major tablet and mobile platforms. In Barcelona this week, Adobe announced that AIR would run on Android, and Adobe has already announced its Packager for iPhone tool that will allow Flash apps (including AIR) to run on Apple mobile platforms. And AIR already runs natively on Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems.

But enough of the technical details. The point here is that we are entering a new era of media, where we finally have a digital platform that allows us to retain all the rich visual features of high-gloss print, from lavish design to glorious photography, while augmenting it with video, animations, additional content and full interactivity. We’re one of the first magazines to go beyond the concept stage with this, and the demo we showed at TED and in the above video reflects months of real tablet production as we prepare to go live this summer.

Clipped from: Wired’s Digital Magazine Demonstrated and Explained | eHomeUpgrade

Here’s a rougher demo of the Wired Reader at Mobile World Congress 2010 running on a NVIDIA Tegra 2 dev board – Credit: SlashGear.

Sources:

1. YouTube - Adobe and Wired Introduce a New Digital Magazine Experience
2. Introducing a New Digital Magazine Experience - Adobe Digital Publishing
3. The Wired Tablet App: A Video Demonstration | Epicenter | Wired.com
4. Wired’s Digital Magazine Demonstrated and Explained | eHomeUpgrade

Related:

1. NVIDIA demo digital mag & Farmville on Tegra tablet - SlashGear
2. YouTube - Wired digital magazine Tegra 250 demo
3. Wired Magazine Demos its iPad App [VIDEO]

TAT's Recognizr: Augmented Identity

Clipped from: Technology Review: Augmented Identity

Augmented Identity

A new app makes it possible to identify people and learn about them just by pointing your phone.

An application that lets users point a smart phone at a stranger and immediately learn about them premiered last Tuesday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. Developed by The Astonishing Tribe (TAT), a Swedish mobile software and design firm, the prototype software combines computer vision, cloud computing, facial recognition, social networking, and augmented reality.

Clipped from: YouTube - Recognizr

Recognizr

February 15, 2010

A TAT Cascades powered prototype of the Augmented ID concept. Accurate mobile face detection and recognition using Polar Rose's FaceLib. Recognizr shows how powerful computer vision and 3D graphics..

Clipped from: YouTube - Augmented ID Demo video from Blogtronix and T

Augmented ID Demo video from Blogtronix and Tat

November 22, 2009
 
this is a new version the the Tat video focusing more on the reality of Enterprise 2.0 and Enterprise Social Software for mobile devices. 

Sources:

1. Technology Review: Augmented Identity
2. TAT - The Astonishing Tribe
3. YouTube - Recognizr
4. TAT - The Astonishing Tribe
5. YouTube - Augmented ID Demo video from Blogtronix and Tat

Related:

1. KurzweilAI.net
2. Stowe Boyd - /message - Augmented Publicy
3. Goodbuzz | Advanced Social Media: AUGMENTED REALITY (AR) MEETS FACIAL RECOGNITION
4. Bad Idea magazine | Celebrity Stalking and Virtual Dress-up Made Easy With Augmented Reality Apps

HP's CeNSE: Central Nervous System for the Earth

Clipped from: HP Invents a Central Nervous System for the Earth | Inhabitat

HP Invents a Central Nervous System for the Earth

 

HP has just unveiled an incredibly ambitious project to create a “Central Nervous System for the Earth” (CeNSE) composed of billions of super sensitive, cheap, and tough sensors. The project involves distributing these sensors throughout the world and using them to gather data that could be used to detect everything from infrastructure collapse to environmental pollutants to climate change and impending earthquakes. From there, the “Internet of Things” and smarter cities are right around the corner.

Clipped from: Information and Quantum Systems Lab at HP Labs

Information and Quantum Systems Lab

Goal

Create the mathematical and physical foundations for the technologies that will form a new information ecosystem, the Central Nervous System for the Earth (CeNSE), consisting of a trillion nanoscale sensors and actuators embedded in the environment and connected via an array of networks with computing systems, software and services to exchange their information among analysis engines, storage systems and end users.

Clipped from: BBC NEWS | Technology | HP's plan to fix ailing planet

Page last updated at 08:21 GMT, Friday, 25 July 2008 09:21 UK

HP's plan to fix ailing planet

Hewlett Packard is up to two years away from starting to build a "central nervous system for the Earth", known as CeNSE.
 

The man leading this ambitious project is Dr Stan Williams, who runs HP's Information and Quantum Systems Laboratory.

 "The motivation for this work is realising and understanding the planet is sick and the disease is us," he told BBC News.

Clipped from: Stan Williams at PICNIC08: Tracking our World on Vimeo

Stan Williams at PICNIC08: Tracking our World from PICNIC Festival on Vimeo.
CeNSE: The Central Nervous System for the Earth is based on the believe that nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionise human interaction with the Earth as profoundly as the Internet has revolutionised personal and business interaction.

Clipped from: HP Labs' Central Nervous System for the Earth project aims to build a planetwide sensing network: HP Labs Feature Article (November 2009)

Earth calling: Turn off the lights!

HP Labs is developing a network of tiny, cheap, tough and exquisitely sensitive detectors that will make life more convenient and safer today while laying the groundwork for worldwide awareness tomorrow.

[...]

Changing the Equation
Michael Mendenhall

Michael Mendenhall, Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President of Hewlett-Packard, speaks at the DLD 2010 Conference in Munich about the future of IT. He explains how technology can change the equation to find a different answer for a sustainable global society. 

Sources:

1. HP Invents a Central Nervous System for the Earth | Inhabitat
2. Information and Quantum Systems Lab at HP Labs
3. BBC NEWS | Technology | HP's plan to fix ailing planet
4. Stan Williams at PICNIC08: Tracking our World on Vimeo
5. HP Labs' Central Nervous System for the Earth project aims to build a planetwide sensing network: HP Labs Feature Article (November 2009)
6. YouTube - Michael Mendenhall, CMO at HP: The Future of IT - PART 1
7. YouTube - Michael Mendenhall, CMO at HP: The Future of IT - PART 2

Related:

1. A Central Nervous System for Earth: HP's Ambitious Sensor Network
2. HP's Million Sensitive Spots - Forbes.com
3. HP Invents a "Central Nervous System for Earth" and Joins the Smarter Planet Sweepstakes | Aerotropolis | Fast Company
4. HP's grand vision: measure everything - Jul. 18, 2008
5. Hewlett Packard CENSE IT Revolutionalizes Personal and Business Interaction - James Rickman -- Seeking Alpha

Orientation and Navigation of Sea Turtles

Clipped from: Lohmann

Sea Turtles

"Turtle Positioning System" helps reptiles on fantastic voyage

"There's no off-the-shelf Speedo turtle bathing suit that we know about," laughed biologist Ken Lohmann, as he attached a soft cloth harness, or bathing suit, to a three-month-old loggerhead turtle.

About a dozen of these young turtles "work" in Lohmann's University of North Carolina (UNC) laboratory. With help from the National Science Foundation (NSF), he's learning how these and other sea turtles use the Earth's magnetic field for a journey of thousands of miles around the Atlantic Ocean.

Clipped from: Lohmann Lab

Clipped from: Sea Turtle Navigation

Orientation and Navigation of Sea Turtles

 

Top left: a hatchling green turtle (photo by Ken Lohmann, Univ. North Carolina); Top right: a juvenile green turtle (courtesy of Univ. Central Florida turtle group); Bottom left: Hawaiian green turtles (photo by Ursula Keuper-Bennett and Peter Bennett; Bottom right: hatchling loggerhead turtles (photo by Ken Lohmann)
 

Clipped from: Sea-Finding by Hatchling Sea Turtles

SEA-FINDING BY HATCHLING SEA TURTLES

Given that hatchling sea turtles appear to use local visual cues to find the ocean, what environmental cues are available that might lead turtles toward the sea? 

 Several different possibilities are listed below.

• Towards land, the dunes and associated vegetation form a dark silhouette. Thus, the seaward horizon is LOWER than the landward horizon.
• Water reflects more light than land; thus, more ambient light is reflected from the ocean, making that region brighter.
• The beach slopes down in the direction of the water; thus, going downhill would usually lead turtles toward the sea.
• Waves breaking on the sand might provide an auditory cue that hatchlings can use to find the ocean.

Clipped from: Wave Orientation

ORIENTATION TO OCEAN WAVES BY SEA TURTLES

 

Once in the water, sea turtle hatchlings rapidly establish offshore courses that lead them away from land and directly toward the open sea. Moving quickly through coastal waters is crucial to the survival of young turtles, because fish and bird predators are abundant in nearshore waters. How do turtles maintain their orientation during this critical journey? Experiments both in the field and in the lab have revealed that, early in the offshore migration, hatchlings guide themselves seaward by swimming into waves.

Clipped from: Magnetic Orientation

Magnetic Orientation

Loggerhead and leatherback hatchlings are known to orient to the Earth's magnetic field, a cue that might potentially provide sea turtles with a way to maintain a heading without relying on waves. The experiments that first demonstrated that sea turtles can detect magnetic fields involved monitoring the directions that turtles swam toward under various magnetic fields in the lab. For these tests, each hatchling was placed into a nylon-Lycra harness as shown below. 

Sources:

1. nsf.gov - Special Report - Science Nation
2. YouTube - Sea Turtles
3. Lohmann Lab
4. Sea Turtle Navigation
5. http://www.unc.edu/depts/oceanweb/turtles/offshr.html
6. Sea-Finding by Hatchling Sea Turtles
7. Wave Orientation
8. Magnetic Orientation

Related:

1. Animations and Movies
2. Sea Turtles
3. Regional Magnetic Fields as Navigational Markers for Sea Turtles -- Lohmann et al. 294 (5541): 364 -- Science
4. Loggerhead Turtle (Caretta caretta) - Office of Protected Resources - NOAA Fisheries

Google Shopper

Clipped from: Google Shopper for Android Goes Live

Google Shopper for Android Goes Live

Google Shopper has just been made available for Android.

The tool is a slick way to find a product you need when you have no idea where to buy it. You can search for products using voice, pictures, barcodes, or plain old text and Google Shopper should indicate the nearest place you can buy it.

Clipped from: Google Shopper for Android

Google Shopper

Shopping smarter with Google Shopper on your Android Phone.

 

Features

• Detailed product information
  
• Scan the covers of books and media
  
• Barcode scanning
  
• Voice search
  
• Save your history and favorites
  
• Share your finds with friends 
  

Clipped from: Official Google Mobile Blog: Shopping smarter with Google Shopper

Shopping smarter with Google Shopper

Here's an example search based on the Effective Java: Programming Language Guide.

To see Google Shopper in action, watch this video:

Clipped from: Hands-on: Moto Milestone (Droid) multi-touch, Google Shopper | Electronista

Hands-on: Moto Milestone (Droid) multi-touch, Google Shopper

Once you do find a product, the simplicity of the design is both a virtue and a vice. Finding a useful seller, checking details and reading reviews is very fast -- but it's also all you can do. ShopSavvy, by comparison, lets you get a notice when an item falls below a certain price and create wish lists; Google will only let you see your history and star items for later. We'd also like to see a localized element that could prioritize searches by their proximity and tie into Google Maps to help find the closest shop with something in stock.

 

 

Clipped from: Google Shopper Android Application Launches | Android Phone Fans

Google Shopper Android Application Launches

What do you get when you combine Barcode Scanner by ZXing Barcode, Google Goggles and the “Shopping Tab” on Google.com? The Google Shopping Android Application which just launched on Android Market! I quickly downloaded the app and gave it a quick spin in this on-the-fly hands-on review; I literally had downloaded the application 5 minutes before.

Sources:

1. Google Shopper for Android Goes Live
2. Google Shopper for Android
3. Official Google Mobile Blog: Shopping smarter with Google Shopper
4. YouTube - Google Shopper
5. Hands-on: Moto Milestone (Droid) multi-touch, Google Shopper | Electronista
6. Google Shopper Android Application Launches | Android Phone Fans
7. YouTube - Google Shopper Android Application Launches!

Related:

1. Google Launches Google Shopper for Android
2. Google Shopper: A Mobile Shopping Companion
3. Hands On with Google Shopper for Android - Reviews by PC Magazine
4. Google Shopper Android App Confuses Me: WTF Is Google Doing? | Gizmodo Australia

Qualcomm's Mirasol Color E-Reader

Clipped from: Color e-reader that sips less power than E Ink? Qualcomm says, Yes! | Technology | Los Angeles Times

Color e-reader that sips less power than E Ink? Qualcomm says, Yes!

[... ] Qualcomm, a semiconductor company in San Diego, plans to launch its own e-reader this fall, using a color display technology that the company claims will use even less power than the grayscale E Ink.

Dubbed Mirasol, the screen mimics how butterfly wings reflect their brilliant colors. Other examples  include the iridescence seen on pearls, peacock feathers or soap bubbles.

It works by reflecting the existing, or ambient, light around it, instead of using color filters that require  intensive back lighting. Using tiny mechanical systems, Mirasol displays manipulate incoming light to reflect the desired color, pixel by pixel. Its ability to harness ambient light instead of relying on back lighting is what gives Mirasol its energy advantage over LCDs.

Clipped from:YouTube - E-Books: Mirasol Display Attempts to Trump E Ink

E-Books: Mirasol Display Attempts to Trump E Ink

Clipped from: YouTube - Qualcomm's Mirasol Demo CES 2010 - Future Color Kindle?

Qualcomm's Mirasol Demo CES 2010 - Future Color Kindle?

This video shows Mirasol's color ebook reader using their IMOD technology. Learn more by visiting http://www.the-ebook-reader...

Clipped from: Qualcomm Innovation - mirasol

mirasol

A Very Visible Solution

[...] mirasol displays are nature inspired. They use the ambient light in the environment to generate color. This is in direct contrast to films, polarizers and many layers of materials used in standard display technologies on the market today. A mirasol display is inherently friendly to the battery as it uses near-zero battery power to maintain a static image and needs no backlighting. This allows consumers to use their mobile devices longer while using less power.

Clipped from: Qualcomm OnQ Blog - Nature Knows Best

What Burrs, Geckos and Termites Teach us about Design

video

[...] The wings of certain butterflies have tiny scales and ridges that reflect light in such a way that only certain colors are perceptible to the eye. The optical interference that occurs within these minute biological structures results in “iridescent” colors that can represent any portion of the rainbow and change based on viewing angle. Our ‘tiny scales and ridges’ are itsy bitsy mirrors that move, changing the length of the wavelength and in turn, the color produced. Aside from butterfly wings, there are several examples of iridescent color in nature, including mother of pearl, peacock feathers and the scales of some beetles. The use of minute structures and ‘interference’ is essentially the same principle employed in mirasol displays.

Sources:

1. Color e-reader that sips less power than E Ink? Qualcomm says, Yes! | Technology | Los Angeles Times
2. YouTube - E-Books: Mirasol Display Attempts to Trump E Ink
3. YouTube - Qualcomm's Mirasol Demo CES 2010 - Future Color Kindle?
4. Qualcomm Innovation - mirasol
5. Qualcomm OnQ Blog - Nature Knows Best

Related:

1. Qualcomm Aims to Bring Color, Video to E-Readers | Gadget Lab | Wired.com
2. CES 2010: Hands-on with Qualcomm's Mirasol full-color e-reader screen | CES 2010 Live Coverage News - Betanews
3. Color e-reader uses butterfly-based technology to save power
4. Mirasol eBook Reader Displays - Future Color Kindle?
5. Qualcomm Home

RTI's Energy-Efficient Nanofiber-Based Lighting Technology

Clipped from: Energy-efficient lighting made without mercury

Energy-Efficient Lighting Made Without Mercury

ScienceDaily (Feb. 11, 2010) — RTI International has developed a revolutionary lighting technology that is more energy efficient than the common incandescent light bulb and does not contain mercury, making it environmentally safer than the compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb.

 At the core of RTI's breakthrough is an advanced nanofiber structure that provides exceptional lighting management. Nanofibers are materials with diameters and surface features much smaller than the human hair but with comparable lengths.

Clipped from: RTI International Develops Technology to Make Energy-Efficient Lighting

RTI International - News Release - 2.8.2010

RTI International Develops Technology to Make Energy-Efficient Lighting

[...]

"By using flexible photoluminescent nanofiber technologies for light management, RTI has opened the door to the creation of new designs for solid-state lighting applications," says Lynn Davis, Ph.D., director of RTI's Nanoscale Materials Program. "This new class of materials can provide cost-effective, safe and efficient lighting solutions."

Additionally, RTI's technology produces an aesthetically pleasing light with better color rendering properties than is typically found in CFLs. The technology has demonstrated color rendering indices in excess of 90 for warm white, neutral white, and cool white illumination sources.

Clipped from: YouTube - RTI Develops Technology to Make Energy-Efficient Lighting

Sources:

1. Energy-efficient lighting made without mercury
2. RTI International Develops Technology to Make Energy-Efficient Lighting
3. YouTube - RTI Develops Technology to Make Energy-Efficient Lighting

Related:

1. RTI International - Scientific Research Development Institute - Scientific Technologies
2. Photoluminescent Nanofibers for Solid-State Lighting Applications (pdf)
3. Nanofiber Lamps Are More Efficient Than Incandescent Bulbs, Eco-FriendlierThan Fluorescent | Popular Science
4. Researchers Develop Nanofiber-Based Technology to Make Energy-Efficient Lighting
5. Nanofiber Bulbs are Efficient, Environmentally Sound | Inhabitat
6. Nanofiber-Based Lighting Technology Provides High-Efficiency, Environmentally Friendly Lighting | NDN

Aquamarine Power's Oyster Wave Energy Converter

Clipped from: ‘Oyster’ System is a New Way to Harness the Power of Waves | Inhabitat

‘Oyster’ System is a New Way to Harness the Power of Waves

Recently Edinburgh-based company Aquamarine Power unveiled plans to install a new type of wave power system in place in the seabed off the Orkney Islands coast.

Clipped from: Press Releases - Aquamarine Power unveils plan for Oyster 2 — Aquamarine Power

AQUAMARINE POWER UNVEILS PLAN FOR OYSTER 2

8 Feb 2010

Last week, Aquamarine Power secured £5.1 million of public funding to support the manufacture of the Oyster 2 device.  The company received the grant from the Marine Renewables Proving Fund (MRPF), a £22 million initiative funded by the UK Government’s Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and managed by the Carbon Trust. The fund aims to accelerate the leading and most promising marine energy devices towards the point where they can qualify for the UK Government’s existing Marine Renewables Deployment Fund support scheme and, ultimately, be deployed on a commercial scale.

Clipped from: Technologies — Aquamarine Power

OYSTER®

Oyster® is a simple mechanical hinged flap connected to the seabed at around 10m depth. Each passing wave moves the flap, driving hydraulic pistons to deliver high pressure water via a pipeline to an onshore electrical turbine. Multiple Oyster® devices are designed to be deployed in utility-scale wave farms typically of 100MW or more.

Oyster® will combine high efficiency and survivability with low cost operations, maintenance and manufacture to produce reliable cost-competitive electricity from the waves for the first time.

Clipped from: YouTube - Aquamarine Power 'Oyster' device

Clipped from: YouTube - Aquamarine Power - Oyster wave energy device - How It Works

Sources:

1. ‘Oyster’ System is a New Way to Harness the Power of Waves | Inhabitat
2. Press Releases - Aquamarine Power unveils plan for Oyster 2 — Aquamarine Power
3. Technologies — Aquamarine Power
4. YouTube - Aquamarine Power 'Oyster' device
5. YouTube - Aquamarine Power - Oyster wave energy device - How It Works

Related:

1. Wave power - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
2. Wave Power - Energy from ocean surface waves
3. YouTube - Ocean Wave Power Plant
4. Aquamarine Power
5. Renewable Energy Focus - Aquamarine Power: £5.1m for wave device Oyster 2
6. Aquamarine Power to focus on wave but ditch tidal energy - Wave/Tidal/Hydro - Renewable energy news - Recharge - wind, solar, biofuels, wave/tidal/hydro and geothermal

Saturn Double Aurorae

Clipped from: Hubble films twin auroras on Saturn - Telegraph

Hubble films twin auroras on Saturn

A rare glimpse of a flickering light show over both poles of the planet Saturn has been captured by the Hubble Space Telescope.

Scientists managed to take snapshots of an unusual edge-on view of Saturn's rings during a recent equinox to record unique images of the giant planet's northern and southern lights at the same time. A blue glow can be distinctly seen dancing above Saturn's north and south pole and the rare footage has revealed slight differences between the auroras.

Clipped from: Saturn's aurorae offer stunning double show

11-Feb-2010: Researchers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope recently took advantage of a rare opportunity to record Saturn when its rings are edge-on, resulting in a unique movie featuring both of the giant planet's poles. Saturn is only in this position every 15 years and this favourable orientation has allowed a sustained study of Saturn’s almost symmetric northern and southern lights.

Clipped from: YouTube - Saturn Rare Double Aurorae

Saturn Rare Double Aurorae

Clipped from: Magnetosphere of Saturn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Magnetosphere of Saturn

The magnetosphere of Saturn is the cavity created in the flow of the solar wind by the planet's internally generated magnetic field. Discovered in 1979 by the Pioneer 11 spacecraft, Saturn's magnetosphere is the second largest of any planet in the Solar System after Jupiter.

[...]

Aurorae

Saturn has relatively bright polar aurorae, which in the ultraviolet and near infrared light look like bright continuous circles (ovals) surrounding its poles at the latitude of 73–78°.Unlike Jupiter's, the Saturn's ovals are not related to the breakdown of the co–rotation of the plasma in the outer parts of the planet's magnetosphere The aurorae on Saturn are thought to connected to the reconnection of the magnetic filed under the influence of the Solar wind (Dungey cycle,) which drives an upward current (about 10 million amperes) from the ionosphere and leads to the acceleration and precipitation of energetic (1–10 kev) electrons into the polar thermosphere of Saturn The saturnian aurorae are more similar to those of the Earth, where they are also Solar wind driven The ovals themselves correspond to the boundaries between open and closed magnetic field lines—so called polar caps, which are located at the distance of 10–15° from the poles

Sources:

1. Hubble films twin auroras on Saturn - Telegraph
2. Saturn's aurorae offer stunning double show
3. YouTube - Saturn Rare Double Aurorae
4. Magnetosphere of Saturn - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Related:

1. Saturn's aurorae offer stunning double show (w/ Video)
2. Saturn's aurora offer stunning double show
3. See Saturn's twin light shows - Cosmic Log - msnbc.com
4. Hubble telescope films Saturn's eerie twin aurorae | Mail Online

Boston Dynamics' Bigger BigDog: LS3 - Legged Squad Support Systems

Clipped from: IEEE Spectrum: Boston Dynamics Wins Darpa Contract To Develop LS3 Robot Mule (It's a Bigger BigDog)

Boston Dynamics Wins Darpa Contract To Develop LS3 Robot Mule (It's a Bigger BigDog)

A bigger BigDog is coming.

Boston Dynamics, developer of BigDog and PETMAN, announced today that it has won a Darpa contract to develop a new robot mule to help soldiers on foot carry gear in the field.

The robot, called Legged Squad Support System, or LS3, will be able to navigate rough terrain, carrying 180 kilograms (~400 pounds) of load and enough fuel for missions covering 32 kilometers (~20 miles) and lasting 24 hours.

Clipped from: YouTube - Boston Dynamics Big Dog (new video March 2008)

Boston Dynamics Big Dog

Clipped from: Boston Dynamics: Dedicated to the Science and Art of How Things Move.

LS3 - Legged Squad Support Systems

LS3 is a dynamic robot designed to go anywhere Soldiers and Marines go on foot. Each LS3 will carry up to 400 lbs of gear and enough fuel for missions covering 20 miles and lasting 24 hours. LS3 will not need a driver, because it will automatically follow a leader using computer vision or travel to designated locations using sensing and GPS. The development of LS3 will take 30 months, with first walk out scheduled for 2012. The development of LS3 is being funded by DARPA and the US Marine Corps.

Clipped from: DARPA Begins Legged Squad Support System Program

DARPA Begins Legged Squad Support System Program

Following this initial LS3 design and build phase, DARPA and the Marine Corps will review the results and determine future program phases that may lead to full LS3 integration and experimentation with operational platforms.

 

The program is a joint effort between DARPA's Tactical Technology Office (TTO) and the U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Lab (MCWL). The program goal is to develop a walking quadruped platform that will augment squads by carrying traditional and new equipment autonomously.

These platforms will be capable of managing complex terrain where tactical vehicles are not able to go-lightening the load of Marines and Soldiers and increasing their combat capability.

Clipped from: DARPA Develops 4-Legged Robot to Haul Equipment Over Rugged Terrain

Key characteristics of the LS3 program include:

• Quadruped platform development: a deployable walking platform with sufficient payload capacity, range, endurance, and low noise signature for dismounted squad support, while keeping weight and volume scaled to the squad level.

• Walking control: control techniques that allow walking, trotting, and running/ bounding and capabilities to jump obstacles, cross ditches, recover from disturbances, and other discrete mobility features.

• User interface (to include perception technologies): the ability for the robot to perceive and traverse its immediate terrain environment autonomously with simple methods of control.

Sources:

1. IEEE Spectrum: Boston Dynamics Wins Darpa Contract To Develop LS3 Robot Mule (It's a Bigger BigDog)
2. YouTube - Boston Dynamics Big Dog (new video March 2008)
3. Boston Dynamics: Dedicated to the Science and Art of How Things Move.
4. DARPA Begins Legged Squad Support System Program
5. DARPA Develops 4-Legged Robot to Haul Equipment Over Rugged Terrain

Related:

1. DARPA - Tactical Technology Office (TTO)
2. Robot Pack Mule to Carry Loads for G.I.s on the Move: Scientific American
3. Legged Squad Support System Monster BigDog Robot: Science Fiction in the News
4. BigDog Is Going to War - ls3 - Gizmodo
5. Legged Squad Support System (LS3) - DARPA-BAA-08-71 (Archived) - Federal Business Opportunities: Opportunities