Talking Cars: Intelligent Vehicle Technology

'Talking' cars may someday warn of crashes and save lives

Using specialized WiFi signals that are emitted 10 times every second, the technology senses when a collision is imminent and alerts a driver through flashing red lights and beeps.

[...]

Some cars already have limited radar devices that can detect obstacles in the front, as well as those in the blind spots missed by mirrors. Such systems can cost $1,000 or more.

The advantage of the WiFi technology is not only that it is far cheaper - possibly adding as little as $100 to the cost of the car - but also that it can detect other vehicles much farther away and in all directions, officials said.

Collected from: 'Talking' cars may someday warn of crashes and save lives

CNBC's Phil LeBeau appears on the Today show to discuss new crash avoidance technologies coming out of Detroit.

Collected from: Autos, Technology and Driving: ‘Talking’ Cars that Could Save Your Life - CNBC

Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) - United States Department of Transportation

Collected from: Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA) - United States Department of Transportation (USDOT, US DOT or DOT)

The Ford Story: What if Your Car Could Talk?

“Ford believes intelligent vehicles that talk to each other through advanced Wi-Fi are the next frontier of collision avoidance innovations that could revolutionize the driving experience and hold the potential of helping reduce many crashes,” said Sue Cischke, group vice president, Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering.

Ford is building the first-ever prototype intelligent vehicles that will tour the U.S. beginning this spring. The company will provide additional prototypes for the Department of Transportation’s world-first research clinics expected to begin this summer.

Collected from: The Ford Story: What if Your Car Could Talk?

Collected from: YouTube - Ford Intelligent Vehicle Technology

FORD ACCELERATES INTELLIGENT VEHICLE RESEARCH, CREATING ‘TALKING’ VEHICLES TO MAKE ROADS SAFER | Ford Motor Company Newsroom

How it works

Ford’s vehicle communications research technology allows vehicles to talk wirelessly with one another using advanced Wi-Fi signals, or dedicated short-range communications, on a secured channel allocated by the Federal Communications Commission. Unlike radar-based safety features, which identify hazards within a direct line of sight, the Wi-Fi-based radio system allows full-range, 360-degree detection of potentially dangerous situations, such as when a driver’s vision is obstructed.

For example, drivers could be alerted if their vehicle is on path to collide with another vehicle at an intersection, when a vehicle ahead stops or slows suddenly or when a traffic pattern changes on a busy highway. The systems also could warn drivers if there is a risk of collision when changing lanes, approaching a stationary or parked vehicle, or if another driver loses control.

Collected from: FORD ACCELERATES INTELLIGENT VEHICLE RESEARCH, CREATING ‘TALKING’ VEHICLES TO MAKE ROADS SAFER | Ford Motor Company Newsroom

Related

• SA’s talking cars set to enhance vehicle safety
• Cohda Wireless Mobile Broadband
• Don’t crash me, bro: Ford talking cars avoid collisions
• Coming soon: intelligent, talking cars from Ford | DVICE

DLR's Safe Robots

Researchers study knife-wielding robots (w/ Video)

(PhysOrg.com) -- Many people have dreamed of robots helping around the house, vacuuming the carpets, making the beds, and chopping vegetables in the kitchen. Now a new study has found such robots could pose a danger to humans if they use sharp implements such as steak knives.

Collected from: Researchers study knife-wielding robots (w/ Video)

Department of Robotic Systems

- SAFE-ROBOTS -

At the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) a new generation of safe robots was developed for direct physical cooperation with humans.This will qualify the robots as assistants for humans in industrial assembly and manufacturing, medicine, or, one day, even as a house-hold help in everyone’s home. In all these applications it has to be ensured that the robot will under no circumstances injure the humans due to malfunction or even in case of user errors. This research tries to systematically study and classify all possible injuries which can appear in human-robot interaction, generate a large experimental data basis for understanding and evaluating these potential injuries and provide design and software measured to avoid or at least diminish them as much as possible.

Collected from: Safe Robots

Human-Robot Collision Study

Collected from: YouTube - Human-Robot Collision Study

Robotics Soft-Tissue Injury Study

Collected from: YouTube - Robotics Soft-Tissue Injury Study

Approaching Asimov's 1st Law

Collected from: YouTube - Approaching Asimov's 1st Law

Injury Evaluation of Human-Robot Impacts

Collected from: YouTube - Injury Evaluation of Human-Robot Impacts

Sources:

1. Researchers study knife-wielding robots (w/ Video)
2. Safe Robots
3. YouTube - Human-Robot Collision Study
4. YouTube - Robotics Soft-Tissue Injury Study
5. YouTube - Approaching Asimov's 1st Law
6. YouTube - Injury Evaluation of Human-Robot Impacts

Related:

1. DLR - Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics - Safe Robots
2. DLR - Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics - Home
3. Robots with knives have a lethal strike, study says - SmartPlanet
4. Danger: robots with knives could attack humans accidentally - Telegraph

X-Flex Blast Protection System

clipped from www.inhabitat.com Bomb-Proof Wallpaper Could Save You in a Natural Disaster Imagine: a hurricane is barreling towards your house, but instead of hiding in the basement, you can stay safely and comfortably in your living room, all thanks to your X-Flex Blast Protection System wallpaper. It’s not a fantasy; the wallpaper, invented by Berry Plastics in a partnership with the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, actually exists — and a single sheet is strong enough to stop a wrecking ball. clipped from vimeo.com Best Of What's New 2009: Bombproof Wallpaper Test clipped from xflexsystem.com X-FLEX is a revolutionary advanced composite film tape that is used to reinforce and retrofit CMU, brick and other external wall surfaces. Developed cooperatively by leading researchers, scientists and engineers from US Army Corps of Engineers (ERDC) and Berry Plastics, X-FLEX is specifically engineered to protect structures that may be subject to acts of terrorism such as blast events or catastrophic occurrences. clipped from xflexsystem.com Technology clipped from www.youtube.com X-FLEX Blast Protection System

Sources:

1. Bomb-Proof Wallpaper Could Save You in a Natural Disaster | Inhabitat
2. Best Of What's New 2009: Bombproof Wallpaper Test on Vimeo
3. Best Of What's New 2009: Bombproof Wallpaper Test on Vimeo
4. Xflex Blast Protection Systems
5. Xflex Blast Protection Systems
6. YouTube - X-FLEX Blast Protection System

Related:

1. X-Flex Blast Protection System | Popular Science
2. Press Release - X-FLEX Blast Protection System from Berry Plastics Takes Grand Award for Security in Popular Science's "Best of What's New 2009"
3. introducing x flex blast protection system from berry plastics Berry Plastics Corporation

Nissan Crash Avoidance like Bumblebees and Fishes

Clipped from: BBC NEWS | Technology | Robot fish could prevent crashes

Robot fish could prevent crashes

Robots that mimic the behaviour of fish have been developed by Japanese car firm Nissan, who believe the technique can be used in crash avoidance systems.

The tiny robots, called Eporo, can move in a fleet without bumping into their travelling companions.

It is the second time the firm has looked to the animal kingdom for inspiration for its designs.

Last year, the manufacturer unveiled its BR23C robot, which was modelled on the behaviour of bumblebees.

Clipped from: Nissan looks to the Bumblebees for tips on crash avoidance — Autoblog

Nissan looks to the Bumblebees for tips on crash avoidance

Volvo has its locusts, Nissan has its bees. With 300-degree vision via compound eyes and instantaneous reflexes, bees don't run into things the way cars do. Nissan wants to halve the rate of car crashes by 2015, versus the company's 1995 tally, and is using bees to come up with a new generation of crash-avoidance systems that will be able to respond to obstacles in ways superior to humans.

Clipped from: YouTube - 2008 Nissan to Demonstrate Crash Avoidance Robot

2008 Nissan to Demonstrate Crash Avoidance Robot

Clipped from: NISSAN | Crash Avoidance Robotic Car Inspired by Flight of the Bumblebee

September 26, 2008

Crash Avoidance Robotic Car Inspired by
Flight of the Bumblebee
-- Nissan Exhibits for CEATEC Japan 2008* --

In flight, each bee creates its own oval-shaped personal space which in fact closely resembles Nissan's Safety Shield concept.

But more crucially, it is the bee's compound eyes, capable of seeing more than 300-degrees that allows the bumblebee to fly uninterrupted inside its personal space. In order to recreate the function of a compound eye, engineers came up with the idea of a Laser Range Finder (LRF).

The LRF detects obstacles up to two meters away within a 180-degree radius in front of the BR23C, calculates the distance to them, and sends a signal to an on-board microprocessor, which is instantly translated into collision avoidance.

Clipped from: Nissan robot car concept avoids accidents by mimicking fishes — Autoblog Green

Nissan robot car concept avoids accidents by mimicking fishes

Using two laser range finders mounted so that it has a 288-degree field of vision, Nissan's new Eporo robot cars can travel along at speeds of 1.4 km/h (less than one mile per hour), constantly changing direction as needed to maintain a safe distance from one another. The Japanese automaker suggests that such "Safety Shield" technology could eventually be applied to cars and trucks to help prevent accidents and traffic jams.

Gallery: Nissan Eporo robot cars

Clipped from: NISSAN | Nissan EPORO Robot Car "Goes to School" on Collision-free Driving by Mimicking Fish Behavior

October 1, 2009

Nissan EPORO Robot Car "Goes to School" on
Collision-free Driving by Mimicking Fish Behavior
- Advanced Robotic Concept Debuts at CEATEC JAPAN 2009 -

EPORO Robot Car

So what do a bumblebee and a school of fish have in common? Bothdemonstrate extraordinary "anti-collision" abilities, navigating instinctively and intelligently through challenging terrain by detecting and avoiding obstacles - just as future Nissan safety vehicles may have the capability to do. But where bees - and the BR23C robot car - are likely to travel alone, the schooling behavior of fish, or a group of vehicles, presents a far greater challenge in terms of collision avoidance. In developing EPORO, three rules of fish behavior were applied to its driving control.

Fish Behavior Rules
AREA 1: Collision Avoidance
Change traveling direction without colliding with other fish.
AREA 2: Traveling Side-by-Side
Travel side-by-side with other fish while keeping a certain distance between each fish (to match the speed).
AREA 3: Approaching
Gain closer proximity to other fish that are at a distance from them.

Sources:

1. BBC NEWS | Technology | Robot fish could prevent crashes
2. Nissan robot car concept avoids accidents by mimicking fishes — Autoblog Green
3. NISSAN | Nissan EPORO Robot Car "Goes to School" on Collision-free Driving by Mimicking Fish Behavior
4. Nissan looks to the Bumblebees for tips on crash avoidance — Autoblog
5. YouTube - 2008 Nissan to Demonstrate Crash Avoidance Robot
6. NISSAN | Crash Avoidance Robotic Car Inspired by Flight of the Bumblebee

Related:

1. Nissan Mimics School of Fish to Eliminate Collisions - Auto - FOXNews.com
2. The car that thinks like a fish
3. Eporo: Nissan develops robots that can rove in packs
4. Nissan unveils mobile robot that can dodge like a bee
5. Nissan's crash-avoiding robot 'car' gets upgrade, fresh new outlook on life
6. Nissan shows off bumblebee-inspired, crash-avoiding robot "car"

GeckoSystems' Mobile Robots

clipped from www.transworldnews.com GeckoSystems Unveils Mobile Robot Videos GeckoSystems Intl. Corp, (PINKSHEETS: GCKO) recently made it known that they have updated over 70 videos on their website chronicling their legacy of ten plus years of R&D and public CareBot™ demonstrations. It has been said “GeckoSystems is a dynamic leader in the emerging Mobile Service Robot industry revolutionizing their development and usage with ‘Mobile Robot Solutions for Safety, Security, and Service™.’" clipped from www.geckosystems.com Mobile Robot Solutions for Safety, Security and Service™ clipped from www.geckosystems.com GeckoNav™ clipped from www.youtube.com Autonomous MSR Navigation GeckoSystems Mobile Service Robot performing Autonomous Navigation. clipped from www.youtube.com Mobile Robot Navigates Dining Room & Kitchen CareBot(tm) MSR 3.8 recently introduced by GeckoSystems automatically self navigates from living room, to hallway, to dining room, to kitchen and back to living room. clipped from www.geckosystems.com Consumer Familycare clipped from www.youtube.com One CareBot (tm) One Family One family's experience with a robot companion for their Mother.

Sources

1. GeckoSystems Unveils Mobile Robot Videos
2. GeckoSystems: Mobile Robot Solutions for Safety, Security and Service™
3. GeckoSystems: Technologies
4. YouTube - Autonomous MSR Navigation
5. YouTube - Mobile Robot Navigates Dining Room & Kitchen
6. GeckoSystems: Consumer Familycare
7. YouTube - One CareBot (tm) One Family

Related:

1. Automatic, Self-Navigation Mobile Robot Software, GeckoNav(TM), 10X Faster Than Jet Fighter Pilot Reflexes | SYS-CON AUSTRALIA
2. GeckoSystems' Mobile Robot Solutions Lower Healthcare Costs | Market Wire | Find Articles at BNET
3. GeckoSystems' Software/Hardware Architecture Enables Mobile Robots to Be Personal
4. YouTube - geckosystems's Channel

LightLane -- The Personal Bike Lane

clipped from thedw.us Bike Safety Concept of the Day: LightLane - The Personal Bike Lane. clipped from www.good.is LightLane, a safety concept from the clever designers at Altitude, Inc. The system projects a virtual bike lane (using lasers!) on the ground around the cyclists, providing drivers with a recognizable boundary they can easily avoid. The idea is to allow riders to take safety into their own hands, rather than leaving it to the city. clipped from dustbowl.wordpress.com Light Lane - Concept from Altitude’s Alex Tee and Evan Gant Instead of adapting cycling to established bike lanes, the bike lane should adapt to the cyclists. This is the idea behind the LightLane. Our system projects a crisply defined virtual bike lane onto pavement, using a laser, providing the driver with a familiar boundary to avoid. With a wider margin of safety, bikers will regain their confidence to ride at night, making the bike a more viable commuting alternative.

Related:
The Daily What
GOOD » Superb Idea: Bike Lane That Travels With You»
Light Lane - Concept from Altitude’s Alex Tee and Evan Gant « Dustbowl
Altitude Inc. — A product innovation firm.

Dangerous Science (video)

via: highroadfarm's web site reviews and blog
related:
Wired Science . Homepage | PBS
Wired Science . Videos | PBS