Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos Control a Giant Mech Robot

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos got to live out every 6-year-old's fantasy when he got behind the controls of a giant "mech" robot.

The Verge reports that Bezos tried out the 13-foot-tall (4 meters) robot yesterday (March 19) at his company's private Machine Learning, Home Automation, Robotics and Space Exploration (MARS) conference. Video of the bot, developed by Hankook Mirae Technology in South Korea, first surfaced in December in promotional clips. Live Science was skeptical of the robot's existence and functionality at the time.

But the new video reveals that the robot does, indeed, exist. However, it's far from clear how much the mech (a term for piloted, humanoid robots) can really do. Bezos flails the arms around using controls in the robot's torso cockpit, but the robot does not take any steps and is tethered to the ceiling, presumably for safety reasons

Giant mech

The robot does not pick anything up in the video, either, which is notable because its developers say that one of their goals is to create piloted robots for real-world jobs, like cleaning up the Fukushima nuclear power plant that was damaged in 2011 when a massive earthquake and tsunami struck Japan. So far, none of the footage of the mech has shown it manipulating objects. The massive bot also runs on external power, which means that, so far, it's unable to work untethered.

Such limitations could be overcome. Roboticists have already developed robots that can navigate uneven terrain, including Boston Dynamics' intimidating "Big Dog" and the bipedal "Atlas" humanoid robot. Atlas can open doors, lift boxes and even right itself when pushed, and operates with an internal power source. Those bots are much smaller than the giant mech Hankook Mirae is trying to develop, however, and don't present the same safety challenges as a piloted robot. According to Hankook Mirae's website, the mech robot, nicknamed Method 2, weighs a minimum of 1.6 tons.

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SOLAR-POWERED TREES

eTree is a social enterprise which aims to promote environmental awareness and sustainability, to create a link between the community environment.


All trees convert sunlight into chemical energy, but now there are trees that convert sunlight into power to charge devices, cool water, offer free Wi-Fi and more for the benefit of their surrounding communities. Thanks to an imaginative idea from an Israeli company called Sologic, solar-powered trees are taking root to raise environmental awareness while providing green energy.

The eTree comprises a metal trunk that branches out to support solar panels instead of leaves. The structure, which looks like a pixelated tree in an 8-bit video game, uses the energy captured by the solar panels to provide USB charging outlets for smartphones and tablets, free Wi-Fi, a water trough for pets, a drinking-water fountain for humans, nighttime lighting and informational LCD screens.

One Acacia model eTree (the kind planted in Israel) costs about $100,000. A seven-panel version can generate up to 1.4 kilowatts, which is enough to run 35 laptops.

The big price tag means the eTree probably won’t replace traditional rooftop solar panels, but it has a chance at becoming a popular eye-pleasing fixture in parks across the globe, according to Eli Barnea, an investor in Israel’s largest private power company.

Sologic foresees future eTrees utilizing cameras along with touchscreen displays to enable someone standing beneath one solar-powered tree to say hello to someone else standing beneath another eTree planted anywhere in the world.

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Floating cinema sets sail in London for the summer season

Duggan Morris Architects has joined forces with British arts organization, UP Projects to launch this year’s "Floating Cinema," which will be gracing the waterways of East London until the end of September. For the project, Duggan Morris created an award winning design that converted a barge into a floating cinema.

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This year’s Floating Cinema is an upgrade from UP Projects’ original floating movie house that was launched back in 2011 but took a break in 2012 for the Olympics. Powered by a hybrid engine that runs on biofuel, the new floating cinema is currently touring the London urban waterways while hosting a range of summer events, including outdoor screenings, canal tours, talks and workshops.

The above-deck projection suite sits within a semi opaque cubic structure and is illuminated during evening film sessions. In addition to a small onboard movie theater, films are also projected from within the cubic cabin onto an exterior fixed surface, allowing more Londoners to enjoy an open air motion picture experience while taking advantage of the warm summer evenings.

The onboard auditorium is equipped with the projection equipment, audio-visual systems and a small movie theater for intimate floating screenings or events. And if you can’t make it to a specific event, worry not, live broadcasting of certain events and screenings will be streamed live on the Floating Cinema website.

UP Projects’ Floating Cinema is not the only floating movie theater in action at the moment. London based Floating Films is a film club that is located aboard the SB Repertor, a classic 1920’s Thames sailing ship. Currently docked at the St Katherine’s Docks in London, the ship screens a range of films in its intimate 40-seat indoor theater.

Meanwhile, the Archipelago Cinema, located off the coast of Yao Noi, Thailand is a more exotic version of the floating outdoor cinema. The project was launched last year during the Film on the Rocks Yao Noi Festival, combining a large floating projection screen and a floating raft. Lucky patrons are escorted by boat to the romantic floating cinema that could lay claim to being the most picturesque movie theater in the world.

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WaterBee puts crop irrigation on a smartphone

With robots doing everything from milking cows to crop dusting, farming has come a long way since they days of plodding along behind a horse and plow. Irrigation practices are also benefiting from advances in technology. The large-scale WaterBee smart irrigation and water management system is a case in point: it allows farmers use their smartphones to not only switch on the water where and when it’s needed, but also to get up to the minute information on field conditions.

According to the World Wildlife Foundation, the world uses 2,500 trillion liters of fresh water every year for growing crops. Unfortunately, it estimates that 60 percent of this is wasted due in part to inefficient irrigation systems. One way to counter this is by taking a page from precision farming, which relies on precisely attending to small areas or even individual plants on farms. In this case, WaterBee tries to cut the water bill by making a detailed study of fields and figuring out which bit needs how much water.

Coordinated from Limerick, Ireland, the WaterBee Project is a two-year, industry-driven demonstration project for an inexpensive, intelligent, flexible, easy-to-use, but accurate irrigation management system using wireless networking, environmental sensors and improvements in crop modelling. It’s aimed at farms, vineyards, golf clubs, public authorities and landscape managers and will be provided throughout Europe through business partners.

WaterBee is made up of a series of modular smart sensors distributed over an area that monitor soil moisture and other environmental factors that affect crop development and plant health. The output from these sensors is fed through a ZigBee wireless sensor network and from there to a GPRS gateway, which goes to a central web service. This service uses an intelligent software package to analyze the data, make models, and provide farmers and other users with advice based on their particular needs. The end result is fed back to an “easy-to-use” app on the user’s smartphone or tablet.

According to the developers, this reduces water use by allowing farmers to precisely schedule where, when and how much to irrigate as well as improving plant health and crop yields with lower operating costs. They also say that the modular components are easy to install and the system is also very flexible and is able to adjust to changing conditions. Estimated water savings over conventional irrigation are in the neighborhood of 40 percent.

WaterBee is already in use at 14 reference sites in Estonia, Malta, Italy, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

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Skymouse puts mouse control on your fingertips

The humble mouse may have stood the test of time and remains a staple of most desktop setups, but there are an increasing number of devices looking to relegate the mouse to the bottom drawer. The latest is the Skymouse which, like the Mycestro 3D wearable mouse, Genius wireless Ring Mouseand Leap Motion, shifts cursor control from the desk to your fingertips.

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Designed by Los Angeles-based Eliott Ephrati, the Skymouse uses infrared LEDs and an infrared camera to track the movement of "Skymouse Pointers" that are worn on the user's fingers. An algorithm then translates these hand movements into onscreen movements of the cursor.

The Skymouse is plug and play and can recognize basic pre-programmed commands, such as left click, right click, middle click and scroll. However, a developer kit will also be offered that will allow "hackers and tinkerers" to create custom commands and gestures.

We're guessing that wearing the Skymouse Pointers could pose some problems for typing, but Ephrati says he plans to release a second version that will work with naked fingers.

Ephrati is currently running a Kickstarter campaign to get the Skymouse into production. A minimum pledge of US$70 will score a Skymouse and four Skymouse pointers if the target goal is reached. Other funding tiers are available, including the hacker pack for $180, which comes with the open model for customization. If all goes well, units should be shipped by April 2014.

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Stafier's solar roof tiles appear wafier thin

If aesthetic concerns are keeping you from buying some solar panels to stick on your roof, Stafier's expansion into photovoltaics may be of interest. As phrases go "support system" is about as exciting as sniffing cardboard, but though that is what this is, the upshot is that the solar panels are more or less flush to the surrounding tiles, keeping your roof's even apperance.

Though they appear to be extremely thin PV panels, they are in fact set into the roof, replacing the tiles that were there. The Dutch company claims the system works with more or less any sort of roof, and uses aluminum sheets to create a seal between your solar panels and ordinary tiles. A panel the size of four tiles can generate up to 55 W of electrical power.

According to Red Dot, which recently gave Stafier a design award for the product, the system has been tested under rainstorm conditions in a wind tunnel and found to be weatherproof (you'd hope, wouldn't you?). A ventilation system built into the rear of the tile helps keep them cool, as though PV panels like light, heat actually compromises their efficiency.
This article is belong to Gizmag.com very informative web site here is the link below you can follow that site 
http://www.gizmag.com/stafier-solar-roof-tiles/28177/

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Solar-powered underwater robot inspired by the sunfish

Previously, we’ve seen swimming robots inspired by the cow-nosed ray, theblack ghost knife fish, and the jellyfish – to name just a few. Now, the engineers at AeroVironment have taken it upon themselves to replicate the mola (also known as the ocean sunfish), and the result is an ocean-going robot that gathers its own solar power.

The bizarre-looking sunfish is known for its habit of coming to the surface and rolling to one side to bask in the sun. While its reasons for doing so aren’t entirely understood, the Mola robot also rises to the surface to catch some rays – in its case, however, it’s doing so to charge its integrated solar panels.

According to a report in IEEE Spectrum, the Mola has no batteries, so energy gathered by those panels goes directly into powering the robot’s two fins in real time. An attachable flexible tail of linked solar panels can be used to increase the amount of power it can generate. That power is also used by an onboard data logger, that keeps a record of the local physical, chemical and biological water conditions.

A real-life mola, basking in the sun (Photo: Shutterstock)

The robot has a cruising speed of two knots, and is intended to swim beneath the surface when not charging. How it would do so without a battery isn’t immediately clear, although recent research has shown thatgallium indium phosphide solar cells placed up to 9.1 meters (29.9 feet) underwater are capable of generating some electricity – albeit, probably not enough to keep the Mola swimming.

The robot is currently just a proof-of-concept exercise. If ever developed, it would likely be used for autonomous open-water research and/or reconnaissance, like Liquid Robotics’ existing Wave Glider.

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Dragon Runner 10 joins QinetiQ’s micro unmanned robot family

QinetiQ North America has unveiled its latest Micro Unmanned Ground Vehicle (MUGV) based on its Dragon Runner platform. The new Dragon Runner 10 (DR10) is built around the basic Dragon Runner design and is intended for military and first responder duties. At just 15 inches (38 cm) long, 13.5 inches (34 cm) wide and 5.8 inches (15 cm) tall, and weighing just under 10 pounds (4.5 kg), the DR10 is small and light enough to be carried in a standard-issue pack and be thrown into buildings and hostile environments for reconnaissance and surveillance missions.

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With the ability to carry payloads of up to five pounds (2.3 kg), the DR10 is compatible with DR20 payloads and can be fitted with a variety of sensors, radios, cameras and a robotic arm. Its day and night sensors allow it serve as a team's forward eyes and ears, while also delivering remote sensors, setting counter-IED charges, gathering intelligence and conducting surveillance. It is controlled by a wearable controller at distances of up to 2,130 feet (650 m) and can be fitted with tracks or wheels dependent on the terrain to be covered.

When thrown, the DR10 has the ability to automatically flip video images, antennae and controls upon landing and it will travel at speeds of 4 mph (6.4 km/h) on slopes of up to 45°. Its standard battery will provide up to two hours of power, which can be supplemented by an external battery pack to provide over six hours of operation and a quick in-service recharge capability.

QinetiQ says the DR10 is suited for supporting small military units and patrols, as well as assisting first responder teams.

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Real Rocket Belt

TAM is the first and only company in the world that produces a complete package of a custom designed Rocket Belt using the most advanced technology and aerospace materials with the special distillation machine to produce your own rocket grade fuel hydrogen peroxide.
TAM have built and flight more Rocket Belts than any other company or individual in the world, even more than the original Bell company.

This is the kind of flying machine that millions of people saw in the James Bond 007 movies flown by Bill Suitor and at the opening ceremony of the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984 also flown by Bill Suitor.

The Rocket Belt is the most spectacular flying machine ever developed, period! It is a small personal propulsion device strapped to the back of an individual, enabling a man or woman to rapidly and safely fly or leap over short distances like small rivers or ravines , landing upright.

During the early 1960's the U.S. military seriously studied these devices as potential aids for combat soldiers to use in tight tactical situations and to cross mined fields.
The idea of a workable rocket belt is credited to Wendell Moore, an engineer working at Bell Aerosystems and the design of the rocket power unit is credited to James C. McCormick of Buffalo NY.

The Army negotiated with Bell for the fabrication of the SRLD (small rocket lifting device) and a contract was awarded to the Army's Transportation, Research and Engineering Command (TRECOM) for military feasibility studies and trials. Moore was named, Bell's Technical 

Director for the project. Under the contract, a 280-lb thrust rocket motor was made and tested. 90% Hydrogen Peroxide was chosen as the safest fuel for personnel use as no combustion took place. There was only expulsion of highly pressurized oxygen and water vapor, while the operator wore a form-fitting fiberglass corset for safety.
In the James Bond movie it was used one of the original Bell Rocket Belts flown by Bill Suitor and in the opening ceremony of the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 1984 the Rocket Belt that was flown was the Tyler Rocket Belt also flown by Bill Suitor, the Tyler Rocket Belt was a copy of the original Bell built by the inventor Nelson Tyler from California, after the Olympic Games Tyler sold his Rocket Belt to a company in Europe that later sold it again to Tyler's pilot Kinnie Gibson and for many years the Tyler Rocket Belt was the only Rocket Belt flying in the world until 2005 that TAM ended with this monopoly.http://www.tecaeromex.com/ingles/RB-i.htm

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Octopus Project creates robotic tentacle, full octobot on the way

Some living organisms feature an unusual muscle structure, which allows them to control the stiffness of their body, or various parts of it. Examples include elephants' trunks, our tongues, and octopus tentacles. Researchers working on the Octopus Project have so far successfully designed a robotic tentacle, with the ultimate aim of creating a full-bodied robotic octopus.

Why an octopus? According to the researchers, it has a number of characteristics that are interesting from an engineering point of view, such as an infinite number of degrees of freedom, various bending possibilities, controllable stiffness and high dexterity.

Such an octobot could be used in underwater search, rescue and exploration,Discovery News reports. "The applications we envisage are all the applications where you send the robot into very small spaces for exploration tasks but also for rescue under debris," stated team member Cecilia Laschi. British surgeons are also reportedly looking into applying the technology to an endoscope.

The working robotic tentacle prototype is approximately 17 inches (43 cm) long. The arm is fashioned from a central steel cable with a number of nylon cables attached to it, all of which are encased in a silicone skin. It's capable of grasping objects via manipulation of the cables, which allows it to stiffen around a target.

It's modeled after a real Mediterranean octopus.

The Octopus Project is an interdisciplinary initiative funded by the European Comission, and coordinated by the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna educational institute in Pisa, Italy. The full robotic octopus with eight arms is scheduled for completion by the project's deadline in January 2013.

The following video presents the prototype tentacle:

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NUST Students Prepare Brain Controlled Robotic Arm

Handicaps are always considered integrated part in every society. So most people don’t even think of making something useful for such people but there are minds which always think out the box.
They think how can we use our God gifted talent to serve other humans, which bring true value to society as Einstein said “Try not to become a man of successful but rather a man of value”
It’s rightly said that “Human brains have powers beyond measures”. This statement has been proven by a group of Pakistani students from NUST University who recently invented Brain Controlled Artificial Robotic Hand.
This Robotic Hand is very simple to operate and it’s a blessing for handicapped people. Just connect some sensors with your arm, now whatever you think in your brain regarding the movement of your arm this robotic arm will follow your brain’s order.
These kinds of projects are very rare and expensive in the world but Pakistani students MaashaaAllah with their talent and hard work proved again that when we work for what we desire we get what we need.I salute these students who have done such a great job.

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Scientists create water walking bionic microrobot

Chinese scientists have developed an aquatic microrobot that mimics the water-walking abilities of the Gerridae - a family of long-legged bugs commonly known as water striders that are able to run on top of the water's surface. The scientists say their bionic microbot incorporates improvements over previous devices that make it an ideal candidate for military spy missions, water pollution monitoring and other applications.
The robot has a body about the size of a quarter to which ten water-repellent, wire legs and two moveable, oar-like legs are attached. While the 10 long legs extending from either side of the robot's body keep it afloat, the two shorter, centrally-located, oar-like legs powered by two miniature motors propel it across the surface of the water.
The scientists say that although others have made tiny aquatic devices based on the water strider with the hope of developing bionic robots that can, among other things, monitor water supplies or conduct military missions when equipped with a camera, none have been practical, agile and cheap. Although their microrobot is around 390 times heavier than a water strider, they say it is able to stand, walk and turn freely on water surfaces.
The research team received funding from the Harbin Institute of Technology and theNatural Science Foundation of China. Their study appears in the journal, ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces.

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Robot rover tackles uneven ground using screw drive

Some day in the future, it's possible that an unmanned rover may go trundling across the Martian landscape

 not on wheels, but on three rotating steel coils. While able to traverse rugged terrain without getting stuck, it could also move sideways to get around obstacles, would be unlikely to malfunction as it would have very few moving parts, and could perhaps even remain mobile if it were to take a tumble and flip over. Although such a vehicle might not be exploring Mars any time particularly soon, a fully-functioning prototype does already exist here on Earth, and its design could find terrestrial applications.

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Wisconsin engineer Tim Lexen built and designed the rover. At its heart is a flat triangular PVC main body (measuring about 7 inches/17.8 cm per side) that houses three electric servo motors, battery packs, and electronics. These independently power its three 8-inch (20.3-cm) stainless steel helical coils, also known as screws, each one extending horizontally from one corner of its body. The screws incorporate a low-friction outer coating that keeps them from getting stuck against rough surfaces while their augering action allows them to push or pull against those surfaces to move the rover in any desired direction. For this reason, it works best on textured surfaces such as dirt, grass, sand, or gravel, as opposed to completely flat, smooth surfaces.
The proof-of-concept device is remotely-piloted by a human operator, via a standard hobbyist's radio-control system.
Screw-driven ground vehicles in and of themselves are certainly nothing new, having been around since at least the 1860s - one relatively well-known example is the Russian ZIL off-road vehicle. Almost all of these, however, have utilized pairs of longitudinally-mounted pontoons with sharp-edged augers coiling around their outer surfaces. While these did a decent job of moving the vehicles forward over rough or sloppy terrain, they required the vehicles to face whatever direction they were turning.

The Y-layout and rounded edges of the screws on Lexen's rover, by contrast, allows for complete omnidirectional (or holonomic) drive - this means it can move in any direction, without having to turn to face that direction itself. This could be particularly useful when trying to get around obstacles in tight quarters. While a typical wheeled vehicle would need room to move forward or backward in order to perform its arcing turns, the rover could simply stop at obstacles, then execute sideways right-angle "turns" while still facing the same direction.It should be noted that some indoor wheeled vehicles are also able to achieve holonomic motion via independently-swiveling caster-like wheels, but Lexen believes that these would not work well on uneven terrain.

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Hexagonal plate skin gives robots sense of touch

Providing robots with sensory inputs is one of the keys to the development of more capable and useful machines. Sight and hearing are the most common senses bestowed upon our mechanical friends (perhaps soon to be foes?), but even tasteand smell have got a look in. With the sense of touch so important to human beings, there have also been a number of efforts to give robots the sense of touch so they can better navigate and interact with their environments. The latest attempt to create a touchy feely robot comes from the Technical University Munich (TUM) where researchers have produced small hexagonal plates, which when joined together, form a sensitive skin.

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The artificial skin isn't flexible like some previous robotic skin technologies we've seen, but is made up of rigid, five-centimeter square (0.77 sq in), hexagonal circuit board plates. Each small circuit board contains four infrared sensors that detect anything that comes closer than a centimeter (0.39 in) to effectively simulate light touch. Thus, the robot can detect when it runs into an object, and either spontaneously retreat or direct its eyes to examine the object.
But with human skin also conveying other information, such as temperature, shear forces and vibrations, the TUM researchers have also embedded the plates with six temperature sensors and an accelerometer. The researchers say these will give a robot self-perception by allowing it to accurately register the movement of individual limbs to learn which body parts it has moved.
"We try to pack many different sensory modalities into the smallest of spaces," explains Philip Mittendorfer, a scientist who developed the artificial skin at the Institute of Cognitive Systems at TUM. "In addition, it is easy to expand the circuit boards to later include other sensors, for example, pressure."

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