Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 231

According to British philosopher Nick Bostrom, the reality that surrounds us is thanks to a highly-advanced computer program, similar to the events of The Matrix.

Dr Bostrom proposed his theory in a paper that he wrote, saying that an evolved race of aliens have "imprisoned the human race" in what Bostrom refers to as "digital imprisonment". You might think he is crazy, but NASA scientist Rich Terrile agrees with Bostrom in a way. Terrile is the director of the Centre for Evolutionary Computation and Automated Design at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Terrile spoke with VICE, where he said: "Right now the fastest NASA supercomputers are cranking away at about double the speed of the human brain. If you make a simple calculation using Moore's Law [which roughly claims computers double in power every two years], you'll find that these supercomputers, inside of a decade, will have the ability to compute an entire human lifetime of 80 years - including every thought ever conceived during that lifetime - in the span of a month".

IBM CEO Ginni Rometty believes artificial intelligence can be used by humans for our own benefit, despite some outcry that AI poses a threat to mankind. During the World of Watson event, aimed at promoting IBM Watson, Rometty promised a "bold prediction."

"In the future, every decision that mankind makes is going to be informed by a cognitive system like Watson... and our lives will be better for it," Rometty said.

IBM Watson is a custom cognitive system that the company promotes as a "new partnership between people and computers that enhances and scales human expertise." The supercomputer has already been used for cancer research - among other breakthrough scientific purposes - but IBM wants to push things even further. Watson was able to beat Jeopardy! king Ken Jennings in 2011, and has been used more recently to help chefs find new recipes.

Scientists and researchers have great use for robotics development, with a number of different models currently in development. The use of micro-robotics, however, provides an interesting scenario in which researchers study small insects and wildlife for their natural inspiration.

When most people think of robots, they immediately think of large, metallic creations that can be used in factories - but micro-sized robots are proving increasingly popular. If implemented, micro-robots can assist in agriculture, medicine, and other industries, according to supporters.

"If you want to make something a centimeter big that can fly, several hundred thousand solutions already exist in nature," said Robert Wood, electrical engineer at Harvard University's Microrobotics Lab, in a statement to National Geographic. "We don't just copy nature. We try to understand the what, how, and why behind an organism's anatomy, movement, and behavior, and then translate that into engineering terms."

When Tesla unveiled its new Powerwall home battery, I don't think most people thought it would take off as fast as it has. According to Bloomberg, Tesla has received over $800 million in orders for the Powerwall and Powerpack batteries so far.

The site says that Tesla has received around $179 million worth of Powerwall reservations so far, with $625 million worth of Powerpack reservations to boot. Tesla has already said that it's taken in around 38,000 total reservations for Powerwall, and 2,500 reservations for Powerpack.

Tesla is selling the Powerwall for $3000 and $3500 for the 7kWh and 10kWh models, respectively. Powerpack units make even more money for Tesla, as they're being sold to businesses and utilities for power storage for $250 per kilowatt hour to use.

Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, a space venture company, successfully test launched its New Shepard spacecraft last week. The New Shepard reached 307,000 feet, powered by a 110,000-lbf thrust liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen BE-3 engine. The boundary between Earth and space is 62-miles above the Earth's surface, so the New Shepard maximum altitude of 58 miles was close to the limit.

"Any astronauts on board would have had a very nice journey into space and a smooth return," Bezos said in a blog post. "In fact, if New Shepherd had been a traditional expendable vehicle, this would have been a flawless first test flight."

The space capsule demonstration was successful, but the reusable rocket booster was unfortunately not recovered. Bezos said his company is working on an improved hydraulic system, and hopefully the next launch will not lose pressure during its descent.

Small businesses want to see if robots are able to drive sales and increase productivity, unfortunately at the expense of human workers.

Robots are estimated to carry out 25 percent of all industrial tasks by 2025, according to the Boston Consulting Group - and almost half of US jobs face "high risk" of being automated in the next 10 to 20 years, according to co-directors of the Oxford Martin Programme on Technology and Employment.

"Automation is having a big impact. It's both positive and negative," said Martin Ford, author of the "Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future" book, which will be published later this month, in a statement to CNBC. "Business will need to hire no people or fewer people. You can literally have one person start a manufacturing business."

National space programs have shown new interest in lunar exploration, and it's possible robots could roam the moon's surface. The German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) has created an iStruct Demonstrator, also known as "Charlie," a robotic ape that can you different locomotion styles.

Using four-legged locomotion adds stability, but bipedal is best for speed and ability to maneuver - so having the robot be able to choose how to move is absolutely huge.

"We chose the ape because it allows us to study several locomotion modes," said Daniel Kuhn, DFKI researcher, in a statement to CNN. "For example, they have quite good quadrupedal walking abilities but they can also perform stand-up motion and walk on two legs - their ability to do this is greater than other animals. This change in posture and walking form interested us."

Military technology has become absolutely fascinating in the past few years, with autonomous drones, robots, smart technology, and exoskeletons advancing nicely.

The Russian military is reportedly developing mind-controlled exoskeletons, multiple Russian news outlets claim. If there is any truth to the reports, soldiers could carry up to 600 pounds of additional weight. What makes this announcement curious is the idea that Russia is five years away from being able to include a neuroelectronic interface so the suit's wearer has a unique controlling mechanism.

"The Russian Army is set to receive mind-controlled exoskeletons," the Russian Sputnik media source said. "The wearable robots will be controlled by brain waves and will increase the strength and endurance of the serviceman wearing it by several times."

The 'Eve' robot is being utilized at the University of California, San Francisco, Medical Center at Mission Bay, a new facility that opened in February. The robots can help humans, make test sample deliveries, and ensure each room has supplies as needed.

UCSF purchased 25 robots from Aethon for $3.5 million, and then invested an additional $2.5 million to prepare the robots and hospital. The hospital expects to break even within two years on its robotic investment, while also freeing up staff to conduct other tasks.

"The hospital is set up almost as a virtual railroad... if they encounter an obstacle along the way, that's when they use their various sensors, laser, sonar and infrared to navigate around those items and continue on their path," said Brian Herriot, director of Mission Bay operations planning for the UCSF Medical Center, in a statement published by NBC News.

After quite a while of teasing, Tesla has unveiled its home battery: Powerwall. Tesla's new Powerwall home battery system allows people to disconnect from the power grid for a few hours, which isn't perfect, but it will have significant power savings for countless people around the world.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the new Powerwall is a "whole integrated system that just works and is connected to the Internet". Powerwall is packed with lithium-ion cells and a liquid thermal-control system, with Powerwall being tested with specific customers for the past year. The home battery connects to the Internet so that it can track power usage and share the information with utilities.

How much will Tesla's Powerwall set you back? Right now, the 10kWh system is offered to installers for $3500, while the 7kWh will cost people $3000. These two systems do not include the cost of a DC-to-AC inverter, but if you've already got solar panels, you won't need that additional DC-to-AC inverter. Distributors can lease the Powerwall to consumers, with the Tesla-made device including a 10-year guaranteed life with warranty, and will begin shipping in late summer.

More than one-third of babies are interacting with touchscreen tablets and smartphones before they are able to crawl, walk and talk. Specifically, 36 percent of children have experience with touching or scrolling before age one, with 15 percent using apps by the same age, according to the Einstein Medical Center's pediatrics department.

Mobile technology becomes more common place, and while there are plenty of educational apps available, researchers are most concerned about children from zero-to-two years old. It's a critical time for brain development, in which human interaction is absolutely vital.

"On the one hand, we have lots of experience with television, and we know that it has some pitfalls and some dangers for children in terms of their educational learning," said Laura Jana, an Omaha-based pediatrician, in a statement to CBS News. "Some benefits as well. Mobile devices, when we're talking about screens and things, are so new that this is a really important survey that has given us some initial information about just how prevalent the use is in very young ages."

Artec 3D hopes that its "Space Spider" 3D scanner will one day have a presence in space, possibly aboard the International Space Station.

The Space Spider's advanced cooling system has been designed to prevent the handheld scanner from overheating, making it an ideal solution while in microgravity. It's not uncommon to hear that electronics in orbit overheat and malfunction, with NASA and other space agencies asking companies to find solutions to prevent these types of issues.

"Imagine the potential of using 3D scanning technology on the International Space Station paired with a 3D printer," said Artyom Yuhkin, president and CEO of Artec 3D. "The Space Spider boasts an enhanced cooling system that allows the user to capture accurate 3D data more rapidly. This handheld scanner can endure some of the most difficult situations on Earth and has been engineered to perform in nearly zero-gravity environments when called upon."

US medical researchers have created a 3D printed medical device that is able to change shape and help improve breathing as a child grows. Researchers believe the device worked better than they originally imagined, and look forward to a future clinical trial.

The custom biomaterial was used to treat three children suffering from tracheobronchomalacia, a medical issue when airway walls are weak, causing them to collapse after a rough cough or unusual breathing patterns. The 3D-printed splints were tubes - both hollow and porous - that can be attached over impacted airways, giving them increased strength.

"This is the first 3D printed implant specifically designed to change shape over time to allow for a child's growth before finally reabsorbing as the disease is cured," said Dr. Glenn Green, associate professor of pediatric otolaryngology at the University of Michigan, and contributing author for the study, in a statement published by Reuters.

KAIST researchers in South Korea are working on creating a thermoelectric generator that can be used to help power wearable electronics. The team developed a glass fabric TE generator that is able to produce electricity based on heat created by the human body.

"Our technology presents an easy and simple way of fabricating an extremely flexible, light, and high-performance TE generator," said Byung Jin Cho, head of the KAIST research team, in a statement to the media. "We expect that this technology will find further applications in scale-up systems such as automobiles, factories, aircrafts, and vessels where we see abundant thermal energy being wasted."

There have been organic and inorganic material TE generators manufactured in the past, while Cho's team is interested in a new concept that is able to be flexible yet not lose much thermal energy. KAIST's design utilizes a self-sustaining structure that is able to accurately trap inorganic TE materials in between upper and lower substrates.

A new scientific report finds three out of four extremely hot days are caused by humans and greenhouse gases - and it's an important metric considering there is more talk regarding climate change.

Researchers took a look at one-tenth of one percent of hot days, picking the hottest and most extreme days - and used 25 computer models to find that these extreme weather days occurred once in three years, assuming there were no greenhouse gas emissions caused by humans. However, when the current level of greenhouse gases is included, the number jumps to four days.

"This new study helps get the actual probability or odds of human influence," said Jonathan Overpeck, climate scientist at the University of Arizona, in a statement published by the AP. "This is key: If you don't like hot temperature extremes that we're getting, you now know how you can reduce the odds of such events by reducing greenhouse gas emissions."

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) wants to launch an unmanned spacecraft to the moon in 2018, in an important first step towards a possible manned mission to the same target. Even if a manned launch doesn't occur, JAXA hopes to use collected data for a possible mission to Mars.

JAXA previously reached the moon's orbit in 2008 with the SELENE spacecraft, helping collect information about the lunar surface. The space agency hopes the Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) will launch onboard the Epsilon rocket, which is a solid-fuel rocket with only one live launch.

"This is an initial step and a lot of procedures are still ahead before the plan is formally approved," said a JAXA spokesperson in front of the media. A mission to the moon could cost anywhere from $83.4 million up to $125 million, and the Japanese government is working on a proper project roadmap.

The Houston Zoo and Baylor College of Medicine teamed up to help Smaug, a 16-year-old Komodo dragon, use his right foot more effectively. The custom spring-loaded and rubberized orthosis is made of a flexible material that can be easily taken off and off by zoo caretakers.

The 7-foot, 200-pound animal struggled because he was unable to use his muscles to pull his right foot forward properly, and would land awkwardly - essentially causing him to roll his wrist underneath of his heavy weight with each foot step.

"About a year ago, we noticed that Smaug wasn't using his right, front foot normally and that occasionally he was flipping it underneath and walking on the top of his toes," said Dr. Lauren Howard, associate veterinarian of the Houston Zoo. "So that started the last year-and-a-half of our diagnostic investigation into what was going on with him. We're still trying to determine why he's not holding his foot the right way, but in the meantime our goal is to keep him holding his foot upward so he doesn't continue to walk on the tops of his toes."

Air Force Lt. Gen. Christopher Bogdan, head of the chaotic and expensive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, has consistently heard criticism and complaints. Bogdan says the F-35 program is better than what the public perceives, despite schedule delays, technical and design issues, and huge cost problems.

Lockheed Martin, the F-35 JSF manufacturer, and Pratt & Whitney, the F-35 engine maker, are fighting for support - and urging the Pentagon not to slash budgets.

The cost of production has more than doubled, and the problem doesn't seem to be getting any better. Once the kinks are worked out, the F-35A for the Air Force will cost upwards of $110 million each, an F-35B for the USMC will be $134 million, and the Navy F-35C has a $129 million price tag.

Science for the Masses, an independent "citizen science" organization has theorised that Chlorin e6 (Ce6), a natural molecule that can be created from algae and other green plants, can be used to create an eye drop that would give wearers amplified eyesight in dark environments.

This molecule is found in some deep sea fish, and forms the basis of some cancer therapies, and has been used in previously prescribed intravenously for night blindness. The lab's medical officer, Jeff Tibbets, said: "There are a fair amount of papers talking about having injected it in models like rats and it's been used intravenously since the 60s as treatments for different cancers. After doing the research, you have to take the next step".

After that, the scientists had to moisten the eyes of biochemical researcher Gabriel Licina, with 50 microliters of Ce6. The effect was reportedly almost instantanous, and after an hour, Licina could distinguish shapes from 10m (32 feet) away in the dark, and after a little while longer, even further distances. Licina said: "We had people go stand in the woods. At 50 metres, I could figure who they were, even if they were standing up against a tree".

The escalating cost of the already expensive F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) increased $4.3 billion in 2014 alone - as the project already racked up more than $113 billion than original expected costs, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) discovered.

The US Air Force, Marine Corps and Navy all will have F-35 aircraft designed to one day replace legacy fighter jets. However, the F-35 designed for the USMC won't be operational until this summer, if all goes according to plan, while the Navy won't receive aircraft until 2018.

"Affordability is our number one priority, making the F-35 affordable... there's been a lot of improvements and a lot of changes," said Joe DellaVedova, Pentagon F-35 program spokesperson, when asked by ABC News regarding major cost issues. "We have done a lot to reduce the cost of the program... it is going to be able to deliver on the capabilities that the warfighter is going to need."