Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 236

A group of researchers from a university in British Columbia came up with a very odd, yet very cool project called hitchBOT. The idea was to make a robot of sorts, put it on the side of the road, and see if it could hitch a ride across the country. This isn't the sort of bot that can't walk on its own, but it is computerized enough to interact with the people who help it.

So far, the bot has hitched numerous rides and ended up in some interesting places. It has hung out with folks on summer vacation, a rock band, and wound up at a wedding. During the wedding hitchBOT reportedly interrupted the groom's thank you for coming speech to say it likes to make friends.

HitchBOT began its cross-country trip on July 27 after being left on the side of the road near the Halifax airport. The bot has been taking photos and sharing them online as well as tweeting during its trip. The bot is expected to end its trip at the Victoria Open Space Gallery next week.

Researchers around the world are working on robotics to make them able to operate on their own and perform complex tasks. In the US, a group of engineers has designed a swarm of 1000 tiny robots that are able to shuffle their way into specific shapes when told to. Each of the bots is given an image of the shape controllers want and then they work together to make the shape.

It's not a fast process; it reportedly takes about 12 hours for the bots to take the desired shape. This is the largest swarm of robots to ever be used in a study of this type. Researchers from the group behind the project say that each of the bots is identical and have the exact same program.

The throng of robots is inspired by cells that form organs or ants that are able to build bridges to span water. The team hopes that knowledge gleaned from this study will help develop self-assembling tools and structures in the future. Each of the little bots is 3cm across and said to be about the size of a sushi roll and each has three straight legs. Commands are given using an infrared light overhead and a sensor on the robots.

Michael J Fox's charity, the Michael J Fox foundation, has partnered with Intel to examine how wearable technology can be of benefit to people with Parkinson's disease.

Michael J Fox founded the charity after he was diagnosed with the disease. Its cause is not known and there is no cure, however, the symptoms, such as shaking and trouble with co-ordination, can be treated to a degree. The wearable tech will be used to unearth more data, for example, by recording the movements of patients and volunteers. An accompanying smartphone will upload this data to an Intel system, which will then dedicate data scientists to the project.

Ex Intel boss Andy Grove has acted as adviser to the foundation since he was also diagnosed with the disease. Chief executive of the foundation, Todd Sherer, said, according to the BBC: "This opportunity really will allow us the chance to uncover novel breakthroughs in Parkinson's disease by truly understanding how people are living with the disease today, how are they responding to treatments, what are their unmet needs."

I'm sure many people out there have imagined having a robot that could bring them stuff when they want it like food or drinks. A hotel in California called Aloft Hotel has started to roll out robotic butlers that can bring things to your room for you. These robot butlers are called Botlr and perhaps the best part for hotel visitors is that all the Botlr wants for a tip is a tweet.

Botlr will bring things to your room like toothpaste, towels, and just about anything else that a person would normally bring you. Botlr will go into use for the first time on August 20 at the Aloft Hotel in Cupertino, California.

The bot will be named A.L.O. and will even wear a butler uniform and nametag. A compartment on top of the robot is where items are stored for delivery. When the robot arrives at your door, the phone in the room will ring. Botlr is the product of a company called Savioki, which is backed by Google Ventures.

Launched by NASA in 2006 and tasked to study Pluto, the New Horizons spacecraft captured unique footage of Charon revolving around Pluto, filmed from 265 million miles. Pluto has five moons, but Charon, at 750-miles across and is just 11,200 miles from Pluto.

A total of 12 photos were captured and researchers are using images to help accurately identify where Pluto is and the path it takes around the sun. Only one-third of the dwarf planet's orbit around the sun has been accurately recorded, space researchers have noted.

The New Horizons is expected to arrive at Pluto around 2015, and is finalizing its pre-Pluto annual systems instrument calibration before arriving. The spacecraft will be placed into "hibernation" mode from late August until early December, which is when it will be used for two years to conduct flyby missions while relaying information back to researchers.

If you are familiar with the ISEE-3 spacecraft we have talked about a few times around here, you might like this. Google has announced that it has launched a new Chrome Experiment that is called "A spacecraft for All" that allows you to follow the incredible odyssey of the ISEE-3 using Chrome interactive WebGL graphics and video.

ISEE-3 is a spacecraft that launched in 1978 with the original mission for studying the sun; it was retasked after launch to study a comet. A group of amateur scientists established contact with the satellite to get it back on its original mission, but the spacecraft thrusters failed to get the craft back into the correct orbit. The spacecraft did recently fly past the moon for the first time in decades.

"In a new Chrome Experiment called A Spacecraft for All, you can follow the unlikely odyssey of the ISEE-3 using Chrome's interactive WebGL graphics and video. You can re-live its story, read its re-activated data instruments, learn about its current position and trajectory - and explore space along the way. It's all designed to make space science simple, fun and accessible enough for anyone eager to learn - whether you're a PhD or grade school student", says Suzanne Chambers, executive producer and space cadet, Creative Lab New York.

The Orion capsule is the spacecraft that will help American astronauts get back into space in the future. It's first flight is set for December, but preparations for other aspects of Orion operations are underway. One of those practice aspects is the recovery of the capsule after a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

This week, US Navy dive teams aboard the USS Anchorage recovery vessel successfully recovered the Orion capsule during a practice test using a cradle and winch system. This test is the last time the Navy and NASA get to practice before the Orion is sent 3600 miles above the earth.

During that unmanned test flight, Orion will land in a splashdown in the ocean where it will be recovered and used again. NASA hasn't performed an at sea recovery of a spacecraft in a real mission since 1975.

Elon Musk has founded some of the biggest companies involving technology, such as PayPal, SpaceX and Tesla Motors. Musk thinks we need to build a home for humans on Mars as soon as possible, but when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), he has his reservations.

Over the weekend, Musk tweeted about a book recommendation, but after that he said: "We need to be super careful with AI. Potentially more dangerous than nukes." Musk isn't new to his stance on AI, where back in June the SpaceX founder said he has even considred the possibility of a 'Terminator'-like scenario. Musk has also admitted that he's even invested money into AI companies, where he wants to keep an eye on where AI is going.

The International Space Station requires a constant stream of new components, food, and water to remain in operation. Sometimes the US send up supplies and scientific gear and sometimes the resupply ships come from Europe. A new supply mission is underway from the ESA that sent an Ariane 5 rocket into space with a cargo ship aboard to resupply the ISS.

This particular resupply mission had something onboard that astronauts on the ISS will really appreciate, cappuccino and tiramisu. The resupply ship is set to dock with the ISS on August 12 at about 9:30 am. This is the last resupply mission that the ESA will perform.

After this resupply mission all future resupply will be handled by Russian Progress spacecraft and the Japanese HTC cargo ships. In the US resupply, missions will be handled by SpaceX and Orbital Sciences. Among the 5941 pounds of material on the resupply ship are cappuccino, water, oxygen, air, research gear, and spare parts. The cargo ship also contains 1896 pounds of fuel to be used by the Russian thrusters aboard the ISS.

There has been a bit of debate over the years amongst scientists and astronomers on how exactly the Moon was formed. A detailed study of the shape of the moon has revealed some new details on its shape, which in turn shed a bit of light on how the moon may have formed.

When you look at the night sky, the moon appears to be a sphere. However, the analysis of the shape of the moon shows that it is actually slightly lemon-shaped. This study looked at the Moon as it would be if millions of meteorites hadn't hit the surface and knocked chunks off it.

"If you imagine spinning a water balloon, it will start to flatten at the poles and bulge at the equator," Ian Garrick-Bethell said. "On top of that you have tides due to the gravitational pull of the Earth, and that creates sort of a lemon shape with the long axis of the lemon pointing at the Earth."

One of the big mysteries that remained after the September 11 attacks was an old wooden ship that was discovered under where the towers once stood during clean up. While excavating the site, a wooden ship was discovered in the earth leaving scientists to wonder where the ship came from and what it was doing there.

Scientists have used tree rings in the lumber used to build the ship to learn something about where it came from and when it was built. The rings in the lumber reveal that the trees matched other lumber that was cut down about 280 years ago near Philadelphia. The researchers believe the wood was harvested in 1773 and was cut down somewhere around the time of the Boston Tea Party.

The rings in the lumber help the scientists pinpoint its year and location of origin while providing a bit of history about the climate in the area where it was harvested. The ship is believed to have been constructed by a small shipyard, because details in the design of the ship are unlike those used by larger shipyards. The ship is believed to have been retired in the city, coved by garbage and landfill, and then the Twin Towers were built over it.

Historically much of the Arctic Ocean is covered in ice, even in the summer. Scientists say with global warming that ice pack is starting to melt. Arctic Sea ice faces another way that ice may break up and melt faster, massive waves.

Typically, with ice covering the surface of the ocean, waves aren't recorded. Scientists have recently measured record setting waves in the Arctic Ocean. Sensors under the water that communicate via satellite have recorded swells in the Arctic Ocean of around 16-feet high.

The largest wave measured was 29-feet high. The scientists say these massive and uncommon waves could break ice up and make it melt faster than it would from global warming alone. These waves were measured in a part of the Arctic Ocean near Alaska called the Beaufort Sea.

Space travel has a variety of restrictions, especially when it comes to humans making that trip across the sea of stars. Humans rely on oxygen to live, and so do other things like trees and plants.

Julian Melchiorri, a graduate from the Royal College of Art, has created the very first man-made, biologically functional leaf that is capable of taking in carbon dioxide, water, and light and releases oxygen. This leaf features chloroplasts, which are the part of a plant cell where photosynthesis happens, suspended in body made of silk protein.

Melchiorri explains: "This material has an amazing property of stabilizing (the chloroplast) organelles. As an outcome I have the first photosynthetic material that is living and breathing as a leaf does". Most can see the potentials of this for space travel, but it has big potential here on Earth, too. We could see front of buildings and lampshades made from the material, where it would exhale fresh air with just a thin coating of this new leaf material.

As a kid, I spent countless hours in the battlefield that was water balloon fights, but filling up those little balloons and tying them up took so much valuable time, but not anymore! Tinnuss Enterprises' Bunch O Balloons looks to revolutionize water balloon fights, and has taken to Kickstarter to fund its device.

The company has raised over $690,000 from Kickstarter, and considering it only asked for $10,000 - this might end up being one of the most successful Kickstarter projects of all time. The idea behind Bunch O Balloons is to fill as many balloons as possible, in the shortest amount of time. The device is capable of both filling, and typing up a crazy 100 water balloons per minute.

The Bunch O Balloons can fill 37 balloons up simultaneously, meaning that no party will be without water balloons. If you want one of these awesome Bunch O Balloons, you can pledge for the $17 version, which ships in September... of 2015. Most of the other packages are gone, but this isn't surprising. Now I'm off to pledge some money, as my daughter will be four years old by the time I get this, and she's going to love it.

NASA has several spacecraft and rovers on and around Mars performing scientific studies of the Red Planet. The Opportunity rover has been on the surface of Mars since 2004 and recently set a record. Opportunity has set a record for the longest distance ever driven off the Earth.

Opportunity has been on the surface of the Red Planet for a decade and has driven 25 miles. The previous record for the most miles driven off-Earth was held by the Soviet Union Lunokhod 2. The record was grabbed on July 27 as Opportunity drove 157 feet to reach 25.01 miles on the odometer.

If the rover continues to operate, it will reach its next major investigation site mission called Marathon Valley. Scientists want to study this area because they believe clay minerals are exposed close together at the site.

One of the bodies in our solar system that is under investigation by NASA is Saturn and its moons using the Cassini spacecraft. Cassini has been studying the icy Saturn moon called Enceladus and so far, it has discovered 101 active geysers on the surface of the icy world. The interesting thing about this discovery is that liquid water is believed to be reaching the surface of the planet from an underground sea.

Cassini has been eyeing the southern polar terrain for nearly seven years as scientists have studied the tiger stripe fractures in the area on the surface of the moon. These geysers and the large fractures were discovered on the moon years ago.

Scientists believe that the geysers and liquid water believed to be under the surface of the moon are caused by the repeated flexing of Enceladus by the gravitational forces of Saturn as the moon orbits the planet. Another theory was that there may be a back and forth rubbing action cause by friction of opposing walls that turns ice into the geysers. Cassini has now proven that the geysers coincide with small-scale hot spots that are only a few dozen feet across and are too small to be caused by frictional heating leaving gravitational forces as the cause for the liquid water and hot spots.

Two inventors based in the Philippines have made something that should open up the world's eyes, with a homemade solar panel production factory. The system they use is small enough to fit on a desktop, and is capable of making between 300,000 and 1 million solar panels every year - with one solar panel made every 15 seconds.

By reducing the labor intensive process, which sits at around 50% of the total cost, the machine can radically reduce the amount it costs to make solar panels. The pocket-sized solar panel producer could change the way the world looks at electricity, and solar power. A homemade solar panel can reduce the requirement for power outlets in the home, the same power outlets that power your smartphones, computers, lights, and more.

The duo took to Kickstarter to fund their venture, with the funds required pledged very quickly. The two men are now raising additional funds to redesign the CNC laser cutter that will arrive with open source technology. They plan to power the solar power maker using solar panels, with the product receiving continuous improvements, and with it being open source, the community can help out with the product.

Google's research and development arm, known as Google X, is working on something new: the Baseline Study project. The goal of this new adventure is to hopefully one day, better detect health risks such as heart disease earlier in a patient's life, so that the patient can take preventative measures before it is too late.

Dr. Andrew Conrad, a molecular biologist, is the lead on the Baseline Study project, who has been credited with creating a cheap way of scanning donated blood for HIV. Conrad joined the ranks of Google in March 2013, assembling a team of 70-80 experts in the fields of biochemistry, imaging, molecular biology, optics and technology.

Google's Baseline Study began earlier in the year through an unnamed clinical testing firm, where doctors started collecting bodily fluids such as urine, blood, saliva and tears from 175 anonymous volunteers. Google will use these fluids and its mammoth computing power to hopefully find patterns called biomarkers. These biomarkets will help the search giant, and its researchers detect health issues before a person even shows symptoms of this issue. We don't know when we will hear more about this, but it's great to see Google working on something so important with its resources.

Today just about everything we use relies on electricity to operate from our smartphones and computers to our toilets in some cases. On July 23, 2012, the sun threw two gigantic clouds of plasma into space and they barely missed the Earth. In fact, had the coronal mass ejections happened only a week before, they could have devastated life on Earth according to scientists.

These storms wouldn't have killed people necessarily, but they would have likely damaged satellites and the electrical grid to the point that anything that plugs into the wall wouldn't have worked. Physicist Daniel Baker says that if those solar eruptions had hit the Earth, we would still be picking up the pieces two years later.

NASA said, "Analysts believe that a direct hit ... could cause widespread power blackouts, disabling everything that plugs into a wall socket. Most people wouldn't even be able to flush their toilet because urban water supplies largely rely on electric pumps. According to a study by the National Academy of Sciences, the total economic impact could exceed $2 trillion or 20 times greater than the costs of a Hurricane Katrina. Multi-ton transformers damaged by such a storm might take years to repair."

SpaceX is working on a way to be able to retrieve the main stage of the Falcon 9 rocket to be reused for future flights. This month the Falcon 9 was used to put six ORBCOMM satellites into space and after that launch was completed successfully, the main stage of the rocket went on to perform another test.

The main stage fell back into the atmosphere at hypersonic velocity and a camera on the outside of the rocket recorded the landing process. As the rocket came back to a water landing in the Atlantic Ocean, the main rockets fired up twice to slow the rocket down to a velocity of near zero at touchdown.

You can see in the video above that the landing process appears to have performed flawlessly. The landing legs on the rocket pop out and the rocket lowers itself into a very soft landing in the water before toppling over on its side in the ocean, as planned. SpaceX says that the structural integrity of the rocket was damaged during the flopping over horizontally portion but the camera footage shows things performed as planned and data needed was gathered in the test. The goal is to eventually land the main stage on a floating landing pad for reuse with no refurbishment.