Science, Space, & Robotics - Page 52

Here's the thing, you can use the word "robot" to describe something without it feeling like a, you know, robot. Sci-fi, films, and TV shows have given us the impression that to be a robot, there has to be some form of intelligence - even though, that's not the case. And with CES 2023 being the place to see and hear about robots that are, or will be, available for purchase we take a look at three that you could say feature 'some form of intelligence'.

There's an AI-powered lawn mower that can avoid obstacles like pets and, err, humans. A robotic pool cleaner that features an ultrasonic radar to plan underwater routes like the special forces team from The Rock. And finally, a robot tennis ball machine. Because if your lawn and pool don't require any human maintenance, you've got time to hit a few balls and work on your backhand.

Automated lawnmowers have been a thing for a little while, expensive sure, but not exactly worthy of the robot tag on account of their intelligence is limited. The LANDROID Vision Robotic Lawn Mower certainly earns its name thanks to the addition of an onboard HDR camera and AI that allows it to be dropped into any backyard to roam, learn, and mow. Apparently, it can distinguish grass from anything else and can easily crossover driveways and pavement to the green stuff that must be cut. Of course, there's Bluetooth and Wi-Fi connectivity for monitoring.

There is no shortage of apps that can be used to monitor and optimize sleep quality, thanks to the seemingly simple act of "getting a good night's sleep" being something of a rare unicorn for so many. With so many factors at play, from exercise to diet to screen time and so much more, this has led to a whole range of sleep wearables and other smart tech designed to combat this global problem.

The FRENZ Brainband from tech company Earable Neuroscience presents a somewhat different and exciting solution, a wearable that can track and stimulate brain activity. The AI-powered bit of tech not only tracks several data points but provided instantaneous cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) content in the form of curated audio delivered by the Brainband's "integrated bone-conduction speakers". And as out-there as the idea of bone speakers might be, on the plus side the FRENZ Brainband has the look of something from the distant future.

"In providing accessibility, affordability, and easily acquirable habits, the FRENZ Brainband can improve sleep worldwide and unleash true human potential," Tam Vu, the Founder, and CEO of Earable said in a somewhat bold claim. "We aim to be the deep tech neuroscience company that dramatically improves the world's mental state at scale and ease."

Showcased at CES 2023, the EBO X is a family robot described as a "smart guardian" and robotic protector. What does that mean exactly? Well, if you've spent most of your life watching sci-fi movies then it's more like an Alexa-powered BB-8 from Star Wars than, say, an aggressive ED209 from Robocop. Don't let the cute exterior fool you, there's some serious tech under the dome.

Developed by family robotics company Enabot, the EBO X is equipped with a 4K Stabilized Camera, microphone, and V-SLAM technology so it can accurately map, monitor, and navigate your home. This is bolstered by facial recognition and full movement tracking and detection, which means the whole "robot protector" angle comes in the form of being able to detect a fall by an elderly family member. Or even be on the lookout for someone crying out for help. You can also designate a part of your home as a "restricted area", so if a child or an unwanted guest manages to enter your sanctuary filled with rare Star Wars collectibles, comic books, and vintage movie props, you'll get an app alert or call to let you know someone isn't where they should be. On top of all of that, it's also a cute little robot pet with Auto Navigation and AI Face Recognition technology.

The EBO X can also facilitate two-way communication, keeping family members connected via the EBO Home App and the robot's 4K camera. Though when it comes to video chat using the EBO X, versus a standard smartphone, it might be a little weird looking at the floor whilst talking to your spouse, sibling, or partner.

With CES 2023 underway in Las Vegas, it's a time for companies to showcase the expected and the unexpected - from advances in AI to the latest in display and everyday computing technology. For sports-tech company Catapult, the annual show means showcasing the world's first smart American football. Which, to be honest, is something that we'd assume would have been here by now on account of what it brings to the table (or field) for sports teams.

Throw the word "smart" in front of something like a football and you can guess what's happening, tracking a football's movements in real-time with all of that juicy data streaming to the cloud. We're talking over 1000 metrics, created via a combination of accelerometers, gyroscopes, magnetometers, and LPS antennas. By tracking the football teams and coaches will not only be able to see exactly where and how an athlete with the ball moves on the field but also follow the ball's movement right down to trajectory. Catapult has partnered with Energous Corporation to ensure that the football's embedded tracker charges wirelessly, and looks like just another football.

When it comes to wireless charging, Catapult is integrating Energous's WattUp solution that can charge multiple devices, wireless, from a distance. Which, yeah, means no need to take the ball to the sidelines and pop it on a charging dock or pad. Of course one of the biggest concern when modifying something as uniform as a ball, especially when used professionally, is the overall weight. On that note, Catapult has confirmed that a tiny LPS (Local Positioning System) chip is completely sealed within the football; and undetectable.

NASA has taken to its blog to showcase a new image of one of the largest Jupiter moons called Io. The Juno spacecraft has imaged the moon in infrared.

NASA's Juno mission is a space exploration project that aims to study the planet Jupiter and its atmosphere in an attempt to learn more about its evolution. The spacecraft was launched in August 2011 and entered Jupiter's orbit in July 2016. Since then, it has been collecting data and sending it back to Earth for analysis, and recently the Juno spacecraft captured an infrared image of the innermost and third-largest of the four Galilean Moons, Io.

So far, the Juno mission has already yielded impressive results as it has made the discovery of water in Jupiter's atmosphere and evidence of auroras on the planet. The Juno mission is expected to continue until July 2021, when the spacecraft will be deliberately de-orbited and will burn up in Jupiter's atmosphere, but before that happens, researchers hope to learn more about our solar system's largest planet. NASA writes in its blog post that Io is the most volcanic place in the solar system, with the moon harboring hundreds of volcanoes.

The former FTX CEO and founder of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency, Sam Bankman-Fried, was arrested a few days and slapped with charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

The FTX founder, commonly called SBF, was arrested by Bahamian law enforcement at the request of the US government. Law enforcement has transferred SBF to Fox Hill correctional center in Nassau until February, according to reports that state a judge denied the FTX cryptocurrency exchange creator bail and ordered him to remain in law enforcement custody until he is extradited to the United States. Notably, SBF has been charged with multiple counts of charges of wire and securities fraud, conspiracy to commit wire and securities fraud, and money laundering.

Now, sources have spoken to Bloomberg and said that SBF isn't very happy with the prison conditions in the Bahamas, which Insider reports are notorious for its harsh conditions. According to these sources, SBF isn't meeting his dietary requirements, and his family members are reportedly calling the prison to request the former FTX CEO is given a vegan diet. Furthermore, SBF lawyers attempted to use the lack of vegan food as well as specific medication being given to SBF as a reason for him to be released on bail, which was priced at $250,000. The bail was denied.

NASA recently announced its Orion spacecraft made a safe splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on December 11 after being launched on a round-trip to the Moon on November 16.

The Space Launch System (SLS) rocket launched the Orion spacecraft onto its journey to the Moon on November 16, with the small but very fast spacecraft entering into lunar orbit on November 25 and finally departing lunar orbit on December 1 for its return journey back to Earth when it landed in the Pacific Ocean on December 11. NASA announced that Orion performed better than expected, achieving all of its primary mission goals and even completing bonus objectives given to it throughout its journey back to Earth.

Now, reports are coming out that Orion reached Naval Base San Diego on December 13 while aboard the USS Portland, a US Navy recovery ship that grabbed Orion shortly after it made splashdown. Orion will undergo full analysis from engineers interested in how the hardware on the inside and outside of the capsule held up throughout the long journey through space, around the Moon, and back through Earth's atmosphere. Notably, engineers will be checking the quality of Orion's heat shield, which is designed to protect the spacecraft from burning up while traveling through Earth's atmosphere.

The announcement was made on Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Energy, which took to its website to share the achievement that was conducted at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

The achievement is being described as a "major scientific breakthrough" that has been "decades in the making". The experiment was held on December 5 when scientists used 2.05 megajoules to create a fusion reaction that generated more energy than was used to create it, giving researchers the new categorization of a net positive reaction. This achievement is a crucial step toward creating a sustained fusion reaction that will be able to provide clean energy to the country, and perhaps the world.

For those that don't know, fusion reactions are the process by which atomic nuclei merge to form a heavier nucleus, releasing a large amount of energy in the process. This is the same process that powers the sun and other stars, and scientists have been trying to replicate it on Earth for many years.

The head of NASA, Bill Nelson, spoke with one of the heads of SpaceX over the weekend where he expressed concern about SpaceX's timelines being affected by Elon Musk's new interest in Twitter.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson met with SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell, who has been at the company since its inception in 2002 and has been an instrumental part in its growth and success. Shotwell is responsible for the day-to-day operations of SpaceX, and works closely with CEO Elon Musk to develop and implement long-term strategies.

Nelson is concerned about these strategies and the timelines matching up since Musk took over Twitter at the end of October, with the NASA Administrator asking Shotwell directly if Musk's Twitter involvement was going to affect SpaceX. Shotwell responded, "I assure you, it is not. You have nothing to worry about," according to a recount of the conversation from Nelson.

The US Air Force (USAF) has tested its first prototype hypersonic missile that it expects will reach operational status, according to a USAF statement released on December 12.

The new hypersonic missile called AGM-183A Air-launched Rapid Response Weapon, or ARRW (Arrow) for short, is developed by Lockheed Martin, and according to reports, its design is based on previous work by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Notably, previous test vehicles designed by DARPA have alleged a ridiculous maximum speed of 15,000 mph, or Mach 20. However, that is yet to be fully confirmed.

Reports indicate that the US Air Force originally had doubts about the AGM-183A as testing since April 2021 has seen several failed attempts to showcase its performance capabilities. The failed tests casted doubt on the entire program, but now that the hypersonic missile has been tested off the Southern California coast on December 9, hope in the program has been reignited. According to the US Air Force, the missile is designed to take out high-value time-sensitive targets across the battlefield, meaning it will likely be used to destroy ground assets that are fixed and unable to move very quickly.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has made a groundbreaking discovery, identifying the oldest galaxy ever found, just 350 million years after the Big Bang.

NASA explain via its blog post that the galaxy is 13.4 billion years old, making it the earliest galaxy that has ever been observed. The discovery is a major breakthrough in our understanding of the early universe, as it provides crucial insight into the formation and evolution of galaxies. Previous observations of the early universe had only been able to detect galaxies that were several hundred million years older, so this discovery represents a significant advancement in our knowledge.

The James Webb Space Telescope is specifically designed to study the early universe and is expected to provide even more detailed observations of other ancient galaxies. This will allow scientists to better understand the processes that led to the formation of these galaxies and the role that they played in the early universe.

NASA's Orion spacecraft is a spacecraft designed for deep space exploration missions. It is intended to be a successor to the retired space shuttles, and is capable of carrying astronauts to destinations beyond low Earth orbit, such as the Moon and Mars.

The spacecraft developed by NASA, with contributions from the European Space Agency (ESA) and other international partners, safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on December 11, 2022, 50 years to the day of NASA's Apollo 17 moon landing, completing a successful and very fruitful mission to the Moon. This event marks a significant milestone for the Artemis program, and will provide the space agency with foundational knowledge that will be used in future Artemis missions.

The mission, known as Artemis I, launched the uncrewed Orion spacecraft on the back of a Space Launch System (SLS) on a journey around the Moon where conducted a series of scientific experiments, multiple system tests such as navigation, imaging capabilities, propulsion systems, and more. The spacecraft launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on November 16.

The Orion spacecraft is a spacecraft developed by NASA for deep space exploration. It is designed to be capable of carrying humans to destinations such as the Moon and Mars.

One of the key features of the Orion spacecraft is its advanced imaging and video capabilities. The spacecraft is equipped with 24 high-resolution cameras and other sensors that are capable of capturing detailed images and video footage of the Moon as well as other nearby celestial bodies. In addition to its imaging capabilities, the Orion spacecraft is also equipped with a powerful propulsion system that allows it to maneuver and position itself for optimal imaging and video capture.

One of the major objectives of the Orion spacecraft's missions to the Moon has been to gather detailed imagery and video of the lunar surface. This footage has been used for a number of purposes, including scientific research and analysis, as well as public outreach and education. The images and video captured by the Orion spacecraft will provide valuable insights into the geology and composition of the Moon, as well as its history and evolution.

A team of archaeologists uncovered what is now being called the world's oldest narrative scene in an 11,000 year-old-rock in southeastern Turkey.

The new study details the discovery, which took place at a Neolithic mound site about 35 miles east of the Euphrates River, and 20 miles (32 km) north of the Syrian border at an archaeological site called Sayburç. According to the study, the team of researchers found carving within benches built into the building, with the depictions of men and leopards measuring in at about 2.5 to 3 feet in height and about 12 feet long.

The team behind the discovery writes in the study that the rock-cut relief shows two leopards, a bull, and two men, with one of the men grabbing his phallus and the other holding a snake. The new study published in the journal Antiquity states that whoever carved the narrative into the wall exaggerated the most dangerous parts of the animals; the bull's horns as well as the claws and fangs of the leopard.

NASA has taken to its blog to provide an update on its Orion spacecraft which is currently on its way back to Earth for a scheduled splash down on December 11.

The space agency explains that Orion is currently on track to have a more than successful mission as the spacecraft has already completed its primary mission objectives while also completing some bonus objectives throughout its journey. However, NASA isn't ready to sign off on everything yet as the space agency is still to test its priority one and priority three objectives, with priority one being the day that Orion re-enters Earth's atmosphere and priority three being to retrieve the spacecraft.

NASA explains in a blog post that engineers will be performing a survey of Orion's crew module and service module with each of the cameras that are positioned on the spacecraft's four solar arrays. The engineers will be inspecting each part of the spacecraft and examining the 1,300 thermal protection system tiles that are designed to protect Orion from burning up on re-entry.

NASA's Ingenuity helicopter, which is currently deployed on the surface of Mars, has set a new maximum altitude record of 46 feet.

The Ingenuity helicopter was deployed to Mars as part of NASA's Mars 2020 mission, which seeks to explore the Red Planet and search for signs of past microbial life. The helicopter was designed to be a technology demonstration, with the goal of demonstrating the feasibility of powered flight on Mars, which has long since been achieved time and time again.

On May 22, 2021, the Ingenuity helicopter took off from the Martian surface and flew to a height of 16 feet, before hovering for 30 seconds. This marked the first time that a powered, controlled flight had been achieved on another planet, and now the helicopter is breaking its own records.

The Blue Marble photograph, taken by the Apollo 17 spacecraft on December 7, 1972, is an iconic and inspiring image.

The photograph shows the Earth in all its beauty and majesty, with the deep blue of the oceans, the white of the clouds, and the browns, greens, and whites of the continents all visible. The photograph was taken during the final moon mission of the Apollo program, as the spacecraft was departing from the moon's orbit. As the spacecraft flew around the far side of the moon, the astronauts were able to capture the first-ever photograph of the Earth that showed the entire planet.

The Blue Marble photograph has been credited with helping to spark the modern environmental movement. Seeing the Earth from space, with no political boundaries or other distinctions visible, gives a sense of the planet's fragility and interconnectedness. This has inspired many people to work towards protecting the environment and preserving the planet for future generations.

NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is more than 30 years old but is still producing jaw-dropping images of the cosmos.

NASA has taken to its website to showcase an image of star cluster NGC 2002, located 160,00 light years from Earth, within the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. The space agency explains that NGC 2002 is approximately 30 light-years in diameter and is relatively young at just 18 million years old.

NGC 2002 contains about 1,100 stars, and according to NASA, the star cluster is an "open star cluster", which means that it has "low star density" and features an irregular shape as a result of the overall low gravitational attraction from the stars within the region. The opposite of an open star cluster is a globular cluster, which is when all of the stars are clumped tightly together, making it sometimes impossible for astronomers to observe individual stars.

NASA has taken to its social channels and website to provide an update on its Orion spacecraft, which is currently preparing for its last maneuver before heading back home to Earth.

The space agency has explained in its Artemis 1 Flight Day 19 update via its website that on December 4 the Orion spacecraft performed a trajectory correction burn that put the spacecraft on-route to make its closest approach to the Moon before it began its long journey back to Earth. According to NASA, the Orion spacecraft will come within just 79.2 miles of the surface of the Moon, with the space agency posting a video to its Artemis Twitter account showing Orion on its way to making its closest approach yet.

NASA continues to explain that on the same day, Orion will perform a powered fly burn at 10:43 am CST, which will last 3 minutes and 27 seconds. This burn will change the velocity of the spacecraft by approximately 655 mph (961 feet per second) and will be the maneuver of the mission before Orion heads back to Earth. NASA writes that on its way back, Orion will make slight trajectory adjustments, but nothing major.

Researchers are testing the Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS), and according to a recent press release, the new scientific instrument has peered into the heart of a distant galaxy and captured its center in mesmerizing detail.

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Enhanced Resolution Imager and Spectrograph (ERIS) instrument is a 27-foot infrared space telescope that's installed on the ESO's Very Large Telescope located in northern Chile and a part of its first set of test observations, which were completed back in February of this year, ERIS has imaged a distant galaxy called NGC 1097, located approximately 45 million light-years from Earth.

NGC 1097 is located within the constellation Fornax, and ERIS was able to capture the inner ring of the galaxy, revealing the supermassive black hole at the galaxy's center. The large inner ring features stellar nurseries, represented by the bright spots located along its edge. The ESO writes that NGC 1097's supermassive black hole is feeding off its surroundings.