Category technology

Mar 20 2012

The arena of the robots

The machine tested its legs, they were still working.  It stood and surveyed the immediate environment.  To its left was a high rugged cliff – the rocks were loose and there was no safe vector to the top.  To its right the waves lapped across a broad lake – its best chance of escape.  As it approached the shore a buzzing sounded from the canyon behind it.  It turned, but too late.  A volley of missiles tracked through the air.  Before it could deploy any countermeasures they hit home.

The US Navy has opened a laboratory to help test robots, autonomous systems and human / system interaction in a wide range of conditions.   The challenging environments include aerial, sea, desert, tropical and others.  All zones allow an unprecedented level of monitoring that the Navy will use to gain insights into performance and interaction.  See the press release here: http://www.nrl.navy.mil/media/news-releases/2012/naval-research-laboratory-opens-laboratory-for-autonomous-systems-research

James.

Mar 14 2012

Let the waves guide my path

He lay on the wooden deck of the small craft gazing up at the relentless sun.  The hunger gnawed at his stomach.  Carefully he sat upright and took a reading from the power cells.  Hopefully it would be enough.  He flicked the switch that sent the power into the ocean below.  A few seconds passed before he saw the first fish float to the surface.  Greedily he leaned out to pull it on board.  After collecting several fish he wiped clean the surface of the solar cell array, careful not to cause any damage.  He wondered how many more days it would be before the machinery on the underside of the craft would deliver him to land.

Liquid Robotics has announce that three of their fleet of four Wave Glider ocean-going robot ships have completed thier journey from San Francisco to Hawaii.  The 3,200 mile trip sets a new record for the distance travelled by unmanned wave-powered craft.  The craft will be cleaned and the scientific equipment checked before they continue their trip across the Pacific.

Read the press release from a link on this page: http://liquidr.com/press/press-releases/ Follow the machines here: http://nighthacks.com/roller/jag/

James.

Mar 13 2012

A game of intelligence

The woman walked to the access port and pressed her hand against the panel.  It flickered into life and displayed a large red X.  She pressed her hand on the panel again, with the same result.  Hearing a noise behind her she turned to watch the room’s entrance, but none of the creatures pursuing her had made it throught the maze yet.  She pulled on the door, trying to force it open – but it stayed firmly shut.  With a rising sense of desperation she pressed her hand on the panel once more.  This time a question mark appeared and a voice crackled from the panel.  “I’ll let you through if you win my game.”  It said.  Beneath her hand she saw a grid form and colourful icons appeared facing each other in ranks.

Michael Cook at Imperial College, London has developed an AI system ‘Angelina’ that can build complete computer games from scratch (minus the graphics and sound).  It separates the components within the game and designs each in isolation, bringing them together to deliver a finished product.  While not up to the standards of today’s immersive 3D games, the results are reminiscent of early PC games from the 80s.  Read an article here: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21328554.900-ai-designs-its-own-video-game.html Try one of the games here: http://www.gamesbyangelina.org/

James.

Mar 11 2012

The running robot

Slow at first and then with increasing speed the robot sprints across the harsh terrain.  Its razor-like feet digging into the rugged surface propelling it forward.  It knows how long it has to reach the waypoint and the consequences if it fails to get there in time.  It assigns even more processing power to its pattern recognition algorithms, keen to identify any obstacles before they hinder its progress.

Everybody’s favourite funding source DARPA has release a video of a ‘cheetah’ robot that has just set the record for the fastest legged robot.  It can run at an impressive 18mph, which would allow it to complete the 100m in under 13 seconds.  I will keep a look out for it when the olympics kick off in London later this year.  See a video and press release here: http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2012/03/05.aspx

James.

Mar 8 2012

The computer on the wall

Sporting a device reminiscent of the shoulder weapon from Predator, a man slowly appoaches a white-washed wall. Suddenly, at the touch of a finger, images and words spread out around his hand, giving him direct access to the previously unseen digital universe.  His gestures and manipulations change that world.  Then, satisifed, he closes his view of the digital world and walks away.

The technology is a demonstration system from Microsoft Research that can use any available surface to act as the interface for user interaction.  See a video and links here: http://research.microsoft.com/apps/video/?id=160684

As the technology shrinks and new ways of using the technology advance, expect to see the requirements for a surface dissappear, with the depth sensor working directly on images augmented to the users reality.  Sci-fi tech seeping into the real.

James.

Dec 1 2011

Sci-fi spy thriller ‘Agencies’ now available worldwide in paperback and ebook.

‘Agencies’ by James Aston is now available worldwide in both paperback and ebook.  Some international links:

Paperback:

Paperback and ebook:

Ebook:

Agencies is a fast-paced sci-fi novel set in the near future covering Moon exploration, spys and espionage, an escalating series of conflicts between two well equipped security agencies and a man on a mission to recover information before it falls into the wrong hands.

Also available at other excellent bookshops.

James.

Sep 18 2011

Iain Banks on The Gadget Show this Friday

Iain Banks, acclaimed sci-fi and mainstream author of such classics as The Wasp Factory, The Player of Games and more recently Surface Detail, will be a judge for an ebook themed challenge on The Gadget Show in the UK this Friday (23rd.)

Read more about it on his website at: http://www.iain-banks.net/2011/09/14/iain-banks-on-channel-5s-gadget-show-23-sept-2011/

James.

Sep 2 2011

Robot plugs in new set of eyes

Industrial robots are used for a wide variety of tasks – from circuit board construction to assembling cars on a production line.  Many of these tasks require a high precision alignment of the work piece and the robot operating on the piece.  Sometimes supported by bespoke alignment systems.

Epson has just announced it will ship a new vision system for industrial robots – which will aid alignment and positioning of the robot on the work piece.  The new vision system also promises to accelerate the understanding and study of visual-reactive system.  It is an area that has a lot of interesting challenges and unsolved problems.

You can read the press release here: http://global.epson.com/newsroom/2011/news_20110829_2.html

James.

Aug 31 2011

Optical broadband to be rolled out to the solar system

Internet usage on Earth become more and more data heavy as new applications and uses are found for the digital network.  The same problem exists up in space as more sophisticated probes and missions are sent to the far reaches of the solar system.

To address an inevitable future data-bottleneck of the current RF-based communication systems, NASA is to launch a research mission to trial and investigate the characteristics of a light-based comms network.

It will not be able to reduce the time that is required to receive a signal from, for example, Mars – which at best is just over 3 minutes but can be as much as 22 minutes when the planets are furthest apart.  But it will be able to increase the amount of data that can be transmitted – multiplying it by a factor of between 10 and 100.  This will allow for more and higher-resolution imagery and data packets from future missions.

Read the press article at NASA here: Laser Communications Relay Demonstration

James.

Aug 29 2011

Applied artificial intelligence – speech recognition at Microsoft Research

Artificial intelligence is a field as wide as the endeavours of humankind itself.  One of the best ways to handle such a complex subject is to find niche areas that can be investigated in depth.  Then, at a later point, to abstract away from these areas to find patterns of common solution.

Speech recognition is one such area.  Microsoft Research has recently announced progress in building a general-purpose speech recognition capability – which does not require the hours of training typically needed to adapt the software to your way of speaking.

Their approach, presented during Interspeech 2011, breaks down the problem to use the finer-grained yet more numerous senones, rather than the traditional phonemes.  This has led to an improvement in word-recognition of more than 30%.

Read the article at Microsoft Research here: Speech Recognition Leaps Forward

James.