Cars as traffic sensors

Image: Google

See original story at MIT News -- Cars as traffic sensors

A great example of how ubiquitous networked processors can function together as a single sensor network.

"Data about road and traffic conditions can come from radio stations’ helicopters, the Department of Transportation’s roadside sensors, or even, these days, updates from ordinary people with cell phones. But all of these approaches have limitations: Helicopters are costly to deploy and can observe only so many roads at once, and it could take a while for the effects of congestion to spread far enough that a road sensor will detect them."
"MIT’s CarTel project is investigating how cars themselves could be used as ubiquitous, highly reliable mobile sensors."

Gadgets to learn about you

See original story at CNET News

I've often heard people humbly say "I'm not very good at computers." My favorite response is "No, it's just that computers aren't very good at you." (The original line is from a Friends episode where Jeff Goldblum is coaching Joey on acting technique...) Anyway, the point is that our frustrations with computers are often indicators of poor design. In his book The Design of Everyday Things, Don Norman makes the case that if tools are well-designed, the intuitive thing to do will be the right thing to do. Great idea, but it takes an exceptionally creative designer to implement it. The story linked describes another approach -- use machine learning so that software can adapt to the people who use it.

"Rather than teach your gadgets what to do, Intel researchers say that in the not-too-distant future they will learn about you on their own. That means where you are, how you're feeling, and what you want.

It's actually not as creepy as it sounds. Intel Chief Technology Officer and Director of Intel Labs Justin Rattner took the stage Wednesday at the annual Intel Developer Forum here to talk about the future of 'context-aware computing,' what Intel is doing about it, and how gadgets can make life easier for their owners, but in a way that the owners can control."

Emotional robot pets

See original story at Eurekalert.org

Don't you hate it when your robotic dog doesn't notice that you're annoyed at its barking? I know I do.

"Designers of robot pets are fighting a never-ending battle with consumers to provide entertaining and realistic gadgets that respond to human interaction in ever more nuanced ways, mimicking the behavior of real pet animals or even people. Researchers in Taiwan are now looking at a new design paradigm that could see the development of a robot vision module that might one-day recognize human facial expressions and respond appropriately."

Robot insects for exploration

Image courtesy www.wpafb.af.mil

See original story at Tiny MAVs May Someday Explore and Detect Environmental Hazards

Insects provide a great model for robust cooperative exploration. With swarms of relatively inexpensive microrobots, reliability is increased since the loss of one or more need not affect the others. Processing power can be distributed across the swarm. Still huge compared to smart dust, but a step in that direction!

"Dr. Robert Wood of Harvard University is leading the way in what could become the next phase of high-performance micro air vehicles for the Air Force.

His basic research is on track to evolve into robotic, insect-scale devices for monitoring and exploration of hazardous environments, such as collapsed structures, caves and chemical spills."

Songs in the key of EEG

See original article at CultureLab

Brain-computer interfaces have been researched and developed for all kinds of practical reasons; here's an example of an artistic application.

"Mick Grierson of Goldsmiths College, London, developed a program that allows a computer to read music from your mind. Think of a note, and the computer will play it back. It wasn't perfectly accurate, but it was good enough to get Peters' attention."

Electric Skin that Rivals the Real Thing

See original article at Technology Review.

In Artificial Intelligence, an agent is defined as an entity that perceives and acts in an environment. Here's an example of a cool technology for perceptual input.

"The tactile sensitivity of human skin is hard to re-create, especially over large, flexible surfaces. But two California research groups have made pressure-sensing devices that significantly advance the state of the art."

One, made by researchers at Stanford University, is based on organic electronics and is 1,000 times more sensitive than human skin. The second, made by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, uses integrated arrays of nanowire transistors and requires very little power. Both devices are flexible and can be printed over large areas; they are described this week in separate papers in the journal Nature Materials.

The Brain Speaks

See original article at The University of Utah.

A logical next step in human augmentation / technological integration.

"Sept. 7, 2010 -- In an early step toward letting severely paralyzed people speak with their thoughts, University of Utah researchers translated brain signals into words using two grids of 16 microelectrodes implanted beneath the skull but atop the brain."

Screensaver discovers new star

One of the first significant applications of distributed computing I heard about (and actually participated in) was SETI@home, a project that uses the computers of volunteers to analyze radio telescope data. Another is the search for Mersenne Primes -- in 2008 the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS) found the then-largest known Mersenne Prime; a number that would stretch 30 miles if printed in 12-point type.

Here's another success of distributed computing: the discovery of a new star:

"WASHINGTON -- Astronomers announced Thursday the discovery of a new star, found with help from a most unusual source -- a screen saver.

Chris and Helen Colvin, owners of the personal computer running the screen saver are participants in a project called Einstein@home, an experiment in distributed computing that uses the donated idle time from hundreds of thousands of home computers across the globe in lieu of more expensive supercomputers." See original story at FOXNews.com

With robot car, no driver needed

Image courtesy www.ce.unipr.it

See original story at New Scientist

An interview with Alberto Broggi, leader of an autonomous driving project.

"We are making a three-month journey, travelling 13,000 kilometres from Parma, Italy, to Shanghai, China, using autonomous vehicles - a world first. We've just left Moscow and are heading to Siberia."

Translating Thought into Speech

See original story at latimes.com

"In a first step toward helping severely paralyzed people communicate more easily, Utah researchers have shown that it is possible to translate recorded brain waves into words, using a grid of electrodes placed directly on the brain.

Although they have only done it with one person and individual words can only be identified with accuracy in tests 50% of the time, the study reported Tuesday provides a ray of hope for people who can now communicate only by blinking, or wiggling a fingertip."

You, too, can have your own mind-reader for on $80! Mattel's Mindflex and Uncle Milton's Force Trainer both allow you to practice your powers of mental telepathy...

Your trash can may be watching you...

Source: media.cleveland.com

See original story at cleveland.com

Students in COSC418 -- I saw this article and couldn't resist. Not exactly the same as the FoamRecycleBot we described in class on Monday, but a step in that direction. Challenge question: in which aspect of "PEAS" does the agent described in the article differ from the one we described in class?

"It would be a stretch to say that Big Brother will hang out in Clevelanders' trash cans, but the city plans to sort through curbside trash to make sure residents are recycling -- and fine them $100 if they don't."

Swarming spacecraft to self-destruct for greater good

Image: ESA/Medialab

See original at New Scientist

Students in COSC 180 -- this is a step toward the kind of space exploration we mentioned in class last Thursday -- using many many small devices rather than one large one. The probes described in this article aren't yet "smart dust," but they are a step in that direction.

Also interesting is the behavior described in the article and referred to in the title: self-destruction of individual probes "for the greater good of the collective." Begins to sound a bit like altruistic behavior, no?

"The agency foresees a day when space missions are undertaken not by one large spacecraft but by swarming formations of much smaller, cheaper ones. Such craft could collectively provide a 'floating optics' system for a space telescope comprising separate craft flying in formation, for instance."