If you do not know who Tesla is, he is probably the most prolific inventor EVER! He out invented Edison and actually beat him toe to toe in the DC vs AC war between them. Over the past month or two I have found a number of websites / articles summarizing his life. Here are a few:
Theoatmeal.com website did a “Why Nikola Tesla was the greatest geek who ever lived.” This is a very good summary of his life, presented in a brief and humorous way. If you do not know of Tesla, this is a GREAT PLACE TO START.
Also EDN Network did a wonderful slideshow on Nikola Tesla back in September.
The famous Van Gogh painting Starry Night has received a very modern makeover
From the Herald Sun
By Erinna Giblin
Oct 3, 2012
THE picture is iconic, inspiring artists, astronomers and lovers for generations. Now new tribute has been paid to Vincent Van Gough’s “Starry Night”
Astrophysics student Alex Parker’s work involves a lot of starry nights, focusing on the formation and evolution of planetary systems.
So when cloudy weather stopped the PhD student from exploring space from his office at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, he decided to get creative.
He moulded some of the stunning images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope into an homage to Vincent Van Gogh’s famous 1889 painting, ‘Starry night’, using photo-mosaic software.
click on picture to see full (zoom-able) version
Alex Parker, a PHD astronomy student took Van Gogh’s 1889 painting, and built it back up from arguably humanity’s other most famous space portraits – those taken by the Hubble telescope over the last 20 years. Picture: Supplied
While the original artwork is set outside the painter’s asylum room window, where he was staying after a mental breakdown the year before at Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, in France, Parker’s version is a lighter take on the awe-inspiring night sky.
Parker explained to Michele Banks at thefinchandpea.com :“The idea came up around the time of Hubble’s 22nd birthday, when I thought it would be neat to assemble a collage of a bunch of Hubble images from over its history.”
The prototype can move about a house, be operated by a tablet computer and lift and retrieve objects.
By Charlie Wells / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, September 26, 2012, 5:58 PM
Toyota has developed a new product that seeks to give the elderly and disabled a hand — a robotic one, that is.
The car giant debuted a human-support robot Wednesday in Japan, a country whose graying population has created a growing need for in-home care.
Even though Toyota’s new robot doesn’t act like Rosie from the Jetsons, it does have a folding arm and a pair of fingers which can pick up objects weighing almost three pounds from the floor, open curtains, and perform several other household tasks that would be difficult for a person with limited mobility.
To determine which of these functions to include in the robot, Toyota worked with the Japan Service Dog Association, which recommended focusing on picking up and retrieving objects from hard-to-reach places, according to a company release.
Weighing in at 70 pounds, the robot stands about four-feet tall. It travels at speeds of up to 1.8 miles per hour and was designed to move slowly enough to be safe for indoor use.
A tablet computer can be used to operate the machine, which also has a space for a tablet to be worn on its “head,” allowing those far away to communicate with users in the home by video chat.
The company worked with the Foundation for Yokohama Rehabilitation Service in 2011 and now plans to collaborate with universities and healthcare professionals to come up with new functions for the machine.
Its price has not yet been released and it is only a prototype, but the robot will be on display Wednesday through Friday at Tokyo’s International Exhibition Center for the “Forefront of the Development of Home Care and Rehabilitation Equipment” event.
This isn’t the first time Toyota has unveiled a robot. In 2007, the car company introduced a series of humanoid “partner robots,” including one that could play the violin.
Then, the company billed its robots as an important step in the development of more advanced helper robots.
How Rethink Robotics Built Its New Baxter Robot Worker
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This is going to be a very busy year for robotics in Memphis:
First Lego League (for students ages 9-14) just announced their competition for the year. This year’s theme is “Senior Solutions“. I know their are many teams forming in the Memphis Area, especially since we now have a competition in Memphis. The competition will take place at the University of Memphis on Dec 8, 2012. For more info on the event goto: . If you are interested in starting a team contact Frank Niedzwiedz at FrankN@rnsystemsdesign.com.
First Tech Challenge‘s kick off is this Saturday. The closest kick off event is hosted by the University of Mississippi. As far as I know, this is the first year Memphis has teams competing in FTC.
As for First Robotics Competition (FRC), there might be as many as 11 teams in Memphis this year. The University of Memphis will again host a Kick Off Event and other activities associated with FRC. For more info please see: http://memphisfirstteams.org/.
Still looking for teams in Memphis that will be competing in B.E.S.T. this year (so if you know of a team, please let me know).
Robots are already stronger than humans, able to lift thousands of pounds at a time. In many ways, they’re smarter than people, too; machines can perform millions of calculations per second, and even beat us at chess. But we could at least take solace in the fact that we could still outrun our brawny, genius robot overlords if we needed to.
Until now, that is. A four-legged robot, funded by the Pentagon, has just run 28.3 miles per hour. That’s faster than the fastest man’s fastest time ever. Oh well, ruling the planet was fun while it lasted.
The world record for the 100 meter dash was set in 2009 by sprinter Usain Bolt, who averaged 23.35 mph during his run for a time of 9.58 seconds. Over one 20-meter stretch, he managed to get up to 27.78 mph. It was a pretty impressive feat.
The Cheetah — a quadrupedal machine built by master roboteers Boston Dynamics and backed by Darpa, the Defense Department’s far-out research division — not only topped Bolt’s record-setting time. It also beat its previous top speed of 18 mph, set just a half-year ago.
“To be fair, keep in mind that the Cheetah robot runs on a treadmill without wind drag and has an off-board power supply that it does not carry,” a Boston Dynamics press release reminds us. “So Bolt is still the superior athlete.”
But the company is looking to change all that, and soon.
In recent months, the Cheetah team “increased the amount of power available to the robot. More power means faster motion and more margin in the actuators for better control,” Boston Dynamics CEO Marc Raibert tells Danger Room in an email. The robot-makers have also been “working on the control system, refining how the coordination of legs and back works and developing a better understanding of the dynamics.
He adds, “You can see that there is still room for improvement at the end of the video we just posted, where the robot starts to go faster, but loses control and trips.”
But those control systems are improving. The next major step is to build an untethered version — one with an onboard engine and operator controls that work in 3D.
“Our real goal is to create a robot that moves freely outdoors while it runs fast. We are building an outdoor version that we call WildCat, that should be ready for testing early next year,” Dr. Alfred Rizzi, the technical lead for the Cheetah effort, says in a statement.
It may sound a little outlandish. But keep in mind: Boston Dynamics has done this before. Its alarmingly like-like BigDog quadruped is able to tramp across ice, snow, and hills — all without the off-board hydraulic pump and boom-like device now used to keep the Cheetah on track. An improved version of the BigDog can haul 400 pounds for up to 20 miles. (See what we mean about robot brawn?) The company also has a biped ‘bot, Petman, that looks like a mechanical human — minus the head.
The idea behind these biologically-inspired robots is that legs can carry machines across terrain that would leave wheels or tracks stuck. To be a true partner to a human soldier, a robot has to walk like one, too. Darpa says Cheetah and company will “contribute to emergency response, humanitarian assistance and other defense missions.” But when the robot was first introduced, Boston Dynamics noted that its flexible spine would help it “zigzag to chase and evade.”
As if being brilliant and super-strong wasn’t unnerving enough.
NASA 360 is an award-winning broadcast 30-minute television show, vodcast, and related online resources that take you on a journey to see how technologies developed by and for NASA impact your life and pave the way to the future.
The Arduino Wi-Fi Shield Makes Taking Your DIY Projects Online Simple
Thorin Klosowski
We’re always fans of a good Arduino project. While a few Wi-Fi solutions have existed to connect your Arduino to the internet wirelessly, the release of the new Arduino Wi-Fi shield makes those projects even simpler.
What’s nice about the Arduino Wi-Fi shield is that it’s incredibly simple to use and set up. As is always the case with Arduino, everything is open sourced, and the reference materials make it easy to learn how to use. The Wi-Fi shield snaps on to an Arduino, connects over 802.11b/g networks, and features both WEB and WPA2 encryption. From a physical standpoint, all you have to do is connect the shield to your Arduino and you’re good to go.
If you’re going to blow over $2,000 on a hexapod kit, you’ll be buying a PhantomX. Why? Because it’s big, it’s strong, it’s fast, it’s creepily organic, and it would have some surprising tricks up its sleeves if it had sleeves. Hang on (or skip forward) until about 2:40 to see one.
