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Monday, October 31, 2016
A Robot Is Collecting Sound Samples and Turning Them into Collages
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Reposted via adafruit industries blog
October 31, 2016 AT 2:00 am
A Robot Is Collecting Sound Samples and Turning Them into Collages
Fascinating project from Russian artist Dimitry Morozov who goes by ::vtol::.
Via The Creators Project:
“The voices, music, city sounds and other random noise are shaped into complex algorithmic compositions, which can be played after it has collected enough of them,” says Morozov. “It is a kind of reality re-mixer—by simply removing the silence and pauses between loud sounds and words, it creates the sense of very rhythmical and organised aural experience, which sounds very musical to me.”
Maker Business — “End of an era: BlackBerry will stop making its own phones”
Wearables — Make a pouch
Electronics — When is a via not a via?
Biohacking — EEG Based Music for Neurological Diseases and Art Shows
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Sunday, October 30, 2016
DARPA making robotic co-pilot for helicopters and all other planes
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Reposted via Next Big Future
ALIAS ( ircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System) can fly a military helicopter and then move into another aircraft and fly that too— and ALIAS is not human.
Driverless cars may have been making headlines of late, but DARPA’s ALIAS program has also been making great strides in the development of “digital pilot” technology.
The brainchild of the legendary institution DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency), ALIAS easily drops into an aircraft and becomes an invisible, automated co-pilot for a human pilot.
Lockheed’s ALIAS kit is about the size of a small briefcase, meaning a pilot can easily plug it into the aircraft. In a way, it amps up its own smarts and by linking the aircraft to a controller on the ground.
Remarkably, the same ALIAS smart tech can fly both rotary-wing and fixed-wing aircraft.
After the mission, the pilot can easily pull the kit from the helo and then take that very same kit over to a fixed wing aircraft.
The ALIAS tech has built upon five decades of plane automation. And it also leverages cutting-edge innovation for drones.
From takeoff through to landing, ALIAS can help with an entire mission. If something unexpected happens, like a system failure in flight, then ALIAS could support handling it or even address the problem itself. ALIAS could constantly monitor the health of the aircraft and enhance the maintenance, response and safety of the aircraft.
DARPA Program Director Dr. Daniel Patt explained.
“It has the brains to figure out how to fly the aircraft by itself,” he said, gesturing to the tablet in his hands. “This tablet actually talks to that system, talks to the brains of ALIAS…”
“The brain has learned and it knows how to fly the aircraft, how to hold the aircraft in a perfectly still hover inside a tiny one foot box, it will beat the performance of a human pilot… If you tell the aircraft to crash into the ground it won't let you do that,” he said. “It will keep you safe.”
ALIAS uses a software backbone designed with open interfaces along with a pilot-operated touchpad and speech recognition software. Pilots can use a touch screen or voice command to direct the aircraft to perform functionsautonomously.
For instance, various check-list procedures and safety protocols such as engine status, altitude gauges, lights, switches and levers, can be more rapidly, safely and efficiently performed autonomously by computers.
“This involves the routine tasks that humans need to do but at times find mundane and boring. The ALIAS system is designed to be able to take out those dull mission requirements such as
SOURCES- DARPA, Scout, Youtube, foxnews
Reposted via Next Big Future
Friday, October 28, 2016
Thursday, October 27, 2016
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Soft Wearable Robotic Glove Made With Empathy, Science and Assistive Technology #WearableWednesday
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Reposted via adafruit industries blog
October 26, 2016 AT 4:00 am
Soft Wearable Robotic Glove Made With Empathy, Science and Assistive Technology #WearableWednesday
FashNerd has the scoop on this soft robotic glove.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), around 15% of the world’s population are physically impaired to some degree. In order for those with disabilities to overcome their daily hurdles, assistive technology is playing a significant role in giving back with impressive wearables such as the Exo-Glove Poly.
With the objective to assist those with paralysis of the hand, the Exo-Glove Poly is a wearable glove that gives people with hand disabilities the ability to grasp objects that they couldn’t before. Inspired by human fingers, the impressive device is a soft wearable robotic glove made of polymer. Protecting the wearer from injury, the compact, lightweight glove gives the wearer increased usability in comparison to the more bulkier exoskeleton.
Designed with comfort in mind, the waterproof wearable was created by Kyu Jin Cho, Director of the Biorobotics Laboratory at Seoul National University in South Korea. The flexible product allows the wearer to be able to perform daily activities, such as grabbing various-shaped objects. Cho made this possible by including an adaptable grasping mechanism to the robotic hand. Bragging a soft tendon routing system, the Exo-Glove Poly has three fingers that fit over the wearer’s thumb and are controlled by a switch which activates the motor which pulls on wires to open and close the hand. When we first came across the product we were in awe of how the tendons of the robot act just like the tendons of the human body and how the product has the ability to adjust to different hand sizes.
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!
Maker Business — “China’s factories in Shenzhen can copy products at breakneck speed—and it’s time for the rest of the world to get over it”
Wearables — Glow, gemstone, glow
Electronics — Clarify your supply
Biohacking — The State of Mobile Health Apps
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Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Upgrade Your Work Day With Quantified Self & Biohacking
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Reposted via adafruit industries blog
October 25, 2016 AT 5:02 pm
Upgrade Your Work Day With Quantified Self & Biohacking
Teemu Arina is putting the hack into biohacking. He is one of the authors of the Biohacker’s Handbook and an organizer of the Biohacker Summits. The next Summit is about to take place in Helsinki this year. Teemu has released a free slide deck titled “Upgrading Your Work Day with Quantified Self and Biohacking“. It is a wonderful introduction to the more technical and obscure aspects of biohacking. Have you ever tried eating ambronite as an office snack? How about lumo lift as posture coach? He does a great job of explaining the obvious intersection of quantified self and biohacking and how the two can work together.
Maker Business — “China’s factories in Shenzhen can copy products at breakneck speed—and it’s time for the rest of the world to get over it”
Wearables — Glow, gemstone, glow
Electronics — Clarify your supply
Biohacking — The State of Mobile Health Apps
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China building small lead cooled fast nuclear reactor that can fit inside a shipping container and generate 10 MW of heat or about 4 MW of electricity
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Reposted via Next Big Future
China is making a small lead-cooled reactor that would fit inside a shipping container.
It will measure about 6.1 meter long and 2.6 meter high and would be able to generate 10 megawatts of heat, which, if converted into electricity, would be enough to power some 50,000 households
It is also capable of running for years or even decades without refuelling, and scientists say that because it produces neither dust nor smoke, even on a small island a resident would hardly notice its existence.
The research is partially funded by the People’s Liberation Army.
Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Nuclear Energy Safety Technology, a national research institute in Hefei, Anhui province, say they hope to be able to ship the first unit within five years.
The Chinese researchers admit their technology is similar to a compact lead-cooled thermal reactor that was used by the navy of the former Soviet Union in its nuclear submarines in the 1970s.
However, China would probably be the first nation to use such military technology on land.
While these “baby” reactors would able to generate large quantities of electricity and desalinate huge supplies of seawater for use as fresh water, they have also attracted serious environmental concerns.
SOURCE - South China Morning Post
Reposted via Next Big Future
Monday, October 24, 2016
Sunday, October 23, 2016
classics: miezekatzen: attaaaaaack (via herekittyitty,...
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attaaaaaack
(via herekittyitty, thingssheloves)
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Army patents a shrapnel proof adult diaper like harness
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Reposted via Next Big Future
Enngineers and designers at the Army Natick Soldier Research, Development and Engineering Center have patented a new design for a harness
that protects its wearer from blast debris.
Worn outside the pants, the harness is designed to protect the groin and femoral artery and prevent debris from embedding in and around the groin. Such injuries can be so severe that repeated surgeries are often needed to remove the debris, leading to extreme discomfort as well as health and hygiene issues. The harness has also been adapted to provide fragmentation protection.
Project lead Kristine Isherwood said NSRDEC began designing the piece of equipment after a joint urgent operational needs statement was issued for blast debris protection, while the Product Manager Soldier Protective Equipment looked for commercial off-the-shelf solutions.
"The protection that existed before was letting debris in because it wasn't fitted close enough to the body," said Cara Tuttle, an NSRDEC clothing designer and design lead. "Soldiers weren't wearing it often enough, and it didn't come down inside of the leg to protect the femoral artery."
Before arriving at the harness design, NSRDEC considered several others, including under-trouser, within-trouser, and over-trouser designs. The ultimate design for the harness uses multiple layers of Kevlar that alternate as they overlap.
"A layer overlaps in one direction, then the next layer overlaps in the opposite direction, and it keeps alternating," Tuttle said. "This creates a better barrier for small [debris fragments], which would have to zig zag through all these layers to get through."
The resulting design hugs the body without hindering movement or range of motion. Project engineers partnered with NSRDEC's Human Factors and Anthropology teams to achieve the snug fit. The design makes use of adjustable straps and buckles that allow for easy doffing and donning.
"It was challenging to add layers and area of coverage without impacting movement," said Isherwood. "Whether you had to climb in a window or kneel, [the harness] needed to stay in place, but also allow full range of motion. The uniqueness of this design is that it's stable but moves with you."
Tuttle, who worked in the apparel industry for a number of years before coming to Natick, and Isherwood say they are dedicated to improving the quality of life and safety of the warfighter.
"There is nothing in the [apparel] industry quite like what we do here at Natick," Tuttle said. "We are helping to protect the men and women who are protecting our country. Our work ... has the potential to save lives."
"[Our Soldiers] are volunteering to be put in harm's way," Isherwood said. "So anything I can do to protect them without compromising their effectiveness is the goal. That's what we are trying to do every day."
As with many protective items developed by NSRDEC, the innovation is expected to benefit the not just the warfighter, but also may, in the future, be licensed for use by first responders.
SOURCES- Army
Reposted via Next Big Future
4DS Memristor achieves technical milestone of memory cells denser than 3D flash with commerciallization in the 2019 timeframe
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(Source: 4DS)M
The formation of filaments is the most common approach in ReRAM cell research and development today.
Filamentary mechanisms may work well at relatively large cell geometries but pose significant current density, retention, endurance, access and control problems when trying to achieve gigabyte range memories.
Filamentary ReRAM has inherent scaling limitations because cell currents are high and are independent of cell size. High switching currents are needed for long data retention and the large current fluctuations typically observed in filament-based ReRAM.
The potential for scalability to smaller geometries is limited by wire current densities.
Furthermore, the create and destruct switching mechanism in filamentary ReRAM results in eventual cell breakdown and poses a number of significant limitations for GB silicon storage.
Reposted via Next Big Future
4DS has demonstrated Interface Switching ReRAM cells at a 40 nanometer geometry, representing significant progress in scalability and yield.
This 40nm geometry, demonstrated by 4DS, is smaller than the latest generation of 3D Flash - the most dominant non-volatile memory technology used in billions of mobile devices, cloud servers and data centers.
In 2016, 4DS has
- Demonstrated scalability, consistency and behaviour of memory cells with high yield at 40nm
- 40nm is a breakthrough development at a scale smaller that existing 3D Flash, the most dominant non-volatile memory technology
- JDA with HGST renewed in July 2016 taking the collaboration into its third year
denser than flash and rival the recently reported Crossbar Inc.'s (San Francisco)
4DS claims its 40-nanometer ReRAM is a first, but many other labs besides 4DS and Crossbar are known for serious ReRAM efforts using memristors including Adesto Technologies, Elpida, Fujitsu, Global Foundries, Hewlett Packard, Hynix, IBM, Macronix, Nanya, NEC, Panasonic, Rambus, SanDisk, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, ST Microelectronics, Winbond, and several research-only labs like Imec collaborating with foundry partners like TSMC.
Flash is reaching the end of its ability to scale linearly, prompting the move to 3D, such as Samsung's, Toshiba's and Western Digital's recent demonstrations of 64-layer stacked-die flash memories.
The bit-cell stack controls its resistance by the migration of oxygen ions between the opposing metal electrodes.(Source: 4DS)M
4DS also claims to have invested only $12 million to research and develop its recent demonstration chips. The demo chips, 4DS claims, prove its ReRAM memory cells are faster, cheaper and lower power than 3-D flash, giving the company hope at carving out a segment of the $40 billion global market for flash.
Beyond 2016: Commercial deal or strategic action most likelyFrom the current state of technological development, we essentially see three scenarios for 4DS going forward; firstly, a scenario in which the company succeeds in finalizing the minimum required development of its technology to the point where prospective licensees step up to the plate. In this scenario 4DS will need to demonstrate scalability of the Interface Switching ReRAM memory cell down to sub-45nm resolutions with consistent cell behavior using a scalable manufacturing process.
Still several years of development required by licenseesAny licensee will need to further develop the technology in the next several years to the point where high density, Interface Switching ReRAM memory chips can be manufactured in existing fabs, which we would expect around 2019-2020. This development process will require tens of millions of dollars, possibly up to US$100M, in our view, which is why 4DS will likely not embark on this journey, at least not by itself.
Any license agreement that is non-exclusive would see 4DS receiving multiple up-front, oneoff license payments, which could amount to several millions of dollars each. Additionally, 4DS would receive royalties per chip sold once the technology goes into commercial production. Memory chip royalties typically amount to a single digit percentage of the sales price of the chip.
An exclusive license to use 4DS’ technology would likely require the licensee to pay a substantially larger up-front license fee, potentially several tens of millions of dollars, in 4DS' view, in addition to royalties once the chip goes into commercial production.
Potential strategic action ahead of any license dealThe second scenario would be an acquisition by an established manufacturer in the data storage space. In this scenario as well, we believe 4DS would first need to complete the minimum required development of its technology in order to prove commercial viability of Interface Switching ReRAM. Any acquirer will then need to further develop the technology to commercial insertion into the market, similar to the first scenario.
Given 4DS’ development agreement with HGST and the acquisitive nature of its parent company, we believe Western Digital would be a very likely acquirer in this scenario.
Additionally, companies like SK Hynix, Micron and Samsung might have a keen interest in securing Interface Switching Memory technology to gradually take over from 3D NAND Flash in a few years’ time.
The third and final scenario would see 4DS’ technology not being rolled out commercially in due time, either due to insurmountable and/or overly expensive technological issues with Interface Switching ReRAM, or the emergence/dominance of another non-volatile memory technology, e.g. filamentary ReRAM, MRAM etc. While the likelihood of this scenario seems relatively small at this stage given the rapid technological progress being made together with HGST, it can never be excluded in the dynamic semiconductor industry.
There are two Approaches to ReRAM : Interface switching ReRAM and Filamentary ReRAM Interface Switching ReRAM - high density memory for mobile and cloudThe development of Interface Switching ReRAM, a unique type of Non-Filamentary ReRAM, represents a breakthrough in ReRAM technology and is unique to 4DS.
Developing memory storage that is not reliant upon a filament allows cell currents to scale down in line with cell size enabling the smaller geometries necessary to put more storage on a memory chip creating high density memory.
A filament-less switching mechanism can operate with low switching currents, due to much more stable currents, essential for high density gigabyte range memories and the retention of data.
4DS has developed a way of controlling the overall resistance of the memory cells using the diffusion of oxygen atoms across the interface and this mechanism is used to reliably control gigabyte memory intended for large-scale storage.
Importantly, Interface Switching ReRAM does not rely on a destruction mechanism thereby increasing endurance, reliability and functional behaviour.
Filamentary ReRAM - low density memory for IoT and connected devices</>The formation of filaments is the most common approach in ReRAM cell research and development today.
Filamentary mechanisms may work well at relatively large cell geometries but pose significant current density, retention, endurance, access and control problems when trying to achieve gigabyte range memories.
Filamentary ReRAM has inherent scaling limitations because cell currents are high and are independent of cell size. High switching currents are needed for long data retention and the large current fluctuations typically observed in filament-based ReRAM.
The potential for scalability to smaller geometries is limited by wire current densities.
Furthermore, the create and destruct switching mechanism in filamentary ReRAM results in eventual cell breakdown and poses a number of significant limitations for GB silicon storage.
Reposted via Next Big Future
Tribal MAMA- Leather
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Tribal MAMA- Leather gypsy festival belt and pocket LilaTribalAccessorie-Etsy
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Accelerating Universe Expansion evidence is much weaker 20 years later with analysis of over ten times the number of Type Ia supernovae
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Five years ago, the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three astronomers for their discovery, in the late 1990s,
that the universe is expanding at an accelerating pace.
Their conclusions were based on analysis of Type Ia supernovae – the spectacular thermonuclear explosions of dying stars – picked up by the Hubble space telescope and large ground-based telescopes. It led to the widespread acceptance of the idea that the universe is dominated by a mysterious substance named 'dark energy' that drives this accelerating expansion.
Now, a team of scientists led by Professor Subir Sarkar of Oxford University's Department of Physics has cast doubt on this standard cosmological concept. Making use of a vastly increased data set – a catalogue of 740 Type Ia supernovae, more than ten times the original sample size – the researchers have found that the evidence for acceleration may be flimsier than previously thought, with the data being consistent with a constant rate of expansion.
Nature Scientific Reports - Marginal evidence for cosmic acceleration from Type Ia supernovaeProfessor Sarkar, who also holds a position at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, said: 'The discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe won the Nobel Prize, the Gruber Cosmology Prize, and the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. It led to the widespread acceptance of the idea that the universe is dominated by "dark energy" that behaves like a cosmological constant – this is now the "standard model" of cosmology.
'However, there now exists a much bigger database of supernovae on which to perform rigorous and detailed statistical analyses. We analysed the latest catalogue of 740 Type Ia supernovae – over ten times bigger than the original samples on which the discovery claim was based – and found that the evidence for accelerated expansion is, at most, what physicists call "3 sigma". This is far short of the 5 sigma standard required to claim a discovery of fundamental significance.
'An analogous example in this context would be the recent suggestion for a new particle weighing 750 GeV based on data from the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. It initially had even higher significance – 3.9 and 3.4 sigma in December last year – and stimulated over 500 theoretical papers. However, it was announced in August that new data shows that the significance has dropped to less than 1 sigma. It was just a statistical fluctuation, and there is no such particle.'
There is other data available that appears to support the idea of an accelerating universe, such as information on the cosmic microwave background – the faint afterglow of the Big Bang – from the Planck satellite. However, Professor Sarkar said: 'All of these tests are indirect, carried out in the framework of an assumed model, and the cosmic microwave background is not directly affected by dark energy. Actually, there is indeed a subtle effect, the late-integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect, but this has not been convincingly detected.
'So it is quite possible that we are being misled and that the apparent manifestation of dark energy is a consequence of analysing the data in an oversimplified theoretical model – one that was in fact constructed in the 1930s, long before there was any real data. A more sophisticated theoretical framework accounting for the observation that the universe is not exactly homogeneous and that its matter content may not behave as an ideal gas – two key assumptions of standard cosmology – may well be able to account for all observations without requiring dark energy. Indeed, vacuum energy is something of which we have absolutely no understanding in fundamental theory.'
Professor Sarkar added: 'Naturally, a lot of work will be necessary to convince the physics community of this, but our work serves to demonstrate that a key pillar of the standard cosmological model is rather shaky. Hopefully this will motivate better analyses of cosmological data, as well as inspiring theorists to investigate more nuanced cosmological models. Significant progress will be made when the European Extremely Large Telescope makes observations with an ultrasensitive "laser comb" to directly measure over a ten to 15-year period whether the expansion rate is indeed accelerating.'
AbstractThe ‘standard’ model of cosmology is founded on the basis that the expansion rate of the universe is accelerating at present — as was inferred originally from the Hubble diagram of Type Ia supernovae. There exists now a much bigger database of supernovae so we can perform rigorous statistical tests to check whether these ‘standardisable candles’ indeed indicate cosmic acceleration. Taking account of the empirical procedure by which corrections are made to their absolute magnitudes to allow for the varying shape of the light curve and extinction by dust, we find, rather surprisingly, that the data are still quite consistent with a constant rate of expansion.
SOURCES- University of Oxford, Nature Scientific Reports
Reposted via Next Big Future
Next generation planes will either by large or they will use new engines that switch between performance and fuel efficiency
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Reposted via Next Big Future
The United States Air Force is in the process of completing its initial research on a next-generation air superiority
capability to replace the Boeing F-15C Eagle and Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor fighters. Once such research is completed, the service will embark on an 18-month analysis of alternatives (AOA) starting this coming January to determine exactly what kind of capabilities it will need to gain and maintain control over the skies in the post-2030 threat environment. By then—in the year 2035—the stealthy F-22 will be 30 years old while most the F-15C fleet will be more than 50 years old.
Current generation fighters like the F-22 and the Lockheed Martin F-35 carry only a couple of missiles internally, which could be a limitation during future combat operations.
China and Russia would also be able to attack refueling tankers which would reduce the operating range of US fighters.
A future PCA might be a significantly larger aircraft that today’s fighters—designed to operate at far greater ranges while carrying a far greater ordnance load. Those requirements for range, persistence and payload will have to be balanced against the need for stealth, electronic warfare capabilities, speed, maneuverability and other traits.
Many of the Air Force’s potential future requirements might seem to be contradictory, but new technology might make such a plane technically feasible. Indeed, a very large fighter with a very large payload, huge range which is also extremely stealthy while being extremely maneuverable would be an extreme technical challenge with current technology. However, new technology such as adaptive cycle engines—which the Air Force is currently developing with General Electric and Pratt and Whitney—will likely solve many of those potentially contradictory requirements. “The bottom-line is it’s going to have to be a variable-cycle engine to meet those kinds of needs and not be a humongous airplane,” Jeff Martin, General Electric’s expert on sixth-generation fighter propulsion told me some time ago.
Adaptive Cycle Jet EnginesThrust and fuel efficiency have always seemed destined to remain mutually exclusive – the higher the one, the lower the other – inevitably forcing jet engine designers to make calculated trade-offs between the two.
If the US Air Force's Adaptive Engine Technology Demonstrator (AETD) programme goes to plan, allowing future generations of aircraft to take to the skies that can switch from high-speed performance to maximum economy - and back again - as the need arises.
It is an ambitious goal, with a huge range of possible applications across the spectrum of fighters, bombers and tactical combat aircraft.
While it has all the makings of a potential game changer for the sector, the fundamental principle behind the idea remains fairly straightforward. Conventional jet engine designs are optimised either for range or speed primarily by reference to two key factors: the fan pressure ratio of the air pressure discharged from the fan relative to the input pressure, and the bypass ratio of the air flowing around the engine core relative to the air passing through it. Thus, commercial airliners and military airlifts have high bypass / low fan ratios to yield greater efficiency, while strike aircraft exhibit low bypass / high fan pressure ratios, sacrificing fuel economy in the interests of maximising thrust.
With adjustable fans and controllable air ducts, the thinking goes, you can increase the flow around the engine and raise the bypass ratio to improve cruising fuel efficiency, or force more air into the core to gain a burst of extra thrust, flexibly toggling between Grand Prix speed, or super-Mini economy.
SOURCES - National Interest, GE
Reposted via Next Big Future
vickisigh: ♪ I’m reaching out to you ♪ Patreon + Shop +...
Industrial robots are getting Deep Learning capabilities which will faster at adapting to production changes
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The USA and Canada have been losing jobs to offshore competition for almost half a century. From 2000 to 2010 alone, 5.6 million jobs disappeared.
Only 13 percent of those jobs were lost due to international trade. The vast remainder, 85 percent of job losses, stemmed from “productivity growth” — another way of saying machines replacing human workers.
Over the last 20 years, inflation-adjusted U.S. manufacturing output has increased by almost 40 percent, and annual value added by U.S. factories has reached a record $2.4 trillion. While there are fewer jobs, more is getting done.
Today’s industrial bots are typically programmed to do a single job very precisely and accurately. But each time a production run changes, the robots then need to be reprogrammed from scratch, which takes time and technical expertise.Machine learning offers a way to have a robot reprogram itself by learning how to do something through practice. The technique involved, called reinforcement learning, uses a large or deep neural network that controls a robotic arm’s movement and varies its behavior, reinforcing actions that lead it closer to an end goal, like picking up a particular object. And the process can also be sped up by having lots of robots work in concert and then sharing what they have learned
Fanuc, one of the world’s largest makers of industrial robots, announced that it will work with Nvidia, a Silicon Valley chipmaker that specializes in artificial intelligence, to add learning capabilities to its products.
In a 2014 trip to factories in Shenzhen, 60 percent of it was automated and 40 percent of it was still people. And it’s all a question of choice.You say, “is that just because of low cost?” No, no. These are actually high-pay, high-skill jobs. Adaptability is key, and people are more adaptable. So when they set up the machine line and it’s all machines, there is a huge amount of retooling to shift from line one to line two, whereas the people are much more easy to shift.
Therefore, adding AI to make the robots more adaptable will mean fewer people needing for retooling to shift lines.
There needs to be faster training and better education for people. Augmented reality can be used to help people become productive more quickly.SOURCES -Technology Review, McKinsey, TechCrunch
Reposted via Next Big Future
Thursday, October 20, 2016
All Tesla Cars Being Produced Now Have Full Self-Driving Hardware
http://ift.tt/2aB80ot
Reposted via Next Big Future
Self-driving vehicles will play a crucial role in improving transportation safety and accelerating the world’s transition to a sustainable future.
Full autonomy will enable a Tesla to be substantially safer than a human driver, lower the financial cost of transportation for those who own a car and provide low-cost on-demand mobility for those who do not.
As of today, all Tesla vehicles produced – including Model 3 – will have the hardware needed for full self-driving capability at a safety level substantially greater than that of a human driver. Eight surround cameras provide 360 degree visibility around the car at up to 250 meters of range. Twelve updated ultrasonic sensors complement this vision, allowing for detection of both hard and soft objects at nearly twice the distance of the prior system. A forward-facing radar with enhanced processing provides additional data about the world on a redundant wavelength, capable of seeing through heavy rain, fog, dust and even the car ahead.
To make sense of all of this data, a new onboard computer with more than 40 times the computing power of the previous generation runs the new Tesla-developed neural net for vision, sonar and radar processing software. Together, this system provides a view of the world that a driver alone cannot access, seeing in every direction simultaneously and on wavelengths that go far beyond the human senses.
Model S and Model X vehicles with this new hardware are already in production, and customers can purchase one today.
Before activating the features enabled by the new hardware, they will further calibrate the system using millions of miles of real-world driving to ensure significant improvements to safety and convenience. While this is occurring, Teslas with new hardware will temporarily lack certain features currently available on Teslas with first-generation Autopilot hardware, including some standard safety features such as automatic emergency braking, collision warning, lane holding and active cruise control. As these features are robustly validated we will enable them over the air, together with a rapidly expanding set of entirely new features. As always, their over-the-air software updates will keep customers at the forefront of technology and continue to make every Tesla, including those equipped with first-generation Autopilot and earlier cars, more capable over time.
SOURCES -TEsla
Reposted via Next Big Future
Concept ships by John Wallin LIberto
http://ift.tt/pzChxX
New ships using the VR sculpting app Oculus Medium by our spaceship master friend John Wallin Liberto.
Keywords: virtual reality sculpting modeling application oculus medium hd high definition digital sci-fi science fiction concept spaceship art design by john wallin liberto senior concept artist at 343 industries in washington working on the halo franchise
Reposted via concept ships
New ships using the VR sculpting app Oculus Medium by our spaceship master friend John Wallin Liberto.
Keywords: virtual reality sculpting modeling application oculus medium hd high definition digital sci-fi science fiction concept spaceship art design by john wallin liberto senior concept artist at 343 industries in washington working on the halo franchise
Reposted via concept ships
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