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Video: SpaceX Test-Fires Its New Super-Powerful Capsule Engines

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:29:14 -0500

SpaceX’s dream of fielding a spacelaunch system that is completely reusable is inching forward with the successful test-firing of its new SuperDraco engine. The powerful new SuperDraco will be installed in the side walls of the next-gen Dragon spacecraft and provide up to 120,000 pounds of axial thrust, enabling not only on orbit maneuvering, but emergency escape from the rocket tower should something go awry during launch.

The Draco engines currently used on the Dragon spacecraft allow the robotic resupply capsule to maneuver on orbit and orient itself during reentry, but SpaceX has bigger plans for a system that will one day be able to return all elements--including rocket stages--to Earth intact for reuse in later missions. That’s a tall order and a long way off. But the SuperDraco is a step in that direction.

More powerful than the Draco, the eight SuperDracos that will reside in the side walls of the Dragon can essentially propel the Dragon capsule on their own, making it possible for astronauts on board to abort at any time during a launch and separate from the rocket--that is, the controlled explosion--hurling them skyward. That’s a huge advantage over previous launch abort systems, which could only be triggered successfully during the first few minutes of a launch.

They can also be restarted multiple times and can be used repeatedly, meaning they wouldn’t have to be completely re-serviced each time a capsule went into space. During the recent tests at SpaceX’s Rocket Development Facility in Texas, the SuperDraco underwent full thrust firings, full duration firings, and a series of deep throttling demos, passing each test, we’re told, with flying colors. We’re still a ways away from that space capsule that can navigate itself back to the launchpad under its own propulsive force but as the video below shows, we’re getting there.

[SpaceX]

Mitt Romney: The Uncanny Candidate?

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:09:36 -0500

Does this man have a robot problem?

The presumptive Republican nominee looks pretty much like a presidential contender should, with the right business-y haircut, dazzling smile and nice-seeming family. But he has a really hard time connecting with voters. Over at the Atlantic, Brian Fung says this is because he’s like a creepy robot — almost too perfect, yet wrong, and therefore deep in Uncanny Valley.

Romney looks right, but is undeniably uncomfortable in public situations, sinking into awkward moments where he does not seem to know where to put his limbs. Or breaking into uncomfortable song.

Robots do this too, and it's discomfiting when they're so close to human, but missing that essential element.

The theory of uncanny valley holds that the more realistic a robot or machine appears, the more humans like it — but only up to a point. As a machine takes on very human characteristics or behaviors, our minds interpret them as so human-like that they make us uncomfortable, even sick. This precipitous drop in our comfort level is called the uncanny valley. Is that what’s going on with Romney? He’s so close to an ideal candidate, but yet so far, that he repulses us?

We’re not going to pass any judgments here, but it’s an intriguing question. Head over to the Atlantic for an analysis of Romney’s robot problem.

[Atlantic]

Cool Plasma Torch Kills Germs on Raw Chicken

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:04:31 -0500

We've seen the plasma beam toothbrush, where a blast of room-temperature plasma destroys plaque and bacteria in your mouth. Now researchers at Drexel University have applied the technology to raw chicken and found that the gentle blue blast of ionized matter effectively removes pathogens on the poultry's surface.

When raw chicken breasts had a normal amount of pathogens (Salmonella enterica and Campylobacter jejuni were the culprits that were tested), the plasma almost completely eliminated them. The technology is still too expensive to fit into the highly streamlined production lines that bring skinless, boneless, sanitized poultry to your table, but -- not least because it is equally effective on antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria -- the proof of concept is an intriguing one.

The researchers suggest that the treatment could significantly increase the shelf life of raw meat by removing microorganisms responsible for spoilage. They don't mention, though, the first idea that popped into my mind: delicious chicken sashimi.

Chili Crab Dinner Inspires Robot That Crawls Down Your Throat To Grab Your Cancer

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:11:51 -0500

Who ever doubted an amazing meal could change your life? Researchers in Singapore have developed a robotic surgery device inspired by the country’s famous national dish, chili crab. The mini crab robot crawls down your throat and into the stomach, where its pincers grab onto a cancerous mass and a hook slices it away.

It could help patients with early-stage gastrointestinal cancer and is far less invasive than other surgical options — since it enters through your mouth, it leaves no visible scars.

Enterologist Lawrence Ho of Singapore’s National University Hospital co-designed the robot and said it has already been used to remove early-stage stomach cancers in five patients in India and Hong Kong, according to Reuters. Other existing methods to excise these types of cancers require cutting a patient open, either through a large-scale invasive surgery or a keyhole surgery, in which smaller incisions can still enable surgical access. But those methods are both quite painful and invasive.

Instead, this device enters through a patient’s mouth and is attached to an endoscope, through which a surgeon can watch and control the robot’s actions. A hook attached to the crab bot is used to remove the cancerous tissue, and it also coagulates the blood to stop internal bleeding.

Ho and Louis Phee, associate professor at Singapore's Nanyang Technological Institute, decided to build the robot after a 2004 chili crab dinner with a well-known Hong Kong surgeon named Sydney Chung. Chung apparently suggested the crab as a prototype. “The crab can pick up sand and its pincers are very strong,” Ho noted.

The team formed a company in October and hopes to commercialize the crab bot within three years, Reuters reported.

[International Business Times]

The Future of Fun Is Repetitive Drudgery

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:13:12 -0500

Look at this video game. It's a great motivator to keep your monitor spotlessly clean -- go on, get your chemical-impregnated microfiber cloth and give it a wipedown right now -- but is it actually fun? I contend not.

Next week on PopSci.com we investigate, adumbrate, and celebrate the Future of Fun, including a tour of modern playgrounds, an online arcade of the most innovative games you can play in your browser, and yes, the contention that fun is becoming more and more quotidian and effortful as it gets repurposed for dubious utilitarian ends.

(After playing for an hour, my score is now averaging under 3 seconds on Where's the Pixel -- can you beat that?)

See you next week.

Video: To Enable the Robo-Insects of the Future, Researchers Capture Butterfly Flight at 3,000 FPS

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:04:38 -0500

Neither bio-mimicking robots nor insect-analog micro aerial vehicles (MAVs) are new concepts. But where super high-speed video capture, competitive figure skating, and lepidopterology collide, there PopSci shall be. Today, that means turning our attention to Johns Hopkins University, where engineering undergrad Tiras Lin is potentially shaking up insect-like aerial robot design.

For a proper visual explanation of what Lin and colleagues are up to, the video below is thorough. But briefly: DARPA and other defense- and public safety-related research entities in both the public and private sectors have been exploring the idea of tiny, sensor-capable drones the size of aircraft for years now (regular readers have read about many of them on this site). But actually recreating mechanically the kind of flight achieved by insects is notoriously difficult.

Users want MAVs they can pilot through complex urban environments, where the variables--obstacles, tight spaces, variable air pressure and wind speeds--make it difficult to fly. Wishing to tap real insects’ tricks, mechanical engineering junior Lin crossed over into entomology, using a high-speed camera array to capture butterfly flight--wing flapping, body deformation, and anything else that contributes to mass distribution as a butterfly moves through the air.

His high-speed rig allowed him to capture 3,000 one-megapixel images per second (compare that to 24 frames per second for standard video), allowing him to dissect the forces at play as the butterflies flapped their wings roughly 25 times per second. Using three cameras, he was able to capture three dimensional data and analyze the way butterflies’ bodies and wings move in sync to provide them with their maneuverability.

His findings? Butterflies appear to be very much like figure skaters, using angular momentum as they flap their wings to modify their moments of inertia (this is akin to figure skaters tucking their arms to increase the speed of their spins and outstretching them to slow their rotation--essentially manipulating their rotation by redistributing mass). This refutes earlier assumptions that a butterfly’s wings don’t have enough mass relative to their bodies to be a factor in maneuverability. And it just might change the way roboticists approach robo-insect design going forward.

Much more via the video below.

[JHU]

DARPA Invests In Megapixel Augmented-Reality Contact Lenses

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:24:48 -0500

The augmented reality future we were long ago promised has been slow to come around, perhaps restrained most by the basic biology of our own eyes, which are unable to properly see detailed images placed very near the pupils. But via technology developed in part with a certain government agency, Washington-based Innovega has created a unique contact lens technology that allows the eye to focus on images projected very close to the eyes as well as objects in the real world beyond.

Simply put, the technology opens the door to augmented reality systems that don’t require some kind of bulky, virtual-reality-headset-from-the-‘90s peripheral visor or helmet. Instead, Innovega’s tech relies on images protected on a normal-looking set of specs and a pair of nanotechnology-infused contact lenses that provide megapixel clarity of that up-close imagery while still allowing the eye to focus on the world beyond.

At least, so goes the company’s CES pitch, which you can judge for yourself below. We haven’t tested the product, so we can’t really speak to its awesomeness. But DARPA can. The Pentagon’s blue-sky research wing announced yesterday that Innovega has developed for the agency a new breed of contact lenses that allow “a wearer to view virtual and augmented reality images without the need for bulky apparatus” and that allow users to focus on both faraway objects and images placed very close to the eye.

For DARPA’s part, Innovega is working as part of the Soldier Centric Imaging via Computational Cameras (SCENICC) program, which aims to eliminate the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capability gap at the individual soldier level. Read: AR setups that plug individual soldiers right into drone feeds and other intel streams while still allowing them to maintain their peripheral vision and situational awareness. Meanwhile that could lead to more immersive 3-D television and gaming experiences for the rest of us. More tech detail via the video below.

[DARPA, Innovega]

Video: PopSci's Favorite Japanese Fembot Gets a Modeling Job at the Mall

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:10:09 -0500

Add 'mannequin' to the list of jobs being replaced by robots

In this economy, a job is a job. And while we await the day that we can hire our robot companions to handle our household duties, humanoid semi-celeb Geminoid-F is exploring other possibilities at a Takashimaya department store in Tokyo. Here, Geminoid is blazing a trail for androids everywhere by taking a job in a storefront window to see how the humans passing by respond.

The idea, according to Geminoid-F’s creator, is to see how people respond to an android in the window rather than the usual mannequin. Mannequins, after all, are static and don’t show off clothing in a real-world, kinetic way. Ideally a store would have live models in their displays, but that’s simply impractical. But he thinks androids can fill that role admirably, interacting with passersby while showing off clothing worn by a real human analog.

So Geminoid-F sits there coyly, acting as though she’s waiting for a friend. She’s programmed with emotions and 65 different actions triggered by her sensor data. She doesn’t speak to anyone, but occasionally she will look up at viewers, and perhaps return a friendly smile. But mostly she just ignores you and stares at her mobile device. These robots are getting more and more realistic all the time.

[DigInfo News]

Video: Swarm of Tiny Quadcopters Do a Delicate Dance

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:03:32 -0500

The GRASP Lab at the University of Pennsylvania is a perennial PopSci favorite. Yeah, yeah, we’ve all seen robotic quadcopter drones before. But these tiny, so-called “nano quadrotors” are kind of blowing my mind right now. Dial the video below up to about 0:40 and you’ll see why.

We’ve written extensively about “swarming” robots before, but this is a serious swarm if we’ve ever seen one--right down to the high-pitched cacophony of rotors that sounds eerily like a hive of bees moving en masse. But it’s the way these nano quadrotors swarm--seemingly aware of each other and of each individual’s place in space--that’s truly fascinating.

Perhaps it’s somewhat hyperbolic, but seeing the ease and grace with which these things move in and out of formation, negotiating obstacles and ducking seamlessly between each other as they execute a figure eight really tickles the fanciful, sci-fi-friendly part of the brain. GRASP Lab creations have already shown us how quadcopters can work together to manipulate objects and even build structures together. The idea of looping more than a dozen of these things together--as we see in the video below--and putting them to work on complex projects makes this kind of precision performance feel very much like the future.

A Modern Super Bowl Sunday Is Nothing Without Puffed Cheese-Flavored Snacks

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:47:58 -0500

Here's how to make your own, with just three kinds of food starch

The creators of Modernist Cuisine are getting ready to watch the big game just like anybody else: infusing water with cheddar cheese, blending an emulsified sauce with engineered tapioca starch, and deep-frying delicious snacks for all to enjoy.

Chris Young and team have made the Wylie Dufresne-inspired recipe available on their site, and it looks delicious. You mix the cheese-infused water with starches to make a paste, which you then dry and fry till puffy. ("The residual water expands 1,600 times in volume as it turns to steam, forming bubbles in the gel that harden when cooked.") Meanwhile you've made a cheese sauce, and turned it into a powder using a miraculous ingredient called N-Zorbit which turns oils into fluffy dust. The latter gets dusted on the puffs, and the game is on.

[Modernist Cuisine]