Forca Blog

A cheetah can run faster than any other animal. A gecko’s feet can stick to almost any surface without using liquids or surface tension. And some roaches scurry at nearly 50 times their body length in one second, which, scaled up to human levels, can be around 200 miles per hour.

MIT professor and robotic designer Sangbae Kim has looked at members of the animal kingdom in the past and successfully replicated their impressive abilities–two of which being the Stickybot,which can climb walls similar to a gecko and the iSprawl, a robot which mimics a cockroaches movement.

Kim’s next animal that he and his students are going to attempt to imitate is the cheetah. Current robots can be very efficient on flat terrain but in rough areas speed and mobility is very limited. The PackBot, for instance, which is used by the U.S. Military is barely able to go 5MPH.

Kim hopes that over the next 18 months he and his students are able to create a prototype that will have enough power to reach 70 MPH quickly.

The first step will be to create a computer model to calculate the optimal limb length, weight, gait and torque of the hip and knee joints.

The biggest challenge in this project won’t be the structure, but getting enough power from a motor to get to the desired speed quickly, says Kim.

If successful this could be a huge break through in the fight to bring functional sci-fi-esque robots to the world we live in. We will still be leagues away from an I,Robot or Star Wars world but imagine the uses of a robot capable of covering terrain quickly and efficiently! As long as it can handle stairs better than the Honda Asimo and can take control of our hands forcing us to learn an instrument by endless repetition then we will be impressed.

Then again, this could also be a huge break through in a robot uprising leading to the eventual destruction of the human race. One way or another, this is cool. [wired]

These videos show the VASIMR VX-200–the worlds hotest, most powerful space ship engine–being tested in a vacuum chamber. One of the best achievements of the VASIMR is that the plasma engine will make a huge cut in fuel consumption required for space travel. Currently 7.5 tons of propellant are used each year in the shuttle and other spaceships. With the VASIMR that will be cut down to 0.3 tons.

The engine is also much faster. So fast that instead of the current 6 months it would take us to get to Mars it would only take roughly 39 days.

The VASIMR will be tested at the International Space Station in 2013.

At first sight the picture above looks like the control panel from a Sci-Fi space ship. It is actually a sketch of apples latest patent which is suppose to be a large multi-touch surface that can recognize all 10 of your fingers and palms as well as your cheek and nose when you smoosh your face against it.

In the patent filing they claim that this system would provide, “unprecedented integration of typing, resting, pointing, scrolling, 3D manipulation, and handwriting into a versatile, ergonomic computer input device.” Whether they plan on making a futuristic keyboard, mouse replacement or they are looking to put this technology on the Apple Tablet we are excited to see this come to the market. If Apple decided to put it on the Coca-Cola Freestyle Dispenser we would still be excited to see it.

Hiroo Iwata–developer of the robot tiles seen above–has created what will one day be a virtual floor at a VR lab at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. The Robot Tiles are covered with a conductive fabric that is able to detect the direction you are walking and bring the blocks in place in front of your feet.

As they are this is not very functional but with some work these could potentially be a seamless, infinite floor. In a virtual reality environment this could allow you to realistically feel like you were walking from California to New York while remaining in a relatively small room.

Once these became more efficient and usable they could even create different textured blocks or blocks with varying densities so that if in your virtual environment you walked from a street to the grass you would feel the difference below your feet.

AMD’s next-gen DirectX 11 graphics cards will feature Eyefinity which will allow you to connect multiple monitors that can be used as a single display.

Multiple monitor workstations is nothing new but this technology actually simulates one large monitor across the displays. The above is an example of six 30″ dell monitors pieced together as one to play a video game. In the past you could have these 6 monitors hooked up to your computer with a few graphics cards but you would only be able to play your game on one of them.

AMD says that they are working with manufactures to create monitors that have very thin bezels(borders) so that there is not as big of a gap between displays. Unfortunately, we do not have an ETA for these in sight.

AT&T has announced that they will be rolling out their 7.2Mbps HSPA 3G this year to a few markets. T-Mobile is now claiming that they will do the same–maybe they will start by rolling standard 3G out to more markets, we are still without 3G for T-Mobile where I live.

So, where do we go from here? Most carriers will soon be talking about their 4G networks however, T-Mobile is boasting their super-boosted 3G rocking out at 21Mbps.

While most carriers are doing the smart thing and dropping 3G at the 7.2Mbps barrier and moving up to 4G, T-Mobile is going to use and abuse the 3G network for as long as they can. They claim that they will be able to reach near 4G speeds in 2010. [mocoNews]

On Sunday a MQ-9 Reaper drone became self-aware and attempted to wipe out the human race suffered a system malfunction that ended in its swift demise. As the UAV sped towards Afganistan’s airspace the pilots of the heavily armed, un-maned vehicle lost  control.

Almost immediately there was a maned airplane on its six that successfully took out the UAV before it crossed over into Afganistan’s airspace.

These UAVs are programmed to–in the event that they lose contact with the pilots–return to their home base. This is usually what happens but apparently this isn’t the first time that robots have over-ruled their creators a UAV has been intentionally shot down by friendly-fire. How many times does it need to happen before there is cause for concern? [PopSci]

Bear with me here. Yes, the music and AI voice is terrible and makes me feel like I am about to be checked into an alien processing plant for humans after they have taken over our world–but the concept idea is awesome!

We have been blasted with augmented reality programs and concepts but this is a unique idea in comparison to the “find your favorite restaurant” or “see landmarks in the area” programs.

This, if tweaked to be less in your face and obstructive could be a really helpful tool in many work environments. With wireless built into the system you could even receive updates about a certain part of the car having poor compression or getting particularly hot.

Another similar technology that is being worked on is an augmented reality device that fits in a contact lens.

This contact lens contains the circuits, antennas and LED display all in the lens. How does it get power? Wirelessly via RF technology!  They currently have tested it in bunnies to confirm how safe it is and its functionality.

They have a few road blocks that are holding them back before everyone is walking around with this technology–such as the fact that red LEDs are toxic and wouldn’t bode well in your eye–but they are making giant leaps forward. Another hurdle is creating an array of LEDs that will make the image look like it is in front of your face by a foot or so. [IEEE Spectrum]

Alright, fine, “right around the corner” may have been a small exaggeration but there is no question about it, these concept designs from the Electrolux design lab 09 are pretty awesome. While none of these really seem possible or cost effective right now we could begin seeing them over the next 5-10 years.

Of course if the ‘Teleport Fridge’ technology existed we would never have need to leave the house–via car anyway.[EDL]

Have you ever sat and thought to yourself: “I wish there was a robot that could take control of my body and teach me to play the piano”? Yep, me neither, but one company has developed a device that will make this dream come true for some out there. Concert Hands is a robotic device that is attached to your piano or electric keyboard. There is a rod that goes the length of the piano that sits in between you and the keys. You sit down in front of the piano and the Concert Hands latch onto you like a leech you lock your wrists into the slides that move your hands to the spot on the piano where they need to be and then slide your fingers into the finger sleeves that make your fingers press the correct keys.

If you aren’t sold on this great idea press play on the video above and let the mind controlling hypnotist Concert Hands advertiser convince you. I–personally–am creeped out.

The idea is that repetition will force your body to memorize how to play a song–muscle memory–just like anything you have done so much that you can do it without looking, like changing chords on a guitar or typing on a keyboard.

I am not saying this won’t work; in theory it sounds like it very possibly could. All I want to know is who thought of this? And one way or another you aren’t really learning to play the piano. A robot is training another robot your brain to play one song at a time through grinding repetition.

For more information I would tell you to go visit the Concert Hands website but at the time of this post it is down due to them exceeding their monthly bandwidth limits…

In the past, any time a book needed to be scanned it had to be done assembly line style–page by page. Researchers in the Ishikawa Komuro Lab at Tokyo University have developed a prototype scanner that may potentially change that. Their prototype can scan the pages of a book as you flip the pages.

The camera is able to adjust for light and movement distortion using a laser grid to assess the current page geometry and is able to create copies that are true to the original. Right now it is just a concept but with some funding this could be a huge time saver for large corporations, schools and print shops. [PlasticPals]

Of all the good ideas and technological advancements there have been, this one isn’t. Well, ok I guess it as the idea is good. The robot is designed to enter buildings that are too dangerous for firemen. It–via remote control–can scout for any injured/unconscious individuals and chomp them to bits pick them up and spit them back out at a safe location. Lets just hope there is something good to watch in case someone wakes up while in the bowels of the rescue robot.

The Chevy Volt may be the first car publicly available to get a 3 digit MPG rating in the city.

The catch?

It doesn’t really get 230 MPG.

This morning, Government General Motors CEO Fritz Henderson made the incredible announcement,

“Having a car that gets triple-digit fuel economy can and will be a game changer for us.”

While we would definitely agree something must first be explained.

For the first 40 miles you drive the Volt will be running on battery power and use virtually no gas. After that the gas engine will kick in and take you from there. Henderson said, “most Volt drivers will operate on a daily basis without having to use a single drop of gas,” claiming that 3 in 4 drivers travel less than 40 miles a day. After the vehicle runs out of battery power in that first 40 miles or so the gas engine will kick in that could get as much as 50 MPG.

Determining fuel economy on a true electric car can be tricky. With a Toyota Prius it is relatively easy because all of the driving power of the Prius is still generated by gas, it just handles its energy more efficiently than a standard vehicle. The Prius averages 46 mpg while other similar sized vehicles only get low 20s.

The Volt is different in that it gets its energy from two different sources, a battery–charged by an outside sourc–as well as gasoline.  On the gas the Volt may get the same fuel economy as the Prius but that is not accounting for the fact that the Volt has already gone 40 miles on battery power and used no gas.

So, if you never go more than 40 miles a day then your gas mileage will be roughly infinity. The way that GM has been able to come up with the 230MPG figure is by assuming that the average person will travel roughly 50 miles a day. The first 40 miles will consume no gas and then for the last 10 miles 0.2 gallons will be used. 50 miles on roughly 0.2 gallons equals 250 MPG which is really impressive. But if you go 300 miles the fuel economy would only be 62.5 mpg.

Don’t get me wrong that is still excellent but it is no 230 MPG which is very deceiving. Still at 40 cents a charge driving to work and back could be really cheap if these vehicles are reasonably priced when they come out.

20 year old Wu Zhongyuan–a farmer from the Henan province–created a home made helicopter using wood from an elm tree, a 150 cc motorcycle engine, steel pipes and no formal training–except for what he learned in a middle school physics class.

In Guangdong, 12-year old Xie Yanshou has created a flying car capable of taking off vertically.

“The car is powered by two pairs of propellers of the same rotation speed and different rotation direction, which would also balance the propellers’ torsional stress at the same time. Ducted fans are another feature helping accelerate the efficiency of the propellers and protect people from getting hurt.” said Xie

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have come up with an idea that would allow you to use scratching as an input method. The idea is that any surface can be turned into an input device allowing you to turn down the music at a party by scratching the wall anywhere in the room in a certain way or doing basic commands on your computer by scratching your desk. In theory it is a pretty good idea but probably one of those that we will never see make its way into our daily lives.

You remember the doomsday device giant laser machine we posted about last month. Well, after a series of unfortunate events the guys at CERN have decided that it would be best to run it at half power–only 3.5 trillion electron volts–per beam when they start it up again late this fall. If things go well and we are all still here then they are going to step it up to 5 TeV per beam and then by the end of 2010 hope to be back at full power–7 TeV per beam. So, keep an eye on the news… while you still can.

Not much info out about this currently but BPL(Broadband Over Power Lines) is now one step closer to being available in our neighborhoods. An IEEE working group has released the first test specs of a BPL standard and are working on developing it now.

It is probably still a ways off but it will be exciting when we begin to see 100MB plans from a BPL provider that will compete with our cable and DSL company plans.

In a demo by Craig Mundie–Microsoft’s top research and strategy officer showed how computers in the future will have multiple touch screens as well as voice and gesture controls.

From Cnet UK:

“His demo included hologram-like videoconferencing, a virtual digital assistant, and multiple surface computers, along with voice-, touch- and gesture-recognition technology. The desk in the demo was a multitouch surface computer, and the office’s walls were also a display that could easily switch from being a virtual window or collection of digital photos to a corkboard of sticky notes or various workspaces. In one case, Mundie also used Project Natal-like depth cameras to put himself in the middle of an architectural demo, essentially putting himself inside a building that was not yet built.”

This has the potential to change everything. Productivity would sky rocket–as well as entertainment. Imagine when Google Real Estate comes out and you are able to do a virtual tour and walk through a house as if you were there.

The possibilities are endless when you think of what could be done with a workstation like this–especially if teamed up with The Emperor. For instance you could video conference with several people and all of you could be sitting in a virtual room where you could look around the room and see each other and see where the other was looking. With the Natal technology it could even sound like you were in the room with each other.

Unfortunately when if a computer comes out like this many people will probably have to choose between buying a house or buying this… We know what we would choose.

This morning we got our invites to the Google Wave Developer Preview so that we could begin to work on some apps for Joomla and WP. Nearly boiling over with excitement I got to my computer where I could get to my email and login. I pulled up firefox and boom. There I was in the Google Wave Developer Preview. After staring at it for a minute I moved my mouse and clicked on one of the open developer waves(threads). BAM. Error, Error, Error.

What can you expect right? It is the developer preview and this early in developement. This is more than acceptable right now. I spoke with some of the other developers and was told I would have better luck in Chrome. After pulling up Wave in Chrome the experience was much more enjoyable.

Currently Wave only supports the following browsers:

You have the option of using IE if you want but our experience with Wave and IE was terrible. Personally I wouldn’t mind if it stayed that way. I have never been a fan of IE and now that Microsoft is openly trying to make advances over google with Bing and now partnering with Yahoo to “create the future of search” I think it would be just fine if Google decided to say “hey, Wave works great in our browser! If you want our users to be able to use your browser then make it work with our program.”

Now on to Wave itself. The default layout when you open Wave has your Navigation menu on the left with Inbox, Trash, By Me, Spam, etc. Below that are your contacts. In the middle area you have a list of any Google waves that you have started or have been invited to by order of most recently commented on in real time. From here you can see which ones have been commented on since you left, how many responses there have been that you haven’t looked at yet, other people that are part of the wave and even see what text people are typing in as they type.

When you clikc on a wave it will open to the right and you can scroll through all of the text that has been entered. You can even see text from everyone else that is commenting at the moment in real time.

One cool part of the interface that makes it very intuitive is the ability to minimize any and all of the windows or move them around. You can even click on the minimize button on the navigation and contact menus. Everything that you minimize will appear at the top of the window. While they are there you can click on one to see a mini view of the wave to check on the updates or you can move it back down to the main window.

Here is something else that caught our attention when we first began using our Wave mail:

With standard gMail accounts you are currently given 7352 MB–and counting! With our Google Wave email account we had 25,600 MB. This could just be a perk to being in the developer preview so don’t get too excited just yet however there probably will be a need for more space when using Wave and so I wouldn’t be entirely surprised if all Wave accounts started with 25 GB of space.

We will update when we begin to develop apps.

This morning just a few minutes ago I just received an email confirming that I was still interesetd in participating in the Google Wave sandbox. The email said that if I was to fill out a form and I would receive my account details within the next few days.

Whoo hoo! For those of you behind and not familiar with Google Wave watch this hour and 20 minute long video.

Go ahead that to do list can wait.

The Google Wave beta–which is sure to be in beta for 15+ years since gmail took 5–will be released to 100,000 individuals on September 30th. If you are interested in getting access to the beta you need to “let Google know where to contact you”–as if they don’t already know!