Hasta La Gadget!

While Boston Dynamics‘ Cheetah has already premiered, speeding along on its robot-friendly treadmill, we’ve now got a better glimpse at how the similarly DARPA-funded human-hunting obstacle-scaling Atlas fares, courtesy of its ancestor. That’s the Pet-Proto you can see in the video below, balancing and leaping across narrow terrain, conducting its own “autonomous decision-making” and keeping upright — all very important points for DARPA’s own Robotics Challenge, a competition where winners will gain access to their very own modified version of the Atlas for future disaster response tests. Watch the Pet-Proto gradually advance towards camera right after the break. And we’ll sleep with one eye open.

Continue reading DARPA’s Pet-Proto robot climbs, balances, jumps, comes to get you

Filed under: Robots, Alt

DARPA’s Pet-Proto robot climbs, balances, jumps, comes to get you originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 12:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dodging the issues of spectrum auctions and more cell towers, researchers at MIT have discovered that they can use an algebraic equation to improve data speeds by reducing dropped packets. It’s these dropped packets that can build up congestion across a wireless network, as devices attempt to recoup these missing data nuggets. But instead of sending typical packets, MIT’s Research Laboratory of Electronics created an equation that describes a series of packets. If a packet fails to deliver, then the receiving device is apparently able to “solve” the missing chunk, with the processing load on phones, routers and base stations apparently negligible.

The tech, which can also seamlessly transition a data stream between wireless internet and LTE, has already been tested on WiFi networks over at MIT; when two percent of data packets were dropped, speeds were boosted from 1Mbps to 16Mbps. If five percent of packets were being lost, the researchers then saw bandwidth increase from 0.5Mbps to 13.5Mbps. Companies are apparently already licensing the tech, although MIT isn’t revealing more on this just yet. Muriel Medard, project lead, said that there were currently “very severe inefficiencies that should be remedied before you consider acquiring more resources” — namely more spectrum and hardware, although the gains seen in these early tests are yet to be replicated in real life. There’s more on the science and development at the source link below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Science, Mobile, Alt

MIT researchers use algebraic equation that improves WiFi and LTE data streams: boosts speed, reduces network congestion originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 07:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Welcome to Growing Up Geek, a feature where we take a look back at our youth, and tell stories of growing up to be the nerds that we are. This week, we have our very own Philip Palermo!

In case you couldn’t tell from that pirate / bandit / pimp / vampire pictured above, I sometimes have trouble making up my mind. It took me forever to decide what I wanted to be that Halloween — figuring out what I wanted to be when I grew up has taken even longer.

It’s strange to think that a few landmark tech purchases during my life helped make who I am today. Our family’s first computer, the NES, a used DSLR — just the simple act of bringing tech home and experimenting with it seemed to shape, reshape and re-reshape my projected career path.

Continue reading Growing Up Geek: Philip Palermo

Filed under: Misc, Alt

Growing Up Geek: Philip Palermo originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Oct 2012 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Alt-week peels back the covers on some of the more curious sci-tech stories from the last seven days.

Most mornings, we wake up with little to no idea what happened the day before, let alone last week. Fortunately, they don’t let us run important scientific research projects. Or maybe they do, and we just forgot? This week (and most others as it goes) we definitely leave it to the pros, as we get some insightful glimpses at some important origins. Ball Lightning, the moon and even us humans are the benefactors of those tireless scientists, who work hard to explain where it all comes from. There’s also a planet with four stars that sees the first few paragraphs of its origin story excitedly written out. One thing we never forget, however, is that this is alt-week.

Continue reading Alt-week 20.10.12: our oldest ancestor, the birth of the moon and a planet with four stars

Filed under: Alt

Alt-week 20.10.12: our oldest ancestor, the birth of the moon and a planet with four stars originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 20 Oct 2012 17:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One way that sensors can track your position without using an array of satellites is by measuring your acceleration as you move around — but unless you’re piloting a jumbo jet, current devices aren’t very accurate. Researchers at Caltech hope to change all that with a new, ultra-sensitive accelerometer they developed, which uses laser light to detect motion changes. The scientists managed to shrink a so-called large-scale interferometer down to micro-scale sizes, creating a device “thousands of times faster than the most sensitive sensors used today.” That could allow a smartphone with such a micro-sensor to detect your exact position even while inside a grocery store, and flash “ads and coupons for hot dog buns” while you’re in the bread aisle, according to Caltech. All that sounds good, but we can perhaps think of more inspiring uses for the new tech.

Filed under: Cellphones, Science, Alt

Caltech laser accelerometer research may bring fine-tuned position tracking, grocery ads originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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