We’ve seen different battery innovations popup this year, such as the microbatteries revealed back in April that are as powerful as they are small. The latest one to surface, however, is environmentally friendly, using tin, wood, and sodium to create a battery with an extremely long life cycle, able to be charged hundreds of times
The first signs of trouble at Fukushima were quickly followed by expectations of an action-ready ASIMO leaping to the rescue. Honda’s humanoid remains far from able, but their new High-Access Survey Robot is on the job, and of some consolation: it’s got ASIMO parts.
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After more than two years of research and development, in collaboration with Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and with input and direction from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), Honda has finally made good on its commitment to assist with recovery and repair at the damaged Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant.
High-Access Survey Robot is as High-Access Survey Robot Does
“High-Access Survey” isn’t super creative in the naming department, but it really does nail what this technically two-piece robot is all about: 1. movement via tracked chassis with a variable-height platform allowing operators to peer into hard to see, difficult to access places up to 23ft/7m high (that’s AIST’s tech); 2. providing a comprehensive visual survey from the camera-equipped arm and automatic 3D mapping of the robot’s immediate location (thanks, ASIMO!); 3. a new control system that increases dexterity by allowing operators to manipulate several robotic joints at once (more ASIMO-tech); and 4. shock-resistant arms, e.g., within a reasonable range, the robot’s arms will remain steady and on-task even when other parts or the entire machine gets jostled around (that’s the big present from ASIMO, detailed below).
The robot’s advancements and benefits are pretty clear:
AIST’s sturdy, low center of gravity, tracked base keeps things moving over potentially rough terrain, and when the arm platform is fully extended it’s probably the tallest stand-alone robot out there (at least among robots that actually like, you know, do stuff).
The first two gifts from ASIMO are visually subtle, but operationally quite significant. Performing extremely important jobs through a single camera lens is the status quo drudgery for current recovery & repair robotics, so this system’s 3D view of the robot’s surroundings combined with increased dexterity are welcome enhancements (presumably, a number of different tools could make their way onto the business end of Honda’s arm). The last gift from ASIMO, the gift of stability, well there’s a bit of history to all that, and we’ll get to it below – first, here’s how the job will be done:
So there you go – it’s certainly an achievement, and along with several other machines already at work or heading to Fukushima (see: Japan’s Robot Renaissance: Fukushima’s Silver Lining), Honda’s new robot is a unique and valuable contribution to the recovery & repair effort. Okay – great, happy day!
But wait…
So, Honda’s very highly accomplished robotics division (our coverage: Honda Robots for the Home • Honda Robots You Wear) has spent two years at this? Even casual tech observers know that we’ve had durable, effective crawler robots with cameras and nimble, powerful arms for well over a decade (see: iRobot), and those with a slightly higher level of robo-geekery know Honda’s been working on bipedal humanoid robots for almost 30 years.
Honda’s résumé reasonably amplifies everyone’s expectations; as such, both when things went bad at Fukushima, and even NOW, it’s not unreasonable to wonder why they’ve reinvented the tracked robot wheel, so to speak, and why there are still no practical, deployable results from all the time, money, and brains put into ASIMO. Can’t that robot at least do… something!?
Presents from ASIMO: the Humanoid has Indeed Contributed
ASIMO is often billed as the world’s most advanced humanoid robot (that’s recently become debatable), and it does have some autonomous capabilities, but what’s brought to the public eye is largely choreographed to a specific environment. The very robo-dorky among us knew it was entirely unreasonable to expect anything of ASIMO as a stand alone robot, but we did know that ASIMO is and has always been a research platform with wild potential. Honda, openly apologetic and conciliatory of its inability to immediately assist with Fukushima recovery & repair, got straight to work:
(see the derived-from-ASIMO self-steadying arm/leg tech in action, jump to 14:50 in this NHK documentary)
The self-steadying, self-balancing arm Honda engineers created, obviously, is the predecessor to the limb mounted on the new High-Access Survey Robot. So the work kinda paid off. The prototype provided design cues, inspiration, and data – and then was put away in Honda’s warehouse of lost robotic toys or whatever.
Or was it? Now, speculation is at best speculative, but what if maybe, maybe that arm isn’t on a shelf somewhere? What if, big if, but what if there’s also a body… and it’s not ASIMO?
Because Fool Honda Once, Shame on You…
Naively, but with hope inspired by Honda’s technological achievements, the world called for ASIMO to help at Fukushima, but Honda could do nothing. Now, pressure is building from the very exciting, fueled by international competition for prizes and prestige, Fukushima-inspired DARPA Robotics Challenge (our coverage). And, looming off in the future is the possibility that Japan’s best robots might once again get upstaged by something from the U.S., or Korea, Poland, Germany, etc. That’s a lot of pressure, but it’s also a ton of motivation.
Honda engineers extracted a polished, self-steadying/balancing arm from ASIMO’s leg in 8 months. In the 18 since, would they really have only managed to attach some eyes and bolt it to a crawler with a really long neck?
Akihabara News’ robotics coverage will keep you hip to developments – and you’ll wanna stay tuned in – because unless Honda’s hoping to get fooled again, it’s both safe to assume they’ve remained busy, and safe to assume that the image below is more than just a rendering; it might be something awesome.
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Reno J. Tibke is the founder and operator of Anthrobotic.com and a contributor at the non-profit Robohub.org.
VIA: IT Media (Japanese/日本語); Honda Robotics (Japanese/日本語)
Images: Honda Robotics; NHK
Pulling the strings of New York artist Olek will only give you more questions to answer. Her crochet-based installments and art are riddles wrapped in a mystery inside….well, yarn. She tries to untie the knots of society and unwind her own self-expression as an artist by weaving her journey into her work.
Yokohama National University professor emeritus Akira Miyawaki, who to date has planted over 40 million trees in 1,700 locations in Japan and overseas, is continuing his tree planting activities not only in Japan but also on twice monthly overseas trips.
“After 60-plus years of local research, currently in areas inhabited by 92.8% of Japan’s population of 128 million, the remaining evergreen forests consisting of deep and straight-rooted trees including shrine forests only make up 0.6% of Japanese land.”
Iwanumi City in Miyagi Prefecture suffered tremendous damage from the Great East Japan Earthquake. To prepare for the next disaster, Miyawaki is promoting natural selection through mixed and dense planting of multiple types of trees as he advocates the creation of forests that do not require oversight. Iwanuma City has incorporated Miyawaki’s philosophy in establishing the “1,000-year Kibonooka Project” in preparation for the next disaster.
“A big challenge was how to resurrect the areas affected by the disaster. Given this background, we launched the “1,000-year Kibonooka Project” as something that will last forevermore into the future. One of the goals is to limit the destructive force of tsunamis, as well as to use the forest as an emergency shelter and on a regular basis as a place where children can come to learn about protecting lives. We also want to make this a memorial park that will remember the tragedy for a thousand years into the future. We encountered various limitations, but we created this project also with the goal of achieving efficient use of debris.”
Tide protection forests to date have primarily consisted of a single type of tree such as red or black pine. But shallow-rooted pine trees were uprooted by the tsunami and did not serve their purpose.
Miyawaki proposed to efficiently use the tremendous amount of debris created by the disaster as a resource excluding toxic and non-decomposable material. Sorted debris is mixed with dirt and used to fill dug-out holes to create large mounds that are further covered with dirt.
In planting trees, primary constituent trees are selected that grow long, deep roots and match the potential natural vegetation of an area. Three to five saplings of various other vegetation that make up the forest in addition to the main constituent trees are planted per square meter. This will require weeding for the first two to three years, but no maintenance is required after that. Twenty years after the tree planting there will be an abundant forest that will remain generation after generation until the next ice age predicted to occur in 9,000 years.
The forest will function as a green barrier, and by making the mound high it will also protect against large tsunamis. By reducing the energy of a tsunami, the mound will reduce the height and speed of the tsunami, thereby increasing the potential to protect people and property.
“To date, based on decisions made by leaders of companies with foresight, we have created Miyawaki-type forests in Japan and abroad.”
“38 countries including those where we have conducted local surveys. We have planted trees on four continents.We talk about greening deserts, but two-thirds of the deserts on earth have been created by humans. The remaining 10% or so of absolute deserts will not support forests. These absolute deserts should remain as is. But areas that have been destroyed by humans can support forests.”
Pride One Entertainment’s Yasushi Akutagawa, who has expressed interest in Miyawaki’s simple efforts to protect the environment, is thinking of supporting the forest building movement through film.
“We want the people of the world to become aware of Dr. Miyawaki’s great work. We are thinking of using film as a way to make this possible. We want to assemble a group of leading Japanese actors, screenwriters, and film staff members to depict Dr. Miyawaki’s life. ”
“Humans have survived by turning crisis into opportunity. Thus we want to do what can be done now to survive the next natural disaster that will definitely come–which is to create forests that protect lives–and spread this know-how from Japan to the world. We want to turn crisis into opportunity by spreading forests of the 21st century from Japan to the world and have the world recognize their value.”
This content is provided by DigInfo.tv, AkihabaraNews Official Partner.
It is inevitable that technology and decidedly non-technological things will continue to merge as mobile devices and such become more powerful and less expensive. One such way this reality has manifested is birdsong apps, which are apps that play a specific type of bird’s song, luring them in for bird watchers or photographers to enjoy.
With the continuing drought in much of the country and dwindling water resources anything that can water your plants efficiently and save water is a treasure. The Olla Pot (pronounced o-ya) is a bit of ancient technology that is returning to popularity. The unglazed terra cotta pot provides a continuous and efficient water supply to your plants.
If the future of solar energy makes you all sunny and warm inside,
there’s no hotter place to be than Intersolar North America in sunny San
Francisco, California.
Honestly, I have no idea how many miles my car gets to the gallon.
Hopefully one of you software geniuses can collaborate with Ford to
build a simple app to show me just how efficient my Taurus is.
The usual refrain is that smartphones can do anything, but we doubt too many people can boast that their RAZR MAXX is helping to rescue the rainforests of Indonesia. Enter a new project called Rainforest Connection, which is building a security network of devices in the Air Tarusan reserve in western Sumatra to prevent illegal logging. Donated Android smartphones are being modified to use solar power before dangled from trees with their microphones switched on. When the handsets pick up the sound of a chainsaw, they relay an emergency message to local rangers who can then intervene. Future plans involve using large numbers of recycled handsets and making the system easy enough for locals to hook up further networks by themselves. Just one more reason not to just throw out that moribund smartphone.
Filed under: Cellphones, Alt
Via: New Scientist
Source: Rainforest Connection
Due to its location, the frigid continent of Antarctica is covered with nothing but ice, making it seem like the continent is nothing but boring flat land. However, thanks to a computer-generated simulation, we get to see that Antarctica is actually bumpy and pretty unique — it’s just that we don’t get to see it
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
