Jan 24
We have seen how the world of nanotechnology has delivered the likes of electronic skin and electronic eye implants? How about the likes of electronic whiskers? This is definitely new, where researchers from Berkeley Lab and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have managed to come up with tactile sensors from composite films of carbon nanotubes and silver nanoparticles which are not too different from the highly sensitive whiskers of cats and rats. These are a new breed of e-whiskers which respond to pressure as little as a single Pascal, which is roughly similar to pressure exerted on a table surface by a dollar bill.
E-Whiskers Developed For More Sensitive Robots In The Future original content from Ubergizmo. 
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Do you feel that life imitates art at times? Perhaps, and when it comes to the realm of science fiction, what we see in a futuristic movie like Minority Report and its touchscreen user interface has already made its way to the real world. Scientists over at CMU, Harvard, the University of Southern California, MIT, and BioSensics have worked together to come up with a robotic ankle which is capable of assisting those who suffer from injuries or illnesses that have affected their lower legs in a negative manner.
I suppose when you send a robot out to clear mines, it is a whole lot less stressful than being out there in the open field by yourself, taking very special care not to disturb anything untoward under the ground. Better have a robot blow up than me, right? The University of Coimbra in Portugal decided to make good use of their donated Husky UGV by Clearpath Robotics in transforming it to function as an autonomous mobile mine detector.
Have you watched The Matrix before? I am quite sure that you would have remembered the scene when Morpheus was explaining to Neo how the machines see human beings as nothing more than batteries to power them. Well, that might very well be too close to the truth in reality, as a certain new invention has been created which would allow one to embed electronic devices beneath their flesh. This new charger happens to be an implantable piezoelectric strip which will be able to turn kinetic energy into electricity. Of course, the “installation” process would require a certain level of surgery, but some folks would think that it is worth going under the knife if you would end up with a strip that can power a pacemaker when it is sewn directly onto the surface of a beating heart.
