Online Cortex Thoughts on Science and Technology

Robot’s Everywhere has a post where they show the following picture of a Tokyo Fire Department robot rescuing a dummy in a drill.

The robot appears to be dragging the victim up the ramp by his/her neck.

Very Nice!

This was #8 in a series of photos from a Boston.com News in Photographs piece.   The caption there reads:

Tokyo Fire Department’s rescue robot transfers a mock victim onto itself during an anti-terrorism exercise in the response to a radiological dispersal device in Tokyo, on November 7, 2008. Tokyo Metropolitan government conducted the exercise with eleven organisations including Metropolitan Police Department. (TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/AFP/Getty Images)

Posted under Fun, Intelligent Systems, Lifestyle, Music, Robotics, Uncategorized

A fun song about the robotic takeover…

Posted under Fun, Robotics

On Thursday October 16th at 7pm PST, JPL will host a webcast of a lecture on the new Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Rover. This webcast will require RealPlayer—the free RealPlayer 8 Basic can be downloaded from RealPlayer.
More info can be found here at JPL.

This talk is part of the JPL von Kármán Lecture Series.
Here is the Summary from the JPL Website:

New Wheels on Mars: The Mars Science Laboratory
Dr. Richard Cook
Mars Science Laboratory Project Manager

Building on the success of the two rover geologists that arrived at Mars in January, 2004, NASA’s next rover mission will depart for the Red Planet in 2009. Twice as long and five times as heavy as the Mars Exploration Rovers, the Mars Science Laboratory will collect Martian soil and rock samples and analyze them for organic compounds and minerals which demonstrate that Mars can or did support life. This sophisticated science laboratory will be delivered to the Martian surface using an innovative new landing system. The spacecraft will start by steering itself through the Martian atmosphere in a fashion similar to the way the Apollo entry capsule controlled its entry through Earth’s upper atmosphere. This approach will allow the spacecraft to fly to a desired location above the surface of Mars before deploying its parachute for the final landing. Then, in the final minutes before touchdown, the spacecraft will activate its parachute and retro rockets before lowering the rover package to the surface on a tether.

If you are local, you may be able to attend the talk:

Thursday, October 16, 2008, 7p.m.
The von Kármán Auditorium at JPL
4800 Oak Grove Drive
Pasadena, CA
+Directions

Friday, October 17, 2008, 7p.m.
The Vosloh Forum at Pasadena City College
1570 East Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA
+Directions

Posted under Astrobiology, Exploration, Mars, Research, Robotics, Space, Technology

I have just launched a new blog that focuses entirely on advances in robotics.

This blog will provide information about research-quality advances and links to the more technical aspects, such as journal papers, computer code, and other resources.

Please visit Robots Everywhere!

Kevin Knuth
Albany NY

Posted under Exploration, Intelligent Systems, Research, Robotics

I have been thinking about human science and exploration, and how long it takes for these processes to initiate and result in acceptance and conclusion.  When considering exploration, it seems it takes about two human lifetimes to go from the initial explorations to settlement.  Perhaps this is the cultural time required for the old guys and their ideas to die off, and the next generation to think seriously about the problems.  Science seems to progress similarly.

This suggests the following timeline:

1969   Humans walk on the Moon

2050  Humans begin colonizing the Moon
2050  Humans begin exploring Mars

2150   Humans begin colonizing Mars
2150   Humans begin exploring the Outer Solar System
2150   Robotic explorers begin surveying Alpha Centauri and neary stars

2250   Humans begin colonizing Outer Solar System

Its too bad that this will take a long time, but each step requires dramatic cultural changes, which take lifetimes to perform.

Kevin Knuth
Boraceia, Brazil

Posted under Astronomy, Exploration, Space