Posts Tagged ‘Jeremy Hsu’
James Cameron Sending 3-D Cameras to Mars with Next NASA Rover
New zoom mast cameras could allow the Curiosity rover to take cinematic video sequences in 3-D
Cameron approached NASA administrator Charles Bolden about including the 3-D camera in January, according to the . NASA had originally cut the 3-D camera and zoom lens options back in 2007, for budgetary reasons.
But Cameron's argument that a high-res 3-D camera would boost public interest swayed Bolden to his side. The U.S. space agency recently funded completion of the 3-D and zoom-capable cameras by Malin Space Science Systems, Inc, the company which developed the Mastcams.
Restoring the zoom is not a science issue, although there will be some science benefits," said Michael Malin, principal investigator for the Mastcam. "The fixed focal length Mastcams we just delivered will do almost all of the science we originally proposed. But they cannot provide a wide field of view with comparable eye stereo."
That has led to a scramble to build and test the zoom lens cameras before the MSL rover commences final testing in early 2011. The two Mastcams under development would have 15:1 zoom lenses which can image from telephoto (100mm focal length) down to wide-angle (6.5mm focal length).
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover is slated to carry four science cameras mounted on a remote sensing mast, where they can pan or tilt to take images all around the rover out to the horizon. All of the cameras currently have fixed focal lengths.
By contrast, the zoom lenses would allow for "cinematic video sequences in 3-D on the surface of Mars," Malin noted. Given our of Hubble 3D, it's safe to say that we're crossing our fingers for Cameron to get his in time for blastoff to Mars.
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Video: Dutch Marine’s Helmetcam Delivers Thrilling First-Person-Shooter View of Raid on Pirate-Seized Ship
Does this herald a future where commanders get real-time intel from their warfighters' helmets?
Video gamers and warfighters alike will appreciate this stunning first-person-shooter view of a Dutch marine boarding team taking back a German merchant ship from Somali pirates. It's not hard to imagine many more soldiers of the future equipped with cameras so that commanders can have multiple on-the-ground views of rapid response operations carried out in real-time.
The marines were tasked with liberating 15 crewmen aboard the German merchant ship Taipan, which had been hijacked by 10 Somali pirates. The crew locked themselves securely within a safe room and called for assistance, according to a reader translation provided by the blog .
Action kicks off fast and furious as the marines fast-rope down from their helicopter under covering fire and begin securing the ravaged ship.
This goes beyond the surface parallels between the real-life footage and a first-person shooter such as Modern Warfare 2, or even the and video games meant to . That's because this ain't no game for the Dutch marines or the -- rather, the military-style lifecasting footage gives commanders new situational awareness in either real-time or for post-mission briefings.
In any case, we're certainly tickled to see how first-person-shooter camera angles have much more use than simply giving young moviegoers a thrill in a certain Kick-Ass scene.
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Congratulations, Spirit! Rover Is Now the Longest-Running Mission to the Red Planet, If It Still Lives
The golf-cart-sized Mars Exploration Rovers have long since outlived their 90-day missions; they both celebrated their six-year anniversaries on the red planet in January. Rather than sigh over the voided warranties, NASA's rover handlers have celebrated their hardware's persistence on a rugged and alien world.
Time and tough conditions finally caught up to the rover twins more recently. Spirit had already lost control over one of its six wheels years ago, before becoming back in April 2009. It lost function in another wheel as NASA struggled to free the robotic explorer.
Rover handlers finally conceded defeat in January 2010, after ten months of trying to free Spirit. But they still took the optimistic approach by christening Spirit as an . There was still a chance for Spirit to add to the thousands of images it had snapped on Mars, not to mention its scientific achievement of revealing how the planet's rocks and soil showed signs of extensive water exposure.
Still, a rover which cannot roam faces tough times. Both Spirit and Opportunity depend upon sunlight to feed their solar arrays, as well as periodic dust storms to sweep the panels clean. Spirit entered hibernation mode once the Martian winter set in, and failed to check in with mission managers on March 31.
Despite the communications blackout, NASA remains excited about its rovers beating the original record set by Viking 1. The Viking mission lasted from July 20, 1976 until November 1982, for an operating time of 6 years, 116 days.
NASA may not know for several more weeks whether Spirit has survived. But we're going to adopt the optimistic view and hold off on writing an . So congrats, Spirit. Who knows, maybe your might even know to mark the occasion.
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Bipedal Japanese Robot Will Walk on the Moon by 2015
The privately-funded Japanese robot will plant a flag and, um, yeah, that's it
The Japanese government had previously announced plans to send a robot to the moon by 2020, with a human astronaut following up a decade later. But the Osaka-based Space Oriented Higashiosaka Leading Association (SOHLA) would seem to be cutting ahead of the Japanese space agency.
SOHLA previously launched a Maido-1 microsatellite in 2009, and has accordingly named its upcoming robot Maido-kun. We assume that the "kun" honorific here refers to the robot's junior status to its human handlers, lest Maido gets any ideas.
The six private companies which form the SOHLA coalition plan to spend $10.5 million on making Maido-kun lunar-capable. They will also draw on the expertise of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which had previously ditched its own plans for bipedal robots back in 2005 in favor of wheeled robots. But Maido-kun could hitch a ride with JAXA's planned robot rover headed for the moon around the same time.
"Humanoid robots are glamorous, and they tend to get people fired up," said Noriyuki Yoshida, a SHOLA board member. "We hope to develop a charming robot to fulfill the dream of going to space."
We're fans of Japan's efforts to push the humanoid appearances and functions of robots, ranging from mildly to also creepy . But this latest plan for humanoid robots seems a bit kookier than past efforts, given the mission's high public relations value and perhaps nonexistent scientific value.
If the private coalition does forge ahead and create a Maido-kun capable of navigating the rough lunar terrain on two feet, we'll rethink our early doubts. And maybe the Japanese robot could provide lessons for a later version of NASA's Robonaut-2, which will be the of the International Space Station.
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Micro-Supercapacitors Could Boost Lifetime of Portable Devices
The new micro-supercapacitors have at least double the energy storage density of the best supercapacitors
Batteries can store electrical energy in chemical reactants and typically have higher energy storage densities than supercapacitors. But supercapacitors simply store energy as electrical charge and can endure a charge-discharge cycle millions of times, compared to just several thousand cycles for batteries.
"We have known for some time that supercapacitors are faster and longer-lasting alternatives to conventional batteries, so we decided to see if it would be possible to incorporate them into microelectronic devices and if there would be any advantage to doing so," said Yury Gogotsi, a materials engineer at Drexel University in Philadelphia.
Gogotsi worked with John Chmiola, a chemist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. They etched electrodes made of monolithic carbon film into a conducting substrate of titanium carbide, and created micro-supercapacitors with an energy storage density at least twice as much as existing supercapacitors.
That suggests micro-supercapacitors can more efficiently store energy within ever-smaller physical spaces. By directly integrating the supercapacitors with the devices they power, researchers can boost the density of microelectronic devices and allow for more functionality, less complexity and enhanced redundancy.
The almost infinite cycle life of micro-supercapacitors would make them ideal for capturing and storing energy from renewable resources, and for on-chip operations to make electronic devices longer lasting, according to Chmiola.
More short-term applications would likely combine micro-supercapacitors with micro-batteries for the most possible energy storage. But the researchers eventually hope to boost super-capacitor storage to levels closer to batteries, and hold onto the supercapacitor edge regarding charge-discharge cycles. The looks bright indeed -- and we can think of a which could use more juice while doing recon.
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High-Speed Camera Enables Touchless Gesture Control of Smartphones
Welcome to the post-touchscreen future
That success relies upon a high-frame-rate camera and algorithm which tracks a binarized finger image to estimate its 3-D motion and posture, a la . The camera can interpret a gesture similar to clicking a computer mouse button if the movement is toward the camera's optical axis, by gauging the size change in the fingertip image.
That allows users to move their mouse cursor over a virtual keyboard and type by making a clicking motion. It also allows for zooming in and out of photos by simply moving the finger closer to or away from the camera, as well as a one-click picture grabbing action.
Given the Japanese lab's past work developing the in the East and the based upon a high-speed camera, this application may not come as a total shock. And there's a good chance that we could see the application appear in commercial devices sooner than MIT's .
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BP Turns to Robotic Subs for Help Sealing Oil Well After Rig Explosion
The Macondo oil well is leaking almost 1,000 barrels per day into the Gulf of Mexico, and represents an environmental disaster in the making
About 1,000 barrels (42,000 gallons) per day has been leaking from the Macondo well almost a mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, since the Deepwater Horizon rig exploded last Tuesday and likely killed 11 workers. The destroyed rig was operated by Transocean under a BP license.
That has set the scene for potentially huge environmental disaster in the making, with the U.S. Coast Guard describing the spill as "very serious." The urgency has compelled BP to deploy the underwater robots in the complex, first-of-its-kind operation which could take between 24 and 36 hours -- and there's no guarantee that it will work, according to the company.
Underwater robots certainly exist, and many future designs call for them to or operate as . But this latest incident may prove the biggest challenge yet for robotic submersibles.
BP has also prepared to drill relief wells to permanently secure the leaking well. A drilling rig is set to drill a second well that would intercept the Macondo well and inject a heavy fluid to prevent the flow of oil or gas, and allow for more permanent sealing. The company has also prepped almost 106,000 gallons of dispersant -- one third of the world's supply -- to help break up any crude slick before it reaches the coast.
Still, the drilling project could take months, which means the best hope for averting catastrophe in the meantime could lie in some cold but steady robotic arms.
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