Google's Driver less Car

   About 2 months ago the U.S state Nevada passed a law allowing Google to test their driver less car. The car is said to gather information from its surroundings by using Google Street View with an AI software that uses input from video cameras and sensors. So far it has been tested on the Toyota Prius, an Audi TT, and a Lexus RX450h. With this technology driving can be made safe and less accidents will occur.

Robot Reveals the Inner Workings of Brain Cells

  Wow! Recently researchers at MIT and the Georgia institute of technology have developed a robotic arm that can identify and record information of the neurons in the living brain. The researchers said that when tested with a living mouse's brain the robotic arm, guided by a cell-detecting computer algorithm, could identify the neurons in the mouse's brain with better accuracy and speed than that of a human. Using this technology scientists will be able to classify the thousands of various cells in the brain, identify how they are linked to each other, and compare a diseased brain cell with a healthy one. For more information about neuroscience and biology check out this blog! http://genesforteenz.blogspot.in

Robotics Coffee Shop

   Today I came across an article where it said that a coffee shop called Briggo used robots to serve coffee. Situated in Texas Briggo is a coffee shop where you can order via Internet, on the phone or at the kiosk itself. All you have to do is basically choose your drink from a wide variety of options, choose some add-on, pay the amount due online and go pick it up. The robot does the rest. For example once the order is place a robot calculates the amount of milk required, how the coffee should be ground and how the shots are pulled. It is very precise. Once your drink is made Briggo will text to you to come over and pick it up. As of now Briggo is only situated at Austin however a new version of Briggo is under development, allowing it to be located at airports, hospitals and shopping malls. Here is the link for the site https://www.briggo.com/web/

DNA Cells Programmed to Kill Cancer Cells

   Recently scientists have created a new type of a robot, made entirely from DNA strands. The robot is said to be programmed in order to identify and kill cancer cells. So far the robot has been programmed to attack leukemia and lymphoma cells in a laboratory dish. The robot delivers immune system antibodies that kill the cancer cells or cause them to destroy themselves. The technology is still not commercially available, however.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-24/dna-robots-programmed-to-kill-cancer-cells-harvard-study-shows.html

- Mithil Hari

How Do Robots Work?

   Wondering how robots work? Various robots operate in different ways, but they all share a similarity
in terms of their design and operation.

   Robots are made of a few basic parts :- a body, motors/engines that help move the parts of a robot, sensors that provide input to the robot and a microprocessor that acts as a brain. A robot may be programmed to perform the same actions over and over again , however most robots decide what to do based on the information from their surroundings. These robots need sensors to collect this information. For example, if a robot is programmed to move around obstacles it needs sensors in order to sense the presence of an obstacle. 

   However in order to understand the data collected by the sensors, a robot requires programming. Programming helps the robot understand the data given and to perform the required action. This programming in turn helps a robot's microprocessor tell the mechanical parts what to do. The microprocessor will state the position required of a part, the way it should be turned,etc.

   This process is the same for all robots no matter their differences in functioning,size,etc.

Your own Robocleaner!

  Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and the FZI Research Center for Information Technology, have designed a humanoid robot. The robot, ARMAR, can process a persons commands and gestures and respond to them. If I asked for a bottle of water from the fridge, it would go to the fridge and get me one. It can also learn from human actions, such as emptying the trash can. It is able to do this as it is equipped with sensors and cameras. Here's a video clip of it.

-Mithil Hari

Intelligent Robots

 I was surfing the web when I came across an article , that states that  new robots will be able to process data from their surroundings without a human telling them to. Its supposed to be done
with a low cost camera like the one in the Microsoft Kinect. The camera will build a three dimensional model of the environment, as the robot moves around, it also will be able to detect any changes in the build by comparing the previous images with the latest.

 This would overall, allow the robot to move around a building by
creating a course for it without any human input. Let's hope it works!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120216134110.htm

What are Robots?

    The word "robot" made its public debut in 1921, when it premiered on stage in Karel Capek's play R.U.R. (Rossum's Universal Robots). The play told of a world in which humans relaxed and enjoyed life while robots - imitation humans - happily did whatever labor needed to be done.  
   The term "robot" achieved its own world domination in 1923, when the play was translated into English; it quickly overran its competition, precursors "android" and "automaton." 
   The modern day definition of a robot is any mechanical/virtual device that is controlled by a set of commands in order to do some work. 
   Robots nowadays are used everywhere:- as vacuum cleaners, machines, toys etc.

- Mithil Hari