Robot Snake to the Rescue

One of the drawbacks of being a superhero is that the "super" in you is often confronted by the "super" in the opposing side.  Case in point, firefighters have to not only kill the fire, but they have to find the person or persons trapped by flames or collapsed from smoke inhalation.  And they need to do this without getting hurt themselves because, you know, there's going to be another fire tomorrow. Now they can rely on a slimy cylinder other than their hoses.

2000+ years since the snake ruined Eden, he's come back to redeem himself in robotic form. - A.T.


Marketplace Tech for Wednesday, March 27, 2013

What this country needs is a good robot snake, right?

A robot snake -- just like the name suggests -- is a long, segmented metal rig. When you toss it, it automatically wraps around whatever it hits. If the snake metaphor bugs you, think of it as a robot grappling hook that can also shimmy up poles.

Howard Choset, a professor at the Robots Institute at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh which developed the snake, calls it "perching behavior."

"We throw the robot in the air, we have a smart way of processing the sensors, and then on impact we can then command the robot curl around whatever it just hit," explains Choset.

Here's just one of the many applications for a snake robot that likes to hug things. A firefighter doing search and rescue might throw one over a wall of flame. But Howie Choset's team is thinking bigger.

"It is worth noting that the basic science behind that capability will apply to other mechanisms, not just flying snake robots," says Choset. "We have some ideas on how to control helicopters, how to better control satellites -- anything that has to orient and fly at the same time."

These things are formally called "hyper-redundant mechanisms," a class that also includes not just snakes but elephant nose robots and monkey tail robots. Click on the audio player above to hear more about robotic snake applications.

See the robot snake in action in the video below:

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Would You Choose This Superpower?

Harry Potter-Like Invisibility Cloak Works (in a Lab)


Photo credit: the piper,Somerville, MA
by Clara Moskowitz for LiveScience March 25, 2013

A miniature version of Harry Potter's invisibility cloak now exists, though it works only in microwave light, and not visible light, so far.

Still, it's a nifty trick, and the physicists who've created the new cloak say it's a step closer to realizing the kind of invisibility cloak that could hide a person in broad daylight.

The invention is made of a new kind of material called a metascreen, created from strips of copper tape attached to a flexible polycarbonate film. The copper strips are only 66 micrometers (66 millionths of a meter) thick, while the polycarbonate film is 100 micrometers thick, and the two are combined in a diagonal fishnet pattern.

The creation is a departure from previous attempts to create invisibility cloaks, which have aimed to bend light rays around an object so that they don't scatter, or reflect off it, a technique that relies on so-called bulk metamaterials. Instead, the new cloak uses a technique called mantle cloaking to cancel out light waves that bounce off the shielded object so that none survive to reach an observer's eye. [10 Real-Life Sci-Fi Inventions]

"When the scattered fields from the cloak and the object interfere, they cancel each other out and the overall effect is transparency and invisibility at all angles of observation," study co-author Andrea Alu, a physicist at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a statement.

In lab tests, Alu and his colleagues successfully hid a 7-inch-long (18 centimeters) cylindrical rod from view in microwave light. They said the same technology should be able to cloak oddly shaped and asymmetrical objects, too.

"The advantages of the mantle cloaking over existing techniques are its conformability, ease of manufacturing and improved bandwidth," Alu said. "We have shown that you don't need a bulk metamaterial to cancel the scattering from an object — a simple patterned surface that is conformal to the object may be sufficient and, in many regards, even better than a bulk metamaterial."

In principle, the same kind of cloak could be used to hide objects in the visible range of light, as well, though it may work only for teensy-tiny objects, at least at first.

"In fact, metascreens are easier to realize at visible frequencies than bulk metamaterials and this concept could put us closer to a practical realization," Alu said. "However, the size of the objects that can be efficiently cloaked with this method scales with the wavelength of operation, so when applied to optical frequencies we may be able to efficiently stop the scattering of micrometer-sized objects."

The invention isn't just a novelty to thrill Harry Potter fans and aspiring spies. The researchers say it could have practical applications down the line, such as in noninvasive sensing devices or in biomedical instruments. They described their device in a paper published in the March 26 issue of the New Journal of Physics.

Trouncing Thirst

World Water Day was March 22.  Let's be honest, you have never suffered a day of extreme thirst.  The kind that drives you mad.  Even Christ couldn't stand it.  The only words of physical complaint that He uttered on the cross were, "I thirst".

Millions of people have a daily struggle with gaining access to clean, safe water.  Not just safe in that the water's potable (not salinated or polluted), but safe in that they won't get raped on their way to the source.  Or caught in the crossfire of warring factions (see Darfur and Rwanda).

There are a lot of ways to suffer on this planet, but the ways are not infinite.  Someone has come along and invented something to help shorten the list. - A.T.

Dean Kamen's Slingshot Aims To Bring Fresh Water To The World
Posted on Slate: 03/25/2013


Photo from the film Slingshot by Paul Lazarus

A recent invention called the Slingshot could provide freshwater to those with some of the most limited access. Inventor Dean Kamen, best known as the man behind the Segway, has partnered with Coca-Cola to place his machines throughout developing nations in Africa and Central America in hopes of eliminating the millions of deaths each year related to waterborne disease.

More than 783 million people don't have access to clean water and 37 percent don't have access to sanitation facilities, facts highlighted by the UN during World Water Day last week.

The device can take any form of potentially contaminated liquid and distill it into something safe to drink -- by evaporating the water and then condensing the steam, leaving pathogens behind. Kamen even joked in a 2008 interview with Steven Colbert that the Slingshot could sanitize a 50-gallon drum of urine.

A recent documentary short directed by Paul Lazarus and featuring Kamen won third place in GE's Focus Forward Film Festival, which highlights leading innovators around the world. The film was also screened at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

Watch the 3 minute documentary here:  http://focusforwardfilms.com/contest/16/slingshot-paul-lazarus

Meditation Preliminaries

Preliminaries are as important to your meditation is stretching is to your workout.  The preliminaries announce to the mind that you're preparing to move from the mundane to the sacred.  Below is a detailed list of formal preliminaries.  You may move as slowly or quickly through them as you like.  You may alter the order to prevent boredom from seeping in.  It is best though, not to skip past them before focusing on the object.

The Preliminaries to Meditation (in practice order)
from the Lam Rim Chen Mo by Je Tsonkapa

Clean the meditation room and altar.  This becomes the cause to help create a paradise later. Also helps to wake up and get the day going and to slow down the mind. 

2.      Set up the altar and make offerings. Find offerings that you obtain without using any dishonest means. Put them forth in an attractive arrangement. If using water bowl offerings - Fill and empty bowls from the left. Empty bowls at night to signify ready to die now. Wipe bowls before filling.

3.      Physical prostrations (three)

4.      Sit on your cushion in the proper 8 point posture

5.      Focus on and count your breath (begin with exhalation; each exhalation and inhalation count as the same number); try to get to 10 without major distraction)

6.      Visualize merit field. Start simply, by visualizing the silhouette of the root lama or holy being with whom you strongly identify, and then begin to add features, color, and details later.   Then visualize the garden for gathering the power  of good: the lineage lamas together with an inconceivable mass of Buddhas, and bodhisattvas, listeners, self-made Buddhas, and protectors of the Dharma.

7.      Go for refuge

8.      Generate bodhicitta

9.      Invite and visualize a holy being to meditate with you

10.      Mental prostrations (think of and admire a good quality of the holy being)

11.      Mental offerings (of things you own, things that are owned by no one, or of your practice)

12.     Confession and purification (with the four forces:  refuge, regret, restraint, and restitution)

13.     Rejoicing (in your own good deeds and the good deeds of others)

14.     Turn the Wheel of Dharma by requesting teachings (formal and informal)

15.      Request teachers (the holy being and all those in whose company you spiritually benefit) to stay with you

16.      Don’t forget to always end your preliminaries with the dedication of the merits accumulated (dedicate to your own enlightenment or to the benefit of others).  Dedication works to multiply, fantastically, even the minor good deeds you have done in the acts of gathering, and cleaning, and multiplying. It also takes good deeds that are short-term, those that are going to give a good result and then disappear, and changes them so that they will never be exhausted.

At this point you can move, scratch, etc. Then return to your breath to regain concentration and when you are ready begin the main meditation. 

Close with requesting blessings (ask the holy being to increase your capabilities to do good with body, speech, and mind). Make an offering of a mandala. Then make a request that the Lamas bless your mind. After requesting, absorb the being through your crown into your heart.