AIMing for Automated Vehicles
The US armed forces have had smart weapons for a long time now. It is just recently that they realized they need smart supply trucks. Hi, I am Paul F. Grayson, Team Leader of AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL MAGIC (AIM), one of last remaining teams of the 390 teams that worked on vehicles for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Grand Challenge series of unmanned vehicle races. AIM is working to save soldiers lives by making US Army supply trucks driverless. AIM is funded by donations from individuals like you who want to speed up the development of this life-saving technology. With this blog, you will be able to look over my shoulder while I work on developing this important technology. You will get a chance to look into the world of unmanned robotic vehicles, see some of the things that I see, and puzzle over the problems of making vehicles driverless. Welcome to my world! To comment on any blog posting, scroll to the "Post a Comment" box at the bottom and post your comment. (The moderator will review your comment and OK it as soon as he/she can.)
USA 18th in world; Becoming a 501(c)3;
USA NOW RANKED 18th IN THE WORLD - national news reports Once 1st in education, the USA is now ranked 18th and slipping farther down as students in other countries race past US students. Something is broken with the system. You may say “who cares, it is not my problem” and go back to the reality-TV program you are watching. Or “I pay ...... Read More
Comments (0)Robot Skin; FIRST Robotics - Michigan Regional Contest; One Million - the posters
Robot Skin by Peratech ROBOT SKIN (sensor net) Several people over the years have told me that their work was being held back by the lack of a good robot skin. What they meant was an economical sensor net that could cover their robot and sense not only the finger tips but also the arm bumping into things, the real world being messy like it is. What Paratech has come up ...... Read More
Comments (0)I-Fairy Reception Robot; A 4-H Company
I-Fairy Reception Robot by kokoro-dreams.co.jp FINAL VERSION - NO WINGS Designed to lend a whimsical high tech presence to your convention booth or office lobby, I-Fairy Reception Robot is an interactive show bot that can make an impressive first impression on your potential customers. Kokoro, noted for their dinosaurs that thrill audiences with their life-like movements, I-F ...... Read More
Comments (0)New Dexterous Robot Hand; A 4-H Company
Dexterous Hand with sense of touch by Kinea Design ROBOT HAND FOR HUMANS Kinea Design LLC, has developed new biomechatronic technology that will give arm amputees a dexterous hand with 13 different axes of motion that include a sense of touch. Novel tactile (haptic) fingertip sensor enable amputees to explore and interact with the environment using sense of touch. ...... Read More
Comments (0)The New Assembly [Line]; Navigation; Kid Stuff
Comau SmartCell The Assembly Line 1908 - 2010 Henry Ford adopted the assembly line method for his plant in 1908. Since then it has been refined, updated, automated, speeded up, but the basic 1908 concept has not been challenged … until now. Comau challenges our basic assumptions with their assembly cell. In a space not much bigger than ...... Read More
Comments (0)NI LabVIEW Robotics; Kid Biz
Emilie Kopp - Robotics Business Developer for National Instruments, Austin, TX. SUCCESS OFTEN DEPENDS ON WHO YOU KNOW I would like to introduce you to Emilie Kopp - Robotics Business Developer for National Instruments, Austin, TX. Emilie ( emilie.kopp@ni.com , (512) 683-5192 ) is the key person at National Instruments who has the solution to your robot ...... Read More
Comments (0)So simple a kid could do it; AutoDesk Products; Cell Phone Alphabet
Name: Entrepreneurship - Helper’s Guide (for the adult Volunteers over 20 years old, so they can understand what the kids are doing)Item: 08036Price: $3.95Description: Includes extensive background on life skills, teaching using Experiential Learning Model, background on entrepreneurship & answers to questions in youth manual. Experiential activities correlated to national educati ...... Read More
Comments (0)High School Builds Electric Porsche; Virtual Reality Progress Rolling on;
Here is how they expect it to look after it gets a paint job. EV CHALLENGE - West Las Vegas High School Students build an Electric Porsche http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLlzDHt-AQk A story on the local TV news led me to check farther and discover that kids all across the USA are building electric cars to learn how they work. The youngest ones are building and racing electric go ...... Read More
Comments (0)Girl Geek; Flashback; 4-H Robot Club;
Hyperactive engineering student Jordan Cochran with one of her overnight inventions in the 1985 movie Real Genius. REAL GENIUS In the teen comedy Real Genius, Jordan is one of those rare people who do not require sleep so to keep herself occupied at night she builds inventions. The running gag in the film is her going by in the background with a new invention each morning when the ...... Read More
Comments (0)Vegetable oil Hydro-Cracker; 4-H Mail;
Typical oil refinery flow diagram VEGETABLE OIL TO JP-8 What great news! You may have heard already that our friends at the Defense Research Projects Agency (DARPA) have been busy funding research into how to convert vegetable oil into JP-8 jet fuel. The military is trying to be a one fuel organization. Everything it owns is currently fueled with JP-8 produced fro ...... Read More
Comments (0)Picture this; Machine Vision Quest;
IF YOU CAN DRAW IT… YOU OWN IT. I am always on the lookout for things that you will find useful. Dan sent me this picture. It looks like his training conference will be great fun to attend and what you learn (how to solve the worlds problems by drawing simple pictures) could be quite valuable to the company that you work for. Certainly if yo ...... Read More
Comments (0)The Rise of Machine Intelligence
Zoe-Bot Virtual Reality Avitar / CYLON robot. MOTIVE TO INVENT What drives people to invent? Often we can learn a great deal about the world around us through fictional stories. The TV series CAPRICA illustrates the three essential elements an inventor needs to be successful: means, motive, and opportunity. Daniel Graystone has the resources of a large company at his dis ...... Read More
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