Via Gadget Lab:
The budget needed for an at-home surveillance system has just been slashed to a couple of Jeffersons. The eyeCam Micro Wireless camera, a plug-and-play with a wireless transmission range of 450 ft., is now down to $40, making it one of the most affordable spy video gadgets out there.
Click-through for sample video - spy cam attached to Dragonfly remote heli, ie personal neighborhood surveillance drone. Federal laws may apply.
Based in Los Angeles in the year 2019, Tyrell is named after its founder Dr. Eldon Tyrell and is a high-tech biocorp primarily concerned with the production of life-like androids called replicants. Tyrell’s slogan is “More human than human”. The headquarters for the corporation is over 700-stories tall. The Tyrell corporation is the only outfit making Nexus-6 replicants which are so human-like that the only way L.A.P.D Blade Runner Units can indentify them is to sit suspects down and go through an exhausting empathy test called the “Voight-Kampff Scale.”
The Tyrell Corporation was also involved in the exporting of replicant labor to the outer space colonies for situations deemed too dangerous and degrading for regular humans such as military operations, high risk industrial work, prostitution and slave labor. One could call it interstellar commerce or just growing an army of slaves.
In a staggering breech of public interest, U of Pitt researchers have taught a couple of rhesus macaque monkeys to control a robotic prosthesis with their mind. No word on when the lab fires will be extinguished and the rampaging robo-monkeys will be defeated.
Two monkeys have managed to use brain power to control a robotic arm to feed themselves. The feat marks the first time a brain-controlled prosthetic limb has been wielded to perform a practical task.
Previous demonstrations in monkeys and humans have tapped into the brain to control computer cursors and virtual worlds, and even to clench a robot hand. But complicated physical activities like eating are “a completely different ball game”, says Andrew Schwarz, a neurological engineer at the University of Pittsburgh…
Yeah, right. Those robo-monkeys will be running the Pentagon within days.
In a disturbing-but-not-surprising move, the U.S. military is contracting the development of small robotic biomimics for field deployment. Equipped with sensors and networked relays these robocritters will likely end up scurrying through apartment complexes at home and abroad, ala Minority Report. Expect swarming behaviors, social intelligence, and networked biometrics.
Everybody freeze for the spiders…
British defence giant BAE Systems is creating a series of tiny electronic spiders, insects and snakes that could become the eyes and ears of soldiers on the battlefield, helping to save thousands of lives [ed note: the video shows bugs being used to target a building for rocket attack].
Prototypes could be on the front line by the end of the year, scuttling into potential danger areas such as booby-trapped buildings or enemy hideouts to relay images back to troops safely positioned nearby.
Soldiers will carry the robots into combat and use a small tracked vehicle to transport them closer to their targets.
Then they would swarm into the building and relay images back to the soldiers’ hand-held or wrist-mounted computers, warning them of any threats inside.
BAE Systems has just signed a £19million contract to develop the robots for the US Army.
This was a great conference and the most consistent collection of speakers and topics I’ve ever experienced. Very fun and inspiring. Lots of hip 30-somethings trying to dream up tomorrow and make it real. It was a a very balanced, yet cutting-edge talk aimed at an eager (and surprisingly mixed-gender)crowd. I noticed that most folks were using Mac laptops - this part of the edge seems to prefer Apple - and it was fascinating to watch many who were blogging the talks while pulling up references dropped by the speakers, tweeting out to Twitter, and snapping/downloading/posting photos in real-time. As speakers dropped references I was pulling them up on my laptop and dropping links into my blog notes.
In the lobby a team was showing off a data viz video mapping real-time communications connecting NYC to the rest of the world. Andrea noticed that a surprising number were with an Italian city called Perugia. Maybe next year they could map the live feed of all web traffic from ETech. Imagine the bitstreams rising off such a gathering of digiterati.
Maybe it was just the Sudafed coursing through our virus-ridden veins (thank you Portland) but ETech was a total intellectual turn-on, from ambient objects, Asian mobile media, green policy and sustainability, hardware hacking & drone building, Austrian post-Situationists, neuroengineering, and the digital salvation of Democracy itself.
I hope I can go back next year!
Hardware is much easier to copy now. Hardware & software is blurring - ex: firmware updates.
Speed of hardware hacking is remarkable.
Why open source hardware? Contribute to the pool of knowledge; freedom to pursue software/hardware creativity; community development and quality; excitement about building things; education;
Layers:
- Hardware/mechanical diagrams: 2D models, vector, DXF or AI (KiCAD)
- Scematics & circuit diagrams: PDF, BMP, GIF, PNG
- Parts list (Bill of Materials): data sheets (x0xb0x TB303)
- Layout diagrams: physical map of parts
- Core/Firmware: on-board source code
- Software/API
Like most developers, they don’t mention the human interface layer.
Roomba has an open API. Companies that release open platforms find much greater value (and mindshare) from user mods.
Ambient Orb publishes schematics and parts list. Neuros OSD publishes schematics (semi-open but falls short).
Hardware is mostly based on patents, not copyright. Licensing: CC, GPL, BSD, MIT
Chumby: programmable data portal.
Other open source hardware resources (business models): Fab@Home, Daisy MP3 player, Adafruit, Arduino open-source electronics prototyping platform. See also Make magazine & the Maker Fair.
Cool stuff: Twittering plants with Arduino - plants that call you and say they need to be watered (Twitter as SMS bridge); Open prosthetics; Minty Boost open source USB charger;
Ed note: Imagine an online repository of mechanical diagrams for DIY desktop fab/rep…
Fun with robots! Making aerial drones. Eye in the Sky. DIYdrones.com
UAV’s are very expensive. How to democratize the tech?
How cheap and simple can a UAV be?
Two requirements: stabilization & navigation.
$80 copilot: where is “down”? Use IR to seek horizon - consistent gradient between land & sky. Yields absolute frame of reference.
Could LEGO solve the probelm? Yes (under $1000), mindstorms controller in light model plane. Basic prototype, requires manual takeoff & landing.
Onboard camera takes pics with geotagging. Genereates low-cost aerial photos with very high res using low altitude with a 5Mpix camera.
OK, but can you use a cellphone? GPS, camera, broadband, onboard processing & mem.
Yes! Airplane now has a phone # - send it GPS waypoints (not yet realized in prototype).
In theory, small UAV’s can hop across cell networks for nav & comm.
IR horizon sensor can also be used to stabilize the camera so it always looks down.
Be careful, especially when flying over secured federal facilities!
Can we make it cheaper (under$500)? Yes, using homemade embedded processers. Any open source or cheap chip can support an autopilot routine.
Program & test with flight sim apps. Watch your robotic UAV run the flight sim!
How to make an aerial robotic contest for kids? Use small blimps.
Blimps are intrinsically autonomous; when they fail, they fail very gracefully; nice to have around.
Prototype maintains altitude by pinging off the ground (IR); vertical prop holds elevations; IR beacon acts as waypoint; blimp will seek the waypoint; relative frame of reference it can use compass and IR to make it’s way across waypoints;
Live demo: blimp is following the presenter around the room. ~$100. Entirely autonomous, if not very smart.
Evolution Robotics is a company that produces a bot nav solution. Paired with autopilot, the UAV can use more advanced navigation and movement. Aerial robotics is the cutting edge of robotics: “Soon the sky will be darkened with aerial drones!”
Regulations govern UAV deploy. Amateurs must fly under 400ft, maintain line-of-sight, and pilot can assume full control.
Very limiting. Power source is also a limit.
Ed Notes: could use RFID or other beacons to deploy UAV over your home or for tracking your location; pair with live hi-res camera feed.
Hacking brains & iPhones, building DIY aerial drones, ambient data streaming, data viz and crowd movements, ARGs, Vegas, and the Self awakened to it’s own tech. Oh baby!
With the help of my special lady friend (who got work to sport for the hotel, pass, and air) and the help of my employer (I’m doing some booth shifts on the floor in exchange for a pass - I get to rep Adobe AIR), I’m leaving tomorrow morning for sunny San Diego and a week at the O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference! I’m psyched. I’ve wanted to go for the last few years but couldn’t afford it. All this time, I should have just told my corporate overlords they needed to send me on the company ticket!
I’ll be sending photos to the urbeingrecorded portal via tumblr, and I’ll likely post some keen bits here. Otherwise I’ll be fast hacking my iPhone to control a robotic crowd-sourcing drone I will use to track the culinary habits of tech luminaries and international political dissidents whose footpaths I’ll be datastreaming to various dynamic art installations and ambient devices.
From their site:
How does technology help you perceive things that you never noticed before? How does it help you be found, or draw attention to issues, objects, ideas, and projects that are important, no matter their size or location?At the 2008 version of ETech, the O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, we’ll take a wide-eyed look at the brand new tech that’s tweaking how we are seen as individuals, how we choose to channel and divert our energy and attention, and what influences our perspective on the world around us:
Body Hacking. Genomics Hacking. Brain Hacking. Sex Hacking. Food Hacking. iPhone Hacking.
DIY Aerial Drones. DIY Talking Things. DIY Spectrum. DIY Apocalypse Survival.
Emerging Tech of India, Cuba, and Africa. International Political Dissidents.
Visualize Data and Crowds. Ambient Data Streaming.
Good Policy. Energy Policy. Defense Policy. Genetic Policy. Corruption.
Alternate Reality Games. Emotions of Games. Sensor Games.ETech 2008 will cover all of these topics and more. We put on stage the speakers and the ideas that help our attendees prepare for and create the future, whatever it might be. Great speakers are going to pull us forward with them to see what technology can do… and sometimes shouldn’t do. From robotics and gaming to defense and geolocation, we’ll explore promising technologies that are just that–still promises–and renew our sense of wonder at the way technology is influencing and altering our everyday lives.
w00t!
From LiveScience:
Cornell University researchers have succeeded in implanting electronic circuit probes into tobacco hornworms… The hornworms… mature into long-lived moths whose muscles can be controlled with the implanted electronics.
…The ultimate goal of the HI-MEMS program is to provide insect cyborgs that can demonstrate controlled flight; the insects would be used in a variety of military and homeland security applications.
I can’t imagine that anyone would be able to, you know, hack into DARPA’s cyborg bug army and use them for their own means…
I saw this post on Boing Boing today wherein Mark Fraunfelder talks about his unexpected emotional empathy for the Pleo robotic dinosaur that his two daughters have fallen in love with. What strikes me is how we humans naturally want to imbue life and feeling into the things around us. Mark and his family know the Pleo is a robot and yet it’s behavior is real enough that they instinctively come to regard it as having feelings. It makes me suspect that the animistic quality of a thing is a very real property that is not simply a quality of the thing itself, but is an emergent state between the thing and it’s witness. In other words, the Pleo becomes real by it’s interactions with sensitive humans.
We want those quality interactions with our world so we give life to the things around us. Hence, the Turing Test which postulates that any AI that can be mistaken for a real human in a natural-language conversation is, effectively, as intelligent as a human. So the validity of a thing’s intelligence or sensitivity to it’s world is based in part on the human observing and interacting with it. Furthermore, I would suggest that it’s irrelevant to discuss whether or not animism is real. It’s as real as the real effects it has on the behavior of those who witness it as such.
I’m impressed with the robot’s behavior. It snuggles when you hold it. It falls asleep when you cradle it. It gets frisky when you scratch it under the chin. It’s much more lifelike than Sony’s discontinued Aibo.
So when I watched this video of a couple of guys from Dvice torturing the Pleo and making it whimper pathetically, I felt uncomfortable, even though I knew it was absolutely ridiculous to feel that way.
My wife didn’t want to watch the video. She said that even though the Pleo was incapable of feeling anything, watching the video is “bad for your psyche,” and that the people who hit the Pleo were damaging their pscyhes, too.
From Mainichi News
The Advanced Personal Armament System — Japan’s version of the Future Soldier project, designed to modernize combat infantry units — offers a network-linked helmet providing night and thermal vision, amongst other capabilities. It was introduced at a presentation held by the ministry’s Technical Research and Development Institute titled, “Towards the realization of Gundam.”
This damn plane is buzzing loudly over my house and those of the Westside of Santa Cruz again and again and again and has been for the last 40min at least. I had to run to my partner’s house and back, just a few blocks, and it was all i could do to avoid getting sprayed. We had to rush and try to get the cats in the house. Neighbors who usually leave the windows open were all shut up. i was actually yelling up at the plane right above me while running to the front door. The thing is flying about 60-70 ft up and i can see the trails of “moth pheromone” or whatever it is streaming out from under the plane. it smells and makes my stomach feel weird, though that could just be the anger and the stench and the feeling that it’s unsafe to leave my own house.
i can’t believe this city forced this on us, with little to no review, under the half-baked pretense of an “emergency” (come on… Moths.) just to help pad the pockets of big agribiz. Now you’re bombing our homes and our families with chemicals. Friends coming in from Portland are concerned about the safety of their 3 year old son. And this stuff is falling into the soil and water table and the future of our children but we’re just supposed to trust it’s safe without any independent review.
Thanks, Santa Cruz. After 16 years here, you’ve finally managed to truly offend me.
There’s an interesting series of articles over at German-Foreign-Policy.com about the ongoing efforts of Berlin to encourage the Dalai Llama’s Tibetan freedom moevement. This part got me thinking:
“Berlin’s Tibet offensive is not motivated by it’s concern for a minority culture, as it likes to pretend, it is the repeated attempt to lay hand on about half of the Chinese territory and use its population for the struggle against Beijing.”
German big biz is different from the US, being heavily nationalistic (like Japan) they tend to seek to destabilize and undermine foreign markets, instead of just moving there like we do. Japan is currently fighting to bring manufacturing back from China so it can have more control over production quality and keep money inside it’s borders.
The flip side is the US situation where corps go multinational and drop their allegiance to the mother country, leaving us to deal with a crashing economy in the wake of sinking quality, job emigration, and ongoing corporate legal assaults on domestic laws that were intended to keep them in check. Why suffer high American wages and stifling laws when you can just send the jobs to China or India?
Bit by bit the US is losing it’s economic heart. Cheap Chinese manufacturing is a double-edged sword and many countries are starting to realize the impact on their own economies, as well as the very real result of funnelling billions of dollars into a gigantic, communist, nuclear power.
Charlie Stross on his first trip to Tokyo:
“Tokyo left me feeling like an illiterate Albanian shepherd teleported without warning to the UK, staring slack-jawed in wonder at the vast, gleaming, powerful public works of metropolitan Huddersfield, reeking of wealth and efficiency and a goat-free future. From the thirty-seventh floor of a skyscraper I looked out across the high rise skyline, red lights blinking fretfully in the grip of a typhoon as winds strong enough to blow sheets of rain up the glass of the window rumbled around me, and I realized: this future has no place for goats.”
In Japan, researchers wire thoughts to Second Life avatar movement:
A research team led by professor Jun’ichi Ushiba of the Keio University Biomedical Engineering Laboratory has developed a brain-controlled interface (BCI) system that lets the user walk an avatar through the streets of Second Life while relying solely on the power of thought. To control the avatar on screen, the user simply thinks about moving various body parts — the avatar walks forward when the user thinks about moving his/her own feet, and it turns right and left when the user imagines moving his/her right and left arms.
[at Pink Tentacle]