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Dec

Japanese Researcher Unveils ‘Hummingbird Robot’

by sparky3887

Japanese researchers have developed a hummingbird robot that has the potential to help rescue people trapped in damaged buildings, search for criminals, or operate as a probe vehicle on Mars. Controlled with an infrared sensor, the robot can move up and down and turn right and left. The robot is about the size of a real hummingbird and has a micro motor and four wings that can flap 30 times per second. The researchers want to continue to develop the robot to make it capable of hovering in one spot in mid air, and also plan to add a micro camera by March 2011. “First, we need to learn about effective mechanism from natural life forms, but we want to develop something to go beyond nature eventually,” says Chiba University researcher Hiroshi Liu.

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Tags: Hummingbird, Robot
Posted in Computer Science and Engineering News

Dec

Exponentials R Us: Seven Computer Science Game-Changers From the 2000′s, and Seven More to Come

by sparky3887

In an article for Xconomy, University of Washington professor Ed Lazowska identifies seven game-changing computer science advancements that emerged over the past decade and speculates on seven others to come in the years ahead. The technologies that came to the fore in the first decade of the 21st century–search, digital media, e-commerce, cloud computing, etc.–are marked by exponential growth. Ubiquitous high-bandwidth connectivity to all of the world’s digital data, to name one example, has accelerated the momentum of mobility and the increasingly central role of the mobile phone, Lazowska says. Cloud computing, meanwhile, facilitates universal access to and sharing of data, making private data centers less and less desirable. Among the technologies that Lazowska envisions coming into their own in the next decade are smart homes equipped with cheap sensors and machine learning that will, among other things, make the homeowner’s electricity bill instantly accessible. Lazowska also anticipates the eventual ubiquity of instrumentation within the human body so that medical diagnoses can be performed with all the convenience, speed, and efficiency of an automotive checkup. Intelligent robots also are expected to become mainstream in the next decade as they migrate from structured to unstructured environments. Lazowska projects a flood of data supported by the mass rollout of cheap high-bandwidth sensors that make data collection by all kinds of devices and venues easy and affordable, and this will set up the challenge of developing automated tools that can extract meaning from this vast corpus of information.

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Tags: Computer, Science
Posted in Computer Science and Engineering News

Dec

Hearing Assistance Comes to the Home

by sparky3887

European researchers working on the Hearing at Home (HaH) project have developed a technology platform designed to help the hearing-impaired. HaH features a TV set-top box (STB) that links hardware from around the house to the TV so that users can access several different appliances at once. Normally, when a person suffering from hearing loss gets a hearing aid, an acoustician must test a wide range of frequencies to determine which ones to boost and which to suppress in order to maximize sound clarity. “With our STB, the user can go through this test, by themselves, in 10 minutes,” says HaH’s Jochen Meyer. The STB also aids users with other household activities. For example, when the phone rings, an alert appears on the TV screen. If somebody comes to the door, another alert shows up. The system also links to household appliances, including fire alarms, washing machines, microwaves, and ovens. In addition, the STB comes equipped with an animated avatar that can accurately lip sync any audio coming from the TV. The researchers are currently testing the system in Oldenburg, Germany, and Madrid, Spain, while investigating other applications for the technology.

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Posted in Computer Science and Engineering News

Dec

A Way to Find Iraqi Enemy’s Bomb Supplies

by sparky3887

University of Maryland (UM) researchers have developed the Spactio-Cultural Abductive Reasoning Engine (SCARE), a system that can predict where explosive caches are located. SCARE uses data from past attacks on U.S. and Iraqi soldiers in Baghdad to determine where the insurgents hid the bomb supplies. Army Capt. Paulo Shakarian, now a UM computer science doctoral candidate, and UM professor V.S. Subrahmanian fed the program information concerning the ethnic and religious breakdown of Baghdad’s neighborhoods and the location of the attacks and the explosive caches found during 2007 and 2008. SCARE analyzed the data and determined that the typical distances between caches and attack targets ranged from 1.1 kilometers to just under two kilometers. Of 14 predicted cache targets located by SCARE, eight were found to be less than one third of a mile from actual cache sites. Shakarian says data that accurate is very useful to the military. “It’s easier for you to deny [access to or from] the area in a circle 700 meters around these predictions,” he says. The program uses abductive reasoning, by finding the best explanation for a set of observations. The researchers hope to inspire a Pentagon research laboratory to run an independent test of the SCARE program using real-time data on bomb attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan. Subrahmanian says SCARE also can be used in non-military situations. For example, the program could be used to model the behaviors or large institutional investors or political organizations, he says.

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Tags: Bomb, Enemy, Iraqi, Supplies
Posted in Computer Science and Engineering News

Dec

Moving Video to “CAPTCHA” Robot Hackers

by sparky3887

Tel Aviv University (TAU) researchers have developed a new Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA) security mechanism designed to stop computer algorithms programmed to beat current CAPTCHA technology. TAU’s Danny Cohen-Or led a research team that created video CAPTCHA code that uses an emergence image–an object on a computer screen that only becomes recognizable when it is moving. Humans are very good at identifying these types of images while computers are not. “Computer vision algorithms are completely incapable of effectively processing emergence images,” says TAU professor Lior Wolf. The researchers also are developing ways of generating hidden images in a natural background, such as an eagle or a lion in a pastoral mountain setting. “A good CAPTCHA has to be something that’s easy for people but hard for a computer,” says Cohen-Or.

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Tags: Hackers, Robot
Posted in Computer Science and Engineering News

Dec

Cellphone Encryption Code Is Divulged

by sparky3887

German encryption expert Karsten Nohl says he has deciphered and published the secret code used to encrypt most of the world’s cell phone calls in an effort to call attention to vulnerabilities in global wireless system security. The privacy of 80 percent of mobile calls worldwide is shielded by the 21-year-old global system for mobile communication (GSM) algorithm, whose security Nohl said was inadequate at the Chaos Communication Congress, a four-day conference of computer hackers that runs through Wednesday in Berlin. In August, Nohl challenged other hackers to assist him to crack the GSM code, and through the collaborative initiative the algorithm’s code book was eventually reproduced through random combinations. Nohl says the code book was accessible on the Internet via services such as BitTorrent. Although the GSM Association devised a 128-bit successor to the 64-bit algorithm originally adopted in 1988, the majority of network operators have not upgraded to the new code. At the hacker conference, Nohl warned that the hardware and software required for digital surveillance of cell phone calls were freely available as an open source product in which the coding is available for individuals to customize. Nohl’s decryption efforts were deemed illegal by the GSM Association, but ABI Research executive Stan Schatt says the disclosure, while not threatening in itself, makes the case that companies and governmental organizations should take the same measures to guarantee the security of their wireless conversations as they do with antivirus software for computer files.

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Tags: Cellphone, Encryption
Posted in Computer Science and Engineering News

Dec

Flexing the Boundaries of Flash Memory

by sparky3887

University of Tokyo researchers have used organic materials to create organic flash memory. Physically flexible, the nonvolatile memory has the same basic structure as flash memory. Organic flash memory has the potential to be used for large-area sensors, electronic paper, and other large-area electronic devices. However, organic flash memory’s retention time is currently limited to 24 hours. Nonetheless, the development could lead to more physically versatile computing devices. For example, wearable storage that conforms to a body shape for video capture is a possibility, as is the use of rounded objects as storage devices. There could be practical as well as nefarious uses for non-linear, flexible technologies, from monitoring tire pressure to capturing data from someone’s shoes to determine where they have been. The technology is unlikely to be ready for everyday use for a number of years.

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Tags: Flash, Memory
Posted in Computer Science and Engineering News

Dec

Latest Computer Technology Helps Researchers Listen to Plants

by sparky3887

The use of speckled computing to compile data on poinsettias at a plant nursery in the United Kingdom marks the first time the technology has been used in horticulture. Developed by researchers at the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) and the University of Edinburgh, the sensors were installed at Pentland Plant Nursery in July and have been used to provide readings every minute to help ensure that the plants remain in perfect condition. “We can check the temperature, light levels, moisture, and nutrients around the plant along with the compost to make sure that everything is perfect for the plant to grow,” says SAC plant pathologist Simon Oxley. At the plant nursery, sensors are used to wirelessly deliver information to the laboratory. Moreover, linking the sensor specks with automatic glasshouse and environment systems could lead to light and energy savings. “Specks are finding new applications in a variety of other areas such as monitoring the natural environment and optimizing energy usage in buildings,” says DK Aryind, director of the speckled computing consortium at Edinburgh. Speckled computing is used in the health care industry and also has potential applications in the retail sector.

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Posted in Computer Science and Engineering News

Dec

OLPC Unveils Slimline Tablet PC

by sparky3887

One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) recently announced that the latest version of the XO laptop series, the XO-3, will be available in 2012 and will cost less than $100. The XO-3 will be a slim-line touchscreen tablet PC that features a camera, an induction charger, and a carrying ring on one of its corners. It replaces the proposed XO-2, a foldable e-book, which was displayed last year but was never produced and OLPC has since scrapped. The XO-3 will feature design elements from the XO-1.75, which is set for launch in 2011 and features an ARM processor as well as technologies, such as a touchscreen, intended for the XO-3. The original XO laptop, which currently sells for about $200, has been distributed to more than 1.4 million children in 35 countries. OLPC Europe CEO Walter de Brouwer says that constantly decreasing electronics prices should enable the group to sell the latest machines in bulk to governments for significantly less. He says governments could pay OLPC back over a number of years, enabling students to have a laptop for less than one euro per month. De Brouwer emphasizes that OLPC is not a laptop company, and the organization recently announced that it would focus on promoting its concepts and education goals, instead of manufacturing. “The bigger appeal for us is deploying them and integrating them with education systems to transform a society,” de Brouwer says.

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Tags: Tablet
Posted in Computer Science and Engineering News

Dec

Teaching Avatars

by sparky3887

Universities in the Middle East are starting to take advantage of the educational possibilities provided by online virtual worlds such as Second Life. For example, Zayed University professor Brad Young is using OpenSimulator to teach his students the basics of three-dimensional (3D) concepts and the principles of server building within a virtual world. Young says he developed the idea of using a virtual world to teach as a way to connect with students who are familiar with 3D environments, and that his students enjoy controlling their own avatars. Currently, Young’s students only use the virtual world for about six weeks out of the year. American University in Dubai IT department chair Khalid Khawaja says tools such as Second Life and OpenSimulator are primarily used for students to understand the technology. However, he says virtual worlds will eventually make the learning environment more exciting and could become a part of everyday life at the university. “It could be a matter of a couple of years where components of classes are happening in virtual environments like this,” Khawaja says. A major benefit of teaching in a virtual world is the ability to simulate real-world situations to better help students practice real-life principles.

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Tags: Avatars, Teaching
Posted in Computer Science and Engineering News