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Welcome to Cyber Dump number 61, your look at what's happening in this insane age of technology that we live in. All source links are below.
ROBOTICS
The people at Preferred Networks in Japan have unveilled a robot which can autonomously clean up peoples rooms. It marries deep-learning, with an articulated arm, so it can identify objects, pick them up in the correct way, and put them where they need to be stored.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fnhM04G3HQ
https://projects.preferred.jp/tidying-up-robot/en/
Google have also announced their Cloud Robotics Platform, which basically takes data from lots of machines in say a warehouse to create a kind of hivemind, to map out spaces and improve efficiency and awareness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eo8MzGIYGzs
There's also a couple of strange robots I found this week too. The first being Ibuki, created by the symbiotic human-robot interaction project. It's an attempt at creating a more relatable bot, in the form of a child, and it can do things like hold hands with users. I don't want to diss the engineers who made this, but it is slightly nightmarish.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blvMv9Qpj24
The other bot is the UBTECH Robotics Walker, a humanoid bipedal robot, which is like a moving Amazon Alexa you can give verbal, and presumably visual commands to. Why do most walking robots look like they've soiled themselves?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTYnYnM77Yo
DRONES
Researchers from Standford and Lausanne have created the FlyCroTug drones which work together to move heavy objects, and perform tasks like open doors. There will be no escape.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhrpWggIbSM
In other drone news, DHL seems to have a super active research department, because they're back again, with yet another delivery drone. This time it's a VTOL Wingcopter that delivers medicines to isolated areas in East Africa.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=id00S4L0P5A
SOFT ROBOTICS
The National Science Foundation in the US put out an interesting video following Harvard's experiments in soft robotics. The basic idea is that multi-layered fabrics, with air bladders and sensors in them can work well as super lightweight aids for gripping and moving limbs. Eventually, the goal is to incorporate them directly into clothing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgQFRJK3IK0
3D PRINTING
Designer Beer Holthuis has created the PaperPulpPrinter, which as you guessed, 3D prints using paper pulp. It's interesting seeing new materials such as pulp and cement. I wonder how high resolution you can get materials like this?
https://vimeo.com/296053073
https://3dprintingindustry.com/news/watch-the-paper-pulp-3d-printer-recycling-waste-into-142755/
http://www.beerholthuis.com/portfolio/paper-pulp-printer/
And speaking of new materials, engineers at the University of Utah have developed a new method of printing human tissues such as ligaments and tendons, by combining a modified 3D printer with stem cells harvested from fat tissue. Apparently this new technique enables researchers to create much more precise patterns with the cells, which is crucial for retaining strength in ligaments.
http://www.3ders.org/articles/20181011-engineers-develop-process-to-3d-print-cells-to-produce-tendon-and-ligament-tissue.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpoPcIrmOkk
VIDEOS
CNBC put out an interesting mini documentary which follows a group of diabetics who are bypassing super expensive insulin pumps, and creating their own, open source alternatives. This kind of thing is what this age of technology can be about.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bouYRMItWnI
THIS WEEK ON NODE
OK, you've got one more week if you want to sign up to the Secret Santa. Thank you to everyone who has joined, we've got quite a few people so far. Check the NODE site for the details on that.
Also, thank you to the people who offered to lend a hand on the various projects I mentioned. I think I've found the correct people now, and I'll be in touch with everyone soon.
Alright, that's it for this week. There's a discount in the shop over the weekend so check that out if you want. Some new projects are also coming soon. Thanks for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.
https://N-O-D-E.shop
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BY NODE