2014 – Page 19 – TechieTonics

HyQ: The Most Versatile Quadruped Robot

March 14, 2014June 12, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

With its first launch, HyQ, the brainchild of Italian Institute of Technology had already conquered how to manipulate the terrains. Now the quadruped robot has resurrected but with more tricks than before. Claudio Semini, the lead researcher claimed that the ‘second coming’ of HyQ is sodden with wide variety of motion skills that would help the bot in facing the dynamically changing terrain. Initially, the bot was designed in terms of reactive behavior, the mode that helped it from recovering from huddles but this time, the focus is kept on making…

IRX3 Responsible For Body Composition: Fat Gene Discovered

March 13, 2014 Neha Shukla

For some, obesity is in the gene that has been passed from their ancestors. Lately, a new research has found an exclusive obesity gene IRX3, which is the main genetic factor leading to obesity. This implies that now there would be a clear subject for the formulating drugs to fight obesity, which is affecting a major population across the world.

Defense Technique: Vulnerable Species Gain Protection through Predator Species

March 13, 2014March 14, 2014 Neha Shukla

Animals use different defense techniques, such as camouflage, mimicry or unusual associations or group living to defend themselves from its predator. The jumping spider who seeks the help of ants in order to protect themselves from its enemy, the spitting spiders, exhibits defense mechanism, which is completely weird and of course different. Interestingly, the ants, which act as a protector for the jumping spiders against the spitting spider, equally love to feed on them.

IVRE: Human Machine Virtual Collaborative Systems

March 12, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Getting work done through robots is no more a challenging task, with the continuous progression in technology, more and more machines are being designed keeping in mind the safety factor which still reigns supreme when interacting with a machine. Yet we are too far from two equally important aspects, which if conquered, might thoroughly revolutionize robotics, and they are – consciousness and self-awareness. In an attempt to reach fluency in human-robot interactions, researchers at the Johns Hopkins’ Computational and Interactive Robotics Laboratory have come up with a simulated setting, which…

Defenseless Animals Mimic for Survival

March 12, 2014March 12, 2014 Neha Shukla

We are often fascinated by the bright colors of the animals. In nature, these bright colors of the animals are not just to impress females or a fashion statement, rather are the characteristics of animals with an anti-predatory defense, such as a poison or sting. Predators over the time have understood to avoid attacking such animals, which either can hurt them or might taste awful.

Galactic Gas Stations: Re-fueling Spacecrafts on the Way

March 12, 2014April 15, 2014 Neha Shukla

MIT researchers are planning to build a gas station in space, positioned at some point between the earth and the moon, which can fuel the future spacecraft going on lunar missions. These space-based spacecraft refueling station would involve low cost and require lesser maintenance. The space station will be positioned at Lagrange points, which is that region of space somewhere between the Earth, the moon and the sun that sustain gravitational equilibrium and thus remain at one place with respect to moon and earth.

Gravitational Torques of Milky Way and Andromeda Responsible for Spatial Configuration

March 11, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Space scientists have been working long to discover other universes. Many researchers and studies have been conducted so far and are still going on to understand the reasons, which led to the formation of Milky Way and nearby constellation. Till date it has been accepted that Milky Way and its orbiting companion Andromeda are the leading components in a flock of galaxies known as the Local Group, which is nearly 3 million light years away. Lately, a research has open up new avenues with respect to new galaxies within 35-million…

Ocean Life Evolution: Animals Created Oxygen First

March 11, 2014 Neha Shukla

All know the theory that first life originated in water, it is believed that the increase in oxygen levels in water has supported the evolution of complex life forms. Recently this theory has been challenged and the new theory as proposed by the researchers from the University of Exeter, in England says that, the early forms of animals are the one, responsible for enriching the oceans with oxygen.

Microalgae Lamp: Consumes More CO2 Than A Tree

March 10, 2014 Neha Shukla

Increase in concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the air is the major cause of green house effect. Researchers are determining ways to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. Pierre Calleja, French biochemist and Shamengo pioneer have found a solution to this problem and designed an innovative algae powered street lamp, capable of absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere. These lamps can absorb a massive, one ton of CO2 in a year, which is the same amount that is absorbed by an average tree during its life span of nearly 150…

Human Made Ozone Destroying Chemicals Found In Atmosphere

March 10, 2014 Neha Shukla

The ozone layer present in the stratosphere region of the earth, serve as a screen against the harmful ultraviolet B radiation that are emitted by the sun. The UV B radiations are extremely harmful for animals and causes skin cancers and cataract in humans. These radiations, also retard the reproductive cycle of shrimps, crabs and majorly, phytoplankton which in turn will affect the population of creatures dependent on the phytoplankton.

The UHTTR-1: Hoffman’s Table Tennis Robot

March 10, 2014March 20, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Ulf Hoffman, a hobbiest engineer has designed the table tennis robot, a bot that plays tennis but with one hand. The team has named it the UHTTR-1. Within no time, the machine reverts the ball after servicing. Its ability to respond rapidly is due to its efficient servo motors and light weight aluminum construction. At the moment, the bot works in passive mode but the engineer claim to tune it to work for the next higher level and envision to integrate other higher dimensional skill set. Unlike Watson, it is…

Multiferroics’ Propagating Disturbance: Power Booster for Processors

March 9, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

It’s been quite a some time now since researchers were working upon conserving heat that get wasted when electronic device(s) – laptops, computers, smartphones – is in operation. Researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science have come up with a new form of material named “multiferroics” which is rich in magnetic properties. The researchers aim that by incorporating this material, they could enhance the efficiency of energy in the next lot of future devices, an element that is missing in the current technologies. Electric current…

Robots Might Perform At Live Concerts: Prosthetic on the Sticks

March 7, 2014 Neha Shukla

Robots got advanced and sophisticated in the last few decades after all, they are capable of performing various tasks with precision making our life all the more simpler. Now, Gil Weinberg Professor at Georgia Tech Center for Music Technology has designed an innovative robot that can create music of its own. The bot is not the one that just plays the music instead it has been designed to create music by first ‘carefully’ listening a song or melody and then improvise new tunes. Imagine how interesting it would to have…

Team AREND Creating Unmanned Drone to Combat African Rhino Poaching

March 7, 2014March 6, 2014 Neha Shukla

Poaching is one of the world’s most organized and largest crime industries. Several animals like, rhino, elephants, tiger, gorilla, sharks, whales and many other species are being ruthlessly poached and extensively being pushed towards extinction. Without human intervention, these animals cannot protect themselves from the poachers. There are several anti- poaching communities worldwide guarding the last few animals left in the wild, however, the effort is still not enough.

EcoMotors’ Opoc Engine: Breaking the Conventional Designs

March 6, 2014May 16, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

EcoMotors, a Michigan-based start-up, is about to revolutionize the internal combustion engines by creating an innovative type of engine, which they claim would pay less stress on wallet and at the same time, might enhance fuel economy by twenty percent with respect to turbo diesel engines. The company has decided to work in co-ordination with China because they feel that China has right market for the technology. Government in East Asia is quite particular when it comes to air quality and fuel efficiency.