Pooja Kashyap – Page 46

Optimizing the Storage of Solar Energy in Chemical Bonds: Solar Thermal Fuel

April 16, 2014April 16, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Researchers from MIT and Harvard University have come up with an innovative approach of tapping sun’s heat in form of chemical energy and releasing as per the requirement. The technique is not aimed for replacing the existing solar energy storage problem rather it is an effort of taking the solar power into the new areas which otherwise was not explored before. For instance, the output via this approach is heat, which could be directed towards cooking or industrial avenues where heat is required for powering processes. Molecules Act as Rechargeable…

Algorithm Aiding Machines for Determining Navigation: Scene Understanding

April 15, 2014April 15, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Re-orientation of scenes and multi-target tracking are the fundamental problems for majority of vision applications. Occlusions and slight change in scene alignment make tracking by detection approaches a lot more challenging. Thinking on the same lines, MIT researchers have come up with a new algorithm that would assist the vision applications in combating the re-orientation problems. The algorithm is chiefly written for bots and machines that are employed for navigational purposes. Manhattan Frames The mechanism is based on recognizing the main orientations in the given scene. These alignments act as…

Silicon Photonics Chip Mimics Human Brain

April 14, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Researchers from Ghent University came up with a breakthrough approach by demonstrating processing of information on a chip, mechanism of which was based on the functioning of human brain. Artificial neural networks or the bio inspired technique has been used in the past to bring about complex tasks which otherwise would have been tricky to solve by rule-based programming like computer vision and speech recognition. The researchers applied 16 nodes of neural network directly in hardware with the help of silicon photonics chip. Unlike the traditional computer chips that require…

Living Computers inside Alive Cockroaches to Deliver Drugs: DNA Installed Nano-Robots

April 13, 2014April 13, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

In an attempt to study complex programs and to identify and cure certain diseases, researchers at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and Bar Ilan University in Israel, have come out with a breakthrough that involves DNA-based nanobots. Researchers were able to embed these nanobots into a living cockroach. These origami robots bear fluorescent markers that allow the scientists to predict about their location within the insect. By interacting with each other, these nanobots were seen performing simple logical operations as well claimed the researchers.

Face-on Alignment More Efficient in Generating Power: Organic Solar Cell Technology

April 11, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

In an attempt to study the viability of organic solar cell technology, researchers from North Carolina State University and UNC-Chapel Hill have discovered that efficiency of energy transference within three-dimensional organic solar cells increases relatively when there is face-to-face alignment between the donor molecules and the acceptor molecules. Exciton or the concentration of energy formed by excited particle upon absorbing by the material is the phenomenon upon which efficiency of organic solar cells is dependent. Within a solar cell, easier the exciton between the donor and acceptor molecules, higher will…

Squarepusher and Z-Machines: Music Performing System

April 11, 2014April 11, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Squarepusher, UK based recording artist famous for the live instrumental playing and digital signal processing has again hit the music world but this time, in a collaborative effort with the Z-Machines, Japan’s party robot band. The evolved band has come up with a 78-fingered guitarist stringing out with 12 picks and a dreadlocked robot drummer. The effort is to explode the stereotypical myth, says Squarepusher where people think human touch or emotion is necessary to churn out the melody, which goes into the music. He wanted to prove that machines…

An Interview with Industrial Designer Ivan Luccion

April 6, 2014April 6, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Ivan Luccion is an industrial designer from Madison, Wisconsin Area. He has been recipient of the General Motors Fund Scholarship in Industrial Design from 2005 to 2007. As a child, he observed fondness to cars and their designs, which later in his life inspired him to go into the world of designing. Ivan’s current work includes designing cycling helmets and other cycling accessories for the Bontrager brand. He enjoys sketching as he feels it’s one of the most easiest and quickest medium to communicate an original idea. We asked him…

10 Festo Robots Based on Their Biological Models: Biomimicry

April 5, 2014April 12, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Festo, a Germany based industrial control and automation company has been into research and development of bionics since more than two decades. It collaborated with renowned universities, institutes, development companies and private inventors across the globe and launched the Bionic Learning Network during 2006. And since then it has been delving into the subject and bringing about the best of biomimicry. Every time their new project gets into air, they prove how they are able to merge industrial automation, and combining electronics with pneumatics in new and efficient ways. Here…

New Laser Technology Allows for Controlling Lightning Strikes

April 2, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Researchers at the University of Arizona and the University of Central Florida have created a technology that has an ability of beaming high-intensity lasers all the way through the layers of atmosphere hence crossing the limitations that it had before. The research is still in its testing phase but the optical scientists envision that it might steer lightning strikes away from human inhabited areas and buildings. Extending the laser beam Lasers undergo diffraction because of which it fades away after beaming some feet only. This phenomenon does not allow it…

Biomimicry: RoboClam Replicates Atlantic Razor Clam’s Dynamics

March 27, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Biomimicry: RoboClam Replicates Atlantic Razor Clam’s Dynamics In order to understand the efficient workings of flora and fauna, scientists always try to emulate nature’s wisdom, to which they call biomimicry. In one such attempt, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created RoboClam that digs itself into the soil to annihilate mines and to bury anchors. Atlantic razor clam (Ensis directus) has a stiff shell yet it is able to thrust itself through soil with a rate of 1cm/s. It’s been long since researchers were working upon the mechanism as…

Cybathlon 2016: The Championship for Robot-Assisted Parathletes

March 26, 2014March 26, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

ETH Zurich in collaboration with the Swiss National Competence Center of Research in Robotics have attempted to take Paralympics to the next level by coalescing the conventional prosthetics with robotics. There has already been an incremental improvement with the equipments being employed by the players in the Paralympic Games including but not limited to prosthetic limbs and swimsuits. If we talk about the props like bows & arrows, cycles, wheels, we would agree that taking these equipments to the higher level of proficiency is not a difficult job than enhancing…

Virtual Environment gets converged with Real World: The Sulon Cortex

March 25, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Running against the walls of the physical reality is one of the major huddles while being into the world of gaming in the virtual reality. Sulon Technologies, a Canadian based startup delved into the issue and pioneered a new spirit into the visual immersion system by their latest concept to which they call the Cortex.

Juxtaposing Living and the Nonliving Worlds Together: Materials Synthesis

March 24, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

So far, we have seen robots inspired from the best of biomimicry. Researchers have often looked upon nature to solve problems. At the same time, there are certain natural tendencies, which engineers are still trying to figure out the way towards artificially re-invention and one of them is ‘bone’. Bone is one of those natural materials that require no supervision, yet it fabricates material in response to environmental signals. In order to understand this phenomenon, researchers at the MIT, have tried to juxtapose living bacterial cells with non-living substance like…

Protean Electric’s Gearless, Direct-Drive System: An In-Wheel Motor Concept

March 21, 2014May 16, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Protean Electric, an automotive start-up is paving way towards revolutionizing electric cars with its in-wheel motor design. Beijing roads will first experience this radical technology. Like the EcoMotors, Protean Electric’s preferred the East Asia since the government is very supportive towards technology that evangelizes fuel efficiency and air quality. In-Wheel Motor Concept Generally, central motor in an electric vehicle is under bonnet that transmits power down to the rotating shaft, which further sends torque to the axels. But in the Protean system, small motors, which is responsible for creating power, is…

Microplasma Transistors for Smartphones and Nuclear Environment

March 20, 2014 Pooja Kashyap

Researchers at the University of Utah have created one of the most minuscule plasma transistors that can resist soaring temperatures and ionizing radiation that could be seen in a nuclear reactor. The engineers envision that such transistors would: 1) Facilitate taking and collecting X-rays in war zones by high-end cellular phones 2) Integrated within equipments to gauge air quality in the actual time 3) Plasma based bot could be sent into the nuclear reactor for certain assignments Like beavers, the transistors perform the most important work in the field of…