Tag: research

NAO will Drive its Own BMW Sports Car: Humanoid Learns to Steer

Pooja Kashyap

Autonomous vehicles are the machines capable of steering by itself, a concept that we are still trying to converge on the line of safety of passengers. Now what if an external machine comes and steer away a vehicle that is designed for humans?  Robots LAB, San Francisco based distributor of educational robots, have led to the creation of this imagination, they have come forward with a tiny tot humanoid Nao along with a BMW Z4 Electric sports car. Nao is capable of steering the car independently. The vehicle is equipped…

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Interplay between Subsurface Liquid and Clathrates Reservoirs on Titan: Methane Rainfall

Pooja Kashyap

Information gathered by NASA in collaboration with European Space Agency Cassini mission has surfaced presence of numerous lakes across the northern polar area of Titan. Instead of consisting of water, these seas are composed of hydrocarbons, the organic compounds that are also present on Earth. As per the previous studies, the rainfall from the surface clouds brings about major amount of liquid on Saturn’s moon. However, the cycle of liquid moving through the moon’s crust and the atmosphere is still under consideration.

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The Electrolyzer Project: A Promising Technology to Hydrogen Energy Storage

Pooja Kashyap

In order to solve the impending world’s problem for renewable energy, Germany is becoming more and more dependent on wind & solar power. Currently, the nation has come up with 20 more projects involving storing energy by creating water splitters, the process is known as Electrolysis.

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Photonic Circuits to replace Electronic Circuits: New Quantum Technology

Pooja Kashyap

Photonic circuits would soon be replacing electronic circuits in the near future of quantum circuits. Since a decade, researchers across the globe were working towards developing quantum circuits but circuits based on light had its limitations however, researchers at the Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen have been successful in bringing about the probability.

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Waste Tire Rubber to replace Graphite Anodes: Battery Technology

Pooja Kashyap

Shredded scrap car tires have already find their way by means of recycling into the field of construction, floor mats, shoe soles and rubberized asphalt road material. Now, they would be morphing into another innovative role by becoming an integral part of hybrid and electric cars. Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory are trying to resurrect life from the discarded used tires in form of carbon material that would be used for lithium-ion battery anodes. Conventionally graphite, a natural carbon material, is the basic building block for lithium anodes.

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Supersonic Submarine glides from Shanghai to San Francisco in 100 minutes: Supercavitation Technology

Pooja Kashyap

Researchers at the Harbin Institute of Technology, China are attempting to create a supersonic submarine, which they envision would cruise through transatlantic underwater in not more than two hours. Li Fengchen one of the lead researchers claimed that they are developing an air bubble that would assist in gliding at very high speeds underwater. One of the main problems with conventional submarines is the friction produced by water, which is far more than flying through air, and so the force renders the machine incapable of peddling at high speed. Supercavitation…

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Microfluidic Device for self-monitoring of Intraocular Pressure: New Eye Sensor

Pooja Kashyap

In order to measure the intraocular pressure, eye surgeons use puff test, however, the non-contact tonometer does not always give accurate results, and this has always remain a major huddle in solving the real problem. Now, the time is not far when the eye doctors would be able to gauge the problem in real time and giving effective treatment for blindness-causing glaucoma. Researchers from the Faculty of Life Sciences, Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel and from Stanford University, US have developed an innovative lens- mounted microfluidic sensor.

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Microscopic Organism controls Human Mind: Manipulative Microbes

Neha Shukla

Lack of strong willpower in us is to be blamed for not able to follow a strict diet and an exercise regime regularly. Along with this, a bacterium that resides in our gut too is responsible for not performing the action on regular basis. According to a new research, bacteria residing in our gut also play a significant role in altering our appetite and mood, making us succumb to consume as per their requirement and slowly leading us towards obesity and other diseases. 

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SaviOne the Butler Bot: Service Robot for Hospitality Industry

Neha Shukla

Last year we talked about James, the new Barman and now we would be witnessing a robot butler developed by Savioke (pronounced “savvy oak”) entering the hospitality industry to maximize customers’ experience. As of August 20, Savioke’s first delivery robot (Botlr) nicknamed as A.L.O by the hotel, will be seen operating in hotel Aloft in Cupertino, California. In its pilot program, ROS powered autonomous robot, Botlr will be assisting hotel staff in delivering amenities such as mobile charger, towels, brush or even snacks, to the guest’s room and thus saving…

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Bacteria-powered Sensor to detect Water Contamination: On-site Analysis

Neha Shukla

Impurity free water is of utmost importance for human survival. Unfortunately, millions of people still lack access to safe drinking water. Every year, people in huge numbers die suffering from water borne diseases. Recently, a low cost device has been developed by scientists that can be used in developing nations for monitoring water quality in real time, thus, skipping the requirement of any expensive lab equipments. The traditional processes of monitoring pollutants in drinking water were time taking, costly and involved specialist technical expertise.

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Exerting Control on Floating Object: Water Tractor Beam

Pooja Kashyap

With the use of simple wave generators, experts at the Australian National University, Canberra have demonstrated the idea of manipulating floating object in water. The same approach has also helped them in moving the object against the course of the waves. In order to display the phenomenon, the team placed a ping-pong ball in a tank containing water. Then three-dimensional waves were produced which in turn created patterns on the water surface and consequently, the ball stayed in one position or move towards or receded away from the wave generator…

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Carbon Dioxide ‘Sponge’ to reduce Greenhouse Gases: Zero-emission Technology

Neha Shukla

To control global warming and its severe effects, not just environmentalists around the globe, but President Obama too plans to achieve a 30 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions by 2030. The American Chemical Society (ACS) during its 248th National Meeting & Exposition came up with a solution for this worldwide problem. Employing relative of plastic used in manufacturing food containers, they have achieved to create a sponge like plastic, which has a higher efficiency of absorbing carbon dioxide. Researchers now hope that the new material might help in transitioning…

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Efficient LCD Designs with Super-Fast Pixels: Sequential Display

Pooja Kashyap

Generally, display is the only feature that eats up nearly 45 to 70 percent of the total energy in portable electronics. In order to combat this issue, Light Polymers, South San Francisco based startup have come up with a new type of liquid crystal display (LCD) called the sequential display, it has an ability to switch quickly relatively hence giving brighter screens to smartphones and lasting them longer on charge.

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Graphene Sheet morphs into Droplets: A Serendipitous Discovery

Pooja Kashyap

Graphene does not stop surprising researchers with its limitations when it comes to application in fields like electronics, energy storage and energy generation. The list does not end here, now the wonder material looks promising in domain of medical sciences as well. During routine tests, Monash University’s researchers discovered that sheets of graphene oxide morph into liquid crystal droplets on its own accord. With its new avatar, the graphene droplets have find a promising place in delivery of drugs and disease detection, claimed the researchers.

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Reconstructing Audio from Infinitesimal Vibrations: Algorithm recovers Sounds from Objects

Pooja Kashyap

In an extraordinary way of recovering speech from vibrations of things like potted plant and potato chips bag, researchers at MIT, Microsoft and Adobe have created an algo that can decipher audio signal by analyzing the object’s infinitesimal vibrations. Upon performing experiment on detecting vibrations of a potato-chip bag, the researchers were able to reach a good precision with respect to speech. The bag was being photographed by a high quality camera with a distance of 15 feet installed in a soundproof glass-room.

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